One of the very few positives of the Empire was that a lot of people who looked like this died of malaria, or while cavalry-charging a volcano.

I'm really happy to have been able to publish this diary, which revolves around something very important to me - Welsh place names and the Welsh language - while also written about a place very dear to me; Ynys Enlli. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Found a 1987 Pakistan cricket England tour brochure that had these adverts

Just let me know when he's actually written to the Chancellor and been appointed to the position of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead

Not OR... solar is an AND solution.

The Roadmakers (1967) Building the M1 Motorway Artist: John Berry

Heh. but also an opportunity for a fun history fact: The Normans were more descendents of kids of Norse settlers in Britain setting up in France than Scandinavian. Partly why they worked so hard to paint themselves as the latter, culturally. Medieval version of Americans pretending to be Irish.

As in 1066 England will prevail against the Norwegians before tragically losing to the French a couple of weeks later.

Today I start covering @LeTour and @LeTourFemmes for @guardian_sport. The @guardian has covered the Tour(s) on the ground for over a century, the only English-language media outlet to do so. I’m delighted to be continuing this tradition once again.

Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut and first man in space, outside the headquarters of the Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers in Manchester after receiving a medal, 12 July 1961 (Manchester Evening News).

They arrive with nothing, are not allowed to work while they're being processed, yet will have to pay a fee when they get asylum to "pay back" what was spent on them? Bonkers. Just let them work and pay taxes like anyone else. Also, you know, be kind to people who are having a shit time, maybe?

Would’ve made a shit first half much more bearable

Other work of the Ladybird artists. ‘Countisbury Hill’ Artist: SR Badmin

Grabity: The principle by which a male UK MPs likelihood of being involved in a groping scandal increases with their proximity to Westminster, according to the inverse square law.

Everyday Ladybird things (1978) Peg dolls

The Ladybird fan. Mind your fingers Artist: Gerald Witcomb (1976)

Excellent debunking of the historically illiterate and Reform-adjacent “heatwave of ‘76 was fine” trope.

Super sunny morning in West Cork !

Lloyd’s of London has commissioned a requiem mass from Manchester-based composer David Önaçto to memorialise the lives of enslaved Africans, with a libretto drawn from the Catholic requiem mass, documents in Lloyd’s own archive, and eighteenth-century legal testimony.

Looking towards Kerry of a summer evening 😉

Goodnight from James Ashton, finding it somewhat sinister that his grandfather has a crowbar nicknamed ’ghost-maker’ in the shed. Goodnight from Florence May, still puzzling on the ash-ridding marriage omens of rings and what might be the ears of a bear. Goodnight from Hookland.

I shouldn't respond to a Simon Jenkins column, I know, but this is the second broadsheet hack I've seen turn "buses" into a sneer, and it pisses me off. Buses in Manchester are a big deal! We're simple people - we sing, we dance, we use public transport... no, that wasn't it...

It is my belief that if you are the grandson of Oswald Mosley you should never ever be seen wearing a black shirt. And he does it a lot.

Why isn't Look Around You better known than it is? It might be a parody of a specific type of science programme but it's done in a way everyone can 'get', and with jokes that are basically the joke equivalent of earworms. Thanks Robert and Peter. Theter. timworthington.org/2022/07/11/l...

Time to head out of the nicely cooled office into the world of the big bright burny hot ball of gaseous nuclear fusion about 93 million miles away away

Sundays I bake bread A simple yeasted loaf Tomorrow morning that will be breakfast

☀️ Summer Solstice from Stonehenge and Ratcliffe-on-Soar. Neolithic megaliths and their modernist counterpoints looming over the surrounding landscape, as captured by two of the great photographers of the 20th century. • Stonehenge, 1947 by Bill Brandt • Ratcliffe-on-Soar, 1984 by Michael Kenna

Did you dance in the dawn or dance till dawn? www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Having a relaxed pint in a pub with some interesting things on display on the walls

Seeing an exhibition of some of his indoor light works once was fantastic. Different colours and shades you could just fall into In the UK there is his work at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Deer Shed. A room with a sharp square cut out in the ceiling showing the ever changing sky

Not all our #SaturdayShowoff exhibits are buses - we have all kinds of ephemera from timetables to buttons. This humble poster once advertised a local business inside buses, just above the windows - do you remember adverts like this? To see our collection, visit on Mon/Wed/weekend 10am to 4.30 pm.

‘Garden Flowers’ 1960 Artist: John Leigh-Pemberton

John Cooper Clarke reading at the Lass O'Gowrie pub, Charles Street, Manchester, 1976, photo by Phil Portus.

Goodnight from Seb Tovey, frustrated no-one in the pub takes his theory of Stay Below migration routes involving canals seriously. Goodnight from Penny Farley, rattled by the position of the Star Wraith she’s painting having shifted during a much-needed tea break. Goodnight from Hookland.

London folks, a good friend is heading there for two nights under unfortunate circumstances. He’s going to be around Balham Station and hoping to find a great pub for some much needed distraction while there. Also looking for lodging in the area. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

‘Willow’ Ladybird book of Trees, 1963. Artist: SR Badmin

It's the start of the rush hour for this week's #ThrowbackThursday, and we're watching this bus leave #Oldham garage for a trip to Manchester. The flats at the end of the street are long gone, but the garage itself is still use to house Bee Network buses.

The construction crew sent to knock down Arthur Dent's house. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hit...

Castlefield quays, Manchester, 1986 (Manchester Libraries).

Heard about El Niño? Here's 6 things to know ⤵️

‘Swallows’ (1966) Artist: Ronald Lampitt (Birds and how they Live, 1966)

There are places which refuse to be postcards. Places that growl. I seek them out and listen. – #CLNolan

"How do I get to sleep? I'll count those bars on the window!"

"The turtles, who are brothers, were exposed to radioactive waste as youths, which turned them into human-turtle hybrids. Trained in martial arts by a large rat, the turtles fight New York criminals. The story is not based on real events." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

All rise #bread #HomeBake

Other work of the Ladybird artists. ‘Summer Lane’ (Look and Learn magazine) Artist: Ronald Lampitt

Nice way to get to @motgm.uk for the Queens Rd 125 event

This week's #ThrowbackThursday takes us to London Road in Manchester, and the city's first bus lane. And is that a fire engine poking its nose out of the historic fire station? You can also feel the heat and smell the fumes in this nostalgic photo.