Albert Weale
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albertpweale.bsky.social
Albert Weale
@albertpweale.bsky.social

Emeritus Professor of Political Theory and Public Policy, UCL. Brighton born and bred. No longer resident, but still liberal. Expressed views mine only.

Political science 55%
Economics 16%

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”Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife...”
Thomas Gray, poet, scholar, born #OTD 1716; author of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, published 1751, later illustrated by William Blake.
Portrait by John Giles Eccardt, c. 1748, National Portrait Gallery
Blake illustration, Yale British Art

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Young Man seated under a Tree, c. 1595, watercolour on vellum, miniature by Isaac Oliver, Huguenot artist born in Rouen 1565, pupil of Nicholas Hilliard; formal garden in background inspired by Dutch Renaissance architectural pattern book by Vredeman de Vries 1568.
Royal Collections Trust

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"While humanity seeks to become 'god' in order to dominate others, God chooses to become human in order to free us from every form of slavery." #PopeLeoXIV #MerryChristmas www.ncronline.org/vatican/turn...
To turn away others is to turn away God, pope says on Christmas Eve
If people refuse to make room for others -- like the poor, children and the stranger -- then they also refuse to make room for God, Pope Leo XIV said as he celebrated the birth of Jesus.
www.ncronline.org
When the history of this cruel era is written, the shame should be no less than the shame we now feel about the roundups and detention of Japanese Americans in World War II. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-brazen-cruelty-of-the-trump-regime

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From hearts to parts, I’ve made a bold career move. Read on as I do something completely different #tbp
I am an andrologist now - kai arzheimer
It looks like my career in cardiology is already over, and urology is so last year.
bit.ly
This work by Pieter Buegel is probably the very first painting of a White Christmas. The pregnant, blue-cloaked Mary rides a donkey led by Joseph, but they are inconspicuous as part of the throng (The Census at Bethlehem, 1566) www.artinsociety.com/bruegelrsquo...

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'Fantasia on Christmas Carols', composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams, performed here in 2019 by The Cambridge Singers, conducted by John Rutter. ✨

Listen here ⬇️
Fantasia on Christmas Carols - Vaughan Williams, John Rutter, Cambridge Singers
'Fantasia on Christmas Carols' Ralph Vaughan Williams From ‘The Cambridge Singers Christmas Album’ Composer R. Vaughan Williams Conductor John Rutter Baritone Stephen Varcoe Cello Stephen…
www.youtube.com
Shamp’s Senate Bill 1070 would direct the #Arizona Dept of Health Services to conduct or support research to “advance the understanding of Trump Derangement Syndrome, including its origins, manifestations and long-term effects on individuals, communities and public discourse.”
Arizona lawmaker wants state to study ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’
What, your heart isn't bursting with love for the commander in chief? Are you feeling OK?
www.phoenixnewtimes.com

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Then and Now
The Little Street Delft c.1658, painted by Johannes Vermeer; now identified by archival research as 40-42 Vlamingstraat, Delft, photographed (right) in 2017.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

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”Where shall we see a better daughter, or a kinder sister, or a truer friend?”
Emma, by Jane Austen, published #OTD 1815.
Hypothetical Map of Highbury by Penny Gay, ‘Jane Austen’s Emma’ in Horizon Studies of Literature 1995 | Jane Austen’s House, Chawton

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Robert A. McCabe (American *1934) A caique (traditional, wooden Greek fishing boat) laden with grapes arrives at port at sunset, Katapola Amorgos, Greece, 1960s. From Robert A. McCabe’s fascinating photo book “Wooden Boats of the Aegean”

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The Persian Sibyl, 1647-8, by Guercino, Italian Baroque painter active in Bologna, died #OTD 1666; the pose and exotic costume of Guercino’s Sibyl inspired Mengs, Benjamin West, and Louise Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun.
Musei Capitolini
JD Vance: "Wouldn't you rather lead a movement of freethinkers who sometimes disagree than a bunch of drones who take their orders from George Soros?"
JD Vance: "In the United States of America you don't have to apologize for being white anymore"

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Danish artist Peder Severin Krøyer invites us into his sunny garden, where his wife Marie sits reading in the shade, her dog sleeping at her feet, amongst a profusion of white roses (Roses, 1893)

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A Dance to the Music of Time, painted c. 1635 by preeminent French Baroque artist Nicolas Poussin; inspired cycle of 12 novels (1951-75), by Anthony Powell, born #OTD 1905.
Wallace Collection London

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The tribute money, fresco painted c. 1425 by Masaccio, early Renaissance Florentine painter, born #OTD 1401, whose naturalism and innovative use of perspective & chiaroscuro influenced Western art.
Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence
The managing director of Teesside airport is running the publicly owned business while holding a remarkable conflict of interest: he’s also on the books of an investor who tried to buy the airport and has snaffled up a large swathe of adjacent land.

Full story in the new Private Eye, out now.

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“Regular, open and robust questioning of government is a cornerstone of democratic accountability." Or, more accurately, no accountability, no democracy.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Society of Editors decries Starmer’s plan to reduce media scrutiny of No 10
Body representing news organisations says move to cut back on number of lobby briefings is deeply concerning
www.theguardian.com

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Forest still life with squirrel, c. 1683-7, by #AnnaRuysch (Dutch, 1666-1741), baptized #otd, Dec 19. Held by Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, www.kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de/kunstwerke/A... #artherstory #womenartists

Visit #ArtHerstory’s resource page for the artist at artherstory.net/anna-ruysch/

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Busy year, 2025. At the UCL European Institute, @uclei.bsky.social, we've put together our latest Annual Review. It's colourful. And packs a bit of a punch.
(Right on time for the festive season, too.)
Huge thanks to our supporters, contributors, collaborators.

www.ucl.ac.uk/european-ins...
European Institute publishes Annual Review 2024/25
The European Institute has published its 2024/25 Annual Review, celebrating its key achievements of the past academic year.
www.ucl.ac.uk

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Applications are now open for our postgraduate composition study scholarships! ✒️

Grants of up to £8K each will be available to selected applicants who demonstrate exceptional talent and who are planning a professional career in composition.
Merry Christmas everyone and thank you.
#JoyeuxNoel
The Nativity, painted by the Limbourg brothers 1412-16
Tempera on vellum
Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, Musée Condé
Château de Chantilly

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Rain, Steam and Speed, The Great Western Railway, oil on canvas, 1844, by JMW Turner, great English Romantic artist, inspired Monet & other French impressionists; died #OTD 1851, buried at St Paul’s.
An early GWR broad gauge locomotive crossing Brunel’s Maidenhead Bridge.
National Gallery London
A Dickens Christmas
”God bless us, everyone!”
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, published #OTD 1843.
British Library

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Christian Turner to be new UK ambassador to US ft.trib.al/9UNDHMq
Christian Turner to be new UK ambassador to US
Diplomat due to be Britain’s UN envoy is handed key post in Washington after contest to replace Peter Mandelson
ft.trib.al

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Which words have given you happiness this year? I’d love to hear them.

(And if you fancy some distraction over the holidays, do give my word game Two Words a try.

twowords2.page.link/play)

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Senecio, oil on gauze, 1922, cubist work painted by Paul Klee, versatile Swiss-German abstract painter, born #OTD 1879; with his friend Kandinsky, he was an early member of Der Blauer Reiter in 1911, and a Bauhaus teacher 1921-31.
Kunstmuseum Basel

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Ice Plant / Mesembryanthemum Crassifolium, c.1710, by #MariaMoninckx (Dutch, 1673/76–1757). Moninckx Atlas of the Hortus Botanicus, University of Amsterdam, @allardpierson.bsky.social; source, artherstory.net/women-and-th... #womenartists #artherstory #hernaturalhistory

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Noch 2 1/2 Wochen bis Bewerbungsschluss!

📢 Das Deutsche Historische Institut London sucht

zum 1. April oder 1. Mai 2026

2 Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter/innen (w/m/d) (2. Qualifizierungsphase)

mit einem Forschungsinteresse

• in der britischen Geschichte des späten 18. bis 21. Jahrhunderts
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