Davey / Lexyn

Met Museum photo of an Ancient Egyptian artist’s painting of a swallow on a flake of limestone, dated to the New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, joint reign of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, c. 1479-1458 BC. The sparrow stands in profile with head to the right. It is delicately painted with a pinkish body. The outline and details are highlighted in a reddish/brown pigment. It’s legs, eye, and beak are painted black. Limestone flake dimensions H. 6.6 cm x W. 10.6 cm. This may have been a practice drawing of the sparrow hieroglyph which was used for words meaning ‘small’, ‘poor’, or ‘bad’. Egyptian artisans who decorated tombs and temples made practice sketches on flakes of limestone which are known by egyptologists as ostraca (singular: ostracon). Sometimes the drawings were used as a template when transferring an image to the wall of a tomb or a temple. Limestone flakes were readily available for this purpose as by-products of the construction of temples and rock-cut tombs. A number of ostraca were recovered at Deir el-Bahri during the 1922-23 MMA excavations.

Artists have always loved to sketch!

Sketch of a sparrow from Egypt dated c. 1479–1458 BC.

Some 3,500 years ago in Egypt, artists used small flakes of limestone as sketchpads!

MMA excavations 1922-23, Deir el-Bahri. 📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

#FindsFriday
#Archaeology

Regular reminder that one of the many bad things done by the Blair government was to create a Ministry of Justice by lumping the courts together with prisons/probations to create an underfunded 'super-ministry' invariably at the end of the Whitehall queue for funding.

With Italians reacting with fury to a recent UK Good Food recipe, our poll previously found the rest of the world is committing a great deal of Italian food crimes

yougov.co.uk/internationa...

Labour biggest mistake wasn't going big on taxes earlier on. Tax reform, social care and planning should have been done in first 6 months. Chasing public opinion instead of reforming it and framing it

Next up is world champion!

I view it as EU buying time but your questions are correct. Only thing to add is EU willing to insure or build the capacity to become more resilient against the US. My worry is they think this is short term not long term change in thinking.

A graph illustrating the decline in negative views of homosexuality across several wealthy countries from 1984 to 2022. The title states that “Negative views of homosexuality have dropped in Western Europe and the US” The countries are the United States, Spain, Great Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Each line shows the percentage of respondents in each country who believe that homosexuality is rarely or never justifiable, represented by scores of 1 to 4 on a scale from 1 to 10. In 1984, the United States had the highest percentage at 75%, followed by Spain at 70%, Great Britain at 61%, Sweden at 48%, and the Netherlands at 34%. By 2022, the percentages had decreased significantly: the United States to 28%, Spain to 19%, Great Britain to 15%, Sweden to 9%, and the Netherlands to 6%. The data source is listed as Integrated Values Surveys (2024). The chart is CC BY Our World in Data.

Homophobic attitudes have fallen in Western Europe and the United States

Labour has squandered its first year in government Number 10 needs to remember that getting elected is a byproduct of doing a good job governing

“If you aim directly at election victory you will never get there”—@benansell.bsky.social on Labour’s lost first year in government.
www.prospectmagazine...

This a fair point but means dealing with business model of the net. Not sure a single state can put the genie back in the bottle. It needs doing however comes with a big price and possible trade war. Europe dependent of America means it doesn't want do it and certainly not pay the costs.

This what kings and queens do.

I finished this drawing wasn't too happy with the clouds / sky but it works. Sort the vibe and feeling right in the end.

Answer was yes this movie is god awful #movie borderlands I don't even know what good good about it. Everything about it feels off and wrong. Nothing new here or anything that works. Dumb movie that you have on in the background.

This sounds bad. Allotments are a form of municipal socialism. Rayner should be all for them.

If they *have* to raise more money from them, surely raising the very low rents would be a compromise? Flog them and they're gone forever
www.nottinghampost.com/news/uk-worl...

Is borderlands really that bad of a movie? Let's find out! I'm expecting it to be awful and bad. Intro seems ok so far.

Took trip yesterday and fancy drawing what I remember seeing. So I'm going try draw the ocean 🌊 and a view with rocks (started it). Needed that sea air...

Okay that so cool you have your own site and do that! Amazing work 👏

After yesterday I have couple ideas on my mind. Some unfinished ones to do.

Such a strange but interesting bit of polling. Maybe this shows something important but I'm sure you can draw any cheddar from it.

Car finance scandal: UK supreme court poised to rule on hidden commissions Verdict could could pave way for millions of motorists to claim compensation for mis-selling

If the finance companies did not want to be liable for hidden commissions, then they should not have paid hidden commissions.

Hard to believe they did not know of this legal risk when the payments were made.

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

This quite good

This going be real test for OSA honestly....going be worth watching what happens.

But also business model for whole internet here is problem. Loads of trust me bro on advertising. Eye balls above all else for profit. Solving information silos caused by algorithms requires information gatekeepers again. Not sure that bottle can be plugged again.

Lack of UK data centres and global companies I think this reflects and UK too small relying on US too much. Monopoly globally needs addressing. Is strong argument about promoting UK ethics and values on adult content too. Parents not having free time and easy access tools etc. Difficult or impossibl

New post: Delusions on the Left and Labour Right
mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/07/delu...
In which I will upset nearly everyone by arguing that the Labour Party only works if it is a broad church that spans left to right, but only if the left does not have control.

Am I the only one who doesnt want to give Bluesky either my FaceScan nor my credit card for their AgeCheck. Honestly.

England simply will not be beaten.

They came from behind once again at Euro 2025 to beat Spain 3-1 on penalties and retain their European Championship crown.

An extraordinary achievement from Sarina Wiegman's team.

And you can tell how disconnected I'm from the news having only just found this out. This makes the women's team more successful than the men's? Well done!

I know you don't blog much anymore but this was inspired by you @flipchartrick.bsky.social and disagreement with a political activist. resistthesun.co.uk/the-uk-tax-a... perhaps it good I don't know. One of your blogs has stuck in back of my mind for a while.

The UK tax and spend fairy tale needs to end resistthesun.co.uk/the-uk-tax-a... #blog #economics first time sharing my blog here. May delete this later not sure.

Good night sweet fox 😴🦊