London agenda for Monday 6 June
1. Listen to David Peace (Red Riding trilogy, Damned Utd etc) talk to Richard T. Kelly about his new Gothic/occult/northern novel with chat and soundtracking from music critic Simon Reynolds at Faber Social [Le Cool]
2. Watch Steve Richards talk to Speaker John Bercow about the highs and lows of Westminster politics [Run Riot]
3. See Facebook play a Hasidic Jew who becomes a drug mule in Holy Rollers [Flavorpill]
4. Hear Ian Banks discuss utopias and his creation, The Culture, at the British Library [Ian Visits]
5. See Roy Lichtenstein’s Whaam! [Tired of London]
06 Jun 2011
When does an 8% increase in traffic equal "fewer cars"? When the BBC cocks up its figures
The headline reads ‘Fewer cars’ as London congestion charge zone cut back. Except there aren’t fewer cars in the scrapped Western Congestion Zone, there are 8% more. Just because a rise is smaller than expected, that doesn’t mean it’s not a rise.
Fortunately, the Beeb’s Tom Edwards is a better journalist than the hapless hack behind the headline, because in his piece on the figures he nails it:
“The bottom line for drivers in that area is that it now takes longer to drive somewhere and there’s nearly 10% more traffic.”
03 Jun 2011
Attention history nerds: great new map reveals your street's history
My local pub is a grade II listed building! Turns out it’s a mid 19th century construction with a notable stucco cornice. Something to bore fellow drinkers with tonight methinks. I discovered this fascinating nugget thanks to this excellent new tool from English Heritage. Pop in your postcode and out spews all the listed buildings and protected areas nearby. Hours of fun for any historical or architectural gimps among you.
03 Jun 2011
Alleged East End kidnap, torture, and escape by the power of prayer
The East London News, by all accounts not an unimpeachable source, reports news of an arrest here and the remarkable claims of the victim here, including that it was his beautiful praying voice which convinced a captor to set him free. Ted Jeory has some context on the alleged victim and his prominence in Tower Hamlets politics here. Interesting.
03 Jun 2011
London agenda for Friday 3 June
1. Rummage through the lost & found department of the Tube at Hoxton’s KK Outlet [Le Cool]
2. Revisit the 80s teenage slasher flick trend with Slaughter High [Run Riot]
3. Be shocked and appalled by London’s alternative cabaret performers at Friday Night Freakshow [Time Out]
4. Hear an all-embracing roster of international artists at Barbican’s Blaze [Flavorpill]
5. Dream of flying [Ian Visits]
6. Relax in the sun at Gordon Square Garden [Tired of London]
03 Jun 2011
Mummy octopuses don't eat for six months to protect their babies, then they break your heart
“But the mom is near exhaustion. She hasn’t eaten for so long (probably because food could attract predators, or because debris from eating could bring parasites near the eggs), she keeps gently blowing water over the babies, pushing them from the den for as long as she can until she herself floats free and sometimes, only two or three meters from the den opening, she stops breathing…and dies.” [Via Robert Kulwich at NPR]
The whole blog post is just one massive tearjerk. I need a lie down.
02 Jun 2011
Three Flavors by Casey Burge
Triumph, the new album from Kansas City songwriter Casey Burge, is a pleasantly breezy mix of tight production, vocal harmonies and short, snappy songs, reminiscent of Eels at their finest or the less self-indulgent side of Beck. It’s available digitally and as a cassette (remember those folks?) via the Overland Shark Bandcamp page.
02 Jun 2011
Evening Standard's illiteracy campaign rests on some dodgy stats
You know the campaign that is keeping celebs off the first few pages of the Evening Standard this week? Well, the FullFact website claims it might not be based on entirely accurate figures. Specifically, it looks like more than 75% of London children can read when they leave primary school, with the more likely figure being between 80-85%.
Not that we’re supporting illiteracy or anything, we’re just saying.
02 Jun 2011
A third of Londoners drive to work. Are they mad?
The figure is 35%. Driving! Despite the congestion charge, the impossibility of parking, the traffic, the lack of decent radio stations, the constant threat of terrifying hordes of cyclists, you know, the environment, despite all this, more tha one in three workers in this city drives to the coalface. Unfathomable.
02 Jun 2011
Five Modernist homes in London you'd give your right arm to live in
2 Willow Road
Designed by Erno Goldfinger, whose name inspired the bond villain. You can’t live here, because it’s gone all National Trust, but you could live next door which would be almost as good.
Lawn Road Flats
1930s built, beautiful to look at, and the place where Agatha Christie spent the war. Now lived in by some lucky “key workers”, which kind of makes me regret not doing that 7 year medical degree.
Six Pillars, Crescent Wood Road
This Sydenham house was on the market for £1.5m in 2005. A pdf with some pretty sexy interior shots is here. Only £1.5million! Kind of makes me regret not spending the last 5 years in an investment bank.
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All Aboard, Horniman Drive
Some will tell you this is more Art Deco than Modernist. To them I say, that’s a false distinction. It’s all one movement baby!
66 Frognal
Yet another one up Hampstead way. You’ve got to hand it to the Hampsteadians, they certainly know how to consolidate their power and wealth through the medium of housing. God damn them.
02 Jun 2011
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
- The five best places in London to have an epiphany
- Summer Camp: Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days
- Only 16 commuters touch in to Emirates Air Line, figures reveal
- Nice map of London's fruit trees shows you where to pick free food
- An interview with Desiree Akhavan
- Diary of the shy Londoner
- Margaret Thatcher statue rejected by public
- Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
- Number of people using Thames cable car plunges
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