No, London has not peaked
- Added On: May 10th, 2021
- By: Tam McDonald
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An article in The Guardian last week asks “If we really have passed ‘peak London’, what does that mean for Britain?” The sub-heading concedes that the capital may have fallen on hard times but, as if this were a compelling counter-argument, “. . . it still offers a defiantly different version of Englishness.” After regaling … Read More
English is not a singular language
- Added On: April 29th, 2021
- By: Tam McDonald
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Recent flareups over issues of “cultural identity” have brought into sharper relief the question of what it means to be English. Related to this: what does it mean to speak English? Populist purveyors of ill-intentioned identity politics rush to demand that we consider what they see as similarly consequential questions: what does it mean to … Read More
The Devil Dialogues have always showcased intelligence
- Added On: April 12th, 2021
- By: Tam McDonald
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We have been pleased to launch a new format of podcast earlier this month, entitled the Devil Dialogues. They are inspired by the dedication to wit and good conversation as stipulated in the rules laid down by Elizabethan playwright Ben Jonson. A contemporary of Shakespeare’s, he launched The Apollo Club in an upper room of … Read More
500 years of Fleet Street: a good start
- Added On: March 29th, 2021
- By: Tam McDonald
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If as a thought experiment we accepted the generally proffered age of humanity as 200,000 and the average age of generational turnover over the centuries as working out around 20, then arithmetic suggests that we can work our way up either parental line through 10,000 grannies to get to The First Grannie. Imagine then a … Read More
Curating the very process of curation
- Added On: March 23rd, 2021
- By: Tam McDonald
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Two weeks ago, this blog posed a question about what museums could be for, responding to a book review in The Financial Times that surveyed the landscape of museums across the world. It took as a given that whatever else will define the museum of the future, it will be a building occupying a space … Read More