Andrew Manning

#OnThisDay 1305 William Wallace was captured and handed over to the English, in spite of the lucky Lego Han Solo he had been given a short time earlier.

Bedfordshire hosts largest gathering of classic Moths since WW2 The event at Shuttleworth Aerodrome, Bedfordshire, is marking the 100th anniversary of the plane.

I do love a good Moth
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

'The Man and the Hour', the first episode of Dad's Army, was originally broadcast on this day in 1968.

One of the finest surviving coaching inns of the Great North Road The Olde Mitre Barnet. Tasty lunch washed down with a pint @oakhamales.bsky.social.

Eds and Avros @shuttleworthtru.bsky.social Summer Airshow

The FA deserve a huge amount of credit for their investment (both financial and in terms of resource) in women's football. Ultimately, England are winning tournaments and getting to finals because they are absolutely stacked with top class talent and that hasn't happened by accident.

Scientists don’t say this.

Finding molecules in space that are biomolecules in living organisms only shows that the universe finds chemistry much easier to do than biochemists.

#OTD in 1939, in Warsaw, cryptanalysts from Poland, France and Britain met to share intelligence that would help break the unbreakable Enigma encryption. The successful decryption later would shorten the war, considerably. #WW2 #HISTORY

I take it you enjoyed that? 🙂

The most shocking thing about BrewDog’s announcement today that it is closing ten bars, is that the closures include all the ones that used to be really good, that people used to travel to get to. Aberdeen, Camden, Shepherd’s Bush, Leeds, Shoreditch… these are the bars where BrewDog was built.

Edgware on the Edge. This Wednesday , July 23rd, 2025 will see the assembled Council of the London Borough of Barnet , make a decision on the fate of Edgware. They will decide for or against the Ballymore development o…

This account looks at the past of NW London, but on this occasion it's looking forward.
Tomorrow, a decision made by Barnet Council could affect how Edgware will look in the future.
pastrewind.wordpress.com/2025/07/21/e...

Something from the weekend: a paean of praise for the NHS Eight recent nights in hospital are nobody's idea of fun but I've emerged with my faith in humanity, and the NHS, bolstered yet again. And there's even a footballer in the tale

Something from the weekend: a paean of praise for the NHS
sportingintelligence832.substack.com/p/something-...

Weekend Update #141 and 142 The Bombardment of Ukrainian Cities—How Trump Has Already Helped Russia; The New York Times Embeds With The Waffen SS?

Hi All, I have had technical issues sending out my weekend update on substack today. I do not know what is happening—but hope it gets fixed soon.

What I can do is edit old posts. So I have cut a pasted this weeks update and put it at the start of last weeks.

open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

Starting to resemble Ritchie Blackmore

Fascinating. Microsoft emailed me to say it was raising the price of Microsoft 365, but when i went to cancel it offered me me the old price — without all the AI bullshit.

It’s forcing AI on everyone and making them pay more for it, then only telling them they don’t have to if they try to cancel.

I can’t wait to find out how much they paid for this £25 logo! The agency must have spouted some Olympic-standard bullshit to get the ok on it!

😍 Love the Beaufighter. Made this as a youngster.

For fuck’s sake.

Our new Mosquito Flight Simulator

See also ‘Ignoranus’ - Stupid arsehole 😂

Wormhole - Simple, private file sharing Wormhole lets you share files with end-to-end encryption and a link that automatically expires.

Wetransfer users will have received an email advising of changes in terms of use; they will have carte blanche to use your content as they wish, including to train their AI. I will not use them now.

Alternatives include wormhole.app and swisstransfer.com. I have no vested interest in either.

The children’s publishing world was rocked this week as a book was released by a new author who wasn’t a celebrity.

From the latest Private Eye, out now.

This is how @tealcartoons.bsky.social and I feel whenever we release a new kids’ book! It’s nearly impossible to get traction in the press unless you’re a celebrity. And it’s even harder in Trump’s America given our pro-science/vaccine stance. Anyway, preorders are appreciated: shorturl.at/LEitq

The Hayfield by Ford Madox Brown, circa 1856.

The artist stated he painted the scene on the Tenterden Estate, Hendon.

Aerial view of RAF Woodbridge, the first of 3 Emergency Landing Grounds constructed on the East Coast of England for damaged aircraft returning from raids. 📷 IWM HU 93009 (Unusually long and wide concrete runway, with multiple ‘U’ shaped dispersals along one side)

13th July, 1944. At 4:25 AM, a twin-engined aircraft was spotted near the emergency RAF airfield at Woodbridge, Suffolk. It was assumed to be a Mosquito returning from a raid and it quickly landed. But the aircraft was, in fact, a Luftwaffe Junkers 88G night fighter.
🧵1/11

😂

Knowledge is knowing that the creature is not Frankenstein, wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein IS the monster 🙂

Recently, my book THEY CALLED US ENEMY was banned – again – in Tennessee. Book bans are out of control. Huge parts of American history are being restricted. To join me in standing up for the freedom to read, go to pen.org/action. @penamerica.bsky.social @topshelfcomix.bsky.social @idwpublishing.com

I’m a couple of chapters in and really enjoying it thanks 🙂

For Battle of Britain film nerds (ok, me), it is finally back on terrestrial tv without ads.
BBC2 today. #RepeatPlease