It seems politicians are for sale in the U.K. And some are pretty pricey. Is there a complete price list somewhere? Maybe I could get together with a few friends and buy a cheap one: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Some pictures from Aberfan and a page from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberfan...

Reform supporter. Not sure if “most” Reform supporters are the sort of English nationalists who hate any language that is not English being spoken within the borders of the U.K., but probably a good many are like that:

A few things in the museum at Pwll Mawr/Big Pit, Blaenavon:

How many people that she approves of does this woman think would die in the attempt to kill “every single Zionist”? Maybe she thinks no number is too great:

I didn’t realise elite troops wore a suit and tie on the battlefield:

He literally did not understand a word of it. Charles, with impeccable grace, fed Trump and most of his ideas into a wood chipper and Trump, wearing his gilded royalty goggles, ended up thanking him for it. The poor dummy didn't know what hit him.

Good piece by @davidsonofaaron.bsky.social on the “patriots” of Reform who are unhappy about the U.K. school curriculum (especially the history curriculum designed by Gove) and want an education system more like that of China: open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...

I hope he did a full set of Goons voices, especially Minnie Bannister:

Tapestry depicting the story of Culhwch and Olwen in Llys Llywelyn, a recreation in Saint Fagans of a Royal Court of the Princes of Gwynedd at Llys Rhosyr on Ynys Môn:

Afternoon in St Teilo's church in St Fagans National Museum of History:

Some “pro-Palestinians” will say this is nothing to do with them, and others will say it’s a natural result of “Gaza”. But it is to do with them and it is not a natural result of “Gaza”: www.thetimes.com/article/f062...

Memorial to someone who died young in a Bristol park:

Bristolian Jackson Pollocks have been hard at work:

Morning in Bristol with a good crop of cow parsley and what I assume is not a thought provoking piece of public art (but rubbish can provoke thoughts too):

“What’s this little Welsh girl doing in charge?” www.thetimes.com/article/4d39...

Good piece by @nickcohen.bsky.social on the currently very visible leader of the Green Party: open.substack.com/pub/nickcohe...

Afternoon at the Westonbirt Arboretum. Very good:

In a park in Gloucestershire (Stroud). Didn't realise England was a bilingual country. The English nationalists in Reform will take a dim view of this:

Morning in Gloucestershire (Stroud):

Good piece by @writesbright.bsky.social on “the UK’s highest-earning MP” who "has clocked up nearly £2 million in income and gifts since he was elected as the member for Clacton in July 2024" including "£675,000 from overseas sources": open.substack.com/pub/writesbr...

'Richard Tice’s girlfriend is very annoyed that the free press she champions, despite having emigrated to a dictatorship without one, is investigating her boyfriend for stuff she says people who aren’t her boyfriend, like Angela Rayner, should resign over.' You couldn’t make it up. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Incredible really that our media and political landscape is dominated by crisis about Starmer’s fitness for office, while it simultaneously paves the way for corrupt, racist Reform to take power. Do we actually care about integrity at all? Because if we did… this shitshow wouldn’t stand a chance…

Artwork on a County Durham farm:

John Jones, Ray Cooper, and Al Scott, 50% of @oysterband.bsky.social, in Barnard Castle last night:

Auden’s Musée des Beaux Artes

Just finished reading this fascinating history of "The Isles" from the earliest hominids to the 2024 U.K. general election. Particularly useful for anyone who knows a bit about the history of England but is hazy about the other 3 countries:

Morning in County Durham:

Rare sighting of a column chart taking a dip at Hove Beach. #dataviz

Some observations on contemporary antisemitism from @daverich1.bsky.social which ought to be pretty obvious but apparently aren’t to many people: open.substack.com/pub/everyday...

Good piece by @davidsonofaaron.bsky.social on “a bombastic piece of anachronistic vulgarity, devoid of taste” and “a global ethnonationalist brand, bought into by Cambridge theologians, Hungarian autocrats, French nationalists and popular historians”: open.substack.com/pub/davidaar...

County Durham: the old triumph Of nature over the brief violence Of man. (R.S. Thomas, To the farmer)

Good piece by @nickcohen.bsky.social on how the rule of law is not something that is valued by a good many on both right and left: open.substack.com/pub/nickcohe...

“Feud with the Pope” is BACK as a likely Wikipedia section heading after a 400-year gap.

Morning in County Durham (Shincliffe Woods):

Interesting piece on elderly folk (many younger than me) being radicalised online and pretty much losing their minds: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Some people deserve to be on the receiving end of the activities of a brutal aggressive dictator since they apparently have no objection to such activities unless they personally experience them:

Traditional Polish folk embroidery #WomensArt

Not a bad performance by a team with 5 leading players out through injury and 4 others out through pregnancy: www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-...

Good piece by @writesbright.bsky.social on the unsavoury global alliances - with Russia, Hungary under Orban, MAGA, and the UAE - of an “anti-globalist”: open.substack.com/pub/writesbr...

Top of a stone wall in Cumbria:

Bastards

“Loveliest of trees, the cherry” (A.E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad)

“you're not the master here” (Oysterband, The Wilderness)

Morning in County Durham with the Newcastle & Darlington Junction Railway:

Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' illustrations, 1959 by Finnish artist and Moomins creator Tove Jansson #WomensArt

Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen.

Man who probably thinks Poland started a war against Nazi Germany in 1939:

Russian politicians only send other people’s children to war, not their own:

Morning on Ynys Môn: