STANDING UP FOR THE CITY THE CITY VIEW

Michael Gove added a new London-based ambition: Docklands 2.0, to the east and south of Canary Wharf in Thamesmead, Charlton and Beckton. It’s certainly an area prime for redevelopment, even if the architecture of the place holds a soft spot in the heart of many a brutalism enthusiast. Needless to say, as with anything in Britain that involves spades in the ground, opposition popped up almost immediately. Business groups warned the plan would eat into precious industrial land. Others complained the scheme was not ambitious enough, avoiding the obvious fact that ambitious schemes in this country are effectively dead on arrival. Gove, in short, cannot win. If anything, his ambition –neatly outlined in what was, in the abstract, a good speech –for a housebuilding revolution in this country only made it all the more tragic that Britain continues to slice into the life chances of whole generations by failing to put houses people want to live in in places they want to live. Our property-owning democracy of which we are so proud is a fraud; it is increasingly a pipe dream for even high-achieving youngsters to

THE FUR-BRIGADE A fireman yesterday after rescuing a cat and two rabbits from the Greek island of Rhodes, where the country’s largest wildfire evacuation is underway get on the property ladder close enough to the office not to make the commute a misery, unless you happen to have a conveniently wealthy relative soon to meet their maker. A member of this paper’s senior staff was once asked in a TV interview how to fix Britain’s growth problem. “Open the doors and build some houses,” came the answer. It might not be politically palatable, but then, neither should trend growth as flat as the river on a still day.

What The Other Papers Say This Morning

The Financial Times

RISHI SUNAK SIGNALS HE IS READY TO SOFTEN UK GREEN POLICIES

Rishi Sunak has indicated he is ready to soften green policies, saying he did not want to “hassle” voters and hitting the UK’s net zero carbon emissions target had to be done proportionately.

THE GUARDIAN MACRON SAYS FRANCE NEEDS RETURN TO AUTHORITY AFTER UNREST

Emmanuel Macron has said France needs a return to authority “at every level” after recent urban unrest over the police shooting of a teenager, saying poor parenting was part of the reason teenagers had taken to the streets.

Bloomberg

FTC’S KHAN DEFENDS ANTITRUST RECORD AFTER MICROSOFT-ACTIVISION LOSS

Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan defended the agency’s record in court, pushing back on criticism in the wake of its unsuccessful challenge to Microsoft’s Activision takeover. “In the scheme of our merger enforcement program, losing two is OK,” she said.