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Belle de jour

@bowman120.bsky.social
917 followers 736 following 2.2K posts

Archaeologist & antiquarian; ex-Whitehall Digital programme mgr; Info & Rec Mgt; longbow archer; French 🍷; jazz 🥁 . Eclectic. Opinions own, retweets not always endorsements

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Reposted by Belle de jour
Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 10h
An amazing glimpse into Mesolithic everyday life: this more than 7,500-year-old ring was made from heather roots, carefully rolled up and prepared for later use. It was discovered at the settlement of Motala/Sweden, where the same material was used for fish traps. Dating 5750–5550 BC. 🧵1/2 📷me
A thick bundle of dried plant roots, tightly rolled into a ring and secured with fibrous ties, displayed on a dark grey museum plinth.
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𝕊𝕜𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕂𝕖𝕪 @skeletonkey.bsky.social · 20h
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Sir Michael Take CBE @sirmichaeltake.bsky.social · 9h
A sad, lonely woman jilted by her brash lover is left to wile away the empty hours in an isolated flat in Dubai. After consuming yet another vodka her mind wanders & she types out far fetched fantasies desperately seeking attention & solace. Please could someone call a doctor.😬
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Alexander Rooksmoor @arcrooksmoor.bsky.social · 9h
Sunday marks the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street in East London. There are events across the weekend to mark this important milestone in opposing Fascism in Britain. #CableStreet90 togetheroncablestreet.com www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/... 1/2
Image of sticker produced by Unite the Union to advertise events around the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, 4th October 1936.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 23h
Burnham made Farage seem “angry, thin-skinned… absurd. What we witnessed today was a masterclass in political communication which makes Farage look like an amateur” Finally. The confidence that comes with emotional intelligence. It could make all the difference. iandunt.substack.com/p/burnham-sp...
iandunt.substack.com
Burnham speech: An astonishing moment of radicalism and commitment
It’s easy to be cynical, but it would be false. Something extraordinary is happening here.
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Parody Nigel Farage @parodypm.bsky.social · 23h
Andy Burnham is coming for your pension! By... er... increasing it by slightly less. Whereas Reform will scrap it completely.
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 29/09/2026
🚨 BREAKING 🚨 Burnham: "I will not allow it to continue like this. Today I can confirm Angela Eagle will present a strengthened water bill to Parliament. The center piece of that bill will be this. The repeal of Margaret Thatcher's ideological ban on public ownership of water companies."
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Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Orcadian Gothic A Neolithic couple stand before the chambered cairn of Wideford Hill #Orkney Painting by Brian Lee, spotted on the Historic Scotland site interpretation board, in homage to Grant Wood's famous 1930 painting Well played 👏 📷 Aug 2024 #TombTuesday #Archaeology
A woman with yellow hair and man with grey, both dressed in Neolithic textiles and furs, the man holding a shovel, stand infront of a stone built structure with thatched roof. Neither look happy
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them.” How an Archeologist changed KURT VONNEGUT’s life.
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alexjungle.bsky.social @alexjungle.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
BBC interview with kids in 1966 predicting the year 2000. Quite accurate is it? Also do you observe the fluency of the children? Nowdays they would speak with ah, oh, okay, whateva.
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Grumpy-ish Brian🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🇮🇪 @brian770.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
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pmamtraveller.bsky.social @pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The models for ‘American Gothic’ pose in front of the iconic painting, 1942.
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Fascinating world of ancient #glass: A Roman glass model of a #boat, dating 2nd c. AD. It was found in St. Aldegund in a 4th-century woman's grave. Six of such boats are known. We don't know their function: Were they used as women's urinals, as components of water clocks and sundials, as...🧵1/2 🏺
A translucent blue glass vessel shaped like a boat, with a curved hull, upturned ends, and small protruding feet for support. The surface has visible cracks. A soft shadow is cast beneath the object on a neutral background.
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🧵 As front-page headlines go, this has to be one of the most misleading I've seen in a long time It's an out-and-out lie But notice the trick they use to get away with it...👀 *They're* not lying - they're just quoting someone else who is👍🏻 In this case, the leader of the opposition🙄 1/33
Daily Express headline:

"More Freedoms Handed to New Arrivals than British Citizens"

Above an image of Kemi Badenoch

All with a Monk Debunked stamp on top
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Acid Rain @bearysweet.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
How they make Turkish pastries.. - Spiral-shaped Turkish pastry known as burma katmer sprinkled with crushed Antep pistachios over layers of dough and clotted cream (kaymak). - It's a traditional Turkish dessert popular in regions like Gaziantep and Adana. #desserts #pastry #turkish
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Are Reform UK *sure* they want to yoke themselves to people like Daniel “Danny Tommo” Thomas? Nigel Farage was adamant for years that most voters instantly recognise and intensely dislike football thug types like him and Tommy Robinson.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
DoorDash spent $1.4M trying to stop Zohran Mamdani from becoming mayor. This week's historic $131.5M enforcement action against DoorDash for underpaying NYC delivery workers shows why. Yet another reminder that the only thing that can beat organized money is organized people.
theintercept.com
DoorDash Spent $1.4 Million Trying to Stop Mamdani From Becoming Mayor. Now We Know Why.
In a wage-theft settlement, DoorDash now has to pay its workers around 100 times what it spent trying to beat Zohran Mam
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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Ancient and beautiful amber pendants worn by hunter-gatherers during the Danish Mesolithic some 10,000 years ago! 📷 by me #Archaeology
My photo shows three glossy, bright orange, drop-shaped pieces of amber arranged in a row against a dark background in a museum display case. Each piece of amber is decorated with finely incised patterns. The smalleest piece on the left is decorated with a comb motif- three horizontal lines with short vertical lines on top. The largest piece in the middle has a patchwork of alternating incised rectangles, and the piece on the right has four evenly spaced  horizontal rows a Ross the surface made up of drilled pits. Each piece of amber has a hole at the top suggesting it was attached to a cord to be worn as jewellery or suspended.

Amber has many properties which may have been associated with 'magic'. For example, when rubbed against fur, amber produces static electricity which can give off sparks in the dark, make hair stand on end, and attract small things towards it.

These pieces are part of the collections of the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. They are currently on loan at the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle, Germany for the ‘Shamaness’ temporary exhibition.
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lalabote @lalabote.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Sir Don McCullin's photograph "Wounded Marine," shows a U.S. Marine whom he would later carry to safety, during the 1968 Battle of Hue, part of the U.S. Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. Image credit: Sir Don McCullin. www.cbsnews.com/news/don-mcc...
cbsnews.com
Legendary war photographer Sir Don McCullin on his final testament to Vietnam: 50 years of "pictures to hurt you"
"I want my pictures to hurt," British war photographer Sir Don McCullin told CBS News ahead of the publication of his final book: "Vietnam."
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RG Poulussen @rgpoulussen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
😂 Sublime, US media on the counter-offensive. About time!
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
South of Scotland pub used in cult classic film The Wicker Man up for auction. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Creetown pub used in cult film The Wicker Man up for auction
The Ellangowan Hotel in Creetown became the Green Man pub for the 1970s cult horror movie.
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Richard Corbett CBE @richardcorbett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Just 4 months after the local elections, Reform UK (RefUK) have lost 158 of their local councillors: -55 resigned -42 went Independent -28 defected -24 were kicked out -5 lost their seats -2 disqualified -2 suspended. Appalling record - and a waste of taxpayers’ money!
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pmamtraveller.bsky.social @pmamtraveller.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
these Art Nouveau doors by Ernest Delune in Brussels, Belgium, from the 1900s.
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
NASA picture of the day today is a real 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿beauty! This is a composite image of the ~5000yo Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis. The amazing Giuseppe Petricca has only gone and photographed the Sun at noon there, every few days, for a whole year. #Dedication 🔭🧪👌 ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/image-articl...
The imposing Callanish Stones stand talk with their shadows spanning out across the glass.  It's a super clear sky, but looks cold. Above the central stone is a strange figure-of-8 shape of dots.  This is the location of the Sun, at noon, on various different days across the year.
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Hoodlum 🇺🇸 @nothoodlum.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Mark Carney: “I would now like to inform you that the teleprompter has ceased to function. Unlike a certain world leader, I do not view this as a conspiracy.”
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Jon Cooper @joncooper-us.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The funniest joke ever. 😂
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Belle de jour @bowman120.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Excellent talk/ Q&A with Stephen Bush tonight at a packed meeting of the New Liberals in Fitzrovia, with views from all the main Westminster parties represented. In C17 radical style, having drunk our coffee, we should now distribute the pamphlets in the streets …. @stephenkb.bsky.social
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Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 17/09/2026
he's the prime minister of Spain, but graphic design is his passion
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
9,500 years old! And still intact! A Mesolithic woven baskets from Spain’s Cueva de los Murciélagos (“Cave of the Bats”) are Europe’s oldest known basketry. Thanks to the cave’s near‑zero humidity, organic materials didn’t decay, preserving several baskets for more than 9,000. 🧵/1/2 📷 me
Woven cylindrical basket displayed against a black background, with a wide rim and rounded base illuminated by a spotlight.
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Kreatives Chaos 👀✌️💪👍👊 @kreativeschaos.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Nimmer lange hin bis Weihnachten. Meinen Ugly-Christmas-Sweater habe ich schon an. 😂
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Archaeology @archaeology07.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Around 40,000 years ago, someone carved a human body with the head of a cave lion from mammoth ivory. Found in Germany’s Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave, the 31 cm-tall Lion Man is among the oldest known figurative artworks—and proof that imagination has very ancient roots.
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The Roman Society @theromansoc.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
'Monumental Roman wall mosaic revealed beneath the Baths of Trajan' - maybe biggest wall mosaic ever found. www.heritagedaily.com/2026/09/monu...
heritagedaily.com
Monumental Roman wall mosaic revealed beneath the Baths of Trajan
Archaeologists in Rome have revealed what is believed to be the largest ancient Roman wall mosaic ever discovered, following the opening of new archaeological spaces beneath the Baths of Trajan. - Her...
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The Mouthy Renegade Writer @mouthyrenegade.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I'd like to enter this into the "best thing I've seen on the Internet this month" contest. This racist piece of shit called ICE after these fellas built his fence to avoid paying them. They handled their business. And I love the music this is set to. "You've been, THUNDERSTRUCK!"
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Rosie Holt @rosieisaholt.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Reform MP defends billionaire donations, says Reform is a “disruptor” and compares Reform to Jesus.
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christhebarker @christhebarker.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Admittedly there are potential risks in the rapid development of Dalek tech: extermination, loss of civilisation, possible destruction of all human life. But we must consider potential benefits in productivity, medicine, scientific discovery. And even if we DO slow down, other countries might not...
Daleks
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RG Poulussen @rgpoulussen.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
#BattleofBritainDay Exhaustion on the face of BoB pilot Squadron Leader B.J.E. "Sandy" Lane, 1940. MIA on 13 December 1942. #WW2 #HISTORY
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Sir Michael Take CBE @sirmichaeltake.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
What Reform UK will spend their £72M donations on: Robert Jenrick’s Mounjaro Bacon sandwiches Balaclavas Recruiting Conservative ex ministers Full home and away football kits Oysters Pints of beer used as props Holidays to Dubai Gags for Zia Yusuf Old men with walking sticks. 🇬🇧
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rogueclassicist ~ david meadows @rogueclassicist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Who Was the Mysterious Gallic Warrior Buried in Britain with a Unique 2,000-Year-Old Helmet? | Arkeonews arkeonews.net/who-was-the-...
arkeonews.net
Who Was the Mysterious Gallic Warrior Buried in Britain with a Unique 2,000-Year-Old Helmet? | Arkeonews
A unique 2,000-year-old helmet buried with the North Bersted warrior raises questions about his identity and links between Britain, Gaul and Rome.
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The Venus of Willendorf: A 29,500‑year‑old masterpiece and one of the most iconic works of Paleolithic art. Standing just 11.1 cm tall, the figurine was carved from oolitic limestone and originally coated with red ochre, a pigment that still leaves faint traces today. 🧵1/2 📷 me #archaeology
A front-facing photograph of a small, pale limestone female figurine, centered against a deep black museum-display background. The figure has a rounded body with prominent breasts, a full abdomen, broad hips, and short legs, the feet are broken off; her thin arms rest on her breasts. Her head is covered with closely carved horizontal bands or braided-looking grooves, no visible facial features.
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Bluesky Fanatic @blueskyfanatic.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
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Neil Brand @neilkbrand.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Come on folks - this is a priceless asset that we will LOSE if the money is not raised in the next ten days!!! www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-cinema...
crowdfunder.co.uk
The Cinema Museum: HELP US BUY OUR HOME
After 40 years of uncertainty, we have a chance to secure our home. We need £500,000 to purchase our home and we have five months to do it!
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Hassinator @hassinator.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
a great letter in the times today. perhaps worth sharing in these troubled times. #RNLI #heroes
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Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
PETER O’TOOLE outside the famous Coach and Horses pub in Soho (1999)
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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Best bit of the Bayeux tapestry is the 1944 addendum
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The UK now needs to introduce political spending limits across a parliament, not just for election campaign years. Otherwise, its election spending rules could fall over. Current rules: parties have a limit (about £34m) for 12 months before an election - but no limits outside the 12 month period.
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Belle de jour @bowman120.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Well into the Last Night of the Proms….contrary to the critics, Nicky Spence in a kilt (with shoulder Loch Ness monster) and my non scientific count suggests something like 2:1 ratio of EU to Union Jack flags! Always think of this event as the real transition from Summer to Autumn….
Nicky Spence at last night of the Proms leads singing in the second half, dressed in a kilt with a Loch Ness monster across his shoulders
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Robert Saunders @robertsaunders.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Reform is the richest party in Britain. Its leaders are almost all millionaires. It is funded almost exclusively by billionaires. It has a supportive TV station and widespread media backing. So naturally, this donation comes with the usual attack on "elites". www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform UK given record £36m donation by British crypto billionaire
Ben Delo was convicted in US for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls but pardoned by Trump
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Anti-Reform @antireform.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
"Masked men in black shirts 'echo the 1930s' warns Lord who escaped Nazis" 'Today, Alf’s decision to speak up for refugees means he suffers abuse, mainly online... “But it’s always much worse for women than men, and for black women than white women ...' www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...
mirror.co.uk
Masked men in black shirts 'echo the 1930s' warns Nazi survivor
Lord Alf Dubs is still giving back to the country that adopted him. Now he's released his autobiography 'The Boy with the Knapsack’
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Oliver @oliver48.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Stop the vote-buying far right "It’s not too late to stop this madness - the government has said UK mega donors are a problem. The lords can bring in a cap on UK donors to stop any attempt to buy the next election. Share this & ask your MP to join us protecting British democracy" via Stella Creasey
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"Er... did you check the use-by date on this caterpillar cake?" From the new Private Eye, in shops now.
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