Down and Out in Manchester
“Homelessness is a problem all around the world. Through my lens and this mini-series of images, I wanted to expose a human situation that is both local and global; human and troubling”. – Zhu Runzi
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.
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?
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.
Grenfell Tower: A Tragedy
“From blaming the deaths from the Grenfell Tower fire on the London Fire Brigade it’s only a small step to blaming the residents for not leaving the burning building quickly enough”, says Simon Elmer of Architects for Social Housing
Labour Live: Bread & Circuses
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell boasted: ‘It will be magical what we can do for society.’ Eddie Izzard insisted that ‘we need to articulate a vision’. David Lammy, quoting the wrong president, yelled: ‘We’re taking our country back!’
Home is where the Art is
‘Re:Home’ is Cressida Brown’s revisit and revision to her 2006 play, ‘Home’. This new version is set and performed in-situ at Waltham Forest’s infamous, and now demolished, Beaumont Estate high rise tower blocks.
Libraries are for reading not knitting
By Elisabetta Gasparoni | 23 February 2016 The Carnegie Trust has created four databases to showcase library-run projects that contribute to public wellbeing. The databases accompany the trust’s leaflet, ‘Speaking Volumes’, which outlines how public libraries impact on four policy areas – the economy, education, culture and society – and how libraries contribute to the wellbeing of individuals and communities. The trust has given...
The dangers of ‘resilience’
Maja Schwoerer | 22 June 2015 Maja Schwoerer reports on the Future Cities Salon debate at the Building Centre in London. The recent debate, Crisis is the New Normal: what is a Resilient City?, brought together an interesting panel of architects, journalists and sustainability experts. ‘Resilience’ is a buzzword sweeping the entire industry and seemingly provides solutions for everything – be it civil war in Damascus, floods in the...
Britain after the riots
‘Out of the Ashes: Britain after the riots’ by David Lammy; Guardian Books, 2011. 272pp Reviewed by Jane Sandeman | 11 October 2012 The death of Mark Duggan in August last year was followed by four days of riots in London, and later Birmingham and Manchester. While many agreed that the riots were nihilistic, opportunistic ‘mugging’ on a large scale, there is also substantial disagreement as to the meaning of the riots and the reasons...
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