Ken Worpole

And eventually the Ashington Painters Group…

A marvellous book to relish again and again.

And eventually the Ashington Painters Group…

The man who turns the music off at the end of the clip is a legend of the East End over the past half-century: the artist and youth worker Dan Jones, whom I’ve also interviewed. More info about Dan and his much-loved paintings here courtesy of The Gentle Author: spitalfieldslife.com/2017/06/14/d...

TUNDE’S FILM (1973) really should be better known — it’s a gritty, authentic portrayal of East End life in the early ’70s created by 18-year-old actor, writer and co-director Tunde Ikoli.

There’s much to love about it, not least this scene showing Tunde’s friends’ glorious dancing to Prince Buster!

My favourite Ray film, and his apparently.

If Starmer wants a reset - and not yet another U-turn when the parliamentary party balks at a policy - here is his chance.

‘Hurry for justice’: Windrush victims dying without redress, commissioner says Clive Foster says action needed now to deliver justice to UK residents who had been wrongly classified as illegal immigrants

A continuing scandal. And as some of the symposium participants said, we need legislation now, but Labour's immigration policies are hardening.

They should by rights shout 'OIL' every time they see a car, if cycling in a group.

Agree. Such a good channel for European films.

A brilliant essay by @sammyfeldblum.bsky.social on what the unravelling of Thames Water tells us about privatisation, market failure and the place and politics of water in the climate crisis

John Berger, one of Europe’s most influential post-war writers and intellectuals, was born 100 years ago on 5 November 1926 in Stoke Newington, and happily the subject of many planned commemorative events in the UK and across Europe this year.

John Berger born 5 November 1926 in Stoke Newington.

Slipping standards Sir, The headline on your report, “UK forecast to become world’s fifth-largest economy by 2040” (news, Dec 26), begs the question: so what? Way down in the report, it is noted that “the UK will continue to suffer from falling living standards”. This is not an Olympic running race or a children’s pony club event. What we need to ask about the economy is whether it is meeting the needs of all people in Britain, providing a secure future and starting to restore the poisoned, depleted natural world on which all of our futures, and the economy, are entirely dependent. And when it comes to those living standards, there’s a further crucial question: is everyone getting enough for a basic decent standard of life? In foodbank Britain, the answer today is clearly no. Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle House of Lords

My letter in @thetimes.com today: what is the economy for?

#PublicHealth #Wellbeing #Environment #Inequality

“The poet does not use poetry, but is at the service of poetry. To use it is to misuse it.”
- Denise Levertov

I love the images in this poem. Also something clever about the repetition and effect of the line breaks in the final stanza

#poetry
#poemoftheday

Michael - I have found it. Landscape design March 1997. Send me your email address and I'll scan it. (Roger Deakin cited it several times in Waterlog).

Ken

This slipped my mind, will try to find it today.

Books of 2025:
The Meaning of Growth - Richard Douglas
A Climate of Truth - Mike Berners-Lee
Climate Injustice - Friederike Otto
Brightening from the East - Ken Worpole
Homework - Geoff Dyer

Books of the half-decade :
Late Soviet Britain - Abby Innes
Twilight of Democracy - Anne Applebaum

Including my personal pick, from the great @kgeorgew.bsky.social

'It was in July, 1922, a hot day, I bought a Bartholomew map of Essex, inch to the mile, coloured for elevation. The blue creeks, the wide expanses of green for marsh, all delighted me.'

'I knew that extraordinary sensation of being where I wanted to be...socketted in the universe.'

Essex Marshes

Reform’s record £9m crypto donation is just the latest offering from abroad | The Observer

Will Hutton
“When the story of the 2024 - 29(?) Parliament is told one of the strangest chapters will be the refusal to close down foreign donations to British political parties”.
What on earth do Labour MPs think their ministers are doing here?
observer.co.uk/news/politic...

Surprised and delighted to be alongside Philip Hoare as writing one of the New Statesman’s ‘Books of the Year 2025’, chosen by Geoff Dyer. Dyer is kind and generous to us both, characterising Hoare’s writing as ‘ecstatic, kaleidoscopic and visionary’, and mine as consistently thoughtful and moving.’

Jeremy Seabrook died one year ago today aged 85. One of the most original & pioneering voices for social justice, human rights & dignity in post-war Britain. He asked: “Why is it that the rich must become immeasurably more rich before the poor can become even fractionally less poor?”

Damilola Taylor: The fight to protect young lives www.bbc.com/news/article...

And the full-frame image from his memorial on the Peckham Estate #DamilolaTaylor

My new book, all about how, in the 1970s and 80s, the good architects and planners of the Peterborough Development Corporation tried to create pedestrian-friendly places to live. Available here: theradburnidea.bigcartel.com/product/the-...

Spa vibes with a grow-your-own-dinner option: Britain’s best new building is a revamped almshouse With its shimmering ginkgo trees, tinkling pools and a rooftop garden, the Appleby Blue Almshouse housing complex for older people is a worthy winner of RIBA’s prestigious Stirling prize

‘Designing social housing for later life is too often reduced to a simple provision of service. Appleby Blue, however, is a provision of pure delight . . . high-quality spaces that are generous and thoughtful, blending function and community . . .’

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

I'm too inactive here, but just to say I have an exhibition opening this weekend, plus events etc coming up... If you are in an Essex direction pls come by! firstsite.uk/event/into-t...

Thank you, Jonathan, very generous and vey kind. Ken

Thank you very much, Tom, this was very generous and very kind.
Ken

We should all be deeply grateful for Emma Warren’s timely cultural history of the youth club (@faberbooks.bsky.social), writes social historian and former youth worker Ken Worpole (@kgeorgew.bsky.social) www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/09/up-t...