The allure of the Renaissance
Why the National Gallery's new show will sell out
This short piece by Rosie Millard about the National Gallery's Siena exhibition, the Renaissance and the rise of painting is interesting -
The allure of the Renaissance open.substack.com/pub/rosiemil...
13.03.2025 10:57 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
βHeat pumps are superior in efficiency to condensing boilers, even if the heat pumps are powered by electricity from a power station burning natural gas.β
Not me saying that but late Prof Sir David MacKay.
He is right as my analysis @carbonbrief.org shows.π
www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-18...
06.03.2025 19:57 β π 307 π 67 π¬ 10 π 2
When I think about how most of the US media consistently minimises the cruelty of the Republicans, I think about how Democrats havenβt won a majority of the white vote since the 1960s: www.npr.org/2020/11/05/9... - and I think about the long-term institutional effect of all that.
04.03.2025 21:04 β π 74 π 15 π¬ 3 π 0
A fun one from @scientificdiscovery.dev on our Daily Data Insights at @ourworldindata.org today.
Twin birth rates over time.
Older mothers and the use of reproductive technologies tend to increase the likelihood of twin births, which is why you see this pattern.
ourworldindata.org/data-insight...
10.02.2025 12:07 β π 111 π 20 π¬ 2 π 1
One of the chambers of the Dyffryn Ardudwy tomb, huge stones holding up a massive roof slab. It rises out of a mass of grey boulders which once formed the tomb cairn over the chambers. It must have been spectacular (it still is) - plus the effort of creating itβ¦
Daily #Wales in winter with a potter behind our village school to the double chambered tomb (always worth a detour when youβre popping down to the Spar)
02.02.2025 06:56 β π 23 π 3 π¬ 1 π 0
A major theft at the Drents Museum in Assen,The Netherlands, resulted in the loss of valuable gold and silver artifacts from the 'Dacia,Kingdom of Gold and Silver' exhibition. The exhibition featured over 600 gold and silver objects from at least 15 museums across Romania.
nltimes.nl/2025/01/25/a...
25.01.2025 12:45 β π 57 π 32 π¬ 6 π 3
If Viktor Orban really blocks European sanctions at a key moment for the war, itβll be absolutely clear that in this big game for the security and future of Europe, he is playing in Putinβs team, not in ours. With all the consequences of this fact.
25.01.2025 12:49 β π 3527 π 844 π¬ 162 π 74
<sigh>
24.01.2025 12:43 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
EU gas power declined for the FIFTH year in a row in 2024 π
Coal also declined, bringing fossil power to a historic low and cutting power sector emissions to HALF their 2007 peak.
ember-energy.org/lat...
24.01.2025 09:00 β π 65 π 18 π¬ 2 π 4
The @thebhf.bsky.social is now on @bsky.app. They do incredible work funding vital research into heart diseases, stroke and vascular dementia, and their risk factors like diabetes.
Letβs help them build their BlueSky following
24.01.2025 07:06 β π 391 π 133 π¬ 10 π 3
You can say, βgravity isnβt real,β but if you step off the cliff, youβre still going down.
And if you convince other people itβs not real, you are responsible for what happens if they make decisions based on the information you withheld.
21.01.2025 20:53 β π 883 π 276 π¬ 23 π 13
Ironically, most penguins aren't aware that today is Penguin Awareness Day and they think it's just a regular Monday. The reason for this, of course is that they refused to adopt the new Gregorian calendar in 1582, and still adhere to the old Julian one, for tax purposes.
20.01.2025 19:52 β π 649 π 115 π¬ 11 π 6
Great Green canvass team out round Bannockburn ahead of council by-election next week! Lovely reception for our candidate @mariestadtler
Thanks to @gillianmacmsp for joining π#votegreen
18.01.2025 12:40 β π 30 π 4 π¬ 0 π 0
π¦ Please do not disturb hibernating bats. Not only is it illegal to do so but it can endanger their chances of survival as they can use vital fat reserves when they become active unnecessarily.
If you find a bat in an exposed location please follow the advice on our website: https://buff.ly/47OkUZN
18.01.2025 09:13 β π 114 π 47 π¬ 1 π 0
BBC Radio 3 - Music Matters, Satire and the Stave, Satire and Religion
Chris Addison explores how composers have handled religion and its authority
Due to the Relentless March of Time, tomorrow sees Ep 4 of my go at Radio 3βs Music Matters slot, βSatire & The Staveβ. This time: Religion! Includes two Glorias and a Credo. Itβs an - ahahaha - exercise in Mass observation.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
17.01.2025 10:20 β π 47 π 5 π¬ 2 π 2
Oops posted the wrong video above! Hereβs the long one
17.01.2025 17:08 β π 20 π 5 π¬ 2 π 1
A colour photograph of peach roses and verbena tangling together. The colours are soft, the image sensual.
Soft and sensual
35mm Film
#Photography #FilmPhotography #BelieveInFilm #Flowers #Scotland #WomenInPhotography
17.01.2025 11:47 β π 158 π 14 π¬ 2 π 0
What fresh hell is this.
17.01.2025 10:34 β π 30 π 10 π¬ 2 π 0
Tonight on the Mead Hall menu (top table only) Beef bits, oinions and mushrooms, fried, and stuffed into French breads.
Lower tables. Spam in aspic.
Vegetarian/vegan. Spume anglaise.
Scraps and scrapings by the leper gate as ever.
17.01.2025 18:02 β π 87 π 2 π¬ 21 π 0
Hosted big reception this week at Holyrood celebrating @scottishcycling their work to help disadvantaged folks get on bikes and grow mountain biking scene with @dmbins.
Lovely to welcome VIP guest World & Paralympic Champ @jenny_holl π₯ who I first met as a junior @stirlingbc
17.01.2025 15:48 β π 13 π 6 π¬ 0 π 0
EXCLUSIVE - Leaked Reform MPs WhatsApp group chat
Henry Morris's Media World Exclusives is a reader-supported publication.
EXCLUSIVE - A leaked WhatsApp chat from the Reform group of MPs has fallen into my lap.
Investigate my Substack to find out more.
open.substack.com/pub/mrhenrym...
13.01.2025 12:27 β π 257 π 49 π¬ 9 π 5
Ancient Egyptian ivory sculpture of a leaping dog. The ivory is now biscuit coloured. Dimensions: 18.2 cm (L) Γ 6.1 cm (H) Γ 3.6 cm (W) A lever under the dogβs chest opens and closes the mouth. The inside of the mouth is red. The eyes are outlined in black. Dated Late Dynasty I8, I400-I350 BC.
Something lovely for the weekend! A very good boy! πΎππ
An amazing c. 3,400 year-old ancient Egyptian dog carved from ivory. This leaping hunting dog opens and closes its mouth, as if barking, by using a lever below its chest. π· by me
#Archaeology
11.01.2025 12:30 β π 1725 π 440 π¬ 31 π 26
New
The coming battle between social media and the state
Behind the alignment of X and Meta with Trump is a cold business logic β and a position of weakness rather than strength
By me, in todays @financialtimes.com
www.ft.com/content/917c...
11.01.2025 06:18 β π 2681 π 1108 π¬ 7 π 164
The Anglian York Helmet is composed of four main elements; a composite cap (brown in colour), two hinged cheek-pieces (also brown in colour) and a curtain of ring mail as a neckguard. The brass-coloured nose guard is covered with intricate interlaced animals. The 'eyebrows' have animal-head terminals, and an inscribed copper alloy band that runs over and across the crest of the helmet. The interlacing animals on the nose guard have open lips, comma-shaped eyes and spiral hips. Between the βeyebrows' and facing downward, is a larger animal head with a rounded snout and comma-shaped eyes, like those on the nose guard. This animal has ears on either side of its head that merge with the inscribed copper alloy band. An inscription on the band reads:
'IN. NOMINE. DNI. NOSTRI. IHV. SCS. SPS. D.
ET. OMNIBUS. DECEMUS. AMEN. OSHERE. XPI.'
This abbreviated Latin inscription may be translated as 'In the name of our Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God and with all we pray. Amen. Oshere. Christ.'
The remarkably well-preserved York Helmet is one of only six surviving helmets from Anglo-Saxon Britain. A Latin inscription bears the name of its owner βOshereβ. Discovered by a digger operator in Coppergate, York, in 1982. Iron and copper alloy, dated AD 770-775 π· by me
#FindsFriday
#Archaeology
10.01.2025 13:22 β π 591 π 104 π¬ 16 π 1
Music, hills, trees and other green things, crafty stuff, photos, books, cats and dogs. Work in social care. Easily distracted.
Eco-indy to the core π΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ ΏππͺπΊ
A coalition of community based, national networks and intermediaries β each one representing a different aspect of Scotlandβs diverse community sector.
Photographer in North Carolina Triad.
Father. Husband. "Elder Emo". I'll make a hobby out of just about anything.
All photos posted are my own.
I shoot both film and digital.
Amateur photographer and general ne'er-do-well.
All photos are my own, no sense in blaming someone else.
Community Council serving the Edinburgh areas of Bruntsfield, Church Hill, Fountainbridge, Greenhill, Polwarth, Shandon and Viewforth. https://merchistoncc.org.uk
Reader in Design @leedsbeckett.bsky.social; Research consultant; Author of 'Reframing Energy Access: Insights from The Gambia'
Editor-in-chief of BusinessGreen, writing for a couple of decades or so about the environment, the economy, green politics, and the Climate Theory of Everything
Holistic home improvement support for households, trades and local gov on maintenance, heat pumps, insulation and healthy ventilation.
Community energy coop/ community-led action on climate change/ home improvement agency.
Greater Glasgow, Scotland
Domestic property energy consumption contributes significantly to UK carbon emissions (14%). Low Carbon Homes tackles this by fostering collaboration among housing professionals and suppliers to accelerate retrofitting existing homes | Retrofit Action Week
Historian and Writer, Anglophile and European. Dr. Phil. FRHistS. Senior Associate Fellow, RUSI.
All views strictly my own.
Associate editor and columnist @financialtimes.com. Post too often about culture, public policy, management, politics, nerd stuff, Arsenal, wosoc. Try my UK politics newsletter for free here: www.ft.com/tryinsidepolitics
πΊπΈ~π―π΅~πΊπΈ~π¬π§~π«π· Hawaiian-at-heart
Energy. France (Paris / Finistère), food, wine, Felix the Dog, health & balance, gardening, outdoors
#paris #france #cmt1a #ehlersdanlos
AKA @donna_de where underscores are recognised
βThe view from the column is ever distantβ
Wall Street editor at The Economist, co-host of our Money Talks podcast.
PLOS is a non-profit organization on a mission to drive open science forward with measurable, meaningful change in research publishing, policy and practice.
Prof @ Leeds Uni in energy & environment. For clean air, net zero, trees, Latin drumming & exercising my right to roam. Suspect professional Northerner.
