Revisiting the Lucas Aerospace workers’ plan

In the Guardian Anne Karpf (@AnneKarpf) wrote about Green jobs: a utopia we nearly had on ‘workers in a failing 1970s arms factory [who] created a revolutionary jobs plan’ as a ‘positive alternative to recession and redundancy’, arguing that ‘we need their vision now’. Four decades ago, a green way out of recession was proposed. …

A response to the Digital Britain Interim Report, 2009

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-britain-the-interim-report-january-2009 In January 2009 the UK Department for Culture Media and Sport published the Digital Britain: The Interim Report, lead by former Ofcom chief executive Stephen Carter, which is a ‘plan to secure Britain’s place at the forefront of the global digital economy’. The interim report contains more than 20 recommendations on: next-generation networks, universal …

Vox Pop: Towards a World Creative Economy Forum?

For a Design Week Vox Pop I was asked to respond to the question: The UK could host a new creative conference, modelled on the now defunct World Creative Forum. What should the World Creative Economy Forum do differently to its predecessor to ensure its success? My reply follows. In due course I will post …

Engineers’ products are often decried

In a recent article in the Guardian Jonathan Glancey decries the decline of Britain’s engineering culture and argues that its industrial future is threatened by a lack of skilled workers and a glut of postmodern apathy. (Extinction of the engineers, Jonathan Glancey, Guardian, October 15, 2007) It is no surprise that, as Glancey observes,“we have …