London photos

I look at the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the construction industry in London, enthusing about the shutdown of sites, and hoping that the entire bloated industry will collapse – not only because its developments are either unnecessary or overpriced, or both, but also because the entire industry is so environmentally ruinous. My critique is also part of a wider analysis of the huge drop in emissions since the lockdown began, in which massively reduced car use has played a major part, although this progress will be rapidly undone without a renewed commitment to a permanent reduction in emissions as countries begin to try to ease their way out of lockdown.

Today I’m marking the eighth anniversary of when I set out on my bike, with my camera, to take photos in all of London’s 120 postcodes. Eight years later, I haven’t stopped, and, in the last seven weeks, I’ve been seeing the capital through new eyes during the unprecedented coronavirus lockdown.

One year ago, Extinction Rebellion activists (myself included) occupied several sites in central London, bringing traffic to a halt, in an environmental precursor to what the collapse of “business as usual” looks like under the coronavirus lockdown. How can we make sure that, as the crisis passes, we don’t simply return to the suicidally irresponsible culture that existed until just a month ago, which was speeding us towards environmental destruction.

Here’s my latest quarterly fundraiser. As an independent journalist and activist, I’m dependent on the support of my readers to enable me to keep writing about Guantánamo, and working to get the prison closed, and also to support my ongoing photo-journalism project ‘The State of London.’ I hope that you can help!

Marking 1,000 days since I began posting a photo a day on Facebook, on a page entitled, ‘The State of London’, drawing from what is now a nearly eight-year archive of photos taken on bike rides around London’s 120 postcodes, in which I record the latest upheavals and changes in the life of this great city, particularly involving the depredations of the housing development industry, the city’s shopfronts and neighbourhoods, its nature, via rivers, canals, trees, parks and hills, and its more ephemeral aspects as reflected in the changing weather and the seasons.

Every three months I ask you, if you can, to make a donation to support my ongoing work on Guantánamo, and my ongoing photo-journalism project ‘The State of London.’ Thanks for your support!

Twenty-four photos I took during the two-month occupation of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, from August 28 to October 28, 2018, which I was part of, before we were violently evicted on October 29. Also included: a re-cap of the reasons for the occupation, and the shameful behaviour of Lewisham Council and Peabody, and the thugs they hired to show their power.

Today I’m marking 900 days since I first began posting a photo a day on the Facebook page, ‘The State of London’, on the fifth anniversary of when I first began cycling around London on a daily basis, taking photos in all 120 of its postcodes. Thanks to everyone taking an interest in this project!

My report about the Global Climate Strike on September 20, 2019, and, particularly, the protest in London, in which I applaud the young people fighting for their future, discuss the architects who were amongst the adults joining in, and ask what benefit there is in the criticism of Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion by some anti-capitalists.

It’s the start of my latest quarterly fundraiser, in which I ask you, if you can, to make a donation towards my target of $2,500 (£2,000) to support my Guantánamo work, my housing activism and my London photography over the next three months.