In February 1918, when the Zeppelin raids on London began, air raids were still something of a novelty and people had to find refuge where they could. William Nicholson's painting is of the ballroom at the Piccadilly Hotel, one of the first steel-framed buildings in London.

I was on Why? Radio philosophyinpubliclife.org/2026/03/19/w...

There are moments I like, like this two-minute burst of scale, intensity and emotion 'Landing on the Sun' (needs headphones to fully appreciate), but on the whole it feels like a miss for me. (It's the score for a Da Vinci exhibition, and it may be that it works much better in context, to be fair.)

Ronnie was an exceptional Head of School, a fierce PhD examiner (for my student, Ruth Friskney), and a quietly funny, down-to-earth, and all around good human. We were so lucky to have him. I wish he'd gotten to enjoy more of his retirement; he's gone far too soon. Condolences to all who knew him.

I'm sorry to hear that Ronnie Cann, the semanticist based at Edinburgh since 1984, has died. He was helpful and supportive when I first applied to Edinburgh, and then I got to know him more when he was Head of School in PPLS and I was acting head of philosophy.

Don't miss out on this launch, happening online on 31st March! The Friendship Anthology is a powerful new collection of poetry, stories and more - come and celebrate friendship in all its forms 💛 @edfuturesinstitute.bsky.social @stafscot.bsky.social @uoe-sps.bsky.social @byleaveswelive.bsky.social

Turnitin suddenly won't open any essays for me

'Singer Building at Night.' (c1910) Charles Vezin worked at a dry-goods firm for the first part of his career then began painting, dedicating himself to art for the remainder of his life. He's known for his Impressionistic scenes of the New York skyline, such as this work.

Ardnandave Hill from Loch Lubnaig #Scotland #Trossachs #Stirlingshire www.damianshields.com

Here's the shot in context (the youtube clip cuts just before the film gets mildly NSFW). I love the waterfall-effect of the canal lock gates, the pass over Amelie's head, then down into the path of the stones she's skimming, all while Yann Tiersen's score does its thing. It's just perfect.

Good news: not just one open job, but two! Both are postdocs in philosophy of science/ML working with my @technomoralfutures.bsky.social co-Director Dr Emily Sullivan on issues in ML scientific understanding and explanation. Ads for a 3 year post and 2 year post are linked below, apply by 20 April

The Effect of Sunlight https://botfrens.com/collections/49/contents/17244

New Broken Chanter song

It's taken me 7 months but I finally took the plunge - I have four long train rides coming up this summer, and so I need to think about how to make them feasible and hopefully not totally miserable. I had a bad trip to Glasgow in February and that messed me up for days, and it was only 45 mins.

Tom Scott on youtube:

Still Life with Spanish Melon - 1879 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/3109930

My cousin (the one that does the horse-posts) has asked if I have any advice for books to get her daughter who is studying for the Nat 5 philosophy exam. This isn't something I know anything about, and so I thought I'd see if anyone knows more - any pointers very welcome!

Kew Gardens - Path to the Great Glasshouse https://botfrens.com/collections/49/contents/16495

Witch will continue throughout the week

An extremely urgent edition of: to keep functioning, society must discourage baldface lying, especially by authorities

The @alcs.co.uk statements are now available for March distribution. This is the licence fee payment for the use of your works in education via photocopies or similar. The unexpected bonus of writing works aimed at students. Definitely worth investigating if you are not yet signed up.

I'm always a bit stunned by how many students, having spent a while working through the Gettier problem, start their essay on the 'K' part of 'K&R' by stating that they're going to assume that knowledge is justified true belief. They've picked the one thing almost all of us agree is wrong.

A 🧵 of iconic closing sentences of influential books in philosophy: 'And that's the 411 on what matters.' - Derek Parfit, On What Matters vol. 3 'Not the first sex, not the second sex, but a secret third thing.' - Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

An under-appreciated virtue of wearing a hoodie is that if you have the hood down, it can act like a little pillow behind your head

My overwhelming memory of watching the Wire was that it became difficult to think or talk about anything else for a period - it more or less completely hijacked my brain for several months

I have been despondently staring at this diagram for the past two days (credit: steinbergdrawscartoons)

You can pre-order a duckrabbit plush toy (but annoyingly they're calling it a rabbitduck)

Trump: I’m going to put ICE in the airports, where they will target and arrest all the illegals, especially Somalis, because I hate the Democrats Headlines: Trump puts ICE officers in airports to ease long lines, provide relief for weary travelers

A 🧵 of iconic closing sentences of influential books in philosophy: 'And that's the 411 on what matters.' - Derek Parfit, On What Matters vol. 3 'Not the first sex, not the second sex, but a secret third thing.' - Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

@guyfletcher.bsky.social Did you catch sight of the puck?

Sometimes to walk the path of peace you have to climb the mountain of conflict

Reminded of the person I met in Austin who told me that they identified with Arcade Fire's 'In the Back Seat' because they too liked the peace in the back seat

Enjoying this audio version of ‘On Certainty’

I am not going to miss this. philevents.org/event/show/1...

The Seine and the Louvre, Paris https://botfrens.com/collections/49/contents/17129

Two sides of Slains Castle, Cruden Bay #Aberdeenshire #Scotland #Castles www.damianshields.com

A goal for the next while is to get my long-standing 'A Walk Across the Rooftops' series up and running again - I've finally got everything I need, except time, and I'm hoping to reclaim some of that after this week

The UK papers have now pushed a narrative of Muslims ‘dominating’ the UK for celebrating a holiday and praying in public, something all other religions do and Muslims have done for centuries, while also decrying any attempts to disestablish the Church of England as an attack on Christianity per se

"Psychotic" is how The Times characterises measures to decriminalise abortion. But then what do you expect from the newspaper that called Trump a "feminist champion"?

I'm still holding out on giving this to my fourth year UG students - all of the material is available online through the library, and they need to be able to access by...searching for it. I had to give in for my big second year courses, but I do worry about it.

Yep. In fact, the real failing of students was when we stopped requiring them to regularly search a library catalogue for their reading and instead produced lists with hyperlinks that students simply had to click. As soon as they have to go off list, they’re lost.

Lübeck Harbour with the Holstentor 1907 https://botfrens.com/collections/90/contents/25546

To make the most of the current spell of good weather, I took the dog up to Loch Lomond for a walk, and it was well worth the effort. Cont./ #glasgow #rowardennan #lochlomond #scotland #landscapephotography

My favourite version of 'It's a Fine Day' remains James Holden's beautiful take on it, packaged here with some super slo-mo footage of skydiving

The Louvre, Morning, Mist https://botfrens.com/collections/49/contents/16981

The Doge's Palace (Le Palais ducal) - 1908 https://botfrens.com/collections/41/contents/1316146

This is utterly jaw-dropping. A school that bans Atwood, Zadie Smith, Terry effing Pratchett and *literal George Orwell* is actively harming its pupils. www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...

Sounds perfect tbh