In an unusual plan to rid Britain’s

In an unusual plan to rid Britain’s skylines of their worst eyesores, George Ferguson, head of the Royal Institute of British Architects, has proposed financial and tax incentives for demolition of offensive buildings. “All you have to do is look across from one of the Thames bridges or the South Bank to see how many horrendous buildings there are,” Ferguson observed. He proposed a “Grade X” listing, which would speed destruction of buildings considered ugly. “Ironically, it is architects, rather than their clients, who have taken much of the blame for the now discredited concrete boxes that litter Britain’s cities,” Jim Pickard reported in the Aug. 9 Financial Times of London.