MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Wild Foxes, Hokum, I’ve Seen All I Need to See, and Ada: My Mother the Architect
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Billions in profit, millions in need
GLYN ROBBINS recommends an exposé of how speculative property investment is destroying access to public-sector housing
BUILDING INEQUALITY: The big 10 housebuilders generated 30 per cent of new homes in Britain in 2018
JAMES WALSH revels in a miscellany of beautifully observed characters, ranging from the parodic to the frankly batshit
MALC McGOOKIN appreciates a graphic novel that records the history of the legendary peace camp and surveys the state of the right to protest in contemporary Britain
SYLVIA HIKINS recommends a fascinating, revealing, superbly acted evening of theatre
New releases from Otherlands Trio, Isabelle Bodenseh, Kris Davis and the Lutoslawski Quartet
STEVEN ANDREW praises a beautifully written and enjoyable read
The Property Lobby: The Hidden Reality Behind the Housing Crisis
by Bob Colenutt
Policy Press, £13.59
IN 1975, Bob Colenutt and the late Peter Ambrose — a staunch ally of the Defend Council Housing campaign — wrote a brilliant little book, The Property Machine. It was one of the first attempts to describe the dynamics of the corporate development industry, a subject that remains shrouded in commercial confidentiality and PR spin.
In the 45 years since, that machine has become a monster, dominating the economies and urban landscapes of global capitalism. But the forces that have allowed speculative property investment to steam-roller working-class communities around the world are still not widely understood.
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GLYN ROBBINS celebrates how tenant-led campaigning forced the government to drop Pay to Stay, fixed-term tenancies and council home sell-offs under Cameron — but warns that Labour’s faith in private developers will require renewed resistance
With turnout plummeting and faith in Parliament collapsing, BERT SCHOUWENBURG explains how radical local government reform — including devolved taxation and removal of party politics from town halls — could restore power to communities currently ignored by profit-obsessed MPs