Medicine Now!

Ever pondered those tablets in your hand?

The welcome collection hosts a permanent exhibition dealing with medicine through the ages.

If you're bored over the summer months and would like some cheap thought provoking fun this is worth a look.

The exhibition Medicine Now covers two floors and touches on ages of medicine from the mystic to the scientific.

You can cast your mind back to before the NHS and before quaint ideas like patient choice and even pain killers.

Worth a look.

You'll find some very cleverly inspired art too.

Exit via a tongue in cheek science shop for extra silly.

Ahaad Alamoudi

Last Friday Ahaad Alamoudi exhibited her artwork at The Mosaic Rooms in West London, with the events at Grenfell Tower I was slow to collect my thoughts on the piece.

Alamoudi said the piece is inspired by a viral protest video that emerged several years ago examining the inequality between those in the Arab world.

Alamoudi had remade the video and paired it with many other renditions of the same song, looking at the Arab world through the lenses of those at the bottom.

Given what had just happened at Grenfell to the mind of a Londoner there was an added element to the piece as it was hosted so close to a disaster rocking one of the richest London boroughs.

The piece was continued downstairs with an emersive audio pairing and video.

However the most interesting piece was the video of the dancer overlaid with a song of looking up at the wealth of another.

A dancer was also a feature of the event, this self effacing man performed three times with an interpretative dance based on the minimal direction of Alamoudi.

His dancing was lovely and it was lovely to see something happy and vibrant added to what in essence was quite a sad reflection on the state of the world.

It will be interesting to see what Alamoudi presents next.

Anti-privatisation fight

A small group of activists turned up today at the Department of Health building to present a petition from We Own It, another of the anti-privatisation groups.

The petition is currently 16,000 strong and is expected to grow.

The We Own It group deals with a number of anti-privatisation campaigns and has recently waded into the NHS campaigns, saying they had not acted in this area before due to a desire not to step on the toes of other activist groups.

The say they are looking to counter myths about the benefits privatisation is alleged to bring.

The size of the petition shows there is still significant feeling associated with the issue of health care privatisation, despite the hard fought NHS bill of the last coalition government.

Housing hopes

Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly planning to build accommodation for his employees in a bid to counteract the Silicon Valley housing crisis.

Like London rents in Silicon Valley are spiralling making it more and more challenging to balance work with rents.

Zuckerburg's plans underline the importance of housing for business success.

As the London mayor roles out his plans for so-called affordable housing in the capital, it is well to remember a city stands and falls on its population.

The rub

You can offer all the perks in the world to public servants and business people alike and it will flounder if you can not provide affordable local housing.

In order for business to thrive you need an affordable city.

If all a workers pay is spent on rent there is no spare cash to spend in local businesses and the service sector.

Resulting not only in an unhappy work force, but in a sluggish tertiary economy.

Weaving beauty

If you haven't got down to the Chris Ofili at the National Gallery I would highly recommend it.

Made famous by his Turner Prize win in 2003 with a painting made of Elephant dung, his latest offering is a commission by the Clothworkers' Company.

A beautiful water colour by Ofili has been painstakingly transformed into a huge woven piece of breathtaking serenity.

The cool of the main room adds to the feeling of peace and beauty that the piece evokes.

The exhibit is free and well worth the time, even if you are not normally a lover of this form of art.

Take the time to stand and marvel.

Terror and Tommy

Some may find it sickening that after the attack on the Mosque in North London that Tommy Robinson feels the need to throw in his half penny.

He is asserting he never called for violence and has called those who have launched on him on Twitter all kinds of names.

Meanwhile Piers Morgan is calling him bigoted.

I throw my hands up.

Remembering Jo Cox

A year on from Jo Cox’s murder the family are calling for people to get together and connect with their neighbours in her memory. Presumably to nurture the spirit of British culture she hoped to represent before she was killed.

Though I suspect some communities will be more able and willing to get together in this respect than others, as the hung parliament is indicative of a divided mood and the events of the last few years have created conflicts that will take a while to heal.

Though heal I hope they do, as Britain is at its greatest when we come together to celebrate and achieve. At our best we have a generous and peaceful community.

After so many violent attacks in recent weeks I suspect many will be seeking to connect in a positive way, though it is sad we clearly have so far to go in persuading people not to attack each other.