Hopper

A major 25-year study has crowned tennis as the most effective sport for extending lifespan. According to the Copenhagen City Heart Study, which tracked over 8,500 adults for 25 years, recreational tennis players gained an average of 9.7 years of life expectancy. This is significantly more than any other physical activity examined. For comparison, swimming added 3.4 years, jogging added 3.2 years, and traditional gym workouts added just 1.5 years. Supporting research involving 80,000 participants further confirmed that racket sports like tennis are linked to a 47 percent lower risk of death from any cause compared to a sedentary lifestyle. What makes tennis such a powerful longevity booster is its unique blend of high-intensity interval training, multi-directional movement, balance, and grip strength, all wrapped in a highly social activity. The constant sprinting, quick directional changes, and brief recovery periods challenge both the aerobic and anaerobic systems. At the same time, playing with others provides mental stimulation and a strong sense of community. [Schnohr, P., O'Keefe, J. H., Holtermann, A., Lavie, C. J., Lange, P., Jensen, G. B., & Marott, J. L. (2018). Various Leisure-Time Physical Activities Associated With Widely Different Life Expectancies: The Copenhagen City Heart Study. Mayo Clinic Proceedings]

@JamesMartinSJ Vance is either very dim or dishonest, or both!

Yes, he really said that. Yesterday Vice President JD Vance criticized Pope Leo XIV for not knowing enough theology: "I think it's very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology ... If you’re going to opine on matters of theology, you’ve got to be careful, you’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth," he said, at a Turning Point conference. One of the many, many, ironies about that statement is that it came in response to Pope Leo's comments about war and peace and, specifically, the concept of "just war," which originated with St. Augustine. As many have already noted, when the Vice President was making his comments, Pope Leo XIV, a member of the Augustinian Order, and twice Prior General of the Augustinians before his election as Pope, was visiting the hometown of St. Augustine, then called "Hippo," now in Annaba, a town in modern-day Algeria. For good measure, Pope Leo XIV, the man critiqued for insufficient theological education, earned not only a master's degree in divinity, but also licentiate and a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. JD Vance's recent conversion to Catholicism is beside the point, because many converts are of course not only highly intelligent (and learned in theology) but faithful and energetic Catholics. We rejoice over everyone entering the church. What most of us do not rejoice over, however, is a deadly combination of inaccuracy and hubris. Pace, Vice President Vance, but the current war in Iran is not a just war under Catholic doctrine. You can hear that from church leaders from across the theological spectrum, from Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the head of the military vicariate and former head of the @USCCB, to Cardinal Robert McElroy, Archbishop of Washington who holds doctorates in both theology and political science. You can look all that up online. Suffice to say, the Vice President doesn't seem to understand the tenets of just war. Nor does he seem to understand the fundamental position of the church, which is for peace. "War is always a defeat for humanity," as St. John Paul II said. If that authority isn't enough, then turn to Jesus who said, "Blessed are the peacemakers," not "Blessed are the warmongers." And after the Resurrection, the Risen Christ says to the frightened disciples not "Vengeance is mine" but "Peace be with you." Incidentally, the day before, the Vice President said that the Pope (and the Vatican) should stick to teaching about morality, also seeming to forget that war and peace are profoundly moral issues. For his part, Pope Leo was focused yesterday on his spiritual father, St. Augustine. After what seemed like an emotional visit to Hippo, he celebrated Mass at the Basilica of St. Augustine in Annaba. During his homily he said, "The primary task of pastors as ministers of the Gospel is therefore to bear witness to God before the world with one heart and one soul, not permitting our concerns to lead us astray through fear, nor trends to undermine us through compromise." Amen. Let's all continue to pray for the Holy Father as he works for peace. (Image: Pope Leo XIV prays at the archeological ruins of Hippo, home of St. Augustine, in current-day Algeria. CNS photo).

The Archbishop of Washington D.C. just said it directly. “In Catholic teaching, this is not a just war.” This isn’t a foreign pope making diplomatic statements from Rome. This is the Archbishop of the American capital. The man who leads the Catholic Church in the city where the war was decided, where Congress was gaveled into silence, where the Pentagon threatened the Vatican’s ambassador for daring to disagree. He just told Washington — from Washington — that what they are doing fails the moral test their own faith demands. The just war doctrine has four criteria. A just cause. Right intention. Last resort. Proportional means. Cardinal McElroy is saying this war fails them. He joins Pope Leo XIV who called it unjust. Who called Trump’s threats unacceptable. Who the Pentagon summoned and threatened with the Avignon Papacy for saying so. They threatened the Pope. They didn’t silence him. They can’t silence the Archbishop either.

The cross is part of the mission. The imperialist occupation of the world is disrupted from within; the violence that until now has been the law is unmasked. The poor, imprisoned, and rejected Messiah descends into the darkness of death, yet in so doing He brings a new creation to light. #HolyThursday

@nickfshort @JamesMunro5 @EduardHabsburg Not unrelated to Eduard (so cheating!) but I might have got away with it.

@hawkscastle @JamesMunro5 @EduardHabsburg Yup!

So, who would live in a house like this? * * @JamesMunro5: you're banned from playing. As is @EduardHabsburg.

In Japanese, "tsundoku" means collecting books and letting them pile up, not from neglect, but for the joy of knowing they're there, full of untold stories.

When your dad is the King of England

@dcsandbrook @UniofOxford @WilliamJHague Many congratulations, Dominic. Richly deserved!

It was a wonderful honour to be awarded an honorary doctorate by my alma mater today - all the more so because my fellow honorands were such lovely and brilliant people. Thank you @UniofOxford and @WilliamJHague. It was an unforgettable day. ox.ac.uk/news/2026-02-2…

The Green Party's Caroline Lucas humiliates Reform UK's Zia Yusuf on #Newsnight "Your position is utterly incoherent" "You have provided no evidence that it's the Equalities Act that discriminates against white working class boys" "And when it comes to the wider issue of taking your word on anything you've said, it seems to be a muddled message" "When you said something about Robert Jenrick a few years ago, we are not to take it seriously, whereas now we are to take you seriously" "We've got Reform UK's Suella Braverman ripping up the Equalities Act" "We've got Richard Tice suggesting people will end up with far more expensive energy bills because he wants to go drilling in the north sea rather than using renewable energy" "Reform UK pretends to be an insurgent party, an anti establishment anti elite party, yet it's stuffed full of old Tory retreads" "It just doesn't add up" "People looking at this press conference this afternoon are going to feel that Reform UK doesn't know what its doing" "The interesting thing of course was Nigel Farage was trying to present the other spokespeople as a way of saying that it's no longer just about me, its' about all of us" "All of you were asked by the press 25 questions, and Nigel Farage answered all of them"

Hell Lane, also known as Shute’s Lane, at Symondsbury in Dorset 🇬🇧 is one of the deepest and best-preserved holloways in Britain, with its sandstone walls cut down to nearly 9 metres below the surrounding fields in places. The word holloway comes from Old English and simply means a sunken road, formed where a route has been used so heavily for so long that it is gradually worn down into the ground. The origins of this route almost certainly go back to prehistory. Tracks in this part of Dorset were already in use by the Bronze Age, and later by the Iron Age Durotriges, the Celtic tribe that occupied much of what is now Dorset, southern Somerset, Devon and parts of Wiltshire before the Roman conquest. As was common across Britain, newer roads and tracks followed the lines of older ones, so a prehistoric route could easily become a medieval and later highway. Over centuries the surface was cut deeper by the passage of feet, hooves and cart wheels, combined with rainwater washing loose material away. This process would have accelerated in the Middle Ages, particularly after the building of Symondsbury church in the 14th century. The nearby name Quarry Hill points to where the building stone was taken from, and that stone would have been hauled along this very lane, grinding it ever further down into the bedrock. Just a short distance away lies Bridport Harbour, now West Bay, which was a long-established port for fishing and trade. Goods from the coast would have been taken inland along routes like this, linking harbour, village and hinterland. The walls of Hell Lane are covered in centuries of scratched names and symbols, a long-running tradition of marking the place that stretches from early travellers to modern visitors. The graffiti forms a kind of informal record of the many people who have passed through this narrow cutting. Dorset’s coastline was also a centre of smuggling in the 17th and 18th centuries, and figures such as Isaac Gulliver made their fortunes running contraband from secluded beaches to inland markets. Sunken lanes like Hell Lane, hidden from view and difficult to patrol, were ideal for moving goods such as gin, tea, silk and lace away from the coast without attracting attention. Today, the lane feels almost like a trench cut through time, preserving thousands of years of movement, trade and daily life in its walls and floor. © MedievalHistoria #archaeohistories

In 2008, Prince Charles did something that left textile historians astonished, he discovered that the last remaining artisans in Britain who could hand-weave the intricate Harris Tweed that had been synonymous with Scottish Highland culture for centuries were elderly and dying without successors and that within years authentic craft knowledge distinguishing real Harris Tweed from industrial imitations would be lost forever, taking with it not just a fabric but centuries of cultural identity, economic livelihood for remote island communities and irreplaceable expertise about creating cloth so durable and weather-resistant that modern synthetics still couldn't match its performance. What's extraordinary is how comprehensively he intervened: Charles didn't just fund preservation; he revolutionized the entire Harris Tweed economy by personally wearing fabric prominently, convincing high-end fashion designers to feature it in their collections and creating markets where traditional weavers could command prices reflecting their extraordinary skill rather than competing with cheap industrial knockoffs, essentially transforming Harris Tweed from dying craft into luxury good that made traditional production economically viable again. He established apprenticeship programs on the remote Scottish islands where Harris Tweed originated, recruiting young Hebrideans into what their parents considered a dead-end craft and pairing them with master weavers who'd assumed their knowledge would die with them, creating urgent knowledge transfer that preserved not just weaving techniques but cultural traditions, Gaelic language, and community relationships that had always been inseparable from cloth itself. What's remarkable is how he championed legal protections: Charles supported Harris Tweed's designation as protected geographic indicator, meaning that only cloth hand-woven by islanders in their homes on Outer Hebrides using local wool could legally be called Harris Tweed, essentially preventing corporate appropriation and ensuring that this cultural heritage and economic benefits remained with the communities who'd created and maintained it across generations. His foundation funded modern looms that reduced the brutal physical labor of traditional weaving while maintaining the hand-crafted quality that made Harris Tweed unique, understanding that preservation didn't mean freezing the craft in amber but allowing it to evolve sustainably so weavers could make decent livings without destroying their bodies or compromising fabric's distinctive character. What's profoundly moving is the cultural revival this enabled: young Hebrideans who'd been leaving their islands for mainland cities discovered they could build dignified careers in their communities, Gaelic language experienced modest revival because weaving knowledge was transmitted in Gaelic, and remote islands found renewed purpose and economic vitality through craft that connected them to their ancestors while creating sustainable futures. Today, Harris Tweed is thriving with waiting lists for fabric, traditional weavers earning professional wages, and global recognition as luxury sustainable textile, proving that preserving traditional crafts isn't romantic nostalgia but viable economic strategy when you create appropriate market positioning and protect artisans from exploitation. He taught us that cultural heritage and economic development aren't opposing forces but partners when traditional crafts are valued and protected appropriately, that geographic protections ensure communities benefit from their heritage rather than watching corporations steal and profit from it, that some textile production should remain hand-crafted because quality and cultural value justify cost, and that preserving traditional industries in remote communities isn't charity but recognizing that cultural diversity and sustainable livelihoods matter more than maximizing industrial efficiency. #drthehistories

Kenneth Clark's "Civilisation: A Personal View" is one of the most important series ever to appear on television. If you haven't watched it, it really is time for an intervention: drop everything else this weekend and follow these links to all 13 episodes: antigonejournal.com/2023/02/kennet…

@BBCSteveR How very sad. I invited him to speak and he was so delightful. He was utterly brilliant, summarising the history, culture and religion of India with such clarity and enthusiasm.

Sad to learn of the death of former BBC foreign correspondent Sir Mark Tully. For so many years he was known as the ‘Voice of India.’ As a tribute I play one of the pieces Sir Mark selected on BBC Radio’s Desert Island Discs: Danny Boy.

The late, great Shane Warne sharing a classic tale about the one and only KP. Always one step ahead! 😂 Hey @KP24 , we need to hear your side of this story! Care to elaborate? 😂🤯

"We forced Ukraine to give up nuclear weapons, cruise missiles, and strategic bombers. We promised to protect Ukraine from Russia. We made Ukraine vulnerable. So yes, this is our war." - Bill Clinton 🫡

Powerful Christmas Message from the king - pitched on the importance of tolerance and social cohesion. It builds on his definition of a Christian country: one that makes space and respects people of all faiths and none. x.com/SkyNews/status…

@JamesWHankins1 @CFrancisFisher St. Andrews!

Oxford and Cambridge are far and away the best in ancient and medieval history. If only interested in undergraduate study in the U.S., Hillsdale has strength in ancient, Notre Dame in medieval. A number of liberal arts univs have outstanding honors colleges. For M.A. study, @RalstonCollege is unique in the universe.

@DrRoryCox @StAndrewsHist @univofstandrews Congratulations!

I am pleased to say that I was promoted to Professor of History @StAndrewsHist @univofstandrews

@VictoriaCoren Ditto!

I did not. Indeed, I was the only girl in my entire year allowed to drop it before GCSE, due to their fears over the grade I might receive.