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Sir Almaviva

@ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social

540 followers 940 following 4.6K posts

Lover of trams, classical music, maths, tea and cats. Member of the cycling lobby. 🇮🇹 immigrant in 🇬🇧. Refugees are welcome, racists are not. Lover of "Italian Effeminacy and Italian Nonsense" (i.e. opera, according to Jonathan Swift)

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · Jan 8

Let's see if I can keep it up, but I am going to try to do a thread with all the books I read in 2025, starting from the following post.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1h

“When you are tired of Ariosto, you must be tired of the world.” (C. S. Lewis)

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 6h

He Is, but ultimately the responsibility lies with Starmer.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 7h

Do a quick analysis

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 12h

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

rm -rf ~/

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 12h

"The chancellor approved it"

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 7h

I started reading a book which promises to be quite interesting (Literature as Opera, by Gary Schmidgall, 1977) and where it talks about Händel you can tell the book was written before the massive boom in popularity of baroque opera, because it talks about those operas as largely forgotten.

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 8h

The strategy "we have not been racist enough, we need to be more racist" will not win Reform voters, but will lose votes like mine.

John Rentoul @rentouljohn.bsky.social · 9h

I think the McSweeney strategy is the right one, because most marginal seats are Labour-Reform contests

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 9h

In my opinion it's a very good recording, live in Rome in 1969. Pavarotti and Freni are both wonderful, and Bruscantini/Giaiotti is probably my favourite Riccardo/Giorgio pair. I should listen to it again!

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 10h

The first four I could think of, some of my favourite opera recordings (and operas)!

Puccini "Turandot"
Sutherland, Pavarotti, Caballé, Ghiaurov, Krause, Pears
John Alldis Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Zubin Mehta

Bellini "I puritani"
Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti, Sesto Bruscantini, Bonaldo Giaiotti
Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Roma della RAI
Riccardo Muti

Puccini "Madama Butterfly"
Freni, Pavarotti, Ludwig, Kerns, Wiener Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan

Puccini "La Bohème"
Pavarotti, Freni, Ghiaurov, Harwood, Panerai, Maffeo
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 11h

“Even long-time critics are conceding he will probably deserve it next year.”

Reposted by Sir Almaviva

elia ayoub 🌱 @ayoub.bsky.social · 23h

Disgusting. Parents are British. Her older brother is British.

She’s fucking three years old and they’re denying her British citizenship, which is making her mum’s life a nightmare as a full-time carer of both of her kids.

Stop this shit. Just stop it.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

‘Clear parallels’ with Windrush as UK-born toddler denied passport

Campaigners say lessons not being learned as three-year-old’s mother is asked to prove right to free NHS treatment

www.theguardian.com

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 23h

Diane Keaton 💔

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

Some Salford photos from today.

A column decorated with a human face and other sculpted details.

A building with a facade that looks like a Greek temple.

Salford cathedral seen from the front, with its tall spire in the background.

A path in a park, with trees on the right side and grass on either side, covered in fallen leaves. A metal fence on the right separates the park from the pavement along a tree-lined street.

Reposted by Sir Almaviva

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 1d

Glad to see Nigel Farage has finally remembered Nathan Gill, former leader of Reform in Wales - found guilty of taking bribes from Russia.

Maybe he'll now remember how much he took from Putin's propaganda broadcaster Russia Today for all his TV appearances when he was a MEP?

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

Wonderful autumn colours in the park.

Tall trees with yellow leaves in a park. Many leaves have fallen on the ground. Behind the trees is a path with a bench on the side. Two people are sitting on the bench, and two bicycles are parked nearby. It is a sunny day.

A bridge on a river, made of iron and with stone and brick pillars on either side. On the river banks we can see some autumnal trees, and the bright blue sky, with just a hint of white clouds, is reflected in the water.

A park seen from above, with trees and an eight-shaped path which goes around a green lawn and a flowerbed. The sky is blue and there are just some light white clouds.

A path in the park, in the shade and with trees on either side. A tall tree on the left still has green leaves, while the ones on the right are red and yellow. In the background, a clear blue sky.

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

Vorrei sperarlo, ma temo di no. Almeno qui nel Regno Unito, molte università sono in grossa crisi, con un sacco di gente che ha perso (e perderà) il lavoro. Non ce le vedo ad approfittare di questa occasione, se non per casi singoli.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

As a dual citizen, I really don't like the suggestion that you should have to give up your citizenship if you emigrate somewhere long-term. I am happy both my country of birth and the UK allow dual citizenship, and I strongly hope it stays that way.

Roland Smith @rolandmcs.bsky.social · 1d

Can we widen this to 'if you permanently emigrate anywhere', perhaps including pensioners who get citizenship of Spain, Portugal, wherever?

A kind of 'one in/one out' policy.

Ros Taylor @rostaylor.bsky.social · 1d

I’m afraid that if you emigrate to Dubai for the tax breaks and 24-hour security, you really should give up your citizenship here for someone who wants it.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

Autumn has come in all its splendour, so here are some autumnal photos I took over the years.

A pedestrian street in Leicester, with trees and buildings on either sides. The trees have yellow autumnal colours and some leaves have fallen to the ground.

A tranquil path along a canal in Worsley (Greater Manchester), with trees on one side, whose leaves show autumnal colours. Some leaves have fallen to the ground. A red boat is moored on the canal.

A bench in a park in Leicester, along a wide path which is covered by fallen leaves. Many trees are on the sides of the path.

A field shrouded in a morning mist, with frost on the grass and horses grazing. The scene gives a feeling of peace and tranquillity.

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

Unsolicited Picc-Vic

An image depicting an underground train in what should have been the Piccadilly-Victoria connection in Manchester.

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

For someone who claims to love the UK, Farage has almost nothing positive to say about it.

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

"Mommy, the big inflatable frog is tormenting me"

Rick Burin @rickburin.bsky.social · 1d

Imagine being this lame

The Telegraph saying that an activist dancing dressed as a frog is a terrorist (in coward quotes), and for some reason they’ve added that the person is non-binary

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

Among the immigrants who will qualify for ILR in the next few years is my wife, who I hope will get it (and citizenship) before Farage even has a chance to win the next election (of course I hope he won't!)

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

Such a hateful man. I hope he never gets anywhere close to the power that he so clearly craves.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

After the 430,000 people he will strip of their status

Farage angrily said "none of them will get it" of many other people living here now
www.instagram.com/reel/DO8diUd...

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Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

I was looking at some photos from last autumn, so here are four mural paintings in Hull (one of my favourite things to photograph when I lived there, so many great ones)

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

Jonathan Swift complained about "that unnatural Taste for Italian Musick among us, which is wholly unsuitable to our Northern Climate and the Genius of the People, whereby we are overrun with Italian Effeminacy and Italian Nonsense"

"Italian Effeminacy and Italian Nonsense" might be my new bio.

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 1d

"Im wunderschönen Monat Mai" (Robert Schumann) 10/10
"Im wunderschönen Monat Mai" (Franz Lachner) 7/10

Total score: 17

Rob Davies @byrobdavies.bsky.social · 2d

Fun music game.

Take two songs with the same name and post your combined score out of 10. How high can you get?

No covers/no triples (e.g. Power of Love)

My first effort, which i think is hard to beat...

Zombie (Fela Kuti) 10/10
Zombie (The Cranberries) 7/10

Total score: 17

Sir Almaviva @ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social · 2d

They could have as well gone with "Sir Almaviva fails in bid for Nobel Peace Prize", I had as much a chance to win it as Trump. To frame it this way is an interesting* choice.

*stupid

Headline from the Independent: "Trump fails in bid for Nobel Peace Prize as Venezuelan politician Maria Corina Machado wins 2025 award"

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