The Empty Property Show

The TV home property show has been very much "on message" for the New Labour zeitgeist. Meanwhile, gangs of executives from the likes of the Regional Developments Agencies, as well as some major urban local authorities, have headed south (literally) to international property shows of the kind held annually in Cannes.

However, many urban areas in Britain now have a glut of empty property, mainly 1 and 2 bedroom flats built for the, anticipated, swell in numbers of young professionals in well-paid work. The real growth has actually been in multi-occupancy households, many on very low incomes : the amount of low-paid work is certainly growing.

Indeed, the growing gulf between the fantasy world of so-called evidenced-based policy-makers, many of whom would deny the evidence of their own eyes if spurious statistics dictated this, and actual reality, is, I maintain, one of the key manifestations of the New Labour Project. This is precidely why its deconstruction is essential.