Kester Brewin

Seems to be an annual posting I know (see 2010‘s and 2009‘s!) but I’m really passionate about reclaiming Guy Fawkes night. Why? Partly because it’s very very English. This is not imported, it’s not some pagan festival that the Christians co-opted, and it’s not something that can be easily marketed and commodified by Supermarkets – [...]

I’ve been away for a couple of days, so haven’t posted again on the aftermath of the night of looting that gripped various locations in London, and then spread to other cities in the UK. But in the mean time I’ve faced some criticism for my previous post for a) appearing to back away from [...]

  It’s perhaps too soon to work out what the hell really happened in London last night, or why. I stayed up til 2am following the news and the Twitter feeds, and I have to say it was one of the saddest nights I’ve ever spent in the capital. There has already been some debate [...]

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 [...]

As the snow continues to fall, a continuation of the extract from ‘Other‘: Christmas had long passed when the snow fell, but those few February days were picture-postcard scenes of winter and as we trudged through snowy woods near the house I was reminded of the carol: Good King Wenceslas looked out On the feast [...]

With the current snowy and icy conditions in the UK I thought I’d post an extract from ‘Other’ which links the huge snowfalls we’ve had in the past couple of winters to the idea of TAZ which is one of the central themes of ‘Other‘ – a welcome addition to anyone’s Christmas present pile, heartily [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Some photos of the ‘Pestival’ that was going on on London’s South Bank last night. Don’t ask too many questions… Just lots of insect-related madness to highlight our dependence on, relationship with and myth-making about what are essentially going to be the heirs when us higher mammals screw this world up. Get the flash player [...]

I happened across the Anthony Gormley ‘piece’ in London’s Trafalgar Square today: ‘One and Other.’ The idea is presented on a plaque: There is a live stream of what is going on at any one time here. Here (19:15 on 15th July) we see a woman dressed up as a lollipop lady waving at people: [...]