This review was originally published by Engelsberg Ideas in April 2024. In December 1958 an All-African People’s Conference was held in Accra, capital of the newly independent Ghana. It brought together delegates from 28 African countries, many of them still European colonies. Their purpose, according to Ghanaian prime minister Kwame Nkrumah, was ‘planning for a … Continue reading The Sublime Hubris of Tropical Modernism

This essay appeared in my regular newsletter, The Pathos of Things, in March 2024. Subscribe here.  This week I was lucky enough to attend a symposium at the Royal College of Art, on a subject that is close to my heart – and even closer to my rear: the chair. This is one of those … Continue reading Take a Seat

This essay was originally published by Unherd in March 2024. In most circumstances, finding your car submerged in mud up to the fenders is a sign that something has gone badly wrong. For the off-road enthusiasts of the Shire Land Rover Club, it is the entire point of having a car. This was one of … Continue reading The Cult of Land Rover

This essay appeared in my regular newsletter, The Pathos of Things, in January 2024. Subscribe here.  I recently watched for a second time J.C. Chandor’s All Is Lost, a strangely riveting film with only one character, no dialogue and almost no words at all, set in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The entire plot consists … Continue reading Mechanising the Oceans