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William Owen

@wdowen.bsky.social
488 followers 355 following 458 posts

Advisor on digital transformation & conservation in the cultural sector @ wdowen.substack.com & Factum Foundation. Writing about East India Company influence on art & industry @ eaho.substack.com

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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Are words like 'tenebrous' used for any purpose other than to force us to reach for the dictionary?
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The way the world works: [Manchester] City lawyer Simon Cliff asserts that “Uefa doesn’t respond to anything other than aggression”, and threatens the governing body of European football … with “the destruction of their rules and organisation”. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The Manchester City case shows us how the global mega-rich now expect to operate with impunity | Jonathan Liew
When transnational alliances have scarcely been weaker, the way the club was allegedly run offers a bleak vision of a world driven by brute power and wealth, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Enjoying the Mediterranean weather under a Mediterranean pine in Metropolitan London reading about the ‘Godzilla’ El Niño now at 3 degrees above average
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Big news, this has been a long time coming: strong evidence that there are multiple hidden chambers behind Tutankhamun’s burial chamber, possibly Nefertiti’s tomb. Nick Reeves’ work builds on laser scanning data captured by Factum Foundation > a decade ago. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Exclusive: New evidence for hidden chambers beyond Tutankhamun’s tomb
Geophysical survey yields ‘tantalizing’ data that could point to Nefertiti’s burial place – but it’s too early to draw definitive conclusions.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Big news, this has been a long time coming: strong evidence that there are multiple hidden chambers behind Tutankhamun’s burial chamber, possibly Nefertiti’s tomb. Nick Reeves’ work builds on laser scanning data captured by Factum Foundation > a decade ago. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Exclusive: New evidence for hidden chambers beyond Tutankhamun’s tomb
Geophysical survey yields ‘tantalizing’ data that could point to Nefertiti’s burial place – but it’s too early to draw definitive conclusions.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The story behind the name "Cally" is "Ferodo"
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Scare quotes watch reveals Zionist sub-editor (and/or political editor) at work at the Guardian. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
theguardian.com
UK accuses Israeli ‘terrorists’ of ethnic cleansing in West Bank with government backing
Ed Miliband announces sanctions on trade with settlers as PM says in the Guardian it is time to act
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
“my profession … smiles at hard-right figures when they walk into a TV studio and are given a disproportionate amount of air time to make their fact-free assertions while nodding along to their scapegoating of the weak, the disadvantaged, the foreign, and the displaced …
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I’m picturing this a.m.’s editorial meet at BBC News in Millbank House. At issue the plausibility of a long-planned editorial line for Reform conference, 'Preparing for Government'. Chris Mason is on the phone to Robbie Gibb: “WE STICK WITH IT!”. Nick Robinson grimly checks his intro one more time
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
And should also be read in conjunction with this analysis by a French researcher of the strategy and tactics behind the hounding of Jason Arday and its ultimate purpose, in which Orr, and Toby Young, both figure broligarchy.substack.com/p/the-killin...
broligarchy.substack.com
The killing of a black man
A French researcher exposes the network of “race realists” who hunted Jason Arday like prey and the media who fell into their trap
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
BBC News R4 Today introduces a feature on supercharged El Niño by twice emphasising this is a natural phenomena and without linking the ‘supercharging’ to global warming by fossil fuel use. This is a repeated tick, editorial policy, not sloppy journalism. BBC News has gone full Trump.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
theguardian.com
UK must end all trade with Israel, says co-founder of BDS movement
Exclusive: sanctions against ministers and settler groups are ‘smoke and mirrors cop-out’ says Omar Barghouti
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
From the FT, with no intended irony: ‘It’s like playing on concrete’: drought leaves sports pitches across England unplayable. - Rugby and football matches postponed as dry weather affects grassroots and amateur sports ...
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
A news item that tells us that next year is going to be the hottest ever because of El Niño without mentioning CO2 induced heating has got to be funded by fossil fuel companies - yeah? Well it’s BBC News, in every radio bulletin today.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The life of Eliza Ogilvy opens up rabbit holes I sometimes run down gratefully. This is a deep one, concerning the granddaughters of the Congress leader Dadabhai Naoroji and their leading role in the Indian liberation movement in Mumbai in the 1920s and ‘30s. eaho.substack.com/p/the-captai...
eaho.substack.com
The Captain sisters in Bombay, organising women's resistance to British rule in India
Dadabhai Naoroji paid for his granddaughters to have the very best education at Oxford & the Sorbonne; they used it wisely, to lead the women's Satyagraha movement and the boycott campaign in Bombay.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social @alanlester.bsky.social Thank you for your kind words! The kernel of the book (so far) is here eaho.substack.com/s/the-book/a... but yet to cover 2H19C. The explanation of how it fits together, and how one things leads to another, is here: eaho.substack.com/p/introducin...
eaho.substack.com
Introducing Eliza Ogilvy (the long edition)
A literary life in Scotland, India, Italy and London; a network of artists, writers and scientists; a microhistory of the East India Company and its influence on British culture in the 19th Century.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I’m standing in the rain. It’s not the monsoon but it’s gorgeous!
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
We need to show rightwing newspapers that actions have consequences. Add your name: goodlawproject.org/s/abb8a1
goodlawproject.org
Jason Arday: Demand a public inquiry now | Good Law Project
Commission an immediate public inquiry into how to ensure a responsible press given its contribution to Dr Arday’s tragic death.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Thanks Margot. Adding in part 3 on diverse mechanisms by which Indian and Chinese wealth was transferred to capital formation in Britain, inc. Macnaghten & Prinsep connections with GWR, Lushington & Harris with London Chatham & Kent, and P&O with opium transit eaho.substack.com/p/163-old-in...
eaho.substack.com
16.3 Old Indians, new money
David Ogilvy was a cog in the machine that directed wealth gained in China and India into British capital formation during the railway boom and bust of 1843-50. The consequences were transformative.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
And here is Part 1, Railway mania eaho.substack.com/p/161-railwa...
eaho.substack.com
16.1 Railway mania
How profits extracted from India fuelled Britain's railway bubble; how William Aytoun played a small part in its bursting; and how Eliza Dick found herself in an East India Company marriage.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
And here is Part 1, Railway mania eaho.substack.com/p/161-railwa...
eaho.substack.com
16.1 Railway mania
How profits extracted from India fuelled Britain's railway bubble; how William Aytoun played a small part in its bursting; and how Eliza Dick found herself in an East India Company marriage.
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Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
1/2 Following on from @eicathomefinn.bsky.social & others (link), William Owen has been researching the East India Company's influence on British society & economy. This eastern influence merged with that of the Atlantic slavery complex to help transform the nation. uclpress.co.uk/book/the-eas...
uclpress.co.uk
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Something to watch giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
The Bayeux Tapestry loan is a model for the Parthenon Marbles
Burnham has a chance to create a legislative carve-out that speeds the process of returning the artefacts to Greece
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Bristol University's failed appeal to overturn David Miller's tribunal victory confirms legal protections for anti-Zionism as a philosophical belief - and is ignored by all m/s media except the BBC and Al Jazeera. Times, Telegraph and Guardian are much too busy hounding Jason Arday to cover it.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
As the great opium smuggler James Matheson once remarked, it is “opium revenue on which [the East India Company] chiefly rely for the means of paying the dividends on their Stock”. And yes, a guaranteed annual dividend of £630,000 was divided between some 4500 individual shareholders.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
So why the scare quotes? The article says “Two of the most frequently used chemicals in pet flea and tick treatments – imidacloprid and fipronil – are banned for use in pesticides in the EU and UK due to their severe toxicity to fish, invertebrates, bees.” www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
theguardian.com
Calls to ban ‘toxic’ pet flea treatments that harm UK wildlife and environment
Over-the-counter treatments for cats and dogs contain chemicals that are banned in pesticides and pollute waterways
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
As the great opium smuggler James Matheson once remarked, it is “opium revenue on which [the East India Company] chiefly rely for the means of paying the dividends on their Stock”. And yes, a guaranteed annual dividend of £630,000 was divided between some 4500 individual shareholders.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
As the great opium smuggler James Matheson once remarked, it is “opium revenue on which [the East India Company] chiefly rely for the means of paying the dividends on their Stock”. And yes, a guaranteed annual dividend of £630,000 was divided between some 4500 individual shareholders.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Thinking through the unedifying, un-evidence-based rush to an undefined, apparently unmodelled paradigm of 'specialisation, what's being lost/threatened? Herts History was an excellent example of performing to a top standard in REF, but also much more than that. Questions to think with include: 1/4
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Just published in Eliza Ogilvy’s Commonplace Book is Missing: On East India Company family alliances reforming as business networks in London, and their influence on the railway boom and bust of 1843-50, in three parts:
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Just published in Eliza Ogilvy’s Commonplace Book is Missing: On East India Company family alliances reforming as business networks in London Company, and their influence on the railway boom and bust of 1843-50, in three parts:
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Tragic yes, but for @telegraph.co.uk and Allister Heath it's simply time for the people of Leiston and the birds of Dunwich to embrace the Mediterranean lifestyle
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Today’s cloud. To be helpful it’s in the centre of the picture, in the sky. In the foreground you can see the desertification of Green Park.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Could anyone with the necessary expertise translate this for me? “The [Ziwiye hoard] earrings belong to Barron London a … dealer whose website states: “With a reputation for discretion, the gallery works privately with collectors, estates and institutions to uncover and place pieces of significance”
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
‘Fairness you can feel’. Neil Kinnock is selling Andy Burnham like soap. Is he just a lot of lather?
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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Historian of science Margaret Rossiter (b #OTD in 1944) coined the term #MatildaEffect (1993). Named after suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage, the Matilda Effect describes a systemic bias where women's scientific achievements are ignored, minimized, or directly attributed to their male colleagues. 1/3
A black-and-white photograph of the pathbreaking American historian of science, Margaret Walsh Rossiter (1944–2025), renowned for coining "the Matilda effect" and documenting the buried history of women in science. Seated in an indoor setting with a soft, blurred background, Rossiter is positioned from the waist up, facing forward with a warm, open smile. She has short, curly gray hair and wears dark, thick-rimmed glasses. She's wearing a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt patterned entirely with small, dark polka dots. She holds a heavy, open book resting on her lap or desk, her left hand steadying the right-hand pages while her right hand rests on the left-hand pages, lightly gripping a pencil. The overall composition is intimate and studious, casting her as an approachable yet deeply focused scholar. The mood is intellectually vibrant and welcoming, reflecting a life dedicated to uncovering the truth.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Long piece on institutional collusion in the erasure of a people and their past. Well researched, worth a read, exposing reprehensible behaviour. www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/ex...
middleeasteye.net
Exclusive: British Museum made false claims about its removal of ‘Palestine’ from displays
Internal emails reveal changes resulted directly from complaints by pro-Israel activists, with the museum and its director subsequently misleading prominent critics
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
'Lunch with the FT' is a lightweight regular feature and sometimes disappointingly so, as in today's with Morgan McSweeney, by George Parker [he's over at X] who offers a soft mouthpiece for myth-making and nothing resembling journalism. I'll save the world the link. @financialtimes.com
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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
This loss is significant. Another database, the Colonial Film Project, exists still as a database but no films are viewable as the original project ran on flash (!).
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
“As a technology, AI has pros and cons; as a rushed project of rapacious elites, it is transparently obscene … rolled out in the most reckless, self-serving way one could imagine, by the worst people, for the worst reasons. It’s not the machines you should be angry with.”
theguardian.com
The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI by Cory Doctorow review – the real price of artificial intelligence
A vivid and entertaining polemnic on the economics of the tech revolution, filled with righteous ire
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I’ve just seen James Parnell - Josh Simons axis described as “Continuity neo-liberal Zionism”. That just about sums it up.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
It's that time when you think 'Thank God I don't have a subscription'.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Popping this up again
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Regulator left hand and right hand entirely out of sync, so dumb
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
The perils of working in the garden. This just fell on my keyboard. I was I in mid-sentence.
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
These are the people who are running the show. Weep with me. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Mandelson criticised Starmer’s lack of ‘verve’ and tendency to buckle under pressure
Criticisms revealed in major release of files relating to Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to US
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Normal Island News @normalisland.co.uk · 16/05/2026
BREAKING: Man optimistic he can replace hated prime minister and win over the public by doing the exact same policies, but in a Mancunian accent ♥️
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Free link giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
Why birth rates are falling everywhere all at once
Homes and phones are part of the reason for the demographic shift changing our world
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William Owen @wdowen.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Breathtaking article in the FT on the impact of smartphones and social media worldwide reducing socialising (by up to half) coupling and birth rates. “Women have moved leftward, men have not, and coupling and births have cratered.” app.ft.com/content/fba3...
app.ft.com
FT
The latest UK and international business, finance, economic and political news, comment and analysis from the Financial Times optimised for your device on app.ft.com.
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