LiberalDespot
@druidic.org
Likes Photography, Italy, Whisky, The Magnetic Fields, Autonomy, Glasgow, &c
Je voudrais, et ce sera le dernier et le plus ardent de mes souhaits, je voudrais que le dernier des rois fût étranglé avec les boyaux du dernier prêtre.
Glasgow, Yr Hen Ogledd
Je voudrais, et ce sera le dernier et le plus ardent de mes souhaits, je voudrais que le dernier des rois fût étranglé avec les boyaux du dernier prêtre.
Glasgow, Yr Hen Ogledd
Pinned
LiberalDespot
@druidic.org
· Nov 20
18 years ago today I took one of my favorite photos. I followed a small path behind a church in Pienza and suddenly : sunset on the slopes of Monte Amiata, from behind the palace of Pius II...
#photography
#Italy
#photography
#Italy
The sublime "Horses of San Marco". A precious survival, looted so many times across the centuries.
My person belief is that they are from the Triumphal Quadriga of Trajan in his Forum in Rome...
#Venice #Photography #Roman
My person belief is that they are from the Triumphal Quadriga of Trajan in his Forum in Rome...
#Venice #Photography #Roman
December 25, 2025 at 7:39 PM
The sublime "Horses of San Marco". A precious survival, looted so many times across the centuries.
My person belief is that they are from the Triumphal Quadriga of Trajan in his Forum in Rome...
#Venice #Photography #Roman
My person belief is that they are from the Triumphal Quadriga of Trajan in his Forum in Rome...
#Venice #Photography #Roman
Reposted by LiberalDespot
Lots of chat about Labour being on course to lose in Wales for the first time in over a century.
But here's something: this constituency vote share (16.6%) would be their worst vote share in a national election in Scotland since *1910*.
But here's something: this constituency vote share (16.6%) would be their worst vote share in a national election in Scotland since *1910*.
Final Scottish Parliament poll tracker of the year, before the Christmas holidays start in earnest. SNP projected one short of a majority.
Seats (+/- 2021):
SNP: 64 (-)
Lab: 18 (-4)
Ref: 18(+18)
Grn: 12 (+4)
Con: 9 (-22)
LD: 8 (+4)
Alba: 0 (-)
20 marginals: 16 SNP, 3 Labour, 1 Conservative.
1/3
Seats (+/- 2021):
SNP: 64 (-)
Lab: 18 (-4)
Ref: 18(+18)
Grn: 12 (+4)
Con: 9 (-22)
LD: 8 (+4)
Alba: 0 (-)
20 marginals: 16 SNP, 3 Labour, 1 Conservative.
1/3
December 24, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Lots of chat about Labour being on course to lose in Wales for the first time in over a century.
But here's something: this constituency vote share (16.6%) would be their worst vote share in a national election in Scotland since *1910*.
But here's something: this constituency vote share (16.6%) would be their worst vote share in a national election in Scotland since *1910*.
Oh look, it's Julius Caesar.
A tiny part of the renaissance madness that is the mid-1470s Cappella Colleoni in the Cittá Alta of Bergamo. I'll get on to the parts covered in heraldic testicles later...
#Bergamo #Photography
A tiny part of the renaissance madness that is the mid-1470s Cappella Colleoni in the Cittá Alta of Bergamo. I'll get on to the parts covered in heraldic testicles later...
#Bergamo #Photography
December 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Oh look, it's Julius Caesar.
A tiny part of the renaissance madness that is the mid-1470s Cappella Colleoni in the Cittá Alta of Bergamo. I'll get on to the parts covered in heraldic testicles later...
#Bergamo #Photography
A tiny part of the renaissance madness that is the mid-1470s Cappella Colleoni in the Cittá Alta of Bergamo. I'll get on to the parts covered in heraldic testicles later...
#Bergamo #Photography
Industry (and his attendant pollution it seems) on the Palazzo Nuovo in Piazza Vecchia.
#Bergamo #photography
#Bergamo #photography
December 24, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Industry (and his attendant pollution it seems) on the Palazzo Nuovo in Piazza Vecchia.
#Bergamo #photography
#Bergamo #photography
Venice had a very well-sited Tree yesterday, so this is by way of my Festive Greetings card to all of you this year.
I hope 2026 brings you the things you want, and none of the things you don't want!
#Solstice #Christmas #Festive
I hope 2026 brings you the things you want, and none of the things you don't want!
#Solstice #Christmas #Festive
December 23, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Venice had a very well-sited Tree yesterday, so this is by way of my Festive Greetings card to all of you this year.
I hope 2026 brings you the things you want, and none of the things you don't want!
#Solstice #Christmas #Festive
I hope 2026 brings you the things you want, and none of the things you don't want!
#Solstice #Christmas #Festive
December 23, 2025 at 8:38 PM
First Doge of the day: Francesco Erizzo, 98th Doge of Venice (1631-1646), under him the 24 year war began with the Ottoman Empire for control of Crete.
In the Arsenale church of San Martino.
#Doge #Statue #Photography
In the Arsenale church of San Martino.
#Doge #Statue #Photography
December 23, 2025 at 7:16 PM
First Doge of the day: Francesco Erizzo, 98th Doge of Venice (1631-1646), under him the 24 year war began with the Ottoman Empire for control of Crete.
In the Arsenale church of San Martino.
#Doge #Statue #Photography
In the Arsenale church of San Martino.
#Doge #Statue #Photography
The former offices of the glassmakers and mosaicists Salviati on the Grand Canal in Venice. You can see their work in many cities - for example what is now the Apple Store on Regent St was once their office/showroom in London.
#Mosaic #Venice #photography
#Mosaic #Venice #photography
December 23, 2025 at 6:39 PM
The former offices of the glassmakers and mosaicists Salviati on the Grand Canal in Venice. You can see their work in many cities - for example what is now the Apple Store on Regent St was once their office/showroom in London.
#Mosaic #Venice #photography
#Mosaic #Venice #photography
The Drunkenness of Noah.
Detail of the ceiling domes of the Narthex of San Marco.
#Mosaic #photography #venice
Detail of the ceiling domes of the Narthex of San Marco.
#Mosaic #photography #venice
December 23, 2025 at 6:01 PM
The Drunkenness of Noah.
Detail of the ceiling domes of the Narthex of San Marco.
#Mosaic #photography #venice
Detail of the ceiling domes of the Narthex of San Marco.
#Mosaic #photography #venice
December 23, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Relics of 4thC Doctor of the Church St. Athanasios the Great in San Zaccaria, #Venice, rescued from Constantinople in 1455 by a Venetian shipowner. In fact (as the Orthodox love to point out) it's actually St Athanasios I, an early 14thC Patriarch.
December 23, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Relics of 4thC Doctor of the Church St. Athanasios the Great in San Zaccaria, #Venice, rescued from Constantinople in 1455 by a Venetian shipowner. In fact (as the Orthodox love to point out) it's actually St Athanasios I, an early 14thC Patriarch.
San Zeno on the entrance wall of Chiesa di San Zeno in Oratorio, Verona.
#Verona #Italy #Photography #Statue
#Verona #Italy #Photography #Statue
December 23, 2025 at 1:41 PM
San Zeno on the entrance wall of Chiesa di San Zeno in Oratorio, Verona.
#Verona #Italy #Photography #Statue
#Verona #Italy #Photography #Statue
"this country’s most acute literary representation of gay life to date" writes Ms Clark. Ha ha.
He says nothing about my life.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...
He says nothing about my life.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...
‘There’s a sense of our freedoms becoming vulnerable’: novelist Alan Hollinghurst
A knighthood, a lifetime achievement award and a hit theatre production of The Line of Beauty… the author on a year of personal success and political change
www.theguardian.com
December 20, 2025 at 5:33 PM
"this country’s most acute literary representation of gay life to date" writes Ms Clark. Ha ha.
He says nothing about my life.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...
He says nothing about my life.
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...
Palazzo Terzi, Bergamo.
December 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Palazzo Terzi, Bergamo.
Hello from Beer Garage in Bergamo.
Behold the finest Italo-English.
"Your Tipsy Therapy For A Fun Life"
Behold the finest Italo-English.
"Your Tipsy Therapy For A Fun Life"
December 17, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Hello from Beer Garage in Bergamo.
Behold the finest Italo-English.
"Your Tipsy Therapy For A Fun Life"
Behold the finest Italo-English.
"Your Tipsy Therapy For A Fun Life"
December 16, 2025 at 10:39 PM
"Pandoro... Try it at Antica Offelleria Verona"
Aha. I am in Verona later this week, wonder what charming backstreet that's on?
Oh.
Thanks, @theguardian.com
Aha. I am in Verona later this week, wonder what charming backstreet that's on?
Oh.
Thanks, @theguardian.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:00 AM
"Pandoro... Try it at Antica Offelleria Verona"
Aha. I am in Verona later this week, wonder what charming backstreet that's on?
Oh.
Thanks, @theguardian.com
Aha. I am in Verona later this week, wonder what charming backstreet that's on?
Oh.
Thanks, @theguardian.com
Reposted by LiberalDespot
New post just out:
"The Overshoot"
Net migration is collapsing, and will fall further over the coming years. We could even have net emigration.
What does that mean for the country and the political narrative as we head towards the next election?
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
"The Overshoot"
Net migration is collapsing, and will fall further over the coming years. We could even have net emigration.
What does that mean for the country and the political narrative as we head towards the next election?
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
The Overshoot
What happens to politics, and the country, as net migration collapses?
open.substack.com
December 16, 2025 at 8:46 AM
New post just out:
"The Overshoot"
Net migration is collapsing, and will fall further over the coming years. We could even have net emigration.
What does that mean for the country and the political narrative as we head towards the next election?
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
"The Overshoot"
Net migration is collapsing, and will fall further over the coming years. We could even have net emigration.
What does that mean for the country and the political narrative as we head towards the next election?
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
When you were partying last night but have to carry the Civetta banner in the Corteo Storico...
#Siena #Palio #Photography
#Siena #Palio #Photography
December 16, 2025 at 12:02 AM
When you were partying last night but have to carry the Civetta banner in the Corteo Storico...
#Siena #Palio #Photography
#Siena #Palio #Photography
Reposted by LiberalDespot
WTF are we doing here, BBC?
December 15, 2025 at 12:35 PM
WTF are we doing here, BBC?
I am off to Verona, so here's a pic from my last visit, in 2019.
A detail of Ponte della Vittoria. Completed in 1931 as memorial to Veronese dead of WWI - blown up 1945 by retreating Germans, along with all the other bridges. Reconstruction completed in May 1955.
#Verona #Italy #Photography
A detail of Ponte della Vittoria. Completed in 1931 as memorial to Veronese dead of WWI - blown up 1945 by retreating Germans, along with all the other bridges. Reconstruction completed in May 1955.
#Verona #Italy #Photography
December 15, 2025 at 5:27 PM
I am off to Verona, so here's a pic from my last visit, in 2019.
A detail of Ponte della Vittoria. Completed in 1931 as memorial to Veronese dead of WWI - blown up 1945 by retreating Germans, along with all the other bridges. Reconstruction completed in May 1955.
#Verona #Italy #Photography
A detail of Ponte della Vittoria. Completed in 1931 as memorial to Veronese dead of WWI - blown up 1945 by retreating Germans, along with all the other bridges. Reconstruction completed in May 1955.
#Verona #Italy #Photography
Dublin up.
My university paid a marketing company a lot of money to tell us that, give the global recognition of #Dublin as a brand, we should call ourselves ‘UCD Dublin’. So we are now University College Dublin Dublin. 🫠 #UCD #TrueStory
December 10, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Dublin up.
I see @earlrussell.bsky.social has added another title!
December 10, 2025 at 6:38 PM
I see @earlrussell.bsky.social has added another title!
More Westminster corruption from the grotesque British State.
(plenty of cronies as usual, but Simon Heffer... boke.)
www.gov.uk/government/n...
(plenty of cronies as usual, but Simon Heffer... boke.)
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Political Peerages December 2025
The King has been graciously pleased to signify His intention of conferring Peerages of the United Kingdom for Life upon the undermentioned:
www.gov.uk
December 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
More Westminster corruption from the grotesque British State.
(plenty of cronies as usual, but Simon Heffer... boke.)
www.gov.uk/government/n...
(plenty of cronies as usual, but Simon Heffer... boke.)
www.gov.uk/government/n...