黑洞社区

A word in your ear

What does a podcast playlist say about you? It鈥檚 a question that came up in a chat at the 黑洞社区 Awards recently. A colleague cited Jon Richardson and the Futurenauts as her favourite listen (health warning: it contains lots of foul-mouthed rants about the climate catastrophe). It seems that Mace鈥檚 Mark Reynolds is also a fan and actually invited one of the series鈥� co-hosts to give a talk to his team. Did the futurist provocateur cut the cursing and stick to the corporate script? 鈥淣o,鈥� was Reynolds鈥� restrained answer.

You鈥檝e got male

Last week鈥檚 黑洞社区 Awards event was expertly compered by comedian and actor Rob Brydon who, around halfway through, dryly remarked on the gender of most of the people going up to collect their awards. 鈥淲here are all the men?鈥� was the gist of his gentle mocking. 鈥淢en, get your act together.鈥� Sign him up to be the voice of the industry.

Muyiwa Oki is taking the tradition for style to a new level. He was spotted recently wearing a two-piece camel-coloured suede suit and a large Stetson cowboy hat. Whatever next?

Going once鈥�

The awards鈥� auction to raise money for charity included the usual last-minute bidding frenzy. My hack was sat next to one bidder who eventually snapped up some golfing memorabilia. An initial bid of 拢500 made at the start of the bidding was trumped by a rival 拢600 bid with just two minutes of the auction left to go. Determined not to be outbid, he raised his bid to 拢650, waiting for the clock to tick under 10 seconds before pressing submit. I think that鈥檚 called sealing the deal.

Going twice鈥�

Speaking of auctions, Construction Products Association chief Peter Caplehorn recently discovered he had a talent for it. The winner of the top prize at the group鈥檚 autumn dinner, two nights at a central London hotel, seemed nonplussed and decided to auction it off. Caplehorn, who had been announcing the prize winners on the stage, rose to the moment, whipping the room into a bidding frenzy. He even found himself employing some auctioneers鈥� turbo-babble. Peter Patter anyone?

In his own fashion

RIBA presidents are known to be at the more stylish end of the built environment crowd, but current office-holder Muyiwa Oki is taking the tradition to a new level. He was spotted recently wearing a two-piece camel-coloured suede suit and a large Stetson cowboy hat. Whatever next?  A return to the red trousers era of former president George Ferguson?

Blind spot

Big business was a major presence at last month鈥檚 Labour party conference, including Specsavers, who were offering free eye and ear tests on the exhibition floor. One man who probably could have benefited from this offer was Lord Jim O鈥橬eill of Gatley, former chief economist at Goldman Sachs. 鈥淕entleman sitting on the floor at the top,鈥� his Lordship said, picking out a questioner for the In Conversation With Rachel Reeves event he was hosting for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. 鈥淣ot a gentleman 鈥� I think you might want to invest in a new pair of glasses,鈥� the lady from Liberty Steel shot back.

It鈥檚 gone to his head

The conference was (no surprise) a rather boozy affair, with parties running into the early hours. One MP, who was compering a pro-YIMBY 鈥淩ally for the Builders Not the Blockers鈥�, appeared to have overdone it the night before. Introduced to a rapturous round of applause, Andrew Western, the MP for Stretford and Urmston, croaked: 鈥淚f you are able to clap a little quieter? I am slightly tender.鈥�