"Delicious" church in Cap Ferret, France, according to TripAdvisor(!) Beautiful modern twist on traditional design: reflecting the sea-faring community. The baptismal pool(?) - too shallow for full immersion - has water running constantly amidst that beautiful light.

"Freedom of speech":

Jessica Elgot@jessicaelgot.bsky.social · 2d ago

Reform UK has banned some journalists from its annual conference who have reported critically on the party and Nigel Farage. It includes the Guardian’s City editor, Anna Isaac, who uncovered the £5m gift. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Excellently weird church window here in France. A Blue Peter competition, perhaps? 😜

Somebody replied to this saying "not since medieval battles". I can't think of any medieval battle in which more than one king died. Can you? Normally, obv, they involved two sides & ~ended when one side's top guy (king, earl, prince...) died.

Caroline Fiennes@carolinefiennes.bsky.social · last wk.

Wow: two kings died in one day today. That doesn't happen very often.

Wow: two kings died in one day today. That doesn't happen very often.

Kemigisa@kemigisa.bsky.social · last wk.

Rest in power King Oyo. As part of the Babito clans people, may the ancestors guide you home. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The brilliant Orkney Science Festival, which last year got people into the public swimming pool to learn about gravity waves! 🤜🏻🤛🏻

Ness of Brodgar@nessofbrodgar.bsky.social · last wk.

Our ongoing work at the Ness of Brodgar features in this year’s Orkney International Science Festival, which begins next Thursday, September 3.

« Nous trouvons très improbable que Nathan Cofnas ait été le meilleur parmi les 14 candidats… »

Ghent professors challenged expertise of Jason Arday’s plagiarism accuser

Allegations Nathan Cofnas was unqualified for Ghent role and would cause ‘negative impact’ made to senior leaders months ago

theguardian.com

Academic freedom is when a foreign government dictates how and even whether a university investigates misconduct

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · last wk.

Nathan Cofnas and the US Ambassador to Belgium say that the University of Ghent have now lifted his suspension, thanking the US government for supporting him (with threats of retaliation). The Ambassador says that Cofnas will be able to complete his one year appointment to March 2027.

HT GoogleMaps whose default map of Nepal shows the flood-affected areas. It's a huge area:

Since Dolly’s passing has people talking about books and children, I want to tell you about @helenczerski.bsky.social. A few years ago, Helen was a judge for a Rolex prize. As payment, they offered her a Rolex watch. But instead of accepting it, she…

"for all the people “celebrating” this as a win “against” Meta, you’ve been fooled. Meta just cut a deal to put itself in charge of how social media works going forward. this is Meta taking a “please regulate me Daddy” approach to the government, & getting exactly what it really has been asking for"

Techdirt@techdirt.com · last wk.

Meta Just Paid Nearly $17 Billion To Make Sure It Gets To Write The Kid Safety Rules For Every Other Social Media Platform By now... https://www.techdirt.com/2026/08/26/meta-just-paid-nearly-17-billion-to-make-sure-it-gets-to-write-the-kid-safety-rules-for-every-other-social-media-platform/

This is the letter kids got at the end of Dolly’s Imagination Library. I defy you to read this and not cry.

RIP Dolly Parton - philanthropist who put $1m into the Moderna vaccine, & distributed over 300million books(!) to children in various countries, incl. 7m books in the UK. Philanthropy is not all tech bros trying to control the world order… www.theguardian.com/music/2020/n... imaginationlibrary.com

Dolly Parton partly funded Moderna Covid vaccine research

The country music icon’s $1m donation supported the latest breakthrough by Moderna and several research papers

theguardian.com

Remember how Sweden put that church on a skateboard & drove it 5km down the road? Well, the Japanese are *pulling* a castle - by hand! 1800 people. They're doing ~a metre a day. Fab story. Esp. how it caught fire in 1627 when lightening hit the gunpowder store 🤭 www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Japan enlists 1,800 people to drag a 360-tonne castle keep using ropes and rollers

After repairs to Hirosaki Castle in Aomori prefecture, officials employed a technique known as hikiya to move the structure more than two metres

theguardian.com

Amazing thing! I just bought two dresses* and they BOTH HAVE POCKETS! Just possibly, the technology of pockets is finally diffusing to women's clothing! What the hell took you so long? We've been carrying stuff around for, er, centuries! (*I know. Don't judge.) Fab indep shop by Barons Crt tube.

From memory, the massive hangar over that amazing tomb was funded (& is maintained?) by just some guy. Not the state or National Trust for Scotland or whatever. Quiet philanthropy.

Kevin Wilbraham@kpw1453.bsky.social · 2w ago

Mid Howe Chambered Cairn on Rousay in Orkney with its protective hanger which was constructed in the 1930s following the site’s excavation. The massive Neolithic stalled cairn contained the remains of 25 people. 📸 #TombTuesday #Prehistory #Rousay #Archaeology #Orkney

There's an exhibition of photos of each of England's 42 cathedrals. It's oddly dull: they're all just the nave from floor-level, looking east or west. No octagonal lanterns, no tower vaulting / buttresses / Lady Chapels / porches / carvings close-up / misericords. Portsmouth even has the Hoover out!

Thursday was the anniversary of the Marchioness disaster in London. The memorial in Southwark Cathedral - near where it happened - has loads of fresh flowers:

And btw, you can do a tour of Langa (township) which is proudly run by its residents. Yes it's weird, but I & my group all learnt a ton. (Go on Sunday morning when it includes church!!)

Ann Pettifor@annpettifor.bsky.social · 2w ago

How Apartheid Continues to Divide Cape Town www.nytimes.com/video/world/...

Cape Town is amazingly segregated still. They put the poor people here, the rich people/ expensive houses there, & deliberately designed physical infrastructure to prevent people moving around. The poor never / extremely slowly acquire ££ to buy the posh homes. Voila: segregation lasts for decades.

Ann Pettifor@annpettifor.bsky.social · 2w ago

How Apartheid Continues to Divide Cape Town www.nytimes.com/video/world/...

That picture is not Bradford! Do not go to Bradford expecting massive Gothic structures! 🤦

Yorkshire Bylines@yorkshirebylines.co.uk · 2w ago

Where nature meets culture: Bradford's great outdoors becomes the stage Bradford takes culture outdoors this autumn, with wind-powered music, floral art and new ways to explore Yorkshire's landscapes By John Heywood

This bodes badly for how long it'll take to re-open Hammersmith Bridge 😫

Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳@ancestralenq.bsky.social · 2w ago

A museum gallery on the second floor at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London which was closed to the public to reopen after 83 years. 👇 BBC News - Hidden museum gallery to reopen after 83 years www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How do I know who is head of my household?? We don't have domestic leadership elections in our house. (Do you??)

Tom Roberts@tpgroberts.bsky.social · 2w ago

Not to be glib, but the genuine problem with a lot of the right these days is that they are just dumb? There's just no intellectual apparatus or appetite to build one! It is just pretending to misunderstand things so you can be racist all the way down.

This advert for Abba Voyage: is that meant to be a solar eclipse??

Prediction: Harry & Meghan will live at Althrop / some Spencer place. Charles Spencer reportedly despises Prince Charles - whose adultery against his sister lead to her death. Notice: CS attended QEII's funeral - she was his godmother - but not Charles' coronation. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Prince Harry and Meghan's UK security a private matter, Burnham says

The prime minister also wishes the duke and duchess well after it emerged they are returning to the UK later this month.

bbc.co.uk

Today is 10 years since my mum died. We were lucky: the end was peaceful, decorous, at home, and not over-medicalised. I wrote about it in the British Medical Journal, having learnt from Dr (Dr!) @mgtmccartney.bsky.social that ends-of-life like this are rare. giving-evidence.com/2019/10/08/m...

A life ended well

This article first published in the British Medical Journal. My mum died in 2016, a more decorous and peaceful end of life would be hard to imagine. That she died well is a huge blessing: not every…

giving-evidence.com

What? Is Luton supposed to be a control group here? In which case, that graph shows general improvement but ~no effect of ULEZ which was only in London. (Luton has some other measures.) This research question could prob be answered with a good diff-in-diff design. 🤔

Dr. Aaron Thierry@thierryaaron.bsky.social · 2w ago

"This shows an ambitious clean air zone can drive pollution levels down, rapidly restoring children's stunted lung growth" 👏👏👏 www.bbc.com/news/article...

I knew I saved this for a reason!

Please be precise. You probably mean 'some women'. Not all women. As written, that implies 'all women' - so is inaccurate. Cambridge University - you'd think this esp obvious right now - should be careful to be precise & accurate.

Cambridge University Press@universitypress.cambridge.org · 3w ago

Why do women crave chocolate during premenstrual syndrome (PMS)?🍫 A recent 'Journal of Nutritional Science' study explores how PMS relates not only to food cravings, but also to hedonic hunger (the desire to eat for pleasure rather than physical need). Read more 🔗 https://cup.org/4wlxwTr

leilacancode.github.io/everythinggo...