Nigel Watson
58.6K posts
@NigelAWatson
Husband, father, son, brother...and a wee bit of cycling
Tonight on #cblive: A United Ireland - what would it mean? Claire will be joined by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald.... ...and Joe Brolly, Ian Paisley Jr., Naomi Long, Andrew Trimble among others *9.35pm* on RTÉ One
A number of loyalist paramilitary flags erected in east Belfast have been condemned by local councillors, with calls for the authorities to take a proactive approach to their removal. belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/councillo…
"Nationalism is on the left socially and economically and Alliance has moved in the same direction. So who speaks for the petite bourgeoisie? "There is an enormous gap in the market for any party willing to try." Read Newton Emerson: tinyurl.com/y22vnm7y
Unfortunately, both of Ireland's home games in the 2026 Women's Six Nations have been scheduled on the same afternoon as URC interpros Ireland v France <--> Leinster v Connacht Ireland v England <--> Munster v Ulster Really disappointing
Almost all of the cities of the West sprawl, with high rise cores giving way to mid-rise blocks, to rowhouses, to detached homes, to exurbs and only then to countryside. One country stands out as an exception: Spain. Even today, Spanish cities expand in mid-rise blocks including shops and businesses, served by extensive metros, and structured in traditional courtyard blocks. The style of the facades has changed, but in other respects they are still close to the urbanism of Barcelona’s nineteenth-century Eixample neighbourhood. This is extremely distinctive. Americans often imagine that all European cities are like this, but actually most Europeans switched over to car-dependent suburbia in the twentieth century, much like the American norm. worksinprogress.co/issue/why-spai… Why did Spain diverge? - Spain remained very poor until late in the twentieth century, limiting suburbanisation. By the time Spain was rich enough for suburbs, new urbanist ideals were already beginning to appear. - Traditional Spanish flat-building practices were not decimated by rent controls as they were in France and Germany, avoiding a forcible switch to owner-occupied single-family houses. - The Spanish state still plans street networks like European and American municipalities in the nineteenth century, and Spanish landowners normally pool their land in land readjustment schemes to create a unified landowner. Spain never really had a conscious plan to diverge from international urban norms – the divergence happened partly by accident. But it shows that multiple ways of building cities remain possible in affluent societies. Today, hundreds of Asian cities are near the densities and GDPs of Spain in the 1960s, when the Spanish Divergence began. If they want, they can choose the Spanish path, and grow like modern Madrid (left) rather than modern Alburquerque (right).
@SRAikenUUP I liked UK! You’re too old Steve!! 🤣
