Chris Rycroft

I just saw someone use the abbreviation “AI;DR” and I’ll be laughing for a while.

Very impressed with the Picton Garden (Colwall), its collection of Michaelmas daisies on top form at the moment

Gidea Park: the House and Cottage Exhibition, 1911 Romford might be an unsung part of London but in Gidea Park, as host of two housing exhibitions – a competition in 1911 founding what was then known as Romford Garden Suburb and a Modern Homes Exhi…

1/ My latest blog post looks at the Gidea Park House and Cottage Exhibition of 1911, showcasing ‘the infinite variety that will be possible in house building when skilful architects are employed to build the new town-planned suburbs of London’ ....
municipaldreams.wordpress.com/2025/09/30/g...

Urban Landscape The following method for drawing urban landscapes was sent to us by Mehdi Zannad after his recent visit to Drawing Matter. It was first published by éditions Parenthèses in Topo-graphies in 2020. The ...

This item by Mehdi Zannad from the latest Drawing Matters, providing a method for sketching an urban scene (including time lapse of how it works in practice) is rather wonderful drawingmatter.org/urban-landsc...

Garden scene

Fascinating article on Gavin Stamp by Joshua Mardell in British Art Studies: main--britishartstudies-26.netlify.app/issues/26/ga...

Perhaps what happens in the 7 Reform-controlled county councils will provide a useful case-study before next General Election

Glorious weather for our annual bluebell walk

Delicious magnolias at Batsford

Greetings!

Elizabeth Chesterton & Tomorrow Town: A New Town Thesis by Architectural Association Students In 1999, I was an undergraduate at Edinburgh University studying Architectural History when I undertook a work placement at the university archives. Here I was asked to help organise an uncatalogued c...

Fascinating essay by Mary Mitchell on an experimental AA new town planning project from the 1930s and its continuing resonance drawingmatter.org/tomorrow-tow...

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That is the spirit.

Bravo WilmerHale.

Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust

The @jrct.bsky.social - a relatively radical York based grant making foundation - is looking for new trustees
micro.green-park.co.uk/jrct-trustees/

What could possibly go wrong with applying “move fast and break things” to public services…

I am now imagining the stethoscope hanging next to your dishwasher…

Brilliant front page

Calling Zelensky a “Dictator” must be where the line is drawn.

It is my sincere hope that the whole political spectrum in the United Kingdom will speak with one voice in opposition to Trump’s lies.

British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS) 25th Anniversary Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS: The Oxford Faculties of English & History are delighted to host the 25th anniversary conference of the British Association for #Victorian Studies on 23–25 July.

Papers on any aspect of long-nineteenth-century studies are welcome (submit by 17 March). #BAVS #Victorianstudies #19thC

A proposal to deregulate the disposal process for church buildings is on the Church of England Synod agenda this week. Here is our joint statement on the new Mission and Pastoral Measure and Regulations to be debated at this week's #GeneralSynod.

bit.ly/4hUurmu

Incredibly moving Justin Trudeau remarks:

"We have fought and died alongside you....During your darkest hours...we were always there. Standing with you, grieving with you, the American people....Canadians are a little perplexed as to why our closest friends and neighbors are choosing to target us."

Two of my aunts did, for decades- mostly useful/interesting to receive!

b) allowing the AI systems to become so interconnected that we cannot pull the plug on individual components; c) or so impenetrable that we can’t gauge the safety/impact of pulling the plug; or d) allowing the AI systems to control their own power supplies!

One of the few reassuring thoughts regarding the AI revolution is that one can always “pull out the plug” to its power supply. But, for it to remain a reassuring thought we must guard against a) becoming so dependent upon the AI that we can’t afford to pull the plug; 1/2

Great idea @sophiegee.bsky.social

Oxford University Press will be awarding as many as 10 ECRs the opportunity to publish their first book in fully open access as well as in hardback. Today the website was revised to make clear that independent/unaffiliated scholars are eligible. Deadline March 3. academic.oup.com/pages/early-...

VICTORY! In late 2023 I (among many others) wrote about the reckless plan to destroy the historic probate records after digitising them. My column from the time is here inews.co.uk/opinion/gove... Today the government has confirmed it has had a rethink and dropped the plan. Good sense prevails

Rickmansworth farmer's diaries could take 20 years to analyse The 5,000-page diaries are a

Astonishing 55 years of diaries from 1839 over 5,000 pages by John White of Parsonage Farm, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire being digitised & some will go on display at The Three Rivers Museum, Rickmansworth 👇

Rickmansworth farmer's diaries could take 20 years to analyse
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Above Chastleton this afternoon

A bijou Philip Webb property on the market for c.£500,000 - 2 bed central section with clocktower of “Goldenfields” built for Mrs Mary Anne Robb in Liphook, near Haslemere, Surrey (d.1890-1; e.1891-2)
www.henryadams.co.uk/property/chi...