The true question right now is whether you believe in the moral character of the British public. If you do, you'll want to have the fight with Reform. You'll believe that the public will hate the idea of breaking up families, spying on & deporting people who've worked here for years.

I just got this gorgeous cake-stand only to find that it goes perfectly with an equally gorgeous tea set I discovered in a charity shop a while back. Serendipitea (set) 😍

Nigerian Modernism exhibition soon opening at Tate Modern 🙌🏾

...and Harry Belafonte (2023)

Happy Pythagorean Triple Square Day! 3² + 4² = 5² (9/16/25) The next one is in one hundred years!

It was my sons 21st birthday party yesterday and his girlfriend and her sister, both Muslims of Arabic descent, stayed over at my house the night before and after, because they were so fearful of travelling across London by tube to get to us. Angry doesn’t cover it.

emails finding me after the Summer vacation

I am a big tea drinker on every day of the week. On Saturdays, though, I am a tea *worshipper*. There's a liturgy and everything 🙏🏽

OKAY, I'm lecturing Descartes next wk. Do you have a favourite fun fact/tidbit about Descartes? If I get a few nice ones, I might make a quiz about it. (mine is how much he slept, and that he didn't like waking before midday--no wonder he's always meditating in a dressing gown etc) #philosophy

A poignant excerpt of a letter by Voltaire to friends of Émilie du Châtelet's composed on this day, 4 September (1749) du Châtelet died 6 days later Her translation & commentary on Newton's 'Principia' is still regarded as one of her outstanding achievements.

NEW: An Oxford report warns that misleading media coverage is shaping public debate on immigration and human rights. The study finds the ECHR is frequently misreported in deportation cases, fueling misconceptions that erode trust in the legal system. 🧵 [1/8]

First day of my Philosophy of Cosmology class! I'm interpreting "cosmology" pretty broadly. There will be three main topics: 1) Anthropics and the multiverse; 2) The arrow of time; 3) Quantum foundations, especially Many-Worlds. The idea of self-locating uncertainties will be a common thread.

On his Feast Day, here is Botticelli's 'Saint Augustine in his Study' watched by a dog (cat?) companion. African Roman Bishop, natural philosopher and theologian. His avant-garde theory of memory inspired my doctoral thesis.

Today is the Feast Day of Saint Monica, the (North) African matriarch who insisted on a classical education for her son, Augustine, "the greatest Christian philosopher of Antiquity."

Now reading... Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's 'A Grain of Wheat'

'Starry Night and the Astronauts' by Alma Thomas She made this painting in 1972, when she was eighty. In the same year, she became the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum.

'Starry Night and the Astronauts' by Alma Thomas She made this painting in 1972, when she was eighty. In the same year, she became the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum.

A 10-year-old British girl, Bodhana Sivanandan, has made chess history by becoming the youngest female player to ever beat a grandmaster.

St Ives, Cornwall, 2025

Really exciting new archaeology report showing that two people who died in 7th century Kent had West African grandfathers. It’s suggested they’d travelled here as traders and settled thanks to the Byzantine Empire’s trade network that linked North Africa to Britain

'Confucius told his disciple Tsze-kung that three things are needed for government: weapons, food and trust. If a ruler can't hold on to all three, he should give up the weapons first and the food next. Trust should be guarded to the end: "without trust we cannot stand".'

A moment of peace & relaxation 🪷 (Multnomah Falls, OR)

Now reading ‘Housekeeping’ by Marilynne Robinson (al fresco and with a glass of bubbly)

This is a painting by my sister, which I call ‘The Philosopher’. She hangs next to my desk so that when I am stuck on a philosophical problem, I take inspiration from her introspection 🙏🏾💕

Spending a book allowance

My article, proposing a model of memory and future-directed imagination, has been published (open access).

My article, proposing a model of memory and future-directed imagination, has been published (open access).

Finally reading 'the sea, the sea'...cannot. put. it. down. In awe of Murdoch's ability to enflesh philosophical concepts in characters.

Orchids are high maintenance but when they bloom, all the hard work feels worthwhile

Sad to hear that Margaret Boden, pioneer in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, has passed away. Just a few days ago, someone reactivated the post below. I warmly recommend watching the video. Thank you Margaret for founding and shaping our field. www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/re...

Happy birthday Rosalind Franklin (25 July 1920) Chemist and X-ray crystallographer, Franklin’s work illuminated structures of RNA, DNA, coal, graphite, and viruses. #WomenInStem

A physics joke (sorry) Heisenberg was once stopped by the police for speeding and was asked, “do you know how fast you were going?!” “No” he answered, “but I know exactly where I was!”

When I am stuck writing a homily—like I am for this Sunday’s—I read the texts in Greek & Latin…hoping it works this time 🤞🏾

Born today (1894) Georges Lemaître, Belgian Roman Catholic priest, theoretical physicist, and mathematician. Probably best known for proposing “hypothesis of the primeval atom”, an early formulation of the Big Bang theory.

Beautiful, powerful, and rich exhibition of paintings and batiks by Emily Kam Kngwarray at Tate Modern

Weighing in at 827 pages and 2 1/4 inches, our Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the 19th Century is HERE! Huge thanks to @oupphilosophy.bsky.social and our 50+ authors. Restoring women to the philosophical canon is a matter of justice, but it is also better scholarship!

What is the mathematical significance of today, July 14th, I hear you ask! Today is the 195th day of the year, the sum of eleven consecutive prime numbers, i.e., 3 + 5 + 7 + 11 + 13 + 17 + 19 + 23 + 29 + 31 + 37 =195 🙌🏾 Happy July 14 🙌🏾

Teaching myself to sew: first project, this cushion cover 💕

Two paintings that stood out for me from the Edward Burra exhibition currently @tate.bsky.social L: Market Day, 1926 R: Harlem, 1924

Delighted that Dr Joanna Leidenhag, ESSSAT’s scientific programme officer, has been appointed as the Starbridge Professor of Theology & Natural Science, Cambridge University Dr Leidenhag has published on panpsychism & creation, & is preparing a ground-breaking study on autism & the nature of faith

Happy birthday, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson: The first woman to qualify as a physician and surgeon (a personal hero). Also: co-founder of first hospital staffed by women; first dean of a British medical school; first woman to be elected to a school board, & first female mayor, in Britain.

“Charles II once invited the members of the Royal Society to explain to him why a dead fish weighs more than the same fish alive; a number of subtle explanations were offered to him. He then pointed out that it does not.” RIP Alasdair MacIntyre, from his ‘After Virtue’

‘The Library’ 1960, Jacob Lawrence

‘The Library’ 1960, Jacob Lawrence

Māori scholar Mākereti Papakura formally matriculated to Oxford University in 1927 to read Anthropology at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Tragically, Mākereti died in 1930, just weeks before she was due to present her thesis.

Episode 3 of Phil-Sci-Theo S2, ‘Memory and Deep Time’, with Dr Tim Middleton, Tutorial Fellow, University of Oxford. ‘Phil-Sci-Theo’ is an accessible discussion series on topics in the intersect of philosophy of science and religion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCI8...

Episode 3 of Phil-Sci-Theo S2, ‘Memory and Deep Time’, with Dr Tim Middleton, Tutorial Fellow, University of Oxford. ‘Phil-Sci-Theo’ is an accessible discussion series on topics in the intersect of philosophy of science and religion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCI8...

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

Sorry I can’t get to the phone right now, I am in the library reading banned books.

I was a volunteer for IntoUniversity as a mentor. Their vision and program are fab. The demand is high, though, meaning we need more projects like this…