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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’

@thehillpaul.bsky.social
295 followers 289 following 1.4K posts

Rural Antiquary, Byzantinist, Z' Troop veteran & Varangjar for the σκρίνιον τῶν βαρβάρων and a Curator. A Byron Rogers Enthusiast. ‘Did I mention I rowed a Trireme?’ nigelhillpaul6.wixsite.com/sketches…

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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 10h
I shall have to start using ‘reesmogged’ as a verb when explaining simple facts to simple people.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Anyone who argues that the ideas of Brexit has right-wing roots would benefit from a study of the 1970’s Labour Party. Also, look at the smoking! x.com/heartlandstr...
x.com
The Heartlands Tribune (@HeartlandsTrib) on X
This is the reality MPs don't like
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
See also The Nothing Box.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I’ll be disappointed if I’m not on it. metro.co.uk/2026/09/25/s...
metro.co.uk
The government is keeping a list of people who question their policies
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The blessings of the Feast of Michaelmas to you all.
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Reposted by Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’
Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Today would be the day after the Battle of Stamford Bridge, where Anglo-Saxon England was mortally wounded and the Age of the Vikings ended.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Today would be the day after the Battle of Stamford Bridge, where Anglo-Saxon England was mortally wounded and the Age of the Vikings ended.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
At Stamford Bridge, Harald Hardrada had a banner, Landøyðan, ‘The Land-Reaver’ which he took to Stamford Bridge, leading an army of tattooed & ornamented warriors their gold & personal weapons winking in the sunlight.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I’ll bet they laughed at her and were mean to her too. www.thetimes.com/article/5706...
thetimes.com
SAS are not the heroes they think they are, says whistleblower
Monica Grenfell, who worked at the elite regiment’s Herefordshire HQ for three years, claims soldiers were ‘feral’ and that ‘nasty characters ruled the roost’
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I have absolutely no problem with Neil Kinnock’s proposal to make voting compulsory as long as the ballot sheet contains a box marked ‘None of the above’
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Laughs in Charlemagne, etc, etc.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
‘And now, we move on, to liars….’
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The House of Lords did their job, I’m not convinced she did hers in shifting goalposts & ignoring the concerns of organisations representing the people who were likely to have been targeted. The moral certainty of a sixth-form debater & a similar level of emotional resilience.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
oday, 16th September is Owain Glyndŵr Day, another of Wales’ heroes, asleep until needed. #ByronRogers
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I am reminded that today, 15th September is the Feast day of St Niketas the Goth, patron saint of Greek reserve officers (including those who rowed a trireme😉).
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Am far foreign tonight with no @BBCiPlayer so here’s an earlier stand up #GodSaveTheKing youtu.be/3ywHuONE2R4?...
share.google
God Save The King - Proms 2024
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
TheHillpaul is on holiday.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Well done the House of Lords for giving the Commons the chance to think again. #AssistedDying
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Twenty-five years on, looking at the changes in our societies in the West, are we sure we won?
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I’m sure there are many who will be disappointed about the result if the Assisted Dying Bill 2 in Parliament, but I have to say I am profoundly relieved it has been defeated.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Possibly one of the most disingenuous articles written by a politician. ‘I was elected to Westminster two years ago, when the country was crying out for change and looking to parliament to tackle the big issues that had been forgotten for too long’. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
I am sending the assisted dying bill back to the Lords – and this time, peers must do the right thing | Lauren Edwards
The will of the elected chamber – and a popular, compassionate piece of legislation – must not be frustrated again by a small minority of peers, says Labour MP for Rochester and Strood Lauren Edwards
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
‘Either a dragon or a tiger’.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
‘Andronicus II attempted to economise by disbanding the navy….’ ‘Ha, what an idiot’.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
‘Siri, show me an example of Hutber’s Law’. ‘You mean all improvement leads to deterioration?’ ‘Yes, that’s the one’.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Getting an award from a nattily dressed Uncle Harry should be the culmination of any writer’s career. cc @hntdove.bsky.social
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
RIP Tim Curry.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Out with my mates.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Byzantine Bluesky is judging you.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
‘Laughs in Gibraltarian’.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I *knew* Hagia Sophia used to be yellow!
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
And the joy of a beautiful morning in the Celestial Parish to you all.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
‘Grok, create a random image based on my X account’.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
when I went, I was told the whole point was to be even odder when you came out, gratia @pratinavanil.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/article/edd5...
thetimes.com
Keep universities weird: it’s what they’re for
Let’s be proud that the scholarly freedom behind great advances includes both the esoteric genius and the useless crank
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Monday. Again.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Gratia @mrtimdunn.bsky.social on the Other Place. #Eclipse
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
This from @timothy_stanley is delicious and mordantly spot-on. digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/2527/re...
digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk
The Telegraph
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Monday. Again.
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Reposted by Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’
Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
‪But like Odysseus, I’ve met Teresias & took his advice about going inland until people didn’t recognise what an oar was & thought it was a spade. But in my case inland was an airport & they thought it was a propellor & that, dear reader is how I started my career in aviation. ‬
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Reposted by Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’
Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The only negative was not being asked to crew the Draken Harald Hårfagre having *ahem* ‘some experience’ rowing boats. 😉
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Reposted by Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’
Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
But the big plus was most of the audience was male and female and under 25. ‬ ‪If Nolan can awaken interest in the Odyssey in a new generation then he has done well. ‬
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Reposted by Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’
Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
But the standout character for me was Samantha Morton’s emotionally wounded and isolated Circe who was convincing as a woman who has retreated from the world and needs to control her environment.
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Reposted by Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’
Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I know there’s been some argle-bargle about individual actors, but Elliot Page bought real pathos to Sinon’s shade in Hades.
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Reposted by Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’
Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Anachronisms always jar & I’m not always a fan of colour-blind casting, but as a text that has been adapted, interpreted & translated so often, I think Nolan’s approach was fresh & interesting with enough echoes to the original that you can squeak with pleasure (swallows call).
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Reposted by Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’
Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Just back from seeing #Odyssey and I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. I’m not a classicist so have no skin in this game, but as a film of the Odyssey, rather than a documentary account it worked for me.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Just back from seeing #Odyssey and I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. I’m not a classicist so have no skin in this game, but as a film of the Odyssey, rather than a documentary account it worked for me.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
‘He knows where the moisturiser is kept’, is my new favourite passive-aggressive insult.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
He won’t or can’t finish it. The kindest thing he can do to his readers is sit down with some aspiring young writer and tell them how he sees the series progressing and finishing, and hand it over.
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Please. Make. It. Stop. www.theguardian.com/education/ng...
theguardian.com
Playbooks, plagiarism and a pig’s head: new claims surrounding a star Cambridge professor
Jason Arday was regarded as an academic superstar, but then questions about his work prompted scrutiny of his backstory and counterclaims of racism
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Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
For some reason, I find this immensely heartening.
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Reposted by Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’
Nigel Hillpaul ن ‘A Colourful Welshman’ @thehillpaul.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I had a headmaster once who told me he shouldn’t be surprised one day to see my name in print. I don‘t think he meant it as a compliment. Gratia @theresthistory.bsky.social
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