James Plunkett
@jamestplunkett
Interested in more human ways to govern our lives together, and how technology can help. Blog: 🏳️⚧️
Back at one of our favourite venues. Very impressed if anyone guesses it!
Christmas Day walk to a mountain temple in Lampang. Not quite on brand for the day maybe but very beautiful.
Of course the Guangzhou public library makes Chengdu’s look like Hackney Central. 98,000 square meters.
Sichuan public library. Or a corner of it! 52,000 square meters and has space for 6,000 people to work
Still waiting for these to reach Britain. What is global capitalism for if not diffusing this kind of joy?
If we needed a reminder, hope and community always beat division and grievance. Tracey also reminds me of a quote from Suryagupta, Chair of the London Buddhist Centre: “Never underestimate the change you can effect just by being a certain way in the world.” Rest in Peace Tracey Veronica O’Brien
They planted a tree in Tracey’s memory. They read poems and handed round packets of Hobnobs - another of Tracey’s favourites. Then, at the end, they lit lanterns - one for each year of Tracey’s life. As they were released a neighbour led the group singing Wild Mountain Thyme. 11/n
We also geeked out about the accumulator tower. Can you believe they piped waste water from Battersea power station and used it for heat on the estate? It now seems to be a ‘Heat Network Workshop’. Maybe someone can tell me what that is?!
We had a tour of the trees in Churchill Gardens on the estate in Pimlico. They relocated this one when they renovated Vauxhall Bridge after a local campaign to save it.
St Barnabas church in Homerton, where the grounds have been turned into a community garden. One of my ‘what if’s’ when it comes to revitalising community life is: ‘what if every church did this?’
“Each decade we shiftily declare we have buried class and each decade the coffin stands empty.”
Also, I picked it up from the newly pedestrianised Chatsworth Road market which is thriving since they stopped cars zooming down the middle ❤️ Although to make this 10% less righteous, it took me 18 months to get round to it. Still, claiming the triumph.
21st century city triumph. Rented a cargo bike using the new scheme by Our Bike and @hackneycouncil.bsky.social. Booked on the app, easy pick up, dropped off two loads of rubbish at the recycling centre. Good bike lanes the whole way. 💪
Early birthday present! I’m a bit 😍. The evocative clunk of the buttons and the squeak as you open the cassette boxes
I always think that New York Times quote is the dream book review: “Read this strange book closely.”
Also, how wonderful are these rain gardens Hackney keeps building.
Is it an unusually warm autumn? Doesn’t feel that way, but cornflowers and cosmos in the community garden are still flowering. Also, these last two, which I never know the names of.
This is fascinating although I must admit is not a beach read. It makes me think that one of the big trends we’re seeing in government/public policy is the spread of third wave systems theory (into theories of statecraft, PSR, leadership training, etc). 1/2
I think maybe I’m so burned by more recent horrors like this that I feel nostalgic for 60s brutalism.
I mean really. I had no idea about this building. When did we stop building things like this? Can we have more totally over the top fingers-in-the-ears, of-its-time grand architecture, please?
One benefit of booking Labour conference late is that I’m staying in Edge Hill, which it turns out means I get to cycle past this beauty.
One of my favourite facts is that a few years ago the train industry did a big redesign of tickets to make them simpler. This is my return ticket to Liverpool.
I know public sector digital work is hard, but the user experience of GP at Hand is just inexcusably bad. A tiny example (one of hundreds) - an email they sent me today: it tells me to click a link and it doesn’t include any link…
Just to complete the narrative arc, I made it to 7:15pm before eating the cookie, which is three hours into the journey, so I’m banking that as a win and maybe 7/10 grit. But also space for future growth/training montage/eventual triumph.
Oop. I was on my bike on route to speak at Nesta Policy Live and this happened. *Showers*, the forecast said! Saved by my first black cab of the year.
