Glastonbury Awakening. Nettle tea anyone? Sunrise this morning on Glastonbury Tor was golden and glorious.

Amazing. So for eight months somebody counted how often each political party was mentioned across all UK broadcast media. Lib Dems are near the bottom of the table with a mere 645 mentions per MP. Top of the table with (wait for it) 70,732 mentions per MP? You'll never guess ...

This is awful news.

Peonies I bought from a bucket by the side of the road for a few quid. My photo’s inspired by the paintings of Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750):

A kind neighbour gave me this May-time posy from her garden. I thought @silverpebble2.bsky.social might like the glorious variety of colours & shapes. Thank you for helping us to look closely & lovingly at the small beauties around us. Xx

Happy Birthday David Attenborough! From the earliest days of television, to controller of BBC2, to bringing the wonders, beauty and fragility of the natural world to our eyes & attention - you’re a legend! www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

“First week of May — and ears are peeled each day for that bodkin-shriek and devil-cry, for the screaming that comes across the sky…” They’re back! The Swifts are back, and the world has turned once more... My first swifts of the year, thrillingly, spine-tinglingly, above Oxford. Seen them yet?

106 years ago today, on May 7th, an undergraduate at Christchurch College, Oxford, drank a glass of port then left through the main gates for a walk. I've been thinking about him, & his walk, for years now. It's taken a long time for me to figure out why - why I've kept returning, near obsessed.

Long ago and far away, my great grandma was in service in one of the big houses in the Lake District. One day, the house had visitors. Not unusual to have visitors in big country houses just before the first world war. The women who were helped down from the car were thin. Starved, you might say,

This is exactly why language matters: “women were given the vote” frames equality as a gift from men, instead of hard won political power extracted through organized resistance. Nobody gave women anything. Women fought, marched, strategized, endured violence, went to prison and died for it.

Civic duty done. Time to get out my favourite polling day pic.

As a child in the 1970s, I remember thinking: gosh, when I grow up I hope there are no libraries, no English Literature degrees, no bookshops, no decent public services, no Top of the Pops, no Woolworths, just an endless plain of sport and home computers. Feel blessed to have lived to see it happen.

Pierre Bourdieu once argued that the question of whether something is art isn't answered by the artist's intention or even the object itself. Instead, the quality of being "art" is conferred by a community — curators, dealers, auction houses, audiences, etc. 🧵

Illustration from the book the Tiger Who Came To Tea (1968), by Judith Kerr, author/illustrator of German-Jewish heritage whose family escaped the Nazis, relocating in the UK #WomensArt

Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1932), British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist who created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the US #WomensArt

let’s look at the back

for the record i did not know the met gala was happening today and thought everyone was super psyched about this cool turkey

Hilda of Whitby (614 – 680) was a saint of the early Church in Britain and the founder and first abbess of the monastery at Whitby. A leading figure in the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England, she was recognised for the wisdom that drew kings to her for advice. #CelebratingWomen

Don't miss your chance to join senior decision-makers, expert academics and leading firms as they examine one of the defining challenges of our time: how to couple the immense power of AI with human capability to turn the future towards good. buff.ly/kYtNPnA

The first official event for the book is this one, where I’ll be joined by @lucylapwing.bsky.social and @sarahbanks21.bsky.social thanks to Kemps of Malton. Otherwise I’ll see you on the page, soon 💚📚

Vote Reform. Or we will house *dangerous migrant centres* in your village. And if you vote Green, it will be even worse for you. It's beyond disturbing. The chill wind of threat, thuggery and menace of a kind never before seen in Britain.

This is grotesque on multiple levels.

Wow... 2026 World Cup Travel Advisory www.amnestyusa.org/blog/2026-wo...

This Germaine Couture evening coat is a WOW! I would love to take a pattern from this, just to find out exactly how full those sleeves are. bid.augusta-auction.com/online-aucti...

A fascinating news story this Sunday morning with the announcement that #HardwickHall will be displaying this spectacular survival from the wardrobe of Bess of Hardwick. Dating to the early c17th it was recorded in her accounts. On display now until Oct. Photographer, John Hammond #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

This is a very troubling story about what ai can do to people. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So there are crazy headlines, and then there are "I'm sorry WTAF now?" headlines...😳 Yes, the Telegraph have deduced that Ed Miliband hates mothers because of some new legislation making tumble dryers more efficient and cheaper to run! 🧵 1/24

Can't save Universities tho

🔵 Over 175 former Conservatives have now jumped ship to Reform UK... 🗳️ Vote for Reform UK and get the worst of the failed Tories. ❓ Click on our tracker and see if anyone has defected in your local area.

The painting that saved Florence from the Black Death in 1347: Bernardo Daddi's Madonna in Orcagna's tabernacle at Orsanmichele.

In 2004, I obtained mifepristone for a medical abortion at age 16 without parental consent. It required I stand shaking, unrepresented before a judge and argue for my own worth, intelligence, and future. If anyone thinks this is going down without a fight, they are sadly fucking mistaken.

The peplos, not to be confused with the one piece Delphos, one of the few variations that the house of Fortuny created in the early years of the 20th century. Soft and sleek and accommodating of the body beneath, it is a dress to welcome the weekend c1930 @metmuseum.org #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡

www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a... #caedmon

I’ve been hearing so much anger and disappointment from frontline workers about the BBC investigation into fraudulent asylum claims. One of the most damning responses has come from one of the experts they interviewed, solicitor Ana Gonzalez. It’s really worth reading her response in full:

They shot Alex Pretti ten times while he was face down in the street.

When Reform U.K. Ltd run Councils.

TRUMP: I'm not a rapist. I didn't rape anybody O'DONNELL: Oh, you think he was referring to you?

THESE ISLES: Sophia Jex-Blake (1840-1912), physician, teacher and feminist, led the pioneering ‘Edinburgh Seven’, the first women admitted to study medicine in the UK. 1/9

'Bailey Bridge, Manchester.' (1912) Adolphe Valette's pictures offer us a fascinating insight into the Manchester of the early 20thC. He also played a significant role in LS Lowry's art education, showing him the potential of the urban landscape as subject matter.

Sunrise this morning in Glastonbury. Like heaven on earth.

The Key to Avalon. This morning's sunrise on Glastonbury Tor. A bit windy up there and very cold hence nobody else around.

BBC News - Reform UK will tell Welsh museums how to present history, manifesto says www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... This is going down a dangerous path

Multiple oil spills are visible from space after Iranian and US-Israeli strikes hit oil facilities and ships in the region, with experts warning of an impending environmental catastrophe. https://cnn.it/3Ovxzwk

Win or lose, there remains a real measure of promise and decency in America that is worth the fight. And win or lose, there is no dignity for any of us unwilling to have that fight.

Mystical archway at dawn. The view from St Michael's tower on Glastonbury Tor this morning.

There's a six petalled forget-me-not in this posy I made-if you find it your brain will release a ping of dopamine, increasing motivation and lifting mood a little. I've posted this before but it's peak forget-me-not season so worth repeating (also my miniature Dundee marm jar is💙):

It’s official: the UK is rejoining Erasmus! 👏🇪🇺