Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Aug 20

Father and son!

Thank you so much to Mariamawit Y Yeshak for taking Alemayehu, via her copy of 'The Prince and the Plunder', to the statue of his father's great cannon in Addis Ababa. Really moving.

Please send in other sightings. #friendsofalemayehu #theprinceandtheplunder #Ethiopia

A copy of the book 'The Prince and the Plunder', about Ethiopia's Prince Alemayehu, next to a statue of his father's great cannon in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 'The Prince and the Plunder' is by the owner of this account, Andrew Heavens

3

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Aug 13

And while we're at it, here begins the campaign to Return the Benin Brasses...

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Jul 23

"We are going to do whatever it takes to take back Africa's belongings. And we're going to do it together!"

Relooted, coming soon from South African game developer Nyamakop @nyamakop youtu.be/KgPxPfXb734

Relooted Announcement Trailer

YouTube video by Nyamakop

youtu.be

6

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Jul 16

"About 85 per cent of people in immigration custody are held in places run for profit, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), an archive of government data and reports. "https://ig.ft.com/us-immigration-detention/

Inside America’s booming immigration detention industry

The enormous US deportation programme is enriching companies as detainees complain of poor treatment

ig.ft.com

1 3

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Jul 15

We don't need plunder. We have enough treasure of our own.

The southern door at St. Nicholas Church, Barfrestone (pop. 60) near Dover - s645975992.websitehome.co.uk

"One of the best late Norman churches in Kent," said John Betjeman.

Detail from the southern door at St. Nicholas Church, Barfrestone

Detail from the southern door at St. Nicholas Church, Barfrestone. A rabbit riding a goat?

1 2

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Jul 15

You've heard of the Prince and the Plunder.

Meet the Love Guru and the Loot.

Lytchett Minster Parish Church, Sunday

Grave of Sir Francis Younghusband, Lytchett Minster Parish Church, Sunday

3

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Jul 14

Here starts the campaign for Britain to repatriate the plundered acronym "PAC", in fact the whole concept. It belongs in the US of A.

"Great British Pac calls for an end to any negotiations to return the Parthenon sculptures or risk legal challenges."
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Screenshot of Guardian article: "Liz Truss and hard-right group accused of scaremongering over Parthenon marbles.
Ex-PM among those saying they will take legal action over ‘covert’ plans to return sculptures to Greece,"

2 3

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Jul 3

Thrilled to report that Barbara Blake Hannah - yes *that* Barbara Blake Hannah - has reviewed "The Prince and the Plunder".

"So vivid and descriptive that at times I felt I was watching a documentary film, not just reading a book." Thank you! www.theprinceandtheplunder.com/2025/07/02/r...

Cover of "The Prince and the Plunder" by Andrew Heavens

1 1 2

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Jun 21

Ethiopia's 1983-85 famine: the musical.

1 2

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Jun 10

Sacred to the memory would be the way to start it, I guess.

And on the dates, Alemayehu died on November 14, 1879 and was buried in Windsor on November 21.

His generally acepted birthday is April 23, 1861 - rather suspiciously, St George's Day. But I have never seen the source for that.

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · Jun 10

Latin scholars, please help.

I am trying to translate this memorial for Ethiopia's Prince Alemayehu in Rugby School chapel.

How close has Google Translate got me?

Cunning - really? Players or playmates? And are those dates right? They don't match the record.

1 1 2

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 28

The South London Press, where I did my first work experience, just "abruptly" shut down. pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/r...

The first newspapers to pay me - the @chardandilynews.bsky.social and the @expressandstar.com - are still there, but scaled down.

Brave new future a little less shiny this am

South London Press closes down after 160 years covering UK capital

Independent local newspaper the South London Press has abruptly closed down after 160 years as it goes into insolvency proceedings.

pressgazette.co.uk

1

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 24

Bow down to him on Saturday / Salute him now his birthday's come #happybirthday #bobdylan

1 4

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 23

I have never come across that. But it sounds like a beautiful thing to do. An echo of the children's hand prints people keep at the beginning of life.

On death masks. In the small world of Prince Alemayehu Studies, my thing, the search for his mask is one of our holy grails.

1 1

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 23

It seems weird. But then I look at the locks of babies' hair - even some milk teeth - that my family has kept over ther generations. We are all just a little odd, and always have been.

1 1

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 23

Signed photograph of Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy and Albania, Empress of Ethiopia ... briefly

Yours for up to 200 Swiss francs ($240) www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 23

A 1930s anti-fascism poster with 'Abisinia' as the victim.

"Envy and Greed have married, and from this vile marriage is born, like a fruit of rot, the law of the strongest ... or the most envious."

A historical artefact with nothing to teach us today. www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...

3

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 22

i thought you'd like to know
that 'the parrots of the caribbean'
have saved my day

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 21

Wild camping won! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

3

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 20

Very excitingly, the V&A has started taking bookings for its Order an Object scheme. You order things from the museum's vast storerooms - and they bring them out to you!

Here are my 5 treasures from Britain's 1868 Abyssinian "expedition". Have a go www.vam.ac.uk/info/order-a...

4 9

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 16

"Do cremated ashes classify as human remains? Should there be international trade in religious relics? What, in the words of the fictive archaeologist Indiana Jones, 'belongs in a museum'?"

And don't get me started on tabots.

www.ft.com/content/489a... via Melanie Gerlis in @financialtimes.com

Should holy relics be put up for sale? The market for sacred artefacts is an ethical minefield

Sotheby’s has postponed its sale of gems linked to the remains of the Buddha, in a case that has sparked legal and moral debates

www.ft.com

1 2 4

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 15

@righttoroam.bsky.social #dartmoor #freecamping

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 15

A big judgment coming next Wednesday. Will Dartmoor remain the last place where we can camp freely in England? Or will the landowners win? @supremecourt.uk @righttoroam.bsky.social #dartmoor #freecamping supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2...

Darwall and another (Appellants) v Dartmoor National Park Authority (Respondent) - UK Supreme Court

Does section 10(1) of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 (the “1985 Act”) confer on the public a right to pitch tents or otherwise make camp overnight on the Dartmoor Commons (“the Commons”)?

supremecourt.uk

1 1

Loot and Plunder @andrewheavens.bsky.social · May 9

"Leo XIV becomes proprietor in trust of the great art and architectural treasures of Vatican City, and will be looked to as a moral authority ... Under (his predecessor) Francis, the papacy made a number of symbolic gestures around ... cultural restitution." www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/05/08/r...

Robert Francis Prevost has been elected Pope Leo XIV—why does this matter to the worlds of art and heritage?

The Chicago-born pontiff—the new spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics and the proprietor in trust of the great art and architecture treasures of the Vatican—has publicly supported his predecessor...

www.theartnewspaper.com

2 6