'Blue Light' by contemporary, Brighton-based, UK painter Emma Brownjohn #WomensArt

This was the portrait that made me feel positive at The National Portrait Gallery earlier this week. My dad was a member of TGWU and always said how grateful he was to his branch for support in hard and difficult times.

Pine marten (Leitrim) Fox (Birmingham) Peregrine falcon (Symonds Yat Rock) Badger (bucks) Snowy Owl (Witney on Wye)

Today's kestrel - back in the same spot and showing us those beautifully fluffy legs 😍 Liberton #Edinburgh #birds

Pretty in Erdington’s Rookery Park

OUT NOW, my month-by-month guide to 1980s pop, from ABC to XTC, and from Madonna to Neneh. #IntoTheGroove, published by @eandtbooks.bsky.social.

I think about this poem by Ian Duhig — about Jo Cox, the Labour MP assassinated by a man shouting ‘Britain first’ — every day at the moment. No other contemporary poet has looked so clearly at the political reality of the far right as a minority who must always be appeased

The actual group moving most strongly to Reform are male Gen X-ers. We need more articles on how to deal with them.

In ep 15 of #FirstLastAnything, from Sept 2022, the violinist, arranger and musical director Helen O’Hara (@oharaviolin.bsky.social) talked about her role in the remarkable saga of Dexys, her work with Tanita Tikaram and her excellent memoir What She’s Like. firstlastanything.co.uk/2025/05/20/f...

Another massive part of what local govt is doing, in the same space, is competing with the home office *for the same housing*

Hello Blue sky with nice cloudy sky in Manchester. Piccadilly gardens with a nice buzz. It’s a much maligned place, but better than it was in the ‘90s.

This Madonna set is as fabulous as I recalled from 1985, #liveaid1985. Setvthecstyle scene for that summer’s school discos.

Next Tuesday (15th) I'm in Liverpool interviewing Kevin Rowland at this event at Rough Trade marking the publication of his autobiography - July 15th. £29 a ticket includes the book (cover price £25), which Kevin will sign at the end of the event www.visitliverpool.com/event/kevin-...

Question: if coupé glasses aren’t any good for sparkling drinks, what are they good for?

It’s quiet here. Have a lot of people gone on their holidays? Or are they at a music festival somewhere? Anyway here’s a picture from two weeks ago of the Hotspur Press before it burnt down last week. #manchester

The Blue Bridge, St James’s Park, is soon to be demolished. Hear Catherine Croft, Director of the Twentieth Century Society, share her memories of this modest little bridge and reveal some of its surprising secrets in the latest ep of Monstrosities Mon Amour johngrindrod.substack.com/p/monstrosit...

I do exclusive art cards (When is Births or When Was Things) for birthdays and anniversaries incorporating the recipient’s name. Some examples! Email in my bio. And thank you @mooseallain.bsky.social.

Okay. This may be the best thing I’ve seen and heard here

How’s Bluesky land? My stream of flutters is full of serious “told you so/telling you so”. Maybe I need to add more nature accounts Local park’s contribution

'The bath' woodcut by printmaker Ellen Heck #FathersDay UK #ReframingWomenPrintmakers

Seagull drinks coffee, steals mug of man installing anti-bird spikes www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Bathers, 1927 by painter Zinaida Serebriakova #womensart

It’s #WorldSwiftDay today. Celebrate by gorging yourself on insects and staying in the air for months on end.

Anyone here see what’s just “dropped” over on birdie place by its current owner? Best that Jack D! (Summer vibes pictures I k ow that’s what this place is all about)

Today is the 91st anniversary of the last diary entry of the first man who tried to climb Everest solo. Mind you, his plan had been to crash land a plane 14,000 feet up and then stroll the rest of the way, so perhaps he wasn’t destined to succeed

St Chad’s cathedral, Birmingham

Bringing back Sure Start nationally, would be a great way to improve the lives of many children and families.

I'm also not sure accusing Starmer of "treating economics like showbiz" is a good line given he couldn't do showbiz if you dressed him in sequins and put him on stage at Eurovision.

Eagle owl. Beat me at stare out competition.

DID YOU KNOW that "nom de plume," however much it looks like French (and is of course composed of French bits and bobs), is as English as spotted dick?

Male Pied Flycatcher in Devon yesterday. #ukbirds #ukbirding

I have a large appetite for ‘Sam Smith’s being absolutely mad’ stories.

Part of a great column by @johnthornhill.bsky.social - basically, AI is the biggest bullshitter in the room

Checking in on this rather weird platform. There are good accounts here and then there is the exceptionally biased Bluesky moderation. The latter makes this place somewhat laughing stock on the other place. Picture of Wet Leg to show I am making an effort in all parts of life

Blue sky, for Bluesky. From Birmingham, UK

Projecting much?

Just getting in on time for #TulipTuesday

This painting by Anselm Kiefer is called Heliogabal (Heliogabalus). Heliogabalus was a teenage Roman emperor, whose short reign was notorious for religious controversy and decadence. He and his mother were assassinated in 222CE and their bodies were allegedly thrown into the River Tiber.

From the archive for Dorothy Baker, #BornOnThisDay in 1907, a few thoughts on CASSANDRA AT THE WEDDING, from the early days of my blog. This brilliant exploration of the defining and limiting facets of identity is one of my all-time favourite novels. 💙📚 jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2014/10/07/c...

"We heard the cuckoo for the first time yesterday." Janet Case writing a century ago in her New Forest @theguardian.com country diary. #countrydiary #naturewriting

Here’s a blue sky for you

Contemporary artist Angela Smyth #WomensArt

A pair of Easter Bumbarrels in the meadow, busy collecting feathers for the lining of their nest. #ukwildlife #ornithology #wildlifegardening #longtailedtits #ukbirds

"I want to stay fiercely neutral. And this is not a cop-out." @drmattmorgan.bsky.social explains why he has kept quiet about whether we should allow assisted dying www.bmj.com/content/389/...

'Hare and Bluebells' linocut by printmaker Mariann Johansen-Ellis #womensart #Spring

Thrilled to install this beautiful large portrait of Constance Markievicz (from the National Gallery of Ireland) in our Dublin Castle exhibition today! ‘Casimir Markievicz: A Polish Artist in Bohemian Dublin, 1903-13’, co-curated by me and @katymilligan.bsky.social, opens next week 😀

Beth Robertson Fiddes, contemporary land/seascape painter capturing the Scottish highlands & Western Isles #womensart

These skies have now flown away…

Remembering Eudora Welty on her birthday 🎂 📷 William Eggleston, c. 1988 "It is not the South we find in her stories, it is Eudora Welty's South, a region that feeds her imagination and a place we come to trust." Maureen Howard

Jean Marsh has died at the age of 90. Brian Shuel's 1961 photograph of the actor hangs in London's National Portrait Gallery and is one of the most striking images in the collection