Intrepid columnist Rodney Dykes reports back on stand-up comedy and ministerial wise words.
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Sarah Webb, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing, wants us to take stock, learn and think again here at Harrogate 08. With more than 6,500 exhibitors, delegates and visitors there is a lot to take stock of. Almost a quarter of those attending will be at the conference for the first time. Others have clocked up a few visits before.
Once again, in a packed programme with lots of new speakers, the town's tourist attractions will vie with the conference sessions and the exhibition. Well, you do have to do Betty's don't you -at least once!
The exhibition with its 360-plus stands is where a lot of the interaction takes place. The eager anticipation: will there be men in white coats again this year; can I have ago at the scalextric; how many mouse mats, pens and key rings can I get - how many mouse mats do you really need? Will building societies be exhibiting, and if so why? So much to do and see.
The curtain raiser is the Monday night dinner. Always a difficult one this: getting the right after-dinner speaker is tricky. The television journalists have been OK in the past, and so have the comedians - just. It is hardly going to be a walk on the wild side whoever it is. This year it fell to funyman Steve Punt and very good he was too. My dining companions were entertaining as well.
Councillor Ron Grogan from Wear Valley with his encyclopaedic knowledge of US presidents went down well with Jane Vincent, chair of the International Committee from NAHRO USA. His bewilderment at the creation of a unitary authority in County Durham would be a good session - he could even throw in something about his recent trip to Alaska. Alison Venning from the CLG was able to enthuse about choice-based lettings to a level experienced by few. My money is on her to speak here next year.
Then - Mr Punt. It is not easy to entertain starting at l0.20pm on a Monday night, but he did and in some style. From his civil service parentage and now his work umbilically attached to the BBC (fair employment there, they take graduates from Oxford as well as Cambridge), he is Radio 4 and clever with it. From Boris and Bush to Bill Oddie, from Tesco to Barratt, it was modern stand-up comedy, topical, witty and it went down well.
Of course his Daily Mail approach to job titles were probably so close to home that they rang very true. What does a change manager change? And an anti-social behaviour co-ordinator - do they really stand outside Wetherspoons on Friday night making sure the traffic cones are properly arranged on the bus shelter? The bits about potato crisps had me smiling when my head hit the pillow.
On to the opening session and an impressive and colourful stage of which Wayne and Colleen would have approved. The last time I saw something so green it was on every wall in Lanzarote. Speakers come centre stage to what I suppose is called an eclectic mix of music - country and western with some McCartney-type mandolin thrown in for good measure. A welcome from the CIH president and then a video welcome from the prime minister. Mr Brown started by apologising for not being present in person. Really?!
After the usual platitudes and statistics, there was a commitment to use the resources available etc etc and a green paper. I don't know about you but somehow it was cold. But, well done CIH for getting into his busy diary.
Caroline Flint was up next. Your intrepid columnist attended a very brief press conference before the session but was prevented - because of time constraints - from asking whether she was still an active member of the Division Belles. Her web page says she is - a group of MPs devoted to tap dancing! It seems to me being fleet of foot might come in handy for a minister of housing at the present time. She comes over well. Only four months in the job, but with a ministerial background in other social policy fields, she is confident with her subject.
No great surprises in the speech, but a call to the relative agencies to explore what more might be done in these troubled economic times. Then a reminder of action taken and some real life examples of what she has seen first-hand. An emphasis on the working individual as to be expected and a call for more creativity.
Then a personal commitment to extend the services of the Tenant Services Authority to local authorities, and in an all too brief question session a view that there was some evidence that existing powers to pursue private landlords who do not provide decent accommodation are not to be fully used. Then she's off on the train back to London.
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