The Ragged Optimist 12

News from Worthing

I’m down in Worthing, in the house I grew up in. It’s a 1949 Housing Manual council house - red brick, semi-detached, front and back garden, privet hedges. It’s a solid thing, built by Italian Prisoners-of-War in a time of hope, optimism, when the future was certain to be better. It’s my dad’s house and I plan to spend more time here over the summer, revisiting my home town and getting a fresh perspective on things.

John Grindrod has recently found a copy of the 1949 Housing Manual and written about it on his substack. I found a copy if this about ten years ago, and it has informed much of my thinking about housing. Because the ideals from 1949 stand up pretty well today. Well-built homes, enough space, with good gardens, and decent open spaces knitted together into communities that have a mix of different people.

And - post-Conservative - with a Labour government in power who might not be exciting but seem competent, careful, and considered, it feels like we might be in line for some of that post-Second World War repair, renewal, and rebirth. Here’s hoping, right?

Worthing and environs - home.

1. Lancing has a new wildlife park, which I'm hoping to explore over the summer. New Monks Farm is a former dump, and the park has had a year to bed in before opening to the public.

2. The White Stork is an unmistakable and inspiring bird. They have symbolised hope, regrowth and new life in European folklore and mythology with their yearly spring return from overwintering in Africa, heralded across the continent. While native to these isles, storks have been absent from the UK for centuries. Already breeding in Sussex (watch a live cam here), the plan is to bring them to London.

3. This week's beaver news is from the River Stour in Dorset.

4. I can't not mention the UK election from a few days ago, and as a long-term Green Party supporter, it's great to see their results. Four MPs - and previously, just one drove the other parties to adopt greener policies.

5. And - Keir Starmer's cabinet has the highest number of state-educated and highest number of female ministers in history.

   More than 40% of seats in the Commons will be held by women, a record that includes 46% of Labour MPs.

6. Space Lego! I was brought up on the original Space Lego sets, and it's been great to see them re-released. But even better: the European Space Agency has created a 3D printing filament made of moondust, and printed Lego blocks. The long term plan is building on the moon.

7. You can buy a cassette walkman called Keith now. It's absolutely gorgeous and if I had a spare £130 I'd buy myself one.

8. 15 years ago, I brought together twenty charities and created a huge, vintage-themed pop up. It was widely reported and a report into it read by national charities and government ministers. Wayne Hemingway has made a business out of it, and is opening his latest pop up charity shop in Brighton.

9. Frank Cottrell-Boyce has been announced as the new children's laureate.

   "It will be about the increasing number of children in poverty being left further and further behind. It will be about calling for national provision so that every child – from their earliest years – has access to books, reading and the transformative ways in which they improve long-term life chances."

10. This book, The Organization of Things - A Cabinet of Curiosities, looks really interesting. It’s by Prof. Parker, who wrote a lovely essay about my work for my monograph, Dan Thompson Stuff.

11. Ten things? Have a bonus one, because it’s a good week. In the largest public sector trial of the four-day week in Britain, fewer refuse collectors quit and there were faster planning decisions, more rapid benefits processing and quicker call answering, independent research has found. Work less, do more!