20 Fenchurch Street is hideous - it's official

20 Fenchurch Street London - or as it's more popularly and with a complete lack of affectionate known, 'The Walkie-Talkie' is truly hideous. One supposes that if you have ever seen it or any manifestation of its presence then you should already be aware of that.

In perhaps one of the least surprising, and certainly uncontroversial decisions to come from a judging panel in some time, the building was named unanimous winner of the not at all coveted Carbuncle Cup, an architecture prize annually bestowed on unwilling recipients by Building Design magazine to “the ugliest building designed in Britain in the last 12 months”.

There can have been few more deserving winners. This monstrosity is an unsightly gash on the London skyline, made all the worse by proximity to the geometrically inspiring Gherkin.

Ike Ijeh from the awards committee called it “a gratuitous glass gargoyle graffiteid on to the skyline”. A fitting description if ever there was one.

There have been design issues of course, the shape creating a wind tunnel & the 37 storey building magnifying the sun the melt car parts, but it could have taken the prize for sheer hideousness alone.

Take note architects – you can and must do better – or else see your creations end up in the hall of shame alongside carbuncles like this. 

Why you should read Calvin and Hobbes

For many adult like myself admitting to finding joy in something as child-like as a comic strip could seem daunting. To openly confess to a love of 2000AD may have been acceptable to a niche audience, but for a supposedly mature being to espouse a love of Fred Basset or Peanuts risked some form of perceived derision. No more it seems! Film studios buying into the Marvel and DC universes have made comic-book culture so mainstream that the childishness one may once have been accused of seems to have been replaced by a relish for the fantastically nerdish.  

Yet with a comic strip like Peanuts there is still a risk of an adult looking like they’ve never really grown out of something. Well firstly, so what? Does it matter? It makes me happy and its harmless so where is the problem? All fine unarguable sentiments. But, there is something deeper here to. One may read them one way in childish enthusiasm, but in later life see something much deeper in these strips. This is certainly true for Calvin and Hobbes.

The strip follows the misadventures of 6-ish year old Calvin a willful force of nature and his best friend stuffed tiger Hobbes who may or may not exist as a fully developed character only in Calvin’s psyche. Bill Watterson who penned the strip beautifully – make no mistake he is an artist, some of his panoramic views and playing with perspectives are beautiful – was political science major at university. This background shines through, and not just in the naming of the main protagonists.

The strip ran for 10 years from 1985 to 1995 and was much loved by a large audience. Not only did Watterson pull off the all too rare feat of getting out at the top, but he engaged his audiences in deeper thought than one might expect. There are philosophical points being made, there are social commentaries and subtle nuances that occasionally give the reader serious pause.

Famously, Watterson never licensed his characters. Not making the millions, say Jim Davis did from Garfield seems to have caused him not one iota of pain. As he said himself, he wasn’t interested in ‘removing all the subtlety from my work to condense it for a product’. Anyone who has read the strips would have to agree. There is an ongoing conversation with the audience that cannot be boiled down to sound-bites. Yes, there are punchlines and sight-gags and one liners, but also something deeper and more connection making than you could ever print on a t-shirt!

This is a cartoon after all that considers from a nuanced ‘childish’ perspective the existence of God, mortality, what reality actually is and the destructive nature of our culture.

So, despite flights of fantasy, tie-travelling adventures, seeing alien worlds and dinosaurs in a child’s imaginative world-view this is still a very engaging, authentic and deeply satisfying strip.

You can get the complete works, and one would certainly recommend it for immersion, but if not why not get one of the shorter fireside collections, immerse yourself and discover just what depths can be hidden away for what the foolishly uninitiated might mistakenly think of as a childish genre? 

Analyze you own words!

Well, this is an interesting one - a website that analyses your personality based on a 100 words you have written.

Of course, it's a little dubious - after all what we are writing for affects how we write. If one puts in 100 words from a report they will be very different from 100 words from a blog or from a diary & they intended audience (if there is one) will always have an impact.

Non the less it is a bit of fun, and surprisingly consistent in some of the things it had to say about me - despite feeding different text samples into it!

Why not have a go?

https://watson-pi-demo.mybluemix.net/

In Support of Historical Fiction

Currently reading the sparkling Herodotus the Histories translated by Tom Holland  one is inspired to think about historiography.

 Let’s face it Herodotus may be the ‘father of history’ but he is no stranger to a little romanticism shall we say in his work!

Yet it is not truly historiography or historical research or even the presentation of historical perspectives that this has led me to thinking of. Rather it is a musing on the worth of the historical novel.

It is understandable to me why some historians decry the whole genre. It has no necessity for objectivity, explanation, or even adherence to its original source materials. There are some truly execrable examples in the field too.

Yet when it is done right, and if one accepts that what one is reading is not history but fiction it can invoke beautifully a whole era or set of personalities. Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall or Madeline Miller’s The song of Achilles are both such works.

    

The greatest joy a well written historical fiction brings however is a feel for the colour and flavour of the age bound up in a depth of imagination that some drier historians cannot emulate. If this rich, colourful, and ultimately imagined vista pulls people towards an interest in an era then perhaps that is no bad thing for the field of history in the long run.

The psephologists are having a field day.

Psephology - there's a new word (to me at least!) From the Greek for 'pebble' which were cast in ballots. It would appear to be the study of voter intent, based on opinion polls, historical trends & financing. Now I am no expert in statistics, odds and outcomes but even I can see that a lot of noise is being made and a lot of people kept busy for remarkably little movement in the current UK election. The only thing they do seem to agree on is that the age of two party politics is over and the age of varying forms of coalition is the future.

Which is 'interesting' as we were always taught that first past the post politics avoided the messy coalitions that proportional representation would bring. That's a thought for another time I suppose...

I am looking forward to the supebowl but...

As is usual for me at this time of year I am getting excited about the upcoming big game on Sunday. Either we will see the Seahawks build the first repeat champions for a decade, or we will see the Patriots push the Hall of Fame credentials of their QB and coach even further.

Yet i still think the NFL playoffs need tweaking. When teams with better records sit at home because they aren't a division champ, but the winner of a weak division can go through it's just a farce. This is the playoffs - we want to see the best play the best all the way surely!

Plus, why do we still have this AFC/NFC thing anyway? It made sense when the NFL and AFL merged and the younger league wanted to prove a point. No-one really believes there is a rivalry between the conferences any more - certainly not the emnity of the 60's & 70's that is for sure.

The NFL would be better served having a seeded tournament - scrap the conferences, invite the best teams (by record) into the playoffs and go from there.

This isn't impossible. Nothing is set in stone. at the end of the day, despite the importance people try to attach to it, the NFL is just another entertainment business and they should be making it as entertaining as possible by having a system that rewards the best teams.

The Scottish referendum - we should be proud of our democratic process.

Whichever way your sentiments lay in the Scottish independence referendum, the most amazing thing watching it unfold has been the level of political engagement. We are repeatedly told people aren't interested in politics any more. Really? When given a vote on something that can have real impact on their lives and futures the people of Scotland were passionate and engaged about it.

A referendum that engendered extreme emotions and potentially  inflamed passions was conducted in a  sound manner and with no recourse to violence. A democratic process has unfurled on our doorstep & we now agree to abide by its decision.

Whatever the result, one side was bound to be unhappy but now is not a time for recrimenation.  Rather it is a time for reflecting with pride on how well political engagement and democracy can work when we let it and for setting out to work together for a better UK for all. There will be much talk now of devolving power from Westminster not just to Scotland, but to Wales, N. Ireland and English regional assemblies too.

Perhaps in some small way this referendum will engage all of us in politics on these matters in the future...but for now congratulations Britain you are a truly democratic nation!