"We do not merely study the past, we inherit it, and inheritance brings with it not only the rights of ownership, but the duties of trusteeship. Things fought for and died for should not be idly squandered. For they are the property of others, who are not yet born"

Narrow residential streets that open into wide communal piazzas. Love how the Umbrians built their towns to give their best Romanesque architecture room to breathe.

Your baby knows your voice, even before they enter the world. As the senses activate between 24-26 weeks of gestation, the tone of our own mothers’ voice is one of the very first things we experience as humans (second only to her heartbeat, most likely). And a whole host of

UK trains: pay extortionate prices to travel in a cramped and dirty carriage, with no reserved space for prams. Italian trains: get 50% off a ticket when travelling with a baby in a clean family carriage with reserved spaces for prams.

Simone Weil, The Need for Roots, 1949.

Your average Umbrian pavement, postbox and street art in a small provincial town, a few things that add to a tapestry of detail and beauty in public spaces.

The Overton window moves fast

This is everyday life with a toddler pointing at several things he’s noticed for the first time whilst making indecipherable sounds

Nearly 500 years after the Reformation, an English monarch prays alongside the Pope once again. A historic day.

October skies in Tennyson country

The silence is deafening. Civilian men, women, and children are being slaughtered in Sudan. Estimates of over 150,000 killed & 14 million displaced since April 2023. Considered the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. No mass protests. No daily political statements/demands. No

Promoting free breakfast clubs as a route to more child-free time for parents speaks volumes

A cultural malaise has quietly eroded the West’s confidence in its creativity, reshaping how art is funded, judged, and understood. The post-cultural state | Lola Salem engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the-p…

One of the more disturbing, dystopian stories I’ve read in some time : nytimes.com/2025/12/14/mag…

Jimmy Lai stands among the bravest defenders of free speech in our lifetime. An innocent man, unjustly detained for over 1,800 days. Pray for Jimmy Lai.

Without concerted global action, Jimmy Lai will die in prison. ✍️ Benedict Rogers spectator.com/article/keir-s…

There are many distinctions to be made here. - If sleep deprivation is starting to significantly affect your mental health (not uncommon) do not feel guilty about doing whatever it takes to get sleep. Nothing is more important than avoiding slipping into severe PPD, postpartum

People don't realize that modern interiors are mostly fuel in solid form. That is why fires burn faster and hotter with more poisonous gases year by year: the places where live and play and work are more and more filled with things that catch fire in an instant. And don't trust