Beauty

London. I wish I could afford to move back to the place I was born and grew up. House prices have become so anti-people that I couldn't even afford to re-buy the flat I bought when I was 26.

But hey, I can still visit!

I met old friends at the British Museum. We all studied (significantly - read on - human rights and education) together round the corner but all bar one of us have since moved away from London. 

I went to the Olafur Eliason exhibition at Tate Modern. I didn't feel as hyped about it as most people seem to - it felt a bit gimmicky - but I loved the viewer interaction with this rainbow-foggy piece called 'Beauty'. And I loved the kaleidoscope helix in extras.

Then, on Walkingmarj's recommendation, I went to see Trojan Horse at Battersea Arts Centre. Going there was a real nostalgia trip for me: in the early 80s I joined my first ever photography group at Battersea Arts Centre and I helped organise a benefit there for the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign.

Trojan Horse, about the alleged 2014 conspiracy by Muslim parents to take over Birmingham schools for radical Islam, was fascinating and it made me realise how little I gleaned at the time from the media about what was really going on. (Now why was that?) But I was very uncomfortable about it being compared in the post-show Q&A with the current campaign in Birmingham against teaching about LGBTQI+ rights. Section 28 all over again. Children need to know, regardless of religion or heritage, that, whatever their sexuality might be, they are human beings with equal rights due equal respect. That has to be taught in schools, just as learning to question media messages has to be taught.

(London with birds in extras).