Kmflett's Blog

Islington Green

The lazy stereotype of trendy Islington has surely done its day, or so it might be thought.

However the Mail on Sunday has found that Sam Lister the new DG of No.10 North lives in a townhouse in ‘trendy Islington’ and commutes by Avanti train (good luck) to the offices of No.10 in the North. He stays in hotel accommodation while there and returns to North London on a Friday evening.

There are several issues with this. Firstly while some parts of Islington may well be trendy quite a bit consists of working class families who struggle to get by. A trend certainly but not trendy.

Secondly working in the private sector, the practice of senior managers living distances from London HQs which make daily commuting not a great idea, have long stayed in hotel or similar accommodation during the week.

In sense flexible working and the ability to work virtually from anywhere has made the practice a bit less common but this is a world beyond the Mail’s conception.

Perhaps the DG of No.10 North will eventually relocate to Manchester, or Stockport anyway, but the Government might change before all that long so the commute may continue.

Meanwhile the Mail also reports that No.10 of the North is adjacent to Wing’s Wayne Rooney’s favourite Chinese restaurant. Hmmmm