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richardswsmith.bsky.social
@richardswsmith.bsky.social
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richardswsmith.bsky.social
How Dickens would draw the bald eagle of America

“I should want to draw it like a Bat, for its short-sightedness; like a Bantam, for its bragging; like a Magpie, for its honesty; like a Peacock, for its vanity..."

richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2019/08/16/h...
How Dickens would draw the bald eagle of America
“I should want to draw it like a Bat, for its short-sightedness; like a Bantam, for its bragging; like a Magpie, for its honesty; like a Peacock, for its vanity; like a ostrich, for its putti…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 29, 2026 at 12:32 PM
Reposted
bmj.com
ICE agents are using an app developed by Palantir that draws on the health records of millions of Americans to find and detain illegal immigrants
www.bmj.com/content/392/...
January 27, 2026 at 5:05 PM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
Midsummer Night's Dream is “Pure pleasure, exploring, experimenting, most poetical"....Shakespeare letting rip, having huge fun, running his unequalled imagination at its fastest and wildest.

richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2019/08/15/a...
An exuberant and wonderfully entertaining performance of The Dream
As I listened to a radio programme on a Midsummer Night’s Dream I took notes and they describe the play as “Pure pleasure, exploring, experimenting, most poetical.” It is Shakespeare letting rip, h…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 28, 2026 at 12:51 PM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
acairnofpoems.com/2026/01/27/g...
Grow Old With Me by John Lennon
John Lennon was shot dead aged 40 on 8 December 1980 outside the Dakota building in New York City. Although I was 28 at that time, I always feel that it’s the day that I grew old. His death was a h…
acairnofpoems.com
January 27, 2026 at 11:25 AM
Reposted
jonathanslaght.com
"ICE OUT" on Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis, as seen from my flight leaving MSP airport
January 26, 2026 at 6:28 PM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
In 1962 when I took the 11-plus it was a life-defining exam: if you passed you went to a grammar school and had a good education; if you failed you were tossed into schools that were little more then child prisons.

richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2019/08/14/r...
Reflections on sitting between two Nobel prize winners
As I sat some 30 years ago at a meeting in Germany between two Nobel Prize winners, I reflected on when I was at primary school and was facing the prospect of doing the 11-plus exam. In 1962 when I…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 27, 2026 at 9:19 AM
Reposted
peterpaulrubens.bsky.social
Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. Beautifully painted, but would you really want one of these hanging in your living room? As the Doomsday Clock inches forward, Evert Collier thinks you would. Today is his day.
January 26, 2026 at 8:18 PM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/a...
An ancient civilisation collapsed because of lack of water, modern Iran may be about to follow, and many others may follow later
I was struck, as presumably the editor intended, by the juxtaposition of the two extracts below from Nature magazine’s excellent weekly and free Anthropocene Briefing. One tells of the collapse thr…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Reposted
peterpaulrubens.bsky.social
Boys messing with men's heads du jour: David with quite nasty head of Goliath, 1626, by Nicolas Regnier of Antwerp & Rome. Today is his day.
January 25, 2026 at 10:39 PM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
Lying makes the world go round because complete honesty destroys relationships and business (and, of course, politics): “Did you like my book?” “I loved it.
richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2019/08/13/a...
Are you a good liar? A test
Climbing into bed last night I listened to a radio programme that concluded “Dishonesty is the best policy.” Most people tell two important lies lie each day, and four fifths of lies go undetected.…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 26, 2026 at 9:39 AM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2026/01/25/a...
A powerful play based on the trial of six doctors and nurses for climate protests should be on national television of radio
I’m just back from watching In Case Of Emergency, a play based of the trial of six health professionals who in calling for action on the climate emergency broke windows in the offices of J P Morgan…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 25, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Reposted
lecartographe.bsky.social
Self portrait - Edward Hopper, 1925-30.
Source : Whitney Museum, New York 🇺🇸
January 25, 2026 at 6:00 AM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
“Both were in retreat: from cities; from politics; from gentlemanliness and propriety; from the expected; towards nature; and... towards the self, its roots, its forms of self-understanding, its fantasies, longings, dreads and ideals.”

richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2019/08/11/m...
Making and loving poetry
In his book The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and Their Year of Marvels Adam Nicholson tries to do the impossible—to show where poetry comes from and how it is made. But his failure …
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 25, 2026 at 9:30 AM
Reposted
whstancil.bsky.social
in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today
January 24, 2026 at 12:38 AM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
Often when I walk I wonder why I do anything else. We are intended to walk, whether it’s searching for food, a partner, or inspiration.

richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2019/08/10/a...
A walk along the canal from Bath to Bradford-on-Avon
Originating in the early 18th century, the Kennet and Avon Canal would once have been one of the major routes from Bristol to London. Instead of being carried in large lorries roaring along the M4,…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 24, 2026 at 10:21 AM
Reposted
bmj.com
📢 The BMJ's Medics’ Revue is back 📢

Got a sketch, song, poem, or skit about medicine? Submit your entry by 28 February 2026.

Email [email protected] with your script, recording, or idea.

🎭 🎤🕺Perform in London’s West End on 15 May 2026

More details: bit.ly/4pO188H
January 22, 2026 at 3:35 PM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
The World Economic Forum, better known as Davos, has represented a global world order that is dying. This week it’s been the centre of the world, courtesy of a mad president. I went to Davos only once, in 2004, and it was the subject of my first blog.
richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2021/04/26/a...
A Davos diary I: an ingenue at the World Economic Forum
This is the first blog I ever wrote, in January 2004. I wasn’t sure what a blog was, and I thought it was a form of log, a ship’s diary. I wrote my blog accordingly (even with timings) as I spent m…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 23, 2026 at 9:57 AM
Reposted
adphuk.bsky.social
Tonight is #CleanAirNight.

➡️Wood burning ⬆️ the risk of heart and lung disease, asthma, diabetes and dementia.

➡️Every year, air pollution from burning in UK homes contributes to nearly 2,500 premature deaths.

Visit @globalactionplan.bsky.social’s cleanairhub.org.uk to find out more.
January 22, 2026 at 1:18 PM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
A book that is not mined for its value is lost and disrespected.

richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2026/01/22/d...
Don’t just read a book, mine it
Writing a book is a major undertaking. There may be years of research, weeks and months trying to make the language sing and ensure accuracy. A person’s heart, soul, and wisdom may be poured into a…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 22, 2026 at 10:38 AM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
As I stared at his extraordinarily busy print of the crucifixion I felt that I was staring into his mind as he composed and juggled the figures.

richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2019/08/06/r...
Rembrandt: Thinking on Paper
Rembrandt is, I think, the old master who is closest to us. I’ve stood often staring into his eyes in his late self- portrait in the National Gallery and felt almost as if I can smell him. He sees …
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 21, 2026 at 9:34 AM
Reposted
philipjcowley.bsky.social
"I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace"
January 19, 2026 at 7:00 PM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
All art, he added, is about yourself. What else can it be about? What else do you know? Munch when young was a member of a Bohemian group that had nine commandments, one of which was “Thou shalt write your life.”

richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2019/05/12/k...
Knausgaard, Munch, and self-confessional, confrontational, iconic art
As I looked at Karl Ove Knausgaard at the British Museum two nights ago I wondered if he might come to be the most famous person I’ll ever see in the flesh. I’ve seen the Queen, Gorbachev, Bill Cli…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 20, 2026 at 3:43 PM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
Hope without action is a damaging sedative to the reality of the climate crisis

www.bmj.com/content/bmj/...
www.bmj.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:02 PM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
Surely this must be an AI hallucination.
January 19, 2026 at 10:50 AM
richardswsmith.bsky.social
A form of emotional prophylaxis is also at work: in fictional stories of climate catastrophe we may also be looking for catharsis, and collectively trying to persuade ourselves we might survive it.

richardswsmith.wordpress.com/2019/05/08/e...
Everybody reading The Uninhabitable Earth could literally (the correct use of a usually misused word) save the planet
The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells is the only book that I’ve ever read that I think everybody—and, yes, I mean everybody—should read. Reading it could literally—and this is the correct…
richardswsmith.wordpress.com
January 19, 2026 at 10:48 AM