The power of art

⭐️ Sunday Update ⭐️ I launched a new campaign with @69thsb.bsky.social to get a truck to the defenders of 67th Mechanised Brigade. 🎯 Goal: €20,500 🙏 Collected: €5,800 Repost, boost or donate a little something if you can! 👀 Check out the cool collector patch if you donate €100 🐾

This is the Gov looking for your input on the BBC. It takes a while to complete (15/20 mins) but it’s pretty comprehensive and covers most aspects. Please share. I’m surprised many people haven’t seen it yet. www.gov.uk/government/c...

The sun returns With Winter's edge. On Horse Hill Jackdaws plunder the sky. Everything is a pirate up here. I can feel the earth tilt. There's a stillness Waited with eternity. The ground splinters Into muddy mush. I wait for the fiery horse. #naturewriting #winter #unease #naturepoetry

Meanwhile, Ukrposhta ⬇️

Life in Kyiv today.

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

'The UK must decide: do we want our Government systems run by a surveillance contractor that cut its teeth in drone warfare and immigration raids and now seeks to “dominate”? Or do we believe in a public service ethos that values transparency and democratic accountability?'

Kyiv. We’ve just got power back! After a heavy night attack, they managed to give us some electricity. Even if it won’t last long, it feels like magic. Glory to Ukrainian engineers 💪

Artists have always loved to sketch! Sketch of a sparrow from Egypt dated c. 1479–1458 BC. Some 3,500 years ago in Egypt, artists used flakes of limestone as sketchpads! MMA excavations 1922-23, Deir el-Bahri. 📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti... #Archaeology

Russia fired around 450 drones and 70 missiles at Ukraine overnight, just days after Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin had promised him a one-week truce due to sub-zero winter temperatures.

Last night russia attacked energy infrastructure in #Ukraine once again, leaving people to freeze to death in their homes. The cruelty of russia has no limits. They cannot win this war but they can maximise suffering.

Kyiv, Ukraine needs help now! 🇺🇦

Kyiv. Midnight. No power. -20 °C outside. We’ve been warned of a possible missile and drone attack. What more can I say?

Start February off the right way!

Kyiv is in total blackout, as are many parts of Ukraine. No water, no heating, no electricity. Severe frost outside. This is the result of constant russian attacks. Thank you to those few who still care.

This'll lift your spirits....

So how do we get doctors, scientists, dentists, musicians (the list is endless) if we, the beneficiaries of that education, don’t contribute to the cost of it? I am happy to contribute for future experts if they one day can save lives, improve lives, delight us with the arts.

Tears of joy! SCOTLAND HAS JUST PASSED SWIFT BRICKS INTO LAW unanimously! 4 years of asking England & Scotland sorts it in a month led by ACE ⁦‪ MARK RUSKELL MSP‬⁩ ♥️The RELIEF is unreal! Tell England to follow 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿by emailing [email protected] now!WOOP!

Words to remember and to warn: we must learn the lessons of history and remember them.

These days, I read with enormous gratitude about how different countries support us with generators, energy, and repair equipment. It’s deeply human. It’s truly precious. This Ukrainian woman (me) just wants to say thank you.

Farage ‘Britain is Broken’ (So let’s hire everyone who broke it)

The situation in Kyiv remains extremely difficult. Emergency services are operating at full capacity, with additional teams deployed from other regions. More than 90 State Emergency Service heating points are operating across the city.

Clear impartial analysis. Well worth 1 minute 46 of your time. www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

I open the door to life in Kyiv. These diaries are written for the future. I don’t teach or preach. I record what it is like to live in Kyiv during the war. Sunday Letter from Ukraine www.patreon.com/posts/sunday...

The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

Today, I heard some very moving and profound words from a Kyiv resident: «Kyiv is not about the light in the windows; it is about the light within the people.» This city faces enormous difficulties every day. High-rise buildings have turned from cozy apartments into refrigerators.

If you're in need of a laugh...

Further to my choice of the Fair Isle subspecies of Eurasian Wren for today's #singing theme for #BirdOfTheDay, here's a piece I wrote some years ago for @promoteshetland.bsky.social looking at the lives of the wrens across Shetland as a whole. I hope you enjoy it. www.shetland.org/blog/the-sis...

I just read such a sad article In Kyiv, emergency workers died from overexertion and frostbite I have prepared the translation for you 💔💔💔 ua.news/ua/capital/u...

I want the world to listen. What russia is doing now by attacking Ukraine’s energy and heating infrastructure in the middle of winter is an attempt to break us, to make us give up and to erase us as a nation. But no. We stand. It’s cold. It’s dark. We are not heroes. We stand.

An excellent speech that is well worth reading.

Updates from Kyiv after the night attack. On the left bank of the city, where I live: no water, no electricity, minimal heating (just enough to keep the radiators from freezing). Many buildings have no heating at all. -12 °C outside.

While Trump diverts attention towards Greenland, Ukraine is experiencing an energy emergency from repeated attacks. This letter from a resident of Kyiv is a testimony of the suffering of its citizens ⬇️

“I’m a remarkable woman..always was, though none of you seemed to think so.”May Morris, English artist embroiderer, designer, feminist and socialist, dismayed by the lack of support for women artists founded the Women’s Guild of Arts, 1907 #womensart

King Charles III hailed Ukraine’s “most valiant strength in the face of appalling hardship and pain,” marking the anniversary of the UK–Ukraine partnership. www.kyivpost.com/post/68226

Hahahaha

Well played 👏

The Government staying on X is pathetic: Ministers need to show some moral backbone inews.co.uk/opinion/the-...

This is wonderful. A much needed short infusion of joy.

And here we are: the entire transatlantic alliance is now talking about Greenland, instead of talking about ending the war in Ukraine.

🚨🚨Excellent news (and hope more will follow): Sport England has revealed that it has suspended its account on #X, because the social media platform “increasingly promotes and monetises an environment that is hostile to women and girls”. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...

Kyiv: -12°C and no electricity for over 15 hours so far today

There are now at least 365 UK MPs with accounts on Bluesky – more than half (56%) of all MPs 🔴 This includes nearly 70% of Labour MPs 🔶 Nearly 90% of Lib Dem MPs 🟢 All the 4 Green MPs 🔵 But only 5% of Conservative MPs ➡️ No Reform MPs

RETURN has already reached so many of you. If its story of dedication and restoration moved you, we’d be so grateful for your vote in the Smiley Charity Film Awards. And if you haven’t seen it yet? Cosy up & settle in for one incredible watch. 🦅 smileycharityfilmawards.com/films/return 👈

Breaking news: I don’t care a jot what Zahawi is doing.

"Thank you for all the books you give to children like me." ❤️ With your support, over Christmas we sent 18,000 festive book parcels to children who are in care or using community food banks. We couldn't do it without you - thank you for donating to share the #MagicOfBooks ✨ https://bit.ly/4qDuK9K

Not to complain or ask for advice. Just to inform. Kyiv. –12 °C outside. No power for 12 hours after we had it for 4 hours at dawn. Heating is barely on. No hot water. It’s really cold in the apartment. We’ll survive this. But how long will unpunished evil walk free?

You like your food? Then you gotta like #bees and #pollinators … Because you don’t get one without the other… Simple. A bit like myself. Here’s your landscape version to peruse while you contemplate your next meal. Don’t take #food for granted folks…