“It is simply this: do not tire, never lose interest, never grow indifferent—lose your invaluable curiosity... It’s as simple as that.” -Tove Jansson

Mamdani: For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty

This 73 year old cartoon by Yuliy Ganf called "At This Restaurant Only One Person Is Served," is as true today as it ever was.

Highland sunset before the next blizzard:) Happy New Year 2026

Israel is saying the truth. The rest of the world is lying. Even our own eyes are lying.

Good #UKbirding start to the year at Filey Brigg before moving on to the Lower Derwent Valley. C.60 species. Dipped on the WT eagle but otherwise a good haul, including black redstart (UK lifer), corn buntings, GN divers, purple sandpipers, spotted redshank, tundra bean geese, and whooper swans.

I used to dread surprises (thanks, 2015). 2025 made a strong case for them. In the Chinese zodiac, it’d be the Year of the Unexpected Drawer Find. 2026: moving back East. I dare the universe to surprise me. #ClassicalMusic #NY2026 open.spotify.com/track/1nA4wJ...

www.democracynow.org/2025/12/29/p... It’s important to remember that the activists are awaiting trial and have not been charged since the announcement of their hunger strike on 20th October 2025. The UK’s media silence on this has been arguably deliberate and chillingly disturbing.

My 2026 resolution is to take things more personally. I learned this by reading Moby-Dick.

Scenes from our winter stream today, where the mountain cold has taken hold of the flow. Wishing everyone a very happy new year, full of love, joy, kinship and solidarity!

Please give a thought to people whose New Year’s Eve was spent in bomb shelters because a criminal invader was trying to destroy their energy infrastructure.

1013 is a prime number, so 2026 has a unique and solid foundation.

LGBTQ+ ‘sector’ Sector. I can’t with these people.

2025 was a very difficult year for me: I was basically blacklisted from the US workforce. But I can still write. Folks have asked me how they can help. If my writing has meant anything to you, here are four concrete ways you can help me to keep on doing it…

As a difficult year comes to a close, the moments out in nature remain some of the best and most relaxing. Here are a few glimpses of my encounters with wildlife that were most popular with BlueSky. #birds #nature #wildlife #protectnature #photography #EastCoastKin

An appreciation thread on this last #MelvilleMonday of the year, with some passages that come to mind... "Whoever afflict us, whatever surround, Life is a voyage that’s homeward-bound!" - Herman Melville, White-Jacket (1850) Marine by Knud Andreassen Baade (1808-1879):

“ For last year’s words belong to last years’s language, and next year’s words awaits another voice.” - T.S. Eliot Aw the best for the bells when they come. ✨ Loch Lomund , Scotland

Really enjoying The Genius Myth from @helenlewis.bsky.social - delightfully irreverent.

#Day31 The year ends With frost-ferns On the window panes And the gold Of fallen leaves Picked out in silver. Ice stretches Along the canal, Unfrozen patches Are busy with ducks. The mud is hard And holds my weight. #DailyNature #ukcanals #poetry #winter #naturewriting

"Immigrant Derangement Syndrome is a top-down phenomenon, not a broad popular movement. It reflects the perverse obsessions of MAGAdom, with racism a key component.' To state the obvious, this analysis by @pkrugman.bsky.social also largely applies in the UK/Europe. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Damson gin! Isn’t it beautiful?

Nailed it with the Kohl eye liner. 🤩

Remember your tinnies for Hogmanay 🥴 📸 The Scotsman

I have to admit, I also always had kinda the wrong idea about Norman Rockwell until I saw the piece "Murder in Mississippi" as a teen in art history class

One week they're crying about people getting visits from the police because of tweets, the next week they're calling for inquiries into tweets.

Megyn Kelly: “I don't give a sh*t about Trump getting handsy with somebody 20 years ago...I want someone who will keep boys out of my daughter's sports, which he has” If you’re more worried about trans kids playing sports with your child than wealthy pedophile predators… you shouldn’t have kids.

Workers take a well-earned break on a Gower potato farm near Swansea, 1951, photo by Geoff Charles (National Library of Wales).

‘ I wonder if the snow 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓈 the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.”’ 📚 L.Carroll, Through the Looking Glass 🖼️ C. Monet #BookWormSat #winter

This is a key point. Dual citizenship isn't 'half British, half something else'. It's *full* British citizenship, and *full* the other citizenship. As a dual citizen, you're every bit as much of a British citizen as someone who only has British citizenship.

“In Gaza, @msf.ca supports around 20 percent of all hospital beds and supports the delivery of one in three babies,” said a spokesperson. Doctors Without Borders Among Dozens of Aid Groups Israel Moves to Shut Down in Gaza; @juliametraux.bsky.social reports www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, "And you are going to forbid that debate in this Parliament?" "What is happening in Gaza is a genocide" "Repeat after me, ladies and gentlemen, it is a genocide"

Quote this with what you have accomplished in 2025, no matter how small. * sold original work & limited edition prints. * had a 4 month exhibition at The Art Gallery at Horsham Museum who now stock my cards. * Finally announced I’m a painter & found the courage to talk honestly about my work.

A moment for stillness .🥾

Shieldaig Village. Most of the seafront is actually named St. Mary's Street - but nobody ever calls it that.

Matchmaking at a crossroads in the days between the years? There is a custom from Wales, meeting your future spouse at midnight, but... Cau dy geg, Gwen Know-it-all, shut your gob, or else! Find out about the “else” in our 31st #yulefolklore tale below. 🎨 de Saedeleer

Did u know? In '26 make a decision not to buy peat - it needs to stay in the ground, where it belongs. Instead, buy peat-free plants, or employ the services of these decomposing dudes & make your own compost. Just collect your organic & brown cardboard waste & watch the worms make new soil.🌿🌱🇬🇧🌱🌍🪱

I seem to have woken up in 1529…

Here's Trump giving more credence to the fear that Israel plans to remove Palestinians from Gaza and ship them to Somaliland, a self-declared country in the Horn of Africa that no UN member state recognizes – except for Israel.

No-one with eyes & ears could’ve doubted there was a festering cesspit of racism bubbling just below the surface of UK society, the only surprise is quite how rapidly it’s engulfing us & with how little resistance from our supposed democratic institutions

#nature #photography #birds #owls Long-eared Owl - Description in alt text This photo was taken minutes ago, on my lunch break, LOL. Hope everyone is healthy and happy, and may your New year be wonderful in every way.

The world is still dark as the sky begins to reveal the sun. This great blue heron, and others around begin to awaken. #serenity #birds #birdoftheday #nature #wildlife #photography #protectnature #heron #greatblueheron #sunrise #dawn #EastCoastKin

#Gaza, #Palestine:

In #Gaza, tens of thousands of displaced families are sheltering in fragile tents and overcrowded sites, surrounded by destruction. Around 79,000 people are sheltering in UNRWA emergency shelters and nearby areas, many under severe access constraints. Humanitarian needs remain immense. #UNRWAworks

Gorgeous article: Kobby Ankomah Graham (@kobbygraham.bsky.social), Seydou Keïta’s Revelatory Portraits of Malian Life (Aperture, #photography) aperture.org/editorial/se...

Nature’s mirror. 🥾

OK, I may have overindulged. Dry January it is. 🙁

Another health breakthrough. (h/t Gav)

Kahlil Gibran on the art of becoming yourself across the sweep of life www.themarginalian.org/2023/04/04/y...