From: fedora@fea.st
On Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:54:09 -0000 (UTC), Tara
wrote:
>On Feb 18, 2026 at 11:31:04?AM EST, "Noah Sombrero" wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 18 Feb 2026 11:15:57 -0500, Wilson
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 2/18/2026 11:07 AM, Tara wrote:
>>>> On Feb 18, 2026 at 11:00:04?AM EST, "Wilson"
wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 2/18/2026 10:36 AM, Julian wrote:
>>>>>> On 18/02/2026 15:28, Wilson wrote:
>>>>>>> On 2/17/2026 6:20 PM, Tara wrote:
>>>>>>>> Tara wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On Feb 17, 2026 at 4:24:25?PM EST, "Julian"
>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I?ve got a new thriller out this week, under my pen name of S.K.
>>>>>>>>>> Tremayne. I am pleased with the book, and I believe it?s
>>>>>>>>>> entertaining. I
>>>>>>>>>> am also aware that, in a tough and competitive market, that may not
be
>>>>>>>>>> enough for it to succeed. I am even more aware that readers might
>>>>>>>>>> decide
>>>>>>>>>> the book is dreck. They might give me one star reviews, and no
sales.
>>>>>>>>>> Then the book will crater, my publishers will probably abandon me,
and
>>>>>>>>>> my nice career will drift to an end.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> And that, of course, is how it should be. No one in any career is
>>>>>>>>>> entitled to a free ride. That especially applies to people who get
>>>>>>>>>> to do
>>>>>>>>>> a desirable, creative job such as novel writing. Whether you?re a
>>>>>>>>>> writer, actor, director, sculptor or musician ? if you want that
>>>>>>>>>> enviably fun creative profession, you live and die by public
approval;
>>>>>>>>>> and if you are bad, goodbye.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Unless, of course, you are an architect. I was reminded of this
>>>>>>>>>> peculiar
>>>>>>>>>> anomaly by last week?s furore over the latest architectural wart to
>>>>>>>>>> attach itself to London?s battered face: the already notorious
>>>>>>>>>> ?Belgrove
>>>>>>>>>> House?, that now dominates a prime corner of Euston Road, where it
>>>>>>>>>> sits
>>>>>>>>>> right next to King?s Cross and St Pancras.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I presume it has been situated in London after the original design
was
>>>>>>>>>> rejected by a horrified Uzbek government, as being too ugly for
>>>>>>>>>> Tashkent.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> If you have not seen it yet, the best way to get a sense is to look
at
>>>>>>>>>> photos like the one here.
>>>>>>>>>> https://x.com/ianvisits/status/2020440287785443433
>>>>>>>>>> Briefly. The second best way is for me to describe it, but that is
>>>>>>>>>> actually quite hard. Because it?s difficult to verbally capture this
>>>>>>>>>> weird, stupid and meaningless collision of styles, materials,
>>>>>>>>>> dimensions. The closest visual analogy, to my mind, is one of those
>>>>>>>>>> plates piled high at a hotel buffet by an idiot: with a splodge of
>>>>>>>>>> curry, some sauerkraut, five potatoes, some lemon pie, a lamb
cutlet,
>>>>>>>>>> smoked herring, and several cheesy crackers, and everything banal
and
>>>>>>>>>> tasteless even before you smush them together.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> In short, the building is appalling, and it?s not going to get
better
>>>>>>>>>> over time. It is a dud. A turkey. A calamitous flop. It is the
>>>>>>>>>> Millennium Dome. It is Fyre Festival. It is Triangle, the BBC soap
>>>>>>>>>> opera
>>>>>>>>>> set on a North Sea ferry route. It is Raise the Titanic. It is Harry
>>>>>>>>>> Hill?s I Can?t Sing. It is Keir Starmer?s prime ministerial career,
>>>>>>>>>> rendered in concrete and plastic. It is my first novel, Absent
>>>>>>>>>> Fathers,
>>>>>>>>>> which got a cheque for zero pounds zero pence, as a computer could
not
>>>>>>>>>> believe an author could sell so few copies, so sent a cheque anyway.
>>>>>>>>>> Finally, it is the architectural equivalent of Via Galactica
(1972), a
>>>>>>>>>> space-themed musical with actors on trampolines, which lasted seven
>>>>>>>>>> performances.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> But here?s the thing. For all the creative disasters listed above,
>>>>>>>>>> someone responsible paid a price. Even the lavishly coddled
Millennium
>>>>>>>>>> Dome project damaged careers. And yet, if you design and erect a
>>>>>>>>>> hideous
>>>>>>>>>> building, equivalent to these aesthetic catastrophes, you pay no
price
>>>>>>>>>> at all. And this despite the fact that, unlike a rubbish novel, you
>>>>>>>>>> can?t chuck a bad building in a bin. No, the building squats there,
>>>>>>>>>> for
>>>>>>>>>> decades, blighting the lives of everyone who must look at it. And
>>>>>>>>>> given
>>>>>>>>>> that this particular building is situated in one of the most
>>>>>>>>>> conspicuous
>>>>>>>>>> sites in the capital, opposite two of its grandest railway stations,
>>>>>>>>>> that is going to be a lot of people.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Worse, there?s a decent chance the architects of this carbuncle
>>>>>>>>>> will get
>>>>>>>>>> an award. Because that?s what they do in architecture world. They
have
>>>>>>>>>> hideous ideas, then they force them on the rest of us, and then they
>>>>>>>>>> give each other prizes. Until, about 40 years down the line,
everyone
>>>>>>>>>> accepts the obvious truth, and the pile of ugliness is finally
>>>>>>>>>> demolished.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> If you need proof, just look at the lists. Salford?s laughable
>>>>>>>>>> Centenary
>>>>>>>>>> Building, Britain?s very first Stirling Prize winner (in 1996), was
>>>>>>>>>> set
>>>>>>>>>> to be knocked down just 30 years later, to much applause. The
Tricorn
>>>>>>>>>> Centre Portsmouth won the Civic Trust award in 1967 and yet was
>>>>>>>>>> demolished in 2004. Pimlico Comprehensive School collected a RIBA
>>>>>>>>>> prize,
>>>>>>>>>> then it was flattened in despair. Gateshead?s Trinity Square car
park
>>>>>>>>>> was recognised as a ?most outstanding modernist building? by the
20th
>>>>>>>>>> century society after it was blasted to hell. Add to this, our own
>>>>>>>>>> Belgrove House: yes it won a World Architecture Festival Award in
>>>>>>>>>> 2023.
>>>>>>>>>> Yes, they?ve already given it an award. Perhaps they got excited by
>>>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>>> potential ugliness. In any other art form, failure is failure. In
>>>>>>>>>> architecture, terrible failure makes for a garlanded career.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Clearly, what is needed is some kind of disincentive for
architects. A
>>>>>>>>>> way to punish them for the pain they inflict. Or they will keep
>>>>>>>>>> inflicting this pain on us. We need the equivalent of West End
reviews
>>>>>>>>>> so bad they close a dismal show, thereby bankrupting producers.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> So who are the Guilty People responsible for Belgrove House? Who
>>>>>>>>>> should
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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