Front Row

The Cutty Sark was launched 150 years ago this year. The acme of sailing technology, now she floats not in the sea but in the air in Greenwich. People walk around on, in and under her. So the ship has become a monumental public art-work. The sculptor Michael Speller, who has made public works for Greenwich, tours the Cutty Sark with Kirsty Lang and the ship's curator, Hannah Stockton. They start beneath the keel, Michael considering the the shape and heft of the hull, then venture into the hold, where the iron ribs to which the huge planks are attached, are akin to the armature of a sculpture, and finish up on deck, where Michael is struck by the delicate filigree of the rigging and the powerful shapes described by the masts and yards. Regina King is sweeping up awards for her performance in If Beale Street Could Talk, Barry Jenkins’ adaption of James Baldwin’s novel set in 1970s Harlem. She talks to Kirsty about police violence in America, how the awards season resembles a political campaign and why