Not a Dutch still life, but still... A laundry bag, deftly placed by the lovely cleaner at the Gaskell Arms, Much Wenlock, on Spring Bank Holiday morning. Welcome to a beautiful world, baby Mochi.

History departments also go off pop, but not unnoticed. Hertfordshire, top in the UK for research impact in 2014, closed in 2026. Who was responsible: A. The great people who work there, or B. the entities who pushed half of them out? Discuss ... c.org/WsstTdKmmN

‘It is a solemn thought that after the expenditure of so many years to evolve technological communities may be going off pop in different parts of the galaxy, without ever knowing their neighbours, at the rate of one or two a year.’ Ronald Bracewell 1962. Ooh look...

Il y a 40 millions d'années, une étoile massive a explosé dans la galaxie NGC 5907, dans un énorme déferlement d'énergie. Pendant 40 millions d'années, la lumière de cette explosion a traversé l'univers, pour arriver sur Terre... la semaine dernière. #supernova www.star.ucl.ac.uk/~apod/apod/a...

The Sphinx of Calderdale, with thanks to the wonderful MADwalkers. Is there anything better than lunch with new friends, sheltering from the rain under a rock with a panoramic view before?

To be honest, I never found Eric Morecambe that funny - more like a cheesy uncle with too many catch phrases. But here he is listening to the fireworks in Morecambe in August 1998.

Happy Mondays, Manchester style (Ancoats, early 2026).

Coffee time at the Natural History Museum, where quiet corners can still be found. When I was small David Attenborough would turn up on black & white children's TV, handling small creatures and telling tales of dragons. One day he may face Darwin across the great hall, as trays float on floodwater.

Only a few minutes after I put down this gripping novel, a column of tiny spiders had formed a reading chain. Delphine de Vigan, 'Je Suis Romane Monnier', THE novel for our time: 'what do our phones really want?'

‘Where is the dance when it’s been danced?’ Here is the original passage from Tom Stoppard about a child’s purpose, which I adapted slightly but not significantly. Great voice actor too. m.youtube.com/shorts/aGcrk...

‘The purpose of a child is not to grow up. The purpose of a child is to be a child.’ Tom Stoppard.

Dancing in the Rain ☔️

Artemis: a stepping stone to Mars? Been there, done that. As the Natural History Museum's ET Life exhibition shows, remote exploration does the job. Just restore the Mars rover budget so we can return the existing samples and compare them with what we already have on Earth.

Artemis: a stepping stone to Mars? Been there, done that. As the Natural History Museum's ET Life exhibition shows, remote exploration does the job. Just restore the Mars rover budget so we can return the existing samples and compare them with what we already have on Earth.

After the Artemis photos of Earth, here's a haunting image which predates Apollo 8. It was taken by an automatic Hasselblad camera on a test flight of the Saturn V rocket in November 1967, 11,000 miles up. It went un-noticed at the time: 'perhaps the shadow frightened people' thought Stewart Brand.

Heritage corner. This medieval English ewer, acquired by the Asante kingdom of west Africa centuries ago and currently in room 3 at the British Museum, is now officially described as 'looted by British officers'. Is this a first? The return of the Parthenon marbles to Athens is feeling closer...

'The Wonderer'. Dunham Massey this morning, thanks to a passing friend. This is the picture I want displayed at my funeral. (Just not yet). (Photo: Kevan Lucy)

Classic Ramblers lunch on the moors above Darwen: attempting to shelter from horizontal rain by a ruined dry stone wall and everyone's sandwiches fall to bits. All hail the wonderful Manchester Weekend Walkers!

Telling the time at Utrecht central station, six months ago. The time is more or less right, but can anyone out there suggest what is going on?

The late Andy Kershaw was a broadcasting legend. His finest moment? Perhaps his 1989 musical foray into Mali for the BBC, to be met on the river by the blues guitarist Ali Farka Touré with a goat to slaughter in his honour. It's all here: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/world...

The front page of the Metro on 8 April got it spot on. The Apollo 8 Earthrise also came at the end of a year of violence and war, but the headlines were much more positive. But then the US didn't have an out-of-control toddler as president.

This late release from Artemis II shows how Earth appears 5,000 miles from the Moon. NASA first rushed out the version in my last post, zoomed, cropped & rotated to look like Earthrise. This new view is less like home, more like a planet in space. flic.kr/p/2s6wfG1

From Earthrise to Earthset, says the Artemis II mission. So human spaceflight can capture the spirit of the age after all. Here's the first draft of history: theconversation.com/how-artemis-...

We don't die because we live, we live because we die. If you want to live forever, be a rock. One life: live it.