Sunlight Echoes by Whitelands was released a couple of weeks ago, and their UK tour starts on Wednesday in Birmingham. They’re always fabulous live, and this second studio album sees them moving away from their shoegazing beginnings into something warmer and more expansive #Whitelands

The Harris in Preston is a fabulous museum, art gallery & library in a Grade 1 listed building. Britain’s biggest scent bottles collection was donated by Mrs Idonea French after her death in 1964: She began collecting at an early age, but her passion deepened after her son died in World War Two.

Orchids are still being discovered 🌸 A newly described miniature species, Telipogon choquequiraoense, shows why taxonomy matters: you can’t protect what you can’t properly document 🧪 🌎 Dig into the details: diagnostic features, comparisons & figures are in the paper here: https://ow.ly/loZl50Y9qOL

I went to the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham a year ago when it was England 16 Scotland 15. Calcutta Cup. Thought Scotland were very unlucky to lose that game. They’ve put it right today #SixNations

Lavenham, Suffolk. Among England’s 20 wealthiest settlements in medieval times because of the wool trade. Declined when Dutch refugees settled in Colchester produced cheaper and lighter cloth, but many buildings remained unmodified as their owners weren’t rich enough to rebuild them in newer styles.

Preston Blue Plaque: Near this site was THE OLD COCK PIT Here Joseph Livesey founder of the Temperance Movement, drew up the first public pledge at a meeting on Ist September 1832. Across the road from a former bank that’s now a Wetherspoons, with many other pubs on the street, so still work to do.

Handsome buildings in the centre of Preston #Preston

John Wesley Blue Plaque in Lowthian Street in the heart of Preston city centre. Has anyone ever seen a Blue Plaque in less distinguished surroundings? #BluePlaque

Such a disappointment, West Ham conceding five minutes into added time v Man Utd, yet more lost points to late, late goals. The stadium had the best atmosphere since those European nights, which now seem so long ago. A very rare away trip to Burnley saw a very rare clean sheet, and a 2-0 win.

Is Kelbrook in Lancashire or Yorkshire? Must visit when it’s not raining as I’m sure the views would be sensational. Where Elizabeth Beresford wrote most of the 2nd Wombles book, The Wandering Wombles in 1970, and Edward Woodward stayed for 6 weeks preparing for his role in The Wicker Man in 1973

Zerox Machine: Punk, Post-Punk and Fanzines in Britain, 1976-1988. Scholarly- with copious footnotes - examination of how fanzines fuelled punk and vice versa. They’d existed for decades, and the internet was to turbocharge them, but zines were crucial to how punk began and developed #PunkFanzines

Always loved the singles, never heard The Bad and Lowdown World of the Kane Gang until saw it in a Crouch End charity shop for £3.50. Fantastic sleeve photos by John Smith, courtesy of Easington District Council. 9 tracks include the sublime Closest Thing To Heaven and their Respect Yourself cover.

Lucas Paqueta was booked four minutes into his debut for Flamengo

Ash - Kung Fu at the Scala in north London. There’s loads of things you’ll regret in life, but you’ll never regret seeing Ash #Ash

Terrible 24 hours for West Ham Women, losing 2-1 at home to Spurs after taking the lead & selling Anouk Denton to Bay FC. 8 points from 14 games, relegation looms, yet we end the transfer window with a weaker team after selling the first Lioness we’ve developed and our best centre back #WestHam

Winter Lights 2026 at Canary Wharf, which ended tonight. Always popular especially with families, this free event brings loads of extra people to the area #WinterLights

“It’s not the despair, I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.” After being resigned to relegation, West Ham win two league games in a row (and one FA Cup) and suddenly the hope returns. First half was perhaps the best of the season, second half more tense than it should have been.

Crouch End charity shop haul: Dillinger - Cokane In My Brain single from 1977 bw Buckingham Palace and Ragnampiza; and two 1985 debut LPs, The Bad And Lowdown World Of The Kane Gang and Animal Nightlife’s Shangri-La. Both groups only made one further album and both should’ve much bigger #Vinyl

Sign at the cafe at the bottom of the Binnenhof viewing tower in Den Haag #Signofthetimes

Marie Antoinette Style is at the V&A in South Kensington to March 22, but is so popular it’s already sold out. The Sutherland Diamonds come from the Diamond Necklace Affair which helped further tarnish the Queen’s reputation. They were worn by successive Duchesses of Sutherland to royal coronations.

Out today and really good. James Hunter was in the brilliantly named Howlin’ Wilf and the Vee-Jays in the 80s, ditching the name as so many didn’t get the references. Here, Van Morrison duets on Ain’t That A Trip. The band features both tenor and baritone sax. Their tour starts in Bristol tonight.

De Bospoldervos (The forest polder fox) by Florentijn Hofman (2021) in Rotterdam’s Bospolder-Tussendijken area. The 32-foot tall statue is where this species of fox roamed when still a forest - and urban foxes do now. The disposable pink plastic bag signifies litter problems in the area #Rotterdam

Selfie taken today in the bathroom mirror of Maurice Ravel’s house in Montfort l’Amaury. If you love Ravel, you have to go. It’s an incredible experience.,

Just hope Konstantinos Mavropanos is going to be ok after what looked a horrible injury, stretchered off after a long delay. A 2-1 win was welcome after that. QPR fans came in huge numbers and were impressively noisy. Surely Summerville’s best game for us, with a goal and brilliant assist #WHU

Having been reprimanded by my follower for posting about things that have closed - which I do as I’m seldom organised enough to get to them much before their final day - Othello is on until January 17 at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket. David Harewood, Toby Jones and Caitlin Fitzgerald. Fabulous.

Fabulous result for Macclesfield, beating the cup holders. As big an upset as you could imagine and with no VAR. Moss Road was the last time I stood on the terraces watching West Ham, a 3-0 FA Cup third round win over a then Third Division side featuring a young Rickie Lambert and older Kevin Keen.

Surprised there’s any controversy over Michael Keane getting sent off and banned for three matches for pulling the hair of an opponent. Ines Belloumi did it in this West Ham match v Chelsea in September and was sent off and banned, with no one questioning it.

Death in a Cardinal’s hat, a hand-painted late 15th century Milanese Tarot card.

Always hated VAR, without it we likely win this match. Relegation seems inevitable, one silver lining- no VAR in the Championship #VAROUT

Genuinely the biggest West Ham match in years

The VAR check which ruled out a Niklas Fullkrug “goal” because of an offside when West Ham lost 5-1 to Chelsea at the London Stadium in the in August. He’s joined AC Milan on loan, which seems a big step up from a doomed relegation battle. There’s an option to buy, so doubt we’ll see him again.

Interesting algorithm

Couple of photos from West Ham’s 2-2 draw with Brighton the other night, ending an awful 2025 for the club. As Enver Hoxha said: “This year will be harder than last year. On the other hand,it will be easier than next year.” He was talking about 1967 Albania, but it seems prescient about the Hammers.

Part of the Snoopy In The City sculpture trail, in what is apparently the Fleet Street Quarter, until January 16. This is Snoopy’s Winter Chorus by Laura-Kate Draws. One of 12 Snoopy sculptures to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Charles M Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip #Snoopy

Evelyn De Morgan: The Modern Painter in Victorian London. Guildhall Art Gallery in the City of London until January 4. Associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, De Morgan (1855-1919) produced work reflecting spirituality and feminism, and rejecting war and materialism #EvelynDeMorgan

More images from the excellent but now closed Ketty La Rocca exhibition you you It was at the Estorick Collection in north London #KettyLaRocca

OTD 2019 - West Ham and Leicester City players pay tribute to World Cup winner Martin Peters after his death aged 76. Leicester won the Premier League match at the London Stadium 2-1 and West Ham sacked Manuel Pellegrini less than two hours later after a fourth straight home defeat left them 17th.

Anyone trying to blame the least experienced player in the team for what happened today needs to give their head a very serious wobble. So many chances missed before that. We’re staring down the barrel for sure but need to stick together #COYI

Because it’s Christmas, here’s a snippet of The Saints 73-78 at the Electric Ballroom in Camden a few weeks back

On this day 10 years ago #TowerBridge #BoxingDay

Merry Christmas everyone

First Craven Cottage visit since the new Riverside Stand opened with rooftop swimming pool, hospitality with Michelin-star inspired menu, views across the Thames & £3,000 season tickets. You’d hardly know from the river it’s a football ground. My Hammersmith stand seat was way cheaper #CravenCottage

Just got to this one before the gates slammed shut - Ketty La Rocca: you you at the Estorick Collection. The first UK museum exhibition for La Rocca (1938 - 1976). She worked in Florence with Gruppo 70, producing visual art, visual poetry, collages body art, especially the human hand. #kettylarocca

5-1 thrashing by Man City in the League Cup Quarter Final to end the year on the expected low. We kept them out for less than 2 minutes & another goal 5 minutes later left me fearing double figures. Ueki scored a decent goal but more comedy defending either side of halftime crushed any faint hopes.

You’ll have to take my word on this, but that’s a woodpecker at Upper Holloway station #Woodpecker

Festive joy for West Ham fans celebrating perhaps their worst ever season. The men are 7 points from safety, and the woman have 5 points from 11 games and have sacked the manager. Both teams get to lose to Manchester City this weekend, with the Ironesses crashing out of the League Cup later today.

"Carol Singers", a Claughton Pellew wood engraving from December 19th 1930’s Radio Times. A masterpiece, I feel entirely safe in suggesting.

Pirates at National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, in the that London, is on until January 4. The history of piracy, real-life figures such as Blackbeard, Captain Kidd and Anne Bonny, and fictional representations from Treasure Island to Captain Pugwash #Pirates

North Greenwich station yesterday, with Stereophonics playing the O2 #allontheboard

Like The Fall, Nine Lesson is always different and always the same. And if it’s @robinince.bsky.social and your granny on bongos, it’s Nine Lessons. I’ve been almost every year since it began and last night was among the best. 3 more this year, with different guests but I’m sure all just as good.