Floral scene from this afternoon, Broughty Ferry, Scotland

So, this is excellent:

Thank you, helloooo Dunde!

It's my birthday today so you are legally obligated to share my work, and humor my need for validation. Pretty please? 🥹

The nearest analogy - which no one is drawing - would be the Midlothian Campaign in 1880. Gladstone had retired in 1875 and his party had chosen new leaders. But in 1880 he roared back, contesting the Tory seat of Midlothian. When he won, the new leaders resigned & he returned to the premiership.

Nightwatch 22x44in 56x112cm Oil on Canvas 2023 Painted from the winning entry in the 2023 Storms, Transformed photo competition. #Art #Painting #Weather Original, canvas and paper prints available at https://earthskyart.ca/shop/

I like nebulae. JWST style. The Cosmic Tornado 20×30″ 51×76 cm Oil on Canvas 2025 Image of Herbig-Haro 49/50 star forming region taken by JWST MIRI & NIRCam Original, paper & canvas prints available on my website.

BTW - I am Scots - I am not anti-English - No, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 is not England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, call that "Scottish Exceptionalism" if you like. Or just: Reality - If you don't like me posting about how things are here, & explicitly or implicitly different to in England, that's fine: Just block me & we are both good 👍

Breaking News: Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain announced he will resign, saying he will leave office by September. nyti.ms/4ginUVt

I highly recommend @21andsensory.bsky.social to everyone here, Emily is a brilliant podcaster - go see for yourself 😀

🩵 @21andsensory.bsky.social al really loved listening to your culinary-focused interview below, episode 65 🩵 with author and journalist Lydia Wilkins - www.youtube.com/watch?v=84II...

the Kyiv Pride march today is led by Ukrainian queer soldiers and vets carrying pictures and names of queer Ukrainian heroes killed while fighting homophobic russian empire. Ukraine fights for a better, dignified future for all of us.

My nine year old asked for a Rosetta Stone cake for his birthday

Bonjour mes papillons

Happy Father's Day 🖤

One of the really interesting bits in @thinklabour.bsky.social poll of Burnley was that while many voters would like a manufacturing renaissance... ...most dont think its realistic (including advocates) and the 'connected town' services model is both more popular and see as more realistic

The Edinburgh attacks were page one or “top slice” stories across the Scottish media, including in the most right-wing news brands.

Rachel Sylvester in the Observer reports thst Keir Starmer is now expected to make a "clear statement" on Monday accepting the case for a transition of leadership, perhaps timed for the September party conference archive.is/YNb4S

This is very good, too

Don't want to be picky, but isn't the Pope "America's most powerful Catholic" being as he is both American and - how to put it? - the actual Pope? www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Thomas House of Dublin exhibiting the pro-human solidarity that all of us should demonstrate.

By-Election Result analysis: Aberdeen South A high profile move from Westminster to Holyrood leads to an absolutely huge loss for the SNP, as the Conservatives play a blinder of a tactical campaign.

Reform have now lost six by-elections in a row in England, Scotland and Wales. Their national poll rating is 26% – below Labour in 1983 – and Farage’s approval rating is -37. They’re very far from the voice of the people and need to stop being treated as such.

"Possible that more Restore canvassers were sent to the constituency than votes gained" (3000 votes) is Conor Tomlinson's observation on why Restore did much worse than staff & activists thought It obvs feels empowering to field 1000 activists x.com/i/status/206...

Great (& well done England). Please can she also do the same for Scotland in our upcoming match vs Morocco? 🙏

@davidallengreen.bsky.social "If there were only an olde English legend about a foolish king who gave futile commands to large bodies of water" - Tide thing was other way around from its modern mis-telling. + He wasn't foolish, but a hugely impressive king of both (much of) Scandinavia & England.

It's time for UK teenagers to go on an IT support strike: ❌ Don't tell your grandparents which of their 5 remotes actually turns on the TV ❌ Don't help your parents set up a secure password manager ❌ Don't explain crypto romance scams to your uncle

Funny how the opposite of "Mostly Peaceful Immigration Concerns Protest" is "Anti-Fascist Protest"

Kevin Sinfield knighted in King's Birthday Honours - as Helen Mirren and England's Lionesses receive awards

The scenes we saw in Glasgow earlier this week, as racists took to the streets to intimidate and threaten ethnic minority Glaswegians were despicable, and this afternoon we showed a tiny, outnumbered crowd of bigots that we don't want their hatred in our city.

To say the fascist scum are outnumbered in Glasgow today would be an understatement, though I did see Manky Jaiket roaming about somehow outside the pen his Nazi pals are in before someone ran over and told him to fuck off

Immigrants do not have to contribute exceptionally to deserve safety Immigrants do not have to permanently grovel to their new country to justify their existence Immigrants are allowed to be just as mediocre, grumpy or homesick as anyone else

"Protestors"

The idea English identity is confined to ethnicity & ancestry is more niche than abolishing monarchy/joining Euro But media elites skew & overcompensate to an imaginary caricature of public = weird assymetry: venerate niches on right as 'authentic' but would lecture progressives about median voter

The problem is, none of this is actually "lived experience" it's just a list of things you don't like. Which no one is stopping you from having. Some of them I even sort of agree with (starmer sucks, bus i suspect we think for different reasons). But I don't in any way have to respect your opinions.

Remembering Dr. John 💖 Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019

By-Election Preview: Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (UK Parliament) 18th of June 2026 On paper the more marginal of two Scottish by-elections on the same day, in reality changes in support since then likely make this the easier for the SNP to hold.

Just had one of those annoying approaches from a journalist asking me to type answers to their questions, which I regard as writing for free. Won't do it. Worse still they didn't call them questions. They called them 'prompts'. I am not an effing AI.

On-brand for me: -> #Gaelic Day, 6th June, 10:00 - 16:00 @ #Dundee #Scotland #Alba Central Library -> Free to attend event, 6th June, 10:00 - 16:00 -> Learn #Gàidhlig language -> song, poetry, stories, refreshments, & no need to book beforehand -> It's all free, funded by @bordnagaidhlig.bsky.social

Happy Wednesday, Hippies! Marian Dioguardi (American, born 1954) "Shiny and Bright Morning," 2024 oil on aluminum panel, 24" × 24"

Chart of the day. The energy transition is happening in real time! 😍

Imagine if a woman president crashed the economy and started a war with no end in sight, and her biggest, seemingly ONLY concern was building a ballroom and redecorating the White House.

Then & now: Lesbians & Gays - Support The Miners cc @matthewhodson.bsky.social & @drbeaubeaumont.bsky.social, new one via @theguardian.com photo credit: Mark Pinder; @mark-o-p.bsky.social, old one of #London #LGBT specifically, photographer not known to me.

Such an excellent and withering piece. The massive chilling effect that Starmer and Mahmood have had on high skill / high pay migration needed calling out.

Queen Medb of Connacht, famed for her role in the Táin Bó Cúailnge and flanked by bulls Finnbhennach and Donn Cúailnge - formidable warrior queen, shrewd leader, seductive beauty, and one of Ireland's most powerful, strong-willed, and legendary women 🐂 Prints: www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...

This is how you speak about AI to young people, or to anyone really.

YOU’RE LISTENING TO SISYPHUS FM, THE HOME OF NON-STOP ROCK

Good news this. A welcome consequence of the Renters' Rights Act, though one that is creating some short term pain for renters.

'You Blew Me Away' sculpture by Penny Hardy #womensart

Holyrood MRPs simply did not have a great record this year, and in addition to all of the points in this piece, the problem remains how they are presented by the media which no amount of careful methodological hedging and caveating by the firms doing them can prevent.