I just wanted to remind myself….

Dear Angela Rayner, there are 700,000 homes in the UK standing empty (excluding holiday homes & second homes). If you want to get 1.5 million homes ready in the next five years why not set up an epic refurbishment programme to sort out those 700k and tick off *half* your target?

Delighted to be lecturing next week in Amsterdam. Hoping to stick around in Amsterdam and Rotterdam for a few days afterwards so please shout if you fancy getting a beer / getting a coffee / putting me up for a night!

First original suggestion that I haven’t tried - cheers

My headline wouldn’t have been “pride in UK history falls” but “pride in UK arts & literature is at almost 80%, above sport, history etc” That won’t last without resource … if we go on closing public libraries for example!

Lovely, sensitive work! I never met her, but John Spencer captured the essence of our perceptions of her as a kind and caring person.

An astute placemaking critic indeed 😢

Interesting show National Portrait Gallery. There's an air of post-lockdown angst in many of the subjects in the 2024 Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award - most of the entries were completed last year. It really is a case of art reflecting life and well worth a visit. The work is great too!

Catch the last day of Material Matters at London's Bargehouse if you can. It's one of the more interesting and relevant shows London Design Festival this year. materialmatters.design/Visit

New lows for ⁦GWR⁩ A first class advance ticket buys you a seat on floor outside the toilet in a train where it’s standing room from front to rear… I’m getting back in my car!

Is photo proof @gwrhelp that I’ve just sat on the floor from Tiverton Parkway to Paddington DESPITE holding a first class ticket?I’ve just been told ( after queuing at your Padd tix office for 15 mins) that I need to write and request compensation! Could you make it any harder?

Town dogs

Blue plaque erected at Walthamstow Tesco to commemorate lettuce that outlasted Liz Truss dlvr.it/TF0Vs4

Do read this message below

Margaret Calvert Drives Out is a track from Bas Jan's album Back to the Swamp. Lyrics and video by Sally O’Reilly. youtu.be/U2FZX-nslYI Also, check out the crowdfunding page for Margaret’s first monograph – Woman at Work vol.co/collections/wo…

BLURRED LINES. I’ve always worked in that creative borderland where design meets art. My new book celebrates the blurred lines that exist between those worlds. Blurred Lines will be published in early 2025.

LATEST WORK. Logo and graphic identity for Blue & Brew, the newly renamed and refurbished café at the University of Cambridge Sports Centre. logo-designer.co/offthetopofmyh…

You gotta book to write. You're half awake in the morning. The book is a mountain. You got some notes somewhere. Where? What are you gonna do? All day you don't look for the notes. In the end, you find the notes. You turn them into a plan. It's not a mountain. It's a path.

What is it with Three.co.uk? They send a letter saying your monthly price is rising, but tell you to check online to see by how much. On the letter most of your account number is obscured for security reasons, but the one you have doesn't work! Customer service? No!