A vertical forest growing in the Netherlands: in pictures A new tower brings apartments, office space and tens of thousands of plants to the heart of Utrecht

Nice to see the concept spreading!

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Cory Booker breaks record for longest speech by US senator in Trump condemnation In speech that began Monday night, Democratic senator warns of ‘grave and urgent’ danger of Trump administration

Bravo Sen. Booker!

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

A tower topped with a pangolin! The Oxford university building inspired by Tolkien … and the pandemic A chubby, rhubarb and custard-coloured tower bedecked with anteaters and moles make a fun neighbour to the city’s dreaming spires. It’s left some locals lost for words

Interesting new building in Oxford

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

‘Like a game of black-belt level Jenga’: inside the ancient art of Japanese carpentry From the earthquake-defying joints that support a 13th-century temple to the delicacy of sashimono puzzle boxes, a new exhibition shows off the myriad possibilities of this centuries-old craft

Looks like a fascinating exhibition!

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

I had a certain amount of - probably unjustified - hope around Starmer's (first (?)) term as PM... The "special relationship" is fiction, particularly during the Trump Ascendancy! Pretending that the current POTUS is not what he obviously is will not help friends of democracy and the rule of law...

Founders Online: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 13 May 1798 From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 13 May 1798

"Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger real or pretended from abroad."

James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 13 May 1798

founders.archives.gov/documents/Ma...

I am not a US citizen but lived there for 15+ years...and care!

‘A slice of 1970s Babylon restored’: living the office dream at the Hanging Gardens of Basingstoke This trailblazing office building by Arup Architects has been treated to a subtle £32m renovation that still has wellness at its heart

Interesting building

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

The UK does have a special relationship – but it’s with Europe | William Keegan The government is only deceiving itself by trying to ‘make Brexit work’ and forlornly pursuing a trade deal with Trump

As always, wise words from William Keegan

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Does anyone have a contact for Ann ? Would love to discuss with her the possibility of partnering with her to publish her cartoons exclusively on @bluesky

Faced with Trump and Farage, Britain’s natural ally is Europe | William Keegan The Labour party’s determination to stick to Brexit simply condemns the UK to fight a lone hand against the far-right forces ranged against it

Amen, Mr. Keegan, amen!

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Opus spicatum?

Scary - and he is rumoured to want to financially support Reform UK too... Many of these "tech bro" types seem to be libertarian - an interesting philosophy until one factors in that society is really rather important! Guess their support for authoritarians rests on being rich enough to be safe...

Look Who’s Talking | Ian Tattersall When did our first linguistic ancestor emerge, and how did the transition from a nonlinguistic to a linguistic state take place?

Very interesting review of Mithen's book on origins of human language - definitely worth a read

#language #evolution #mithen #tattersall #archaeology #NYRB

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Nemesis | Susan Neiman One emerging consensus in these post-election days is that woke ideology has lost. Harris ran an impressively unwoke campaign. But as James Carville said,

Another interesting NYRB essay

Antisystemic Times | Ben Tarnoff Donald Trump has spent nearly a decade discombobulating people who are paid to think about politics. His appeal has been consistently underestimated. It

Interesting piece

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Majority of Brexit voters ‘would accept free movement’ to access single market Europe-wide polling finds UK and EU leaders now out of step with public opinion and pursue ‘ambitious reset’

If (iff?) these poll results are confirmed by further research, will UK politicians have the nerve to follow through?

#EU #Starmer #Labour #Brexit

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The five-minute city: inside Denmark’s revolutionary neighbourhood While ambitious urban planners try to make 15-minute cities a reality, the Nordhavn district of Copenhagen has gone one better. What’s life like when everything you need is just a stroll away?

Nice piece, pointing out upsides and downsides of 5/15 minute cities - I'm probably just a pessimist but the downsides sound like potentially politically powerful issues... www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

The Occupation of Looking | Susan Tallman The discipline of art history today is far more inclusive, more cognizant of social history, and less prone to normative aesthetic judgments—changes Svetlana Alpers helped bring about.

This looks really interesting...although apparently not so easy to source here in the EU.

#Alpers #Art #History #NYRB

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Notre Dame review – glorious resurrection is as close to time travel as it gets Five years since it was gutted by fire, the soul of Paris is about to reopen its doors. Our critic is wowed by the buttery stonework, gleaming lead and gawp-inducing gilding

Nice piece
#architecture #landscape #Paris

Notre Dame review – glorious resurrection is as close to time travel as it gets www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

Can we keep the Elon Musks of the world out of British politics? Only if we act now | Oliver Bullough The tech billionaire is said to be considering giving $100m to Reform UK. That should jolt efforts to cap political donations, says author Oliver Bullough

I have lived more than half my life outside my birth country (UK) and have lamented its trend towards becoming a Mini-Me USA in many areas of life - FWIW I lived many years in Massachusetts... Let's hope that the poison of (mega)money in politics can be resisted.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Hawking Building review – the Science Museum’s giant new shed of the weird and wonderful On an old RAF airfield, a no-frills metal barn has been built to house the reserve collections of the London museum and its associates, with 300,000 objects ranging from a 1960s nuclear missile to Ste...

Interesting piece

#Swindon #museum #science #architecture

www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

An interesting list - I only know the John's library personally...

c20society.org.uk/coming-of-ag...

Kemi Badenoch says the Tories got it wrong on immigration. She’s right – but not for the reasons she thinks | Jonathan Portes For 14 years, the Tories presided over a muddle of unrealistic pledges. Labour should try a little honesty instead, says the former civil servant Jonathan Portes

Portes makes some good points. Low TFR countries need migrants to avert crises caused by the need for "pay as you go" pension systems to deal with significant increases in retiree populations.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

TFRs in US and EU - where I live - are below replacement level. Without immigrants we are looking at falling populations and - probably - increasing taxes to pay for the retirees. Most low-TFR "rich" countries really need immigrants!

Assuming veracity of sources, truly scary that there are more vegetarians than union members (speaking as a life-long vegetarian but never a union member given the way that my life has played out (libero professionista))!

The official Cambridge announcement regarding the death of (Lord) Colin Renfrew

#Archaeology #Cambridge

www.cam.ac.uk/news/profess...

Trump's economic policies could stoke inflation and hurt the US economy In the two scenarios, US real GDP will be between 2.8 and 9.7 percent lower than baseline by the end of Trump's four-year term in 2028. In terms of 2018 dollars, GDP is $750 billion to $2.57 trillion below baseline by 2028. GDP recovers a bit thereafter but remains lower through 2040, between 1.5 and 6.6 percent lower than baseline. The output loss hits manufacturing and agriculture in particular. The combined policies cause the US inflation rate to climb to between 4.1 and 7.4 percentage points higher than otherwise by 2026. That means, on top of baseline inflation of 1.9 percent, inflation peaks then at between 6 and 9.3 percent. By 2028, US consumer prices generally are between 20 and 28 percent higher. The inflation rate settles at 2 percentage points above baseline, or almost 4 percent, from 2034 through 2040.

Research shows that Trump's proposed mass deportations, tariffs, & erosion of Fed independence could result in GDP nearly 10% lower than baseline by 2028. #EconSky #PIIECharts
Learn more: www.piie.com/research/pii...

A Feigned Reluctance | Jonathan Freedland Rory Stewart, in his recent memoir, observes with detachment what is ludicrous in politics—even when he’s near the center of it.

Interesting piece by Jonathan Freedland, based around his review of Rory Stewart's memoir - well worth a read.
#NYRB #Freedland #Politics #Tory
#Government #Parliament

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...