Katie Rosseinsky claims Euston Station is hell on earth: "You stand, neck craned towards the departures board, squinting under artificial lights that seem perfectly calibrated to induce migraines. You dodge passengers who stampede like wildebeests towards platforms announced moments before trains are due to leave."
Simon Price says Oasis are the most damaging pop-cultural force in recent British history. Hear him.
"Art historians look carefully at images to search for incongruities. In authenticating or attributing a painting, we don’t just look at brushstrokes and pigments. We consider the painting’s ownership, the hands through which it has passed, and other information about the history that the painting has accumulated along the way." Sonja Drimmer suggests the profession will be invaluable in the battle against misleading AI-generated images.
"For many urban planners, desire lines are a sign of failure; evidence that a public space hasn’t quite met the needs and wishes of the people who use that space. And there’s some truth in that. But for me, they’re also a reminder that our cities are uniquely human places, and the ones that function best are those that are safely navigable not by private vehicle, but on foot." Laurie Winkless celebrates desire lines - the unofficial footpaths the public makes for itself by repeated use.
J.J. Jackson on the ticking time bomb that threatens south Essex: "The SS Richard Montgomery was a United States Liberty Ship. It was transporting explosives from the USA, to use in the war against the Nazis. She ran aground and broke her back off the Kent coast in August 1944. Salvage crews were able to remove 5,000 tons of explosives after the wreck. But they had to abandon the attempt, leaving 1,400 tons still on board."
It's a oft-used and cheap editorial ploy to write about the well-known but unpleasant things in life (e.g. having to sit through an entire episode of Mrs Brown's Boys from start to finish) and articulate why they're a special level of hell. It's still a worthwhile exercise on Katie Rosseinsky's part, however. A few years ago I had the misfortunate to take a train from Waterloo on Friday evening rush hour (my normal commuter stations are Victoria and Blackfriars). Waterloo was one big scrum, it took forever to buy a ticket, read the departures board, queue to get through to the platform. Hot and surrounded by people with BO, I was really stressed. It was bad enough travelling light, I shudder to think what that experience is like for people with lots of luggage on important long distance journeys!
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