Dr James A.S. Sunderland

Two years ago this month I started stained glass as stress relief between thesis writing. My 1st piece was a mess. But this Mon. I completed the latter pieces which will be a surprise gift for two friends not on here. Sometimes progress is only visible in hindsight.

Postwar Gaza authority potentially led by Tony Blair ‘would sideline Palestinians’ Draft plan’s critics say it hands power to international figures and splits Gaza from Palestinian Authority in West Bank

Life repeats first as tragedy, then as farce, then apparently as a bad rendition of the British Mandate (which, to be fair, combined tragedy and farce quite spectacularly).

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Me for the Spectator on why recognition of Palestinian statehood is a step in the right direction, and how promises and symbolism alone are not enough.

I see we're back to Brits trying to force Palestinians to accept ways of running their country which are deeply unfair, probably won't work, and pay no attention to what they actually want. It's just like the 1930s and 40s all over again...

Today in reassuring library signs...

Of course, 'Jerusalem' stone often did not (and still doesn't) come from the city, but shipping stone from the UK is next-level stuff.

Deeply ironic because a) of how much effort the British put into espousing ideas about making use of local material to blend into the environment (supposedly), and b) the building meant to personify the past of the country has its story told through material from the colonial power. Lots to unpack.

Eric Gill works on carvings at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem, 1934

Fascinated to find that, despite strict rules about building in Jerusalem, & attempts to inculcate certain ideas about 'local' materials, the carvings at the Rockefeller Museum, representing historical rule of Palestine by different civ.s, are made from Hopton Wood Stone from Derbyshire.

I tried (and failed) to design and paint this window of St Cecilia to look serene and have a soothing effect. Instead she judges me every time I'm in the office. I somehow made her the patron saint of resting bitch face...

Ohhanessian seems to have liked the design and concluded it was commercially viable. We can see copies of the casts of the Dome (near top right) awaiting painting alongside other designs in the background of a picture of a member of the studio working on painting a vase.

It appears the initial design came from a piece created by Ohannessian for the British town planner and Arts & Crafts enthusiast C.R. Ashbee and was designed as a gift for Queen Mary upon her wedding in 1922 from the Arab's of Palestine.

Going through archival photos I stumbled across this picture I took of a charming Dome of the Rock model produced in the 1920s in the workshop of Tavit (David) Ohannessian just off of the Via Dolorosa. These were commercial products, which could be bought from Ohannessian's workshop.

As a history tutor at Christchurch in the 1920s, J.C. Masterman was told by a colleague that there were two principles to be observed at Oxford. Firstly, 'no gentleman works after dinner,' & secondly, 'no gentleman works after lunch.' I endeavour to bring these principles to my work in Cambridge.