The beautiful Parthenon, with all its many traumas, records millennia of history. Left = c19th Parthenon before reconstruction. Right = Selene's horses from East Pediment. Top is cast of horse in British Museum. Middle and bottom are original sculptures in Akropolis Museum.

Good people! Psychopomp hit the legendary 100 Club stage at 8.40 pm on 9 October, a week and half away! All the bands look amazing, and it's going to be a fabulous evening! As Worzel Gummidge would say: "Screw your Rock head on!".

Yep! I can totally come up with some branding that screams 'mega cool sunglasses emporium'. Trust me I've got this.

European Heritage day here in Athens, and free entry to the Akropolis Museum means it is heaving! What a fabulous sight (and site)!

Don't know why people are down on London. Glorious blend of old and new. Woken this morning by a soundscape of the clacking hooves of a trotting horse and, in the background, the persistent warble of a police siren ascending an unfeasibly long hill. #UKDoingFine

‘The Marbles’ is out. It is a film made to support the case for the UK Parliament to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. The director — a super guy — kindly allowed space for me to put a contrary point of view.

Today I shall be mostly reading about a suffragette called Nelippy Hay. Please can Nelippy be one of those cool names you never heard and then suddenly it's everywhere?

In suitably Spinal Tap style I managed to get my finger over the lens ... 🤘🏽

The most prolific killer after Mao, Stalin, Hitler (in that order) was likely Genghis Khan (C12-13th). Do listen for a quick immersion in his life, worldview and Mongol domination. Me in conversation with Iain Dale. Civilian-slaughtering maniacs are always with us. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/2...

Delighted and privileged to be debating at the glorious Old Parliament House in Athens on 29 Sep. “Who Owns History” and the Parthenon Sculptures The questions for me are: does the C21st want to nationalize history, and what education does the world want from its museums.

Once is a misfortune. Twice is carelessness. Is Mandelson going to make the hatrick?

Is "die" dying and are we witnesses to the death of "died". As all things pass will the Missa pro defunctis and the Officium defunctorum soon be the Mass for the Passed and the Office of the Passed?

Day 1 of Reform conference. BBC is broadcasting their line "freedom of speech" and similar “rights going back to Magna Carta” are in peril. As you didn't challenge it, @BBC, please share where this right is in Magna Carta? Or does your policy just allow weaponizing ahistorical tosh.

Just five weeks to go until "Sustainabiltiy Rocks" at Oxford Street's legendary 100 Club! We are fired up and ready to röck with all the other amazing bands playing!

Don't think anything is going to top that today! (Letter in the FT)

The chief engineer has announced being approached to work on moving the Kremlin to Washington DC. www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc... Stunning drone and timelapse footage captures 113-year-old church’s journey to new home - BBC News

Sigh

The king is foretold. The king arrives. The king returns. Loving this bookshelf arrangement in a Cork hotel!

'I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore.' (Photo me, just now)

Where are all these phantom Zs coming from? BregZit. AbZurd. HamaZ. It’s bisarre.

Best Bit of Bunyan .. .

William Herbert enjoying the still of the Old Schools Quad early on an August morning.

The pilgrimage to Duke Humfrey's, finding a quiet table, and flicking on the lamp, still - after all these years - brings a sense of awe and excitement that is up there with the very best feelings in the world. @bodleianlibs

Christchurch Meadows glorious this evening.

When you know you need to put two hours aside just because you changed string gauge ... fun, though!

Oh, come ON! How can you pan The Borgias? Rome's anarchy 1492-1503 was definitely more entertaining than Cromwell's pietist kleptocracy 1532-40. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

My Ozzy obit. 'The album shifted the tectonic plates of music. Its title track ‘Black Sabbath’ hammered a pile driver through speakers more used to the skippy, jangly sounds of the 1960s.' #OzzyOsbourne.

‘His genius lay in having everyone believe he rode the Crazy Train all the way. In reality he held down a lifelong, iconic music career to which he was unwaveringly committed. RIP Ozzy. Exit, pursued by a bat.' My obit in today's @thespectator1828.bsky.social www.spectator.co.uk/article/ozzy...

Seeing an MP in Parliament calling for repentance and a Christian revival is not new. Cromwell’s authoritarian and "godly" Parliament of Saints tried exactly that. It ended in 5 months in fundamentalist fiasco. Cromwell's religious dictatorship lasted a lot longer.

As a colourblind person this is a definition of ambition, overreach, hell, take your pick.

The Union Jack (or Union Flag) dates to James VI/I in 1606. The red saltire of St Patrick was added in 1801. The result is a design classic that has been worn and loved for centuries. So here are lots of them for us all to enjoy!

In the wake of VelvetSundownGate, if Spotify is to be asked to label as "AI" any music that sounds like recycled bathwater, then some established bands are going to get quite the shock.

The 100 Club has sold out in just 9 days!!!! That means over 320 tickets sold! There is a waiting list for returns if you are stil interested in coming along to see PSYCHOPOMP and other brilliant bands on Oxford Street, 9 October 2025! #SustainabilityRocks www.tickettailor.com/events/susta...

Because we're going to hear these arguments all day, might as well get ahead of them now ... #BayeuxTapestry #LewisChessmen #SuttonHoo

You can't get more metal than metal on metal. This is a beauty - thank you Royal Mint!

Good people . . . 70% of tickets have sold in the first week! It will be an amazing evening, and raise money and awareness for the vital cause of sustainability. Do come along to see us and other really fun bands! Tickets here: lnkd.in/ep8Ai4EJ #SustainabilityRocks

One of the most generous and courageous war memorials ever. "Inheritance of this place" offers a sense of belonging and permanence that effaces both the centuries and the confected, ephemeral binaries of war. In the glorious chapel at @newcollegeoxf.bsky.social

So thrilled that Dolly Parton sent a video message to Black Sabbath’s final gig yesterday in Birmingham (the other one). Will it emerge that Jolene (“Please don’t take my man”) is a fanfic backstory to Paranoid (“Finished with my woman”)?

Psychopomp (who are kind enough to let me play guitar) has a HOT gig! A battle of the bands at the legendary 100 Club. Do grab a ticket if you are in London that night to hear some slamming rock covers!!! Follow www.facebook.com/London.Psychopomp/ #SustainabilityRocks2025

On the positive side, more young people in Britain are probably bilingual and multilingual than at any time since Guthrum and the Danelaw.

Britain has never been a simple construct. It was forged from invasions, empires and compromises. The cultural battle for control of its past and future is becoming ever more heated. I (naturally!) recommend my book on its complex, rich and often surprising history as a guide.

The US, Israel and Iran are the world’s three most powerful theocracies, one from each of the three Abrahamic traditions. There should be no mistaking the core religious aspect of what is unfolding, each claiming divine righteousness and legitimacy to energize their fanbases.

he US, Israel and Iran are the world’s three most powerful theocracies, one from each of the three Abrahamic traditions. There should be no mistaking the core religious aspect of what is unfolding, each claiming divine righteousness and legitimacy to energize their fanbases.

Vote for the winner in the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation's 2025 competition! The other judges and I got it to three. Now you pick! I will be giving a short talk on Jane Austen and history at Chawton House on Sunday if you are in the area! @JaneAustenLF janeaustenlf.org/writing-comp...

Tomb of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204). Wife of Kings Louis VII of France and the amazing Henry II of England. Mother to King Richard the Lionheart and King John. With all those soldiers, wars and crusades around her, she is buried ... with a book. Class. [Own photo]

The fascinating and tantalizing story of James Joyce, Ulysses and an atlas, by the brilliant Mark Paul @irishtimes.com #bloomsday www.irishtimes.com/world/uk/202...

" ... mouse not working? Oh, I see. Well have you tried turning it off and on again?"

The prosecution in London today of Mr Hamit Coskun for burning a religious text (the Qur'an) has all the makings, in time, of a landmark Supreme Court judgment that touches on profound questions of societal identity.

829 UK judges and lawyers tell Starmer war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law are being committed in Palestine. My BBC news app must be defective because it does not mention it. lawyersletter.uk

Whoever thought we would see Charles III v Trump in a fight for Canada? Many people have been surprised Charles is still king of Canada. He is actually king of 14 realms beyond the UK (population 85m in addition to the 68m in the UK). Politics and history are rarely far apart.