黑洞社区

Congratulations all round

Not one but two government ministers joined me at the parliamentary reception celebrating the first anniversary of the Farrell Review: Ed Vaizey from culture and Brandon Lewis from communities. Much mutual back-slapping ensued in the speeches, with Vaizey, who commissioned the review, praising Lewis for 鈥減roving an incredibly effective partner鈥� and Lewis thanking Vaizey for 鈥渕aking my life easier鈥� by getting design quality on the government鈥檚 agenda. All a little mystifying until one of my hacks received a tip-off that Vaizey is about to pass the entire architecture brief to Lewis鈥� department. Lewis is not the only one to benefit from this move, it seems. Terry Farrell revealed he鈥檚 been enjoying having meetings at the DCLG. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always a pleasure to go there,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ecause they鈥檝e moved into that fabulously designed building on Marsham Street.鈥� Could that possibly be the colourful glass number designed by, er, Farrells?

Roaring Rogers

The indefatigable Richard Rogers, founder of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and all-round globe-trotting architectural heavyweight, is well-known for his seemingly limitless enthusiasm for the profession, even at 81 years of age. As such, one of my journalists was looking forward to hearing from him at an event celebrating the life and works of Czech architect Jan Kaplicky on Tuesday night in central London, featuring Kaplicky in conversation with architects including Rogers. But she subsequently learned he was on the bill for another event that night in the capital. Could Rogers have got a better offer? A PR for the event reassured my hack - apparently Rogers had three events in a row on Tuesday evening, but someone had agreed to transport him between them on a motorbike. Impressive stuff.

Age concern

KPMG鈥檚 Richard Threlfall conjured up a colourful picture of the future of the UK if the economic pull of London and the South-east continues unabated. At a pre-election debate hosted by the accountancy firm this week, Threlfall said the North was starting to look like 鈥渁 grand retirement village鈥� as young people headed south for better job prospects. Threlfall was commenting on statistics on population movement in the UK. Taking a look at the average age of the assembled audience at the firm鈥檚 offices in Canary Wharf, however, it looked like the conference may have been attempting to redress the balance.

Screen legends

Politicians pondering how to inspire a new generation of engineers should look no further than children鈥檚 television, says a new study. According to a survey by business insurance website constructaquote.com, up to a third of the 1,947 workers in the construction trade were inspired by characters such as Super Mario, for his plumbing skills, Fred Flintstone, apparently a childhood muse for engineers, and Bob the Builder - for obvious reasons. Worryingly, 4% of those polled chose Wreck-It Ralph, who we can only assume has inspired those looking to get into demolition. Or maybe public policy?