tim abrahams retweeted
Hugh Casson was not only director of architecture for the 1951 Festival of Britain, giving him a pedigree as an insurgent modernist, but he was also big chums with the British royal family, even teaching watercolour painting to Prince Charles. (You can see a stylistic similarity.)
Let's not hold that against him though. He also designed the interiors for the new royal yacht Britannia as well as suites at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. He also created a scheme for the street decorations at the coronation in 1952 at their Majesties' personal request. (see image.)
(other image) The RCA is the building for which he is most famous was described by the 20th Century Society as "baronial modernism".
Casson would become a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.
So basically anyone who hates Modernism effectively despises the Queen and should be shot for treason.
#torymodernism #poshmodernism #royalmodernism
1
1
10
427
tim abrahams retweeted
I’m looking for an editorial intern to join The Spectator in New York 🇺🇸
Full-time, Mon–Fri in our NYC office for an initial three months, with possibility to extend into 2027. You’d be helping across social, events, production and the general day-to-day of a beautiful new office. Background and experience matter much less than enthusiasm, initiative and being someone who’s genuinely keen to get stuck in - though an eye for design, social media nous and any experience clipping/editing video are bonuses.
If interested, DM me a few lines about yourself and why you’d like to join the team. Please do share with anyone who might be a good fit. Paid at NYC minimum wage.
1
8
15
2,323
tim abrahams retweeted
Almost every dystopian depiction of private living quarters are better than current reality. I recently saw a clip from idiocracy and was like dang that apartments actually pretty nice.
Andrei Sokolov’s vision of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, 1950s. A strikingly sleek vision of dystopian domestic life.
92
1,347
22,562
220,288
On the money. The willful illiteracy of the Labour soft left about European politics is a constantly evolving spectacle. The leadership of the Labour Party knows its a bust flush but they are still going to press the button anyway and hope everyone trots along behind.
T Blair is smart. This is drivel. Macron is a lame-duck president. Merz is the most unpopular Chancellor in the history of the federal German republic. Meloni is PM of Italy. So exactly who is going to spearhead this radical reform? It’s fantasy.
And who comes next? The AfD is outpolling the CDU/SPD combined. Le Pen wins every generic poll to be next President of France. Another four European countries will go Right in the next 12 months.
Mr T Blair and the British Left in general are in la-la land when it comes to Europe. They don’t read the foreign pages of our own press, never mind the foreign press.
That will also become apparent if you watch the Lib Dem on @bbcquestiontime tonight. Total failure to address the points I made to him.
152
Hugh Casson was not only director of architecture for the 1951 Festival of Britain, giving him a pedigree as an insurgent modernist, but he was also big chums with the British royal family, even teaching watercolour painting to Prince Charles. (You can see a stylistic similarity.)
Let's not hold that against him though. He also designed the interiors for the new royal yacht Britannia as well as suites at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. He also created a scheme for the street decorations at the coronation in 1952 at their Majesties' personal request. (see image.)
(other image) The RCA is the building for which he is most famous was described by the 20th Century Society as "baronial modernism".
Casson would become a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.
So basically anyone who hates Modernism effectively despises the Queen and should be shot for treason.
#torymodernism #poshmodernism #royalmodernism
1
1
10
427
I love that no-one wants any of this #torymodernism to be true. Both the leftists and the woke right. The solution to culture war is very often historical truth.
43
tim abrahams retweeted
Latest missive from #torymodernism HQ from deep within the bowels of deliberately overlooked design history.
Andrew Grima jewellery won the Duke of Edinburgh's Prize for Elegant Design, 1966.
Grima rejected conventional jewellery design for rough crystals, textured gold and abstract compositions. Princess Margaret commissioned him. Lord Snowdon opened Grima's Jermyn Street shop. Modernist abstraction for royalty. #torymodernism
1
5
199
This is what Nicholas Red Trousers and his friends won't tell you. Ambitions to create something gothic and sympathetic were in the Botley Road Bridge documentation, but it never materialised. Why is that? A global conspiracy amongst lefty architects denying you the historical future that is your birthright? Come ON. You are letting yourself be lied to, because its easier, because it makes the annoying dickheads you don't like the bad guys. Not the case. Think harder.
The design issue with the Botley Road Bridge is that they did put some thought into it, but that what ended up being built was a barely ornamented balustrade that planning documents claimed was "gothic" and "sympathetic to" Oxford.
1
1
9
1,369
New cost metric just dropped.
Our first new reservoir in 30 years is delayed by five years, and has doubled in price.
Mind you, it’s only four times the price of replacing Oxford’s Botley Road bridge, so it’s arguably a bargain!
ft.com/content/e90bbf67-7c4e…
4
212
Thanks for all the new follows on my post about the Botley Road Bridge. Nice that this horrorshow that we went through here in Oxford should have a bit of positive outcome. Check out the link in the reply for a longer reflection.
1
3
318
superurban.substack.com/p/ta… on the real reasons why the Botley Road Bridge costs so much and how architecture has sadly very little to do with the outcome.
1
1
84
What Nicholas Red Trousers doesn’t want you to know is that the way in which infrastructure is commissioned and overseen today means that there is virtually zero design taking place in this project. Not Modernism. Not Postmodernism. Nor The Lunch Break AI Gothic he apparently favours.
14
1
63
9,890
Well done everyone involved. Yes the poor saps who use buses are late and less inclined to actually use them
and be active contributors to society making them increasingly isolated but some middle aged men in Lycra got to work a bit quicker so screw the lot of you.
In-depth Guardian piece on why bus speeds reducing. Road works, pedestrianisation & cycle lanes among the key causes. Doesn't mention LTNs but points to relocated traffic. Similar in many world cities with Paris speeds down 15%, one of the world's worst.
theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i…
1
6
574
tim abrahams retweeted
The Guardian is advertising a maternity cover job for a reporter - and you can do it from our MANCHESTER office, alongside @joshhalliday, @HannahAlOthman, me (sometimes) and the rest of the excellent gang workwithus.theguardian.com/j…
12
27
7,038