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Rt Rev. David Walker

The last socially acceptable racism

July 17th, 2007 by Rt Rev. David Walker

The roundabout at the top of the motorway slip road has a new exit. A wide gateway opens up into a grassy field. Four or five caravans are parked and someone has hand written a sign advertising Springer spaniel puppies. It’s high summer (or what passes for it in this rain sodden year) in Worcestershire …

Variety adds spice to life

April 27th, 2007 by Rt Rev. David Walker

I joined the columnist team at 24dash.com for a purpose. Housing Today had just closed and I was concerned that there weren’t enough specialist media titles taking Social Housing seriously.
Variety, in the media world, is not just the spice of life, it’s an essential foodstuff.  We need to be able to get our news …

John Hills’ report: Three cheers for mixed tenure

February 23rd, 2007 by Rt Rev. David Walker

It used to be said that all boys should be educated in mixed schools and all girls in single sex ones. If we put what most senior housing professionals advocate for tenants together with how they behave themselves, the housing equivalent is that all social tenants should live in mixed neighbourhoods and all owner occupiers …

Why short term tenancies just won’t do

January 2nd, 2007 by Rt Rev. David Walker

I was talking to a Church of England priest who had come to the end of his training post and was looking for his next job.
I had something I thought might interest him: it came with an initial five year “contract”. But he wasn’t having it. Six years previously he had given up home …

Faith matters!

November 1st, 2006 by Rt Rev. David Walker

For years religion was a taboo in public conversation.  It featured in the media only under the “naughty vicar” headline.  Private individuals, who had a faith, were expected to keep to themselves – and the workplace could be pretty cruel to anyone who transgressed that boundary.  In 2006 hardly a day goes by without one …

It’s time for Supported Housing to get its act together

September 7th, 2006 by Rt Rev. David Walker

Back when I first got involved, 20 years ago, there was a simple answer as to why Supported and Sheltered Housing schemes had a relatively low percentage of Black and Minority Ethnic residents. We told ourselves that “they” looked after their elderly and needy relatives much better than “we” did.
Residential Care homes in particular …

What makes a good city?

July 12th, 2006 by Rt Rev. David Walker

I learned as a young research mathematician that the hardest questions to answer are often the simplest to state. I’ve been tussling with such a question over recent days. What makes a good city? It’s a question thrown out as a challenge by the recent report Faithful Cities (www.culf.org.uk), which was produced by a commission …

Good News is No News

May 2nd, 2006 by Rt Rev. David Walker

I recently attended the launch of a report on Migrant Workers in the Vale of Evesham. You might think it a pretty hot topic. Several were killed in the Vale two or three years ago when their minibus was hit by a train. We put out a press release and invited the media to question …

The journey to the moral high ground is not a free ride

February 28th, 2006 by Rt Rev. David Walker

The woman pushing the drinks trolley along the aisle of my train gave me a survey to complete. One question stood out. Would I be prepared to pay more for my cup of tea or coffee if it was fairly traded? It’s a fair thing to ask. The journey up to the moral high ground …

Getting dewy eyed about Local Area Agreements

January 5th, 2006 by Rt Rev. David Walker

Maybe at my age I ought to be more hard-bitten and cynical. Yet when I’m presented with what seems like a new way of doing things in the public sector, I still think first of the potential and possibilities. So let me, in a spirit appropriate to a New Year, come over all dewy eyed …