The Architecture of Absence
This fortnight we traced what was removed from the curriculum, from the border, and from the label — and found the same shape every time.
Three journalists, three architectures of absence. Dominic Vale traces how Britain systematically removed the skills of maintenance from its schools — and every competence the curriculum stopped teaching became a product someone sells. Sable Chen maps the void between the seven certification logos on a shoe box and discovers none of them verify what consumers assume. Elliot Grey reads the form that tracks UK waste exports, all fourteen fields of it, and notices the one that was never added: was it recycled?
Truth Bombs
The Disappearance of Domestic Science
In 1968, a British school textbook called *Housecraft Today* taught cookery, needlework, hygiene, and household management as examinable subjects. By 1989, all of them had been absorbed into a single heading so broad it taught nothing specific. Design and Technology GCSE entries have since collapsed by eighty-two percent — and Generation Z now spend thirteen hundred pounds a year on professionals for tasks their grandparents learned in school. Read more →
The Franchise of Permission
Apple shipped a technology journalist seventy-nine pounds of industrial tools to replace a 1.1-ounce iPhone battery. The total cost came to more than the Apple Store charges to do it for you. The EU says you have the right to repair. The gap between the right and the ability is the real story. Read more →
Make Do and Mend
Two customers in a Sussex antiques shop could not identify a darning mushroom — a tool every household once owned. The boxwood is still smooth. The grammar it served has been enclosed. Read more →
When 'Recycling' Leaves the Country
The UK's waste export form has fourteen fields. Who sent it, where it's going, how much there is. Elliot Grey read every one. Not a single field asks whether recycling occurred at destination. The trail was designed to go cold at the border. Read more →
The Certification Void
Six certifications mapped against six sustainability requirements for footwear. Most cells are empty. The comprehensive shoe standard does not exist — and the one framework that comes closest has been adopted by exactly one brand worldwide. Read more →
The Foam Lie
Under composting conditions engineered for decomposition, the petroleum copolymer marketed as sneaker "foam" showed zero biodegradation after 200 days. The bio-based version, made from sugarcane, produces the identical immortal plastic. Read more →
The Slipper Problem
Four petroleum polymers against bare skin, at body temperature, in conditions that maximise chemical migration. The consumer-use study that would measure what transfers from slipper to foot has never been conducted — not because the result would be reassuring, but because no regulation requires the question. Read more →
Take Action
The Non-EVA Sneaker
Born from The Foam Lie. No EVA, no petroleum copolymer disguised as "foam."
The Children's Slipper Without the Chemicals
Born from The Slipper Problem. No phthalates, no flame retardants, no petroleum polymers against bare skin.
All-Natural Stuffed Toy — No Polyester, No Plastic, No Compromise
Born from Your Baby Is Inhaling Plastic. No polyester fill, no plastic eyes, no synthetic thread.
Glass Jar Lids — All-Metal, No Silicone, No Plastic
Born from The Soft Exemption. The jar is glass. The lid should match.
The All-Steel Pump. Not Just the Shell.
Born from The Pump Problem. All-steel internals, not just the shell.
Every system we opened this fortnight was missing the same part: the field that would have told you the truth. The pattern is not a coincidence. It is the architecture.