• Just finished reading this book, Owen Hatherley’s The New Ruins of Great Britain – who’d have thought an extended architecture rant could be so unputdownable? Over the last decade I’ve visited most of the places he talks about, and photographed many of the buildings that also grab his attention, but I never knew so much before about the architectural, planning and political landscapes that underpin them. Hatherley’s been longlisted for the Orwell Prize for this effort – good luck to him. If like me you enjoy buildings as huge thrilling sculptures, and are strangely moved by windswept vistas of tragi-comic failed aspirations, read this book. There’s more about it here. Oh, and it’s a superb cover – reminding me somehow of the work of Sex Pistols cover designer Jamie Reid, crossed with the colourways of Gilbert & George – but is in fact by Dan Mogford, who blogs here.
