Daisy Carnegie, Edinburgh's Carnegie library cat on the payroll in the 1950s (featured in 'Lum Hats in Paradise')

Trumpian censorship in the UK Teacher, librarians under pressure to remove books on race, identity, social justice from libraries. 200 titles pulled from one Greater Manchester school library, including books by Black authors. What are we becoming? runnymedetrust.org/blog/eras…

There's due to be a protest at Queen's Park this lunchtime as residents of Glasgow's south side demand the council keep open their beloved glasshouse. There's fears that the site could become a hotspot for vandals once it's closed in August. Morna Gourlay is from Friends of Queen's Park and is joining the fight to keep the Victorian structure in use. The council say the closure is because they need to save money, but that they'll maintain the glasshouse for a future tenant.

Most of the obituaries and tributes to David Hockney will, I imagine, focus primarily on his extraordinary craft and brilliance as an artist. Perhaps they might also mention his brilliance as a communicator (he was such a fine writer and speaker). But there was something else rather unique about him too. He was also strikingly honest about the tricks/techniques artists use and used to paint. His book Secret Knowledge is a rather wonderful detective work into how renaissance and Dutch golden age painters used glass and mirrors to help them master perspective. It's a pretty compelling case (see this video clip from a BBC doc he made alongside the book👇) though I'm sure some art historians will raise their eyebrows. Many will be aghast at the notion that greats like Vermeer might have been using lenses and camera obscuras to help them draw and paint. As if it were in some way "cheating". But Hockney was so self-evidently brilliant he was one of the few people who could document this without anyone gainsaying his own talent. There are very few artists, living or dead, who have this degree of self-confidence. Not just to know their craft, but to be bracingly honest about how it works. One other who comes to mind is Paul Simon: not just an extraordinary musician but is also an extraordinary communicator about the tricks and techniques of how to write and perform music. For many great artists, the temptation is to cloak their crafts in mystery, like a member of the magic circle. Hockney wasn't having any of it. So yes, he was a legend in all the obvious ways. But also in a few other less obvious ways as well. RIP.

The window for governments to assert some control over the behavior of today’s emerging tech sovereigns is closing fast, @terzibus and @StefMarcuzzi warn. bit.ly/49ISXWf

An unexpected trend is under way. From music to television to video gaming, the digital era has sparked a revival of local and regional entertainment economist.com/briefing/2026/…

CHOOSE SCOTLAND 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏆 @ScotlandNT @LewisCapaldi

Glasgow City Council is to sell the empty B Listed Old Springburn Library, at 179 Ayr Street, G21 4BW to NG Homes/North Glasgow Housing Association.

Where are the pockets of pollinator-friendly wildflowers that should be thriving on Scotland's municipal verges and roundabouts, rather than the biodiversity limiting grassy monocultures @NatureScot? x.com/edinspotlight/status/1…

OVERBEARING GIANT AND AN APPEAL TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY.—Locals still don't want 57 Henderson Row to get any higher: broughtonspurtle.org.uk/news… #Edinburgh #hyperlocal #news #planning

“It’s insane, we have a rogue US military contractor handling our most sensitive data. Palantir has a contract running our nuclear missile program. We have no national security.” Palantir. IT'S WORSE Than You Think @carolecadwalla

“If I weren’t in on this, I’d be, like, ‘Why do these fuckers get to decide what happens to me?’” Sam Altman, in The New Yorker, 10 Oct 2016 How the American Oligarchy Went Hyperscale motherjones.com/politics/202…

Nearly 50,000 people in Edinburgh were issued with summary warrants for unpaid council tax in 2025, figures reveal. £989m is owed to local authorities across Scotland. @heraldscotland heraldscotland.com/news/2618…

EXC: Edinburgh councillors have been warned that a data centre moratorium could be considered “unreasonable” by Scottish Government planning czars. Officials say it is "not possible" to enact a planning application ban. @heraldscotland heraldscotland.com/news/2618…

1424, Scotland – King James I proclaims a ban on “Fut-Ball”, hoping to encourage people to focus on archery instead. Let’s be grateful this and others which followed were not better enforced... Good luck to the boys in Massachusetts on Sunday!

My brilliant friend @bbclysedoucet has won the Women’s Prize for non-fiction. I am bursting with pride and excitement! Her book ‘The Finest Hotel in Kabul’ is wonderful. share.google/aU9Uzr3R3auTrzS…

Here's the NY Times article everyone is talking about. A gift from me to you. 👀 nytimes.com/2026/06/10/magaz…

The folks at Lit Hub were kind enough to publish an extract from LIKE A CAT LOVES A BIRD: THE NINE LIVES OF MURIEL SPARK, all about Spark's idea of the 'intellectual monster' (a woman who, horror of horrors, isn't all that fussed about men and marriage) lithub.com/an-intellectual-m…

Victorian prescription for burnout: ☀️ Sunshine 🌊 Sea air 🚂 A long trip to the French Riviera The Faculty of English's Prof Sally Shuttleworth reveals how 19th-century Britons tackled 'overwork,' the Victorian equivalent of burnout. Find out more ⬇️ theconversation.com/victoria…

Please watch and repost.

Hotel proposal for this Sauchiehall Street building. Lost count of the times I ve heard this is getting turned into a hotel. urbanrealm.com/news/2026/06/…