Oh, it goes deeper than that. The Christmas tree is actually a folk memory of the two trees of Valinor, whose pure light was captured in the Silmarils (Silmaril -> ilmaril -> irmarel -> ermarel -> ornamel > ornament)

I've finally sorted the text, music, typesetting, photos and graphics for my Advent and Christmas collection of responsorial psalm settings. Please have a look and spread the word! psalteryandharp.uk (and yay! I seem to have a picture here instead of a black box!)

Aaargh! Any basses near Oxford free this afternoon/evening? I'm a bass down (out of two). Rehearsal 4pm. Help!

So cool.

Yes, yes you are. Stop cosplaying "legitimate concerns". When you join a far right rally, organised by well known far right leader Tommy Robinson, with a host of speakers who outright say they are far right, you are a racist. No ifs, buts or maybes. There are no excuses for being there.

My school report

I’m as sad as it’s possible to be about the death of a 97-year-old. Tom Lehrer was (to paraphrase the great man) my hero since childbirth, and revisiting his songbook on stage remains one of the highlights of my career. A unique polygenius. Rest In Poison.

38. Relatedly, the British (mostly but not exclusively English) choral tradition is musically fascinating. Britain does do first rank “serious” music. It’s just not where people necessarily expect.

Dom's solution. Each side must take a player off pitch every 2 mins into extra time until someone scores.

This is the most correct opinion I've seen all day.

all the angles of the Ann-Katrin Berger save are unreal #WEuro2025

Survivor of church abuse in the Church of England? Here’s what you need to know about the new Redress Scheme houseofsurvivors.org/churchofengl...

Bless me, for I have sinned.

I spent months on this investigation and gathered docs from the UK courts, Land Registry and a French local authority, to show that Raynor and Moth Winn's story is not as they claim. @tortoisemedia.bsky.social @observeruk.bsky.social observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

There's a pretty old Australian out there if they are older than 'thought' itself.

👀

There's a pretty good chance of that, right now. Just wait.

Love the responses to this. It's really not so bad, most of the time. And there are plenty of little things to take pleasure in, even when it is bad.

Preach

So many sins, such poor memory.

The level of being drunk where you develop the European Roseanne Barr Accent.

Wouldn't happen to Trooping the Colour. This is how you do a birthday parade for the head of state you rubes

This evening one of the very kind con organizers took us to the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo, which is amazing and you should go and Gustav Vigeland was extraordinarily talented and probably does not deserve the narrative I constructed looking at his work. But Bluesky! You deserve EVERYTHING!

Didn't know the song (whoops) but it seems an odd choice having looked at lyrics. But more than that, this is...scruffy? I'm no expert but it looks awful compared to Trooping the Colour

13 years old this animation now

I wonder when the BBC will publish an article about Sophie Ecclestone that doesn't mention her refusing to do an interview with Alex Hartley. Like, I understand it was poor form. But perhaps we can move on?

The brutality of American police has always horrified me. I know ours often aren't angels, but the normalisation of cruelty there is astonishing. The videos from LA are what you'd expect from those authoritarian regimes where security forces fear no consequences for their savagery.

And there is the shooter. Turns, aims at the journalist and fires. Intentional, lawless, brutality.

This absolute icon at Canterbury Pride 🩷🤍🩵

This but choirs and rehearsals (and then performances).

At Lincoln cathedral this weekend for some glorious music-making...and imp-hunting.

Hunh. One of my favourite TMS commentators. I had no idea what he got up to in his spare time 😉

Forgive me, Father...

It's all he ever does.

Of course it's tongue in cheek but not without a hefty dose of truth. And a reminder to me how fortunate we were in our parish that we came out of our 12 month interregnum in pretty good shape.

I know my wickedness only too well.

Woo hoo!

go and open your grief to a discreet and understanding priest

Today is the feast of Mellitus, Bp of London and 3rd Abp of Canterbury! 🕯️ He was among the churchmen sent in 601 to augment the Augustinian mission to the English and was the recipient of Pope Gregory's famous letter advising that existing pagan holy places be adapted rather than destroyed. 🧵

Bit late to leave the party but I have finally deactivated my X account. I only saved a handful of threads (2 Lent devotions and one of a load of musical things I did in 2023). I'm sure there's more on there I'll miss, but it was mostly meh. Oh well.

Someone on Threads noticed you can type any random sentence into Google, then add “meaning” afterwards, and you’ll get an AI explanation of a famous idiom or phrase you just made up. Here is mine

Alleluia!

During Lent, I listened to 40 different settings of Ave verum corpus. If interested, here's a playlist (about 2hrs 40 mins) and a bit about what I thought about all of them. Have a read, or listen, if you want. Or don't 😉 open.spotify.com/playlist/7lq... open.substack.com/pub/domdelne...

My Lenten devotion (listening to 40 settings of Ave verum corpus) is complete. Thinking a substack (free obvs)might be the best way to share it. I should really retrieve my last 2 years from that hateful other place soon too.

After X’s repressive actions, hundreds of thousands in Turkey joined Bluesky, seeking a freer space. Reports of government censorship here are deeply troubling. Don’t squander this trust. This is a critical moment for principled leadership—not silent compromise. @jay.bsky.team

don’t ever give up… you never know when you’ll see a white star twinkling and the beauty of it will smite your heart and hope will return to you and the thought will pierce you that in the end the Shadow is only a small and passing thing and there is light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach

So like, all the time then?

On the subject of Le Pen. No doubt disqualify. But looking across the pond, if a legal system becomes compromised, getting legit candidates disqualified on bogus/trumped up charges won't be far away. I'm sure the Maga crowd are looking at options when it comes to Dem presidential hopefuls.

Excuse me?

I know my wickedness only too well.