William Owen
@wdowen.bsky.social
Writing about material culture, design history & East India Co networks in arts & sciences @ eaho.substack.com. Advisor on digital transformation & conservation in the cultural sector @ wdowen.substack.com. Adj. Factum Foundation.
The best explanations I’ve yet seen of the Kafkaesqe events (aka coup) at the BBC are here:
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
The BBC’s Attempts to Appease the 'Right-Wing Coup' Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction
By attempting to appease those forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues Adam Bienkov
bylinetimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:13 PM
The best explanations I’ve yet seen of the Kafkaesqe events (aka coup) at the BBC are here:
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...
You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to recognise an elaborate stitch up by Gibb, Prescott, Johnson and unknown parties
November 8, 2025 at 12:16 PM
You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to recognise an elaborate stitch up by Gibb, Prescott, Johnson and unknown parties
By a statistical miracle (and fistfuls of cash) I see that half the teams in the top 2 of the Champions’ League are from the Premier Division, also half the teams in the top 4, half the teams in the top 6, half the teams in the top 8, half the teams in the top 10, and half the teams in the top 12.
November 6, 2025 at 10:07 AM
By a statistical miracle (and fistfuls of cash) I see that half the teams in the top 2 of the Champions’ League are from the Premier Division, also half the teams in the top 4, half the teams in the top 6, half the teams in the top 8, half the teams in the top 10, and half the teams in the top 12.
“Engineer Hans Hilfiker designed the Swiss rail clock to complete its revolution in 58.5 seconds then stand still for 1.5 seconds more to, as he put it, “bring calm in the last moment and ease punctual train departure”
www.irishtimes.com/news/world/e...
www.irishtimes.com/news/world/e...
November 6, 2025 at 8:08 AM
“Engineer Hans Hilfiker designed the Swiss rail clock to complete its revolution in 58.5 seconds then stand still for 1.5 seconds more to, as he put it, “bring calm in the last moment and ease punctual train departure”
www.irishtimes.com/news/world/e...
www.irishtimes.com/news/world/e...
I found myself in the concourse of Charing Cross Stn today for the first time in probably 35 years. Once this was an everyday experience: Dartford line via Bexleyheath to Blackheath. It's extraordinary how in London you can walk just seconds off your path to stimulate a little landslide of memories.
October 31, 2025 at 10:38 AM
I found myself in the concourse of Charing Cross Stn today for the first time in probably 35 years. Once this was an everyday experience: Dartford line via Bexleyheath to Blackheath. It's extraordinary how in London you can walk just seconds off your path to stimulate a little landslide of memories.
"the adulterations to Pepys began with Smith [the diaries' decoder] himself. He imposed his own punctuation and frequently omitted things he found “objectionable.” Very few people after Smith ever learned the code. This means that successive formal editors have only ever worked with Smith’s version"
Another review for Inside Story. On Kate Loveman, The Strange History of Samuel Pepys's Dairy @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org @kateloveman.bsky.social katefullagar.com/2025/10/31/g...
Gateways to History and Samuel Pepys
Another review for Inside Story, on a topic that I didn’t think I would know enough to write upon. But it turns out this great book by Kate Loveman on Pepys’s famous 17th-century diary …
katefullagar.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:28 AM
"the adulterations to Pepys began with Smith [the diaries' decoder] himself. He imposed his own punctuation and frequently omitted things he found “objectionable.” Very few people after Smith ever learned the code. This means that successive formal editors have only ever worked with Smith’s version"
‘Doing AI Differently’ from the Turing Institute ‘calls for a fundamental shift in AI development – one that positions the humanities, arts and qualitative social sciences as integral, rather than supplemental, to technical innovation.’
www.turing.ac.uk/news/publica...
www.turing.ac.uk/news/publica...
www.turing.ac.uk
October 29, 2025 at 12:38 PM
‘Doing AI Differently’ from the Turing Institute ‘calls for a fundamental shift in AI development – one that positions the humanities, arts and qualitative social sciences as integral, rather than supplemental, to technical innovation.’
www.turing.ac.uk/news/publica...
www.turing.ac.uk/news/publica...
Money talks: Labour listens
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Developers encroach on 2,000-year-old Devon wetland citing ‘blockages’ to Labour’s housing plans
According to planning conditions, Wolborough Fen in Newton Abbot must be protected as groundworks are prepared for 1,200 homes
www.theguardian.com
October 19, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Money talks: Labour listens
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
So, when did Alexander the Great go skiing in the Dolomites? and when did they move the Parthenon to Languedoc? Tell us ‘Duolingo for History’
October 18, 2025 at 10:51 AM
So, when did Alexander the Great go skiing in the Dolomites? and when did they move the Parthenon to Languedoc? Tell us ‘Duolingo for History’
“The review describes anti-Black racism as “baked into institutional design” and diagnoses the Met’s HR (human resources) systems themselves as part of the problem. “
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
‘Damning’ review of anti-Black racism within Met police ‘buried’ by force
Exclusive: external consultancy report found discrimination ‘baked into HR systems’ at London force
www.theguardian.com
October 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM
“The review describes anti-Black racism as “baked into institutional design” and diagnoses the Met’s HR (human resources) systems themselves as part of the problem. “
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Clegg thinks AI companies should train on your data and mine unless we opt out first. “I just don’t know how you go around, asking everyone first. I just don’t see how that would work,” Clegg said. I'm not sure how "steal first, sue later" works either - in law. www.theverge.com/news/674366/...
Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry
Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.
www.theverge.com
October 9, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Clegg thinks AI companies should train on your data and mine unless we opt out first. “I just don’t know how you go around, asking everyone first. I just don’t see how that would work,” Clegg said. I'm not sure how "steal first, sue later" works either - in law. www.theverge.com/news/674366/...
Calling all digital preservers, archivists and librarians, Layla Jones on Trump's bonfire of data - t'would be good to prepare here
Talking Points Memo reporter Layla A. Jones is keeping tabs on federal data disappeared or corrupted by the Trumpists. Appears to be an ongoing project…
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/a-short...
talkingpointsmemo.com/news/a-short...
A Shortlist of Federal Data the Trump Administration Has Tampered With or Destroyed
The scale and scope of federal data and statistics that have been...
talkingpointsmemo.com
October 9, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Calling all digital preservers, archivists and librarians, Layla Jones on Trump's bonfire of data - t'would be good to prepare here
I see we have reached peak ontology
October 6, 2025 at 9:47 AM
I see we have reached peak ontology
From FT: “Wholesale power prices will be negative for 17 hours from late Friday night, matching a record set in May, with the National Grid forecasting 20 gigawatts of wind power from the storm, more than three-quarters of the country’s total electricity demand.” Hah!
October 3, 2025 at 5:57 PM
From FT: “Wholesale power prices will be negative for 17 hours from late Friday night, matching a record set in May, with the National Grid forecasting 20 gigawatts of wind power from the storm, more than three-quarters of the country’s total electricity demand.” Hah!
A De Havilland Dragon Rapide just flew past directly overhead. I knew from the sound of the engine, before I saw it. There are few more satisfying things.
October 1, 2025 at 11:28 AM
A De Havilland Dragon Rapide just flew past directly overhead. I knew from the sound of the engine, before I saw it. There are few more satisfying things.
Morgan, as I read this, Labour has lost as many to Green, slightly more to Lib Dem, & twice as many to Don't Know, as it has to Reform since the 2024 election. 40% of Tories have gone to Reform. The Labour vote has halved. But the clue to Why? is really in 'Won't vote' is now double Labour's share
New post just out:
"The story behind the polls"
Today we have guest post from the brilliant @dylandifford.bsky.social breaking down which voters have moved where since the election and why.
With loads of new data analysis and lovely charts.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
"The story behind the polls"
Today we have guest post from the brilliant @dylandifford.bsky.social breaking down which voters have moved where since the election and why.
With loads of new data analysis and lovely charts.
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...
The story behind the polls
Who's changed their mind since the 2024 election and why?
open.substack.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Morgan, as I read this, Labour has lost as many to Green, slightly more to Lib Dem, & twice as many to Don't Know, as it has to Reform since the 2024 election. 40% of Tories have gone to Reform. The Labour vote has halved. But the clue to Why? is really in 'Won't vote' is now double Labour's share
I know I am not alone in disliking conclusions @davidveevers.bsky.social but after 20,000 words on the mutinies, disputes, dismissals and lies that preceded & followed the Sikh war in 1845-46, I have fallen for the temptation of playing historian, and written one. eaho.substack.com/p/12-victory...
12. Victory and lies _
Robert Peel's speech to Parliament on 2 April 1846 after the battle of Sobraon, celebrated a cult of Christian militarism and established tropes of imperial propaganda that are familiar today.
eaho.substack.com
September 29, 2025 at 11:18 AM
I know I am not alone in disliking conclusions @davidveevers.bsky.social but after 20,000 words on the mutinies, disputes, dismissals and lies that preceded & followed the Sikh war in 1845-46, I have fallen for the temptation of playing historian, and written one. eaho.substack.com/p/12-victory...
Having spent much time over the last decade on a farm in Devon plagued by pheasants from the local shoot (they eat the clover, spread disease, pollute the Tavy) here is one more reason for hedge fund managers (Andrew Law) to stop playing aristocrats and put down their Purdeys.
Ticks are more likely to carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease in areas where Common Pheasants Phasianus colchicus are released, according to new research.
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
🥇Subscriber Content
Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
🥇Subscriber Content
September 28, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Having spent much time over the last decade on a farm in Devon plagued by pheasants from the local shoot (they eat the clover, spread disease, pollute the Tavy) here is one more reason for hedge fund managers (Andrew Law) to stop playing aristocrats and put down their Purdeys.
A puzzle for the weekend: Who wrote this salacious little ditty? Retrieved from the ashes of the fire that destroyed the North transept of the Crystal Palace, it's an autograph composition and libretto, 'Un po di bastone' (a little stick). Who then is the composer? eaho.substack.com/p/a-mystery-...
The mystery musical manuscript, charred by the Crystal Palace fire of 1866
Eliza's husband David Ogilvy was a director of the Crystal Palace. After a fire destroyed the north transept he chose to salvage the charred remains of a composition and libretto in Italian. Why?
eaho.substack.com
September 28, 2025 at 3:18 PM
A puzzle for the weekend: Who wrote this salacious little ditty? Retrieved from the ashes of the fire that destroyed the North transept of the Crystal Palace, it's an autograph composition and libretto, 'Un po di bastone' (a little stick). Who then is the composer? eaho.substack.com/p/a-mystery-...
I've decided to re-read Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series for the first time in 30 years - 11 novels averaging 650 pp each. The purpose: inspiration for Eliza Ogilvy's Commonplace Book is Missing.. Last time I had time on my hands, not now. If anybody wants to talk me out of this, feel free!
Introducing Eliza Ogilvy (the long edition)
A literary life; a network of artists, writers and scientists; a microhistory of the East India Company and its influence on British culture in the 19th Century.
eaho.substack.com
September 22, 2025 at 6:44 PM
I've decided to re-read Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series for the first time in 30 years - 11 novels averaging 650 pp each. The purpose: inspiration for Eliza Ogilvy's Commonplace Book is Missing.. Last time I had time on my hands, not now. If anybody wants to talk me out of this, feel free!
I've decided to re-read Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series for the first time in 30 years, as inspiration for Eliza Ogilvy's Commonplace Book is Missing. Eleven novels averaging 650 pp each. Last time I was ill and had time on my hands, not now. If anybody wants to talk me out of this, feel free.
September 22, 2025 at 10:15 AM
I've decided to re-read Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series for the first time in 30 years, as inspiration for Eliza Ogilvy's Commonplace Book is Missing. Eleven novels averaging 650 pp each. Last time I was ill and had time on my hands, not now. If anybody wants to talk me out of this, feel free.
Having read the abstract, which concerns a field I know something about, I haven’t a clue what this paper is saying; it’s one of those is it me or is it them? moments …
📖 New article: Goran Gaber (Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow and DiSc Fellow has a new article titled Mind the Gap. On archival politics and historical theory in the digital age:
Mind the Gap. On archival politics and historical theory in the digital age
Modern archival scholarship and practice are strikingly absent from contemporary historical theory. Given the archive’s enduring importance for history and its long-thematized political aspects, th...
doi.org
September 22, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Having read the abstract, which concerns a field I know something about, I haven’t a clue what this paper is saying; it’s one of those is it me or is it them? moments …
Reposted by William Owen
The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $6.6 trillion.
The entire bottom 50% of America is worth just $4.2 trillion.
Our problem isn't a lack of resources.
Our problem is ever-expanding inequality.
The entire bottom 50% of America is worth just $4.2 trillion.
Our problem isn't a lack of resources.
Our problem is ever-expanding inequality.
September 20, 2025 at 9:30 PM
The 400 richest Americans are now worth a record $6.6 trillion.
The entire bottom 50% of America is worth just $4.2 trillion.
Our problem isn't a lack of resources.
Our problem is ever-expanding inequality.
The entire bottom 50% of America is worth just $4.2 trillion.
Our problem isn't a lack of resources.
Our problem is ever-expanding inequality.
"Israel struck Qatar, ending the two state solution as Bibi Netanyahu’s plans advanced for the full evacuation of Gaza and the annexation of the West Bank." -- Lionel Barber. 12 days later, Keir Starmer announces UK recognises Palestinian state. 'Too little too late' or 'Taking the piss'?
September 21, 2025 at 5:16 PM
"Israel struck Qatar, ending the two state solution as Bibi Netanyahu’s plans advanced for the full evacuation of Gaza and the annexation of the West Bank." -- Lionel Barber. 12 days later, Keir Starmer announces UK recognises Palestinian state. 'Too little too late' or 'Taking the piss'?
Headline of the day: www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Wealth tax would be deadly for French economy, says Europe’s richest man
LVMH owner Bernard Arnault, who could take €1bn hit, says proposed 2% levy ‘aims to destroy liberal economy’
www.theguardian.com
September 21, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Headline of the day: www.theguardian.com/business/202...