As huge fans of the dearly missed TV institution Tattoo Fixers, Diary is all too aware how poorly chosen skin-art can have a hugely negative impact on people’s lives. So, we’re delighted to hear how some far more tasteful designs are having a positive effect, thanks to the Tattoo Artists Against Homelessness charity initiative.
If you head to Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross, before 27 November, you can catch a showcase of tattoo art from around the world which is raising money to support young people experiencing homelessness across the UK. The collaboration – between Sacred Gold Tattoo, a collective based out of Coal Drops Yard, and renowned artist Joao Bosco – is being hosted by the team of developers behind the King’s Cross neighbourhood and will culminate in an online auction to raise vital funds for LandAid.
Thirty international artists have donated unique and original artwork, all of which will be available to buy via auction or in limited edition prints. And clearly a lot of fun was had at the launch event, where Argent’s David Partridge (pictured above, right, himself a walking work of art) held his own in a tattooed-arm wrestle with Bosco.
As huge fans of the dearly missed TV institution Tattoo Fixers, Diary is all too aware how poorly chosen skin-art can have a hugely negative impact on people’s lives. So, we’re delighted to hear how some far more tasteful designs are having a positive effect, thanks to the Tattoo Artists Against Homelessness charity initiative.
If you head to Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross, before 27 November, you can catch a showcase of tattoo art from around the world which is raising money to support young people experiencing homelessness across the UK. The collaboration – between Sacred Gold Tattoo, a collective based out of Coal Drops Yard, and renowned artist Joao Bosco – is being hosted by the team of developers behind the King’s Cross neighbourhood and will culminate in an online auction to raise vital funds for LandAid.
Thirty international artists have donated unique and original artwork, all of which will be available to buy via auction or in limited edition prints. And clearly a lot of fun was had at the launch event, where Argent’s David Partridge (pictured above, right, himself a walking work of art) held his own in a tattooed-arm wrestle with Bosco.
Big fish, little fish, comeback Gove
Tuning in to Michael Gove’s first reappearance before the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities select committee this week was a faintly surreal affair. After all, as chair Clive Betts MP said: “It’s not often we get a chance to welcome back a secretary of state.” But the strangest thing was the curious dance Gove was performing with his hands. Was he trying to mesmerise his interrogators? Or was there more powerful magic at work?
“We have to look at the obligations on developers to make sure they are proportionate,” Gove uttered, his hands alternately steepling and weaving, as if affordable housing could be conjured from the very air. This was then followed by what looked unnervingly like the “big fish, little fish, cardboard box” rave routine, which brought back chilling memories of a nightclub in Aberdeen.
And then, a most peculiar method of counting on his fingers, where every number involved him repeatedly extending the middle finger of his right hand and waving it at his interrogators. Actually, that last one may not need quite so much decoding.
I (don’t) want candy
A chill went through the room at the Westminster Property Association’s annual piss-up lunch last week as WPA chair and Derwent boss Paul Williams launched into a tirade against the scourge of Oxford Street. “There is no place for candy shops or similar sub-standard retail offerings,” Williams thundered. Sort of.
Wait, what? No candy shops? What will they take from us next? Our chippies? Our boozers? Our FREEDOM? Oh, wait, he meant those illegal ones. Yeah, fair point then.
Clearing the Ayrshire
As a proud Dunfermline Athletic fan who is (depending on how you calculate it) three quarters Scottish, Diary loves Scotland. It has everything you could want in a country. Fine cuisine (neeps and tatties, haggis, deep fried Mars bars), haute couture (only the most stylish can really carry off a kilt), majestic mountains and crisp lochs. If it wasn’t for the sometimes (most times) soggy weather and the invasion of midges every year, it would give some of the globe’s most beautiful holiday destinations a run for their money.
And this is why Diary wasn’t at all surprised when our AI transcribing software (yes, sometimes we cheat) Trint confused South Ayrshire with South Asia. Now, it could have been because computers haven’t quite got the hang of the lovely Scottish accent just yet, but we like to think it was a legitimate confusion because the places are so similar.
And, so long as the inward investment South Ayrshire (home of the Pars’ rivals Ayr United) is seeking as it builds out an exciting space programme goes to the correct place, Diary is pretty sure the Scots won’t mind the confusion either.
Can’t hold a candle
Anyone worried about the outlook for bricks and mortar retail must not have been at the newly opened Bath & Body Works store in Bluewater this weekend. It was chaos. A gently scented mosh pit. “This is what shopping was like before the internet, lad!” Diary’s correspondent told his 11-year-old as the crowds swept them from one side of the shop to the other, crashing first into displays of Christmas candles and then leaving us reaching for each others’ hands to avoid being separated by waves of shoppers desperate to grab some coconut handwash.
It was proof that, although you can do a lot of shopping online, there will always be a market for people who want to sniff 17 scented candles in a row in real life. And for that landlords everywhere should be grateful.
Share your tales from the quirky side of the property industry by e-mailing diary@eg.co.uk
Photo © LandAid
