No shame in seeking antidotes to bad news this new year. Here’s my round up so far:
I’m giving props to the four-hundred attendees of January’s Harvard Ash webinar, hosted by Gideon Lichfield: While Kim Stanley Robinson, Baratunde Thurston and others held forth on his panel, legions of pro-democracy activists, non-profit organisers, mayors of tiny towns inviting others to run for office, engaged citizens, we the actual people, generously, constructively blowing up the Zoom chat window. Beneath the headlines and the doomscrolling, there are many people already working to make a difference.
Another ex-colleague, Oli Whittington, now of UK-based pro-democracy organisation, Our House, has recently put me on Screw This, Let’s Try Something Else podcast. If you were a fan of Miliband Junior’s Reasons to be Cheerful (before he returned to Parliament), this six-part podcast is a refreshing update, reporting on real Brits efforts to instigate change at local level in their communities. As I get my bearings in what’s up in London, I’m also curious about the UK National Emergency Briefing and will report back if/when I learn more about that at the next Unlike Minds this week.
Meantime, mixing my 9am-5pm with my 9pm-5am here a bit more, I’m determined to catch the V&A’s Design and Disability exhibit this week. Lord Snowdon awarded me the RCA Design for Disability prize many years ago, and I’m curious to see how far we’ve come since his electric wheelchair. Then having abjectly failed to get to Peter Doig’s House of Music at the Serpentine, I’m determined to see Theatre Picasso at Tate Modern. His work with Diaghilev for Ballet Russe marks a century of visual artists collaborations with musicians, a favourite Soundpapered lecture topic.