Christopher Fowler's Blog, page 501

Why London Signs Confuse

Where On Earth In London? No 2

Okay, Londonheads, how about this one?

No Longer Fun To Stay There

The Youth Men's Christian Association, the original Bible study group, was founded in London in 1844. Now the board of the organisation's American branch announced that it will henceforth call itself by its common street name, "The Y", unveiling a new logo as part of a major "brand revitalisation".

Presumably the Village People song actions will [...:]

Where On Earth In London? No.1

This will be an occasional series of shots I've taken. Where is it? An easy one to start with (click on image for a much larger format)…

My Favourite Londoner

This is a piece I wrote for Time Out London which ran in the back of the magazine a while ago, and I think what I wrote still stands. One thing I would have added (but didn't because of length) was the issue of faith. Nyman's Jewish heritage has informed of his several major works [...:]

Testing Times

Thinking about education, I was rummaging through my desk and found one of my old University Of London '0′ Level exam papers on economics, which I sat when I was 15. It included the following questions, picked at random from a total of eleven.

What do you understand by the terms 'progressive taxation' and 'regressive taxation'? [...:]

The Stupidest Remark Ever Made?

I really hope that for Zenna Atkins' sake that this quote was taken out of context by the Sunday Times, because if not, it goes down as one of the worst ever pronounced on the subject of teaching.

Ms Atkins is the Chairperson for the Office for Standards in Education, and has suggested that 'every school [...:]

Re:View – 'Toy Story 3D'

I have a low pain threshold for American films about childhood; in this area the continents diverge, with Europe largely making films about the ugly, painful aspects of growing up and the US painting school memories in day-glo hues. Wary also of a franchise that, while enjoyable, feels as if it reached the end of [...:]

The Pleasure Of Chance Meetings

'And perhaps I may come to the country again, when London is all burnt down' – Thomas Hood

I get fed up with London; I think its residents all do sometimes, and just when we reach the point where we feel we need to flee the grubby metropolis, you get a night in which London functions [...:]

Directors 3: James Ivory

The most English of all directors is, paradoxically, a gay Californian whose producer-partner was Indian, and whose screenwriter of thirty years, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, is German-Indian. James Ivory has been repeatedly criticised in England for being too genteel, too safe, too 'Laura Ashley'. One could read these attacks as being partially homophobic, in the same [...:]