G M Thomas FRSA FRAS

One of the most underrated but prettiest blossom is the hawthorn - seen today.
#nature #spring
@botanical.bsky.social

...And we are sorry that we are no longer going to have a trial for him.” From an NBC interview.

Understanding the ending of It Was Just An Accident. Film poster 2025. Written and directed by Jafar Panahi, this Palm D’or winner, 2025 film has confused many critics primarily because they misunderstood the essential dynamic in the film. It i…

Jafar Panahi on the death of the Ayatollah. "Like many other people who suffered in this period, hearing about this news made me both happy and sad. In the last statement that we issued, we said that he should step aside and he should be tried.
grahamthomasauthor.wordpress.com/2025/12/22/u...

This is almost exactly what I said would happen on yesterday’s show. The conflicting & contradictory reasons given for the war, coupled with client journalists & pusillanimous politicians on both sides of the Atlantic, will enable him to claim ‘success’ when nothing remotely successful has happened.

A glacier #flowing over Greenland. 2025
#BlueSkyArtShow #landscape #nature #photography
@bskyphotos.bsky.social

【画像】瀬戸内海の男木島付近で韓国船籍のオイルタンカーが乗り揚げ　大阪港に向け航行中　「PHOENIXが男木島北西端にて乗揚げ」と通報【香川・高松市】 - ライブドアニュース RSK

Trouble on Ogijima.
A small Korean oil tanker ran ashore near the lighthouse two night ago.
Luckily no oil leak (my biggest terror in the Inland Sea).

news.livedoor.com/article/imag...

#Japan #SetoInlandSea #Ogijima #男木島 #瀬戸内海

The Potsdam Declaration: Stalin and Truman’s cat and mouse game. Stalin, Truman, Brynes, Mototov. Potsdam July 1945 After the unconditional surrender of the Germans – and the end of the war in Europe – the three key leaders of the Allied nations met …

The last time the US issued an ultimatum essentially demanding an unconditional surrender was Potsdam, towards the end of the Second World War. It gave no guarantees of Hirohito remaining in place - this though was generally thought to be foolish.
grahamthomasauthor.wordpress.com/2020/05/25/t...

Unsurprisingly the British public has more economic nouse than this lot. Besides the moral and legal arguments they also realise the world could be plunged into a global recession.

Just to add. When I did a deep dive piece of research on social mobility at a highly regarded grammar school across the 50s and 60s the data was stark. Most of the students from working class families left after taking a few O-levels. It was the middle class students who went on to A-levels.

#ForestFriday #EastCoastKin

A hidden woodland pond in the Cotswolds

#woodland #nature #Pre-Raphaelites #romantic
@bskyphotos.bsky.social
@botanical.bsky.social

Into Asia #12: Japan's "Iron Lady" Japan expert Tobias Harris on Takaichi, one of the most powerful Japanese leaders in a generation

Also, I should have shared this earlier but I recorded a great conversation with Ian Buruma and Chang Che about Takaichi:

changche.substack.com/p/into-asia-...

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIforInteriors

LINES.
Traditional Kyoto-style sliding door at an entrance to a house. Marugame. 2025.

#photography #Classicmono #EastCoastKin #noir #Japan
@bskyphotos.bsky.social

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIforInteriors

Shikoku Mura Gallery, Takamatsu. Architect: Tandao Ando.

#photography #Classicmono #EastCoastKin #Japan #Sanuki #Setouchi

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIforInteriors

LINES AND SHADOWS.
A hotel room in Kobe. 2025.

#photography #Classicmono #EastCoastKin #noir #Japan
@bskyphotos.bsky.social

I have never had success in Marugame. Fifteen years ago planted a dozen small plants in the ground. They all died one by one.

"..Paper City explores what we choose to remember, and aim to forget—and what the consequences of that"

Paper City Exploring memory and loss, Paper City is a feature documentary by Adrian Francis about the firebombing of Tokyo.On March 10, 1945, the US launched the Great Tokyo Air Raid, which left more than 100,00...

Paper City, a documentary will be screening in Tokyo and Osaka. "In 1945, the US firebombed Tokyo, destroying a quarter of the city and killing 100,000 people. Now, in a society rapidly forgetting, three elderly survivors leave behind a record of their experiences..
papercityfilm.com?fbclid=IwdGR...

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

I grow rosemary outdoors in Marugame but it rarely lasts the summer despite watering. Still it is cheap to buy a plant every year.

That can sometimes be irritating!!😠

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIforInteriors
Church of Saint Germain des Pres. The oldest church in Paris. Feb 2026.
📷 #photography #history #architecture #church
#medieval #placeofworship #sacredspaces
@bskyphotos.bsky.social

This competition was a key part of the vision for the Olympic Movement by its founder, Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin.
Prize-winning artists were notified by telegram or letter to be present at the Olympic Stadium on 2nd August for the official honouring of the victors in the Art Competition.

1936 Berlin Olympics. Japanese entries into the Art Competition. Official logo of the Berlin Olympics. This is not the most recalled aspect of the 1936 Berlin Olympics but what we now know as a cultural Olympiad had been held since 1912. Specifically an art comp…

This is not the most recalled aspect of the 1936 Berlin Olympics but what we now know as a cultural Olympiad had been held since 1912. Specifically an art competition formed part of the modern Olympic Games from 1912 to 1948.
grahamthomasauthor.wordpress.com/2021/05/21/1...

An excellent price. And looks marvellous too.

#AlphabetChallenge #WeekIforInteriors
Notre Dame. Paris. Feb 2026.
📷 #photography #history #architecture #church
#medieval #placeofworship #sacredspaces
@bskyphotos.bsky.social

Zentsuji and the Shikoku Henro Zentsuji (善通寺市, Zentsūji-shi) is the spiritual heart of the Shikoku Henro, the 88 temple route that transverses the island of Shikoku. It is here that seven temples are within easy reach of each ot…

If you're interested in Buddhism, visiting Japan, wondered what the 88 Henro pilgrimage is like but can't devote 50-odd days to walk it, then a visit to Zentsuji offers deep dive and a spiritual experience but over the course of only one or two days.
grahamthomasauthor.wordpress.com/2026/02/21/z...

The Ultimate Guide to Sanuki Udon (讃岐うどん) There are many types of noodle available across Japan, and understandably people tend to have a preference for the noodle of their home region. Yet, there is no doubt about it: sanuki udon are the …

I read in @observeruk.bsky.social that noodles are now a big thing in the UK whether it be udon or ramen; Chinese; orvarious types of Asia. With udon there's no generic type - at least in Japan. For me, there's only one type and that's Sanuki udon. grahamthomasauthor.wordpress.com/2021/01/19/t...

Tadeo Ando stairs in Paris (at the Bourse) and Naoshima in the Benesse House Museum.

I'm not a user of Letterboxd but worth reposting this list. Japan features strongly, although an omission is Weathering With You. A piece I wrote on the Radwimps who's music is an essential part of Shinkai Makoto’s ‘disaster trilogy’ of films grahamthomasauthor.wordpress.com/2026/01/03/s...

The first buds have appeared on an Acer. The primroses are out as well as daffodils. Spring is here even if it is still chilly.
#Englishgarden #cottagegarden
@botanical.bsky.social #nature