Cool List

OK, I'm not hugely into cool lists, but sometimes stuff is just indelibly cool, and as such deserves to go on a list.

I'll strike off some really cool places:

Liverpool: Yes, surely the coolest city in Britain, brimming with culture and like many others on this list has a colourful past. Tate Liverpool is the best of the Tate family, easily outshining its larger Modernist brother, mostly through its ability to put on smaller shows, often relating to Liverpool itself, and as such it acts as an indispensible meter for the artistic verve currently thriving in and around the docks.

Roundhouse, Camden, London: The best venue in the world. Easily. Truly monumental stuff. It gets the best acts in what feels like an intimate venue. Expect to stand, but that's part of the experience. And the rest of Camden is pretty cool too, but nothing comes closer to inhabiting the spirit of creation as this iconic venue, where youngsters create in the same space as established artists. Saved from the brink at the turn of the century, the Roundhouse came back bigger and badder, without sacrificing any of its soul.

Imperial College London: this is a strange one, and I can only claim to be incredibly biased, since its where I study. But that doesn't stop it being cool. I love it when a place embodies an idea, and has a sense of mystique. Well believe it or not, but science and technology universities have this by the bucket load. Every morning I feel stimulated just walking into the place. (ICL)

CERN, Geneva: another science-y one. I was desperate to visit CERN during my trip around Europe. Arriving on the bus it looked like the kind of place we could've happily pitched our tent up in with its scarcity of buildings, and relative remoteness amongst the greenery of outer Geneva. But it all happens below ground, where particles are collided at massive energies to recreate conditions shortly after the Big Bang. CERN is a showcase for international collaboration, and is a feat of scientific and technical virtuosity, seeming like a science frontiers town, on the brink of greater understanding. It was a near religious experience, knowing there was all that power just out of sight, set against the dizzying backdrop of the Jura Mountains.

Tokyo, Japan: I've never been to Japan, but no cool list could be complete without it. If there is one place most alive in my imagination then this is it. Maybe its manga, pokemon, robots, fast cars, samurai, or a combination of these which is so potent, but Japan just seems to do things differently, and as such is definitely cool.

Well there are five. I'm sure I could think of many more, not least of which would be Slovenia, Glasgow, the entirity of Wales......the list is endless, but I think that's the point, there are so many cool places out there.