A heads up for fellow Bsky users. Any invitation on Bluesky to the "gotothebadge.info" site is a phishing scam. It's an attempt to get your login details.
Some gems here: the Arran 'library', the glacial fissures in the Yorkshire Dales: www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...
Weird Britain: 10 glorious oddities to visit and marvel at
Eccentric public art, strange ruins, eerie landscapes, follies … Britain has a rich store of curiosities. An enthusiast selects 10 of the quirkiest finds from his new book
theguardian.com
@janerushtonart.bsky.social @marlinhoister.bsky.social A heartfelt piece of writing: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘I needed to be in that strange, flat place’: how an Orkney garden healed a writer
After her sister died, Victoria Bennett left Cumbria for the remote Scottish archipelago, where she learned to go with the ebb and flow of life
theguardian.com
@hookland.bsky.social and friends. Laudatory review of the recent biography by Christopher Priest and Nina Allan of J.G. Ballard:
From the NYT obituary for Norman Bussel, a POW in Nazi Germany:
The algorithm hates certain things; shop links, words like ‘buy my work’ or ‘available for purchase’. If you’re able to help beat the pesky algorithm by sharing an artists posts it means a great deal. Here are examples of my drawings and my shop is here; claireleach.com/shop. 🎨
Also, it's a very good podcast! Listen here, you'll only be sorry three or four times. Four times TOP.
Long Shadow podcast: Breaking the Internet
Journalist Garrett Graff hosts season 4 of Long Shadow, a podcast produced by Long Lead. The series chronicles the evolution of the internet.
longshadowpodcast.com
The internet is trash—we all know it. What better way to PROVE it than by helping Long Shadow win a Webby Award? Vote for LONG SHADOW: BREAKING THE INTERNET here: bit.ly/LSS4Webby LONG SHADOW is hosted by @vermontgmg.bsky.social, produced by @longlead.com and distributed by @prx.org. 🗳️VOTE NOW!
Local history: John Palin aka 'Balaclava Jack.' One of Tennyson's 600. He also served in the American Civil War with the Unionists, becoming a POW. He spent the last 32 years of his life in Altrincham, Cheshire.
John Tusa (former head of BBC World Service) has launched a new podcast. He and all his interviewees will be 90 years old or more. The deepest pool of talent and life experience. www.podbean.com/podcast-deta...
The Best Is Yet To Come... Podcast | Free Listening on Podbean App
On Sir John Tusa's 90th birthday, he is starting a podcast. John was one of the founding members of BBC Newsnight, he went on to run the BBC World Service a
podbean.com
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master––that’s all.”
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5mo agoLeavitt: "When he as commander in chief determines that Iran no longer poses a threat to the US and the goals of Operation Epic Fury have been fully realized, then Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender whether they say it themselves or not"
Luke Harding's stark assessment: 'either Trump supports Russia or he doesn't really care what happens to Ukraine.' @lukeharding1968.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/video/...
Does Trump really care about peace in Ukraine? - The Latest
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says ‘no agreement’ has been made between Ukraine and Russia in US-mediated peace talks. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s foreign correspondent in Kyiv, Luke Harding.
theguardian.com
My dispatch from frozen #Kyiv where residents on the left-bank of the Dnipro River live without heating & power. On Tuesday it was -18C. “Russia is trying to break us. It’s deliberate genocide against the Ukrainian people. People are dying," one resident told me www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...
‘Everything is frozen’: bitter winter drags on for Kyiv residents as Russia wipes out power
Kremlin’s repeated targeting of power grid has left thousands without heating, reliant on shelters and desperate home hacks
theguardian.com
From the 2013 obituary for Peter Scott, cat burglar extraordinaire:
File under, we never quite know what's coming next. One of my favourite embassy reports. The UK ambassador in East Berlin reporting in after the fall of the Wall...
@andynortondev.bsky.social Andy, there's a poignant and reflective piece in today's Guardian that I thought would interest you: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
After a career as an environment writer, here’s what I have learned
Paul Brown looks back at his career reporting on the climate crisis, failed summit and nuclear power – and how to do it well
theguardian.com
@jamesbarr.bsky.social James, this might interest you: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Palestine 36 review – impassioned epic set during the Arab revolt against British colonial rule
Annemarie Jacir’s emotionally stirring drama follows a year of brutal conflict in the Middle East with a huge cast of characters caught up in the turmoil
theguardian.com
As an entirely disinterested reader, I recommend this remarkable essay by my wife @lucindarose.bsky.social www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
On My Last Leg
An illness returns after a quarter century.
newyorker.com
@hookland.bsky.social A forthcoming documentary of interest to all good folk: www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
The Last Sacrifice review – how a gruesome rural murder embedded folk-horror in the British psyche
Rupert Russell’s fascinating documentary is a sophisticated analysis of how real life and fiction merged in post-empire Britain in the 1960s and 70s
theguardian.com
Telegraph editorial headline: “Recognising a nation that doesn’t exist can only be a foolish gesture.” Hmm. By this reckoning, it was a foolish gesture to recognise the Baltic States despite their assimilation by the USSR or to recognise Kuwait after Saddam annexed it in August 1990.
@philipwblood.bsky.social Philip, make of this what you will. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...
Nuremberg review – Russell Crowe’s Göring v Rami Malek’s psychiatrist in swish yet glib courtroom showdown
Crowe and Malek are hugely watchable but this ultimately fails to deliver an authentic version of events
theguardian.com
No peace in Ukraine? Perverse framing by Mark Galeotti in today's Times blames not Putin's unwillingness to hold a ceasefire, but the 'Western unwillingness to admit publicly' his unwillingness. Go figure.
Dear reader, you too could scratch a living penning lurid Trump fan fiction. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08...
Trump’s astonishing gamble may pay off spectacularly
The Alaska summit failed to live up to its billing. But some new reported proposals suggest a viable route to peace
telegraph.co.uk