Government Stuff
The Department of Education has said that children without access to laptops are ‘vulnerable’ and can still go to school in-person.
Here’s also some government guidance on accessing free laptops and tablets and claiming free mobile data increases for families without broadband.
Applications are currently open for round two of Culture Recovery Fund grants through Arts Council England of between £25k and £3m.
The government has launched a bunch of free online courses to learn new skills, in partnership with The Open University, Google, Amazon, etc.
The UK AI Council has released its AI Roadmap with 16 recommendations to government on AI strategy.
DCMS Committee has launched an inquiry into the future of UK music festivals – and written to the Chancellor calling on the Treasury to provide insurance for this summer.
The Competitions & Markets Authority are to investigate the $40bn takeover of UK chip designer Arm Holdings by US company Nvidia.
A report by the Public Accounts Committee has warned that rural homes and businesses face being ‘locked out’ of high-speed broadband for years.
In a breakaway from EU regulations, art, antiques and books over 250 years old won’t require import licences to enter the UK.
Cinematography legend Roger Deakins has been knighted in the New Year’s Honours list, and Craig David has got an M-B-E, when The Crown say, “Bo… seleeecta”.
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Culture Stuff
Arts & Culture
Wales’ arts funding is to hold steady in 2021. Dyna gerddoriaeth i'm clustiau. (That's music to my ears' in Welsh, obvs).
The US National Gallery of Art has acquired 40 works by Black Southern artists in what they’re calling a ‘milestone moment’.
Alright, it’s been a rough start, but here’s The Guardian with its hottest cultural highlights to look out for as 2021 plods on.
The Guardian on how arts groups are selling Zoom calls with star names in a bid to drum up donations.
Lumiere, the UK's leading light art festival, is launching a competition to design artworks for this November’s glow up.
Design
Rome’s Colosseum is to be modernised with a retractable floor to allow performances. I, for one, hope they keep Roman numerals on the clock though.
The CIA has kept itself busy over Christmas with a rebranding and new design scheme.
Theatre & Dance
Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Andrew Lloyd Webber feature in this year’s Stage 100 dedicated to those who have ‘gone above and beyond’ during all this.
English National Ballet has launched an online dance studio.
A Ratatouille musical that started life on TikTok has raised $1m for a US actors charity. Bonjour.
Classical Music & Opera
The i with its top classical music to look forward to in 2021.
Tourism & Heritage
Germany has developed an app to identify looted cultural heritage in the battle against antiques trafficking. Gute arbeit, leute ('good work, guys’ in German).
Museums
The Art Newspaper on the closure of London’s Florence Nightingale Museum and fears for the future of smaller institutions across the UK.
Books, Press & Libraries
A pick and mix of books to look forward to this year from The Guardian, BBC, Vulture and Vogue. That’ll keep you busy.
Lee Lawrence’s memoir of his mother’s shooting by police, The Louder I will Sing, has won the Costa biography award.
JPI Media, the UK’s third largest local news publisher, has been bought for £10.2m (15 years after it bought The Scotsman and other titles for £150m. Eeesh).
(Online) Exhibitions and Events
Here’s The Art Newspaper with a roundup of the free online art projects being offered up by organisations and museums for kids during lockdown.
Eventbrite with its pick of online events and Design Week with the same from the virtual world of design for January.
Imagine this! Leaving the house! Vogue with a look at 28 art exhibitions we can all enjoy, shoulder-to-shoulder, arm-in-arm, once this is all over.
And if you do tiptoe tentatively outside, MTArt Agency has two new public artworks from Jennifer Abessira and Claire Luxton popping up in London.
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This was the biggest Christmas day ever for the gaming industry, with lockdown and new consoles having a bumper impact. 25m online globally on Steam at one point!
TIGA has updated its interwebpages with new guidance around the you know what trade deal.
With the DREDD movie riding high in the Netflix charts, you can now get yourself 50% off the tie-in comic books from 2000AD. Perfect for lockdown 3.0.
If you’re still struggling for New Year’s resolutions, FEAR NOT! Rebellion are on hand with their top tips for gaming self-improvement.
‘Bizarre stuff’ from Zombie Army 4 features in Digital Trends top gaming Easter eggs of 2020. Intriguing…
Rebellion are starting 2021 with a whole host of new roles across their UK studios and, just for a little inspiration, here’s a day-in-the-life of a senior programmer.
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Creative Industries & Tech Stuff
Film & TV
The Beeb is to deliver the biggest education programme schedule in its history from Monday to support home-schooling parents.
The pandemic has driven UK streaming customers to over 32m, with Britons spending 40% of their waking hours watching TV in Lockdown 1.0. Impressive.
Talking Netflix… they’re upping their UK prices to cover new content and their latest drama Bridgerton (basically Gossip Girl) has been seen by 63m households globally in the space of a month.
GB News, to be chaired by Andrew Neil, has sealed £60m of funding ahead of its launch.
Work has begun on Screen City - Liverpool’s first purpose-built film studios.
Could Jodie Whittaker’s time in the Dalek be up? Who will fight the Tardis now?!
Fashion
Can’t believe it. Topshop on Oxford Street is up for sale. 2021 IS WORSE THAN 2020.
Another look ahead! Why not! You haven’t got anything else on! Here’s the BBC with what to expect from fashion in 2021. Tie-dye is BACK, BABY.
Marks & Spencer looks set to snap up fashion brand Jaeger after it bombed back in November.
Stylecaster on how TikTok has changed the way we predict trends in fashion.
Music & Radio
Music listening increased by 8.2% during lockdown according to the BPI - and they also revealed that 1 in 10 songs streamed globally are by British artists.
UK Music has unveiled a new report outlining a strategy to restart the live music industry when it’s safe to do so.
folklore by Taylor Swift was the biggest album of 2020. I think I’ve used every one of her songs as a pun so I’m just going to leave it. Well done, Taylor.
Rapper Pa Salieu has won BBC Music’s Sound of 2021, previously awarded to the likes of Adele, Sam Smith and Ellie Goulding.
This year’s Grammy Awards have been pushed back to March.
Cassette sales doubled this year. Old school.
I take it back. 2021’s gonna be fine. Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Harry Styles have shot a music video together dancing in matching suits.
Gaming
Kids’ gaming platform Roblox has seen its value increase seven-fold to $29.5bn since February.
Iconic Facebook game FarmVille by Zynga has swung the gate close for the last time. Got a few crops going cheap if anyone’s keen. DM me.
KFC has launched a games console that also warms up chicken. Imagine the state of those controllers. *Shudders*
Tech & Telecoms
2020 saw UK tech companies attract a record $15bn in VC funding and the creation of seven new ‘unicorns’.
Twitter suspended Donald Trump for a bit this week and Facebook banned him INDEFINITELY over content inciting violence. Just 2 more weeks…
More than 200 Google employees in the US have formed a workers’ union - a first for Big Tech.
Elon Musk has leapfrogged Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest person, now worth a mere $185bn.
Amazon has purchased podcast studio Wondery for an estimated £300m - and also its first fleet of planes.
The Beeb with tech trends to keep your eyes peeled for in 2021. Autonomous cars. Hydrogen planes. Robots gaining consciousness and taking over civilisation. Etc.
Bitcoin has surpassed the $40,000 mark for the first time in its history. Buy high, sell low.
Ultimatum from WhatsApp: share your data with Facebook or stop using the app. Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland - Dilemma!
Change is coming for Wikipedia in 2021 with the Wikimedia Foundation set to diversify its community of editors to eliminate sexism and racism.
Nuro is set to be California’s first driverless delivery service.
Japanese company NEC has developed facial recognition that works when you’re wearing a mask. Cc. Apple.
YouTube reversed a 12-hour ban of digital station TalkRadio.
Adobe Flash Player is no more. I’ll miss those pop-ups personally. Grew quite fond of them.
9-year-old Ryan Kaji was last year’s highest-paid YouTuber, earning a whopping $29.5m. I didn’t use to bother for less than $30m at that age.
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Appointments & Movers
Richard Sharp, former Goldman Sachs banker and Royal Academy chair, is the government’s preferred candidate for chair of the Beeb; RSA chief exec Matthew Taylor is stepping down after 15 years at the helm; Jeremy Darroch is to step down as chief exec of Sky after 13 years – to be succeeded by Dana Strong; Maggie Carver CBE has been appointed interim chair of Ofcom; Fatos Üstek has quit as director of Liverpool Biennial after 17 months; prolific open source developer David Recordon has been named by Joe Biden as his new director of technology; Chinedu Okeke has been named managing director of Universal Music Nigeria
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Ed Stuff
Joining TISA UK, the investment and savings alliance, as an advisor; defended his beloved Didcot after it was ranked one of the worst places to live in England
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...And Finally
34-year-old Shaunagh Roberts had quite the shock over Christmas, when she chopped into one of those disgusting green veg balls and saw the face of Jesus. Are we looking at the same thing Shaunagh? Should have gone to SproutSaviours.
After a few too many tipples recently, 30-year-old Thomas Dodd changed his name to Celine Dion. Probably woke up in the morning… Feeling a bit sore… Did I?... I didn’t?… It’s so hard to believe but… IT’S ALL COMING BACK TO ME NOW.
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