I think my favourite bit in this is the worthy shepherd and his wife.

Hiroshi Suzuki, the Japanese ambassador to the UK, is in Glasgow, and took time out to take his Paddington Bear to meet our Hyndland Paddington, who has been keeping watch over the West End for 45 years.

An inspired choice for St Valentine's Day!

14th February 2026 07.09

Sna draps enjoying the sun Bliddy caul though

#photography #unedited

James Leslie Mitchell (1901–1935), better known as Lewis Grassic Gibbon, was born on this day, 13 Feb. Author of SUNSET SONG – & many other titles from historical to science fiction – he is one of the most important Scottish writers of the 20th century. A 🎂 🧵 … 💙📚 1/10 digital.nls.uk/learning/sun...

Early-blooming cherry blossoms at Oi Yume-no-sato Park in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. Photography by Mitsuki Koyama (koyama4645 on Instagram)

Tragically, this sums up our rotten weather perfectly. Dreich, dreich and super dreich. Come back sun.

More power to your pipes, Jack!

Available for preorder!

Love this song!

'It’s a devastating day for Labour when even Anas Sarwar agrees that the Prime Minister cannot be trusted' Follow LIVE updates following Sarwar's call for Starmer to stand down: www.heraldscotland.com/news... @joshpizpom.bsky.social 𝘐𝘔𝘈𝘎𝘌: 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘙𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘶/𝘗𝘈 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘷𝘦/𝘗𝘈 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴

Utterly gorgeous. Here's a health to the King-over-the-Water.

Fower oufant wivies stude, Ane at ilka poster, As the wee May o’ Caledon Said her Pater Noster… —Lewis Spence’s “The Wee May o’ Caledon” imagines Mary Queen of Scots as a child, visited by four fairy crones who cast her doom from A KIST O SKINKLAN THINGS #poem #poetry asls.org.uk/publications...

Just watched this. Very interesting.

9th February 2026 08.06

Detail of photo: “Taken in front of Harajuku station, some people asked the girl to pose for a shot while she was returning from the Shichi Go San (Shinto coming-of-age) ceremony at Meiji shrine.“ Text and photographer Laurent T (aka thery_lg) of Flickr

A publisher who lays off a reporter whose pen is freezing because she's covering a frigid war zone while dodging missiles is not an editor you want to work for, in a more perfect world

The answer this week is laudanum.

This pup found a stick shaped like an old timey pipe earlier today and has already solved three mysteries. 13/10

Great capture. I tried to get a picture of a hummingbird while visiting North Carolina a few years back but they move so fast!

Maiko Mamemaru. Hassaku (八朔) 2010. Photography by tad64 on Flickr

I'll miss our occasional jousts. I've never met a better-read man. He once snorted a fine dram down his tweed jaisket at one of my puns, and bought us both another. Pretty sure it was he who told me to read Alberto Moravia. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Il Canaletto (1697–1768), Venice, the Bucintoro at the Molo on Ascension Day (c1754), at Christie's, NYC, estimate on request (which is to say, you can't afford it)

The Bowlers and the bunnets... Taken #OTD in 1927 - the Shipwrights of John Brown's, at Clydebank. Pic: WDC Arts & Heritage

Wow!

#RomFicFeb26 Day 3. I’ve always adored love stories. I find it uplifting to follow a character’s emotional journey to finding connection and the love they deserve with someone else. I also enjoy exploring the ups and downs of relationships. #respectromfic

I just love Chantilly porcelain, especially for the freshness of its imitations of Japanese Kakiemon ware. More in the alt text about this pretty tea bowl I recently acquired #c18th #c18 #18thc

An Injury To All: The Unmaking of the British Working Class will be published by Verso in October! Today I submitted responses to last comments from my editor and worked on the blurb. It's getting closer and closer!

Wonderful cover, very evocative.

Andrea Palladio (1508-80). Regarded by many as the most influential architect in the history of the Western world.

Very moving. Such a brave woman.

Chinese teabowl decorated c1744 by Christian Friedrich Metzsch in Bayreuth, with E&H Manners, London #c18th #c18 #

The ploughboy of the western world... Here's a bottle and an honest friend! What wad ye wish for mair, man? Wha kens, before his life may end, What his share may be o' care, man?

Great to hear about children writing.

Sky News: Danish PM Mette Freideriksen’s note in the visitors book when she visited UK today

23rd January 2026 09.36

Kosode Early 18th Century Japan Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

15th January 2026 08.46

Horrible name but beautiful flower.

14th January 2026 07.54 & 08.33

So beautiful.

Pincushion with the names of the #Jacobite prisoners executed at Tyburn in 1746 #c18th #c18 #18thc

Happy Old New Year open.substack.com/pub/maggieec...

“God damn them all.”

An appropriate poem for snowy Scotland today!

Born on this day in 1720, Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Silvester Severino Maria of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Prince of Wales and later King Charles III in the #Jacobite succession #c18th #c18 #18thc #OTD

Large tureen in the form of a cabbage with small artichoke tureens (Strasbourg, 1750), George R Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto #c18th #c18 #18thc