Her eyes were the empty buds of a beech tree in the autumn, Her lips the honeyed sapwood beneath the curled bark of her skin, The dark down on her forearms were the stripes on a tiger’s coat, Her wrists the burnished tree bole from whose stump white flowers blossom, And her hands, which picked … Continue reading Tiger Leaping Gorge
The Circus
Ants on the locust tree assume a great-nation swagger xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx— Mao Zedong, 1963 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx1 On this nameless junction, where Fuzhou Road Crosses Jiangxi Road on its way to the Bund, For a hundred years the British Concession In the Far East — Shanghai’s City of London; And where, today, a red light means ‘stop’ But … Continue reading The Circus
Case Studies in Estate Regeneration
My old friend and sometime adversary, the architect Patrik Schumacher, once declared that the ‘unique and exclusive concern of architects’ is what he described as the first few millimetres of a building.[1] By this he meant a building’s form, its exterior and interior surfaces, the sculptured and engineered façade or envelope behind which whatever goes … Continue reading Case Studies in Estate Regeneration
Case Studies in Estate Regeneration: Demolition, Privatisation and Social Cleansing
Case Studies in Estate Regeneration: Demolition, Privatisation and Social Cleansing by Simon Elmer Hardback: £40.00 Paperback: £25.00 Look Inside Description Created in its current form in 1997 by the Labour government of Tony Blair and formalised in 2016 as a national programme by the Conservative government of David Cameron, estate regeneration is the … Continue reading Case Studies in Estate Regeneration: Demolition, Privatisation and Social Cleansing
Black Swan
xxxxxxxxxx1 She struts between the tables Of the tiny dining room Like a boxer who’s defeated His opponent in the ring Like a prima ballerina Before the corps de ballet Like a foreman watching workers Across the factory floor. xxxxxxxxxx2 She is always on her feet I have never seen her seated Every evening of … Continue reading Black Swan
The Market Place
If someone would poke out the eyes of the hawks we sparrows could dance wherever we please! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx— Han-Shan The Filipino mother whose children Live with their father in the Philippines, Walks the Chinese child through Hong Kong’s streets, The bag of her employer’s dirty laundry Carried in one hand, in the other The hand … Continue reading The Market Place
This Must Be the Place
My native English, now I must forgo — William Shakespeare For home is wherever you are, my love, And where you are is where I want to be, Not in that Kingdom or this Republic, Even here, on the far side of the world To the land from which you and I were made, On … Continue reading This Must Be the Place
The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
Nowhere have I encountered such a dull, monotonous fabric of life as here. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX— Henry Miller Long before the sun has risen Behind the International Finance Centre, In the formal ‘Sitting-out Area’ Of the Western District Community Centre, From the only tree that grows on Third Street An Asian cuckoo cries its mating call Through … Continue reading The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
The Housing Crisis
On 20 May, 2015, the following text appeared on the website of Architects for Social Housing under the title ‘Manifesto’: ‘Architects for Social Housing (ASH) was founded in March 2015 in order to respond architecturally to London’s housing “crisis”. We are a Community Interest Company that organises working collectives of architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, urban designers, … Continue reading The Housing Crisis
The Housing Crisis: Finance, Legislation, Policy, Resistance
The Housing Crisis: Finance, Legislation, Policy, Resistance by Simon Elmer Hardback: £35.00 Paperback: £20.00 Look Inside Description First published between 2015 and 2019 on the website of Architects for Social Housing, the London-based architectural practice, the articles collected in this book analyse the financing, legislation and policy behind the UK housing crisis, as … Continue reading The Housing Crisis: Finance, Legislation, Policy, Resistance
A Communist in Hong Kong 