HSBC’s (soon to be) former headquarters in Canary Wharf

What to do with it, with all those glass-and-steel cubicles? That is what the Dutch “financial times” (FD) is asking. I get its daily emails, in case you have started wondering why I so often refer to it.

Simples.

House England’s homeless. The people whose income is so low that they can’t even get onto that housing ladder.

Who is going to write the proposal that will make it add up financially and approach all relevant parties? I’m sure it can be done. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

In view of the brilliant inclusive commercials HSBC has had in recent years, for example on a billboard along Lake Road in Portsmouth, certainly HSBC will want to listen and cooperate (unless it has a reason for wanting a PR disaster on its hands).

“Today, shed office. Tomorrow, head office.”

There you go.

(I have not seen that one in person. I remember a few that made me feel supported, as a migrant, however. They had a bold “keep pushing back against hostile Tory and Brexit sentiments, also post-Brexit” feel to them. I photographed at least one of them, possibly the one with the football photo. They gave off a strong message.)

The building is owned by the Quatar Investment Authority (QIA). It has a connection to the Canadian firm Brookfield. The Canary Wharf Group is owned by the QIA and Brookfield.

Who can step up?

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.


Here is one of those ads that I saw in Portsmouth pretty recently.

Source: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/theres-term-hsbc-to-dog-whistling/1522347
John Donne was English. He lived in the 17th century. His work is part of the country’s own literature. People consider him a poet now.

Yes, of course it’s PR bullshit, but…

You have no idea how big a difference seeing a little bit of inclusivity can make to a person. Suddenly, I too existed, for a moment, when I saw that poster along Lake Road. Suddenly, I felt considered a normal human being again, just for a moment. I felt acknowledged, validated, instead of mocked and scorned.

They even specifically mentioned “my kind”. I’m from a tiny country, so that was quite amazing.

I hope that they also had posters with Bulgarians, Polish people and Italians and all the other minorities that help keep the country functioning, such as Jenny from New Zealand and Luis from Portugal.

Both were in the NHS, and both were among the many who looked after Boris Johnson when he almost passed away after having made fun of people who took the virus that almost killed him seriously. Jenny quit in disgust when all the NHS staff in terms of support got was claps and a pay raise that was so small that it made no difference, but guess what, those wages are the fault of people like Jenny and Luis, in the Brexit rhetoric. Brexit was going to result in 350 million per week for the NHS, money that supposedly was going from the UK to the other EU countries and that could now finally go to the badly underfunded NHS.

The real problem was and remains the country’s homegrown massive inequality.

Feel free to share your opinion below, please.

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