A remarkable AP photo of a protester dressed as Lady Liberty being cuffed by helmeted cops. She is looking straight at the camera with a tired "you seeing this shit?" expression.
RIP editorial cartooning.
Hoarding’s for Rambo’s tattoo studio in Manchester. They look old and faded but still just about readable. They are above shop level. Some give reassurance of a ‘fresh needs for every client
Close up of one sign that declares ‘famous people who have been to Rambo’s. Take That. Manchester United. Entire Australian Rugby Team. Stars of Brookside and many more’
The adverts for this tattooist should surely be preserved. Given the Manchester stars listed and the reassurance about clean needles I am assuming early 90s - and it looked to still be open
Bottle of Ad Gefrin whisky cream liqueur with a glass by its side, soft warm lighting
Strongly recommend this one
A very green university campus. 1960s building in the background, autumnal tree in the foreground. In between a lake and grass where a person is feeding a flock of geese
A view of York University over the lake with trees reflected. There is ice on the far side of the lake. There are blue skies
York looking good in the autumn sun. Aquatic wildlife was high on my list when choosing a university
A formal horse and carriage drives through a decorative archway that welcomes visitors in German. In the background is the village of New Earswick
In 1909 the German Garden City Association visited the UK, including the garden village of New Earswick
Sun shining on a beautiful lake surrounded by trees. In the distance there a few people swimming
Last outdoor swim of the year - 13.5 degree water temp is definitely my limit even in the beautiful sun
Allotment competition certificate
Leek entrants dismissed for being too short and having secondary growth
Brass bands playing under a gazebo with brightly coloured deckchairs in front
5 beautiful pinky - purple Dalias in the allotment completion
Allotment life is a welcome break from the news. Though the leek judges are tough. We will be celebrating our third place in the best newcomer category and my wife has accepted that she will now be forever known as Harry
At this stage in the PhD it is becoming very definite that I am allergic to some books. I do mean this literally. Thankfully not all books and not yet had a problem with archive papers so now got to figure out the pattern. Still, pretty devastating
I suspect we’ve gone as far as a 300 character exchange is going to take us. We may not agree on this but I appreciate the dialogue
They should be able to make a profit, but I am cynical of financial viability assessments that reduce responsibilities locally (and they will drop social housing first because the other amenities contributes to value of private housing) while still achieving v healthy profits overall
Yes, but if the developers don’t pay for wider facilities under S106 then the costs fall to local authorities or other parts of the public sector. Meanwhile the developers are still able to make decent profits nationally whole claiming locally that schemes aren’t viable if asked to meet these costs
The big house builders have operating margins between 12 and 20%. When they escape their responsibilities in providing basic amenities the money is not being spent on more social housing. Government subsidy for social housing is separate from the point that the Guardian article was making
But then I think you know all this. It seems unlikely that a Labour MP and a history graduate doesn’t have some sense of the problems created by housing developments built without facilities - or the logic of new towns in making sure that there are plans for these things
Houses without access to facilities, transport, employment opportunities, and community networks are unlikely to provide good homes. How people feel about their wider environment and circumstances shapes what goes on at home
Photo of a large advert for the Suburbia exhibition at Vienna Museum of Architecture. Includes an overhead photo of a suburban sprawl and has the subtitle ‘living the American Dream’. It runs until the 4th August 2025
Karl Marx Hof - the world’s longest residential building and reminiscent of a castle. 7 storey building with large archways with trees in the background. Building is pink and sandstone, imposing, and has statues under flagpoles representing different aspects of working class life
The Hundertwasserhaus combines building and nature. It is a large building with lots of colour, trees and other greenery growing out of the building.
Not much time left but if any housing geeks happen to be in Vienna this week then the Suburbia exhibition is worth a look. We combined it with a trip to Karl Marx Hof and Hundertwasserhaus
This kind of take makes me want to weep. We’ve been here before. Building houses without transport and facilities is a false economy that stores up problems that take decades to undo
Building housing without an eye to how the community will function is a false economy
Priorities are important but Bevan’s words still ring true: “while we shall be judged for a year or two by the number of houses we build… we shall be judged in 10 years’ time by the type of houses we build”
Table with various produce from an allotment: lettuce, potatoes, beetroot, raspberries, red currants, and gooseberries
Obsessed with allotment life
Courtyard of Nowa Huta steel works with socialist realism architecture
Inside the steel works admin building, imposing corridor with 1950s furniture and lots of marble
Map of Nowa Huta a communist planned city with lots of green space
The internal roads and building of one of the neighbourhoods in the town. Lots of mature trees and Soviet architecture
Wondering how many planned communities, new towns and model villages I can fit into this holiday before my wife puts her foot down. We start with Nowa Huta (with bonus points for the steel works admin building tour)
Author Val McDermid and her wife, geography professor Jo Sharp, take part in the Pride parade through Edinburgh city centre on Saturday afternoon
𝘐𝘔𝘈𝘎𝘌: 𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘸/𝘗𝘈 𝘞𝘪𝘳𝘦/𝘗𝘈 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴
I’m not sure photoshop is even the right word for this. That seems to imply an attempt to look real. This was labelling - a key to understand the supposed symbols. Nothing about it was designed to look real. Can’t wait to hear his gangland interpretation of ‘fig. 1’
A half sized allotment that is pretty well tended, with a greenhouse in place, and very near the communal kitchen
So excited to have made it to the top of the allotment waiting list and I think we have struck lucky with the plot
Hopscotch taken very seriously around these parts. 1 - 50 and back again
You think the arbitrary arrest of political dissenters cannot happen in the UK? It already does. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
Photo from the walkway looking up to York uni’s brutalist library with a sculpture in the foreground
York uni’s brutalist concert hall
Sunny days on campus really show off York’s brutalism
Personal in medieval armor with a cat in the background
Our boy is an angry cat. He has a special note on his vet’s file. Sometimes they resort to a muzzle. Sometimes they sedate. We are trying to get several doses in a day armed with nothing more than a towel and the advice to gently stroke his chin…
Illustration of a woman in a laboratory with the text 'Analyses, formulae, compounds, distillations, sediments - she's always on the go. The analytical chemist is full of problems; who isn't, in these days? And so, like other hard-working folk, she's glad of a cup of Rowntree's Cocoa, so soothing to nerves that are forever keyed up. Many a housewife too, coping with all the problems that even now still beset her, finds that Rowntree's Cocoa calms down her jangled nerves and aids digestion. Unlike so many drinks, it contains body building protein, energy-giving carbohydrate and fat. Rowntree's Cocoa soothes frayed nerves'.
In 1945 Rowntree's launched a campaign advertising their cocoa to women at home & in the workplace. As well as being architects, designers, musicians, reporters, librarians and bank tellers, the campaign also showed women as analytical chemists and scientific assistants #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM
Everything you've been told about the 'unpopularity' of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods is a lie.
