The Manchester Design Manifesto is an ambitious long-term programme to put design at the heart of the city’s future. Kasper de Graaf outlines the plan and explains the role that creativity…
The story of The Loomba Foundation begins on 23 June 1954, when…
In the wake of Grenfell Tower, Theresa May’s position has become untenable. It has been clear since the election that the Conservative party no longer wants her as leader, except only in…
To me, the choice was clear when Theresa May saw her chance and called a general election. What kind of country will Britain be? What part will it play in the existential questions faced by the…
In these days immediately following the mindless attack at Manchester Arena, it is impossible to write about anything Mancunian except in that context – not least because everything is coloured by…
On Monday last week, the Washington Post carried a headline that read: “This guy…
“One of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time”
Today’s digital revolution owes much to Michael Faraday’s 1821 development of a motor using…
Why was Smash Hits such a successful magazine when I worked there, and how has music journalism changed since then? These were the questions I was asked the other day by a student…
Asked about his slogan “I miss my pre-internet brain” in an interview with the FT, the artist Douglas…
The Bonded Warehouse is a looming presence in the middle of the old Granada Studios complex in Manchester city centre: a cavernous reminder of the industrial revolution, soon to be transformed…
The sound of Celia Stothard fills the room at 19 Cleaver Street in…
Playing chamber music in an art gallery is hardly unprecedented, but you know to expect something unusual when the musicians are Manchester Camerata and the gallery is the Whitworth.
Henry…Those with an eye for detail may have spotted that 1990 – the year this charity was established – is actually 26, not 25, years ago. However, the trustees in their wisdom have decided that just…
Representatives of the creative industries in the North West convened at Manchester Metropolitan University on 28th July to discuss Brexit and ensure the government is fully informed…
A well-attended mini-conference of the Creative Industries Federation on July 7th 2016 at Kings College, London, called at short notice to inform CIF input and advice to the new…
Hope against fear, was how Brexiters characterised the battle. Hope in hell versus fear of the inevitable, this is starting to look like in the sober light of day. But no-one knows what…
My live updates today:
19.16 pm. Media reports all say Scotland’s First Minister is pushing for a second independence referendum, but the canny Ms Sturgeon’s position may be…
June 14, 2016. What will Devo-Manc and the Northern Powerhouse mean for the cultural economy? This question was explored at The Art of Devolution: Culture and the North, a conference of…
(Even if the price of EU membership was £350m a week – which it’s not – we could only spend it on the NHS if
We cut aid to our farmers We cut regional aid We cut aid to our poorer…John Benyon was Professor of Political Studies at the University of Leicester from 1993 until his death on 19 May aged 65. He founded the university’s Criminology Department and played an…
Workshops with end users and service providers for an Internet of Things pilot took place at Camden Collective in London on March 9, 2016. The pilot, by the VITAL IoT consortium, explores how…
The World…
[Feb 8, 2016. Introduction to a lecture organised by The Boar as part of a series to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the…
Introducing 53 Spaces, the IoT-powered prototype app for smarter working
Made You Look, a Look & Yes documentary by Paul O’Connor and Anthony Peters, offers a fascinating glimpse into the techniques and inspirations of a wide range of contemporary makers: artists,…
It is the second year we’ve organised a public debate as a highlight of the Design Manchester festival – and once again, our panel underscored Manchester’s place at the heart of the nation’s…
An entire village of Grade 1 listed buildings in an inaccessible location may seem an unlikely location for a music and arts festival, but for Festival No. 6 (Best New Festival 2012, Best…
Driven by progress in mobile technology and by structural developments in advanced economies, working patterns are changing rapidly, with self-employed workers, startups and SMEs, but…
Smarter working in Camden Town. Introduction to the VITAL IoT prototype in London.
Oct 31, 2014. Organised as part of DesignManchester 14, NORTH: The Great Debate brought together national and regional leaders of the…
Edinburgh chose to stay in the United Kingdom - but what will that be?
“For how long will English constituencies and English Honourable members tolerate … at least 119 Honourable…
“Across the globe governments and municipalities are looking at the next generation of communication and information networks and how they can use this infrastructure to help build a smart city,”…
This was my introduction to Close & Remote’s Secure Cities discussion at Deptford Lounge on 9 May 2013.
…They sometimes say the English are cold fish. Reserved, unemotional, lacking in passion. But what do they know who say that? They never met my aunt, Heather Whitcombe, who died aged 90 at…
This type of clock used to be known as a granddaughter clock. It is a French timepiece in an English cabinet and an engraved plaque on the front reads: “…
This is the day book kept by my step-grandmother, Monica Sherston, from January 1923 to March 1927. It was not unusual in 1920s English society to keep such…
In 2005, the proportion of the world’s population living in cities reached 49% (3.2 billion people). By 2030, 60% of the global population – five billion – is expected to live in urban areas.…
Coming up with consistent promotional ideas wasn’t easy. The main driver was the urgent need to maintain financial stability for De Bezige Bij [‘The Busy Bee’, the Dutch publishing house…
The lot of a widow is shocking in many parts of the world, the sorrow of losing her husband compounded by cruelty and injustice. Tradition variously dictates that she is unable to work or…
Born into a British military family, Door de Graaf, who died in Holland on 2 January 2011 aged 90, was a key figure in the wartime Dutch special forces in London, helping to run the Dutch…
When conferred by Margaret “every prime minister needs a Willy” Thatcher on William Whitelaw, the title of deputy prime minister was little more than a device to help her neutralise the “wet”…
The Dutch this weekend are conducting the kind of horsetrading held up by Tory newspapers before Britain’s election last month to scare us off a hung parliament. In the event, the UK quickly…
Attitudes to the use and availability of publicly owned information have shifted significantly in recent years, partly due to technological advances, and partly to political commitments to…