Died in a fire at London Zoo whose keepers have had to postpone their annual stock take of all their animals birds fish and insects until next month the causes of both fires aren't yet known air accident investigators in Australia are continuing to piece together events that lead to the deaths of a couple from tooting and their 3 children in a seaplane crash near Sydney Richard cousins who ran the catering firm compass died on New Year's Eve along with his 2 sons his fiance and her 11 year old daughter the B.B.C.'s Phil Mercer is in Australia with the latest the wreckage of the seaplane remains at the bottom of the hold great river 40 feet down it's been examined by police divers in the last couple of days because the air crash team wants to raise the wreckage by the end of the week and they're hoping to bring it up in a good a shape as possible because of course the plane will be a fundamental clue in trying to establish how and why this crash occurred reports from Iran say 9 people have been killed in a 5th night of clashes between anti establishment protesters and the security forces at least 20 people have died since the demonstrations began last Thursday and they've been almost 500 arrests here the foreign secretary Boris Johnson's called for Iran to engage in meaningful debate about the grievances raised by the protesters for the 1st time since 2013 all the platforms at London Bridge are open the Smalling along with the whole of the concourse after the completion of work to rebuild the station as part of the Thameslink upgrade but this morning passengers are facing the largest increase in rail fares for 5 years with most ticket prices rising by between 3 and 4 percent the government says 97 p. In every pound spent on fares goes back into the realm network but Labor's shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald says it's clear where the problem lies we're wasting money in the franchising system itself it duplicate costs and there are dividends going out too and that. Under spore they're going. To subsidize rail was on the continent this is an answer this is not the Rockies having risen 3 times the rate of earnings I think people got to the end of their tether and quite understandably so now Georgina Burnett has London's weather that we have rain coming from the west this morning cling to the east this often in quite heavy at times and even a few showers behind the southerly wind picking up and highs of 11 degree Celsius further rain overnight and strengthening winds the most of us has a yellow warning in place the wind from midnight tonight until 10 o'clock tomorrow night 10 inches and about 6 degrees and is a windy day tomorrow it was sunny spells blustery showers around they could see gusts of up to 50 miles per hour with the winds easing later on as the shallows me the way with highs a 10 degree Celsius b.b.c. Radio London it's 4 minutes past 10 years a tradition at midnight on New Year's Eve. Is London. Examiner from today Steve Case the toughest are you looking forward to a city full of course politics this is b.b.c. Radio love to roll this album's. Good morning London elms. And a very Happy New Year to you too. I hope you enjoyed the new year is special on the London police yesterday. But today it's back to normal and normally on a Tuesday Well we are the go out about round your manna and we do that next Tuesday . Or else we pick a subject and we're doing that today. And the subject in question is you in your writing. Do you keep up blog. Do you write poetry or ply ease. I don't mean professionally although you might do . But loads and loads of people do writing as a hobby are you doing an autobiography. If the answer to any of those questions is yes we'd love to hear from you. We are going to hear from Rob who runs his own blog another nickel in the machine he's also been a listed Londoner another little in the machine is a fantastic look at London's kind of alternative history. And it's become a book so he's turned it from a hobby into a career. We're going to talk to George to use the cofounder an artistic director of something called Papen tangle this is a charity discovers and champions new playwrights says you write plays. So that's our subject of the day but we've got lots else to particularly talking about architecture as we always do want to choose day. Simon air rage is going to come in director of Bennett's associates. And we have a chat about the built environment. And we're going to talk about self build homes particularly those down in waltzes way in Segal close. This is a scheme back in the seventy's in Lewisham to build self build homes on a. Kind of plan put together by the architect Walter Siegel. They're still there today in a new book is coming out about. I'm. Going to talk to Alice Graham who lives in one of the houses. And she's written the book. Plus $12131.00 we're going to talk about McMath. This is a new television series but we're going to concentrate on the book from which. This is seriously organized crime. This is international trans national global crime. So we've got. To go tango on new playwrights we've got Simon. We've got the architecture and so homes of wolves has way in Segal close. And we got robbed to bring about another nickel in the machine which is his blog and his books. And we'd love to hear from you. Know lots of the right and I some of you write poetry. And I lots of he keep blogs. Sug don't write today to walk. Where you can write you can email to Robert Elms at b.b.c. To. Be contemptuous 174-0000. You're listening. To coming home. That's the title of the compilation which is this track. It's called Young and it's by Coco Steele and love. This is the road. The 2nd of January in the nearest year of the movie. That some. Aretha Franklin and Dunn play that song. In a few moments we're going to be talking to Rob by the man behind another nickel in the machine. Just a couple things I want to talk to you about 1st. Couple a New Years things I mean I did say on air the other day but since we're now back I'm proper and Evans back to work and one's listening again we hope a big big congratulations and well done to Eddie Nesta on his m.b.a. It was an m.b.a. When it was in the c.b.r. And I would be it was an m.b.a. And you know I couldn't happen to a nicer guy and b. And he does you know and unstinting amount of work for charity and I thought it was a fantastic acknowledgment in all honesty so well done it so that was that was something I want to sign it before we started I also wanted to tell you only not because I'm boasting or anything of the sauce angle I mean b.s. But will it tell you that I'm doing Dry January the only reason for telling you this is one sided don't bring me any alcohol for a day right which would be terribly tempting and also would give me a dispensation another I want to dispensation but the other reason for telling you is that it might actually help me achieve the more people I tell the less likely I am to snake snake a pipe or murder so if you see me in a pub you have my permission to tell the barman that I'm bald. I've said this to everybody I know if you see me I've said it to my kids if you see me out in a bottle wine stop instantly but hide the coke screw ban the ball out now I'm not going to drink for the entire month of January and this is so a semi serious business you know we were on or this my wife doesn't drink it so but many of us drink too much of a kind of Christmas period and all of that and I certainly did but don't think of going to consecutive week probably in a Willacy I think I'm exaggerating but I think I've gone 3 consecutive days of a drink except for him periods of illness and I've met many of them in my entire adult life so this this would be a 1st believe me and I'm doing quite well this fall well one day. It was a whole day or the Afi did point out because I said I'm doing a completely dry January and he said Did you have a drink of the midnight on New Year's Eve and I said Yeah I just want to to you where you haven't done January that ever. So but the thing that really counts so from here on in I'll keep you up to die I promise I won't lie well I'll try thought . But if you see be there the situations where drinking looks likely just just remind me please and if I so they go I just thought I'd let you know that and I'll keep you report on how it's going. But other than that let's move on with today's business sober of a sober as I am. I'm going to talk about writing now I'm very lucky I've done writing as part of my living for my entire adult life and some of my teenage life. When I was still at university and I went the old fashioned route I walked into the offices of the enemy and condoled and convince them to let me do some some live reviews and it went from there but these days there's many many more ways that you can become a writer and I don't mean necessarily as your profession or that could end up like that but so many people now commercial and publishing get their get their work read because of the Internet of course and I know that lots of you keep blogs I know that lots of you publish in inverted commas your poetry or whatever it might be online and I think that's fantastic there's an incredible world out there of stuff that's written down and photographed and you know whatever and one of the people has done that but it's turned into more than that is Rob biker he's the man behind a novel nickel in the machine which is an absolutely fantastic bloke. About the kind of history of the city that we all share and he's also turned into a couple of books beautiful idiots and brilliant in its 6 and high buildings low morals both of them kind of inspired by the blog that he started and as the ultimate accolade he's been enlisted love them and he's on the line now good morning to you Rob. And to you too happy New Year to you. So let's go back to when you 1st started the blog of another nickel in the machine we were right or you always wanted to be a writer what was the sort of the inspiration for doing well I had really not written anything in school I. Mean science and then an artist and I went to art college and I didn't have a really really natural although I read. You know and I don't my life and then I was I was pretty ill of you know about 8 or 9 years ago and I was a sense of time and bad and I thought Hans writes in a blog and I started the music and that's why it's called another nickel in the machine because it comes from one of the one for my baby and a line about a jukebox Of course yeah yeah about a few of them and you know and then it sort of grew and grew and I realized I thought I was writing I started to really really enjoy writing and it was very difficult you know I had never really done it but I really enjoyed it and the more I write the more it became enjoyable and the more you. Became and and and it became me yeah I presume while you were doing this though your holding down a full time job and said this is being done well in the evenings at weekends when Yeah it was my work and t.v. And so. You know as it tends to be have 3 weeks of intense work and then a few weeks of not working at all that kind of kind of thing and then because I had that time and then I was easing up the whole week and because I was enjoying it so much not always love research I was going to line breeze and. British Library and stuff like that loved it and start to be going deeper and deeper and into things how did you make people aware of what you're doing did you simply just put it out as a blog and then just hope the people read it Aeacus it was sort of the for social media really just fills starting perhaps. And so and that was one of the when I 1st started writing it was definitely for me and I and I always would say this to other people when if you are just about start writing I think is to write 3 or so. What you find interesting and not think about other people and then you've got a true voice that says you know what I may not sound a bit pretentious but I think you know that's quite important how did you did you get feedback very quickly because one of the things about in the old buddies was you wrote for the enemy you know you wrote for Time Out whatever it might be and you knew that there were people reading how did you know when you 1st started that was one of the the shocking things was he really do think I want to reading your writing in a vacuum so to yeah and then people started one of the great things about about blokes in those days especially people started commenting and then more and more people comment and then you'd And then it was oh it was all yeah it was quite shocking how many teeth walked out that you know and then adding little bits of information a bit like your show you know it will start finding out some people comment and then you could go off on other tangents and things like that or people would contribute other stories and things like that so it was it was incredible that I still can't get over the feedback and and it's great that since I started turning them into books I think that some of the stories 3040 feet more comments from people and I can email them over and say oh can I talk to you about this matter and ask my much more. What about negative comments did you ever get put off by that. Hardly any I'd stop showing off I could count them. That sometimes you got a few right about. Horrible William Joyce you'd get people of quite a right wing leaning perhaps sort of in jumping and enjoying what he did a bit a little too much but I think that you can just you know the late and I guess what you do isn't controversial because it's not really opinion your pixies are not I don't think so there's a few If I do put opinions and it's quite subtle and it's up to you to pick that up I think and I quite like that you know so if I write about one post was about calling Botti and she was in an architectural sort of complaints group called the anti uglies and I write about by Waterhouse and architecture and in Knightsbridge and that's what I really love doing what you know starting at one point and then sort of ending up talking about something completely different and I criticized One Hyde Park by Richard Rogers which replaced by Waterhouse. And quite and a subtle way but what do you agree or disagree really what about the sort of the other aspects of publishing a book about the kind of design of it for example when you went to art schools are presumed something you can do but but I you know I'm a writer I'm so I know nothing about fonts and layouts and photos and all of that going to me Well there's quite there's easy in I think I started on. Which I think got taken over from something I can't quite remember and then I transferred to Word Press and it's meant to be and what maybe it's easier now but it was meant to be quite easy you just start writing and you get a template but then I didn't like templates and I thought well this is a chance to go into the nitty gritty and it did it but I don't need to a week or 2 to sort of design your own Think through what price it was it was relatively easy and then once you've done that you just forget it just completely forget point did you switch over from being a hobby to being a in inverted commas a career. Well it's when I started you know people often say that Stephen Fry tweeted about the Web site and then Danny Banks had mentioned it. On your station and things and incredibly kind was lost suddenly I thought well if these people are quite liking it must be must be quite good and not feel right inside then and then a publisher kind man said Would you like to turn some of your stories into a book and I just thought Wow yet you know I come from a background when I would ever write book 6 through it for me it was like What about it let me use a really ugly would what about monetizing the website was that for example nice not where. It got lots of messages when I was it most popular when I was I was. I got lots of messages from people saying put out outfits but I I use too many pictures that I wasn't quite sure of the copyright. I didn't want anybody to have an excuse that I was making money and copyrights of I make sure I show but I don't think he'd make much money in that way especially now so really you've got to do it because you want to yeah and I think I think the successful websites and blogs I think that that shines through doesn't it and because you you do want to do it and it's b.s. And so over loud from. You know shines through that way and in terms of the actual writing I mean the process of becoming a writer Did you know it's getting easier and more fluent Earl would you say you're aware of your kind of advances and I can if I look back my only posts I think what you know basically it's long sentences that you start writing these long convoluted complicated sentences and I think that you do actually but as you get go he. You write short sentences is somehow more direct and then somehow I don't say the most important thing I think is reading it back I mean out loud out loud out loud is really important I would say you will you will the way you speak comes through your writing and you can Olio fight you know pride James and all the people you can have and speak when you read that writing and I think that's reading both do you still enjoy it. I I really really I mean I've been sort of so publicizing this was the last book and and I'm really really looking forward to writing my next that which might think it's going to be about the history of the whole of the British holiday time. Which I can't wait I think can be fascinating how we were Pontins. Yeah. Just the pitch is extraordinary and it's a very short. Shorts very British thing and I think it comes from both the wars but people used to let you know what was left a mess and hearts and Yeah exactly yeah but never never forget Pontin intell. Right so they could try and get away. Tell people the the website address again so that they can see the blog if they want to. Nickel and machine. And if these guys that I also work from another site which I lost my lunch to school flashback dot com and my latest is called Hard building no more but by cow thank you very very much so you see that's how you do it I've got a lovely amount from James from Bexley and he says I'm joins from Bexley in a 19 I've been writing a film blog since 2014 call j.g. Review excuse the basic 9 to develop my writing skills and to try and build a name for myself in the hope that I can one day working film journalism professionally I love that blogging is help me to stay focused on my career aspirations as well as helping me relax writing is such a good hobby and I would recommend it to Will Happy New Year to you and your crew Well Happy New Year to you too James and back when I get on today I'm going to look at your blog and I do think it's fantastic I mean it as democratized the act of writing maybe said some negative elements as well it's very hard these days doing a living as a freelance writer No seriously why I did when I was a kid was I was a freelancer as I keep when I was not in 202122 I was a freelance writer because people paid you. To write back in these days people do it for nothing but it does mean that many many more people can do it and in the end might be like Robbie find a way to turn that into a career I'd love to hear from you on out to our 72242000 give us a call plays. I'm . The owner in the night. I know. Living. Man for man's death band get in the woods all wrong to blinded by the light but still a fantastic version it's 1030 it's time for the news headlines for Matthew Schofield. Good morning the 2nd in command of Scotland Yard has told b.b.c. Radio low. And in the med is doing enough to tackle knife crime despite 4 fatal stabbings in the space of 15 hours over the new year the Mets deputy commissioner said Craig Mackey says while his officers are putting people before the courts and taking weapons off the streets communities across London need to do more to stop young people carrying knives in the 1st place 13 monkeys have died in a fire which broke out in the early hours of the Smalling of the world in safari park in Bedfordshire the cause isn't yet known and it comes 10 days after an aardvark and for me a cat died in a fire at London Zoo whose keepers have had to perspire own their annual stock take until next month air accident investigators in Australia are continuing to piece together events that led to the deaths of a couple from tooting and their 3 children in a sea plane crash near Sydney Richard cousins who ran the catering firm compass died on New Year's Eve along with his 2 sons his fiance and her 11 year old daughter and for the 1st time since 2030 in all the platforms at London Bridge are open the Smalling along with the whole of the concourse after the completion of work to rebuild the station as part of the Thameslink upgrade the Smalling passengers are facing the largest increase in rail fares for 5 years with most ticket prices rising by between 3 and 4 percent London's where the rain spreading in from the west as the wind picks up the Smalling it should clear the softer noon though staying mostly cloudy though with some showers with top temperatures of 11 Celsius 52 Fahrenheit now with the b.b.c. Radio London travel his robot. C.f.l. They are few have minor delays after a faulty chain earlier this morning the rest of the chains and she was posting a good service on the votes not a lot happening and she couple of major vote works to warn about the a once closed because of into next week for major vote works Chelsea Embankment the mains close from Chelsea to Battersea Bridge for major gasworks that's closed by the way till until April and the m 25. Venti clockwise we've still got one lane closed off between junction 16 at the m 40 and junction 15 at the m 4 for the family of a Pesach have been ongoing by the way since Boxing Day whilst a new battery is installed but aside from that traffic looking very light out about the moments and no major issues to warn about if you do spot anything if you are lucky enough to have spotted a problem you can give us a call or 72242000 where you can tweet me at b.b.c. Travel alerts box the b.b.c. Radio and there's more travel just before 11 this is London most people in the Bahamas who really wouldn't mind living in intern would leave it's gorgeous you know about the square with Rush quit as we round your mama in white check you out I have got the coolest place is so how old is quite a few tricks so what should video yesterday was new a good option to use this little. Islam to fix is b.b.c. Radio London. And we're talking blogs we're talking writing which took in poetry we took in plays were talking autobiographies whatever is your right. And Fred has said fascinating session on writing a paper in all my work online since 2008 he was an early adopter he says. I believe that the culture needs to be open and so ever since I've just put my stuff online with a Creative Commons license so anyone can access it my current project 20 f. Century boy for 2018 is about my London life on the back story to my work on design and participatory small cities and alternative history of London focusing on social action since 6966 so and that's his that's his friend Garnett participatory city so lots of people are doing this my wife runs a blog it's largely photo based one because she's a photographer but she wrote some words to go with it as well and she's been doing that for 10 you nearly as long as Fred I think probably 8 or 9 years or something and she loves it she's not that's my job but she's a brilliant photographer and sometimes her words are very touching and lovely and loads of people date is and I do think it's fantastic So if you do give us a call and tell us more now too I was 72242000 it's 25 to 11 we had they had news headlines we're going to have a discussion on move his way in Siegel close after they struck by Johnny Lang. A new message. With the key enter the. Last of the. Back and even now in your. Group. When you've. Known. He's cool and that's one of the tracks that didn't. The best of 2017 show. It was in the long list it just didn't make the cut in the end. If you miss that show and I urge you to give it a listen because I thought it was a fantastic year for music last year. Well you can hear it again not forget you got . A month basically. So I go to listen again it was on the 29th of December. For turning up to December was a 3 hour special on the best music of 2017. And there was some really really good music involved. But And let's return one at least partly to today's subject but also combining no other obsession on the Tuesday with which is architecture because I have in front of me a book called Walters why I'm Siegel close and it's basically a document about 2 of London's Well it says on the front 2 of London's most unusual streets and down in south London in Lewisham and the streets that were designed by an architect but made by the people who live in them and this whole project started out as a piece of self publishing a kind of chronicle of a community and one of the people from that community and one of the people behind the book Alice Graham is here with us now Alice welcome to the show thank you very much and Happy New Year and to you too so 1st of all for those who don't know which is why your Siegel close put it in context where Ok so we're talking about south east London and if if you know the overground sort of past New Cross Gate and that sort of pocket the the station is actually called on the right part right and I often say Forest Hill because people have heard of it it's all right parts got a quiet area it's quite leafy it's basically in Lewisham but very close to the border with subjects that he crossed crossed over the road here in Sa the can very close to Peckham So yes with we're talking south east London and so that's where we are and what we're talking about is a series of what self build homes for yes it was basically the homes were built in the 1980 s. And there's 2 projects equal close which is a close of 7 houses Welters way is 13 houses and they were designed by an architect who was a German born modernist architect called Wall to Siegel he actually worked with the council he wanted to find a new innovative where. Of producing some social housing to get people off that council waiting list. So the project was. Basically enabled local people who were chosen by pallets to build their own home and when you mean physically build around you mean physically get out there absolutely it wasn't one of the Grand Designs type projects where I hired a team of builders to come in and do it these people actually physically built their own homes things were designed to be very easily assembled want to easily assemble them they will some training involved for the builders and will to Seagle believe that anyone who could cut a piece of wood in a straight line or drill a hole in a piece of wood was capable of building a house and he really believed it was part of he has an army. You never know. It could you report it professionals if you wanted it was some tasks where where professionals were involved I mean I would not want to use my own plumbing and actually plumbing was one of the things that the self builders did themselves they actually used a type of click together plastic piping which again was was chosen because of the ease of build and they actually did their own plumbing and and sewage. To be fair a lot of those pipes have now been replaced by sort of copper pipes as people you know they've maybe haven't quite stood the test of time but. But actually the builders did most of the things that were some tasks the the piling which was the 1st stage of the project which is kind of preparing the ground and putting the piles that was done by a professional company but from then on the builders were. Doing the work absolutely themselves and instead of using power tools this is back in the eighty's our power tools with them of course well were available but they didn't have access to power tools they use hand tools so manual saws drills that health and safety regulations were a bit different to what they are today so instead of scaffolding a lot as we used so it was really quite back to basics kind of building c. Was quite inspired by traditional building methods a much more signal involved in the part. His will be there on site and stuff so he lived actually up in Highgate in a house that he designed himself. He traveled down he was actually quite elderly and beginning to get quite ill. While this project was going on he was towards the end of his life he visited the site quite often I think maybe every 3 months. And apparently he would chat to the self builders and they really he had a really really good report with the builders want to see it was quite an unusual carry different architect I don't think he really fitted into the architectural establishment but he had a very good report with the builders and he really wanted to empower them to build their own houses and he really loved seeing how the building process changed their lives and all the houses all identical. The basic design is the same for each house they're all timber frying they're all raised up on stilts and really quite unusual for London houses very different to the typical brick terrorists that we see mostly in south London. There are books like they've got timber that they're made out of panels held together with timber upright so you see stripes a bit like a achieved a hoss to have Tim But look if you can imagine a a cube a half timbered cube so they all have that basic look but then Siegel actually set sat down with the builders and they designed the interior of their house to depending on how many bedrooms they wanted you know the size of the Father me I'm sorry they were initially all the same size the builders were given a lot of equal size some of them then later bought a little extra piece of land and some of them also have extended in fact probably most families have now extended I didn't build my own house I came late I've been in the area for about 11 years but I've met several of the people who did build the houses How did you start the project of chronicling all of this Yes So basically it was initially just by talking to people in the local area and especially the neighbors and especially those who had built their own houses. And then I realised that there was a lot of interest because we did London Open House every year and have a have lots and lots of visitors hundreds of visitors but there seem to be a shortage of information. Where to find out more about will to Seagle is just a small part of the paragraph in which a pedia and I thought there was you know this is subject I was really demanding some research so I did a bit of reading around the subject talking to people. And about a year ago. Myself and some others we created curated an exhibition which was at the Architectural Association. And following on from that was was the book latch along the way of the project and she met this wonderful photographer who actually happens to live in Segal place so. The project really came from the community so does that Tarrant Aaron Wilkie who's an amazing photographer who takes lots of photos of architecture and interiors and he has put in the book these amazing very atmospheric photos of the houses inside and out which I think really like and beautiful Bourke Oh is it still a sense of community there would you say there really is surprisingly because although the house was designed a social housing what happened on the things that right to buy people bought the houses here and then they ended up privately owned and people have then sold those houses and moved away so out of the 13 houses there are 3 families of the original cells but only 3 left only 3 left but having said that the people who have moved in all seem to have bought into the ethos of the house of that of these the estate so everyone takes an interest so for example when we do open house the whole community gets involved the children make cakes and cellar and. All that lots of houses are open and we make it into a bit of a carnival atmosphere and have the house you stood the test of time because they are as you said they're quite sort of do it yourself that's right. Well building regs were different back in the eighty's and so they have we have all needed to upgrade our houses and water Siegel wasn't that concerned about thermal comfort he came back he came from Berlin he lived a lot of his life in Switzerland he was very into skiing he was a real kind of outdoor type and a writer I know he spent some time with Siegel said that. If if I complain about being cold world which is I would put on a jumper he was of that generation. So the house is an initially were fairly drafty I actually had my house pressure tested before upgrading it to see how drafty it was and it came out the same with a Victorian terraced house so sort of no worse and I better having said that. A lot of us have actually upgraded the fabric of our homes by adding. Extra insulation having adding better quality windows so a number of us now have. A triple glazed windows we've added things are well within the architectural style Yep so the basic shape of the house is the same the houses are not listed they're not listed by historic England they're listed by Lewisham they have a local listing but it's not district so. Residents have never applied for a listing because people want to be free to change their homes and we feel that's kind of part of the Siegel ethos is really is to to be able to innovate and these houses a really good for innovating So for example we've tried to make our house more eco friendly using natural materials. Some people have clad their houses in different materials people have this is interesting because they look similar time usually modern in very old fashion I think Segal was actually quite inspired by traditional almost medieval building method methods he was also very influenced by American kit houses so if you remember in you know in you know the old silent movies where someone would get married and then they would order a kit house from c. Is and it would arrive and they had would have to assemble it he was quite influenced by that style of housing also interested. Student Japanese temples I believe he didn't visit Japan but he was interested. Also he lived as a child in Switzerland and so saw lots of swish swish chalets introduce additional Swiss buildings the overhanging reefer example is from the Swiss building style and he was designing in that style ever since he 1st designed a building he 1st designed a building in Switzerland back in the early 1930 s. For a client and it was very much in the same style as the Waltons were in Siegel house close is that all the lessons from melamine you know we talk a lot on the show about housing crisis and the need to be able to to house more London is in affordable hardness Absolutely in fact as well as being the author of this is when Segal close I'm already also trustee of a charity that is encouraging people to build their own houses and get involved with community community housing and so through that charity we've actually been working with Lewisham council and we actually now have a plot of land and are about to start a self build project so we're a similar resource today I mean it will have a similar ethos basically welcome members of the community are welcome to join in and join in the self build the people who are going to actually have the homes have already been chosen by ballot right and it was done at the Town Hall and the council was involved in choosing he's going to live there but there will be other projects in the future and in fact one of the exciting parts of the project is going to start quite soon which is going to be a community building and it's going to be built in the in the wall to Siegel style using timber boards glass and. There is a chance for volunteers to get involved so if you would like to learn about how to do self build in the Siegel style there's a chance there another thing that we're doing is running workshops in how to organize community housing projects and so as part of this charity it's called the Ross which is the rural urban synthesis society and it's a bit of a mouthful because the Ross r u s s o u if you look up you can learn all about how to do community housing if you will with a bunch of friends or a community group if you want to learn about how to actually approach the council how to look for land where you become a killing that as well do you think this process. It certainly is is part of the plan is to kind of include that in the in the the body of work about self building about community housing. If you are interested in learning about community as we're actually running some workshops starting in January which will start right at the very beginning about how to form a great plan how to keep your great going because there are so many stages that you have to go through to even get to building building is actually quite far down the line is that. I wouldn't say it's easy I wouldn't say house building is easy in any sense even Grand Designs type housing you know certainly has its challenges or challenges but we hoping by the by telling people about the experience that we as a as a community great have had we hoping that that will help others who want to do the same thing because I guess that's one of the point is it isn't easy but if you're doing it with a group of other people you have shared our shared abilities and ideas and support and everything you know that's that's Yes I mean one of the hardest problems of course in London is how to get land and then how to get finance and because this community group the Ross has actually been through that now because we're actually at the stage of going through Planning Commission so we're actually quite far advanced and the finance is pretty much in place. Those stages you know it's been several years actually just getting to that stage and it is difficult especially in London I think outside of London people actually do have a bit of charm land land is not so much a premium Well if you want to know about Walters Well you can see good clothes is That's the new single from bake and delight 40 something is the new. About an email from Aris are about me attempting to do dry January and I'm not the only one not spit on a doing this I'm Reese's says your dry January got off to a very bad start didn't it Alfie was right if you drink at midnight to see the new year in you might as well give up now as you render the exercise absolutely pointless Well Little really the point of the exercise memories used to give my liver a rest and perhaps to recalibrate how much I was drinking so it doesn't really matter if I start one minute polls one or the next all the day after that if I have. I go an entire month without a drink whether that's from the minute past midnight or. Really doesn't What matters is that I set myself a little challenge it will be a challenge as well because I love a beer after the show or a glass of wine when I do when I'm when I start cooking dinner that's going to be the tough bit I think cooking is going to be the most difficult challenge even though it's quite difficult because one minute I sit in a restaurant I order a drink but I think I can control their easily but the point where you start to chop having a knife in my hand and a coke screw seem to just go together so that's going to be tough we may know it for a month either. Now I think. I'm actually quite relishing the idea of the challenge and see if I feel any different that it doesn't fit so different so far but then it is only a day to be asked to be seated. But I'll keep you up to date on how it goes and I will I will I will promise to be honest that's all locked inside I'm a compromise to accomplish but I will do my damnedest and I'll have a go and I know I'm not alone because a couple of nights I'm on a doing exactly the same thing and so is a bit of it's a challenge going on between us Russell Clark's doing the same thing but he only likes a shandy Anyway it doesn't seem fair to me he's starting from a different position. But. You know I think the other point is there isn't a member talking to a doctor about George on you and he said well yeah that's all well and good he said but you know if the minute Fredricka 1st comes you start to get about 8 gallons a day good that it really is good it has to be a y. As a set of recalibrating it's what you do throughout the rest of the year so I should bear that in mind as well although I do think that febrile the 1st will probably be a fairly quick day I would have thought. But it's coming up to 11 o'clock after that we can to continue talking architecture but in the company of Simon reach then we're back to our subject about writing and I'm going to talk to the director pepper tango which is a charity that champions new playwright seem particularly And then finally it's McMath seriously organized crime but now just approaching 11 o'clock it's time for the news headlines but before that the travel with robots the. B.b.c. Radio London the latest travel news Teff l a o continue to mine it's a laser after a Foti train earlier today there's also minor delays for London Overground Enfield town to Liverpool Street after and now for a faulty train the rest of the chains posted good service at the moment and there's a good service on cheap lines at the moment we had a tweet in from down to say that in Hammersmith Hammersmith boat is closed from Shortlands towards the Hammersmith one way system for emergency repairs to a burst water main looking quite wet and. Around Hammersmith at the moment is well fairly quiet elsewhere on the road so we do still have of course major roadworks on Chelsea Embankment that's closed from Chelsea to Battersea Bridge until April for gas works a want to hide Be corner is closed until next week for major road works but traffic is coping quite well indeed and we're looking a little bit busy times on the Bayswater boat approaching Marble Arch and the m 25 looking at tad heavy amounts of junction 11 and said Simpson 12 the church sea at the moment because of just usual sort of traffic any updates you can give us a call 020-724-0000 where you can tweet me at b.b.c. Traveller b.b.c. Radio London let more travel at 11 set. Digital radio and see the. Point non-abstract graziers state. Radio longer.