Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · 9d

Lucky you, such a lovely city

Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · 9d

So Sir Terry Farrell has died, aged 87, a fortnight after his one-time architectural partner Sir Nicholas Grimshaw. Farrell was a particularly talented large-scale urbanist. An era ends.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · 13d

A Brit running Gaza? What could possibly go wrong? We could call it a "Mandate"
www.thetimes.com/article/4277...

Sir Tony Blair ‘offers to lead interim governing body of postwar Gaza’

The Gaza International Transitional Authority could govern for up to five years. Blair is said to be supported by senior figures close to Trump

www.thetimes.com

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · 20d

To think I got into this place a lifetime ago on the strength of two A levels and glandular fever www.thetimes.com/article/b3a3...

Durham wins University of the Year and dismisses ‘Oxbridge reject’ stereotype

Durham University has won University of the Year in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026 and LSE has taken the No 1 spot

www.thetimes.com

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · 23d

How about a masterpiece OF kitsch?

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 23d

The Sagrada Família is an immense, unfinished church in Barcelona, begun in 1882—“a famously slow project, even in a country where, to American eyes, many things move without haste,” D. T. Max writes.

Is the Sagrada Família a Masterpiece or Kitsch?

In the century since Antoni Gaudí died, his wild design has been obsessively realized, creating the world’s tallest church—and an endlessly debated icon.

www.newyorker.com

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · 23d

They did however issue an agreed list at the time detailing who took the design lead in each of the FG projects, so as to avoid future bickering. Unusual.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · 23d

So long, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, 1939-2025. One of the most original and inventive architects of his generation, an inspiring and effective President of the Royal Academy, and a gentleman.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · 25d

Protest flags not allowed at Proms, St. George flags now associated with street violence. I saw only 1 on the telly coverage

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · 25d

Welsh flags outnumbering St
George flags by about 100:1 at the Last Night of the Proms

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · 26d

But who will play them in the inevitable film? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Defiant nuns flee Austrian care home for their abandoned convent in the Alps

Sisters Bernadette, Regina and Rita needed a locksmith to get back into their convent, defying Church leaders.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Sep 5

She managed to get a landmark listed building on Teesside, the Dorman Long Tower, de-listed.amd demolished super quick at the request of lovely mayor, now Lord, Ben Houchen

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Sep 4

Good to find a painstaking restoration project (the Big Ben or Elizabeth Tower) on the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist. Bit odd to find a house and a house extension also on the list - such projects don't win the Stirling because there are other awards for those. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Riba Stirling Prize: Big Ben tower restoration up for architecture award

The restoration of London's famous Elizabeth Tower is nominated for the prestigious Stirling Prize.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Hugh Pearman

C20 Society @c20society.bsky.social · Sep 2

EVENT: C20 Open Mic Night

📆 Thu 25 Sep 2025, 6.30pm
📍Cowcross Street + Online
🎫 c20society.org.uk/events

Returning after a hugely popular debut, another evening of short talks by young & early-career specialists in 20th century heritage - from Sainsbury's public art to a Crittall Windows new town.

📷 Exterior of The Sainsbury Centre, Sutton Coldfield branch, featuring William Mitchell mural - photographer unknown (c 1974). Image courtesy of Sainsbury Archive.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 26

This has always bothered me. I have no answer.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 21

Not on our passports either. That's the Royal crest, the Lion and Unicorn. Nobody even notices the absence of the flag.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 21

So tired of the performative flag waving going on. It's so un-British. We don't have a cult of the national flag as the USA does. We don't regard it as a sacred object. Until recently our prime ministers managed without it as a backdrop. Our monarch still does. We know what country we are in. Bah.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 18

I also strongly advise the excision of 'vision' and 'mission'

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 18

If it's not windswept can it be a plaza?

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 18

Please do not use the words 'iconic' 'dystopian' and 'vibrant' anywhere near me, lest I turn violent.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 16

Some oligarch or other lives there, or did.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 15

I'm going to run away and join the 'geopolitical circus'.

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Reposted by Hugh Pearman

Apollo @apollo-magazine.com · Aug 12

The broadcaster Samira Ahmed was recently appointed president of the Twentieth Century Society. She talks to Apollo about conserving the built environment and making people feel that it matters

Samira Ahmed, Twentieth Century woman

The broadcaster and new president of the Twentieth Century Society talks to Arjun Sajip about conserving the built environment and making people feel it matters

buff.ly

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 6

Good point. I'm always popping in and out of shops to see if they have a given thing, and leaving empty handed when they don't. Meanwhile my excellent Turkish supermarket employs no tech at all, just lots of men watching everyone up and down all the aisles.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 5

Couldn't at first work out what they'd done to my local Lidl. They made it quite hard to get to the checkouts, via a narrow corridor. Then I found you couldn't exit at all after that unless you had kept your paper receipt to scan. Drastic action to reduce now endemic level of theft.

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Hugh Pearman @hughpearman.bsky.social · Aug 3

Solidarity. Wood pigeons and squirrels come for ours.