Sarah Kate Harris 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺

Interested in all things books, politics, history and economics.

[Barendina Smedley @fugitiveink]

Yesterday I went to see the Bayeux Tapestry. Here are some reflections:

- The tapestry is extraordinary, unlike anything I’ve seen before, and unforgettable. Although I spend a lot of time reading about Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Normans, so was more than familiar with all the images, nothing prepared me for entering into the presence of this age-old, in many ways mysterious, borderline numinous thing.

- For reasons I can’t adequately explain, my first glimpse of the tapestry was an intensely emotional experience. Looking around at my fellow visitors, I was clearly not alone in this.

- There has been much discourse about “the queue”. I can only speak for myself, but when we arrived for a 10.30 am viewing, there was virtually no queue going into the exhibition.

- Once inside the exhibition, yes, there was about 25 minutes of standing about before we were in front of the tapestry. But this was very well handled. Passing through a long, darkened corridor, the time was spent reading beautifully-presented introductory material, looking at a few well-chosen objects - and also (sorry, but this is important for someone with cataracts) becoming accustomed to the (understandably) low-light conditions.

- While “the queue” exists for self-evidently practical reasons, the darkness, the (calming, solemn, slightly wistful) music and building sense of anticipation also had the effect of shutting out the outside world, slowing us down, and preparing us for the ultimate revelation of the tapestry. No one had their phones out. Increasingly, our worlds narrowed to what was immediately ahead of us. For me, anyway, the experience would have been less powerful without it.

- Yes, I know that for many years the tapestry could be visited in Bayeux with much less fuss. But not everyone travels. Warmest thanks to the French government for this very kind loan.

- Were we hurried along in front of the tapestry rather more quickly than I might have liked? Inevitably so. I could have spent hours there. Plenty of people want to see the tapestry, though, and that’s wonderful - we should all spend more time thinking about Anglo-Normans! - so I’m not going to complain about this.

- The tapestry itself is indescribably fascinating. My companion didn’t know the tapestry or its context, but was still drawn into the story, the force of the narrative, the sheer skill of presentation - he wanted to see what would happen next. The details are compulsively engaging. The battle scenes are genuinely horrific. The tapestry still “works”.

- It is also very beautiful - all the more so for the little tears, mends and missing bits. The coincidence of enormous age with irrepressible vitality is intoxicating.

- Seeing the tapestry at full length has the effect of allowing the narrative its natural momentum. Even very good photographs (as in the very admirable exhibition catalogue) cannot do this. Seeing the tapestry in real life is very different from all the alternatives.

- Finally, the @britishmuseum is to be praised for the tone of the exhibition. They could, I suppose, have gone with a much more jolly, popular, dumbed-down treatment. Instead - rather unusually at the moment - the approach is one that fosters genuine, non-ironic awe in the face of this unique, peerless object. Indeed, the whole process of standing in the queue, of quiet waiting, culminating in a brief encounter with something ancient yet powerful was extremely reminiscent of an act of (secular) pilgrimage. For whatever reason, people are drawn to this in vast numbers. (Other institutions, custodians of old yet powerful things and places, might wish to take note.)

[Sarah Kate Harris 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺 @Taffinwing]

My German @duolingo is 'freezing' this morning on a new picture/word matching bit. #firstworldproblems #retirement

[Sarah Kate Harris 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺 @Taffinwing]

Everyone needs to read this....

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

American foreign policy under Trump is not isolationist. On the contrary, MAGA ideologues want to build an international empire run by far-right political movements who serve the interests of American crypto, mineral and tech companies, especially if they have links to the president. They think of themselves as "the vanguard of a movement that will alter not just America, but the world."
Read more here:
https://t.co/I1lNTvIPgn

[Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum]

If Ukraine would just surrender we could get on with making business deals

[Formula 1 @F1]

For the first time ever... IT'S RACE DAY AT THE MADRING 😍🇪🇸

#F1 #SpanishGP

[Sarah Kate Harris 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺 @Taffinwing]

@JudyCorbett That’s so beautiful ❤️

[Kevin Schofield @KevinASchofield]

Not convinced Nigel Farage can turn Britain around in 100 days if he can't even pay attention during lunch.

https://t.co/qXVYEdV4QF

[Formula 1 @F1]

Extraordinary scenes at Monza as Pierre Gasly takes pole! 🤯

#F1 #ItalianGP @AlpineF1Team

[Sarah Kate Harris 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺 @Taffinwing]

@BohuslavskaKate @BenWallace70

[mary beard @wmarybeard]

As @HughWilliamson has correctly pointed out (thanks!) I have been over optimistic with my centenaries here. 1966 was 40th anniversary of Pooh. This year is the hundredth. Whoops !

[mary beard @wmarybeard]

It's fun to remember how we celebrated the 900th anniversary of the Battle oh Hastings in 1966 https://t.co/cmS4xtMv1I @TheTLS I love this Pooh version by E Shepard complete with Latin (it was also 100th anniversary of Winnie the Pooh)

[#Anonymous @TheStripesGirl]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Sarah Kate Harris 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺 @Taffinwing]

@rlloydpr fingers crossed!🤞

[🍂 @Lovandfear]

The older I get, the more I understand why people disappear into gardening, baking, reading, and long walks. Not because life got boring. Because peace became valuable.

[ali @gaforrevibes]

the people's real final match

[Count Binface @CountBinface]

On my way, Clacton.

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

Whatever the Environment Agency says, we *will* restore our river…

Volunteers were back out on the River Roding this weekend, ignoring the threats & lies of @EnvAgency, to battle against the odds to restore a part of the river that the authorities have left to die. The stretch of the Roding around Ilford has some of the worst problems on the river: rubbish and invasive species on its banks; sewage in its water; and huge amounts of rubbish & debris in the channel. I applied for funding from the Mayor to sort out this part of the river (which would have paid for floating barges and skips), but having been rejected twice, I decided we should just get on with it.

This is not an easy part of the river to clean, as the water is deep in places & the high concrete banks means it’s impossible to get large objects out of the river in most places. Luckily, our previous clearance of the area north of ilford bridge in May gave us an exit point, and I brought up a large rowboat and canoe. Teams in waders could load these boats with rubbish & then float them to be unloaded & the waste taken up onto the road. As some of the debris was deeply buried in the mud, we set up a winch on one of the trees to haul it out. We got an unbelievable array of crap from the river: a TV, mattress, shopping trolleys, pipes, traffic cones, random bits of metal and even a bench, which is now cleaned off and offers a place to sit beside the river.

This section of river- right in the centre of Ilford- could be genuinely lovely. Whilst it’s in a desperate state, we saw large mullet, dragonflies and reedbeds slowly returning along the edge where we had removed invasive species. There’s still much to do though. Do message if you’d like to join us on Sunday 26th of July for another day of in-river cleaning at this spot.

[Sarrah Bellus @sarrah_bellus]

Donald Trump will go down in history as the only US President to be outwitted by a single-celled organism.

[Andrew Weinstein @Weinsteinlaw]

There's a reason the Michelle Obama-George W. Bush friendship goes viral every time: People are starving for decency. For respect without agreement. For politics without cruelty. Their friendship reminds us what we've lost, and what we can still choose.