The taiga is especially lovely right now: the sun warms the earth without scorching it. There is not a hint of frost—the air is filled with the scent of pine needles, decaying leaves, and damp soil. Amidst this blissful silence, porcini mushrooms grow in the taiga.

@nicmiller.bsky.social Has anyone alerted you you were mentioned on today’s episode of this podcast? Not by name, but ”a food writer from Bury St Edmunds, who sends Wooster’s Bakery bread to Nigella” could only be you. About 23 minutes in. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/o...

Inside the brilliant Culture House, Sunderland, which opened this morning. Four floors of libraries, galleries, arts and science labs, screens, performance spaces, children's discovery spaces and the archive centre, not to mention cafés and a sky garden!

Simon Knott@simonknott.bsky.social · 6d ago

The opening of the Culture House, Sunderland this morning.

This country would be greatly improved by drug dealers laundering their money through pleasant little restaurants rather than candy stores and barbers

Well played, Museum Tavern.

A riveting episode. Wish Weil’s ideas, especially the one discussed in this clip, were better known.

Past Present Future Podcast@ppfideas.bsky.social · 4w ago

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! The 2nd life in our series about 20th-century philosophers could not be more different from the 1st. David talks to philosopher Alex Carter about Simone Weil, who died at 34 and lived through much political & personal hardship, some self-inflicted. Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

A) this story is insane. B) wait for the twist buried in the final paragraph www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/business/ber...

​Bernera groups face financial ruin from legal costs

​A second Bernera community organisation is facing financial ruin due to the activities of Claire Kellerman, an American woman who has been involved in multiple altercations with businesses on Lewis, ...

stornowaygazette.co.uk

Can’t think of many pictures with the word ‘gherkin’ in the title, but here’s ’Still-life with Gooseberries, Red Currants, Spring Onions, a Gherkin and Foliage’ by Richard Dadd, 1874.

NEW EPISODE OUT NOW! In today’s episode David talks to forensic anthropologist Sue Black about what happens when forensic science and forensic expertise end up on trial in the courtroom. Can a jury distinguish between good science, bad science and junk science? Find us at...🎧 ppfideas.com

This is a fascinating/terrifying conversation with a well-known forensic expert, Sue Black. From about 25 minutes in, she & David Runciman discuss the Lucy Letby case (but all of it is interesting, part.the use of statistics in trials - quite scary). podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/p...

Forensics on Trial

Podcast Episode · Past Present Future · 16 August · 1hr 1min

podcasts.apple.com

I don’t really need another side table, but I’m sorely tempted by this one, because it brings to mind Stonehenge.

In local-ish news, there’s a porcupine on the loose in Bath - it escaped its enclosure on a private property. That’s right, there are people who keep porcupines as pets. (Photo by owner, posted on FB)

August in the English countryside.

I visited Arundells, the home of Prime Minister Edward Heath, now a charming museum run by volunteers, who are some of the most knowledgeable & passionate volunteers I’ve met. On this occasion, I only went around the garden, full of rare trees-more photos anon - and took this photo of the Cathedral.

Great wee creature in the National Museum of Scotland

I’ve written for the Times today on what Jason Arday’s rise and fall from grace tells us about the chunks of modern academia that have become places that prize midwitted groupthink, and people parroting idiotic ideologies to remain in with their mates. www.thetimes.com/article/b3e4...

For fans of Persephone & Julia Strachey’s novella Cheerful Weather for the Wedding: I’m sure you would like to see Henry Lamb’s portrait of Julia, included in the wonderful Bloomsbury in Wiltshire exhibition at @salisburymuseum.bsky.social

I don't know why the French put up with the coffee situation

Strong contender for Headline of the Week and it's only Monday

A friend came down to visit me yesterday & we spent a long time at @salisburymuseum.bsky.social where we saw this beautiful harpsichord. Note the double Salisbury Cathedral spire in the picture: the actual one you can glimpse through the window, & one painted on the instrument.

Many happy returns to the incomparable #KateBush born this day in 1958. She danced into our lives with her 1978 number one hit "#WutheringHeights" - based on the classic 1847 tragic #gothic novel by #EmilyBrontë, who was born this day in 1818!

And good luck finding businesses to offer meaningful work experience to hundreds of thousands of 14 and 15 year olds. As ever a failure to acknowledge that our big challenge with vocational ed is our labour market.

Laura McInerney@missmc.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ve thought through how this will be staffed, funded, and the class size implications for GCSE options. They learned that from the last time, right? RIGHT? www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Highly recommended.

David Hawkes@davidhawkes.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Currently reading

Don’t ask me how it came out at a black tie dinner, but apparently EVERYONE (except me) used to lick 9V batteries as children, for the buzz. I have never heard of this practice. ⚡️

You know how Radio One Newsbeat used to be this really condescending "news for people who don't know anything and aren't interested" vibe and now that's all the BBC news.

First watch: Night Train (1959, dir. Jerzy Kawalerowicz). Currently showing as part of the BFI season "Station to Station: Kazuo Ishiguro’s Top Ten Train Films", I got greedy after @jacquiwine.bsky.social's recommendation and watched it on YT. Not the same experience, no doubt, but still great! 1/

🤓😬🫣 read more about the Queen of Greens at www.queenofgreens.co.uk @foodfoundation.bsky.social @sustainweb.org @alchemickitchen.bsky.social @feedingliverpool.org @foodrise.bsky.social @ffc-commission.bsky.social

This is my favorite reply of the day but you gotta click through for context

Deacon Blues Clues@deaconbluesclues.bsky.social · 2mo ago

okay. fine. you got me. the current job market is not literally the *worst* one ever

A #Roman lead tablet from Bath (Britain), which a woman named Lovernisca hoped to use to put a curse on whomever had stolen her cape. In a world where many ordinary people went without justice, curse tablets were an option to try & get it through divine means #Archaeology #AncientBlueSky

Every Brit I know who has tried Waymo was instantly converted. As my son will never be able to drive, I do hope Britain, and Europe more broadly, will embrace autonomous cars.

James O'Malley@jamesomalley.co.uk · 2mo ago

Autonomous cars do not have to turn Britain into an America-style car-centric hellscape (FREE TO READ!) takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/no-hellsca...