The year of ‘God’s architect’: divisive Sagrada Família finally nears completion on the centenary of Gaudí’s death

Aptly enough, sitting on Sweltor A nice westerly breeze here #Dartmoor

Random reminder that banning elected officials from trading stock is a total no brainer. They can use privileged information to make money on the stock market, while they’re supposed to be working for you. Make no mistake — it’s legalized corruption.

Mother with pram walking past Swan Hunters shipyard, Wallsend, 1962, by Colin Jones.

Other work by the Ladybird artists A Portrait of Atma Singh, 1943 (Now in the Imperial War Museum) Artist: John Berry

The Cricket Match, Askham-in-Furness, painting by Bill Bell (1928-2006), a Barrow shipyard worker.

In today's #SixOnSaturday... Hesperis, Physocarpus 'Lady in Red,' a mixed Escallonia & Pyracantha hedge, a Foxglove, Philadelphus 'Manteau d'Hermine' and an 'Alex Red' Rose 🌱 onemanandhisgardentrowel.wordpress.com/2026/05/23/s...

"My colleagues experienced 35 fractures, five head injuries," she said. "There was 15 sexual assaults, eye injuries, ear injuries. A huge number of laser injuries. People experienced broken feet. There was bullets shot at people's feet."

'This adorable little guy here was only a little over a year old. Guy was born in Grenoble, then deported to Auschwitz by order of the Nazis. There, he was gassed. He was industrially exterminated as a child because people believed that Jews had no right to live. (1)'

This. BUT CHANGE THE WATER DAILY to limit contagion risk.

There are days when I miss being an editor. I loved writing headlines. Whoever did this, I hope they took the rest of the day off.

A reminder that not everyone wants to have their own kids! Some of us are luring other people's offspring into confectionery-based cottages in woodland clearings to cook and eat them and that's just as valid

A large crowd of Greenlanders has protested outside the new, larger US consulate in the capital Nuuk. Amid placards with Trump and Epstein and No Means No, the crowd turned their backs on the consulate and stood in silence. “Greenland is not for sale," said protest organiser Aqqalukkuluk Fontain.

Ridiculous business really. English isn’t so much one language as six languages in a trench-coat.

[INSERT OBLIGATORY ENID BLYTON JOKE HERE]

Almost certainly the best thing I was ever told about owls was when I met an owl handler at an owl sanctuary and he told me that the wild owls who lived near the sanctuary worried about the tame show owls there and sometimes stopped by to leave them shrews and mice as presents.

I was on Kerry Today discussing short-term-lets and the need to move past the nonsensical debate about their tourism value to the debate we need to be having - Do property rights trump human rights? #Spéirgorm

Opinion: Two thirds of Ireland’s wild bird species are in danger. So are the rules protecting them

“40 per cent above pre-Covid levels, 75 per cent above their Celtic Tiger peak and 81 per cent higher than 10 years ago” www.irishtimes.com/business/202...

@fhayesmccoy.bsky.social Sounds like the theme of The Library at the Edge of the World writ wider.

"the plan is working"

here is the clip:

UK’s most flooded farmer on the national security threat posed by climate change www.channel4.com/news/uks-mos...

FOUR historical anniversaries today! 1. When universities are inexplicably inviting overpaid arseholes to try to sell one of the most worthless tools ever devised to graduates with freshly honed critical faculties who are having fucking none of it, it’s good to remember this from 36 years ago

Another from a couple of days ago. Sparrow taking off. They hover over the long grass until they spot something then drop down, disappear and then emerge a little while later. Trying to predict when they'll pop out is quite tricky. #birds #photography

🤣

Other work of the Ladybird artists. ‘The Swallows’ Rendezvous’ (1937) Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

One for #WorldBeeDay, which is apparently today. 1944: at a bomber airfield in Yorkshire, local beekeeper Mr Webster is brought in after a bee swarm is found inside one of the vertical stabilisers of a Halifax heavy bomber. IWM CH 13291 / 13292 / 13294 / 13293

Maybe this is because you can't turn on the radio without hearing hourly updates on the number of people arriving in small boats.

21st May 2026 04.48

Not only does Trump's IRS settlement hand him a $1.8B slush fund. It also bans the agency from auditing Trump and his family, allowing him to avoid nearly $100M in penalties and get away with any future tax-dodging. He is the most corrupt president in American history.

Apparently there have been no boats across the Channel in the last 7 days. No word from Deform UK Ltd or Tommy Ten Names yet.

Today in ‘should be national headline news but won’t even get a mention.’

God

Shoreline: Causeway pools Print on 80x80 cm canvas - offered at a very special price. www.mickoxley.com/fresh-paint

Early stroll. A cat hurdles a low wall. A spillage of clouds has blocked one lane of the sky. Me and the bloke in the bus shelter raise thumbs to each other. A crow’s monologue. The trees are wearing their late spring collection.

“Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” Winston Churchill

The climate crisis is costing the UK about £60bn a year, or about 2% of GDP, including flood damages and the loss of crops to farmers. “The UK was built for a climate that no longer exists today and will be increasingly distant in years to come,” the report found.

On the Acknowledgements page of my next novel: "... to Kieran and his friends in tech-adjacent jobs whom I met on the Stansted Express, whose suggestions for phraseology colour Declan and Shane's dialogue. Also to Jack in Murphy's, for rugby slang". No, since you ask, I don't use AI for research.

Lifts the spirits to be out with so many good people who want some peace and compassion in this world. Framing this a hate march is just tosh. #Palestine #PeaceForAll

In his first term, Trump ended an early pandemic warning program just months before the onset of COVID-19. Last year, he and Elon Musk gutted funding for agencies like the CDC and USAID that respond to infectious diseases like hantavirus and Ebola. The pro-virus president.

what do you call it when the president steals an unfathomable amount of wealth from the treasury and then declares it illegal to investigate him

Meta just paid its lowest ever effective tax rate, avoiding $13.7B in 2025 federal income taxes thanks to tax breaks and loopholes. But starting this week, Meta will begin laying off 10% of its workforce. More than 8,000 people will lose jobs as it ramps up AI investment. Trickle down hoax.

Disturbing.

Vance still trying to export MAGA Far Right views to the UK.

BloombergNEF's New Energy Outlook TL;DR - We really do have the technology to stay under 2 degrees of warming. But the *best case* scenario has got worse in the past year: a 0.06 degree increase, thanks chiefly to Trump & petropolitics.

Outstanding! This made my morning.

Liar Trump claims that grocery prices are “WAY DOWN.” Actually, grocery prices have been on the increase since he took office, in part due to his tariffs. The 0.49% jump from Feb. to March 2025 was the biggest 1 month increase in years. Facts matter.