Well, it’s been a cracker of a week, for all sorts of reasons. There was a good trip to lovely Coventry in the middle, during which I became chair of Talking Birds. And the week was topped off with a night out with Tracey to see the Manic Street Preachers and Suede (if it was a competition, Suede won).
Suede played all four singles off the first album, which goes back to when I first saw them at Worthing Pier. I was there for the soundcheck that day, and Brett Anderson finished it with a solo version of The Next Life, a song about running away to Worthing. Me, in the middle of Worthing’s Pier Pavilion, the soundman, and Brett - a great memory.
After our night out with the Manics and Suede, we had breakfast with my old friend Barney and his wife at the recently-opened Riparo Lounge - it’s a chain cafe-bar that started in Bristol, with great quirky decor. If you like charity shop art, you’ll love it.
Anyway, here are ten other good things - do let me know if you’ve spotted anything hopeful, optimistic, or generally joyous on your wanders and I might include it next week. And please share this newsletter with friends. You can find me posting more stuff over on Instagram, by the way.
A report by Create Streets has said Historic England should list all the remaining classic red phone boxes, and that these should be kept in a state of good repair as they are part of Britain’s heritage. Which is a good excuse for sharing this from skiffle-punks Fat and Frantic.
As I continue to deal with a slum landlord, I’ve been thinking a lot about social housing. And while we’re intent on mass-produced housing by big developers, there are better things out there. Look at this lovely social housing development in Vienna. Social housing that creates place and gives people some dignity - shouldn’t be too big an ask, should it? Maybe we just let Peter Barber design it all. Imagine 100,000 homes by him.
Universal Basic Income is coming (at least to the global rich countries) and here's news about some of the trials that are being undertaken.
These new gardens at the Natural History Museum not only have a huge positive impact for wildlife, but also cover the whole history of the world through the rocks they display and some hidden extras. Not a museum I'd normally visit, but might have to find an excuse... Designed by architects Feilden Fowles, working closely with landscape architects J & L Gibbons.
From gardens, to out in the actual wild. The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales will begin to recreate temperate rainforest at Trellwyn Fach near the Pembrokeshire coast. There will be volunteering, educational and employment opportunities for local people as it happens.
The first beavers in Northumberland for more than 400 years have been busy. There are new dam systems, as well as canals and burrows, new wildlife-rich wetlands, and (aw) a baby beaver.
My friend Rick has been rebuilding historic motorbikes in a shed at the end of his garden since lockdown. They’re pretty impressive, and a few weeks ago he took me for a ride on one. First time I’ve ever been on a motorbike. But frankly, he's not thinking big enough. A bunch of friends have spent 44 years restoring a steam train to working order.
I love studio pottery. The feel of a good mug in your hands, just the right weight of clay, glazes that show off the form. There are some gorgeous glazes on these works by New Zealand potter Coralie Winn.
Here on the Isle of Thanet, we have a problem. We rely on tourism, but the isle’s not built for it. Our infrastructure is decidedly creaky, and there’s no way to manage the impact of tourists - we can get 40,000 on a busy day in Margate, and it’s a town of only about 60,000 people to start with. Visitor attractions in Copenhagen are rewarding tourists who think environmentally - who bike instead of drive, help litterpick while visiting, or pledge to sustainable behaviour.
Over on Threads, somebody shared a link to this film, made in 2011 by Trevor Moss and Hannah Lou when they toured Tin Tabernacles. Now, I don’t remember seeing it before, but about 30 minutes in, I make an appearance, when the singer-songwriter duo stopped in at our empty shop project Workshop 24 in South Kilburn. It’s always fascinating to find traces of my work out there, in dusty corners of the internet.