Read my review of this interesting exhibition here. engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...

The plants that made the modern world

From tulip mania to opium, the global trade in plants has shaped wealth, power and everyday life for centuries.

engelsbergideas.com

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford@ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · 4d ago

🚨 Don't miss your chance to see In Bloom: How Plants Changed Our World, this major exhibition closes on 16 August. ★ ★ ★ ★ The Guardian ★ ★ ★ ★ The Times Plan your visit and book your tickets: www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/i...

The South is still beautiful, but likely to suffer severely in a century of climate extremes. It is time the continent rediscovered its northern soul. Is Europe’s future northern? | @alastairbenn.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/is-...

Is Europe's future northern?

The South is still beautiful, but likely to suffer severely in a century of climate extremes. It is time the continent rediscovered its northern soul.

engelsbergideas.com

Some weekend reading from me: first up the brilliant @amwilson.bsky.social on the Writer's Bookshelf talking Clare Chambers, Tina Brown, Evelyn Waugh, Dorothy Whipple and more! mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

The writer's bookshelf: Alexandra Wilson

Eight questions about writers, books, and reading…

mathewlyons.substack.com

In bookshops early October.

I enjoyed talking to Mathew about my reading habits past and present. I hope you find it interesting and maybe take some good recommendations from it! It's available for free initially but may go behind a paywall in due course.

Mathew Lyons@mathewlyons.bsky.social · 2w ago

This morning's guest on the Writer's Bookshelf is the brilliant @amwilson.bsky.social. Featuring Eva Ibbotson, Jonathan Rose, Dorothy Whipple, Ian Leslie and more! mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

@oxfordcitycouncil.bsky.social Please can you tell us what the outcome was of the recent consultation on amplified busking? Because it is as bad as ever and this afternoon Cornmarket and Queen Streets were atrociously loud. It makes the centre so unpleasant to be in. Cambridge isn't like this.

Microsoft is planning to build three massive AI data centres in Leeds. It’ll drain thousands of litres of water from the River Aire & be the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop the council's final sign-off, but we need more voices. Add your name: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pr...

Stop the Microsoft AI megasite in Leeds!

Microsoft wants to build three huge AI data centres at Skelton Grange. It would drain the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop it - add your name to the petition.

you.38degrees.org.uk

@oxfordshirecc.bsky.social What are you playing at, putting the MyBus ticket up from £6.50 to £8.50? That's way out of line with inflation. People need to get around! To discourage cars you need to do better with buses. Like this.

The Paris of the Belle Époque continues to fascinate, with its burgeoning commercial culture, everyday beauty and glittering department stores. Belle Époque Paris and the creation of French soft power | Marie Daouda engelsbergideas.com/essays/belle...

Belle Époque Paris and the creation of French soft power

Belle Époque-era Paris continues to fascinate, with its burgeoning commercial culture, everyday beauty and glittering department stores.

engelsbergideas.com

'London Rain' by Diana Croft dianacroftart.com

On this day in 1902, Venice's famous Campanile collapsed into a pile of rubble, taking out the Logetta as well.

Cities are often known for one industry, so when that industry dies, the city struggles. But sometimes they just develop. Angouleme was a printing city, but it reinvented itself as the capital of comic-books, a popular medium in France. That led to it becoming a city of murals.

'The Albert Bridge' (1966) by Edward Bawden

Hello, I’ve an event for my Muriel Spark biography next Weds (15th) at Waterstones Liverpool. We’ve sold barely any tickets, however, and it might be cancelled as a result. Please get a ticket if you’re nearby - it’ll be a lot of fun, and I’ll bring badges! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/waterstone...

'The Hall, Argyll House – A Summer Day', Chelsea (1925) by Sir John Lavery (Private collection)

'Girl Reading', St John's Wood (1932) by Harold Knight (Harris Museum & Art Gallery)

"Just as you think you have grasped who Whistler was, he shape-shifts again, flutters away, his butterfly monogram well-chosen indeed". My review of Whistler Retrospective at Tate Britain.

Engelsberg Ideas@engelsbergideas.bsky.social · last mo.

A man in constant motion, Whistler was a painter, printmaker and provocateur who spent a lifetime reinventing both himself and his art. The restless eye of James McNeill Whistler | Alexandra Wilson (@amwilson.bsky.social) engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...

A man in constant motion, Whistler was a painter, printmaker and provocateur who spent a lifetime reinventing both himself and his art. The restless eye of James McNeill Whistler | Alexandra Wilson (@amwilson.bsky.social) engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...

The restless eye of James McNeill Whistler

A man in constant motion, Whistler was a painter, printmaker and provocateur who spent a lifetime reinventing both himself and his art.

engelsbergideas.com

Find out more about how to apply for funding via our website.

Being at Chalke History Festival reminds me yet again how interconnected university-based history and other forms of history-making are. The thing we do in one place explicitly supports the thing we do in another. University cuts, closures and job losses harm the entire history eco-system.

Advocating for History by Doing History - On History

This blog was written by Claire Langhamer, Director of the IHR Historians are very good at crafting arguments and in recent times very many people have advanced very many arguments about why history m...

blog.history.ac.uk

The new Independent Historians Network (UK) @indyhistnetwork.bsky.social offers connections and companionship for the many historians who research and promote #history in arenas other than higher education. They're holding a first meeting on 1 July. Website: bit.ly/4uPzB9u #Skystorians

Independent Historians Network

The place for independent and freelance historians to connect

bit.ly

Independent Historians Network (UK)@indyhistnetwork.bsky.social · 3mo ago

We're holding a meet up in London on 1st July. It doesn't matter if you're an author, broadcaster, tour guide or general hustler, you're more than welcome as long as you work in history and aren't part of academia (sorry lovely academics!) DM us for location as places are limited!

Tom has hung up his Glyndebourne suit after 40 years! I’ve been through three quarters of his time there with him…so here are some choice memories… open.substack.com/pub/jessicad...

Glyndebourne: 40 Years Down the Pit

My husband has just played at Glydebourne for the last time. In tribute, here are some choice moments from the past three decades

open.substack.com

Spotted my book Someone Else's Music yesterday in lovely Hatchards on Piccadilly, in their exceptionally well-stocked opera section. There are also copies in Blackwell's in Oxford and of course it is easy to order from Amazon or by request to your local independent bookseller.

💷🐉 From Pond to Pocket – Vote for the Emperor Dragonfly! You have until 3rd July to vote for your favourite wildlife to feature on the next series of UK banknotes. We may be biased, but few species are as iconic as the Emperor Dragonfly. 🔗 buff.ly/AdwB8Wu

Before my new book comes out this autumn, be sure to read my last one, Someone Else's Music: Opera and the British, which has received rave reviews! ‘Timely and provocative’ (Opera) ‘Illuminating’ (New Statesman) ‘Terrific’ (FT) ‘Splendid’ (Spectator) ‘Brilliant’ (Guardian)

In or near Oxford? Do consider coming to this concert of music from Scandinavia and neighbouring areas on 4 July in beautiful Exeter College chapel. All of it is interesting and some of the pieces are really gorgeous!

Someone’s voice “rising several octaves” is actually a more annoying literary misuse of a musical term than describing something as “reaching a crescendo”

'In the Coulisses', Alhambra Theatre by Laura Knight (1877–1970) (Falmouth Art Gallery)

Andy Burnham to star in ENO production of Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen

I finally figured out why AI causes such a visceral reaction in thinking humans: I am writing my book chapter on PLAY, and AI is the opposite of play. We play for the joy of the process, not for the outcome. Yes it is nice to win, to have the art/ poem, but the point of life is to play.