generalpraxis

Material Flows - an exhibition at Zone2Source, Amsterdam

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 14:55:00 +0000

With artists: Ravi Agarwal (IN), Kevin van Braak (NL), Maarten Vanden Eynde (BE), Kelly Jazac (CA), Diana Lelonek (PL), Milisifilem Collective (ID), Ipeh Nur (ID), Riar Rizaldi (ID) - curated by Ben Parry (UK)

Material Flows explores the hidden journeys and afterlives of plastic waste. By mapping the trajectories of waste colonialism, the project situates plastic as both material and metaphor for the enduring inequalities and environmental crises shaped by global systems of extraction and disposal. At the centre is the colonial legacy of resource extraction by companies such as the Dutch East India Company, whose activities in Indonesia laid the groundwork for the exploitative resource systems that endure today. 150 years of oil extraction has left a lasting impact.

The same resources that fuelled colonial economies now drive plastic production, only for the resulting waste to often return to Indonesia, Malaysia and other former colonies. These cyclical flows highlight how historic patterns of extraction persist, amplifying environmental injustices within contemporary global waste streams. The toxic entanglements of waste colonialism render territories and communities available for pollution through poorly managed processes of waste recovery. They lead to systems of labour organisation in which broken and contaminated bodies are used up (Liboiron, 2021; Gidwani, 2015; Jeffery and Parry, 2023).

The global waste trade, shaped by economic and regulatory imbalances, often exploits countries with weak environmental regulations and cheap labour, reinforcing a contemporary form of waste colonialism. Large quantities of plastic waste end up in landfills, waterways, or are incinerated, creating long-lasting toxic entanglements that expose vulnerable territories and communities to pollution (Liboiron, 2021). These flows impose a heavy toll, maintaining exploitative labour systems that extract value from discarded materials, while simultaneously devaluing human and environmental health (Tadiar, 2022). The biopolitics of disposability (Giroux, 2007) thus underpin the exhibition, examining how uneven distributions of waste and exploitation define the landscapes of the current ‘polycrisis’ (Morin and Kern, 1999).

Material Flows unfolds through objects, installations, film, and multimedia artworks. Employing plastic as both a material and a conceptual anchor, the exhibition maps shifting global waste flows as part of a longer-term research project in collaboration with Zone2Source. This unearthing of plastic entanglements and waste afterlives emerged from a participatory research project led by Compound 13 Lab (2017 – 2023), which focused on the informal waste and plastic recycling economy in Mumbai.

Material Flows introduces a new phase of practice-led research, exploring waste colonialism by literally following plastic as it circumnavigates the globe: from its petrochemical origins, to its disposal across the economic and material trajectories of the plastic waste trade. This collaborative enquiry connects researchers, artists, and material scientists in the UK, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Malaysia, and India, unfolding through a series of "plastic dialogues" that create a spatial narrative of objects, infrastructures, and human and non-human actors, in which plastic, as both a material and a transformative process, animates the global networks of extraction, production, and waste.

References

Giroux, H. (2007) ‘Violence, Katrina and the Biopolitics of Disposability’, Theory Culture Society 24: 7/8, pp. 305 - 309

Gidwani, V. (2015) ‘The Work of Waste: inside India’s infra-economy’, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 40: 5, pp. 575- 595

Jeffery, G. and Parry, B. (eds.) (2023) Waste Work: the Art of Survival in Dharavi, Bath: Arts Editions North/Wunderkammer Press

Liboiron, M., (2021) Pollution is Colonialism, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press

Morin, E. and Kern, A.B. (1999) Homeland Earth: a Manifesto for the New Millennium, New York: Hampton Press

Tadiar, N. X.M. (2022) Remaindered Life, Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press

Waste Work - the book and some events

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 15:00:00 +0000

In case anyone hasn't noticed, we have a new and what we think is a pretty substantial book out exploring many different aspects of Dharavi's waste economy, arts - based methods, and the enormous set of issues and difficulties faced by the people who inhabit that space. The book touches on lots of contemporary themes - rampant urban inequalities, climate crisis, climate justice and ecological breakdown, the wicked problem of plastic waste, labour politics, human rights and also how to (creatively) do research in collaborative ways with very marginalised communities that is not tokenistic, extractive or otherwise ethically suspect. I'll write more about this in another blogpost but in the meantime here are two presentations that explain what we have been up to a bit more - the first is a little video report from our Plastik ka Mela event at the Maharastra Nature Park in April 2023, and the second is a presentation that Ben Parry and I gave for a symposium organised by the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art at V&A Dundee in January 2023.

Dealing with the 'impact agenda'

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 16:06:00 +0000

An enjoyable couple of hours this afternoon spent chewing over questions of how to think about and 'do' impact in the arts and humanities with students from the Scottish Graduate School for the Arts and Humanities. I don't think I've shared it before here, so here's a powerpoint from a previous talk I did on the subject in 2019. Lots of similar issues came up in the discussion...

Dealing with the "Impact Agenda" from Graham Jeffery

Some thoughts on the UK's current energy predicament

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 14:48:00 +0000

I tried to post a thread on Twitter but due to my general incompetence with social media it didn't work properly. So I've put it here (slightly revised and expanded) instead:

I’m old enough to remember the days when the UK Govt (& thus the taxpayer) owned the Central Electricity Generating Board, & their Scottish equivalents, & British Gas (which was merged from regional gas boards). A thought experiment…(1/..)

In the 1980s the Thatcher government privatised all the utilities - power, water(except in Scotland), gas (British Gas had been merged from regional gas boards in the 1970s), plus telecoms & rail, and the outlines of the current privatised energy system were introduced.

Proponents of privatisation argued the private sector would be more ‘efficient’, that shareholders would bring fresh investment that the taxpayer wouldn’t have to pick up, and that competition between companies for households’ business would keep prices down.

Small investors were encouraged to pick up shares in the new utility companies and the intervening years have been something of a bonanza for shareholders, although the ownership structure of UK utilities is now insanely complex, with many international entities including foreign governments, funds and other energy firms having stakes in them, with a complex regulatory regime (Ofgem etc) that appears to have been asleep at the wheel.

I haven’t done the maths (perhaps someone at @ft can help) but the total revenues and profits of our biggest utility firms must now be hundreds of billions of pounds a year: dividend payouts from energy firms are amongst the highest in the stock market.

We are now facing a full blown economic crisis particularly around energy costs which will drive up household/business bills to unaffordable levels and add huge inflationary pressure across the economy - with resultant hardship, job losses, erosion of wages/savings, stress etc.

The case for either a BIG government windfall tax on utilities this year (or an ongoing levy on profits) is thus absolutely solid. A way of getting some help to households/businesses struggling to pay bills and making the utility shareholders share the pain of this shock.

Looking further ahead one wonders what might have happened even if the utilities had been just part-privatised, with the govt retaining a stake in them (kind of the EDF model, although EDF is basically the French state )-- & also how the UK has run nuclear energy.

Investors didn’t want to shoulder the risks around nuclear - look what happened to British Energy. BNFL publically owned. So we CAN run nationalized utilities when we want to: look at the rail companies! When they're not making giant profits, the private sector doesn't want to know.

I don't claim to be any kind of expert in energy policy but it seems to me that the wave of privatisations now looks like a colossal mistake, involving massive risk taking with energy security, and loss of revenue to the exchequer, which the public is now having to suck up and pay for, as usual.

Of course advocates of privatization will say that it's brought inward investment, created dividends for pension funds, ordinary investors and the like and that the utilities pay millions in corporation tax every year (except when they don't). And that they (and their very well paid directors) should be rewarded for their outstanding leadership and risk taking, la la la, etc etc etc.

With greater public ownership we could have shared in the profits (cf. Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund) and also insured ourselves against potential price shocks. We export energy to the highest bidder (free markets, baby) and our energy security is thus shot to bits.

Massive over-reliance on hydrocarbons and a systematic refusal to invest in renewables/insulation/energy efficiency/ or lower demand and build green infrastructure over decades, has left the whole population (except the super rich) extremely vulnerable to market shocks. Even without taking into account the climate impacts this seems like a dangerously stupid policy, and makes our economies hostage to hydrocarbon producing states whose human rights records are highly dubious, to say the least. So this is a security issue as well as a climate and social justice issue.

We need a total rethink of our energy system to deal with climate change - it is absolutely intertwined with the current geopolitical turbulence. Energy storage technologies are also absolutely critical - batteries, fuel cells etc...but these batteries are also reliant on raw materials/manufacturing processes that come from parts of the world that often get labelled as ‘unstable’ - again showing how intertwined energy systems are and how energy security is a global issue.

Local renewable generation schemes? Combined heat and power? Micro generation? Solar? Tidal? Home insulation schemes? Radical energy efficiency? I remember all of this was debated heavily in the 1970s after the oil price shock of 1973.

President Carter argued heavily for investment in alternative energy, particularly solar, and here he is addressing the nation about it in 1977. We've hardly heard any talk like that from any American president since...

But then Thatcher and Reagan, (Thatcher on the back of soaring North Sea Oil revenues) went hell for leather on the hydrocarbons and slashed R&D funding for renewables - heavily lobbied by the multinational oil lobby.

And what about a bit of nationalisation? We always seem to manage to do it when the private sector blows up shareholder cash (see RBS, HBOS, Railtrack etc) but not when it’s profitable for shareholders. Why is that? See here for more arguments.

Things I noticed right at the end of 2021 (31 Dec 2021)

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 17:21:00 +0000

Levelling Down: First Past the Post's Impact on Regional Inequality

https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/levelling-down-first-past-the-posts-impact-on-regional-inequality/

Treasury Shelves £30bln Plan to Electrify UK Railways

https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4041951/reports-treasury-shelves-gbp30bn-plan-electrify-uk-railways-cost-concerns

27 Courses, Very Little Edible

https://www.today.com/food/brutal-review-michelin-starred-restaurant-bros-goes-viral-t242696

Matt Johnson: Five Keyboard Tricks I Use All The Time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKJ9UpEOj8M

Man Accused of Chris Whitty Assault Contests Charges in Dressing Gown

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/21/man-accused-of-chris-whitty-assault-contests-charges-in-dressing-gown

Norway to stump up a third of each home's power bills to help deal with energy crisis

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/norway-to-stump-up-a-third-of-each-homes-power-bills-to-help-to-deal-with-energy-crisis-0wgfmwkvn

Belgian Artist Creates COVID Free Bubble

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/belgian-artists-portable-oasis-creates-covid-free-bubble-one-2021-04-19/

Residents 'livid' over £450 daily cost of heating Sky Pool
https://www.dezeen.com/2021/12/15/sky-pool-cold-water-heating-costs/

Richard Rogers: the world as it could be (thanks to Julie Clark for the link)
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/jul/15/richard-rogers-architect-royal-academy

India's touring cinemas are dying, and being reborn
https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2021/12/18/indias-touring-cinemas-are-dying-and-being-reborn

Harnoncourt: Bach Christmas Oratorio (1982)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJts7bpW2VE

Humble Pie: Black Coffee (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tNoSmlnxwQ

5 Easy Negroni Variations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OC0o-eu8gA

Things I noticed this week (20 Dec 2021):

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 18:16:00 +0000

Why Championship Chess Sets are So Expensive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tg9xiJ6D6k

'A trash heap for our children': How Norilsk became of the most polluted places on Earth

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28112021/norilsk-nickel-russia-pollution/

'Back to the bad old days': swingeing rail cuts set alarm bells ringing

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/dec/05/back-bad-old-days-swingeing-rail-cuts-alarm-bells-ringing

Treasury Shelves £30bln Plan to Electrify UK Railways

https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4041951/reports-treasury-shelves-gbp30bn-plan-electrify-uk-railways-cost-concerns

Climate Change has destabilized the Earth's Poles, putting the rest of the planet in peril

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/12/14/climate-change-arctic-antarctic-poles/

The Least Used Paris Metro Station

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EtBKPcHPrE

He Voted to Impeach. Can He Survive in the G.O.P.?

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/peter-meijer-freshman-republican-impeach/620844/

Who's watching? How governments used the pandemic to normalise surveillance

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-12-09/the-pandemic-brought-heightened-surveillance-to-save-lives-is-it-here-to-stay

Peter Thiel's 'Free Speech for Race Science' Crusade at Cambridge University Revealed

https://bylinetimes.com/2021/12/10/peter-thiels-free-speech-for-race-science-crusade-at-cambridge-university-revealed/

Despite the Focus on Russell Group Institutions as drivers of social mobility, it is actually universities outside this group that are contributing most to social mobility

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2021/12/16/despite-the-focus-on-russell-group-institutions-as-drivers-of-social-mobility-it-is-actually-universities-outside-this-group-that-are-contributing-most-strongly-to-social-mobility/

All That Sugar: The West India Docks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty3EiW5DZcI

UbuWeb Sound: Sound Sculptures (1985)

https://ubu.com/sound/sound_sculptures.html

Soft Machine: Moon in June (Bilzen Festival, Aug 22 1969)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soQN0sMU0Ck

Mozart: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 17, live from Teatro La Fenice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-qB3JwhMVA

Chicken Madras being cooked at Bhaji Fresh, Warrington

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G529fgJO51E

Things I noticed this week (11th Dec 2021)

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 21:27:00 +0000

Winter cab view from two of the most scenic railways in the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viOkh9al0xM

Jonathan Karl: Betrayal with Peter Baker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18t9kfldqUc

Counting the neurological cost of COVID-19

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41582-021-00593-7?s=09

Hackers are Spamming Businesses' Receipt Printers with 'Antiwork' Manifestos

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjbb9d/hackers-are-spamming-businesses-receipt-printers-with-antiwork-manifestos

Seven Egyptian Breakfast Dishes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qwTXsTgHBQ

Hold the tree planting: Protect ecosystems first for maximum carbon storage, study says

https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/hold-the-tree-planting-protect-ecosystems-first-for-maximum-carbon-storage-study-says

Reliving the New York Subway Map Debate

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-11-29/new-york-s-subway-map-debate-gets-a-revival-in-book-form?

'Listening to Kenny G' is an Ironic Masterpiece

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/listening-to-kenny-g-is-an-ironic-masterpiece

Glasgow's High Rise Flat Baggers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ccOMR4rBdw

Monty meets Sly & Robbie: People Make the World Go Round

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePa7Dke-eco

Things I noticed this week (5th Dec 2021)

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 05 Dec 2021 12:44:00 +0000

Ralph Humphrey/Chester Thompson - Zappa's More Trouble Every Day Drum Groove Analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8Hxsqr9DGE

Tehran 2021: Autumn Walk in Mellat Park

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFNuiKvqJr0

Coffee or Chai? At 2 Kolkata Cafes, ‘Adda’ Is What’s Really on the Menu

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/world/asia/india-kolkata-cafe-culture.html

Who can still afford to live in the city?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPloUxLWfB8

QAnon Hero Michael Flynn Secretly Said QAnon is 'Total Nonsense'

https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-hero-michael-flynn-secretly-said-qanon-is-total-nonsense

Howard Jones: Hide and Seek, Live at Siyan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15-61RSFejc

The endless woes of Ferguson Marine

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/the-endless-woes-of-ferguson-marine

A stroll along the Dollis Valley Greenwalk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4olHz0QSa0I

Jonathan Pie at COP 26: The World's End

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23nDxPSIoAw

Cooking Campfire Pizza on the Sadj Grill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpfYDzOm6us

Things I noticed over the last two weeks (28th November 2021)

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 28 Nov 2021 12:50:00 +0000

After a brief hiatus, a bumper edition:

The Isle of Secrets: Orford Ness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg0ZIfM8tJU

What makes for the best villains in drama? Brian Cox/Economist podcast
https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2021/11/04/what-makes-for-the-best-villains-in-drama?

Highest Railway Station in Europe: Jungfraujoch, Switzerland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCiCO8YNuAw

Greenland's government bans oil drilling, leads indigenous resistance to extractive capitalism
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/greenlands-government-bans-oil-drilling-leads-indigenous-resistance-to-extractive-capitalism/

At the End of the World. it's Hyperobjects all the way down
https://www.wired.com/story/timothy-morton-hyperobjects-all-the-way-down/

Embarassing tank gaffe turns Cheshire remembrance into 'Dad's Army'
https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/dads-army-gaffe-cheshire-idea-22184994

A look at what sewage is doing to a beach in England
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9IpOcJqgX0

Support for populist sentiment falls all over Europe, survey finds
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/nov/18/support-for-populist-sentiment-falls-across-europe-survey-finds

Home Office covering up its own study of why refugees come to the UK

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/20/home-office-covering-up-its-own-study-of-why-refugees-come-to-the-uk

AOC: What's so hard about saying this is wrong?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxiK3tGpHuE

Living in Poverty as Politicians Argue over Huge Salaries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KibJsTOOvsI

James Garner as Marlowe: Grey Tweed Jacket
https://bamfstyle.com/2018/09/12/marlowe-garner-tweed/

Paisley Sunset, 27th November
https://youtu.be/diiX1wG7W6k

Jaques Pepin: Onion Soup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV9gLR1reGU

Things I noticed this week, 14th November 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 18:22:00 +0000

Glasgow, Clydeside’s carbon capital

https://www.thedrouth.org/glasgow-clydesides-carbon-capital-by-ewan-gibbs/

String Machine Madness!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSaiKgJLu7c

The Dirty Dozen: Meet America’s top climate villains

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/27/climate-crisis-villains-americas-dirty-dozen

The Kier Starmer/Brian Cox exchange tells us how Scottish independence needs to be reframed

https://gerryhassan.com/blog/the-keir-starmer-brian-cox-exchange-tells-us-how-scottish-independence-needs-to-be-reframed/

‘A torture experiment’: Plan for almost windowless student dorm raises alarm

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/nov/04/torture-experiment-architects-appalled-windowless-student-megadorm

Cabview: Early Morning on the R11 to Skien, Watching the Sun Rise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Lb8Kl-iGk

Rick Bayless Guacamole Class

https://youtu.be/VUz3wG0Wzws

What older vintages will be perfect to drink at Christmas 2021?

https://www.thewinesociety.com/discover/explore/expertise/what-older-vintages-will-be-perfect-to-drink-at-christmas-2021

Things I noticed this week, 7th Nov 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 07 Nov 2021 13:27:00 +0000

These Climate Science Deniers are attending the COP26 climate summit

https://www.desmog.com/2021/11/03/heartland-cfact-cei-gwpf-climate-science-deniers-are-attending-the-cop26-climate-summit/

You want to see a modern country commit suicide? Take a hard look at Britain

https://eand.co/want-to-see-a-modern-country-commit-suicide-take-a-hard-look-at-britain-fdeb3ad4bd3c

Foreign Office secretly targeted British news outlets

https://www.thecanary.co/investigations/2021/11/03/exclusive-foreign-office-secretly-targeted-leading-british-news-outlets/

Mark Zuckerberg and Nick Clegg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWqa70DvD3s

Peter Millray - Time Machine (1976)

https://youtu.be/lHAXax4BDdUI

A castle for sale in North Ayrshire: probably some of the cheapest property (per square foot/acre) available in the UK...

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/81354984#/

David Lammy: the Tories think rules are for little people, not them

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/06/the-tories-reveal-yet-again-their-belief-that-the-rules-are-for-little-people-not-for-them

Transparency over emissions remains a sticking point at COP 26

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/06/transparency-over-emissions-remains-a-sticking-point-at-cop26

The Ahr Valley Flood

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct1gy6

The Filmmakers’ Hut, Salo, Finland

https://www.dezeen.com/2021/11/06/the-filmmakers-hut-pirinen-salo-finland/

Ibrahim Maalouf - Live in Istanbul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le-e37ZMck8

A Ramen Cart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqCz5u4U9M4

November mushroom foraging

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7AN7j_STeE

Things I noticed this week, 30th October 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 14:13:00 +0000

Hey Facebook, I Made a Metaverse 27 years ago: it was terrible then, and it’s terrible now https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/10/facebook-metaverse-was-always-terrible/620546/

Brexit chaos: the crisis that shouldn’t be

https://www-blaetter-de.translate.goog/ausgabe/2021/november/brexit-chaos-die-krise-die-keine-sein-darf?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB&_x_tr_pto=nui#_ftn1

‘We’ve been hammered’: on the breadline in Burnley

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/24/weve-been-hammered-on-the-breadline-in-burnley-covid-universal-credit

The BAM: Russia’s Unknown Trans-Siberian Train

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2d7kJPimyE

Glasgow imagines its post-covid future

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-28/glasgow-imagines-its-future-after-covid-and-cop26

Hey Facebook, I Made a Metaverse 27 years ago: it was terrible then, and it’s terrible now

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/10/facebook-metaverse-was-always-terrible/620546/

An Energy System Fit for the Future? a report on the ownership structure of the Big Six energy companies

https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/power-ahead-an-energy-system-fit-for-the-future

Russia strengthens its internet censorship powers https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/technology/russia-internet-censorship-putin.html

Parliamentary Committee on Standards: Mr Owen Paterson

https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/7644/documents/79907/default/

An overlooked London walk - Erith to Dartford Creek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhOD5-lzc2s

Dreamlands: stories of enchantment and excess in a search for lost sensations

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14744740211053613#.YXkXaN98j60.twitter

End of the Line for Uber? Accounting tricks and tech gimmickry… |

https://marker.medium.com/end-of-the-line-for-uber-901e3077bbbc

Things I noticed this week (23rd October 2021)

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 19:32:00 +0000

La Petite Histoire du RER A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irwgiTt3V48

Iran Mall - the world’s largest mall, in Tehran

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTpSC-i4N74

List of MPs who voted to allow water companies to continue to dump raw sewage into rivers & the sea

https://evolvepolitics.com/heres-a-list-of-every-mp-who-just-voted-to-allow-water-companies-to-continue-dumping-raw-sewage-in-our-rivers/

David Puttnam leaves the House of Lords

https://www.davidputtnam.com/viewNews/n/lord-puttnam-retirement-full-speech/

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp0YeVAfwNQ

Who is Sajid Javid?

https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2019/07/25/who-is-sajid-javid-an-everyday-tale-of-hedge-funds-and-financial-intrigue/

Frank Zappa: Son of Orange County & More Trouble Every Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa1JR-TgPfU

Things I noticed this week, 16th October 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 22:05:00 +0000

Lynsey Hanley: a home of our own: the story of Clough Close, Middlesbrough

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0010gxz

Performing Shakespeare in GTA V Online (thanks to Henry Bell for the link)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54sCXRvP3Y0

Just 20 visas issued to foreign lorry drivers, government admits

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/13/just-20-uk-visas-issued-to-foreign-lorry-drivers-government-admits

UK rail firms move to shed thousands of jobs

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/13/uk-rail-firms-move-to-shed-thousands-of-jobs-amid-covid-cost-cuts

Film: Banksters

https://vimeo.com/542074145

Salt and Pepper Pork Chops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufciKMijGkk

Vinnie Colaiuta, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, Joni Mitchell - Los Angeles, California, 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKbol2dsBjQ

Things I noticed this week, 10th October 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 17:50:00 +0000

‘Sorry to Bother You’ and the psychological toll of modern capitalism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd6xe5w-6Kw

The Brexit three card Monte

https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/the-brexit-three-card-monte.html

A walk to the most dangerous path in Britain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKtzuW6iUrk

Sesame Street: Put Down the Duckie (All-Star Ensemble)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqJjrtDFGpI

Tomates Farci: Stuffed Tomatoes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzCaY5vy0Sk

Things I noticed this week, 3rd Oct 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 03 Oct 2021 11:17:00 +0000

Ian Carr and Nucleus: Roots (1973)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBRKnvK1JUE

Diversity Conservatism and Sociable Sociology

https://discoversociety.org/2021/09/20/diversity-conservatism-and-sociable-sociology/

Jim Duignan and the Stockyard Institute, Chicago

https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/when-art-and-life-are-intertwined/

Mark Blyth: Why people vote for those who work against their best interests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsqGITb0W4A

Steve Reich at 85

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001074z

The Roland Jupiter 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szIcBp_Qnbk

Get Your Love Through the Radio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuakz4XNd8

Jeremy Strong on acting in Succession

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/oct/02/rage-pain-shame-all-mine-jeremy-strong-succession-kendall-roy

The Original Hot and Sour Soup, Wuxi style

https://youtu.be/Pts0cLqGfkQ

TINTW 27 Sept 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 14:39:00 +0000

Chancellor Denis Healey and union leaders interviewed during the 'Winter of Discontent,' 1979

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksJeJp6aOJk

GB News is just a disaster. I came close to a breakdown: ANDREW NEIL | Daily Mail Online

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10026417/GB-News-just-disaster-came-close-breakdown-ANDREW-NEIL.html

Inside Music with Rhiannon Giddens

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001018q

The ARP 2600 Turns 50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvIekWsTWH8

A visit to Real World Studios

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1YYbaLQN0Y

Johnny Harris Orchestra: Footprints on the Moon (1969)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sehXutM623A

Kollectiv: Kollectiv (1973)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4YXHLIh6mo

Six Thai Dinners you can make at home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kB3sfLM29Y

TINTW 19 Sept 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 19 Sep 2021 15:25:00 +0000

Why internet connections in Germany are so bad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jIUFdCkueA

One of America's Best Sommeliers Grades Boxed Wine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9XxVXczyzI

Three-decade-old Floating Head sculpture revived in Glasgow

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/sep/12/three-decade-old-floating-head-sculpture-revived-glasgow

Real time global COVID statistics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSDuco7vUnc

Fact Check: Are Nicki Minaj's Cousin's Friend's Testicles Gigantic Because Of The COVID Vaccine?

https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/fact-check-are-nicki-minajs-cousins-friends-testicles-gigantic-because-of-the-covid-vaccine/

A simple chow mein

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H63M4UkRtA

an intriguing cover version of the Sweeney! movie theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ykda6RIWgE

TINTW 11th September 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 19:06:00 +0000

20 Years after 9/11, the Twin Towers are everywhere

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-09-10/mapping-the-second-life-of-the-world-trade-center

September 11 attacked: Jon Snow remembers 9/11, 20 years on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClPis-dMEEM

The disastrous voyage of Satoshi, the world’s first cryptocurrency cruise ship

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/sep/07/disastrous-voyage-satoshi-cryptocurrency-cruise-ship-seassteading

Fishing on the Russia - China border

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EonfMc9hoqQ

Deja vu: John Smith criticises Tory U-turn on National Insurance (June 1993)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwu0Zc0vxs8

The secret life of a Michelin Guide inspector

https://www.forbes.com/sites/karlaalindahao/2019/10/23/the-secret-life-of-an-anonymous-michelin-restaurant-inspector-2019/

The UWS Arts and Media digital showcase 2021

http://uwsartsandmedia.com

Pat Metheny: First Circle - with the metropole orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97aLLHz14CQ

The UK Government has snubbed the legal commitment to achieve net zero by 2050

https://goodlawproject.org/update/government-legal-commitment/

Escoffier's poulet sauté Alice : minimum effort maximum joy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6vs2HkMt6o

TINTW 5th September 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 19:12:00 +0000

Scotland to trial a four day working week

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-58403087

The private-state school funding gap in England

https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/reports/why-are-some-children-worth-more-than-others

Inside the real Casa Bonita from South Park

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6k26GDq9_0

Trey Parker and Matt Stone buy Casa Bonita

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPJx_AeWIDI

Skanking with the Upsetter: Rare Dubs 1971 - 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hVwwH8TDco

Arrivals at Heathrow, 3rd Sept 2021

https://news.sky.com/story/kids-screaming-and-men-fainting-passengers-complain-of-five-hour-lines-after-arriving-at-heathrow-12398905

Night Mail 2 - documentary, 1986

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzrrcfV-UWw

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - soundtrack (David Shire, 1974)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f84e64g1ZMw

The UK’s last aerial ropeway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RiYXI1Tfu4

Lousiana style red beans and rice recipe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxKqeC_6aBk

TINTW 29 August 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 29 Aug 2021 15:46:00 +0000

Brexit closes major car plant, employees regret voting Leave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aw3omZOZs0

Former British soldier on the official Afghanistan narrative

https://www.doubledown.news/watch/2021/august/24/former-british-soldier-destroys-official-afghanistan-narrative

Dark Side of the Moon: Wembley 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6tYeg5Bj4g

Bach organ music on the 2021 Kogler Organ, Soumenlinna Church, in Helsinki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3HvoLV3xZs

Hifi shop sketch from Not the Nine O’Clock News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxQqWSnsHoA

A railway journey from Oslo to Lillehammer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts_e2EyHU4I

Inside Lung King Been: The First Chinese restaurant to receive three Michelin stars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JH_jNzDppo

Niklas Ekstedt: The Fire Chef

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LilNlzojtzw

TINTW 22 August 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 22 Aug 2021 15:18:00 +0000

An interview with Pat Metheny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEgalcH_-b4

Afghanistan before the Russian invasion (1979)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHPrU7R8L2Y

Vegetarian Pad Thai

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy_P70hXhdM

Living with brexit

https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/living-with-brexit.html

The very modest engineering genius Roy Gandy at Rega Research

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAM0itnCUac

Muddy Waters live in Chicago 1979

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRex0LHuRyA

The Ozark Mountain Daredevils

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6IMaFB_l1g

TINTW 14 August 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 19:24:00 +0000

A house in the garden: shofuso and modernism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba2drsok3EM

"Forward to first principles" (1966)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCfDQvrBGRw

Is your Uber more expensive than a London taxi?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Ypt4E2YQY

Hush-Hush Boom-Boom: Spymasters

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n16/charles-glass/hush-hush-boom-boom

Latest U.K. Scandals Show a System Rife With Insider Ties

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/13/world/europe/uk-boris-johnson-cameron.html

Tuna sashimi with daikon and ginger

https://www.thespruceeats.com/tuna-sashimi-with-daikon-and-ginger-1300697

Cold War Cuisine: notes from the CCCP cookbook

https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/4745/soviet-food-stories-cold-war-cuisine-cccp-cookbook

Herb Ellis and Remo Palmier: Windflower (1978)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAi7IeJG-6Y

Nucleus: Alleycat (1975)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giYvwLM-JEo

TINTW 8 August 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sun, 08 Aug 2021 14:29:00 +0000

Affordable housing residents at ‘Sky Pool’ development locked out of basic facilities
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/affordable-housing-residents-at-sky-pool-development-locked-out-of-basic-facilities-71927

Interview with the cast of 'Succession' (2018)
www.gq.com/story/hbo-succession-cast-breakout-interview-2018/amp

Does London really need a gigantic glowing orb the height of Big Ben?
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/aug/02/msg-sphere-stratford-london-orb-madison-square-gardens

'Wiping the ice cream off your face: an artistic dialogue on de-arctification

https://www.raekalliodelval.com/wiping-the-ice-cream-off-your-face.html

'The Flash' filming in Glasgow: takes, stunts and more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEQBRy6zA1E

The end of a depressing 1970s sci-fi movie starring a guy in a turtleneck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49IcrH4Bhq0

The soundtrack to Sim City 4 (2003)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqlCKE5W-CA

...and the soundtrack to Sim City 3000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkXOxLpdMds

Travelling the trans-Siberian railway in 3rd class

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZl-icu3NV4

TINTW 31st July 2021

noreply@blogger.com (generalpraxis) — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 19:57:00 +0000

Guy Maddin: The Green Fog

https://vimeo.com/356966508

“The Green Fog pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, by creating a “parallel-universe version” of the classic film from unrelated footage from ‘50s noir, experimental films, ‘70s prime-time TV, and amateur video that were all shot around the San Francisco Bay Area”.

Del Singh’s memoir: a Peterborough story

https://www.latenightbanter.com/show-host

Queen secretly lobbied Scottish ministers for climate law exemption

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/28/queen-secretly-lobbied-scottish-ministers-climate-law-exemption

Welsh slate landscape becomes UK's newest world heritage site

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/28/welsh-slate-landscape-becomes-uks-newest-world-heritage-site

Sophie Zhang, the data scientist who exposed political manipulation via Facebook

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/07/29/1030260/facebook-whistleblower-sophie-zhang-global-political-manipulation/

Napa natural wine club whose 'cult-like' job went viral is even more eccentric than it sounds

https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/Napa-natural-wine-club-whose-cult-like-job-went-16350613.php

70s strings from Italy - the Crumar multiman - S

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKaPJ2ZwGqI

Sadao Watanabe: Autumn Blow (1977)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppGU2VGlZXw