Gerard Russell

Lithuanian composer and conductor Mindaugas Piečaitis, directs his orchestra on the notes of Nora the cat playing the piano. She earns a standing ovation.

Sister Katarzyna Celestyna Faron (born on 24 April 1913), a Servant of the Immaculate Conception of Stara Wieś (SNMNP), kindergarten teacher, mother superior of the house of the order in Brzozów. Arrested on a denunciation of the contacts the nuns had with an underground organisation. Deported to Auschwitz on 6 January 1943 (prisoner number 27989). In the camp, she taught young women inmates mathematics and foreign languages. She died of exhaustion on Easter, on 9 April 1944. More about the fate of Christian clergy and religious life in Auschwitz: lekcja.auschwitz.org/en_18_duchowie…

BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV on Trump’s warning to Iran of “civilization” destruction — “This is truly not acceptable. Here there are certainly questions of international law, but even more than this a question of morality for the good of people.” He adds the war is “continuing to escalate and is not resolving anything… is only provoking more hatred throughout the world.” “attacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law, but it is also against sign of the hatred and division that we are capable of.” Video @Reuters

Information reaching Israel suggests that in recent hours, the chances of a pause in the war have significantly increased. ·The current assessment is that even before President Trump’s ultimatum expires, the two sides—Iran and the United States—may reach an agreement on (at least): o A short ceasefire (one or two weeks); o The reopening (possibly in a somewhat limited capacity) of the Straits of Hormuz; o Negotiations between the parties with the involvement of mediating countries. This development comes against the backdrop of a request from the Prime Minister of Pakistan to President Trump to extend the ultimatum deadline by two weeks (a timeframe the President is known to be quite partial to), as well as a certain Iranian softening regarding their previous demand to finalize only a comprehensive agreement and their refusal to discuss a limited ceasefire.

Hello, Moon. It’s great to be back. Here’s a taste of what the Artemis II astronauts photographed during their flight around the Moon. Check out more photos from the mission: nasa.gov/artemis-ii-mul…

This is mind blowing. In the caves of Oman, Dr. Al-Jallad found an inscription, from around a thousand years before the birth of prophet Muhammad, that uses the name Mhmd as a divine epithet for the sun god Shams. The inscription also uses bismika and astaghfirullah. >>

@amwilson_opera I think they demolished a 60s extension to build this, though I can’t quite be sure. They are keeping the house at 19. It’s Teddy Hall’s work: docs.planning.org.uk/20220905/8/RFO…

Norham Gardens, Oxford, is a street of gorgeous Victorian mansions. One appears to have been knocked down to create student accommodation. It could be worse, but it's not great. I hope they don't intend to knock down the one on the left, which also has diggers around it... /

Hey, I know those! (Check out @PAKEP_KSA for information) But this photo is weird. It appears to be quite old. However, its been flipped horizontally, and the avenue/tombs go further than this. It's like they photoshopped out additional tombs in the distance.

Celebrating Palm Sunday in Ramallah, Palestine.

Lismore protestors magnificent. Duke’s son in law handles himself well. Nineteenth century flavour to proceedings. Recommended viewing:

"Jesus is silent, not because he has nothing to speak, but because he will not follow the logic of verbal violence. His silence is a refusal to participate in the game of power that crushes. It is a silence that refrains from fueling the cycle of evil, nor does it seek to hurt anyone" - Quote from the Palm Sunday Meditation of H.B. Card. Pizzaballa

JUST IN: Israeli Police prevented Cardinal Pizzaballa from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre today, as he went to say Mass. @LPJerusalem calls it a “grave precedent” which “constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure.” Full statement from @LPJerusalem below —— Joint Press Release The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land Holy City of Jerusalem Palm Sunday, 29 March 2026 This morning, the Israeli Police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, together with the Custos of the Holy Land, the Most Reverend Fr. Francesco Ielpo, OFM, the official Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass. The two were stopped en route, while proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act, and were compelled to turn back. As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This incident is a grave precedent,and disregard the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem. The Heads of the Churches have acted with full responsibility and, since the outset of the war, have complied with all imposed restrictions: public gatherings were cancelled, attendance was prohibited, and arrangements were made to broadcast the celebrations to hundreds of millions of faithful worldwide, who, during these days of Easter, turn their eyes to Jerusalem and to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Preventing the entry of the Cardinal and the Custos, who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and the Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure. This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the Status Quo. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land express their profound sorrow to the Christian faithful in the Holy Land and throughout the world that prayer on one of the most sacred days of the Christian calendar has thus been prevented.

Trump calls #Iran’s Ayatollah ☎️ 😄 The complexity of Middle East doublespeak made funny by our witty colleagues at @gzeromedia @EurasiaGroup

"The body of an almost full-term newborn baby is found in a skip, and the mother is traced. After the Crime and Policing Bill gets royal assent later this year, an investigation would take two courses. If she is believed to have, say, smothered the child after birth, she may be charged with infanticide, an offence which, taking into account postpartum mental illness and distress, is tried (if at all) as manslaughter not murder. But if the mother claims the child died in utero, because she took abortifacient drugs, the case will close. Whatever her reasons for doing this, the baby’s death is not a crime. Indeed, thanks to Clause 208 of the bill, which removed women who end their own pregnancies from the criminal code, it isn’t even a baby. It is nothing at all." @VictoriaPeckham sets out the chilling new reality

Par Excellence ♥️🕯️🥀 @pursuedbytruth

Israeli settlers escalate their incursions into Taybeh, the West Bank’s last fully Christian town, raising concerns over further land appropriation. The parish priest, Father Bashar Fawadleh, appeals for international intervention, as residents face mounting restrictions and call for peace, justice, and protection. vaticannews.va/en/church/news…

Timely reminder of when this guy reviewed that guy... Iggy Pop on Gibbon's Decline and Fall (Classics Ireland, 1995): Caesar Lives by Iggy Pop In 1982, horrified by the meanness, tedium and depravity of my existence as I toured the American South playing rock and roll music and going crazy in public, I purchased an abridged copy of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Dero Saunders, Penguin). The grandeur of the subject appealed to me, as did the cameo illustration of Edward Gibbon, the author, on the front cover. He looked like a heavy dude. Being in a political business, I had long made a habit of reading biographies of wilful characters — Hitler, Churchill, MacArthur, Brando — with large profiles, and I also enjoyed books on war and political intrigue, as I could relate the action to my own situation in the music business, which is not about music at all, but is a kind of religion-rental. I would read with pleasure around 4 am, with my drugs and whisky in cheap motels, savouring the clash of beliefs, personalities and values, played out on antiquity’s stage by crowds of the vulgar, led by huge archetypal characters. And that was the end of that. Or so I thought. Eleven years later I stood in a dilapidated but elegant room in a rotting mansion in New Orleans, and listened as a piece of music strange to my ears pulled me back to ancient Rome and called forth those ghosts to merge in hilarious, bilious pretence with the Schwartzkopfs, Schwartzeneggers and Sheratons of modern American money and muscle myth. Out of me poured information I had no idea I ever knew, let alone retained, in an extemporaneous soliloquy I called ‘Caesar’. When I listened back, it made me laugh my ass off because it was so true. America is Rome. Of course, why shouldn’t it be? All of Western life and institutions today are traceable to the Romans and their world. We are all Roman children for better or worse. The best part of this experience came after the fact — my wife gave me a beautiful edition in three volumes of the magnificent original unabridged Decline and Fall, and since then the pleasure and profit have been all mine as I enjoy the wonderful language, organization and scope of this masterwork. Here are just some of the ways I benefit: I feel a great comfort and relief knowing that there were others who lived and died and thought and fought so long ago; I feel less tyrannized by the present day. I learn much about the way our society really works, because the system-origins — military, religious, political, colonial, agricultural, financial — are all there to be scrutinized in their infancy. I have gained perspective. The language in which the book is written is rich and complete, as the language of today is not. I find out how little I know. I am inspired by the will and erudition which enabled Gibbon to complete a work of twenty-odd years. The guy stuck with things. I urge anyone who wants life on earth to really come alive for them to enjoy the beautiful ancestral ancient world.

In Britain, you can kill a full-term baby in the womb But you can’t, in certain areas, pray silently

Tragically for the baby in the womb, by 185 votes to 148 votes, @UKHouseofLords rejected @MoncktonR Baroness Monckton's, amendment to overturn the new extreme clause allowing self administered home abortions up to birth. Peers also rejected by 191 votes to 119 votes Baroness Stroud's amendment to reinstate in-person consultations with a medical professional, prior to an abortion taking place at home. So, a bad day for vulnerable women, a bad day for the unborn child, a bad day for medical ethics and a bad day for the sanctity of human life. Nevertheless, both in @UKParliament , and in public polling, people have been reassessing and rejecting laws that have led to the ending of one UK life every two minutes -300,000 every year. In 1967, when abortion was made legal, just 29 MPs voted pro life- so, opposition has grown. But, bad laws will only change when the public push the right to life up the political agenda.

Tonight peers vote on abortion: a social justice issue. In one ward, doctors fight to save a baby. In another, they kill a baby. The difference, very often, comes down to which baby is wanted or can be afforded. Where is the equality? Where is the fairness? 1/2