For today's #MosaicMonday a hilarious #Roman mosaic depicting a boisterous #dog knocking over a basket and pulling out the contents. Life without #dogs is possible but pointless! 😊🐶🐕 On display at the Archaeological Museum Irbid/Jordan. 📷 Alex Brey via www.flickr.com/photos/looki...

#AllMetalMonday The extraordinary 57.5cm tall C3 BC #Etruscan figure, called (in recent times anyway) Ombre della Sera, as it recalls long shadows cast at the end of day. Inspiration for Giacometti is pretty clear..... Now in Volterra's Guarnacci Etruscan Museum, stopping people in their tracks.

Death Mask. Tashtyk Culture, South Siberia (3rd-4th centuries BC) #sculpture

From Chinese media.

Sneaking a giant screen into the flagshagger march is one of the funniest things @ledbydonkeys.org have ever done. "STAY HYDRATED" 😂🤣😂

How a kindergarten teacher became the accidental guardian of 200 king penguins

In particular, Britain has endured a decade of woefully inept leadership. An era of slogans in place of details.Leaders chosen because they match the ideological obsessions of activists rather than from any belief they can do the job. www.ft.com/content/e885...

I wrote this about Boris Johnson in 2021. It also applies to those, like Nigel Farage, who aspire to become prime minister. When a candidate for high office is taking millions of pounds in personal gifts, that is not a private matter. gladstonediaries.blogspot.com/2021/05/forg...

‘The Speech I Wish Keir Starmer Had Given’ Alexandra Hall Hall delivers the big reset speech she wishes the Prime Minister actually had made after Labour's local elections defeats

Might have to post this annually until we do something.

My longer take on UK politics - we've become addicted to simple solutions to run away from the Brexit contradictions, and they inevitably don't work causing a vicious cycle of discontent. The necessary reset must seek to make a services economy popular. ecipe.org/insights/res...

The inexplicable excitability of political correspondents, as their nation withers and disintegrates

A stunning #Greek rhyton (drinking cup) in the shape of a wild #boar's head, 350-320 BC. Vessels such as this one were used in drinking parties. Since they didn't have a base, the content had to be consumed before the vessel could be put down. 📷 me, taken 2021 at Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe🏺

The biggest majority in the modern era, and terrified of your own shadow for two years. It beggars belief. I've never known any govt. to have less to lose, and never known a greater need for political honesty than now. But, hey, best stay cautious. You don't want to become unpopular do you?

It's time for #Caturday and a timeline cleanse! A terracotta figurine of a #cat playing the harp. From #Egypt, #Roman period, late 1st century AD. On display at Museum August Kestner, Hannover. Have a lovely #weekend! 📷 me

To bring a smile to your face, here’s an ancient Egyptian dog figurine, a very good boy for some 3,400 years! 🐾🐕❤️ This lovely leaping dog opens and closes its mouth as if barking by using a lever below its chest. The Met 📷 by me #Archaeology

Yeah – no more Tories! Other than Danny Kruger, Suella Braverman, Lee Anderson, Robert Jenrick, Nadine Dories, Sarah Pochin, Andrea Jenkyns, Jonathan Gullis, Jake Berry, Andrew Rosindell, Peter Bone…

This ancient ‘network’ mosaic glass bowl looks modern, yet it’s about 2,250 years old! Made by spiralling thin threads of twisted glass over a convex mould, it’s a wonderful example of the innovative skills of Hellenistic glassmakers! Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart 📷 by me #Archaeology

It's not even been 2 years yet! Labour has delivered more of its manifesto in that time than the Tories managed in 14. You just never get to hear about behind the modern media wall of sensationalism. Here's just a taste.

Ancient Mycenaean ceramic artist: I don't know, I think I rushed the painting, and I don't love how the nose came out... Their friend: Relax. It's for a cemetery. Everyone will be mourning, and after that, nobody will ever look at it again. Artist: Promise? Friend: Promise. 3200 years later:

it’s worth reading every word of this brilliant, excoriating column by Fraser Nelson

It's not a political party. It's an engine of enrichment for greedy millionaire white men. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Robert Peston talks to Stanford Professor Nick Bloom about the cost of Brexit on The Rest is Money: 🚨 "We could have doubled the money on the NHS if we'd not left the European Union." Brexit cost "£2,000 a year per person in Britain." Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yn3AQaNVDg

It’s that time for emu zoomie with Taz, Del, Chip & Graham #zoomies

A 3,400 year-old Mycenaean amphora with a spectacular octopus inspired by the ‘Marine Style’ of Minoan Crete. Mycenaean cemetery of Prosymna. National Archaeological Museum, Athens 📷 by me #Archaeology

McSweeney: "We procured two strong candidate for [the PM]: One was Mandelson and the other was George Osborne." Christ above. What did the weak candidates look like.

The happiest sheep called Squirrel

Apart from the actual stats, the most reliable indicator that immigration is plunging (to our obvious economic detriment) is Nigel Farage turning his dishonest attentions to the mythical millions of benefits claimants.

"This feels, to me, almost more Orwellian than any other piece of Newspeak the US regime has yet come up with. And that is saying something. Can you just go about redefining how you calculate percentages? Only in a world where Ignorance is Strength." open.substack.com/pu...

Witness the mesmerizing murmuration of starlings in Italy, a stunning display of nature's coordination and beauty as they dance through the sky in unison.

RBGE looking lovely on a brisk spring day, being inspected by the Botanic's 'resident' cat.

Happy birthday Rome! According to Roman tradition, Romulus founded the city #OnThisDay in 753 BC. Here's a mosaic of Romulus's early years being raised by a wolf (who had a great smile) #BeforeTheyWereFamous 📷 @followinghadrian.bsky.social / CC BY-SA 2.0 🏺 #Archaeology

This Hellenistic mosaic glass bowl looks so modern, yet it was made over 2,000 years ago! Ancient glassmakers created the tiny flower pattern using a technique now known as ‘millefiori’ (thousand flowers). A timeless design still made by glassmakers today! British Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

Two jaguars (one, I'm sure, just napping!), painted in 1639 by Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp of Dordrecht, whose day is today.

"In the dark of the temple, you would see the rays and the eyes of the sun god glaring at you.” 🏺🧪

The Dickin Medal is the highest award that can be issued to animals in British military service. Bearing the words "We Also Serve" it has been awarded 75 times since its creation in 1943. Only one cat has ever received the award. This is the story of Able Seacat Simon, of HMS Amethyst. 🧵 1/25

Models of everyday life were deposited in #Egyptian tombs. They were supposed to support the deceased in the afterlife. One of the most charming examples is the model of a #cow giving birth. Carved in wood, painted. Probably from Meir, #Egypt, dating c. 2040-1985 BC. 📷 Royal Ontario Museum 🏺

Gorgeous glass gaming pieces from Iron Age Britain! 🤩 This unique set of 24 coloured glass domes with flattened base and spiral decoration may have been used for a game similar to ludo some 2,000 years ago. British Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

Imagine how FURIOUS certain journalists and commentators will be if, as now looks likely, this latest furore fails to bring down Starmer.

he's counting on people not knowing what a doctor looks like because they don't have healthcare

Pottery cup fragment from Roman Peterborough (Durobrivae) depicting a magnificent hare. Now part of the collections at Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery. 📸 My own. #RomanBritain #Peterborough

late to this from James Marriott but it’s one of the best pieces I’ve read this year because going beyond day to day politics/struggles people share in focus groups it captures something bigger we hear - that we’ve passed our prime & it’s all been down hill for years www.thetimes.com/article/d123...

It must be almost boring to Putin, the way he’s able to play this oaf like a cheap fiddle

Spring comes to the Edinburgh Botanics, before the snow storm. And the glass houses are finally re-emerging. Soon, to be filled with their plants.

My Easter books cartoon for @theguardian.com

Heron encircled by a snake. While eating a worm. By Maria Sibylla Merian, born OTD in 1647.

Poland PM: 🇵🇱

NATO is a defence alliance to ensure support if a member is attacked, not a gang who agree to join in if one idiot launches an illegal and unplanned attack on another country. Everyone knows this except the most powerful man in the world.