Is This How To Do Small Business?
Opposite Ed’s Shed in De Beauvoir Town is an old factory block of indeterminate age, with little architectural merit.
So what is happening?
It is being turned into a series of units for small businesses called the De Beauvoir Block.
Surely, we need more initiatives like this?
I should say, that although De Beauvoir Town is mainly residential, tucked into lots of the nooks and crannies , there are small business units.
Like the De Beauvoir Block, many have been created by the landowner, the Benyon Estate.
The estate are not distant, like many of the owners of large parts of our cities, but seem to want to create a vibrant and prosperous community.
After all, modern economics says they would make more money by flattering the block and building tower blocks of buy-to-leave flats.
The biggest tragedy of the area is that parts of De Beauvoir Town were demolished in the 1960s to build anonymous local authority housing, some of which has already been rebuilt.
The good thing though, is that there are still more nooks, crannies and factories to do some more creative development.
Ed’s Shed
This house is in the heart of De Beauvoir Town, which is the area of London, where I live on the Northern edge.
Ed’s Shed
It is an unusual modern house to sit amongst all the Georgian ones. It is not the only one in the Conservation Area.
It’s called Ed’s Shed and there is a web site.
I like it!
Why don’t we get more adventurous modern houses? Architects are creating the future and we don’t want uniformity!
Community Toilets In The City Of London
I saw this sign on the door of a pub near Liverpool Street station in the City of London.
Community Toilets In The City Of London
Read more about it on this page on the City of London web site.
If you look at the page, you’ll see something rare on a web site – The author of the page is credited.
Does your council have community toilets?
The web page does say, that there is a payment from the council for providing the service.
Corbyn Courts The Jewish Vote
This article on the Jewish Chronicle is entitled How the unveiling of Labour’s antisemitism report turned into a Corbyn calamity. This is the first paragraph.
It was the political equivalent of running into a burning building with a can of petrol and liberally chucking the fuel over anything you could find.
What Jeremy Corbyn did this morning almost defied belief. Even in these extraordinary times, it was an act of such reckless abandon that veteran political correspondents watched open-mouthed.
Mr Corbyn came to the launch of his party’s report into antisemitism, conducted by Shami Chakrabarti, after the worst week of his decades-long political career.
I’d gone to their web site to get a digest after reading the various tweets after the Jewish MP; Ruth Smeeth was abused.
I’m not Jewish, but I have Jewish genes, so I certainly wouldn’t vote for the Labour Party, even if they were the only non-Fascist candidate.
The Diamond Light Source And Ebola
The headline of Ibuprofen ‘disables’ Ebola virus, drew me to this article on the BBC’s web site. This is said.
The painkiller ibuprofen and the cancer drug toremifene can disable the Ebola virus, say researchers.
Scientists used the UK’s national synchrotron facility – Diamond Light Source – to analyse the virus in incredible detail.
They revealed the two drugs could bind to the crucial part of Ebola that the virus needs to infect cells.
It may be only a starting point, but it looks like a success for the Diamond Light Source. I am indebted to Wikipedia for this description of the Diamond Light Source.
Diamond Light Source (“Diamond”) is the UK’s national synchrotron science facility located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire. Its purpose is to produce intense beams of light whose special characteristics are useful in many areas of scientific research. In particular it can be used to investigate the structure and properties of a wide range of materials from proteins (to provide information for designing new and better drugs), and engineering components (such as a fan blade from an aero-engine) to conservation of archeological artifacts (for example Henry VIII’s flagship the Mary Rose.
This is a UK-funded and based facility, I hope that, after Brexit, this type of scientific machine, which cost £260million will still be able to be funded.
SNP Seeks To Replace Labour As Official Opposition At Westminster
This is the title of a story on Politics Home today.
I listened to Prime Ministers Questions today from start to finish and it is worth comparing the performance of Angus Robertson and Jeremy Corbyn.
Robertson’s performance was workmanlike and professional, but Corbyn’s contribution was not of the best quality.
I have not really listened to Corbyn’s contributions much in detail much before, but I got the impression, his heart didn’t seem to be in the debate.
I also thought that he was more long-winded than most other party leaders I remember well. Is he always like this, or is it because he has something else on his mind?
He is certainly not fulfilling his royal of leader of Her Maject’s Loyal Opposition.
If he doesn’t want the job, then I’m sure Angus Robertson could fill in!
After Losing 2-1 Roy Hodgson Resigns, So What Does Corbyn Do After Losing 172-40?
I think one man is honourable,
I’ll let others judge JC!
Who Will Join Corbyn’s Shadow Saddle-Bag?
The pool is getting smaller by the hour!
Tarzan Lives!
Tarzan has just been on BBC Breakfast tslking masses of sense on how to get out of the mess. Brilliant!
Now Is The Time To Change
In 1977, the climate for business wasn’t very good. So what did I do?
Together with three others, we started Metier Management Systems to create a ground breaking project management system called Artemis.
Wikipedia says this about the sale of the company several years later.
Metier was sold to Lockheed for US$130m at a time when the US$ and the £Sterling were close to parity. Since then, then company has been sold many times, each time for a considerably lesser amount, and with the company often renamed by the new owner.
The only sad part of this tale, is that the software I wrote in an attic in Suffolk, didn’t fulfil the potential, of which I believed she was possessed.
The moral of this story, is that the worse and more uncertain the times, means the better it is to change what you’re doing and perhaps start something radical.
It might even be the time to marry your long-term partner!
The Anonymous Widower 