From: punditster@gmail.com   
      
   On 2/18/2026 10:00 AM, Noah Sombrero wrote:   
   > On Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:35:05 -0000 (UTC), Tara    
   > wrote:   
   >   
   >> On Feb 18, 2026 at 12:00:59?PM EST, "Noah Sombrero"  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> 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.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)