www.pastpresented.info

The title is "Trump vs the BBC" but it's actually Jonathan Pie vs the people with vested interests in humbling the BBC- especially GBeebies www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCMn...

Bad news / good news from Whitehaven, England. The stepped path through Arrowthwaite Wood has turned into a cascade, but a) it's quite pretty, and b) the outlet specially provided for such situations is working, so the little lake on the main path should soon disappear

Cumbria Book Festival is here in Whitehaven TODAY 12-4ish in the Solway Hall - We'll be there there are Authors - Workshops - stalls - well worth a visit! #cumbriabookfestival #moonsbookshop #Whitehaven #bookshopsofcumbria

A brilliant all-year-round place to visit!

Full to bursting 30,000 books on 2 Floors in Michael Moon’s Whitehaven bookshop - finding new homes for old books since 1970. Photo by Vladimir Funtak

Fun fact: The Taskmaster Museum has more security cameras than the Louvre

Another topical-yet-timeless YouTube video www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z5v...

A neat history lesson, simply and effectively told: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtOs...

I am noticing a troubling number of people using the word "Islamists" to describe supporters of the Palestinians. Labels have power.

#BlueSkyArtShow #Angles

Gonna watch the Robert Redford trifecta of fucking over corrupt power with The Sting, Sneakers, and All The President’s Men.

Worth thinking about ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVGc...

#BlueSkyArtShow To be clear, this is not a picture of my own #Home

Epstein Files? Instant old news. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

We could be heading for a colourful autumn

#BlueSkyArtShow The last of #Summer

“Nigel Farage says….” has been the headline of the decade. Look at what he does, ffs. Look at his tax affairs. Look at his grifting. Look at his lies. Look at his prejudice. Look at his allies. Look at his manifesto. Look at his Brexit. He is the embodiment of personal greed and national failure.

The gull takeover- Glasgow version

#BlueSkyArtShow #Shiny is really problematic when copying framed & glazed pictures.

In the absence of smell-o-vision on Bluesky, there didn't seem much point in photographing the Continental Market along the quayside in Whitehaven just to the right of this scene. Better to come over this weekend and savour it with all your senses.

Nationalism is by default unimaginative and paradoxically every example of it is broadly similar to other examples everywhere else in the world. It's always about flags and chants and xenophobic exceptionalism. The mantra of people who don't have the imagination to actually love where they live.

#BlueSkyArtShow #Skyline Two for the price of one!

On 1 August I featured a dazed-looking young gull hanging out in a Whitehaven street. Same street today:

For handy reference, here's a map of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic at the height of the Soviet era, from the Penguin World Atlas (1974). I've darkened areas which are not Ukraine, for clarity.

A hastily-edited little video of a slightly belated visit to Whitehaven Pride by the Harbourside, 16 August 2025 www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLO-...

#BlueSkyArtShow Saturday August 16, 2025 The theme is #Pieces

Today's Guardian cartoon pointedly naming and shaming www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Not often you get the opportunity for an open-top bus ride to Whitehaven

Barter Books in Alnwick is slick, but I'm not convinced it's more fun than Michael Moon in Whitehaven

Heatwave? Riiiiiight.

#BlueSkyArtShow #Jagged A little bit of politics

Exciting times in Whitehaven

Do Whitehaven's red squirrels think autumn has arrived? www.youtube.com/watch?v=TssT...

Maybe not the best location for this poster, although the water is probably excellent for fixing an iron deficiency.

Obviously, I'd have liked to feature gulls in my #Gratitude art contribution, but let's face it ...

Definitely a time of year for #Gratitude (unless you're on the menu) #BlueSkyArtShow

This dazed and confused young gull has been living on the street for at least the past couple of days- but at least it's now learned to sleep on the pavement.

The 8th (and probably last, and certainly longest) episode of this years Backyard Gulls series: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTTT...

As proposed in the alt-text of my last post, here are the scurrying squirrels

Today's coolish, dampish weather is annoying the squirrels.

This week's Backyard Gulls video is going to be delayed until Wednesday, so meanwhile, here's some nice brickwork on the building next to Boots in Whitehaven (with the usual perched on top, naturally)

Not a flutterby

Seen stuck on the local MP's office window:

Version 1 of this #BlueSkyArtShow #Alternating thingy was an animated gif- but apparently BlueSky still needs user-generated animations to be converted to mp4, which I can't do here in the shop, so here's the extra-subtle non-animated alternative.

The age verification app seems unable to accept that my face is a face. Awkward.

Wes Streeting seems to think the point of the trade union movement is to support Labour. No Wes.The point of Labour is supposed to be to support the trade union movement.

The meadow-style planting in the verges of Whitehaven's main roads is flowering nicely in time for the school holidays

Why do they call that plant "butterfly bush"?

The gullz! www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R1b...

Whitehaven's flutterbys have decided that the chances of rainstorms today are small