Don't you feel bad? We don't have Ken - we've got Boris." That was the conclusion of a fan of the ex-Mayor of London after Livingstone raised the spirits of 300 architects gathered on Wednesday evening in the arched splendour of the Caesar Pelli-designed East Wintergarden at Canary Wharf.

Ken had been enticed along by the Architects Journal, which gave him a gong for giving its readers so much work between 2000 and 2008. But why resent Boris for a recession that has zapped so many projects?

The antipathy lies deeper than that. The suspicion of many designers attending the dinner (dress code: stylish) is that Boris (dress code: dishevelled) has greater affinity with their real enemy, who is, of course, the Prince of Wales. Ken (who looked very dapper) played nicely to this.

He recently visited Poundbury, the mini-town shaped and formed by Prince Charles on the edge of Dorchester in Dorset. In a cruel turn of phrase that sent a shiver of pleasurable shock through the audience, Ken denounced "this empire of squat hovels fit only for a medieval prince".

But Livingstone did not mention his real enemy, Boris, at least not in his acceptance speech which, towards the end, began to sound suspiciously like a limbering-up exercise for the 2012 Mayoral elections. "London must be innovative. London is much more than a financial centre. London is the most accommodating city in the world," he said.

The suspicion being that Boris is less than accommodating to development than Ken, who was of course hugely accommodating.

But, hang on, thanks to the recession, there are surely quite enough Livingstone-approved tall towers and stalled mega-developments to keep everyone happy until 2020? So it is surely OK for Boris to relax then, isn't it? No, it bloody well isn't is Ken's unexpurgated view, expressed to the Evening Standard between the gin-cured salmon starter and the slow-roasted lamb.

"He just wants to get through this Mayoralty without making a major cock-up - and then go off and try to be Prime Minister. Ridiculous. He should be agitating for extensions to Crossrail - like a tunnel between Waterloo and Euston for instance.

"You have to think 20 years ahead in the job if you want London to prosper. He has come up with nothing new.

"He has been a disaster on housing. The chance that we'll build 50,000 homes in three years is remote. There is £5 billion available. Boris has already wasted his first year arguing about how the money is spent.

"He should have gone straight in and kick-started the huge sites in the Royal Docks, Greenwich and King's Cross by getting on with the social housing."

Good knockabout stuff, which no doubt the current Mayor can rebut.

But it has to be said that the trim and now fit-looking man who celebrates his 64th birthday on 17 June will probably still get the architects' vote in 2012, even if Boris goes for a second term: it is something to do with the way his shirt-tail keeps coming out.

This gate is still jammed

News for drivers who face the A20 permajam through Lewisham: last week the council finally agreed who is going to pay what for shifting a roundabout that stands in the way of a £250 million redevelopment. The bad news is it will be five years (at least) before the whole project is completed by Taylor Wimpey and its joint-venture partner Muse.

In 2004 the pair were selected to build the 4.9-acre Lewisham Gateway project. In 2007 plans for 11 office blocks, 150,000 sq ft of shops, 800 homes, and a whacking great leisure complex were approved. So why has it taken another two years to sort out a £25 million contribution from the developers?

Presumably because in 2007 the council was hoping for a great deal more than £25 million. The credit crunch has put paid to that dream. Taylor Wimpey very nearly went under. Muse has a new owner, Morgan Sindall, which said it was "revisiting" its schemes. Both are presumably committed to starting work. One day they will, presumably?

Newcomer heads for the exit but the award was a bit pants

Sol and Eddie Zakay stepped up on stage in the Park Lane Hilton to receive the Most Promising Newcomer of the Year award at the annual Variety Club property lunch on 19 May.

Who? Well, the barely known pair have spent 30 years quietly amassing a property fortune estimated at £1.5 billion, including the ownership of the HQ of Merrill Lynch in the City and 111 M&S and Tesco stores. Neither will see 55 again.

As the still-proud recipient of the award in 2007, I can attest to the irony of the Newcomer title. The 20-inch bronze of a maniacally grinning man clad only in a vest and Y-fronts is less a prize for early business valour and more a long-service medal for those who have stuck around. So, it is a pity to hear that one of the Israeli-born brothers doesn't plan to stick around.

Sol Zakay has just told clients of the £3 billion Topland Group that he is resigning 21 UK directorships and moving to Israel. Younger brother Eddie will operate the UK business from their modest modern offices in Wigmore Street.

There are reports suggesting he is "fleeing" the UK because Alistair Darling has put the top rate of income tax up to 50%. For heaven's sake, the man may just be off because he wants to spend most of the £1.2 billion Topland has in the bank abroad. For the company has started buying supermarkets in Spain, and has become involved in a £1 billion housebuilding fund in India.

But could brother Sol be departing after taking umbrage at the Variety Club? After all, the really big prize of Banker of the Year went to the man who put 10p on the top income tax rate. Alistair Darling failed to be amused enough to turn up.

Brewer calls for a double

The Blackburn-based brewing group Daniel Thwaites should do pretty well from the sale of the Stafford Hotel in St James's. Savills are punting a price of £80 million for the 105-bedroom five-star hotel, which lies tucked down a cul-de-sac near Green Park.

The Stafford was an unlikely buy for the northern pubs group in 1994. But the cash-strapped Trafalgar House construction group, which at the time also owned the Ritz, needed to sell.

The Shire hotels subsidiary of Daniel Thwaites bought it for £16 million. Why? Who knows? Perhaps a member of the family-owned business had grown fond of the clubby atmosphere. The Stafford has remained an unlikely member of the Shire hotels subsidiary ever since.

In 2005 Shire bought the building next door to the Stafford for £10 million and then spent £12 million adding 26 bedrooms. So, total money out, £38 million. Asking price, double that. Cheers.