Public Culture

  • Onsite: Museum of Natural History, Oxford

    In a museum these days, it’s expected there are interactive elements such as sights and sounds, as well as the usual educational input. The excitement some children show is found in the ability to use or manipulate the objects on display.

    In a museum of natural history, we know the context is going to be different, but here it doesn’t matter. The awe is still in seeing a dinosaur skeleton, and curiosity in admiring examples of taxidermy, but there’s much more on display.

    The concept of evolutionary theory is shown for all to see in a walk-about way, helping visitors to see the novelties and factual points of the study of it in its full light. As I pace in a large atrium, and up flights of stairs, I can see it in colour.

    A statue of Charles Darwin is fitting, taking a casual glance over proceedings as his work is still perused today. However, the many objects available to see tell a story more of who we are, not necessarily how we are here, in my view.

    The Pitt Rivers Museum is a large room off the main focus of the museum, and is a delightful selection of curios from overseas. Obviously, they were collected and transported back a long time ago, but they still have a relevance here.

    The charm is the primitive culture, tribes, and spiritual communities represented here in such a broad display. There’s no let up in showing the varieties of what artistry and belief means to other people. There’s something of us all in it.

  • Long Report: London’s atmosphere

    A “culture war” is by definition a fight picked between sparring groups, perhaps over social media but more reflected in street politics or the politics of protest. It’s the tit for tat, and pattern of abuse some engage in beyond scoring a political point.

    The other realities of our city’s streets persist, and separate to homelessness there is a sense of increasing hostility between people. The root cause is not shoplifting, although this causes alarm and distress, but more so a coldness toward others that’s unwelcoming.

    An outburst in a shop, or at a taxi driver, can be a hallmark of this sort of culture of hate. The words exchanged or points made are usually irrelevant to an original provocation. The divisions that erupt because of cutting past somebody, or walking out in front, are stark.

    The root causes

    It’s my belief we suffer from a mental state of having been stuffed with political news, current affairs gossip, and overbearing point scoring that affects our ability to relate casually. Perhaps a racist-sounding outburst causes us to think we’ve heard it before, somehow.

    The ongoing, round the clock news gathering and promulgation of news-related content is a disturbing occurrence in often laid back and slow-moving societies. The fact is business in the UK is conducted in a fashion or style that is not akin to such a way of broadcast.

    The intensity of new media is something to be reckoned with, because one person’s scandal is most of our gossip at one point. This feeds us with a cynicism that’s not ours, but because we feel we have to own national goings on we talk about it or we’ll sound stupid otherwise.

    The point is, though, editorial standards do not always live up to a student’s textbook or even agreed modes of conduct. A bitterness in news reporting, or a slight against a politician that’s uncalled for, makes for a dark and foreboding way. It’s because we care that it matters.

    Seeking relief

    The occurrence of WhatsApp, Facebook, and other platforms or apps like X makes for a brilliant new future or more of the same. It’s our choice what our profiles have on it, and it’s a daily one, too. The nature of a friend’s posting also contributes to defining who they really are.

    The exchanges we make with each other help to drive forward our sense of relationship, and on a street it helps or hinders a sense of commonality or even brotherhood some believe we share. The altercations that have become routine are not healthy for most of us.

    However, it’s part of our maturity to make sure we smooth out issues and work through what’s left over. The ongoing analysis and criticism is not always an interruption, because otherwise news of bad decisions or dodgy goings on may worry us. It can help to be honest, sometimes.

  • Innovating new ways to organise business: looking at pubs on site

    A new pub opening isn’t always a totally new event, if you consider that sometimes an old pub is reopened under new management.

    This is the case in Reading, Berkshire (a place I’ve reported from before), where The Sun Inn is due to reopen as The Rising Sun.

    It’s not just the new management that matters. As part of the Heartwood Collection, it’s also taking on a menu devised by Raymond Blanc, a famed name in the culinary world.

    This isn’t just a new venture here in the town, as it’s also something of a trend in the UK at large, where pubs are being reformed into eating venues as well as the traditional fare of drinking and casual musical entertainment, to make it a bit more of an experience.

    A side shot
    A sign
    Works at a side

    The pictures are only indicative of what it looks like now from outside, and its choice of graphic design points to a more shaped and relaxed appeal that is inviting as well as familiar for return visits.

    The site itself is allegedly an historic place of Reading’s oldest pub, and for a town that has a lot of them, it’s a good claim to fame.

    However, we’ll have to leave it to see if the proof is in the pudding