The Scramble for Wealth

We must expect for a long time yet to see capitalists still striving to obtain the highest possible profits.

Lots Road Power Station, Kensington & Chelsea, SW10

But observe, that the passion for wealth is certainly in some senses new. It grew up very rapidly at the beginning of the present century; it was not so strong in the last century, when men were much more content to lead a quiet easy life of leisure.

Lots Road Power Station, Kensington & Chelsea, SW10

The change has really influenced the relations between men; but in the future it is quite possible that the scramble for wealth may grow less intense, and a change in the opposite direction take place.

From Arnold Toynbee’s Lectures on The Industrial Revolution in England (1884)

Harvest is Over

I made hay while the sun shone.
My work sold.

Martin Jennings’ John Betjeman, London St Pancras International, Euston Road, Camden, NW1

Now, if the harvest is over
And the world cold,
Give me the bonus of laughter
As I lose hold.

John Betjeman’s The Last Laugh (1974)

On Photography

The photographer is an armed version of the solitary walker…

Sherford, Taunton, Somerset, TA1

…reconnoitering, stalking, cruising the urban inferno…

Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets, E3

…the voyeuristic stroller who discovers the city as a landscape of voluptuous extremes.

West Stockwell Street, Dutch Quarter, Colchester, Essex, CO1

Adept of the joys of watching, connoisseur of empathy…

The Faraday Effect, Trinity Buoy Wharf, Tower Hamlets, E14

…the flâneur finds the world ‘picturesque’.

Shoreditch High Street Station, Wheler Street, Tower Hamlets, E1

From Susan Sontag’s On Photography (1977)