Kudos to AOC founder and Bartlett School of Architecture lecturer Daisy Froud for unearthing a rare species – in, of all places, the archives of the British Library.
This depiction of the “Octopus of Landlordism” – Octopium Landlordicuss, to give the somewhat suspect Latin – dates back to 1925, and shows said cephalopod casting its tentacles across London like something from an HP Lovecraft novel. Though it seems that, in the opinion of illustrator William Bacot Northrop, the horrors of Cthulhu would have nothing on those of the pernicious landlord. “Landlordism causes unemployment,” it boldly states. “It paralyses the building trade, it pauperizes the peasantry. 12 landlords ‘own’ (?) London, taking £20,000,000 a year… The Land Octopus sucks the lifeblood of the people.”
The British Library’s online description helpfully adds: “‘Landlordism’ is shown as an octopus, its tentacles encircling estates owned by the Duke of Westminster, Earl Cadogan, Duke of Norfolk, Howard de Walden, Lord Portman, Duke of Bedford, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and Lord Northampton, giving acreage and yearly rent owed.”
For any landlords out there taking offence at the near-century old sleight, the parallel could be taken as flattering – after all, octopuses (no, absolutely not octopi) are playful, house proud and fiercely intelligent. And there are worse such comparisons out there. Just ask Goldman Sachs, famously described as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
Start ’em young
Through bitter personal experience, Diary knows to approach Twitter with care.
Adam Smith, a Wisconsin father of two, learned a hard lesson of his own last week after he posted about how he speaks to his two children. “My wife and I never baby talk to our kids,” he tweeted. “We use full sentences and a wide vocabulary including complex words.” A Twitter storm, as they say, ensued.
Typical among the 120,000 responses was this one: “My wife and I never talk to our kids. We ask them to submit all communications anonymously through rigorous and double-blind peer review. My daughter is five and has 21 publications in high-impact journals.” It didn’t take long to reach real estate. “My wife and I read BTR consultancy and market reports with our child,” said Ashley Perry, director at LIV Consult. “My daughter is only one and is already skilled with development appraisals and market research. Our clients are shocked at her detailed knowledge of the burgeoning European multifamily sector.” Now that’s parenting.
They can see clearly now
It’s not often this page does anything useful for society, but we are delighted to share news of a happy ending to a previously reported tale of woe. Regular Diary readers might both recall that, last August, we drew attention to the plight of residents at L&Q’s City Mills apartments in Haggerston, overlooking one of east London’s trendiest parks, Stonebridge Gardens.
Rather than enjoying this fine view from their balconies, they had, at that point, spent nine months staring at scaffolding. Well, just in time for spring, we are happy to report that they’re all set to enjoy the gardens in bloom, sans obstruction.
“After a lot of heel dragging and missed deadlines the works did get completed, scaffolding removed and everyone is happy,” reports a contact from lettings agent Base Property Specialists. “Our clients are delighted we helped get this resolved after years of battling and you were an essential part of that process. Many thanks for helping us to name & shame them over this and finally get this issue resolved.”
Not so fast, Hermes
Exciting news in sheds this week, as Hermes – named after the fleet-footed messenger of the gods – announced, to considerable fanfare, a massive £60m warehouse in Barnsley, the largest of its kind in Europe, that will create 1,300 jobs. Woo! Go Barnsley! Everyone there must be chuffed.
Except, perhaps Matt Gladstone, executive director for place at Barnsley Council, upon whom it fell to dampen the excitement somewhat. “We are yet to adopt a masterplan framework which opens up potential sites for development or receive a planning application for the site Hermes has identified close to junction 36 of the M1,” he deflated.
Is there a modern logistics equivalent for putting the cart before the horse?
Out of crisis, opportunity
Every cloud has a silver lining, they say. Could it be that one legacy of the coronavirus will be the next stage in the flexible working revolution?
Thanks to the outbreak, Bloomberg reported this week, “working from home is no longer a privilege, it’s a necessity”.
They quote glass-half-full Alvin Foo, managing director of Shanghai ad agency Reprise Digital: “It’s a good opportunity for us to test working from home at scale.” Although, as he points out, that’s not easy for a creative ad agency that brainstorms a lot in person. But if they can do it, surely anyone can? And that’s a question we type, coincidentally, at home…
