Gayle Frances Larkin
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Gayle Frances Larkin
@gaylefranceslarkin.bsky.social
160 followers 270 following 440 posts
Self published author of "Treason From Within: A True Story of a Marriage". Writing is my life. Literature, history, economics, law, justice and mercy are all essential to me and inform my writing. Also on Substack as "Snippets & Illusions".
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Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
legalclaret.bsky.social
It isn’t often a case shocks a criminal lawyer, but this is truly horrific:

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Former Tory councillor admits drugging and raping wife over 14-year period
Philip Young, who served on Swindon borough council, pleads guilty to offences against ex-spouse Joanne Young
www.theguardian.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
stevepeers.bsky.social
Starmer says Trump's comments on British [and other allied] troops are 'insulting and frankly appalling' www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...

(The Hugh-Grant-o-meter twitches again)
Starmer calls Trump's remarks about Nato troops in Afghanistan 'insulting and frankly appalling'
Veterans and bereaved families call the comments
www.bbc.co.uk
January 23, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
stevepeers.bsky.social
Patel wanted to disclose the identity of British agents in pursuit of a photo-op!
sturdyalex.bsky.social Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 1d
From NYT interview with FBI official on Patel. Utterly terrifying.

"His staff only cared about three things: what his meals were, when his workouts would be and what his entertainment would be. The biggest plan is how he's going to get his girlfriend to Windsor Castle."

(Source: archive.is/ZT5qx)
Senior executive 2: Every May, there's a Five Eyes conference with the head of every intelligence agency. This year it was in the U.K. Kash Patel is going. In the lead-up to that, his detail starts making crazy requests. He's got special requirements on everything. And the Brits are getting pissed. Before the conference, his staff says he's unhappy because he doesn't like meetings in office settings. What he wants is social events. He wants Premier soccer games. He wants to go jet skiing. He'd like a helicopter tour. Everyone who heard about this was like: Hold on. Is he really going to ask the MI5 director to go jet skiing instead of meeting? The schedule is set, and every Five Eyes partner is doing this. They can't just say that he's not participating and instead he wants to go to a Premier soccer game. This is a job, guys. His staff only cared about three things: what his meals were, when his workouts would be and what his entertainment would be. The biggest plan is how he's going to get his girlfriend in there so she can go to Windsor Castle. He's got Nicole Rucker as his assistant, like a true executive concierge. And when she's not getting the food or the workout she wants, she'll just start screaming at people, Make it happen! His staff was briefed multiple times that the Brits were going to want to talk about an F.B.I. position in London that has been pulled. The F.B.I. is arguably their most important partner. MI5 is 5,000 people. The F.B.I. is 38,000. If MI5 ceased to exist, it would be very bad for us. If we cease to exist, it would be an existential threat for them. That person was working on a ton of sensitive stuff, including embassy penetrations and technology, and they want this position back. So Ken McCallum, the MI5 director, goes to Kash Patel at the conference and says: Hey, we really need this position. It's so important for our mutual benefit. And Kash says: Yep, that person's going nowhere. She's absolutely staying. And the Brits rejoice. Two weeks later, he reverses himself and removes her. The Brits are outraged. Kash will make promises and he will break them, and he doesn't worry about that. On that trip, the heads of intelligence for the Five Eyes went to Windsor Castle and met with the king. There was a photo taken of all the Five Eyes people, some of whom are nondisclosed, meaning their affiliation with the British intelligence service isn't public. The Brits forwarded that picture as a keepsake for the individuals. They prefaced it with, This isn't to be shared. But Kash has decided he wants to post it on social media. They have people trying to negotiate with the Brits about whether that's possible. They're fighting with the director's office, like: You cannot post this. Do not do that. And they're arguing, He wants a picture out. (The F.B.I. did not respond to questions about this trip.)
January 23, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social
Because Burns had died in 1796, Raeburn followed Alexander Nasmyth’s life portrait. But Raeburn almost certainly had met or seen Burns, which may account for the portrait’s sense of presence. The two portraits are now reunited for the first time since 1803.
3/3
January 22, 2026 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
davesthompson.bsky.social
Just as an aside, Scotland is so fortunate to have such a wonderful gallery as the NGS. Last week I visited the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin; back in Edinburgh I went to see the Turner drawings (it's January!) I compared the 2 galleries... Scotland the winner!
January 22, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social
Raeburn was commissioned to paint it in 1803 by Burns’ publishers. By the mid-19thC it had disappeared. It surfaced at auction last year, and was acquired by the Blackie House Museum and Library in Edinburgh, a centre of Burns scholarship (and where I’m a Visiting Fellow). 2/3
January 22, 2026 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social
Some breaking art historical news for you - a lost portrait of Robert Burns by Sir Henry Raeburn was unveiled today at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. It’s been missing for more than 200 years.
1/3
January 22, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
legalclaret.bsky.social
More of this please!
dinahrose.bsky.social Dinah Rose KC @dinahrose.bsky.social · 2d
Ozzy learning to play the piano.
Sound on.
January 22, 2026 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
fascinatorfun.bsky.social
🎯 Former 🇺🇸 WH Trump lawyer, Ty Cobb

“I don’t think there’s anybody outside the boundaries of the United States who believes for a second that Trump is sane at this stage of the game…And those in 🇺🇸 are merely in denial or are so invested in him they can’t accept what their own eyes tell them.”
January 22, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
davidmuttering.bsky.social
No Dreamies yet. She's too little.
January 22, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
legalclaret.bsky.social
She is simply practicing for fingers!
January 22, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
davidmuttering.bsky.social
Help. My kitten, she is very crazy.
January 22, 2026 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
onestpress.onestnetwork.com
“Danish citizens are organising a huge boycott that includes cancelling planned holidays in the US, cancelling subscriptions to on-demand services based in the US & more generally, recommending the use of EU services instead of those provided by American platforms.”

So, same as Canadians.
January 23, 2026 at 5:52 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
jim.londoncentric.media
This piece is good on how the people running the US are pure posters. They're obsessed with posting on Twitter, finding something new to post on there, and running the FBI is just a great source of new #content. Cool vision of the 'everyone is just a content creator' future we're almost already at.
January 23, 2026 at 7:02 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
chrisgrey.bsky.social
Making sense of the madness. New post on my Brexit & Brexitism Blog. Analysis of the international and domestic implications of the ‘Greenland crisis’, including how the ‘Carney doctrine’ could offer a way forward for post-Brexit Britain: chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2026/01/maki...
January 23, 2026 at 7:32 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
snellarthur.bsky.social
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
I wish I could work out what happened 10 years ago to cause this 🤔
UK consumer confidence marks 10 years without a positive reading
GfK index rose by 1 point to minus 16 in January, up from a low of minus 23 in April 2025
giftarticle.ft.com
January 23, 2026 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
stephenmcgann.uk
That would be since... 2016? I wonder what happened then?
January 23, 2026 at 8:35 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
pickardje.bsky.social
I took this photo a while back, Westminster Abbey reflected in a puddle on a rainy day
January 23, 2026 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
ottoenglish.bsky.social
Absolutely spot on.
If they claim to care about the armed forces but say nothing when Trump declares British troops stayed "off the front lines" in Afghanistan - they are cowardly charlatans,
January 23, 2026 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
adambienkov.bsky.social
Get your copy in shops now. Includes our interview with Zack Polanski and a feature from me on how the Green Party plans to defeat Labour in its 'Green Wall' this year
subscribe.bylinetimes.com
January 23, 2026 at 10:09 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
peterwalker99.bsky.social
Tory MP Simon Hoare has given a very vivid quote about Donald Trump's comments on Nato allies, which could actually be used in many contexts about the US president:

"Frankly Trump makes my flesh creep and my stomach turn. Where are his advisors? Where is his nurse? Where is his sense of shame?"
January 23, 2026 at 10:39 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
dotlepkowska.bsky.social
For anyone who's interested, James O'Brien is discussing Trump's comments about NATO on his programme this morning with traumtaised ex-military and bereaved families phoning in.
Callers in tears at the sense of betrayal and anger.
It makes for difficult listening.
@mrjamesob.bsky.social
January 23, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
nigella.bsky.social
#RecipeOfTheDay is Carbonnade à la Flamande, a gorgeous Belgian beef and beer casserole that should be eaten with chips/fries but I like it with thick noodles! Like all stews, this is best made a day (or two) ahead. www.nigella.com/recipes/carb...
Carbonnade a La Flamande
There is something about cooking the classics that feels like coming home and this comforting Belgian casserole is a reassuringly simple recipe — I scarcely bother to sear the meat — that feeds a huge...
www.nigella.com
January 23, 2026 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
nguthrie.bsky.social
Coffee cup from the Vezzi factory (c1720-27), recently sold by E&H Manners, London #c18th #c18 #18thc
White porcelain cup painted with two spider's webs suspended from thistles in a palette of iron-red, green and blue with black outlines; in the interior, an iron-red scrollwork border close to the rim. From the dealer (lightly edited): 'Giovanni Vezzi established this first Italian hard-paste porcelain factory on the Giudecca in Venice in 1720 with a financial guarantee from his father, Francesco, a successful goldsmith. It was remarkable in being the first European factory to have been started by merchants intent on establishing a business rather than by a prince. The technical skills of porcelain manufacture were supplied by the itinerant arcanist Christoph Konrad Hunger, who had been persuaded to flee Meissen in 1717 by Graf von Virmont, representative of the Austrian court at Dresden, and establish the factory of Claudius Innocentius Dupaquier in Vienna. Hunger's stay there was brief before moving on to Venice. The clay used initially by Vezzi was the same as that used by Meissen and was smuggled from Aue in Saxony. Hunger quarrelled with Vezzi and left in 1724. The factory struggled to survive, finally being forced to close and dismantle the kilns in 1727. After the demolition of the kilns a quantity of undecorated porcelain remained, which Vezzi and his collaborators continued to decorate until at least 1735; and so it is always difficult to date the decoration of Vezzi porcelain precisely.'
January 23, 2026 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by Gayle Frances Larkin
katebevan.com
Me: *does not ask for advice*
Man in my mentions: *offers advice*
Me: *taps the sign specifically saying I don't want to know what VPN you're using*
Man: *has a hissy fit*

And they say women are too emotional.
January 23, 2026 at 11:14 AM