We're really only just getting to grips with these things, when they're an essential part of a lower carbon, less resource intensive future. If we don't do them, and do them quickly, what will remain for us to deal with? Maybe not nuclear waste, but what other costs - economic and social - might we have to bear? And for how long will we have to bear them?
Read MoreDown to earth with a bump: feeling let down by Zac Efron
Efron’s sparkling observations about the role of hydration in human health is as far as I’m going to get. The bonfire of my enthusiasm has been extinguished, had water poured on it, in little over an hour of programming. Who watched the final versions of these episodes prior to broadcast and said, “Yep, that’s exactly what we’re aiming for”?
Read MoreFly, you fools? The unbearable flightlessness of being
By not flying in 2019, I’m trying to make myself feel better about not pledging to go flightless next year. It’s either that or I try to copy Greta Thunberg. How much work could I get done on a two week catamaran journey across the Atlantic…?
Read MoreDiscovering Chicago
Almost any building you care to point to has its own story and identity. Whether it's an architect trying to get one over a competitor, an architect trying to outdo him or herself, or an architect responding to some social or physical constraint, there is personality in every pane of glass, every steel support, and every brick or block of limestone.
Read MoreWhat I Think About When I Worry About Talking (4)
The optimism communicated by much of the book is infectious. Its compelling arguments for a brighter future almost help you to forget chapter one’s alarming summary of how it will take nothing less than significant action to avoid reaching a tipping point for the climate in 20 or 30 years.
Read MoreWhat I Think About When I Worry About Talking (2)
One of the attractions of the authentic diner experience is that ritual of having your coffee cup repeatedly topped up. On my first morning in Chicago last autumn, taking a seat in the Sweet Maple Cafe, I realised I could partake in that ritual. There was just one problem: I don’t like coffee.
Read MoreLight in the Middle of the Tunnel
In the peaks of its different phases, Array represented a battle of wills and philosophies: order vs chaos; geometric vs fluid; bleak colourscapes vs rainbows. At one point, a dazzling light display was instantaneously supplanted by a static, imposing red and black colour scheme. The sense of oppression, of an unseen authority reasserting its dominance, was palpable.
Read MoreDiscovering Carcassonne
There is certainly something of the fairytale about the ‘original’ city of Carcassonne, but there is little point in denying the extra charm it bestows on the place as a result. It’s good to be reminded there are things that can still make you feel a childlike excitement, and seeing the Cité in the flesh instantly banished any lingering doubts about being yet another tourist among the millions who visit each year.
Read MorePearl Harbor Takes the LEED?
Intelligent, environmentally conscious building design is communicated to the public so rarely that it was a pleasure to see it even attempted, never mind achieved in a clear and relatable fashion.
Read MoreDiscovering the Barbican
Inspired by the portrait of an apparent utopia - an architectural vision realised in its entirety, and somewhere that creativity and inspiration continues to flourish - I vowed to visit the Estate next time I was in London. That opportunity arose at the end of June 2017.
Read MoreIndie Cinema Euro Stars
The only thing I can do with the language of France is ask for a vanilla ice cream, so understanding heated political debate was never on the cards. I fired off an email to the Nova’s contact address asking if I stood a chance of getting anything out of the evening, and started on a Plan B.
Read MoreLook at What We Made
The marina just outside Barton-under-Needwood, not far from Burton, is a unique setting for a cinema. The distinctive location put me in mind of the Kinema in the Woods in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. The eighteen-month-old Red Carpet can’t quite match the back-story of the Kinema (their first screening was in 1922), but history is irrelevant when it comes to a cheery hello and a bloody good lunch. The Red Carpet offered both in spades.
Read MoreMaking a Concerto-ed Effort
Which just goes to show that no matter what length of career you’ve enjoyed, what milestones you've reached or achievements you’ve unlocked, sometimes a creative task has to be reduced to its basic components.
Getting Funny About Rejection
I had no God-given right to be judged near the top, of course. But where this competition differed was that We Said Go published every single one of those five hundred entries on their website. People had the chance to read what I submitted, and positive feedback led me to think that I’d made a breakthrough. This time, maybe, I was in with a shout.
Industrial Revelation
A short piece for the Inspiration travel writing competition on We Said Go Travel, about how you don't have to fly half way round the world to find inspiration...