I went to the Marble Arch Mound today. It cost £2 million to build, and today was launch day, but it was still quite quiet.

Here is a short thread with info.

First, the original plan drawings and the marketing description do not quite match reality.
These plans never match reality, but it feels like they could probably clean the area up a bit.

It also seems the team who planned it perhaps designed it in Winter and forgot about the trees already in the area, which change the impression of it vs the plans.
I'd joked before that it cost 6p per step to climb it, as the 'fast track' price was £8.

That seems to have dropped to £6.50, meaning it is a more affordable 5p per step to climb the 130ish steps. (the marketing info describes this as an experience of the 'great outdoors')
Maybe it will get busy, but the idea of fast track tickets seems odd, as - even nearing sunset on launch day - it was very quiet.
I said before I thought it was odd they would do this. Marble Arch is a very famous landmark, why build a temporarily landmark overshadowing it?

Perhaps add lights to the Arch itself like Tate Britain if the idea is to increase footfall. But it seems odd to need something else.
The info trailing the 'mound' spoke of "a spectacular 25 metre tall viewpoint that gives visitors striking views over London and the park".

In fact you can't really see the park, as I presume it was designed in Winter, and Summer has filled the view with trees.
To be fair, there is a narrow gap in the trees where you can see a bit of the park, but the foreground is somewhat less pretty. And looking East to the park, rather than South, you overlook an odd area full of rubble. I suppose that could be described as "striking views".
The press info also said the deck would offer "360-degree views down Oxford Street and into the park".

Again, a tree obscures Oxford St (perhaps they thought it would be chopped down? It does not appear in the plans). Albeit you can see up the Edgware Road, constructed in 43AD.
And you can see down Park Lane, and toward the London Eye in the distance.

And actually the other way you can see the BT tower, behind the construction and the old hotels at that end of Oxford Street.
The viewing deck itself is basically like the top of a complicated scaffold, as that is what the entire Mound is built from.

There are some customer support people up there, in case you drop your phone down the scaffold perhaps, or to give you bits of info.
The marketing info describes the journey back from the top by saying 'visitors will descend into the heart of the Mound...'

That is one of the more interesting bits - basically the inside of a 25m enormous scaffold, dotted with a few trees.
I found it odd they didn't make more of the interior, but think they meant to - the info describes a 'hollowed out space that will be used as a café, shop and exhibition space'.

Instead you find an emptyish storage area.

Perhaps it is unfinished, hence all that rubble outside.
There's also apparently a light show of some sorts, also not there at the moment, which may explain some of the random cables scattered around.
All in all a strange experience compared to the sales pitch. I think they oversold it a bit, and they should update the website to downgrade expectations.

I know the price of scaffolding has shot up, & labour is harder to come by, so odds have risen against them, but still...
Marble Arch itself, originally designed by John Nash as an entrance arch to Buckingham Palace, could have been given some much needed attention, rather than literally overshadowing it with a pile of scaffolding.
In summary: I enjoyed it. More as you might enjoy a bad statue of Christiano Ronaldo, or a car park Santa's Grotto, with dogs pretending to be reindeer, than as a dazzling spectacle.

As long as you go with that expectation it is ok - just a shame it cost 2 million pounds.

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More from @danbarker

24 Jul
People often ask "what are they protesting about?" about lockdown/vaccine protesters.

The answer is: A whole mix of things. And they seem to believe a whole mix of things.

Here are some examples of signs, rather than the wide crowd shots you usually see. ImageImageImageImage
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25 Jun
@DavidVidecette Hi, David, I think your impression of the geography of the office is incorrect.

Here is the CCTV in the office. Note the planter on the balcony outside, the brackets on the wall, the shelf beneath the brackets, the red fire 'break glass' point between the windows...
@DavidVidecette Compare those vs the same elements in this shot of Matt in an office.

Note the coat stand here, with hi vis hanging on it. Note the door there.

That would place the CCTV in the red circle here.
@DavidVidecette Here is another shot of Matt in the same spot (left). You get a better view of the coat stand with the hi vis, and the door, and the TVs on the wall.

The CCTV would therefore point at that door area.

You see the same TV, coat stand, and hi vis in the Sun's video (right).
Read 4 tweets
22 Jun
In case you're wondering where 'One Britain One Nation Day' has come from:

It's not a government campaign. It's run by a guy called Kash Singh. He trademarked it in 2005, when he was a policeman.

It's sprung to attention because the Department for Education tweeted this today.
Various Twitter commentators positioned it as "Boris Johnson's" strategy, and claimed it was organised by the "Union Unit".

It is not Boris Johnson's strategy, and the overall idea has been around since 2005, so obviously not created by the (2019/20 founded) Union Unit.
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Philip has known Kash Singh for many years (Philip is MP for Shipley; Kash is a former West Yorkshire policeman, and lived in nearby Keighley)
Read 8 tweets
22 Jun
What do these 2 big 'culture war' stories this week have in common?

1. M&S launches new underwear range 'inspired by George Floyd'.
2. St Paul's Girls' School no longer using the term 'head girl' because it's 'too binary'.

The answer is, oddly, neither is quite what it seems.
The 'George Floyd Underwear' story: The Daily Mail tweet that popularised the idea he 'inspired' it is below.

If you open the image, you can see the DM tweet says 'inspired by George Floyd' in quotes, as if M&S said that. But the article itself does not contain that quote at all
If you read the M&S press release, this is the only mention of George Floyd (bwlo).

Ie: The Daily Mail seem to have picked that up & summarised it as inspired by George Floyd, and added quotes around that phrase, which people read as if that's what M&S have actually said.
Read 7 tweets
11 May
A few weeks ago, there were a couple of popular tweets declaring that the "mad umbrella shop" and "mad sailor shop" in London had survived the pandemic.

It is with regret that I report that the "mad sailor shop", Arthur Beale's, is closing, one of the oldest shops in London.
If you've ever passed the shop, you've probably noticed the sign says "Established Four Centuries".

Nobody knows exactly how old it is, but there is a card in the British Museum from 1791 showing it was already a well-established business at that point.
I often post photos of their brilliant shop windows. Here's one from a couple of years ago, where they had a full moving underwater scene.

Read 15 tweets
11 Apr
Here is another example of a viral story that is not really a story at all:

The Royal Yacht, The Telegraph, The Independent, and Prince Philip.

I'm sure most people realise, but here is a short note on what's actually happened...
In the tweet above, The Independent ask:

"Would you like to see a £190million Royal Yacht built as a memorial to Prince Philip...?"

You'll note: The question is in a form that is easy to quote tweet, adding an angry comment, without any need for anyone to visit the article.
The tweet poses a "Yes/No" question. We are all trained to realise that whenever a newspaper asks a yes/no question, the answer is almost always "No".

(often known as 'Betteridge's Law of Headlines" (albeit not a headline here), after @ianbetteridge, or sometimes "Davis' Law")
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