How do you build a modern economy? With creative learning that is about enjoying exploring ideas and negotiating modern day problems, not memorising dates and times tables at desks. Despite our fairly advanced knowledge economy, British schools are still built on an industrial model, with bells for clocking in and out of lessons, desks lined up like factory stations and a focus on the production of grades rather than ideas. They’re built to churn out children with skills for the factory rather than future entrepreneurs. Why do politicians get so much mileage from promising to focus on ‘the three R’s’? An announcement to ‘go back to basics’ is guaranteed to provoke applause from middle England even though no one will be returning to the good old days of finish school and heading down the mine or onto the shop floor any time soon. You can’t measure the success of learning through play with an exam, but it is proven that kids who experienced creative learning do better in their careers than those who didn’t. And they’re more likely to access culture, art and museums when they’re older, passing on these skills and enjoyment. “The forthcoming Government review from Dame Clare Tickell could see a reversal of learning through play,” says Jen Lexmond of the Family and Society Programme at Demos. “Children’s Minister, the Lib Dem Sarah Teather has also promised that the ‘nappy curriculum’ won’t focus on academic learning and we should hold her to that.

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56 hours. That is the amount of time you have to commit to watch this seasons extra mammoth X Factor. That’s longer than the average working week and it’s not even counting the continual Xtra Factor loop on ITV2. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy 56 hours of mindless pop programming just as much as the next man, woman and child. It’s just that I can’t help wondering what else I could have achieved with all that time. Learning basic Spanish, training for a marathon, swimming the channel twice? Moreover, what could we have collectively achieved as a nation if we had all pooled our 56 hours? 50 hours is the amount of volunteering time that the London 2012 Committee asked Gamesmakers to commit to help make the Olympic Games a success. Last week only 240,000 people applied. About 12m less than tune into X Factor each Saturday. If we are going to make this Big Society work we might need some smaller programmes.

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As its Halloween this weekend, I feel it’s only right that we all salute (with an over-tanned hand) probably the most freakish, watched and written about subculture of the last couple of years, and my own guilty pleasure: Guido’s and Guidettes. The Guido phenomenon was released into the world just over the year ago with the arrival of MTV show Jersey Shore. We watched appalled and amused as the real-life cast brawled, cussed, bronzed, slept, ground (as in ‘grind’) their way into our living rooms. The only thing more distorted and questionable than their sense of style, was the vervour with which we became obsessed by and secretly fond of them.
In a world where Hipster has become the dirtiest word of all – Guido’s are a tribe distinctly different – they aren’t cool and they don’t care what you think – and perhaps they reminded us that there is actually something authentic and endearing in that. Guido’s will leave no redeeming cultural legacy for us in the way of music or style, they have no exixtential bone to pick with the world, just thuggish commitment to the Guido cause/code – aka trying to sleep with other Guido’s and Guidettes while looking the part doing it.
Watching an episode of Jersey Shore is like taking a basic anthropology class. Perhaps that is why, ironically, the Guido has become a topic discussed and dissected by academics and pop culture commentators the world over. Afterall, there is nothing like trying to dissect that which probably doesn’t need dissecting! Whatever you think of the Guido, he has staked his claim, and although I’m mildy relieved it’s not my grandkids who will be laughing about ‘Granny as a Guidette’, you’ve got to hand it to them. I mean, apparently in popculture terms, when you make it as a Halloween costume, well , you’ve really made it.

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Graffiti knitters. Sounds absurd right? But kinda awesome too. Well it’s close to becoming an ‘epidemic’ according to the Guardian. Hooded grannies across the land are “tagging” lampposts with doilies, unleashing knitted animals and sheathing guns in wool. I kid you not. When attitudes towards graffiti recently began to change, when some pieces and murals became seen as a way of beautifying our streets and adding much needed colour to grey cities, all kinds of people wanted to get in on the action. Urban gardening is a brilliant example of a few people sneaking around at night to place their mark on their environment, to brighten up and add character to their community. And now graffiti knitting. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

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Last Saturday, Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes opened at the V&A. The show explores the contribution of a man to whom Charles Saatchi, Malcolm McLaren, Harvey Weinstein and other iconoclasts, super-producers and consummate publicists owe a debt. Serge de Diaghilev created the Ballets Russes in 1909. More like a cause than a dance company, Diaghilev’s zeal brought together little-known musicians, artists and designers of the day like Picasso, Stravinsky and Cocteau. Their productions shocked contemporary audiences, shaped Modernism and still influence pop culture. Diaghilev pretty much invented the populist ideal of the impresario. He knew how to find an audience, galvanise critics, anticipate trends, curate talent, and monetise ideas. His genius as an impresario makes this show full of inspiration for the creative industries today. Go see.

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Nothing wrong with liking books purely as aesthetic or cerebral objects. Whilst the Taschen’s of this world have understood this all along, mainstream publishers have been slow to capitalise on the culture around this consumer behaviour. Penguin’s reissued classics and Puffin’s designer children’s limited editions at £100 a pop this year, recognise they can breathe new life into old books – and hike up their prices – by marketing them around the way they look on your coffee table or bookshelf, as much as the reading pleasure they bring. The site Bookshelf Porn celebrates this fact and takes the display of books to erotic levels (if rustic hardbacks and gold-leafed pages get you excitable). Similarly, the Small Spaces exhibition at the V&A recently explored how books could be seen as a form of architecture or art piece. A group of architects transformed a pile of books into a three-storey ‘reading chamber’ where visitors could seek refuge and respite in the comfort of books, and view the gallery from new heights. It seems like this cultural exploration and acceptance of books beyond their reading facility is part of the defence of print.

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The fusion of design with full-blown gastronomic experiences has been a common theme from a number of exhibitors at this year’s London Design Festival. Hel Yes! took place in the a middle of warehouse in the Londonnewcastle space, and is one of those exhibitions. A pop-up restaurant and exhibition, it was conceived by Helsinki restaurateur Antto Melasniemi and designers Mia Wallenius and Klaus Haapaniemi. The team aim to explore a number of conceptual themes inspired by Nordic culture around food and design, such as ‘can furniture be made from trees thinned out from the forest?’ and ‘can a restaurant gather ingredients straight from the forest?’ Similarly, situated just around the corner with more of a local take, contemporary furniture designers Established and Sons have hijacked The Wenlock Arms pub, which sits opposite their studio. Having renamed it ‘The Established and Sons’, this East London boozer has been serving visitors fine ales, proper pub grub whilst showcasing the studio’s best in contemporary furniture. Of course whilst design and food have always gone hand in hand both exhibits have managed blur the lines between the two. Furthermore, both reflect the needs amongst today’s culturally conscious audience for rich, diverse and one off cultural experiences.

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Shopping is great. Spending money feels amazing – synapses spark into life, endorphins and dopamine pump around the brain. That is, apart from one precise moment. That moment when the cashier wrenches the wad of notes from your fist and you watch them disappear. The moment when you take a deep breath before typing in your pin number and handing back the card machine as swiftly as possible, as if it might explode. That’s the moment your brain screams, “don’t do it!!!”. That’s the moment that banks and credit card companies have been trying to do away with. And, worryingly, they’ve sussed it. Contactless cards are now in full circulation (I received mine this week). I can now move from the shops, via a restaurant, to the pub without ever handing over any cash or typing in that secret number. Just ambling around snapping stuff up without any ‘real’ transaction taking place. Sure ‘life flows’, but so does my cash. Straight down the drain and into your pockets, you sly buggers.
There’s a lot to be said for seamless experiences but in our fast-paced, fluid world, we sometimes need moments to pause and reflect. In a world where mindless borrowing has taken us to the brink of economic meltdown, you can’t help but think that those responsible should be creating more moments for people to stop and think about what they are doing – themselves included, not less.

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I went to see ‘Scott Pilgrim versus the world‘ the other week. It was full of 40 year old gamers laughing along at the gaming jokes. Scott had a ‘Pee bar’ that went down when he took a leak. He was awarded a 1-up mushroom for good deeds. He took part in a ‘Bass battle’ with a man who had Vegan superpowers. It was great. But where were the actual gaming demographic? Where were the kids? I reckon I was the youngest there, and I’m 37. It made me realize gamers are now the establishment. Just watch some of the 2010 E3 presentations on YouTube. Those guys from the studios come across like CEO’s, not rock stars. If you’re thinking of creating a game for your brand, don’t expect it to be like a crazy college project. Gaming is all grown-up now.


Image Credit:
Splitreason