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HelenSparta

@helensparta.bsky.social
305 followers 192 following 471 posts

Art, nature, hiking, “soft science” I can understand, the planet and green stuff - trying to be a gardener but failing!

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Reposted by HelenSparta
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Time for this classic again.
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 30/09/2026
🚨 We’re calling on Ofcom to open a formal investigation into Nigel Farage presenting GB News shows and whether his programme on 15 September 2026 was within the rules on impartiality ⚠️ Broadcasters are required to present news in an impartial manner, without political bias.
bestforbritain.org
Farage on GB News: Demand that Ofcom takes immediate action - Best for Britain
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
BOTOX! TAN! PERM! SHINY TEETH! = Strictly makeover.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I don’t recognise any celebs on #strictly - am I now too old?
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Reposted by HelenSparta
Marina Purkiss @marina-purkiss.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Just imagine how much disinformation and micro targeting £72m gets you… Shame on the leaders who did nothing to protect democracy from the assault coming its way …as if we learnt nothing from Brexit.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
So if I was a rich man with £36mill spare I’d donate to a charity/hospital/hospice/food bank. No grandstanding, no dick waving about how rich & powerful I am that I can change politics. I DESPAIR at the venality of it all. Imagine the GOOD you could do. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Reform UK’s £72m donations may be caught by new bill, Rayner suggests
Minister points to legislation’s retrospective effect, but Reform says it is confident funding is within the law
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Saw a Pine Marten this morning in a hawthorn tree. The Wrens were clicking warning sounds. I’m sure it nabbed a little bird. Something quite brutal about them, but also cute. What a townie reaction! #mustelid #nature www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-exp...
wildlifetrusts.org
Pine marten | The Wildlife Trusts
Largely confined to the north of the UK, the rare pine marten is mostly nocturnal and very hard to spot. Reintroductions are helping it make a comeback.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Morning #Wales. I get up at 5.30 each morning like clockwork, no alarm. I’m at work by 7.30am. And yet here it’s a 8am wake up, naturally. #rest #healing #toast
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Morning #Wales.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Wales is a very beautiful country. That’s it. #Wales #beauty #fdrama
A Welsh valley somewhere in Powys.
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Reposted by HelenSparta
Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Not a surprise, but still big news www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Meta agrees to pay up to $16.68bn to settle social media case
The deal has been reached during a California federal court trial over claims brought by 29 states.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Dolly Parton... -Gifted millions of free books to kids -Ensured musicians she worked with got union benefits -Helped fund medical research, including the COVID vaccine -Donated millions to communities hit by natural disasters -Quietly funded high school band programs We lost an incredible person.
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Emma Mitchell @silverpebble2.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Part of petrichor, the delish earthy smell released when rain hits parched ground, is geosmin,a compound from soil bacteria-human👃s can detect it in lower concentrations than sharks can detect blood in water. Seeking out water on dry plains was essential for our ancestors. Here’s a geosmin molecule:
3d rendering of a geosmin molecule
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Nicholas Pegg @nicholaspegg.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Just a thought, but is it perhaps time for a responsible news media to stop reporting the dribbling arseblurts of these fools? Seriously, this is on a par with “Bloke down the pub says it’s a well-known fact that there’s no actual evidence that smoking is bad for you.”
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The Buried documentary on BBC2 this evening with @michaelsheen.bsky.social is a must watch, but utterly terrifying. The dangers of PCBs were well known. But it was dumped, contaminating water & land. Bravo to Open University for its coproduction. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Two - Buried with Michael Sheen
Michael Sheen tries to find out if the people of Wales are in danger.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Introduce yourself as what almost killed you. Hi, I’m Bacterial Meningitis August 2010.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I gardened hard at my mother in laws yesterday. I am now covered in blistery bites from Something that has made my right forearm look like Popeye’s. It’s very ouchy.
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Reposted by HelenSparta
Colin Dickey @colindickey.com · 22/07/2026
Please stop arguing about the historical accuracy of an adaptation of a book that has a cyclops and a couple of witches and some giants. I’m begging you.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
The @hornimanmuseum.bsky.social gardens are looking tropical today.
Photo of the Horniman Gardens with plants growing prolifically under a blue sky with one tiny cloud in the distance.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Not Sam Neill. Such sad news - an amazing actor, charismatic ❤️ Link to BBC News update below. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cr...
bbc.co.uk
Sam Neill, Jurassic Park actor, dies aged 78
The New Zealand actor, who was born in Northern Ireland, died in Sydney. He had recovered from cancer and "the loss was sudden and unexpected", his family says.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
This #wimbledon game is epic! New racquet needed. Wow. 😮
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
A seemingly happy #bee is a joy to behold. It kept coming back to this spiky pink echinacea. #bees #summer #flowers
A bee sits on top of a spiky coned pink echinacea flower.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
No, not Margo. ☹️ Penelope Keith played her so well.
Penelope Keith as Margo Leadbetter in The Good Life. What a character.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Just finished The Go-Between. I’ve seen the film, but reading this made it feel all new - the emotions & weather building to the epilogue. A perfect summer read during the recent heatwave. #summerreading #modernclassics
Front cover of the The Go-Between by LP Hartley.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Thankfully it’s 22 degrees and it feels blissful. A cool breeze. But I still need a summer whinge as my hayfever’s full on today 🤧. Can hayfever give you a headache? #summer2026
BBC weather forecast for Sunday 28 June.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Whoop! Thankfully we now have the wonder of Janet Kay’s Silly Games on this 1979 #totp show. Reminds me so much of secondary school and all the cool 6th formers playing records in the common room. #totp
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Squeeze. Deptford’s finest. 😀❤️ #totp
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Oooh, Heres’s curly 70’s Peter Powell! #totp
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
h2o on TOTP! What the hell?! Loved this song. Those dancers ruin the vibe tho. #totp
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
1983 TOTP’s European hits section is … bizarre. (although I admit I thought Ryan Paris’s Dolce Vita was a danceable Euro tune). #totp
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Reposted by HelenSparta
Stone Club @stoneclub.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
A very happy solstice to you all 🌞💫🌿🪨
Stonehenge sunrise
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
#HappySolstice. The Time & Date website shows the year's sunrises & sunsets, with the lunar cycle too. June's is #geeky, with the sun rising slightly later each day & setting at 21:21 in London until 1 July. Enjoy the #solstice wherever it's happening for you. #sunshine #longestday #summer #London
A snippet from the Time and Date website showing daylight times for the 2026 solstice in London 21 June 2026. 
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/london?month=6&year=2026
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
A creeper has shot up the side of our house and onto our roof. To cut it down, we need access via neighbour’s huge garden. Any Blue Sky wisdom and tips on how to ask nicely? Feel strangely scared to ask - assertion training needed!
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Bored of the grey skies and rain now. Come back summer.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Stained glass projects dreamy coloured light onto the floor of Chichester Cathedral. #stainedglass #light #colour #photography
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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Marie Tharp mapped the floor of the N. Atlantic in 1957 & the entire global ocean floor by 1977. A geologist & oceanographic cartographer whose work revealed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, proving continental drift & fundamentally changing modern earth science. #WorldOceansDay #WomenInSTEM #cartography
A black-and-white historical photograph of Marie Tharp (1920–2006), a pioneering American geologist and oceanographic cartographer whose groundbreaking work helped prove the theories of continental drift and plate tectonics. Tharp is seated on the right side of the frame at a large, flat drafting table in her office at Columbia University's Lamont Geological Observatory. She is dressed in a dark, structured, long-sleeved dress or jacket featuring a contrasting white pointed collar. Her dark hair is styled in short waves typical of the mid-20th century. Facing left toward her work, she maintains a calm, deeply focused expression. Her left hand rests on the edge of the desk, while her right hand points a pen or drafting tool directly onto a large, highly detailed physiographic map of the North Atlantic Ocean floor. The extensive map acts as the central focal point of the composition, clearly displaying the rich, rugged topography, ridges, and underwater valleys she painstakingly charted from sonar data. To the left of the map sits a small, dark globe mounted on a metal stand, showcasing the global continuity of these oceanic features. Surrounding the main desk are multiple charts illustrating topographic cross-sections of the seafloor; one large, multi-paneled chart leans vertically against the back wall, while two others are laid out in the bottom left corner, highlighting deep V-shaped rift valleys. Behind the desk, a large multi-pane window bathes the workspace in natural light, and a shelving unit packed with rolled maps and documents fills the background, emphasizing an atmosphere of rigorous, professional scientific research. The overall mood is one of quiet determination and intense intellectual engagement, capturing a historic moment where Tharp made the invisible visible from a shore-bound office.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Dried peach & nectarine halves from @Marks&Spencer. The packet’s advice of there being a “slight aroma on opening” is wrong. It should read “there will be a distinct nasty whiff of vom on opening.” I know I’m hyper sensitive to smells, but this is 🤢
Pack of M&S dried peach and nectarine halves. The wording “there will be a slight aroma on opening, which will not affect the quality of flavour of this product.” The aroma on opening is like … sick 🤢
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Saw the Marilyn Monroe exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery this morning. Great to see school kids there, but I wonder what they make of her and the times in which she lived. www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhi... #photography #marilynmonroe #moviestar #portraits
Black and white photos of a young Marilyn Monroe taken by Andre de Dienes in 1946. Gallery description of black and white photos of Marilyn Monroe taken in 1946, now on show at exhibition, National Portrait Gallery in London.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Loft ladder fell onto left foot. So. Bluddy. Painful. #ice #bagofpeas
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Rooting around in our very hot loft and found an old childhood book, Flower Fairies of the Trees. #planetrees #trees
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Well, this is very sad news. I loved him in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Buffy and Ted Lasso star Anthony Head dies at 72 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Photo of actor Anthony Head.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Since when has it cost £3.15 for one choc chip cookie from my local bakers? I want to support them, & would hate to see them go, but REALLY!? £3.15??
static.klipy.com
Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies
ALT: Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Read this today. And so I am now bravely preparing a balti that will probably be a catastrophe & a crime against such a treasured dish. I apologise in advance. www.theguardian.com/food/2026/ju...
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
An epic read. I tore through this, couldn’t put it down. It’s truly helped me understand a huge part of history that I’ve never really grasped (shockingly!). The epilogue’s final two paras about the dangers of corporate power are incredibly relevant. #corporatepower #india #history
Front cover of The Anarchy history book by William Dalrymple. The epilogue of The Anarchy book, the final two parts warning about the “potential for the abuse of corporate power…”
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... This was a fascinating programme - as an only child I’ve long tried to understand the family dynamics of those friends with siblings. #siblings #rivalry #psychology
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - Siblings Unpicked
Stephen and Anita Mangan unpick the sibling relationship with the help of Philippa Perry.
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Yesterday I witnessed something extraordinary: the author Sarah Wynn-Williams sitting silent on a stage at @hayfestival.bsky.social. And she got a standing ovation. I hope the attempt to censor her backfires magnificently. I have just ordered her book. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Meta legal action forces Facebook whistleblower to sit in silence at Hay festival
Sarah Wynn-Williams did not speak during event after lawyers warned of possible sanctions from tech firm
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Despite wearing factor 50 & sitting in the shade, I have somehow managed to “catch the sun.” I also have a heat rash on my neck. AND IT’S STILL SPRING. Wishing for #sunshine-glamour but instead I get #heatwavefail 🥵
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Chichester cathedral today. The sky is impossibly blue.
Exterior of Chichester cathedral with its spire reaching up into a clear blue sky.Interior of Chichester cathedral.
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Wish I was going to Hay Festival this year. Instead I face a slog of a weekend doing DIY due to another water leak. www.hayfestival.com/home
hayfestival.com
Hay Festival – Hay-on-Wye, Thursday 21 to Sunday 31 May 2026
Hay Festival brings readers and writers together to share stories and ideas in sustainable events around the world
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HelenSparta @helensparta.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
These take holiday beach stone collecting and painting to a whole new creative level. ❤️
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