Daniella Blair

Day 1 of my #AdventCalendar
[sound up]

The First Window. It is Skábma, Polar Night, and in the darkness, we see a flicker of light inside a lávvu tent, settled on the banks of the frozen river Njávdámjohka. The lávvu belongs to the Newcomer, his fur as white as the drifts of snow, his eyes the colour of Baltic resin. He is singing a litany, a mapping of the vast Arctic skies. As the blue smoke rises, he calls the names of every star. And he watches those ancient pierce-lights trace the Eternal hunt, and the race of the reindeer calves and the flight of a million birds, and so absorbed is he, that fierce red sparks from the fire singe his tail and he turns and jumps and runs outside, and the sky is caught and illuminated with the fox-fire of another year, of every year and of no years at all.

#OldFoxAdventCalendar

Advent Sunday. At dusk, in the deep blue light, under a halfwaxen moon, Old Fox quietly left the cottage. He was carrying a tangled wreath of newly-cut holly and ivy and laurel-bay leaves to the Sheep Church, a Chapel of Ease up on the Downs, a lonely, wild place close to the sea. Few visited there. It was dark in the little church with a faint scent of centuries-old cloves and frankincense, and when he lit the first of the four advent candles, the light was miracular: golden and vast in the ancient shadows. It is for Hope, he told the ghosts there, for Hope.

#OldFoxAdventCalendar

As the church bell sounded the last deep toll of the eleven, the wet, mizzling rain suddenly stopped and in the silence, a blackbird began to sing in the apple orchard by the memorial. Standing in his old great coat, still flecked with mud, the Doctor remembered another little blackbird calling in a wood where bodies lay. These were songs of God, he thought, longing for a cigarette, of a God who fell in strips of light in cottage parlours when the telegrams were read in trembling hands, in the piping larks who rose above the shelling, of the sudden singing of the Welshmen along the trench, rich and dark and as holy as Christmas night.

Reluctant to give Question Time any time - save for this:

Pause your doomscrolling and listen to this story.

Starmer and the Labour government need to start treating the rise of the far right as a problem to be addressed rather than a movement to be accommodated.

Reform UK, which has a grand total of four MPs, was just given an uninterrupted platform for an hour and a half on the BBC and Sky News channels, in order to talk about its plans for mass deportations

When was the last time the Greens (with four MPs) or the Lib Dems (with 72) were given the same?

The best beer garden view? Lovely visit to the Lakes. This was a halfway rest on a 14 mile walk!

While Trump was golfing this weekend and Ted Cruz was vacationing in Greece, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum quietly sent rescue teams to help with the Texas floods.

Despite the racist and sexist attacks from weak men, she still did the right thing. That's leadership.

Something about this story always felt off to me. I had just turned down seeing the film with a friend because although I enjoyed the book, I didn't quite trust the characters. Great journalism. Hope those still owed money might see it repaid.

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It is delicious! Sabrina Gayour has a brilliant recipe for it in Persiana Everyday!

A Summery Recipe from Sabrina Ghayour | Waterstones.com Blog share.google/NSvZWVTs6fUc...

Mega historical bust ups. A thread.

1. King John and Philip of France

The powerful foreigner cynically helped put the incompetent, odious sex offender on the throne only to launch an all out war against him.

John bankrupted his kingdom, fell out with everyone and shat himself to death

Absolutely this.

Labour needs several million buckets of ice-cold water poured over their head and the nation's church bells ringing in unison as a very loud wake-up call. Hopefully, this is it.

People voted for hope and change and vision not Reform lite and the same old Tory shite.

You’re telling me that right wing voters that Labour was trying to appeal to voted for a right wing party anyway and left wing voters decided not to vote for Labour because they’re too right wing now? Who could have possibly predicted this.

How perfect 💚

Cartoon by Stephen Collins for The Guardian. Script as follows: [scene is Winston Churchill in a bbc studio, giving his 'finest hour' speech] 1 CHURCHILL: The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. 2 CHURCHILL: Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. 3 CHURCHILL: If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sun- BBC PRESENTER: Thank you prime minister 4 BBC PRESENTER: Mr hitler, your response? 5 HITLER [in the studio]: Vell zis is hysterical woke nonsense as usual from mr Churchill 6 HITLER: What we are proposing - CHURCHILL: Hang on 7 HITLER: Let me finish - what we are proposing eez a simple power-sharing arrangement - 8 CHURCHILL: What's he doing here BBC PRESENTER: It's important we hear both sides of the debate 9 CHURCHILL: This isn't a debate You don't debate fascists 10 HITLER: Oh here we go with ze Godwins law! 11 HITLER: Why must you people always compare ze things you don't like to 'fascists, Nazis, Hitler'... CHURCHILL: Because you are a fascist Nazi Hit- 12 HITLER [standing up, saluting]: RAUSS! BBC PRESENTER: *Please* Mr Churchill let him speak [ends]

This always makes me cry with laughter. It pops up every month or so... thank you for making Sunday evening funny! 😂

YouTube video by The News Agents Ukraine War: The New Trump & Putin Axis Explained

Lie after lie has been told this week about how the Ukraine war started, from the Kremlin and the White House.

Here's our News Agents video essay which explains the truth, and spells out why Trump clings so close to Putin and lives in his warped reality.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cufM...

Just listened to this - easily one of the best episodes. Dr Estelle was an absolute delight!

100%. Why are they doing this? It's like the theme week when Justin Elliot was loosely haunted/ visited by Christmas Carol type ghosts. I can't listen and just read the summary online the next day!

If your Christianity causes you to be offended by someone asking the most powerful person in the country to be merciful towards the powerless, then you have profoundly misunderstood the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Fortunately we're uphill so we're ok...terrible for our neighbours.

This is my village!

Where billionaires control the media, and their money determines: the truth, the state, the concept of free speech, the problem isn't truth, or state, or freedom of speech. Billionaires are the problem.

I did this as a New Years resolution some time ago! Would recommend D Sayers but then I also read it again translated by Clive James - he kept it rhyming as it does in Italian, which gave it momentum. Loved it. 😍

Advert for a guided walking company offering gentle paced adventures for all. Image of a tortoise in walking boots and photos of mountains and lakes.

#fabulousfriday This is a fabulous place with fabulous people so can I please ask a favour? Could I get a repost today? It will cost nothing and it will help a small business succeed in 2025
thank you
Www.team-tortoise.co.uk/group-walks

#smallbusiness #guidedwalks #lakedistrict #mountains #hiking

The moon and the Tor. Taken a few moments ago.

Or as we call out in our house...Paw Patrol 😍