Prof Bob Davis
@rokewood
Prof of Religious & Cultural Education, University of Glasgow. Chair of Philosophy of Education Soc. Religion, Myth, Arts, Humanities, Music, Education, football, birds. We’ve 3 sons—‘the crow makes wing to the rooky wood’—all posts etc personal
English Heritage heatwave property Berry Pomeroy preserves in its melancholy ruins the imprint of the internecine bloodshed of the ‘Wars of the Roses’, amidst which it was born, & the bloodshed of Reformation & Civil War in which it was briefly modernised—& then abandoned
Illustrated by this book, which was my entry into Watts’ thought, & which of course drew deeply on his priestly training. For me, Watts was 1 of the 1st New Wave syncretists—with all the thrills & spills of that genre. Cyber-syncretism is back, in forms both alluring & toxic
I’m a devotee of John Cowper Powys & consider A Glastonbury Romance to be 1 of his finest works. My chief purpose here is to highlight the @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social Modern Classics publication of this new edition. I juxtapose the ebook to my 1stEdn & look forward to my print copy back home
We’ve been @nationaltrust.org.uk / @n-t-s.bsky.social members for many years. 1 of the joys of the organisation is new discoveries. In the baking heat of this summer, & with 2 infants, we found another fascinating property in Coleton Fishacre. A glimpse of that lost D'Oyly Carte world of 100yrs ago
Anyway—there are always the Eternal Verities. Holiday reading from a smashing wee local bookshop (& informative owner), intersecting always & of course with academic work & ideas. Very much looking forward to the Power book, in the light of Nolan’s #Odyssey 😯
I am convinced #England can prevail tonight. It will not be easy, but #Argentina have clear vulnerabilities that England have all the tools to exploit. (The babies aren’t so sure). & I’m heading to the harbour bars at 7.30 to watch it. #ENGARG #WorldCup2026
And since the arguments are already beginning, some of, for me, the touchstone texts on the #BayeuxTapestry
For those who still have open minds on #TheOdyssey, I recommend the following recent books (translations aside), which between them clear a lot of clutter
Hahaha. I love that As Ha-Joon Chang recently underlined, however, #Switzerland is in fact an absolute powerhouse of industrial manufacturing
Oh we did that too. Annie got a lovely frock. I thought the event was quite chaotic
Anyway my friends—before we head off next week with the little ones for a holiday in Devon, #England, where I hope to see our neighbour in the #WorldCup2026 Final, I am delighted to add this much anticipated new Ferdinand Addis book to my holiday reading. For I loved his ‘Rome: Eternal City’
Yes & the Scottish Conservatives in 2019 challenged the Scottish Government to go further & faster towards Net Zero in response to the ‘climate emergency’. Since then they’ve jumped on other bandwagons they don’t really believe in but which they think will get them votes
You can’t help feel for the Resident Doctors. By the @telegraph.co.uk own admission—about to be plunged into £100k pa worker misery. Thank God for such brave journalism on behalf of social justice!
Tone of this quality journalism from HeraldScotland perhaps signals the diminuendo of ‘L’Affaire #Murrell’. Let him serve his sentence. But there is 1 other aspect worth probing I think … The infamous Murrell bazaar of goodies & what it says about inequality in Scotland
Sooo pleased to share Graduation Day with one of our fine & successful PhD graduates. An absolute star! Supervised by Dr Leonard Franchi & me
We’re in Total Football mode here between the live games. Today’s BBCRadio4 BBCMoreOrLess was brilliant on the Math somersaults by which you reduce 48 teams to 32. 🫨🫨🫨
Ok — a wee bit more like it, #June. Though I think we’ll escape Red Weather. Maybe that will encourage the nice retired lady I live with to get stuck into that Red Barberry …
This new book sums up my half-time disposition towards tournament #Scotland (since 1978)
I’ve not seen much of Africa in my academic travels. But the welcomes I’ve received, especially around football, & around Liverpool & Celtic, have been sooo memorable. & I have seen a bit of Carthage. The site is huge.
My friends, I am both proud & humbled by this image of my dear friend & colleague of 35yrs, Prof Jim Conroy, collecting on my behalf in Madrid the Kuhmerker Career Award from @AssocMoralEduc—since I was alas unable myself to attend. Nonetheless, 1 of the most satisfying moments of my academic life