No Jab, No Job?
Mar10

No Jab, No Job?

“It’s best to support staff to get the vaccine without making it a requirement” but the employer is also directed to “the organisation’s disciplinary policy”.

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Prisoners of Cladding
Feb06

Prisoners of Cladding

One of the unintended consequences of the Grenfell tragedy is the threat of penury or bankruptcy for leaseholders at the other end of the country.

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Which Lives Matter?
Jun23

Which Lives Matter?

The way to get black ministers into the cabinet is to have more black MPs. And the only way to have more black MPs is to have more black people run for Parliament.

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Two Countries, One System
Jun12

Two Countries, One System

The growth of the Shenzhen mega-city across the water, and the sense that Hong Kong is being threatened by its far bigger partner, adds to the sense of uncertainty.

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Infrapenny Infrastructure
May31

Infrapenny Infrastructure

The relics of disused Victorian railway lines scattered across the landscape attest to a creative spark that demanded progress and bore no sentimentality, a recognition that reaching the future required risk, demolition, casualties.

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Down and out in Paris and London by George Orwell.
May31

Down and out in Paris and London by George Orwell.

It’s a great book for telling us about Europe between the wars; but also because of what can it tell us about today, in particular homelessness?

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Risk and the construction industry
May13

Risk and the construction industry

Understandably, Health and Safety has been a major concern for workers, unions and health and safety organisations for many years. However, in the age of coronavirus there is a growing perception that all jobs must be “safe”.

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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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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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Coronavirus
Jan29

Coronavirus

The recent outbreak of coronavirus in the central city of Wuhan has created something resembling mass hysteria in the newsrooms of Western broadcast journalism This article explores some of the myths and realities.

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