Gordon Brown’s choice of housing as an issue to highlight in the earliest days of his campaign for the Labour leadership could be significant, and not only because there’s a rather nice property in Downing Street going begging. Tony Blair, after his initial enthusiasm for neighbourhood renewal and tackling social exclusion, gave the impression he had more lofty matters of state to deal with. It was left to John Prescott to make the running on housing and sustainable communities, and he deserves credit for keeping the issue on the agenda.