I was stunned to hear philosopher Alain de Botton speak so glowingly about John Prescott’s positive influence over planners on Question Time last night.

Is this the same man who insists that our buildings play an important role in our happiness, and has even written a book about it?

I saw him speak in Cambridge at a literary festival a few weeks ago when he was given his book,The Architecture of Happiness, a plug. He stated the obvious, how he experienced feelings of melancholy when staying in a grim, cheap (but not cheeful) Travel Lodge compared to the eurphoriac and instant state of happiness experienced in a beautiful and sumptious Venetian palace.

So how can Alain then turn round and defend Prescott’s ill conceived plan to build almost half a million homes on green land in the south of England?

I played back the online video from Question Time this morning to make sure I had heard right, and it was even worse hearing it second time round.

Not only did Alain praise Prescott for “seriously raising” the discussion of what Britain’s towns and citities will look like, but said the DPM had forced upon developers codes of good design, forcing them to think much more carefully about the quality of the communities they were building for the first time in British history.

“If you talk to architects and town planners, John Prescott is unusually popular.”

How many planners have sprung to Prescott’s defence over the last few days? None I know of. I imagine these planners and architects are hoping to prosper quite nicely from turning our meadlowlands into a concrete jungle. Alain should ask these communities what impact this will have on their quality of life, they would describe it as The Architecture of Despair/Misery.

I imagine these homes will have to be affordable to first time buyers; good quality designs and materials are not cheap. Happiness comes at a price.