In China, you WILL be good
For 70 years, China has monitored society’s actions, it’s just that now it is considerably more technically proficient in doing so.
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!’
The middle-class home
Compared to the many stories recorded about the British aristocracy or the Dickensian working class in London, there is still very little known about the capital’s middle classes and their domestic lives.
Design Museum Design
by Sam Giles | 27 November 2016 Author to over 50 books, founder of Habitat, leader of the Shad Thames redevelopment, influential restauranteur and prolific designer, there is much to laud in Sir Terence Conran’s contributions to London’s dominant cultural scene. Since the founding of his Design Museum in 1989, perhaps the most admirable yet understated of his achievements, a concerted effort has lingered to establish an institute of...
Brexit
Brexit is is not a triumphalist moment but one for constructing a better future, one in which we have the autonomy to make decisions outside the technocratic framework of the EU. For those who are fearful, it is understandable – and there is inevitably going to be business difficulties in the months ahead. But let’s not forget that things were far from rosy before the referendum. For those who have experienced home-grown recessions or...
Free Will: An Illusion?
By Joel Mills | 12 October 2015 Free will is an illusion. Quite a claim, and one that dominates much contemporary scientific thinking, and the pivotal driver for Julian Baggini to write his latest book Freedom Regained: The Possibility of Free Will. Baggini is a much-respected ‘popular’ philosopher, marked out by an ability to offer a nuanced, insightful take on complex subjects. Here, through some compelling narratives, he grapples...
Playing Rough
Review by Matt Bloomfield | 01 August 2015 This summer in London has seen the opening of two exhibitions, both set against a backdrop of brutalism and with a pronounced vein of playfulness. The RIBA Gallery is currently occupied by The Brutalist Playground, an interactive installation created by architecture and design collective du jour- Assemble, in collaboration with artist Simon Terrill. Meanwhile, the Hayward Gallery on the...
A Tale of Two Cities
by Rozie Saunders | 10 July 2015 Are soaring property prices that push young Londoners out of their city, simply a price for London’s global success? Is London becoming a millionaires’ playground rather than a bustling model of urban living? We report on the city’s perceived identity crisis. London is allegedly losing its sense of self. The consensus seems to be that ordinary people are being priced out of the housing...
‘What is public space’ Future Cities Salon, Porto
Alastair Donald | 22 June 2015 In Porto this week the Future Cities Salon continues its series of discussions on the future of public space. Early 20th century Modernism sought to provide public open space within cities as a release from the confines of overcrowded, unsanitary slums. Nowadays, public space is everywhere but there is less recognition and more proscription about what and who it is for. Many 20th-century residential...
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...
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