Helsbels
LightNews LightNews
banner
helenus3.bsky.social
Helsbels
@helenus3.bsky.social
1.7K followers 1K following 1.6K posts
Susceptible to archaeology/art/landscape/wildlife/environment/nature/history/photography/old buildings/old stuff/books/beauty/cake/worry

Chester, UK
Fighting the barbarians at the gate...
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Helsbels
karlykingsley.bsky.social
Trump says he’s closing the Kennedy Center for two years for “construction, revitalization, and complete rebuilding.” That’s code for no one will perform there since he took over and he doesn’t want another public reminder that artists and audiences overwhelmingly despise him
February 2, 2026 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Helsbels
chapps.bsky.social
A true rarity, this bronze goose was discovered in the ruins of Constantinople’s famed luxurious hippodrome. It has a pipe in its beak, so it was probably part of a fountain, providing water to the 100,000 spectators who could fit into the circus stands. 🏺 1/

Roman, 4th c. CE. #BritishMuseum
📸 me
Bronze figure of a goose with a dark patina, perhaps from a fountain. The neck section is removable and there is a pipe in the beak. The feathers are all delineated by engraving - it’s highly detailed. The webbed feet are missing. British Museum, London (1859,0601.1)
February 1, 2026 at 8:52 PM
helenus3.bsky.social
Well that's a horrible and rather annoying ending #TheNightManager
February 1, 2026 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Helsbels
chesterarchsoc.bsky.social
A Roman altar from Boughton, Chester, in the grounds of Eaton Hall

Another fascinating read from Andie Byrnes 'Based in Churton': basedinchurton.co.uk/2026/02/01/a...
A Roman altar from Boughton, Chester, in the grounds of Eaton Hall
xx Eaton Hall is part of the Duke of Westminster’s estate 4.2miles / 6.7km to the south of Chester.  It was very common for wealthy families to feature ancient Egyptian and Roman objects on their e…
basedinchurton.co.uk
February 1, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Helsbels
lizwebster.bsky.social
✅ Clarkson is right, people aren’t voting Reform for policies 👉there aren’t any.

It’s a protest vote powered by nostalgia not a plan for future.

Reform use farming as a prop. Their real plan is USA trade deal, hormone-treated imports and they’ve appointed Ben Goldsmith
🔗 archive.ph/2026.01.31-0...
February 1, 2026 at 7:45 AM
Reposted by Helsbels
13sarahmurphy.bsky.social
Here’s the full story.. and it stinks.

How anyone can think Farage will do anything good for our country when we’re already trapped in the tedious, ruinous Brexit mess he’s made, god only knows. This nasty little gobshite will never fix any problems. He IS the problem.
Reform's churchwarden riddle Extract A churchwarden from Potters Bar who works for the family of a highly secretive, Kazakhstan-born billionaire can be revealed as the man behind £200,000 of donations to Reform UK. John Richard Simpson is a 59-year-old conveyancer whose parish website describes him as an "experienced" and "dedicated" Anglican lay leader. He is the owner of Interior Architecture Landscape Limited, which made seven payments to Nigel Farage's party last summer. The firm, which was originally owned via a trust in the British Virgin Islands, is so small it does not have to file professionally audited accounts. It did not display any contact details until recently and was almost wound up by HMRC after a tax dispute last year. Simpson, known locally as Bill, "does conveyancing, but is not a fully qualified solicitor", according to a Facebook post by a neighbour in the Hertfordshire town. There is no evidence he has any background in interior design. He has no known political affiliation or background in activism. He would not discuss the source of the funds donated to Reform last week. Simpson has long worked for Sasan and Yasmin Ghandehari, a married couple who a spokesman for the interior design company acknowledged were "clients". Last month, the Ghandehari family office sponsored Farage's pass to Davos and a hotel in the Swiss resort for the World Economic Forum's annual gathering. They claimed to have retained the Reform leader as "an honorary and unpaid adviser" in an arrangement first reported by the Financial Times. In response to inquiries, Farage's spokesman said: "[Sasan] Ghandehari has attended a Reform UK fundraising event and they are friends of the party." It is understood the event in question took place at Oswald's, a private members' club in Mavfair. It is illegal for a foreign national or entity to donate directly to a party. Yet a trading British company is automatically eligible to donate. Churchwarden with connection to Kazakh-born tycoon is behind £200k of donations to Reform Extract: They claimed to have retained the Reform leader as "an honorary and unpaid adviser", an arrangement first reported by the Financial Times. In response to inquiries, Farage's spokesman said: "[Sasan] Ghandehari has attended a Reform UK fundraising event and they are friends of the party." It is understood the event took place at Oswald's, a private members' club in Mayfair. It is illegal for a foreign national or entity to donate directly to a party. Yet a trading British company is automatically eligible to donate. There is nothing to stop a foreign investor or owner depositing funds in a UK company which in turn donates to a political party. Sasan and Yasmin Ghandehari have been described as "Iranian-born" and "British" in media reports but it is unclear whether they hold British citizenship. Sasan gave his nationality as Iranian and his profession as "businessman" in a Companies House document dated 2002. The Ghandeharis are prolific art collectors and sit on a fundraising committee for the Tate. They derive their wealth from Sasan's mother, Hourieh Peramaa, who was born in Kazakhstan and fled to Iran as a child before investing in property and becoming a billionaire. Named by Chatham House as a "politi- cally exposed" or "high-risk" person from a post-Soviet state, she is so secretive that there is almost no verifiable information about her and it is not known if she is still alive. She would be 97 if so. The family faced controversy in 2008, when the former head of Kazakhstan's intelligence services claimed they had bought Royal Mansion, a £50 million home in The Bishops Avenue, London — known as "billionaires' row" - for Nursultan Nazarbayev, then the dictator of the oil and gas-rich state. Sasan Ghandehari denied this was the case. However, he acknowledged having a personal relationship with the ruler.
February 1, 2026 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Helsbels
stevehyndside.bsky.social
Psst. Greens are best placed to beat Reform in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Pass it on.

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/bet...
Bookies make Green Party surprise FAVOURITES to win Gorton and Denton by-election
With all the talk about Labour's 'Burnham Block' and high-profile Reform candidates, bookmakers have an eye on the Green Party.
www.thelondoneconomic.com
January 26, 2026 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Helsbels
forestcollectiv.bsky.social
Its #RomanSiteSaturday & how about a short thread on Viroconium Cornoviorum, at its height likely the 4th largest settlement in Roman Britain
Nowadays, this is Wroxeter

🧵👇
January 31, 2026 at 7:54 AM
Reposted by Helsbels
malcolmstoneman.bsky.social
#Roman folding chair (iron)
Second half of the 2nd century CE
Found Zavód, #Slovakia.

It perhaps belonged to an officer in a field camp. A symbol of power & rank.

Left behind damaged when the soldiers withdrew.

Marcus Aurelius exhibition #Trier
marc-aurel-trier.de/en/home/

#RomanSiteSaturday
Metal frame of seat. Museum diagram of chair - like a modern folding chair. Legs form two “X” shapes, braced by bars to top & bottom. Suspended between the bars is a (leather?) seat.
January 31, 2026 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by Helsbels
romanpalace.bsky.social
We have a lot to answer for...
durotrigesdig.bsky.social Durotriges Dig @durotrigesdig.bsky.social · 1d
A great place to have a primary school trip (and start an interest in *old things* 😊). It was a school visit to Fishbourne Roman Palace that tipped me into the world of archaeology

Just don't tell @romanpalace.bsky.social 🤫
The draft version of the current Fishbourne palace guidebook (c. 1975)
January 31, 2026 at 10:27 AM
helenus3.bsky.social
That's my weekend reading sorted...a packed edition with five Welsh hillfort excavation reports & a great introductory piece by @drtobydriver.bsky.social, among other treats 😃
Nice cover photo of the Dinas Dinlle Romano-British roundhouse 😍#Cambrians #Wales #hillforts #archaeology #Ancientbluesky🏺
January 31, 2026 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Helsbels
ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social
This painting by the artist Adriaen Coorte, made in 1699, shows a simple bunch of dramatically lit asparagus, on a stone shelf.

Still life paintings of food, often called Vanitas, were a common theme in Dutch art in the 17th century and alluded to moral themes such as the brevity of life.
An oil painting of a bunch of asparagus tied in a round bundle against a black background.
January 29, 2026 at 8:00 AM
helenus3.bsky.social
Blissful day immersed in the past yesterday...glowing Turners at @walkerartgallery.bsky.social, ancient gold & silver gleaming in the Treasures exhib at Museum of Liverpool, & cracking two hour lecture by Kevin Cootes at Aldford, covering the #Poulton dig from inception to present day
#archaeology🏺
January 30, 2026 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Helsbels
70sscifiart.bsky.social
Julian Baum, “Portent of Doom”
A sauropod dinosaur looks up at a blue light left by an asteroid zooming across the night sky.
January 15, 2026 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Helsbels
luxjude352.bsky.social
“It was very nice” slays me. He’s quite bonkers. #bbcpm #UkraineWar
noelreports.com NOELREPORTS @noelreports.com · 3d
Trump: "I personally asked Putin not too strike Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week. He agreed to do that. It was very nice. Lots of people said don't waste your time on it, you won't get it done. Even Ukraine didn't believe it."
January 29, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Helsbels
stelingard.bsky.social
The remains of the tower at the SE corner of the Roman legionary fort at #Chester / Deva, with a section of the mediaeval wall behind it. Built in the late first century, it originally had a ditch in front, filled in long ago. #RomanFortThursday #RomanBritain
📷 my own, from 2024
The surviving lower courses of a rectangular stone tower, set into wall foundations that curve away on either side. There is a complete, later wall behind it, of more regularly cur stone. Modern buildings are behind and above that. Part of a pub beer garden is visible on the right, beside the remains of the tower. The dominant colours in the stonework are shades of sandy brown.
January 29, 2026 at 8:21 AM
Reposted by Helsbels
followinghadrian.bsky.social
Greece Recommissions Emperor Hadrian’s Aqueduct to Address Water Shortages.
greekreporter.com/2026/01/27/g...
Greece Recommissions Emperor Hadrian’s Aqueduct to Address Water Shortages - GreekReporter.com
Greece revives the 2,000-year-old Roman Emperor Hadrian's Aqueduct to combat water shortages caused by climate change.
greekreporter.com
January 27, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Helsbels
brucespringsteen.net
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
helenus3.bsky.social
The pond 🦆🦆🦆
#birdlife #Christleton #Chester
January 28, 2026 at 11:14 PM
helenus3.bsky.social
Made a couple of new friends at the pond. They waddled sedately over and looked at us so sweetly and politely but we were empty-handed. Going to have to go back with some duck food specially for them :)
#Muscovyducks
January 28, 2026 at 11:10 PM
Reposted by Helsbels
mattpope.bsky.social
Sussex has legends of Giants but I never thought one would reveal its face in such a dramatic way
a cliff fall of random rubble that has arranged itself into the face of a heavy browed bearded man
January 28, 2026 at 6:48 AM
Reposted by Helsbels
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Ancient Greek silver stater (coin) with an octopus on the reverse side. 🐙

Minted in Eretria, Euboea, Greece, 500-480 BC.

Photo: British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

#Archaeology
#ReliefWednesday
A British Museum photo showing the reverse side of a silver stater coin from the ancient city of Eretria on the island of Euboea, Central Greece. The coin is roundish in shape, and in the centre there is a relief image of an octopus within a recessed square. The octopus has a bulbous head with a small round eye on either side. Beneath the head, eight arms curve gracefully, symmetrically arranged with four arms on each side, curling into a tight spiral at the tip. Diameter: 26 millimetres. Weight: 8.670 grammes. Dated circa 500-480 BC.
January 28, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Helsbels
drtobydriver.bsky.social
The glorious, remote Nant Pasgan Fawr farmhouse in the hills above Talsarnau, Eryri/Snowdonia, approached by a slate slab bridge across a stream

The house has been dated by dendrochronology to the late C16th 😮

👉 coflein.gov.uk/en/site/405144

📷 My own, yesterday
A farmhouse nestled in rocks at the edge of moorland
January 26, 2026 at 7:42 AM
Reposted by Helsbels
durotrigesdig.bsky.social
Finding footprints from the past

Then: excavation director Tessa Verney Wheeler cleaning the large multicoloured geometric mosaic of Building 8 Insula IV at Verulamium (St Albans) in 1932

Now: the same view in January 2026, the #Roman floor preserved inside a cover building

#MosaicMonday
Archaeologist Tessa Wheeler brushing a freshly exposed Roman mosaic in a black and white photo from 1932 The same Roman mosaic today in a colour photograph
January 26, 2026 at 7:42 AM
helenus3.bsky.social
£20,000 is peanuts to someone like that. If you deliberately and illegally destroy an highly sensitive & important geological/fossil site and SSSI, you should get a short prison sentence, to deter others
#Poole #Dorset #environment
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Millionaire who felled 28 trees to create room for clifftop pool fined £20,000
Bill Buckler bought a 1960s bungalow in the Canford Cliffs area of Poole for over £3.1million
www.independent.co.uk
January 27, 2026 at 7:48 PM