Justin McGuirk
@justinmcguirk.bsky.social
Writer and curator. Director of Future Observatory, the national design research programme for the green transition, at the Design Museum. Author of Radical Cities and other books. Views my own. https://futureobservatory.org https://fojournal.org
"The word 'tool' is of course wonderfully elastic—it can be precise or nebulous without confusion." Justin McGuirk revisits Ivan Illich, and his "responsibly limited tool" in the age of AI: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/ivan-illich-centenary-theory-labor-artificial-intelligence-humanity
Feeling wistful for the days when the critical minerals race was for the energy transition instead of missiles and AI
Zeina Maasri's amazing website is so beautiful and so generative in its archiving of the visual culture of books between the 1950s and 1980s... www.decolonizingthepage.com/en
Home - Decolonizing the page
This online exhibition sheds light on a remarkable era when Arabic book arts flourished, capturing the artistic, political, and intellectual fervour of decolonization.
decolonizingthepage.com
“Sheffield Design Lab took place in November 2025, as part of Future Observatory and Dark Matter Labs’ UK 2040 programme” (I was delighted to be able to run this strategic design lab in my hometown of Sheffield, recently, with @darkmatterlabs.org x Future Obs.) futureobservatory.org/news/sheffie...
Sheffield Design Lab: UK2040 Project | Future Observatory
A three-day design studio in Sheffield exploring strategic questions for UK 2040. Moving beyond solutions to identify meaningful research agendas for cities.
futureobservatory.org
This. Biodiversity and ecosystem health are just as critical as “net zero” but get so little govt attention
Tony Juniper@tonyjuniper.bsky.social · 9mo agoAn across-government technical assessment published today recognises that "nature is the foundation of national security" and that "every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse". A rational response to this would be to get very serious about nature recovery. www.gov.uk/government/p...
I recommend this interview with @davidedgerton.bsky.social who is always a sharp critic of tech solutionism. I totally agree with his view that ‘innovation’ is invoked in relation to the climate crisis precisely to avoid having to change anything now www.break-down.org/technology-a...
Technology and the Climate Crisis
With David Edgerton
break-down.org
The highlight of today was finding out from @adamshatz.bsky.social biography of Frantz Fanon that Aimée Césaire wrote the founding text of the Negritude movement on holiday in Croatia… Well, that and finding out Fanon and I share the same birthday
Oh, the child porn factory known as Grok is merging with the Department of Pushups. Maybe they will launch the Epstein papers into orbit?
Reuters@reuters.com · 10mo agoU.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the integration of Elon Musk's xAI platform, Grok, into military networks as part of a new "AI acceleration strategy" during a visit to SpaceX.
Being part Iranian, I always hope that each uprising is ‘the one’, but do we really have to talk about a return to monarchy? www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Growing protests in Iran do not necessarily herald a return to monarchy
Despite significant support for the shah, Iranian society may be looking for any ‘escape from a dead end’
theguardian.com
I add to this people who tell me using stone is extractive but will happily use steel and concrete, which are way more extractive and produce infinitely more emissions
George Monbiot@georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 10mo agoMany of those who complain about mining for batteries / solar / wind power have curiously never raised a squeak about the far greater extraction required for fossil energy. Funny how they become concerned about the planet only when fossil fuel interests are threatened.
This is such an incredible piece, with soooo many amazing links and so much info that I didn’t even know (e.g. Pinochet being involved in drug-running!): prospect.org/2025/12/23/n...
The Narco-Terrorist Elite - The American Prospect
Why is Marco Rubio so hell-bent on making Iran-Contra again?
prospect.org
Across the African continent, informal markets are more than economic spaces; they are living systems of urban intelligence rooted in cultural continuity and adaptive efficiency fojournal.org/case-study/t...
The Abundance Paradox - Future Observatory Journal
Pushing back against conventional Western retail and fast-fashion, Africa’s second-hand clothing markets provide millions of consumers with upcycled and customized garments. At the same time, this cir...
fojournal.org
The dollar’s been tanking, buyers of US debt starting to dump it etc. The Trump administration is not even hiding their motive
Esheru@esherukweku.bsky.social · 10mo agoA very long and important THREAD - The real reason the US is invading Venezuela goes back to a deal Henry Kissinger made with Saudi Arabia in 1974. And I'm going to explain why this is actually about the SURVIVAL of the US dollar itself. Not drugs. Not terrorism. Not "democracy." 1/
“For years Chavismo exaggerated the US threat in order to cry wolf. When the wolf showed up he turned out to be an American version of Chávez” www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Venezuelan leaders’ fever dream of a US invasion finally becomes reality
Maduro and Chávez used fears of American aggression to tighten their grip on power – but now an even greater fantasist has imposed his will on their country
theguardian.com
The Future Observatory Journal interviewed me about the concept of abundance, socialist transition, and ecology for their latest issue. fojournal.org/interview/ra...
Radical Abundance - Future Observatory Journal
fojournal.org
“it is abundantly clear that corporate social responsibility was and is a myth”. This is an excellent piece on the problem of waste by @brettchristophers.bsky.social www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
lrb.co.uk
As someone whose partner lived through the siege of Sarajevo, I found this one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever read www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Milan prosecutors investigate alleged ‘sniper tourism’ during Bosnian war
Groups from Italy and elsewhere alleged to have paid Serb soldiers to shoot Sarajevo residents during siege
theguardian.com
A great deep dive into the madness of Neom by the FT (I would say ‘exposé’ but everyone has known for years, even the architects behind it) ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance
ig.ft.com
Government has published one of those quiet but important documents that might get overlooked as it is not 'newsy'. The headline finding is that £1 of public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term www.gov.uk/government/p...
The value of public R&D
gov.uk
Maduro is hardly Mosaddegh but regime change for oil is very Iran 1953 www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
US ‘Night Stalkers’ seen in Caribbean as fears of regime change rise in Venezuela
Elite helicopter unit’s part in military deployment comes as Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Nicolás Maduro
theguardian.com
We’re not transitioning away from fossil fuels (yet), we’re adding renewables to fossil fuels www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Global use of coal hit record high in 2024
Bleak report finds greenhouse gas emissions are still rising despite ‘exponential’ growth of renewables
theguardian.com
The new national rail clock was launched at London Bridge today. I was on the jury that chose it from hundreds of entries, and we had a grand old time www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Timely arrival: Great British Railways clock launches at London Bridge
Digital timepiece is UK rail’s first national clock in more than 50 years and will be seen at stations across the country
theguardian.com
Actually the drive for clean energy is one of the things Labour has done well, but they’re not shouting about it enough precisely because of headlines like this www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Miliband defends clean power goal after energy bill rise - BBC News
The energy secretary says the UK's reliance on fossils fuels is a major "weakness" in a conference speech.
bbc.co.uk
The thing is, even if we had the carbon budget for those “1.5 million homes” (which we don’t), “build, baby, build” is not the solution because housing is not a simple supply and demand problem www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
A leaked memo, a Maga-style hat and a trail of broken pledges – it’s Labour’s great housing betrayal | Aditya Chakrabortty
Ignore the bombast: Steve ‘build, baby, build’ Reed’s boast looks likely to end in targets more pathetic than they are now, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty
theguardian.com
98%! Only 2 in every 100 installations don’t need corrective action. Read it and weep
Hetan Shah@hetanshah.bsky.social · last yr.98% of homes with external wall insulation installed under the government’s ECO scheme require work to correct major issues that will cause problems such as damp and mould - our new @nao.org.uk report www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... (full report www.nao.org.uk/reports/ener...)
If you've never been to Gaza, you won't appreciate what the yellow line means. Basically Israel now holds most of Gaza's small but important agricultural land. Continued Israeli occupation, which I judge the likely outcome, makes Gaza even more unliveable and more dependent on outside goods.
AFP News Agency@en.afp.com · last yr.Gaza Strip: Israeli army has withdrawn to the 'yellow line' AFP Infographic with map of the Gaza Strip showing the 'yellow line' where the Israeli army has withdrawn its forces as of October 10, according to US envoy Steve Witkoff
We are running another repair cafe on 7th Nov. FREE to all. Learn how to mend your favourite objects for free, get involved in the repair and reuse process, and gain advice on the steps needed to bring your beloved belongings back to full working order. share.google/76mO7KzxbyiE...
🚨New report: how the fossil fuel industry duped successive UK governments into pumping money into costly CCS schemes to ensure continued reliance on oil and gas.
InfluenceMap@influencemap.bsky.social · last yr.📢 🚨New Report - How the UK oil and gas industry spent 15 years pushing for subsidies & incentives for Carbon Capture and Storage rather than regulatory accountability or science-based emissions reductions; maintaining a funding pipeline for a technology yet to deliver on its promises 👇
Last chance to see More than Human, which closes on Sunday. It's been such a privilege seeing people fit this show into their mental landscape and responding in ways that are emotional, philosophical and practical. Don't miss it designmuseum.org/exhibitions/...
