Friday 5 August 2011

Top of the Fops - and Delusion of the Day



As readers of some of my increasing number of other blogs will know, I was recently asked to film a episode of Auction Party with Lawrence Llewellyn-Bowen at Liverpool Town Hall.
I wasn't too sure at first, but they said the fee was £150, and that convinced me so off I toddled on a cold winter night the whole 100 yds stretch from my shop to the beautiful Liverpool Town Hall.

It was great fun the programme is all about raising money for charity and I struck up a relationship with St Johns Hospice afterwards and sell some of their donated objects for them.

And of course, the £150 fee was gratefully received by another “charity”, the Liverpool Preservation Trust. It will pay for a nice lunch for the Chairman. Naturally I was a bit annoyed that the "Style Guru" in the headline was Lawrence and not me.


However, on to other delusions. Delusion of the Day here in Wayne's World is that whenever anyone says or writes anything, they do so in the name of their employer, because clearly an employer has total control over the private lives of their employees, just like I do over my gofers Charles Korsham and David Swift who are on standby 24/7 to agree with me on whatever forum I choose to add one of my famous pearls of wisdom to.

Among several people who are currently learning this to their cost is Paul Finch, the Chairman of CABE (constitution and accounts available as public documents, just like they are for any reputable organisation). He dared to criticise neo-traditionalist architects.

He did so in a magazine column for which he is paid, not by CABE, but by The Architects' Journal.

Needless to say, a bit of a row blew up and was the first to comment on the story as reported at Building Design:
http://m.bdonline.co.uk/news/cabe-hits-back-in-row-over-chairmans-swipe-at-traditional-architects/5022646.article


My opinion is that Paul Finch is a foul mouthed man, with far too much power.
I attended an AJ conference in Liverpool where I raised legitimate questions about the risks to Liverpools World Heritage Site to the panel he provided.
The Architectural Review had done a Liverpool special edition and he lined up Broadway Malyan and all the usual suspects in a fait accompli.
CABE had supported several schemes such as the Three Black Coffins on Mann Island, which in my opinion have no place in Liverpools WHS.
These views had been echoed in publications he edited.

"Stuff Unesco he said what has it got to do with them, send them packing"
With this level of foul mouthed debate it is little wonder he is in trouble with traditionalists.........and Liverpool with Unesco


Well, of course, I know a foul-mouthed man when I see one, having quite a bit of form on that myself. I'm not sure about the “too much power” bit, as I still don't have nearly enough.
But obviously, in a column written and paid for by one employer, any view expressed must be that of all his other employers, and expressed on their behalf. It's a simple fact and anyone who doesn't realise it must be some sort of Heritage Fruitcake from Bonkersville.

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