Mnikelo talking
The 2010 World Cup has generated $3.3bn in revenue for Fifa but for grassroots football in South Africa only 27 artificial pitches. Final result Fifa won. South Africa Sweet FA.
Click here to watch the video to hear what Abahlali baseMjondolo, the South African shackdwellers’ movement, have to say about the negative effects of the 2010 World Cup on South Africans.
Dear Well London participants and those yet to take part,
As part of the continuing Well London initiatives across London, over the next month we will be conducting what may be our final filming events and workshops in Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Hounslow, starting tomorrow with a second visit to Notting Barns gardens. As always we are offering opportunities to get behind the camera and to learn how to shoot and interview.
If you can’t make it to these events or you are not so interested in filming, we are also offering edit placements where you can make a contribution to the Well London Media Project and get firsthand experience of the post-production process. All the information is in the flyer below. To find out more information about Spectacle’s role in Well London, visit the Spectacle blog.
Finally, Claire Sharples has sadly departed as project coordinator but leaves everything in the hands of myself and Mark Saunders. If you have any questions or want to get involved, please get in touch with the details below or download the Well London Media Project Sign Up Form and return it to us.
Greg Pittard, Project Coordinator
Olympic Blues
BATTERSEA POWER STATION AND OLYMPICS 2012: LEGACY, LAND GRABS AND LIBERTIES
Mark Saunders talk and videos
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 17:30
Room 517 (5th floor), Bartlett School of Planning, UCL, Wates House, 22 Gordon Street, London WC1H 0QB.
More info on London Planning Seminars
For more info:
On the Olympics:
Project: http://www.spectacle.co.uk/London-Olympics-2012
Blog: https://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/category/olympics-2012/
On Battersea Power Station:
Project: http://www.spectacle.co.uk/Battersea-Power-Station
Blog: https://www.spectacle.co.uk/spectacleblog/category/battersea-power-station/
You couldn’t make it up.
Former Wings frontman Paul McCartney is holding a bring-me-back-my-youth gig in the belly of the roofless Battersea Power Station in order to fund raise for a new roof for the Old Vic Theatre.
Multi-millionaire Macca is dusting off his guitar in a bid to raise money for the theatre, but for him to play inside a structure which REO, the owner, claim is so fragile and so dangerous that the chimneys must be removed for safety reasons, begs the post-ironic question: when will the power station have an honorary gig at the Old VIc to provide it with a roof of its own?
Despite Macca’s considerable fall from grace since his hey-day (his Bromance with Vlad the Impaler Putain in Red Square, receiving guided tours of the Kremlin and playing a personal concert for the Russian dictator), presumably Battersea Power Station has been chosen for the venue as a silent homage to its rock’n’roll image, most notably gracing the cover of the 1976 Pink Floyd album, Animals. The fact that Macca is being granted permission to perform there must mean that the disused power station is not as much of a threat to life and limb as developers, politicians, and pen-pushers (all with vested interests) would have the public believe.
Surely such a National Treasure has more to give as a cultural icon? And Battersea Power Station isn’t in such bad shape bad either.
Hope Sir Moolah wears a hard hat.
Click Battersea Power Station for more blogs
Or visit PlanA our general blog on urbanism, planning and architecture.
See our Battersea Power Station project pages for more information and videos.
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‘Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo’ is described as a ‘powerful documentary’ that ‘covers all the issues… Seeing the extent to which the rule of law has been trashed, and the standard of ‘justice’ employed as a return to the 11th Century (pre-Magna Carta), is depressing and upsetting indeed. But the film also presents hope for humanity.’
Read the whole review here at Michael’s Peace Blog.
“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo” is being screened tomorrow at The Broca, 4 Coulgate Street, Brockley, London, SE4 2RW. This will be followed by a Question and Answer session.
For more information, see the Spectacle events page.
Developers REO want to demolish Battersea Pumping Station
Last week’s blog entry on Battersea Pumping Station focused on the frailty of the argument behind demolishing the building by current developers REO / Treasury Holdings. The pump house is a listed building at Grade II and pre-dates the power station by several decades as it was built in 1850. It has suffered from the same neglect that has befallen the power station, and like the sleeping giant that dwarfs it, it has been proclaimed as unrestorable by the developers and therefore fair game to be knocked down to make way for gated communities and a retail hub.
Yet much is being ignored here. The new Planning Policy Statement 5 declares that the council must take into account not only the possibility of sustaining and restoring a building of historical significance, but also weigh up the loss of heritage that would disappear along with the building against the desirability of any new development and the effects of both actions on the local community.
Kew Bridge Engines Trust, 20th Century Society, Battersea Society, SAVE, Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society, and also The Victorian Society (whose have posted a formal written objection and recorded an interview with Spectacle on their attitude towards the developers’ plans), are amongst many significant organisations to have questioned the planning application. And with good reason.
The developers are playing the practical usage card, and are shrewdly associating the building’s dereliction with inaction and obsolescence. However, Spectacle followed a team of architects who declared the pumping station structurally sound, and therefore transformation must subjugate destruction according to PPS5, but in what capacity?
Papplewick Pumping Station, above, is an illustration of a successful restoration on multiple levels. Built a few decades later, the water pumps are back in full working order and as a museum the station is an important focus of historical and engineering study. English Heritage, who have for the past few years failed to back any substantial arguments for preservation, have conversely put money into the ongoing restoration of Cross Ness Pumping Station, which includes plans for use in an educational context, and will be finished in 2011.
For Battersea, the local industrial heritage could play a huge role in the redevelopment of the power station site. Other suggestions include an exhibition space for artists and musicians, as well as a provision for housing archive materials indispensable for environmental, archaelogical and architectural study.
Beyond the functional potential for the site, it would reverse years of association with apathy and inertia, and could instead by synonymous with ingenuity, innovation and regeneration, perhaps even ultimately rousing support for a more public discussion on plans for the site’s regeneration.
A decision on the current application will be made by Wandsworth Council in July. It is not too late to register your comment or objection to its demolition.
Click Battersea Power Station for more blogs
Or visit PlanA our general blog on urbanism, planning and architecture.
See our Battersea Power Station project pages for more information and videos.
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At this month’s Residents Meeting (5th May), the rolling issue of the Pocket Park was raised. The park (sans grass) has been opened, and then closed, on and off for the last 6 to 12 months, and as it is the only source of outside space provided for young people on the Silwood as part of one of London & Quadrant’s Section 106 contracts, there is rising concern by parents.
‘Health and Safety’ issues were cited as the primary reason by L & Q officials at the meeting, however the nature of these health and safety issues were unable to be clarified when enquiries were made. Silwood Video Group members were told simply that there are ‘more repairs that need to be done to the park. This has been passed back to the contractor. As soon as these repairs are done, the park will be opened.’ It is unlikely that L &Q would be unaware of specific problems (if there were any), and seeing as children climbing over the gates in order to access the park (as they habitually do) presents greater health and safety risks, such an answer has not assuaged the residents’ questions, or annoyance.
Let’s hope that Godot, in the form of the golden key to the Pocket Park, decides to turn up soon…
Click Silwood Video Group for more blogs
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‘Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo’ will be showing at Oxford University this Friday, 21st May at 7.30pm, and will screen at a number of UK venues throughout the next month. At Oxford, and also the following events listed below, there will be a Q&A session. Visit the Spectacle website and the Spectacle Guantánamo Blog to read more about the project.
Friday May 21, 7.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Christ Church College, Blue Boar Lecture Theatre, the University of Oxford, St. Aldates, Oxford, OX1 1DP.
With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
This screening is organized by the Oxford University Amnesty International group. For further information, please contact Amnesty Oxford.
Thursday May 27, 7 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
The Broca, 4 Coulgate Street, Brockley, London, SE4 2RW.
With Andy Worthington.
Friday May 28, 6.30 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Chichester Lecture Theatre, The University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9RF.
With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening is organized by the University of Sussex Amnesty International group.
Saturday May 29, 2 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Under the Bridge music studio, 7 Trafalgar Arches, Brighton, BN1 4FQ.
With Omar Deghayes and Andy Worthington.
This screening is organized by Under the Bridge. For further information, please contact Jackie Chase on 07799 564620
Wednesday June 2, 6 pm: Film screening – “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.” Followed by Q&A.
Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX.
With Omar Deghayes, Andy Worthington and Polly Nash.
This screening is organized by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Please contact Barbara Zollner for further information.
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Flight stopping ash
To rescue both the Greek and UK economies the 2012 Olympics should be held in Athens. (See previous blog).
Another advantage of this win-win solution is that Athens airport is not affected by the Icelandic volcanic dust that is closing many airports across north west Europe.
Even in the unlikely event the dust drifts down as far as Greece the vast majority of the world’s athletes could reach Athens overland by train (or if necessary by road) and the others could do it by sea direct or to any port on the European, Asian or African land mass and overland from there. So it would be a greener Olympics too.
Geophysicists are warning that Eyjafjallajokull could trigger off other Icelandic volcanoes such as Mount Katla so the only way to future proof the 2012 games is to move it to Athens. Every day of delay in making this no brainer decision is squandering millions of pounds of public money and stacking up the UK Olympic debt legacy like layer upon layer of lava.
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