Susannah Walker

a shot of a god botherer in a car, next to him on the passenger seat is a skull in an ornate box

'Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas being transported to Fossanova Abbey.'
Photograph by Daniel Ibanez

But there were also the Sven Hassel books, which were much beloved by a (quite troubled) teenage boy in my family in the late 1970s/early 80s.

70 years of The Ladykillers: how the locations look today As the classic Ealing comedy turns 70, we went walking around King’s Cross to see whether Alec Guinness and his motley band of robbers would recognise it today.

www.bfi.org.uk/features/70-...

Although she does appear to be cooking up the Moomin version of Guernica, which is concerning

Scabs

Sunday return for this…

mural of a black and white tuxedo cat taking up the whole end wall of an apartment building At 34‑35 Rugiańska Street in Szczecin, a new mural has been created honouring the legendary cat Gacek – a black and white icon of the city. The artwork was created using photocatalytic paints which, under sunlight, help purify the air. For years Gacek lived near Kaszubska Street, where a dedicated wooden shelter stood and where he became a beloved figure among residents, tourists and the media alike. In 2023, due to health concerns, he was brought into care and found a home. The Gacek mural is a one-of-a-kind initiative in Poland – no other city has created a piece of street art that both honours a local animal celebrity and actively contributes to environmental protection. Once again, Szczecin proves it can surprise with ideas that are both meaningful and practical.

same mural seen from a distance, the mural is at the top of a flight of stairs leading up a grassy hill and it looks like a gigantic cat is sitting there looking at you At 34‑35 Rugiańska Street in Szczecin, a new mural has been created honouring the legendary cat Gacek – a black and white icon of the city. The artwork was created using photocatalytic paints which, under sunlight, help purify the air. For years Gacek lived near Kaszubska Street, where a dedicated wooden shelter stood and where he became a beloved figure among residents, tourists and the media alike. In 2023, due to health concerns, he was brought into care and found a home. The Gacek mural is a one-of-a-kind initiative in Poland – no other city has created a piece of street art that both honours a local animal celebrity and actively contributes to environmental protection. Once again, Szczecin proves it can surprise with ideas that are both meaningful and practical.

greatest mural ever?
it's in the running

Secured by Design only really thinks about property not people

A tabby, ginger and white cat being decorous

Hodge (Hodgepodge, Splodge, Hodgissimo, Splodgeness Abounds) does not need an alibi.

A tabby and white cat is bored so is stood on my desk poking things until something gives

Ottoline (Ot Pot, Pottoline, Potpot, Gnang) is so bad that she has an alter ego, The Hon Mavis Portal, for when she has to check into a hotel to hide from her misdeeds.

Women are still absent from how history is taught and assessed in England Over a third of GCSE, AS and A-level exam papers in 2023 made no mention of women at all.

"Of the 991 history exam questions set in 2023, 357 featured a named individual, but only 31 were women – and nine of those were references to Elizabeth I or her reign."

Dr Natasha R. Hodgson of Nottingham Trent University writes this week in The Conversation bit.ly/49ZqTiq

Screenshot of Good Law Project & Just Treatment’s tool, reading: “Is your local NHS trust using Palantir’s software? Enter your postcode”

Is your local NHS trust using Palantir software?

Find out with our easy tool – then tell them what you think about it:
https://notopalantir.goodlawproject.org/email-to-target/stop-palantir-in-the-nhs/&utm-source=Bluesky&utm_campaign=no-palantir-nhs&utm_medium=social_media&utm_content=05-12-2025

A young Jeremy Irons pushes a young Anthony Andrews in a bath chair outside a large stately home from the 1981 tv adaptation of Brideshead revisited, for which I cannot find the viewing figures for love nor money.

Friday afternoon obscure question:

can anyone tell me what the highest viewer rating figures were for Brideshead Revisited in 1981?

doesn't seem to be out there anywhere

I feel your pain and made a starter pack to solve the problem. At least half the people I follow are daft.

Built barriers

...almost no play facilities outdoors. A set of big swings (wanted by between 75 and 100% of girls in surveys ) is probably the cheapest intervention out there.

But instead huge chunks of our green spaces* are used 90% by men and boys.

*pitches

There’s one answer already. A Wellcome research review found clear link between time spent in greenspace and mental health in young people, especially in girls who are up to three times more likely to have issues like anxiety but for whom we provide...🧵

almost no play facilities outdoors. A set of big swings (wanted by between 75 and 100% of girls in surveys ) is probably the cheapest intervention out there.

But instead huge chunks of our green spaces* are used 90% by men and boys.

I have much more to say on this if required…

*pitches

There’s one answer already. A Wellcome research review found clear link between time spent in greenspace and mental health in young people, especially in girls who are up to three times more likely to have issues like anxiety but for whom we provide 1/2 ish

Beauties

I am convinced it is a disguised bribe

Unless you are trying to spread the cost of a private jet across 3 people to make it look less insane.

That's the only answer I have, apart from a disguised bribe...

How does a flight cost this much? Were they handing over £100 notes every couple of minutes?

Why do I not have money like this?

Amazing. They revived Einstein on the Beach at the Barbican a while back and it was a lifetime ambition fulfilled

UNBOUND AUTHORS: Leftover copies of your books in the UK (MacMillan) warehouse will be pulped within the next week or two. DM me for a link to the warehouse stock list and contacts.

If you have no dosh, another publisher (Wilton Sq) is willing to buy the books & distribute on a 50/50 profit split

Good chaos energy there

Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you’ve seen:

Pulp
CMAT
The Smiths
The Waterboys
Philip Glass

But there are so many layers to this, just in terms of public school bluffing and arrogance, but also the experience of immigrants vs these people, that it could be a thesis or an entire novel.

1/5 It was entirely predictable that The Telegraph would jump on @DavidOlusoga’s Empire series to fight its right wing culture war for control of our public history. Let’s see what they’ve done:

Leonora Carrington :
Cat Tapestry, c.1950s

Wool

Museo Nacional de Arte INBA