Working Practices: East v West
Apr16

Working Practices: East v West

The efficiency drive in China means that architects and construction workers have to work very hard to meet deadlines and it is very difficult to keep a work-life balance. In the west, this is often all architects talk about.

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The Fundamentals of Graphic Design
Apr05

The Fundamentals of Graphic Design

The ’socially responsible’ designer is a good example of an ideological imposition getting in the way of clarifying graphic design, and its mediating and transformative role in society.

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Black & White issues
Mar28

Black & White issues

Dameon Garnett’s ‘Sticks and Stones’, whose run at the Tristan Bates Theatre was curtailed by the COVID-19 crisis, is an attempt to articulate the importance of free speech and the dangers of identity politics in our time.

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Chernobyl Fallout
Mar26

Chernobyl Fallout

The virus thrives on the essential elements of social life, such as the need to socialise, the importance of proximity, or the desire to comfort. To defeat the virus, we are told that we have to become reclusive.

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Stay safe but remain sceptical
Mar24

Stay safe but remain sceptical

Regardless of the UK government’s twelfth-hour assurance that these new powers will be reviewed every six months, a potentially worrying precedent may have already been set.

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Identity Politics ain’t Liberal
Mar12

Identity Politics ain’t Liberal

“Common cause” is not going to work if we have to morally browbeat people into supporting the uncommon interests of oppressed minority-groups. The question is, what unites us?

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The RIBA Plan of Work
Mar01

The RIBA Plan of Work

… has been a useful guide in steering the profession to provide clear, accurate and timely advice. The new version is more driven by external political events, rather than the independent practical concerns of the profession.

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Defining Art, Creating the Canon: Artistic Value in an Era of Doubt by Paul Crowther
Feb28

Defining Art, Creating the Canon: Artistic Value in an Era of Doubt by Paul Crowther

The aesthetic experiences that we have as adults are a kind of echo of these formative infant experiences: an ongoing rediscovery of the world and its possibilities.

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Changing Politics for Good – What Next?
Feb24

Changing Politics for Good – What Next?

Changing Politics for Good: What Next? Cheshire Conference Centre, Stockport. 29 February 2020. When people mobilise, coordinate, and make their presence felt, things can and will change.

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Bridging the Political Divide
Feb15

Bridging the Political Divide

Two years ago, in a national newspaper, achitect Alan Dunlop mooted the possibility of a bridge linking Scotland to Northern Ireland: Portpatrick to Larne, or the Mull of Kintyre to Torr Head.

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