David Warnes
@davidjwarnes.bsky.social
Retired priest (Scottish Episcopal Church) & former History teacher. Authorr (Russia:a modern history, UTP 1984 & Chronicle of the Russian Tsars, Thames & Hudson 1999). Carer.
That’s a must read. I first read Last and First Men as a teenager & enjoy periodic rereadings. There’s plenty of tragic disorder at the moment.
David Bather Woods@davidbatherwoods.bsky.social · 6d ago“Two experiences have dominated me: philosophy, and the tragic disorder of our whole terrestrial hive.” From the author’s statement in Olaf Stapledon’s book Philosophy and Living (1939).
Re the Emily Wilson discourse - her Dad (A N Wilson) was the king of literary feuds. A good family tradition. Best one was his feud with Bevis Hillier who hoaxed him into including a fake letter in his biography of Bejteman where the first letter of each sentence spelt "AN Wilson is a shit".
Wordle 1,866 6/6 ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩Phew indeed!
Wordle 1,863 X/6 🟨🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 It soon turned into a guessing game & I guessed incorrectly.
This summer there is an increased awareness of the climate crisis. Please, BBC, show again that excellent documentary "Big Oil Versus the World". It will be right on trend. @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social @bbcnews-uk-rss.bsky.social @drscottarthurmp.bsky.social
"My message to the people of the UK is that I'll train the new guy but you're going to have to stick with one of them eventually."
History? "Oh, I just have not time to read those long books." No worries: my pieces are brief but not superficial. Here are a few reviews. (NB the review of "Getting to Know Edinburgh" is of the first edition. There is now an up-to-date Second Edition) georgehharris.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-h...
My history pieces reviewed
No doubt I have many faults. But not even my close friends could accuse me of enticing, forging, doctoring (or whatever) the reviews my Ki...
georgehharris.blogspot.com
I have just heard someone on the BBC refer to the Bayeux Tapestry as depicting “the Norman invasion of Britain.” She clearly wasn’t paying attention in History lessons.
@BBCNews Your 1pm bulletin is increasingly tabloid. Obituaries of pop singers isn’t my idea of news.
Dear @BBCNews why is some technical row about a football tournament dominating the 1 o’clock news?
Happy Birthday, USA. Thanks for Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, the Marx Brothers, John P Marquand, Art Tatum. All these & many more outweigh Donald Trump in the balance.
Also odd. Kerensky’s father was Lenin’s headmaster. Russia - big country, small world.
Rev Peter W Nimmo@peternimmo.bsky.social · last mo.Odd fact: Alexander Kerensky died in 1970 in New York. He worked for influentiial conservative think tank, the Hoover Institution, at Stanford University, whose fellows and alumni include Henry Kissinger, Milton Friedman, Niall Ferguson, Condoleezza Rice, Newt Gingrich and James Mattis
This is cultural suicide and intellectual vandalism. In an era where humanities-illiterate tech bros have unearned god-like powers, we need historians, philosophers, ethicists, classicists more than ever.
deplorable.is
Francesca Stavrakopoulou@proffrancesca.bsky.social · last mo.I’d love it if you’d sign this. It might not prevent me and my colleagues losing our jobs, but it will draw attention to the ideological vandalism being perpetrated by the wealthy execs running our university. Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter - sign the petition below! c.org/NpvY4sR9gH
Dame Penelope Keith RIP. First seen in The Tempest at Stratford in 1963. Ian Holm was Ariel, Roy Dotrice Caliban, David Warner Trinculo & Tom Fleming Prospero.
Very little. The Holy See is (adjusted for inflation) the single biggest funder of astronomical research in history. As for Galileo, he was found guilty of suspicion of heresy, spent one day in gaol, and the rest of his life living in a palace, and continued to publish heliocentrism around Europe.
🇨🇦 l.faraday 🇨🇦@mizati.bsky.social · last mo.I always wonder how much science would have advanced if it wasn’t held back by religion. #Atheist
A vivid memory of David Hockney (RIP). Guest-of-honour at a Thames & Hudson party, stylishly dressed, California-tanned, he got a big laugh by beginning his speech “Of course I’m only a provincial…”
I keep being reminded of this question and answer: "What is the problem that AI services are being built to solve?" "Wages."
Catch this excellent piskie podcast if you haven’t already. Had to delete my previous post about this cos AI turned piskie into pinkie. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
How can you possibly believe in the Resurrection?
Podcast Episode · Talking Faith: two priests in the Scottish Borders talk about faith, doubt, and God · S1 E3 · 44min
podcasts.apple.com
Interview with Bp. Dagmar Winter youtube.com/watch?v=Fefs... – this exciting day sees the happy translation and installation of Dagmar Winter as Bishop of Edinburgh. If you’d like to get to know her, watch this interesting interview with her (36 mins).
A conversation with the Bishop elect of Edinburgh, Dagmar Winter.
YouTube video by Talking Faith
youtube.com
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... An interesting piece about Burnham. The historical echo Harris misses is Joseph Chamberlain - “Gas & water socialism” as Mayor of Birmingham followed by a Westminster career. Chamberlain, however, never became PM & managed to split both main political parties.
Andy Burnham’s Manchester has a defining spirit – and Britain could do with a lot more of it | John Harris
Call it a mix of collectivism and entrepreneurialism or just an overarching vibe, but the mayor’s philosophy could be on the way to Westminster, says Guardian columnist John Harris
theguardian.com
I've never heard of this chap. But if he's leaving Manchester I assume that means he wants to have a shot at being prime minister
The U.S. has spent billions to lose a war that enriches its oligarchs, impoverishes the citizenry, sabotages its alliances, and strengthens its enemies. Empires have risen and failed before, but to my knowledge no state has ever chosen to kill its own power. snyder.substack.com/p/on-superpo...
On Superpower Suicide
And the recovery of justice
snyder.substack.com