1/5 Thatcher/Johnson downfall - first you need a 'heavyweight' Tory to turn against you. In this case the candidate is Theresa May... 2/5 Secondly, you need a major policy divide. In Thatcher's case it was the Poll Tax. Riots followed. In Johnson's case it's 'Levelling Up'. Soon people will see that it is only Tory constituency Levelling Up, not the rest of The North.

1/10 An aberration. Night Mail (for Sean Bonney) after WH Auden.

This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
Bringing the chaos and the civil disorder,
Packages for the rich, letters for the poor,
The Amazon Prime held for the woman next door. 2/10 Pulling up Lives, a steady climb:
The gradient’s against her, but her UC’s declined.
Past abandoned shops and moorland boulder
Neglected towns are left to moulder,
Snorting speedballs as she passes
Silent miles of skunky grasses.

LEVELLING UP
It might be a space to do ’take downs’ on Laura K but I’m not going to do that. Let’s have some facts and journalism instead. If you’re interested in ‘levelling up’
or think it’s just another empty bluster mantra then read on...#levellingup #ToryBritain - DB5 dash. GENERATIONAL
Property wealth is held by Boomers. They mostly protect their wealth, vote Conservative & pass on to their children. There is no indicator through taxation that @conservatives will level this up. Younger people 30-40 still live with their parents.

1/10 Back home after a full #Coventry week. Read on to see what we found #MovingOurFutures #OurFutureMoves #CovMotoFest - @CovMotoFest @CraigoAshley @TweetSherrie @MattChinnArt - as city of culture 2021, Coventry is thinking about its future with some brilliant people... 2/10 The first thing to say is that #Coventry has some brilliant artists, people able to challenge, design & make new work. In the artist lab we explored the city - it's not all concrete - it has a canal, green areas & 5g (not everywhere)...

1/10 This is the story of The Machine Stops by EM Forster, written in 1909. It's also the story of #AI #Brexit & #China. You could be a theatre director looking for a gig, an academic researching the future of #AI or a citizen of #China ...read on... 2/10 The Machine Stops tells the story of Vashti and Kuno (her son) who live in standard rooms with The Machine providing everything through screens that deal in 'second hand' information. Vashti does not like the idea of travelling & trusts the omnipotent machine for everything.

1/10 #MentalHealthMatters - read on if you are interested in arts & mental health. This is a practical guide that talks about the impact of the pandemic @ace_national @HENLEYDARREN @DCMS - we @closeandremote have spent the last 18 months responding to the situation. 2/10 #MentalHealthMatters - March 2020 all of our work was cancelled @closeandremote - along with other artists we were in trouble. With digital & painting skills we reinvented our workflow, not overnight but by trying things out. Zoom went from novel to necessary...

1/10 This is a knowledge dump about mobile #AR #opensource #XR etc. To get this look at mutiny.org.uk/portfolio/elea…
1 The state of #AR for public works often focusses on images
2 More interesting experiences (walking) focus on spatial audio
3 Building in web has limits, but pays off 2/10
4 The client will want exact tracking of 3d spatial #AR objects
5 GPS variability across devices won't allow exact tracking
6 Open source strategies introduce adaptability & immediate testing on site
7 App stores are dead ends for dead apps (18 month cycle) @closeandremote

1/10 There is the Cult of the Brand and the Culture of Making. This seems to underpin the creative industries in Brexity Britain. Read on if you are struggling to fill BA/MA arts courses or maybe you have too many. Also if you are a culture brand or outside the charmed ring... 2/10 The Cult of Brand applied to the arts institution is all about communication. It takes a classic approach. We can spend a fortune on the new logo, some great copywriting & an equal amount on digital presence...

1/11 A message to @Keir_Starmer - @UKLabour needs to focus on a 'Fair Play' programme. A simple message about fairness across society, not wonky sound bites like 'levelling up'. Here is the 'Fair Play' programme... 2/11 Placing people from all cultures, 'classes' & walks of life in office, so we have a representative democracy...

Machine Learning: Feature - The North Will Rise Again. The North of England has an incredible historical connection with the industrial growth of Britain. Why does Boris Johnson's 'levelling up' seem so empty, yet still attract Northern voters? If we go back to the looms & cotton spinners of the early industrial revolution, mechanised approaches increased productivity exponentially. Great cities, such as Manchester, grew around the shift from cottage industry in the county of Lancashire, to full scale production plants.

1/10 Here's my thread on running a 'blended' artist lab in #Coventry with @NewArtWestMids @Coventry2021 @newartgallery - did it work and what were the challenges? @CraigoAshley @roddy_hunter @CovBiennial @SusanJonesArts @MarcusRomer @robynwoolston @closeandremote - read thread_> 2/10 Logistics with #COVIDー19 & people being displaced was tricky. It meant more organisation & planning. So, we went for this 1|2|2. 3 Zoom days & 2 physical days. The presentations on day 1 went very well & the artists presented their work, guest talk by @MarcusRomer