A reminder of the Zoom backgrounds that the BBC has shared which include sets from sitcoms and other locations, to add a cultural sense of place to your Zoom calls... Anyone recognise this hotel bar ..read more

A new website which will explore the geography of 'the North'. There's a Twitter account to follow as well ..read more

  Watched this tonight on MUBI. It's a lovely meditative film following the life of a toilet cleaner who likes routines, and noticing... and trees... His routine keeps getting interrupted by various events. There's plenty of little vignettes of the city... and a sense of lots of lives intersecting briefly... and other relationships built by repetition. Very much a quotidian story and a personal psychogeography of Tokyo based around toilets, an underground noodle bar, and the laundrette... and a weekly exchange of film and photographs. This review nails it: “Next time is next time, now is ..read more

I was entering reports onto the school system recently while listening to Spotify. I came across a song by a band called Andromeda which came into my feed. The song is called 'Survival of the Richest'. I checked out the lyrics. It talks about Boxing Day and a slate being wiped clean... and I realised it was referencing the Boxing Day tsunami. Refugee camps were set up for the local people whose houses had been destroyed by the water. Tourists were able to return home. Check it out ..read more

 Bradford is to be the City of Culture for 2025. Plenty more to come as more plans emerge... This is Bradford 2025, this is the UK City of Culture, this is us ? Announcing our brand new look, new website, first events and our Ambassador, the one and only @ZaynMalik ? Check us out: https://t.co/c25ujASWkU pic.twitter.com/EQjldKeScY — Bradford 2025 (@bradford2025) March 19, 2024 ..read more

  That is the theme of the 2024 Young Geographer of the Year competition, which is always revealed about the time of the GA Conference, with postcards and other information on the RGS stand. There has never been a better or more important time to study geography. Geography helps you to make sense of the world around you. It's hands on, relevant, and fun. Whatever your passion for the world – fascination with landscapes or concerns about sustainability – geography will provide you with knowledge and transferable skills that will reward you personally and advance you professionally. The ..read more

Thanks for your continued interest in the blog ..read more

This video forms part of a resource which I have been putting together over the last few months following the amazing scale and financial clout of Taylor Swift's ERAS tour, which is on course to raise over $1.5 billion - more than any other music tour in history, and that's without all the associated money that is spent on accommodation, travel etc. connected with the concerts - people even travel without a ticket just to stand outside the stadium while the concerts are on. Another useful video on this web page which has the title: 'Why is the world obsessed with Taylor Swift"' It mentio ..read more

The geography of video games is an area which has received attention from geography researchers over the years. Last year some 3.2bn people played video games, about four in ten people worldwide. The number has risen by about 100m a year, with a big jump during covid lockdowns in 2020. In rich countries two-thirds of people play, nearly half of them women. And though gaming is disproportionately a young person’s hobby (nine out of ten British 16- to 24-year-olds play games) older folk are picking up the habit, including half those aged 55-64. Worldwide, there are more console owners aged 3 ..read more

  A new stamp issue with a geographical theme is always something that I can get behind. In recent years, I've bought stamps linked with the Windrush Generation, UK Wildlife, National Parks and Polar explorers. The latest is celebrating 170 years of the Met Office and weather forecasting. They feature a number of important people and events, including Luke Howard, who invented the classification for different cloud types. Second Class Luke Howard, pioneer meteorologist, classified clouds in 1803 Second Class Storm barometer of Robert FitzRoy, founder of the Met Office in 1854 First Cla ..read more