Tell Me What You Want!

I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire…..
According to house-hunters, as surveyed by Go-Compare, central heating and double glazing, followed by a garden, secure doors and windows, off-road parking, a bath tub, local shops and amenities, friendly neighbours, good broadband connection, good energy efficiency rating, a landline telephone, a good TV signal, a separate shower cubicle, cavity wall insulation, at least two toilets, a dining room, a reliable and clear mobile phone signal, a garage, a living room big enough for a flat screen TV and an en-suite bathroom….. are their top 20 must haves…. In that order. 

All I Want is a Room Somewhere….
And apparently there’s plenty going from global banks based in the UK sub-letting office space, at the same time as closing branches, selling off real estate and re-locating to regional ‘hotspots’ as in-house functions are automated and outsourced, regulatory changes and efficiency drives being the cited reasons for the changes

Oh Lord, Won’t You Buy Me …..
Nothing!  Inutilious Retailer in New York  has no regular opening hours (May Be Open – Could be Closed) at the white spaced retail area which contains only clothing made by previous guests, and a slot machine. Any visitors interested in making a ‘purchase’ have to pull the slot machine’s lever to turn the fake wall, which leads to a workshop with fabric stamps, as collected by British photographer Adrian Wilson, and pieces of clothing, sourced from The Salvation Army. Visitors are invited to use the workshop to create a new garment which is used as payment for one they choose from the shop with nothing to ‘sell’.

Not an April Fools – A Headline You Couldn’t Make Up
‘Providers refuse to reveal costs of transparency committees’ – Mortgage Marketing
‘I did not have equitable relations with that Panamanian Trust Fund’ – Cameron
‘The Great British Biscuit shortage is over’ – BBC
‘Wonga Borrows £25m To Fund Urgent Revival’ – Sky News

Going Up
Wood you look at this. Plans for an 80-storey timber skyscraper – a toothpick-like concept second in height to the Shard and rising from London’s Barbican complex have been presented to the London Mayor.  

Going Down
Councils’ budget for planning and development has more than halved since 2009/10. @NLP_analysis

Going Up
The church which has never received planning permission is a work-in-progress tourist attraction near Madrid. Building started in the early 60’s when the former farmer / bullfighter had finished his days as a monk. Funds were raised from the sale and lease of family property and the next 50 years spent on building a 131ft high cathedral, with towers, stained-glass windows, central dome, cloister and courtyard.

Going Down
Facebook is working to combat a decline in people sharing original, personal content as people have been less willing to post updates about their lives as their lists of friends grow. Original sharing of personal stories dropped 21% year over year as of mid-2015 – the technical term is ‘context collapse’.