On the road hone from netball, Daisy lets me hear what she’s listening to. Great pop song, a wee plea for emotional articulacy, and, quite the singer, Olivia Dean. Love seeing these young women emerge into their talent. youtube.com/watch?v=oIv_...

Matthew Macfadyean as assassin Charles Giteau is clearly as crazy as his beard. Good series though

Beautiful piece of later Ellington. I will also love the 3-minute miracles of sprung expression of the 30’s and 40’s, but Duke in his entirety is an undiscovered country. There are finds everywhere youtube.com/watch?v=22hR...

Turns out Ellington’s “The Single Petal of a Rose” is a pretty good song to work on when your dog really wants to be petted. And the one group of mistakes a couple of minutes in weren’t even his fault.

What did Watson and Crick discover in 1953?” “Rosalind Franklin’s notes!” Now would be a good time to listen to my interview with the brilliant @matthewcobb.bsky.social about Franklin, Watson, Crick and the discovery of the double helix. geneticsunzipped.com/blog/2023/8/...

The man who ended USAID is the world's first trillionaire

In honor of my great-great grandmother Somerville Staples, who witnessed the rise and fall of Reconstruction while steering our family out of slavery.

Only the world’s tallest hedge in its autumn garb. A cliff face of golden foliage.

The endless conversation continues. Clear by the manner of his death that STM divided opinion from the beginning, but this seems a decent attempt to redress the imbalance of Wolf Hall. Damnable Rottenness www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

"One of the reasons he matters so much to so many people in our disenchanted world is that, as in that rapture on the Flaggy Shore, he keeps open our back channels to transcendence." Late to it, but a terrific line from a terrific piece by Fintan O'Toole. observer.co.uk/culture/book...

‘The people of the United States are entitled to assume that their President is telling the truth. The pattern of misrepresentation and half-truths…reveals a presidential policy cynically based on the premise that the truth itself is negotiable.’ Caldwell Butler of Virginia. Republican, 1974.

A big loss — Matthew has always been a subtle appreciator of film music of every stripe, with a deep knowledge of the art

Mary and her son. I think Michelangelo was aware of the resonance of art featuring a serene Mary and the infant Jesus. He kept her serenity but now there’s a stricken Christ. The Pieta is a ‘Look what happened.’

Scots should be aware that a great exhibition of old master drawings including Michelangelo, Raphael & Leonardo [pic] will be coming to the capital. Some superb works to enjoy, details here: www.rct.uk/collection/e...

> @newyorker.com

My my

All the Presidents Men and the Final Days. Difference between the two books? No principal wants to talk in the former, everybody wants to talk in the latter.

In Herbert Badham's 'The Night Bus,' (1943) the interior lights highlight the different figures and their gestures, all still, fixed in the moment. A woman reads a magazine, a man smokes, the conductor chats to a passenger.

Missing the warm Roman evening air. Reading about Watergate: All The President’s Men, The Final Days, Nixon Agonistes. So. Many. Yellow Legal Pads. US political journalists fetishise them.

Arrrivederci Roma 💚🤍❤️

Graduates with flower wreaths in their hair, parakeets flying between the trees, works of art that are a celebration of water, my children stunned by the Sistine Chapel, will I take her for an espresso, yeah I guess so, I have loved being in Rome this week ❤️💚

Sistine Chapel, today. Still a little overwhelmed. As for the crowds, I really don’t mind them. Met some lovely people, and the crowds are the price you pay for recognition of common culture and human achievement. Michelangelo would agree: he loved vivid faces, anticipated them

Caesar Augustus, trying to hail a Roman cab, which can take an Augustan age. I am here all week

Alexander in motion in front of Bernini’s beautiful Fountain of the Four Rivers

Rodgers and Hart, Louis Armstrong. Many good versions. Nina Simone wraps it unforgettably in Good King Wenceslas, deep and crisp and soulful, but leaves out the magical line ‘When I was very young, the world was younger than I.’ Auden would have loved the resonance. youtube.com/watch?v=B79a...

RIP Diane Keaton, I know The Godfather is easy to dismiss as For the Boys but it doesn’t work without an actress who can wordlessly sell this moment

Not going to judge Taylor’s newest - there are more qualified people at my kitchen table - but the Beatles didn’t produce an annual record, they produced twice a year, from 1963 until 1969, albeit, I think, by 1968 the quality of output had begun to wobble somewhat

Watching All the President’s Men. Is remarkable journalism, but they would be lost without Deep Throat, FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt. Film a companion piece to The Post, about the Pentagon Papers. Sadly absent from ATPM is WPost owner, Katherine Graham, who just didn’t want to be in the movie

Falling in love with this playlist. Thinking about it today at school. Losing the run of myself 🙄😊

Even Tesco recognised the beautiful Scottish sunset this evening

Ironing music tonight 🎼🎷🎹❤️

Famous Fives

What a 5 in a row

And from an album that’s full of favourites, 21st Century Blues, Raye. Barefoot so she can feel the music through the floor, she makes that true for everyone. Soul music ❤️❤️ youtube.com/watch?v=GjqG...

My favourite singers right now. youtube.com/watch?v=inNB...

This at Celtic Park today.

At the cinema cafe, waiting for Daisy. So. Many. Swifties.

This article manages to name her husband before it names… her.

Brilliant piece on the seemingly prescient Norman Ebbutt who, despite The Times editorial naivety, reported the nascent horror of Nazi Germany by accurately reporting their violent entry into national politics and their violent and duplicitous Government. Diary www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Lovely to see Upon A White Horse in the autumnal window of Waterstones on Sauchiehall Street. There should still be signed copies inside, I think.

My Raye-athon continues. Her first album, 21st Century Blues, ranks with Miseducation of Lauryn Hill & Jill Scott’s Who is Jill Scott? as a great debut. She is pure music. Lyrics as dense as they are confessional and honest. Amazing Polydor didn’t realise what they had. Extraordinary singer

Alexander played basketball for St John’s, Rosyth, this afternoon 🏀

I know I have all the sad and obsessive hallmarks of new fan love, but these songs and performances are pure gold. What a shining talent youtube.com/watch?v=zba1...

This is extraordinary. There is so much going on. It’s like those 1940’s 3-minute masterpieces of Duke Ellington. A gift for harmony, choral work, narrative drive and an enchanting solo voice. Pop music genius that makes you glad to be alive youtube.com/watch?v=CpKc...

Off to the Museum of Scotland and Peter Ross.

This is great too. So much talent. Wordy verses, simple chorus, beautiful music youtube.com/watch?v=1cYI...

This is great youtube.com/watch?v=yUJL...

The Guardian article for those who missed it yesterday:

Tony Harrison RIP I taught Long Distance, his beautiful & honest poem about bereavement to my students for decades. Eventually, it provided consolation to me as well.

Entra!! (Going to Rome in October - first time!! - so I’m practicing)