Such a wasteland for so long.
In 2009 we hosted a European Urbanism conference & Chief Planner of Dublin was asked what he thought of this part of Holbeck.
"It's like bloody Detroit".
Photos 2013 and 2020 - marvellous former Holbeck Library in the distance:
It's having a massive 'moment'.
This lot totalling 1,350 apartments + offices and more.
A huge apple tree on a derelict site in Holbeck.
(The apples are small and unappetising but it’s a fine sight in spring and autumn.)
Do watch this brilliantly insightful, hilariously funny and deadly serious explainer from back in 2012. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sehm...
Do watch (again?) the priceless explanation given here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sehm...
Chatgpt: show me a journalist dressed as a pretzel.
A calm river curves through a grassy countryside, reflecting a pale blue sky with light cloud. Wooden platforms sit along the riverbank, leafless trees line the water’s edge, and rolling green hills rise in the background under clear daylight.
🚧 Road closures update 🚧
If you’re planning a visit to Dales Countryside Museum or Aysgarth Falls National Park Visitor Centre over the next few weeks, please be aware that North Yorkshire Council has road closures in place that may affect access.
👉 More here: https://ow.ly/iUnf50YH6Tk
What a strange world in which there is simultaneously a dangerous excess and a serious shortage of COâ‚‚.
… I have a sunny supper of root veg - the end of winter.
The moment when the clocks have gone forward, the sun is high enough and the sycamore isn’t yet in leaf and …
"They can be defeated. Bathe in the glory of their fall. Not out of malice or viciousness, but because that glory is a reminder that the war can still be won and the battles are still worth fighting."
"Populism’s victory is not inevitable. It is not invulnerable. This is just the lie they tell you to kill your resistance, to make you feel hopeless, to see you lost in pessimism and despair."
" ... corruption buys loyalty. It creates a closed eco-system of funding for regime-friendly voices. It secures allies in place across the constitutional landscape. Corruption is the means by which a regime can replace accountable liberal institutions with closed personal networks."
Three tulips, photographed from above. They are different mixes of red and yellow. The petals are are edged with a thick fringe - like a soft and colourful hoar frost.
Some pure delight: tulips coming up for a second year.
While some of them are 'true' to last year's red petals with yellow fringed edges, others have turned out to have streaky petals, tending towards yellow.
I’ve read, commmissioned or been part of many studies like this one, and the results are ALWAYS the same — low density suburban development is incredibly expensive for everyone, and doesn’t come close to paying its own way. It needs to be heavily subsidized by denser, mixed-use areas.
Sound fair?
Too many people seem to accept the argument that while it is terrible for other countries to kill civilians in war, when their own country does it, it can be justified.
Explains much of the strategic and ethical disaster we are facing.
Trump's dementia isn't the cause of his evil; it's the cause of his increasing inability to conceal it.
Hungarians showing how to win big in an unfair election: organize AND protest AND vote AND demand profound change.
I haven’t seen one either.
There might be one of her with her father Henry while he was curator at Philosophical Hall, Park Row?
@curatorkitty.bsky.social I was just thinking of you as I revised the section about women and the old museum. I’m sure that in 2027 you and colleagues will mark the centenary of Violet Crowther becoming Curator of Abbey House?
'Ribbons', located on Quarry Hill, Leeds, is a large public artwork made in steel. It celebrates the contributions of women - historic and contemporary - to many aspects of the life of Leeds. The names of 383 women were cut out of the metal strips that undulate and entwine.
Today I'll be doing a version of 'Women in & of Leeds', starting at 'Ribbons' sculpture by Pippa Hale (2024) - see ALT text for more info about the artwork.
A young man asked for this tour as part of celebrating his partner's 30th birthday.
So many stories to tell.
If the young Hungarians and others succeed, I'll expedite my long-delayed visit to see one of the great cities of Europe.
(Well, kind of two cities).
I vividly recall listening to Radio 4 on Christmas Day 1989 and hearing a correspondent report from inside the absurdly grandiose palace.
It included a few echoing notes on a grand piano - janglingly out of tune. But the news must have been music indeed to the ears of those oppressed by Ceaușescu.
Thanks for reminding us.
That long chain of humanity was such a simple, moving, peaceful, collaborative act.
Tonight in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square, a sea of young Hungarians—who’ve only ever known Orbán’s corrupt, suffocating regime—are packed together, singing, chanting, and daring to dream of freedom again.
Their hope is raw, their courage is real. The heart of Europe is beating in Budapest tonight. đź‡đź‡şâť¤ď¸Źđź‡Şđź‡ş
... and what the possible/probable implications may be.
My granny, who only just made it into the decimal era (died early 1972), decided that the new currency was to be 'nuppence'.
We don't often use 1p or 2p pieces now but it was odd how folk say "one pence" (one penny and two or more pence?) and "tuppence" was never really used to refer to 2p.
Outrageous pink pom-poms against a blue sky in north Leeds today.
