Kester Brewin

Undoubtedly a moving story – a guy fallen on hard times begs by the side of the road and is ‘rediscovered’ as having the perfect voice for radio and voice-overs. Just begs the question… are the homeless who aren’t so blessed with some great talent not worth helping?

Although the official records will say that bookmakers paid out on a ‘white Christmas’ in London in 1999 and 1996 (the technical definition being a snowflake falling on the London Weather Centre on that day) the last proper blanketing of snow on Christmas Day was apparently in 1895, which is right back in the picture-postcard [...]

A free supplement in The Independent today is all about spread betting: what it is, what the pitfalls are. It was pretty clear: there are potentially huge rewards, but because you can bet whatever money you like on each share, you can actually be exposed to huge losses too. Fine, whatever. But what disgusted me [...]

One of the sources I quote a number of times in Other is The Spirit Level – Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. The thrust of their thesis is very simple: by collating hundreds of studies over a long period of time they have concluded that the [...]

London is continually fascinating. As humans we are always quick to project personalities onto our creations; London the person is complex, darkly funny, steeped in history, welcoming all but criticising many, intelligent, crafty… a heavy drinker who enjoys the night. ‘London Nights‘ looks like a brilliant series of 10 radio programmes, looking at the city [...]

Looks like it could be an interesting day in Parliament Square today. Having been encamped by the Houses of Parliament since May, peace protestors have been served with an eviction order – meaning they have to leave the site by 4pm today. Rather than try to argue their democratic right to protest, the Mayor of [...]

Was great to have Si Johnston here before he left for his big trip across to Mongolia by motorbike. Many of you may remember him from brilliant stuff he did with church.co.uk and The Truth Isn’t Sexy last time he lived in London. It’s a massive trip he’s doing – some 14000 miles to the [...]

I’ve been in New York a few days now, and part of me feels it’s too short a time to make any sense of what I’m seeing, too soon to have any valid critique. But then I read Georg Simmell, who notes that the stranger in our midst is important because they ‘hold up a [...]

There is a lot of debate in the news at the moment about what should be done with the wbankers. Should there be a ‘maximum wage’? Should they be allowed to earn obscene bonuses even though their banks have virtually collapsed? Should we all be held to ransom with the argument that they will go [...]

Really nice day up on the South Bank at the Feast on the Bridge. Southwark Bridge was closed to traffic, and tables were set up along its length for people to bring and share food. People with hats full of salad and herbs wandered around adding to meals, and fantastic stalls sold everything from oysters [...]