A Time for Manifestos
Austin Williams | 8 May 2008 This year is the 75th anniversary of the official closure of the Bauhaus, seen by some as signalling the high and low point of the avant garde experiment. The avant garde ¬- the artistic advance guard – was driven by a desire to challenge the institutions of the past in order to liberate new and experimental ideas. In the same year, the MARS Group was founded in London by Wells Coates and New York’s...
‘The Islamist’
‘The Islamist’ by Ed Husain; Penguin, 2007. 288pp Reviewed By Robin Walsh | April 2008 Ed Hussein’s tale of his time as a member of Hizb ut Tahrir is part memoir of misspent radical youth, part post-911 exploration of Islamic extremism. But despite falling between two genres known for their tendency towards the hysterical, Hussein’s book is both engaging and quite revealing about a number of aspects of contemporary...
The Craftsman
‘The Craftsman’ by Richard Sennett; Allen Lane, 2008. 304pp Reviewed by Martin Earnshaw | April 2008 The roots of The Craftsman, the first book in a forthcoming three volume work, go deep into the belly of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Richard Sennett recalls a conversation he had with his old teacher Hannah Arendt about the relationship between material innovation and politics. The relevance of such a conversation at the...
Ken’s war economy
Austin Williams | 30 March 2008 Ken, the consummate political hack, has learned that you only need to mention carbon emissions these days and it is enough to stifle criticism. What better way to create the mandate for any old restrictive policy, rubbishing your opponents and getting away with it. Claim that you are campaigning against climate change and, it seems, you are above criticism. Well pardon me if I don’t play ball. Firstly,...
Dictionary of Environment and Conservation
‘Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation’ by Chris Park; Oxford University Press, 2008. 522pp. Reviewed by Austin Williams | March 2008 The first word in the Oxford Dictionary of Environment and Conservation is “aa” – a Hawaiian word, pronounced “ah-ah”, defined here as volcanic lava rock. This opening definition seems to be there solely to distract the reader from the banality of...
Article for “The Tablet”
Austin Williams | 1 March 2008 Today, Malthus is making a comeback. Even in polite conversation, it is mainstream to suggest that we are using up limited resources and that humanity’s survival relies on reducing consumption. Guardian journalist Madeleine Bunting says that there are simply ‘too many people’. The Optimum Population Trust states that: ‘population limitation should…be seen as the most cost-effective carbon offsetting...
Transforming New York
‘Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York’ edited by Hilary Ballon and Kenneth T. Jackson; Norton, 2008. 336pp Reviewed by Alastair Donald | 20 January 2008 This illuminating volume was published to tie in with a three part exhibition held in New York in early 2006. It acts as an extensive catalogue of built and unbuilt projects from during Moses period in public office from 1934 until he was ousted...
Facts About London
Austin Williams | December 2007 South Bank The Hayward Gallery is named after Sir Isaac Hayward, former leader of the London County Council. It was opened on 9th July 1968… the same day that former West Ham striker Paolo Di Canio was born. Bridges The Millennium bridge from Tate Modern to St Pauls is 325metres long although its central span is just 144metres and is suspended by tensioned cables that sag by 2.3m. When it opened on...
Moving India
Austin Williams | November 2007 The Indian railway holds misty-eyed memories for hardened travellers, but even for those who have never ventured to the continent it symbolises both the history and mystery of that vast country. With 39, 500 miles of passenger rail – twice the length of the British rail network – India still recalls the era of steam trains, tea and tiffin. In his ‘Great Railway Bazaar’ travel writer Paul Theroux...
More than Bricks and Mortar
Dave Clements | November 2007 In a speech given at Battle of Ideas 2007, Dave Clements argues that housing has become a vehicle for contemporary prejudices, anxieties and orthodoxies about how we live. The figures … The government’s plan is to build three million homes by 2020 The annual target is to build 200,000 homes a year We are already falling short by around 30,000 a year The target will increase to 240,000 a year from 2016...
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