‘It’s about finding light in the dark’: why Harold and Maude is my feelgood movie The latest in our ongoing series of writers recommending their favourite comfort watches is a pick for 1971’s unusual romantic comedy

www.theguardian.com/film/2026/ap...

Happy New Year!

Salami Advent Calendar, Czech Republic. podnikovka.cz/uzeniny_c103...

Fortnum & Mason tea sales suffer as Trump’s trade war hits ‘King’s grocer’ Tougher stance on country of origin rules and scrapping of de minimis exemption drives up price in the US

Now, with thanks to @joshspero.ft.com’s reporting, we have a real life example of this happening. More specifically, where is Fortnum and Mason’s tea from? (According to US customs.)

on.ft.com/4nsssZm Fortnum & Mason tea sales suffer as Trump’s trade war hits ‘King’s grocer’

Scooting in Milan.

Preston Bus Station is a gorgeous building with real clarity, beauty & function of architecture. The Lingotto of Lancashire.

Also there’s a good café and some farm animals. It’s a good place to visit and is enlivened by children running about and learning (under supervision) how to break rocks.

www.sergiipolezhaka.com/naive-ukrain...

and that while he was performing he really thought he looked like Jean Shrimpton or Julie Christie. Which suits the character perfectly.

We watched it last night and it’s great. Moving and funny. Thanks for the recommendation.

Meanwhile here’s Verdi’s tomb in Milan.

I’m just there for the first semester, sorry to say. Then back to Vezelay, where you’re welcome should your journey come this way.

Or from next month the University of Milan. 👍🏻

A metaphor in the Australian Outback

From What is Architecture? Andrew Ballantyne

No Country for Travellers? No Country for Travellers? explores the rise and nature of British travel to Spain and Portugal between 1760 and 1820, across a region that is conventionally overlooked in studies of British travel to...

Rosemary Sweet and I have written a book about #18thc British travellers to Spain and Portugal, and I'm really happy it's now free to download here: uclpress.co.uk/book/no-coun... (hard copies also available!) #skystorians #c18th

‘London was in his veins’: Andrew Saint (1946–2025) Gillian Darley remembers an architectural historian of great wit and erudition who was always keen to share his enthusiasms, which included a deep love of the capital

‘London was in his veins’: Gillian Darley pays tribute to the erudition, wit and open-mindedness of the architectural historian Andrew Saint, who has died at the age of 78.

AI thrives where education has been devalued | The Observer A culture that views knowledge as a means to an end invites the misuse of new technology

'It is less that AI is the cause of degradation in reading and thinking, and more that the creation of a culture that views knowledge primarily in an instrumental manner has made it easier to misuse AI.'

Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp.

Augsburg

Seriously, We Transfer has just said they'll scrape anything you send through them for AI.

Republicans re-designate gas as ‘green’ to allow fossil fuel firms to compete for clean energy funding. All forms of reality and shame replaced by the ‘right-wing thrill and sense of exhilaration’ (Butler) attained by the ability to be openly dishonest and irrational.

Tiepolo at Würzburg.

They’re on their best behaviour outside the National Gallery.

Buttoned up, begloved and hatted with a look that’s complicit and maybe sceptical, while he looks more trusting but quietly dandyish with the waistcoat and cuff links.

I hadn’t seen this picture before. Now I can’t stop looking.

It’s annoying to hear people say that old Damp courses have failed. Because they haven’t.
It’s complete nonsense.

What happens is people interfere, with them, eg filling these breather holes with cement mortar, bridging the DPC.

The Strawberry Moon is coming. How to see this record-breaking Moon meet Mars's rival | BBC Sky at Night Magazine The Strawberry Moon is the name given to the full Moon in June, the sixth full Moon of the year, rising on 11 June 2025 at 22:46 BST.

The Strawberry Moon is coming. How to see this record-breaking Moon meet Mars's rival. Useful Moony observing guide from Sky at Night magazine. 🔭 🧪 www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/straw...

Interesting essays in this book!📚☀️: "Solarities: Elemental Encounters and Refractions is a transdiciplinary essay collection that explores the physical, conceptual, and political possibilities materialized by “solarity”— a form of relation to the sun and its elemental force upon planetary life."