I found a petition to ban smart glasses in public spaces that needs a bit of a boost, if anyone else feels strongly about this: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

"...the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs" [George Eliot - Middlemarch]

Only one thousand and twenty-five to go...

A touch of class. #TinyJoys

So much hot air.

"Ukraine is fighting for freedom & democracy, while the USA has it and is throwing it away."

Absolute minimum, I should say.

I have just completed my research on where to find starling murmuration in the UK. Some of you just might be interested. Tips on camera settings too. #starlings #murmurations #nature revellphotography.com/where-to-see...

To cap it all...

It turns out that readers in the UK still love libraries. Authors love libraries and readers because they get a small payment - Public Lending Right - every time a book is borrowed. Thank you, libraries and readers, you've made my day! #libraries #PLR #TinyJoys

More than 200,000 Danish citizens have signed a petition to buy California as a response to Trump’s attempt to take Greenland. They say they will provide Californians with “rule of law, universal health care, fact-based politics, and a lifetime supply of Danish pastries.”

Unexpected ducks. #TinyJoys

2026 note to self - be more Ted 🐾

President Turnip doesn't seem to understand how NATO works...

For those thinking that climate change can take a back seat while this other geopolitical mess is addressed - think again. Climate change is in part why Greenland has become so attractive to Pumpkin and his lot. bbc.com/news/videos/...

Learning - full of #TinyJoys

What a delightful thing. #TinyJoys

It is an absolutely appalling situation. A friend told me about the evacuation of a care home in his neighbourhood. Old frail people being forced out into the snow. Inexcusable.

A #TinyJoy to lighten your mood.

Slowly but surely.

If you’ve got an itch to develop your creative practice across page, stage and screen - then we have a brand new MA programme that might just interest you. Come & learn with my colleagues & I in beautiful York! Please spread the word to anyone who might be interested www.york.ac.uk/study/postgr...

You've all seen Wag the Dog, right..?

@drbibliomane.bsky.social , I think you may enjoy this:

Guilty M'lud.

Ukrainian traditions on Christmas Eve. Many have faded over time, but some are slowly returning, like the Didukh (I even bought one instead of a Christmas tree this year). Sunday Letter (please like or share, posts with links reach fewer people): www.patreon.com/posts/sunday...

Am thinking of writing a Christmas/anniversary post about why Jane Austen is our greatest writer about law. She can deftly describe the most complex of legal relationships - entails, succession, etc - in a sentence or two. And you don’t even notice she’s done it. Awesome.

Hell yeah.

I had intended to take this week off #KidsBooksFriday, but somehow I feel a sudden urge to celebrate funny, readable books by folk who are not despicable humans. Please do join me with your recommendations. #KidLitUK #UKKidLit

In other news, sun to rise tomorrow morning.

@drbibliomane.bsky.social , I thought you'd like this black page for your collection (of about a month ago)!

Extremely worried for the awful situation of the Palestine Action activists on hunger strike. Still awaiting trial, some for over a year. Green MPs and peers have written to David Lammy, calling for urgent action and fair treatment.

Lovely discussion about Jane Austen's genius with perfect readings from Harriet Walter.

🚨 The UK government just published a breakdown of the responses to its consultation on AI & copyright: - 95% of respondents want AI companies to pay for their training data (made up of 88% saying strengthen copyright law, & 7% saying leave it as is) 🧵 1/2

Fab piece by Sophie on Sir Walter's Baronetage:

Happy 250th Birthday, Jane Austen! "My dearest sister,... Will you tell me how long you have loved him?" "It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley."

Basin Instinct.

What a strange image. I have no difficulty seeing that round bit of sky as the moon.

Science Christmas The Upturned Microscope

This is a delight and will brighten your day. #JaneAusten #18thC #19thC

Three wise men Christmas Gifts @tomgauld.bsky.social

Delighted by the photo of a stylish Elizabeth Bowen (& her mirror image & shadow) selected for this volume, to be published this spring. Delighted too to have been invited to contribute to the 📖: I wrote on Bowen's Austenian inheritances & her commitment in the 1940s to saving Jane Austen's house.

How to kill your tourist industry: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

#18thC #19thC

John Lennon by Annie Leibowitz. Taken late on the afternoon of the 8th December 1980 in The Dakota building, shortly before he set off for an evening at the studio...

Unseen Gwen John book now available to pre-order! blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/pro...

#18thC #19thC

I love this and it makes me sad at the same time. Art and culture; what the humanities at large concern themselves with, have always been essential to solving problems in the “real world” but because this can almost never be measured, they continue to be deemed expendable.

This thread reminded me of a study done some years ago by Lotte Hellinga and Hilton Kelliher of the Winchester Manuscript of Malory's Le Morte Darthur. By examining ink offsets they linked the manuscript to Caxton's printing studio.