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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Post-Brexit (de)regulation
Feb07

Post-Brexit (de)regulation

Fewer, simpler or looser standards doesn’t necessarily mean more cavalier, indeed it ought to mean that we could propose more efficient and thorough standards and regulation. Setting national standards in a global context should be liberating.

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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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Election odds
Dec09

Election odds

Gamble on the election while you can. Soon afterwards having a flutter will once again be under attack by establishment Puritans… or simply by those people who think you have a ‘problem’.

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Book Bites: Salvatore Babones’ “The New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism and the Tyranny of Experts”
Nov10

Book Bites: Salvatore Babones’ “The New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism and the Tyranny of Experts”

Babones’ short and pithy book challenges the domination of expert elites in political discourse, but acknowledging the fact that democracies don’t always come up with the ‘right’ answers.

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Write 100 lines: “We aren’t going to die”
Nov10

Write 100 lines: “We aren’t going to die”

If I were your child’s teacher, I would not fill their heads with nonsense that says that the world is about to end. The Children Act 1989 provides that teachers have a duty of care towards the children under their supervision.

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Grenfell Tower: A Tragedy
Oct31

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

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Generation Wars
Sep21

Generation Wars

On Friday 20th September, I joined the children, parents and teachers gathering in Manchester for the Climate Strike where Mayor Burnham proudly announced: “Our generation has failed you. I’m not arguing with you. We are giving you your voice and power.”

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