Dani Garavelli
@danigaravelli.bsky.social
Freelance journalist & writer. Bylines at the Herald, the Guardian, the London Review of Books, the Big Issue, Prospect Magazine et al. Radio 4 documentaries, including Waiting for the Van & Prosecuting Polmont. Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize.
Pinned
La Chiesa Dei Morti
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” our guide, Michele, asks, as he leads us into the crypt behind the altar of the Chiesa Dei Morti — Church of the Dead — in the town of Urbania in Le Marche.
danigaravelli.substack.com
"Taut leathery skin hangs like a tabard over the torsos of the best-preserved Urbania mummies, & loosely over the legs & arms like an ageing elephant’s." I visited the Chiesa dei Morti and wrote about death, life and suchlike over on substack. (it's free!) danigaravelli.substack.com/p/la-chiesa-...
Vasari writing on Michelangelo’s Pietà, and indeed all his other work, is so beautiful and so rapturous and so refreshingly unresentful given he knew he could never touch MA’s greatness.
February 4, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Vasari writing on Michelangelo’s Pietà, and indeed all his other work, is so beautiful and so rapturous and so refreshingly unresentful given he knew he could never touch MA’s greatness.
"Those black boxes of redaction are little black boxes of power. Some men are protected because they are worth something, while the girls look like parts, not human." What a piece this is by Helen Rumbelow, though not for the faint-hearted.
I studied the latest Epstein files. As a woman, this is what I felt
They show a hidden world oiled by porn-saturated misogyny. I spent two days reading them
www.thetimes.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:53 PM
"Those black boxes of redaction are little black boxes of power. Some men are protected because they are worth something, while the girls look like parts, not human." What a piece this is by Helen Rumbelow, though not for the faint-hearted.
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
Today is #NationalSweaterDay so let's enjoy 'The Fair-Isle Jumper' painted by #Orkney-born artist Stanley Cursiter in 1923.
Stanley Cursiter (1887-1976) was Keeper of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1930-1948 and was appointed the King's Painter and Limner in Scotland.
Stanley Cursiter (1887-1976) was Keeper of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1930-1948 and was appointed the King's Painter and Limner in Scotland.
February 4, 2026 at 10:59 AM
Today is #NationalSweaterDay so let's enjoy 'The Fair-Isle Jumper' painted by #Orkney-born artist Stanley Cursiter in 1923.
Stanley Cursiter (1887-1976) was Keeper of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1930-1948 and was appointed the King's Painter and Limner in Scotland.
Stanley Cursiter (1887-1976) was Keeper of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1930-1948 and was appointed the King's Painter and Limner in Scotland.
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
Israeli strikes kill 18 in Gaza and patient crossings at Rafah halted, Palestinian officials say
Israeli strikes kill 18 in Gaza and patient crossings at Rafah halted, Palestinian officials say
Four children among dead as restrictions on evacuations put in place days after reopening of crossing to Egypt
Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes have killed 18 people, including four children, in Gaza and Israel has halted the evacuation of patients through the Rafah border crossing, Palestinian officials have said.
The Israeli military said it fired on Gaza after a gunman shot at Israeli soldiers and seriously injured a reservist. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
February 4, 2026 at 10:34 AM
Israeli strikes kill 18 in Gaza and patient crossings at Rafah halted, Palestinian officials say
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
We've lost the great Allan Massie. An absolute giant of Scottish literature and journalism, and an inspirational, kind and generous man, too. I think his son @alexmassie.bsky.social is only sporadically on Bluesky, but he has written a beautiful obituary. alexmassie.substack.com/p/allan-mass...
Allan Massie, 1938-2026
Father died this afternoon.
alexmassie.substack.com
February 3, 2026 at 9:35 PM
We've lost the great Allan Massie. An absolute giant of Scottish literature and journalism, and an inspirational, kind and generous man, too. I think his son @alexmassie.bsky.social is only sporadically on Bluesky, but he has written a beautiful obituary. alexmassie.substack.com/p/allan-mass...
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
OK, this is great. Everything works. Bonus points for respecting the original arrangement and lyric (e.g. 'Marilyn French'). It may be from a junket but it's hardly a trifle and significantly more enjoyable than a blancmange. 🥁 #Pulp #ABBA www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wd1...
Pulp - The Day Before You Came (ABBA Cover) in the Radio 2 Piano Room
YouTube video by BBC Music
www.youtube.com
February 3, 2026 at 5:46 PM
OK, this is great. Everything works. Bonus points for respecting the original arrangement and lyric (e.g. 'Marilyn French'). It may be from a junket but it's hardly a trifle and significantly more enjoyable than a blancmange. 🥁 #Pulp #ABBA www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wd1...
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
Give yourself a moment, and read this little excerpt from 'Anne of Avonlea' by the wonderful Lucy Maud Montgomery.
February 3, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Give yourself a moment, and read this little excerpt from 'Anne of Avonlea' by the wonderful Lucy Maud Montgomery.
This is so good and relatable for anyone trying to make a living through writing.
This is a brilliant, thorough and truthful bit of writing, as you’d expect from @littlemaddles.bsky.social.
Someone is making a penny, as they say, and the arts needs to have a hard look at itself, 25 years into a lunatic experiment in impoverishing creators.
open.substack.com/pub/madelein...
Someone is making a penny, as they say, and the arts needs to have a hard look at itself, 25 years into a lunatic experiment in impoverishing creators.
open.substack.com/pub/madelein...
Please sir can I have some more
On making a living as a writer
open.substack.com
February 3, 2026 at 9:13 AM
This is so good and relatable for anyone trying to make a living through writing.
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
I think the Epstein affair is turning into the defining political scandal of our time. It is bringing into plain sight how informal networks of powerful, entitled, abusive and often sexually violent men operate outside any form of institutional scrutiny or restraint.
I really can’t keep up with this. It’s like every vague suspicion of oligarch, finance and tech power come together - with Russian influence.
Yes, you’re not imagining. Only Mandelson, Lebedev, Milner and Epstein and L’Affaire Russe
Yes, you’re not imagining. Only Mandelson, Lebedev, Milner and Epstein and L’Affaire Russe
February 2, 2026 at 12:53 PM
I think the Epstein affair is turning into the defining political scandal of our time. It is bringing into plain sight how informal networks of powerful, entitled, abusive and often sexually violent men operate outside any form of institutional scrutiny or restraint.
Emily Thornberry spitting blood about Mandelson and his appointment as ambassador is a sight to behold.
February 2, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Emily Thornberry spitting blood about Mandelson and his appointment as ambassador is a sight to behold.
"All those blurred years seem to find expression in her voice: that exquisite carnal slur." Peter Ross on a great Lucinda Williams gig. Aren't we so lucky to have Celtic Connections to brighten up the winter?
"Drunken Angel and Lake Charles were — as with so much of this supreme writer’s work — a tender summoning of ghosts."
I went to see Lucinda Williams in Glasgow and wrote about it for The Times.
www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...
I went to see Lucinda Williams in Glasgow and wrote about it for The Times.
www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...
Lucinda Williams review — a scorching set from one of music’s survivors
At 73, the American great is recovering from a stroke but her songs of protest and pleasure still burnt bright at Glasgow’s Pavilion Theatre
www.thetimes.com
February 2, 2026 at 6:11 PM
"All those blurred years seem to find expression in her voice: that exquisite carnal slur." Peter Ross on a great Lucinda Williams gig. Aren't we so lucky to have Celtic Connections to brighten up the winter?
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
"Friends Again? Nothing on the Old Fruitmarket stage suggested anything other than delight in each other’s company and joy in playing these songs."
I went to see a very special show and wrote about it for The Times.
www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...
I went to see a very special show and wrote about it for The Times.
www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...
Friends Again review — worth the 40-year wait to hear this album live
The band only made one, superb, record, in 1984, but split before its release. At Celtic Connections in Glasgow, it finally had its moment in the limelight
www.thetimes.com
February 2, 2026 at 12:07 AM
"Friends Again? Nothing on the Old Fruitmarket stage suggested anything other than delight in each other’s company and joy in playing these songs."
I went to see a very special show and wrote about it for The Times.
www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...
I went to see a very special show and wrote about it for The Times.
www.thetimes.com/culture/musi...
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
Joyous Friends Again gig at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow tonight, wonderfully supported by birthday boy Lloyd Cole.
January 31, 2026 at 11:47 PM
Joyous Friends Again gig at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow tonight, wonderfully supported by birthday boy Lloyd Cole.
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
Everybody to Kenmure Street has won an international award at Sundance Film Festival. Well timed, cos it will remind doubters, haters & sceptics that neighbours will protect one another against an authoritarian state - in Glasgow 2021 or Minneapolis today. www.thenational.scot/news/2581367...
January 31, 2026 at 4:05 PM
Everybody to Kenmure Street has won an international award at Sundance Film Festival. Well timed, cos it will remind doubters, haters & sceptics that neighbours will protect one another against an authoritarian state - in Glasgow 2021 or Minneapolis today. www.thenational.scot/news/2581367...
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
Don was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles.
January 30, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Don was taken into custody by federal agents last night in Los Angeles.
@sarahcoomer.bsky.social I have your wonderful picture hung by my front door so it’s the first thing I see when I enter the house.
"And I was inside the house. And it was just like I drew it. And this time I did draw sort of scribbles across the windows, and now they're there."
January 30, 2026 at 1:41 PM
@sarahcoomer.bsky.social I have your wonderful picture hung by my front door so it’s the first thing I see when I enter the house.
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
"And I was inside the house. And it was just like I drew it. And this time I did draw sort of scribbles across the windows, and now they're there."
January 30, 2026 at 1:01 PM
"And I was inside the house. And it was just like I drew it. And this time I did draw sort of scribbles across the windows, and now they're there."
First charity shop CD haul for a while and from Prestwick, too. Not bad for £2.50, eh?
January 30, 2026 at 12:56 PM
First charity shop CD haul for a while and from Prestwick, too. Not bad for £2.50, eh?
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
Cindy the baboon’s memorial service is being livestreamed on Sunday. All those words in the same sentence.
January 30, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Cindy the baboon’s memorial service is being livestreamed on Sunday. All those words in the same sentence.
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
Other work of the Ladybird artists.
'Hawk above the Downs'
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
'Hawk above the Downs'
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
January 30, 2026 at 8:07 AM
Other work of the Ladybird artists.
'Hawk above the Downs'
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
'Hawk above the Downs'
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
This is great.
I adore Mackenzie Crook and consider Detectorists one of the genuine masterpieces of the sitcom format. His new show sounds gently nuts, which is very him somehow.
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
I adore Mackenzie Crook and consider Detectorists one of the genuine masterpieces of the sitcom format. His new show sounds gently nuts, which is very him somehow.
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
‘Watching The Office recently, my heart just sank’ – Mackenzie Crook on comedy, cruelty and being TV royalty
After a very hard landing into fame in the 00s, he decided to take a softer approach – and hit on a winning formula for classic comedy. The star talks about his fantastical new show Small Prophets, hi...
www.theguardian.com
January 30, 2026 at 10:02 AM
This is great.
I adore Mackenzie Crook and consider Detectorists one of the genuine masterpieces of the sitcom format. His new show sounds gently nuts, which is very him somehow.
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
I adore Mackenzie Crook and consider Detectorists one of the genuine masterpieces of the sitcom format. His new show sounds gently nuts, which is very him somehow.
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
Tangential, but when an organisation makes important that which is measurable...all the stuff that isn't 'measurable' (relationships, kindness and so on) becomes, de facto, sort of unimportant. Tyranny of metrics. www.pyrrhicpress.org/articles/262...
The Tyranny of Metrics: When Measurement Undermines Meaning / Articles | PyrrhicPress.Org
This paper critiques the overreliance on metrics in modern business and institutional environments. While measurement can clarify performance, its excessive use often distorts purpose, suppresses judg...
www.pyrrhicpress.org
January 30, 2026 at 12:22 AM
Tangential, but when an organisation makes important that which is measurable...all the stuff that isn't 'measurable' (relationships, kindness and so on) becomes, de facto, sort of unimportant. Tyranny of metrics. www.pyrrhicpress.org/articles/262...
"The tyranny of the quantifiable tramples over the question of what it is we get from doing work, why we might want to do it, how writing, which is mostly thinking, can be part of developing a self, a worldview, a set of ethics." Rebecca Solnit on the joy of creating & need for human connection.
What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit
What technology takes from us – and how to take it back | Rebecca Solnit
The long read: Decisions outsourced, chatbots for friends, the natural world an afterthought: Silicon Valley is giving us life void of connection. There is a way out – but it’s going to take collective effort
www.theguardian.com
January 29, 2026 at 11:07 PM
"The tyranny of the quantifiable tramples over the question of what it is we get from doing work, why we might want to do it, how writing, which is mostly thinking, can be part of developing a self, a worldview, a set of ethics." Rebecca Solnit on the joy of creating & need for human connection.
Reposted by Dani Garavelli
Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland as MSPs back law that UK Labour rejected - @patrickbarkham.bsky.social reports
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland as MSPs back law
Rest of UK has resisted calls to make builders install bricks that provide nesting for swifts and other endangered birds
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland as MSPs back law that UK Labour rejected - @patrickbarkham.bsky.social reports
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...