In 1981 I was living in Streatham when the Brixton riots took place. The next day I walked down Railton Road and Electric Avenue, the streets were deserted, boarded up shops, smashed windows, burned out pubs and building. Similar circumstances in the riots all over the UK today : economic crisis, no jobs, racism, disenfranchised youth, public service cuts and same hatred for the police, same Molotov cocktails and missiles. Rioters these days wear hoodies and balaclavas to hide their faces from CCTV cameras and seem intent on looting the stores for mobile phones, video games and Carhartt clothing – seems like they have lost their political agenda. But as the Guardian online said today”A riot is neither a solution nor an unforeseen calamity but a problem brought to the surface: a manifestation of social angst and official failure.”

London’s St Martins School of Art has moved from it’s old home on Charing Cross Road to King’s Cross. I attended St Martins in the 1970’s, we spent a lot of time plotting the ‘revolution’ in nearby Patisserie Valerie cake shop, drawing, listening to music, taking drugs, obsessing about art and what to wear, dancing at Rock n Roll nights at Lyceum Ballroom –  and thinking we could rule the world.

I just saw the brilliant Alexander McQueen show at the Met (he went to St Martins), so did Gilbert & George, Antony Gormley, Steven Jones, Paul Smith Joe Strummer, MIA and so many more. Those cold drafty studios in Soho spawned a lot of talent over the years.