New Buildings in London - Perhaps we need some sort of break?

Another new build in Ealing

I don't always agree with the views of Alain de Botton and his School of Life but his recent youtube analysis of what is happening in London with respect to changes to the skyline certainly does resonate with me.


I regularly comment on new buildings in my own area and London at large but it does feel that there's a danger of the planning application getting out of kilter -nearly  every week I'm seeing new buildings emerge and the quality is variable to say the least.

I know that new housing is critical but perhaps more emphasis should be put on the people who will live their than those who wish to invest?

Perhaps we should ask some  serious questions about the removal/liberalisation of Planning permissions that the Tories seem so keen on?

Is this the sort of blight that Alain de Botton is talking about?

Story of Belgians in Twickenham

 Collectively in the UK we're still in a period where a reflective look is being taken at events of 100 years ago during the tumult of the Great War when such turmoil hit Europe.

The communal gardens in Twickenham

The other day in Twickenham I happened upon the Diamond Jubilee Gardens not far from the main shopping area - it's a charming spot with views across the river and it also has a café and some interesting displays.

Sad to see I noted too that one of the key figures behind this sanctuary has recently passed away but the gardens remain as a testimonial to his efforts.

Angry birds too

What I found really interesting was artwork from a local school working with artists (Jane Porter and Sue Edkins)  to bring to a modern audience an immigration experience which seems to me to have a relevance to modern London.





It seems that as a result of fighting in Belgium there was something of an exodus of Belgians to London and many of these 'refugees' found  a temporary home in Twickenham bringing with them their own Newspapers and trading in their own speciality goods.



Nice work kids!

And well integrated by the artists










The pictures are well put together keeping the naivety of the youngsters but adding the narrative to give a coherence.
 



Great representations of the World War I soldiers

Artsnight Photography and a CityLit Walking Photography Class

Artsnight on BBC2 yesterday seemed almost aimed at me as it featured a selection of Photography reports - I was particularly taken with Martin Parr's method of working taking loads of pictures (with, I think a Canon Camera) and then selecting the best images - it is difficult to become totally used to the idea that digital makes the cost of individual pictures close to free - I think mention was made of several hundreds of pictures during Martin's report.

There's clear 'author-ship' in Martin's images and he mentioned his desire to capture the quirky.

Starting point - picture in 'auto'

Well I've started another course at CityLit around Photography and am happy to report that I've already moved forward and started to take pictures in modes other than 'Auto'.

Mixed ability group, from former Photography teachers  to almost total beginners but we all share a desire to  both improve and explore parts of London - Course leader (Armelle Skatulski)  is as usual the case at CityLit both a very  capable communicator and a practitioner of what she's teaching  - here are a selection of my pictures - more to come in the next four weeks...

An advert for Tenant's - or not?

The brief to capture old and new buildings

Some of the group follow the teacher's finger (in a good way)

A somewhat macabre church detail (St Olave - Hart Street)

The taste test (Not Lidl sponsored)

Eel pie Island

I have in my mind a connection between Pete Townsend and Eel pie (recording studios?)

Well I was in Twickenham today and as well as seeing what Eel Pie Island  is about (it's rather odd and quaint)  I got to try out a genuine 'Taste Challenge'.

I've seen  Lidl use the exercise in their advertising and visited my local branch I saw something that looked like a Twix  -well it is.

Not Australia

In fact the result from two punters who tried the bars  with no identification on them was that as far as they were concerned there really was very little/Lidl difference - one picked the Lidl   bar as a Twix the other person detected more salt in the Lidl bars.

Spot the difference

What to me is staggering is that Lidl are presumably making a reasonable margin but the Twix bars cost pretty much 3 times more - where is this enormous mark up going?

I'm not a Lidl employee and I have no axe to grind but being a careful shopper can save you money.

The Staggering reveal