Kate Poyner

[Kate Poyner @KatePoyner]

@SimonKnight100 @kimturner70 “Any government that neglects the welfare and education of its children had better be saving up for its future mental health and benefits bills, and investing in the justice system,”

[SEEN in Journalism @JournalismSEEN]

Fascinating and in depth article by @PaulKnaggs for Labour Heartlands on the framing of the ‘trans debate’ around toilets rather than women’s fundamental rights.

It’s an accurate observation of a highly successful PR campaign. Across the media, presenters last week repeatedly asked women if they feel guilty about men who can’t use their toilets, businesses who can’t afford to build more toilets, and disabled people whose toilets are suggested as alternatives.

But most importantly they’ve not bern asking about anything except toilets. Specifically they’ve failed to ask men/trans campaigners why they don’t understand that if they are included in the legal meaning of ‘woman’, women themselves have no rights at all on the basis of sex.

It follows a pattern of successful ‘identity’ media campaigns, with which news outlets collude because 1. their proponents are very top down and powerful and 2. they advance men’s rights. Previous examples include lived experience journalism, no debate, the narrative of victimhood and the infinite necessity of a trans male contributor.

This excellent article also looks at the impact:- ‘The cost has been real and it has fallen on working class women in particular’.

https://t.co/wqaZSkkB52

[For Women Scotland @ForWomenScot]

On tolerance, freedom, diversity of thought, and the naked hypocrisy of the Scottish Greens.

It’s time the Government did its job. It’s time to talk.
https://t.co/DS3d3zOfzQ

[Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety]

Yoshida Hiroshi helped revive woodblock prints in 20C after inroads made by photography. He travelled widely, absorbing western influences in portraying light and depth. He visited India often in 1930s ~ and here’s some of what he saw (Udaipur Castle / Kailasa Temple, Ellora)

[Audrey Ludwig MBE @AudreySuffolk]

I am sure the looked-after children and local disabled people will appreciate the immediate priorities of the Mayor

[Bromley Council @LBofBromley]

Result announced in the local election for Chislehurst Ward.

Elected = Alison Margaret Stammers, Mark Jeffrey Smith, Mike Jack - Chislehurst Matters

For full election results for wards in the London Borough of Bromley visit, https://t.co/pwluLITUQj

[The Cultural Tutor @culturaltutor]

I’ve made a short film.

Look at the things around you: doors, bins, staircases, furniture, railings, doorhandles, windows.

Do you like how they look, or not?

Modern design has become boring, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

The word “beautiful” is overused. We don’t need “beautiful” lamps, bus stops, and water fountains – we just need lamps, bus stops, and water fountains that are interesting, that actually mean something.

Or, at the very least, not boring.

Because the aesthetics of architecture and urban design aren’t just a bonus; they totally change how we think, feel, and behave.

Boring environments make us more stressed and less productive; they erode our sense of community; they make us sadder, less trusting, and lonelier.

A boring world is one where we spend even more time online and where our addictions are even harder to battle.

The Problem

There is global, widespread dissatisfaction with how the world looks. In this film, and the series it will lead to, we want to investigate that feeling and give it a voice.

The point isn’t that we should return to the past or get rid of modernism. It’s about learning from the past in order to improve the present, and about giving the public what they very clearly want, which isn’t the eradication of modernism but the co-existence of modernism AND traditionalism.

Just look where tourists go, where they take their photos, and that tells you everything you need to know about what most people find interesting or beautiful.

And look at where people go on holiday. It’s always to cities filled with old architecture and design, with churches and mosques and palaces, with charming little alleyways and stone staircases and wrought-iron railings.

Of the world’s fifty most visited buildings, only four were made in the 20th century, and they’re all museums or memorials.

There’s a reason why posts about this go viral online all the time. Regardless of why the change happened, it is clearly the case that we no longer make things how we used to.

People are rightly confused by the fact that old lamp posts (to take the example we focus on in the film) are usually so pretty, while modern ones are usually so boring.

Some people say this is just an example of survivorship bias… and they’re mostly correct. But that’s the whole point!

Saying old buildings are usually prettier than modern buildings is not to say that architecture used to be better, or that the past was better.

It is simply to say that certain kinds of buildings, because they have been preserved, are good examples of what people like most.

In which case... shouldn't we try to design at least some buildings in a way that we know people like?

A Unifying Cause

Everybody, from all sides of the political spectrum and all backgrounds, stands to benefit from a world that is designed more thoughtfully and imaginatively. The world could be such a colourful, meaningful, and thrilling place!

So this isn��t about left versus right or conservatism versus progressivism; it’s about making our world a more interesting and meaningful place to live in. This should be a unifying cause, because everybody loses out when our homes and cities are badly designed.

I want this film to unite people who think they’re on opposite sides, and to create a consensus that we need to change our approach to how we design our buildings and the objects – benches, bus stops, bins, lamp posts, aircon units – that fill our cities.

The Importance of Details

We are incredibly rich and have a sprawling choice of shows to stream, phones to buy, or shoes to wear… but everything feels more and more generic all the time.

If you want to understand a society, don’t listen to what it says about itself – look at what it creates. You can learn everything about the Victorians – the good and the bad – just by looking at their lamp posts.

And what do the ordinary details of the modern world say about us?

That we are technologically advanced, very efficient… and care more about making money, about making things as quickly and cheaply as possible, than making our world an enjoyable place to actually live in.

It’s important to learn about why and how things have changed, but that’s for another time. The first step is establishing that the public aren’t happy with modern architecture and design, and that something needs to be done.

But what we need isn’t a total revival of so-called ‘traditionalism’; the truth is that traditionalism and modernism can (and should) co-exist.

The trouble right now is that we only have one, and that people are tired of it.

The Power of Noticing

But this film (and the series it will, all being well, lead to) is about more than the specific argument it presents. Above all it’s about a way of seeing the world around us, a way of noticing and thinking.

“How you do anything is how you do everything.” That is probably true, and it also applies to whole societies, not just individuals; a single doorbell implies everything else about the whole socio-economic and political system that gave rise to its creation.

And, beyond being merely “useful”, the ability to notice details makes the world a richer place to live in, and life a richer thing to lead. This is what the film is about, more than anything: the power and joy of noticing.

A Bigger Project

This short film is just the beginning. We want to make a full series about the history of art and architecture, both for their own sake and also to see what we can learn about life in the twenty-first century and how to improve it. To keep updated you can join our email list over at our website, linked in the reply below.

Final Words

You can watch the film here on X, or over on YouTube, also linked in the reply below.

So… this is where the dream begins, the dream of a new series and the dream of a more charming, more interesting, more meaningful modern world.

Spread the word.

[Kate Poyner @KatePoyner]

@el_nagashi Yep. Me too. And my mum. Tall, short hair, deepish voices. Next. Moving on. Really nothing to see here.

[The Bee Guy @the_beeguy]

It’s that time of year - folks asking us about #bumblebees - WHY THEY’RE SEEING THEM ON THE GROUND - so here’s a thread to explain.
Please #retweet!
Every queen that survives means a new colony that gets to exist & produce queen #bees for next year!
So important to #share!
1/9

[Kate Poyner @KatePoyner]

@AudreySuffolk Sending you ❤️ and 💪 .

[Ellie @pugsandparrots]

💥Please share this post.
🚨 Barrister @SVPhillimore
is crowdfunding in order to take legal action in defamation against Jolyon Maughan KC, of the Good Law Project. If anyone has a few spare pennies they would be most welcome. Sarah has been speaking out on issues of sex versus gender for a long time. She is also a member of Fair Cop and has worked tirelessly to undo to hold gender ideology has over our police forces. Sarah has been the target of threats, abuse, and other such actions by TRA's. This is our opportunity to pay Sarah back in some small way for all she has done and continues to do.

https://t.co/xaI9vdThmx

[Kate Poyner @KatePoyner]

@ForWomenScot To counter: you fight for women like me & give us a voice. Your intelligence, tenacity, honesty & extraordinary willingness to push & push & go that extra mile for us - we cannot thank you enough. We are not public figures given media space but we stand with you & are grateful.

[Cyclefree @Cyclefree2]

Some thoughts on "The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht" and the NationalLibrary of Scotland's censorship of it.

1/12
The book's importance is that it tells the story of an astonishing grass roots movement involving women of all ages, classes, political views, mediated through ......

[Kate Poyner @KatePoyner]

@ForWomenScot @LabWomenDec I found this extraordinary. Tilting at windmills. Just added to sense of through the looking glass.

[Kate Poyner @KatePoyner]

@Docstockk @cathydevine56 “Has the politics of the trans movement damaged academia?”
Great read. Thank you.

[Dr. Jane Clare Jones @janeclarejones]

So, a bunch of feminist academics have written an open letter condemning the Supreme Court judgement, and the EHRC's interim guidance.

None of this is particularly surprising, given what we know about how captured academic gender studies is by trans ideology, and the particular interpretation of feminism that supports it.

There is a lot that can be said about this letter, not least that academics should be fucking embrassed to be repeating nonsense about genital checks in toilets, but I'd like to focus on a few paragraphs that make claims about what feminism is and what feminism isn't, because they underline how academic third wave feminism produced a hard orthodoxy that has very successfully attempted to deligitimise/reread/erase second wave feminism, and present itself as the one true feminist way ⬇️

https://t.co/27XATf8qa3

[Kate Poyner @KatePoyner]

@MikeJackBR7 @VisitChis @ChisMatters It is sad that the council seem to have prioritised traffic flow over pedestrian safety. However many thanks for pushing on this, as you said, it is a compromise but a step forward nonetheless.

[Kate Poyner @KatePoyner]

@HJoyceGender This was the best explainer I’ve come across and have forwarded it to as many people as I can. Thank you so much for saying with clarity what I want to say but can’t find the right words to do so. You speak for me and for so many. @ForWomenScot @SexMattersOrg thank you.