I have to share a boisterous spray of roses on the climber by my door that’s grown up from a wee shoot inside 8 weeks. Now over 5ft - I know cos the scrumptious scent of that central bloom is at the level of my nose. Do you know its name? Plant ID on iPhone no good 😔

Salvador Dalí & Walt Disney’s Short Animated Film, Destino, Set to the Music of Pink Floyd

Salvador Dalí & Walt Disney’s Short Animated Film, Destino, Set to the Music of Pink Floyd

Dalí long gone and Disney gone longer still, it came out. The delayed arrival of Destino had to do with money trouble at the Walt Disney Studios not long after the project began, and it seems that few...

openculture.com

++BREAKING++ The UK and Spanish governments have issued a joint statement overnight: "[We] agreed that this summer’s wildfires demonstrated that climate change was now a national security emergency facing Europe and threatening our way of life." www.gov.uk/government/n...

A recent trip to Goole, the port on the River Ouse close to The Humber estuary, which opened in July 1826. Coal and goods came along the Aire & Calder Navigation and Dutch River - canalised River Don. Looking N close to Aire St Bridge with St John’s spire beyond a general cargo boat in Aldam Dock.

I do occasionally escape from Leeds. Here’s a sea-sculpted piece at Spurn Point, the long spit of sand that curves from the Holderness coast into the Humber estuary. Marine erosion mimicking Barbara #Hepworth.

From @leedscivictrust.bsky.social volunteers’ summer party at Moda, Quarry Hill. With much background chatter, here’s a quick summary of the succession of Tallest Buildings of Leeds. Old Leeds Parish Church had been the tallest structure for centuries. The new one was soon overtopped, and then …

‘Grade slip’: Old M&S skirt size 12, measuring 28”. (Note St Michael label - branding that was dropped in 2000.) Recent skirt supposedly size 8, yet the waist is 35” - that’s 25% bigger.

GOAD Insurance Plan of Leeds 1886, showing details of building structures & uses – major elements of fire risk. Sheet 7 includes the eastern end of Wellington St and Thirsk Row, location of the Hepworth warehouse. Available to view in Leeds Central Library. www.mylearning.org/stories/the-... 3/3

Hepworths’ warehouse was close to 3 stations. The premises were rebuilt & occupied by the firm until the 1920s. Hepworths started retailing in 1890 and had >140 shops by 1906. Firm lasted until 1980. Retail side survives as ‘Next’. 2019-20:: building refurbished & opened as Tailors’ Corner. 2/3

OTD 1906, fire destroyed the warehouse of tailoring entrepreneur Joseph Hepworth (1834-1911), who started manufacturing clothing in Leeds in 1864. The neighbouring hotel was also badly damaged. 3 firemen were injured that day. 1/3

Read 3 posts on the 200th birthday of the Port of Goole. The inland waterways were so crucial to building the pre-industrial economy & went on carrying heavy cargoes cost-effectively in the railway era. Trade still comes through Goole, though its heyday has passed. V interesting to visit last week.

Rachael Unsworth@leedstours.bsky.social · 2w ago

OTD 1826 the port of Goole opened. Built to scale up & speed up trans-shipment of waterways cargo heading to & from the North Sea (c.80km away), this became England’s biggest inland port. From Goole, it’s 13.5km downstream on the River Ouse to the Humber estuary. 1/3

Is welfare spending ''out of control''? It's estimated to be 11.1 per cent of GDP this financial year. That's just 1.1 per cent of GDP higher than in 2007-08, and total welfare spending has actually fallen by 0.9 per cent of GDP since 2012-13 ⤵️

Today's newsletter - some thoughts on Rishi Sunak (and some other prime ministers') views on how they managed their time and what the lessons for Burnham as he forms his government are:

Bad cabinet appointments will steal Andy Burnham’s precious hours

Incoming leader would do well to take Rishi Sunak’s advice on maximising your time as prime minister

ft.com

Excellent

Max B 💙 🔶 🇺🇦 🇬🇧 🇪🇺@maxbrockbank.com · 3w ago

Explain it to them, like a four-year-old.

leeds.greenparty.org.uk/2026/07/20/a... Our open letter to Andy Burnham on the day he becomes Prime Minister. Please share this far and wide. 🙏

An Open Letter to Andy Burnham - Leeds Green Party

On the day he becomes Prime Minister, Leeds Green Party has penned an open letter to Andy Burnham, demanding real commitments for our city.

leeds.greenparty.org.uk

Coal was exported through Goole docks from coalfields of W & S Yorkshire until 1986. Powered tugs pulled a ‘train’ of coal barges. From 1865, the hoist lifted Tom Pudding containers & tipped coal into a ship’s hold. Peak 1953: >2.45m tonnes exported – over 90% of Goole’s activity at the time. 3/3

Goole had only 2 docks in 1826, just before the railway era began. By 1912, 6 more docks had been added. Though traffic still comes through the port, trade has declined because it can't accommodate larger sea-going vessels. 2/3

OTD 1826 the port of Goole opened. Built to scale up & speed up trans-shipment of waterways cargo heading to & from the North Sea (c.80km away), this became England’s biggest inland port. From Goole, it’s 13.5km downstream on the River Ouse to the Humber estuary. 1/3

My American daughter is always trying to catch up with her paper edition of @economist.com My granddaughter, age three and a half, trying to persuade her mother to get her some more special 'kinetic sand': "Mum, The Economist says that if kids want something they should have it, ok?"

Our very excellent RA on our Urban Sensory Pollution project has got themselves a permanent lecturship, so we're hiring! We're looking for an independently-minded ecologist, env scientist, phys geographer or similar. Details: jobs.ncl.ac.uk/job/Newcastl... #ecology #geography #environmentalscience

OTD 1626 Leeds Borough Charter was granted. The Borough boundary was widened to be same as parish: 32.8 square miles. Powers to: 🦉 Create Corporation – later LCC – headed by Alderman John Savile, whose family crest had 3 owls 🦉 Manage cloth trade 🦉 Hold courts and enforce local laws

PSA.

This is what the #ClimateCrisis looks like #StopRosebank #StopJackdaw

Owler Nook@owlernook.bsky.social · 3w ago

Dove Stones fire from Marple, casting a pall across Greater Manchester.

DJT seems not to understand scenario calculations. Future emissions scenarios will be determined by politics. But warming associated with those emissions is determined by physics. Failing to acknowledge the fundamental difference between these 2 things is naïve or mendacious. (Crunched down quote)

Charles Keener@charleskeener.bsky.social · 4w ago

www.peoplesworld.org/article/sorr...

This is a terrific thread. I'm in the UK; we're really not built for the heat and the vast majority of us don't have AC, so these are really helpful. My top tip: spray a pillow case lightly with water and freeze it. It'll usually stay cool enough to get to sleep.

Brooke@brooklynmarie.bsky.social · last mo.

This will be a thread of tips for people suffering through their first god-awful heat wave with no or subpar AC. I'm a perpetually broke Southern Californian so my ideas run cheap.

OTD 1866 the Leeds Improvement Act 1866 came into effect. At last, this was reasonably effective local legislation leading to improved public health & municipal infrastructure. Building bye-laws + measures to clean up the dangerously polluted industrial town. Link to two v useful PhD theses in ALT

As Trump announced his whimsy war in Iran, I was reading about another imperial campaign, long ago, against an Iranian people. I found a perspective on the wars of today, & a sense of why, beyond his obvious incompetence in military matters, Trump had to lose his. snyder.substack.com/p/of-stoicis...

Of Stoicism and Stupor

The Wars of Marcus Aurelius and Donald Trump

snyder.substack.com

Brilliant analysis, compelling expressed - as ever.

THE NERVE@thenerve.news · last mo.

After “starting the war against Iran on a lark”, Trump surrendered for “political convenience”: historian and commentator @timothysnyder.bsky.social on the stupidity of Trump’s war in the Gulf www.thenerve.news/p/timothy-sn...

You might not need to plot a public transport journey across Melbourne right now, but just admire the dedication, comprehensiveness, clarity & usefulness of this long-term project. (Inspired by Harry Beck's trailblazing London Tube map. tfl.gov.uk/corporate/ab...)

Railmaps@railmaps.com.au · last mo.

And, I’ve now added a new feature to the Melbourne map, with alternative versions showing just trains or just trams, PLUS versions which show every closed railway and tramway ever. You can view these new versions from links on railmaps.com.au/melbourne.htm Enjoy! (6 of 6)