So, what exactly is this urban Frankenstein in our midst, and how did it come about? The creation myth, for sure, is a real corker, an-all American tale much like when Ben met Jerry and came up with that lovely vanilla bean ice cream. Airbnb's founders, fellow students Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia (soon joined by Nathan Blecharczyk), met at Rhode Island School of Design, moved … [Read more...] about Floating on airbeds
Airbnb blitz is blighting cities
The three saddest words in the English language, thundered that cantankerous old brahmin, Gore Vidal, were 'Joyce Carol Oates.' Whatever the poor lady may have done to earn such vilification, her supposed infamy has since, I would earnestly suggest, been supplanted by three very different words which are not just sad, but also terrifying and duplicitous: 'The Airbnb … [Read more...] about Airbnb blitz is blighting cities
Part Two: the council boards a runaway train
Story so far. In Part One. TIIA, US pension fund turned global property giant, ran rings round Scottish Government and Edinburgh City Council. Now Princes Street is suffering and the capital's heritage status is tarnished. A safe investment?Over-tourismEdinburgh's predicament should also be judged in another context. The city's economy has increasingly become … [Read more...] about Part Two: the council boards a runaway train
TIAA: a global American invades Scotland
It may yet be Edinburgh's most intriguing Fringe show.Venue: a Scottish courtroom rather than a theatre or church hall. Curtain raiser: American developer Nuveen's petition for a last-minute judicial review in which it had sought to scupper a proposal for a new music and performing arts centre in historic St Andrew Square. (It has since dropped its legal action following a … [Read more...] about TIAA: a global American invades Scotland
Drugs, poverty and entertainment Pt 2
Cool BritanniaDanny Boyle's film of Trainspotting was the pitch-perfect opening salvo for Tony Blair's Cool Britannia.A post-ideological antidote to the conscience-pricking social realism of such politically-driven directors as Peter Watkins and Ken Loach, its purpose was not to evoke sympathy for those enslaved to a drug habit; rather, it was to cash in on their … [Read more...] about Drugs, poverty and entertainment Pt 2