Robert Fleming

Well, given how they don't seem to cope with AFL punters, perhaps they should let an Aussie Rules team have a crack at it.

Proposals for a high-speed rail loop that would link nine urban centres across the UK and Ireland have been put forward by RIBA President Chris Williamson.

The ‘Northern Loop’ would create a ‘dispersed but connected’ global city of around ten million people 👉 www.theb1m.com/article/high...

Brunswick Street is being hand-drawn in its entirety by one dedicated Melbourne artist For seven years, Helen Wilding has been meticulously sketching every single building on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy

In an age where we are being regularly bombarded by AI generated dross imagery (and poor quality text), this is a refreshing and beautiful bit of human, hand-drawn art with old fashioned ink and paper. And quite lovely to look at.
beat.com.au/brunswick-st...

I have this great Spanish history book about female prisoners of the Franco regime who managed to communicate with each other and anti fascist cells by encoding messages in knitting patterns they shared. The male guards never checked them because it was "just" women's knitting patterns

Crafty Wartime Spies Put Codes Right Into Their Knitting Knitting socks and hats for 'our troops' was a time-honored tradition during wartime. But spies found a way to use that innocent pastime to transmit vital information.

See also World Wars:

history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-ii...

Yes I know, I post this one too often, but it could be worse, I'm managing to keep myself from posting it every day.

YouTube video by Lufthansa Our A321 takes off in a stunning new painting: the Super Star heritage livery. ✈️

Oooh @lufthansagroup.bsky.social with the retro livery stylin'. I likey.

youtu.be/NM-ZGBDyhj8?...

The unexpected reason there are so many empty and abandoned malls Hint: it isn't because of Amazon.

www.good.is/shopping-mal...

The birth of the travel guide In the 19th century travel evolved from an aristocratic privilege to middle-class reality. Explore how rail guides made this possible.

Let me take you on a journey about how Murray's Guides, Baedeker & Bradshaw transformed travel and tourism.
Two of these guides will also feature in our February Stories Unboxed display. But it all began with a woman named Mariana Starke...

All aboard!!!
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-...

Swindon is known for its transport history. 🛤️ The North Wessex Way, the ancient route running from Oxford to Bristol, has its origins in the Iron Age or even earlier. It passes through the north… | ... Swindon is known for its transport history. 🛤️ The North Wessex Way, the ancient route running from Oxford to Bristol, has its origins in the Iron Age or even earlier. It passes through the north of ...

www.linkedin.com/posts/histor...

The Lost Treasure of the San José Galleon In "Neptune's Fortune," Julian Sancton follows one archaeologist's quest to find the most valuable shipwreck in history.

airmail.news/books/2026/1...

Archaeologists Once Opened A Cave Sealed For 40,000 Years, Revealing The Lives Of The World's Last Neanderthals This cave may have been home to some of the last Neanderthals on Earth.

www.iflscience.com/archaeologis...

Secret love letter shows softer side of Cambridge spy ring’s alleged fifth man Intimate correspondence between John Cairncross and Gloria Barraclough features in National Archives exhibition

This extraordinary tale of John Cairncross' love letters to Gloria Barraclough is just one feature of the National Archives new Love Letters exhibition, which opens this weekend.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

👏 Beat me to it.

We have an update on Charlie’s newfound love of printing.

Camino de Santiago. All you need to know Camino de Santiago. All you need to know CaminoWays.com

For those who might not know...

caminoways.com/camino-de-sa...

@terriblemapshq.bsky.social this might be one for you.

Politicians: don't use AI to make your maps.

But at least there are now multiple options for the folk in Warrington!

New British Rail train livery??

Not a fan, particularly the carriages, with them lacking the usual continuity of design you expect along the length of a train. I especially don't like the way they present half going in one direction, and half going opposite - very jarring.

Maps are ESSENTIAL to understanding the Burma campaign. I would have loved to include more in Jungle Commandos but budgets be budgets. Here is one of my favourites of the Myebon peninsula, as we remember the men of 3 Cdo & 74 Brigade who were fighting their way north towards Kantha #OTD in 1945

Dangerfun

The Soviet Union spent 3 years, 10 months, 2 weeks and 2 days fighting against Nazi Germany.

Putin's "3-day special military operation" to force regime change in Kyiv has now lasted 3 years, 10 months and three weeks - longer than the entire Eastern Front of WW2.
Barbarossa, Stalingrad, Kursk...

At the UK National Archives this morning, the top pond is completely frozen, the lower only remains clear of ice under the water flow.

Also watching that!

Exceptional Christmas cracker joke today.

Our local WH Smith's went to the trouble of replacing the sign at the name change and then closed down about four months later.

I've had an emotionally moving and very informative few days on the battlefields of Natal. From the disaster of Isandhlwana to the extraordinary courage and resilience of Rorke's Drift durin... I've had an emotionally moving and very informative few days on the battlefields of Natal. From the disaster of Isandhlwana to the extraordinary courage and resilience of Rorke's Drift during the Zu...

I recently had a very moving and enlightening couple of days studying the battlefields of the Zulu and Second Anglo-Boer War.

There is no better way to understand how events unfolded than walking the ground yourself.
www.linkedin.com/posts/racfle...

The puritans wouldn't have liked this.