Jonathan Foyle

The Express having a fit: God forbid students should be able to travel and study in Europe to improve understanding of neighbouring cultures, and vice versa to the UK. Bravo, Andy Burnham.

The Somerset tube

Pugin’s St Giles Cheadle, Staffs, 1841-6. On one hand, turning back the clock to the Catholic Middle Ages. On another, a blueprint for a generation of Anglican churches of the High Victorian era.

Brazil, the 7th most populous country in the world, manages to get its votes counted in a few hours. 👏👏👏

Fake ladies and real threats - Brazil is on the front lines of the technofascist wars. Pay attention... @astra.bsky.social @democracynow.org

There is blatant voter suppression happening right now in Brazil: flights cancelled and buses suspended to Northeastern capitals where Lula holds the majority, polling stations changed to thousands of kms away last-minute, voters in London told they need to go to Edinburgh… This is criminal.

Today Bill Wyman turns 90. This is my favorite bit of trivia about him.

The same US president who treats our friend Canada as an enemy is trying to give Alaska to Russia, a country whose absolutely overt foreign policy is to destroy us. This superpower suicide has to be stopped. www.ft.com/content/e9cf...

A Russian energy giant secretly financed a US gas project in Alaska, while that same project was being discussed by Putin with Witkoff and Kushner as part of talks supposedly aimed at ending Russia’s war in Ukraine. The US company’s CEO resigned after discovering the Russian money.

We are thrilled by the news that Scottish Ministers have approved the compulsory purchase of Mavisbank and send good wishes and congratulations to Dr Anna Keay and thank her for her work in Scotland for the Landmark Trust. buff.ly/9vuwQOJ

AOC: "As AI begins to encroach in our society, their goal is to take your cognition away from you. AI's goal is to take your thoughts away from you, your ability to think away from you, so that you become dependent on a machine ... reading books is active resistance"

It can't have taken 150 years to work this out. www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...

Nearly 5 MILLION TONNES of wood a year burned to power ONE datacentre. We thrived for centuries before TikTok and AI www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Data centres- no comment. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart, Germany Opened 2011. The award winning library designed by the Korean architect Eun Young Yi. A great place to spend an hour, before our train, exploring the collections. 📚 🖼️ 🙏 @drnwillburger.bsky.social

Merz: My biggest concern is Russia's underestimated impact on European societies. Russia is on the way to destabilise the entire political order of Europe. Many people in Germany underestimate this threat, and the war in Ukraine is only part of it.

Russia is building a massive military surveillance network in Kaliningrad. Satellite imagery reveals more than 20 installations, including a radar designed to detect aircraft and missiles up to 3,000 km away. GPS interference already affects 7 countries.

Norton St Philip, Somerset

Nikita Khrushchev, Russian, 11/18/1956, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964

This summer’s best light shows

The wisdom of my erstwhile Member of Parliament never gets old.

Yeesh. www.reuters.com/world/france...

Go on then.

Superb

❗️The Trump administration is proposing that Europe resume buying more Russian gas as part of a potential Ukraine peace deal, NYT reports. Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have raised restarting Russian gas pipelines through Ukraine with Ukrainian and European officials. #Ukraine

Moment of attack caught on video. One of Ukraine's long-range drone strikes the oil depot at the Oil Terminal in St. Petersburg. #Russia

I read a book review once that said there are basically three types of reactions by reviewers: 1. I wish I’d written this. 2. I could have written this. 3. I’m glad I didn’t write this. Basically the template I have when I read anything.

This is an excellent letter from the RNLI.

You’d think it was 1 April. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...

It's interesting to watch the reactions to a push on oracy because focusing on oracy requires us to make space for children and young people's voices to be heard. It needs agency and chances to talk with peers which aren't really a feature of the system atm. Learning as expression, not just memory.

The ever-prescient @sarahkendzior.bsky.social in 2020, already a decade into observing the rise of the new world order.

Breaking News: President Trump signed an executive order to exempt Russia from new sanctions legislation that Congress passed last month. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/u...

2 weeks shovelling frozen peas in a factory on the edge of the Fens.

Bingo! www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/u...

Would be hard to not become mesmerised by those tapestries

So in the past few days Trump has taken sanctions off Russia’s energy, asked to buy diesel from Russia, restricted SpaceX Starlink, stopped sharing intel on incoming missiles, & asked Europe to unfreeze Russian assets to give to Russia. Hope Americans aren’t confused on who he works for

Trump cancels deposition in BBC case, lawyers say www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

The Russians hit the TPP-4 power plant and also damaged an apartment building. One person was killed, and four were injured. TPP-4 is one of Kyiv's main energy facilities.

And that founder of the Conservative Friends of Russia also head of Vote Leave was put in the House of Lords by the government that refused to investigate. Watched this corruption for a decade now. Bravo Burnham- finally some hope. bylinetimes.com/2021/12/21/t...

The number of “Poles” online who hate Ukrainians and “Ukrainians” who hate Poles has suddenly dropped This happened after the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck Yandex data centers Additionally, online support for Germany’s right-wing AfD party and Trump’s MAGA movement in the US reportedly fell by 56%

Was recently approached to vet and correct CGI (AI no doubt) 15th Century scenes for a TV series. Offered £150 to clear up their slop. That's the way it's going.

Finally, a decade on 👏 👏 www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

Russian bot traffic has dropped to nearly 0 after Ukraine struck a Yandex data center in Vladimir, Russia

Oh dear. Might affect the amount of bot propaganda that steers the outcome of the midterms.

Post Modern interiors. Not many left. Free link. www.ft.com/content/431e... Gaudy, kitsch – and utterly glorious. Save our postmodern interiors

Ben Meiselas: And here's a compilation of Trump saying many times that if any country bought oil from Russia, he would go after them...

Next up.. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

SO important www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...