Andrew Brown
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seatrout.bsky.social
Andrew Brown
@seatrout.bsky.social
760 followers 700 following 330 posts
Writer, journalist, — attempting simultaneous disillusionment and wonder. ex Guardian, ex Independent. Orwell Prize winner. Interested in trout, Christianity, tech, literature, journalism, Sweden, history. Less and less interested in politics of any sort.
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seatrout.bsky.social
I don't think of India as a particularly modern liberal or individualistic country but apparently the answer to this question from the civil service exam is number four. I'd prefer my civil servants to go for the negative liberty of number one.
October 28, 2025 at 7:39 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
So I have been lent a dressing room
Dressing room apparently belonging to Vanessa someone. Clothes rack with spare sparkly shoes
October 26, 2025 at 10:13 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
Excellent @rostaylor.bsky.social on some ghastly TV
October 23, 2025 at 8:17 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/andrewbr...
September 20, 2025 at 6:08 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
Why I am catsitting in a city tyrannised by cars
A kitten with a wounded eye next to a feather toy, looking cute
September 19, 2025 at 6:18 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
Why or why did I never see the missing step to auccess and start my own underwear company?
July 29, 2025 at 10:56 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
Lovely passage from Johnson's Life of Swift, about a pamphlet I have never read, but of very general application:
To this project, which is formed with great purity of intention, and displayed with spriteliness and elegance, it can only be objected, that, like many projects, it is, if not generally impracticable, yet evidently hopeless, as it supposes more zeal, concord, and perseverance, than a view of mankind gives reason for expecting.
July 23, 2025 at 8:32 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
Here, from an eighteenth century poem in praise of hunting, is a remarkable description of politics within the C of E today
[with gore] Besmeared, they wound, they tear, 'till on the ground Panting, half-dead, the conquered champion lies: Then sudden all the base ignoble crown Loud-clamouring, seize the helpless worried wretch, And, thirsting for his blood, drag different ways His mangled carcase on th'ensanguined plain. O beasts of pity void! T'oppress the Weak To point your vengeance at the friendless Head And with one Mutual cry insult the fallen! Emblem too just of man's degenerate race.
July 9, 2025 at 10:49 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
This is a literally awe inspiring piece of science, even if the photo makes them look like differently flavoured snack projects
Two sea slugs, one green, well fed, and full of chloroplasts; the second orange-yellow because it has digested all its chloroplasts after four weeks without food
June 28, 2025 at 1:28 PM
seatrout.bsky.social
Ding!
June 3, 2025 at 2:16 PM
seatrout.bsky.social
Stunning end to an Anthony Beevor piece on 1945:
engelsbergideas.com/essays/nazis...
May 20, 2025 at 8:40 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
eg
April 26, 2025 at 2:28 PM
seatrout.bsky.social
In which the world is completely insane.
April 26, 2025 at 8:37 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
I think we may have reached peak John Gray
www.newstatesman.com/politics/rel...
April 14, 2025 at 8:20 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
This is very clear, from the Atlantic:

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
I have one of those wearable devices that monitors my heart rate, sleep quality, activity level, and calories burned. Mine is called an Oura ring, and at the end of the day, it told me what I already knew: I had been “unusually stressed.” When this happens, the device asks you to log the source of your stress. I scrolled through the wide array of options—diarrhea, difficulty concentrating, erectile dysfunction, emergency contraceptives. I could not find “financial issues,” or anything remotely related to money, listed. According to a poll from the American Psychiatric Association, financial issues are the No. 1 cause of anxiety for Americans: 58 percent say they are very or somewhat anxious about money. How, I wondered, was it possible that this had not occurred to a single engineer at Oura? For all of the racial, gender, and sexual reckonings that America has undergone over the past decade, we have yet to confront the persistent blindness and stigma around class. When people struggle to understand the backlash against elite universities, or the Democrats’ loss of working-class voters, or the fact that more and more Americans are turning away from mainstream media, this is why.
April 10, 2025 at 7:05 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
Can someone ELIF this for me? The dollar is falling, so I would expect that the Fed have to put up interest rates to make it more attractive to buy bonds. Instead, they are going down because a falling dollar is expected to bring inflation???
April 4, 2025 at 9:44 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
While I was wondering what God has got against Belgians, to have so many battles fought there, I found this vignette of the battle of Ramillies
After a brief pause, Marlborough's equerry, Colonel Bringfield (or Bingfield), led up another of the Duke's spare horses; but while assisting him onto his mount, the unfortunate Bringfield was hit by an errant cannonball that sheared off his head. One account has it that the cannonball flew between the Captain-General's legs before hitting the unfortunate colonel, whose torso fell at Marlborough's feet – a moment subsequently depicted in a lurid set of contemporary playing cards.
March 31, 2025 at 11:03 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
Enjoyable Free Press story about the glory days of American magazine journalism.
March 24, 2025 at 8:06 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
The extraordinary prescience of Neal Ascherson, writing in 2023
March 8, 2025 at 8:28 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
Why I hope for the asteroid
February 28, 2025 at 10:23 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
The Guardian's going to have to work hard to top this, from the NYT
NYT agony aunt is asked "As a white man, can I date women of colour to advance my antiracism?"
February 17, 2025 at 3:19 PM
seatrout.bsky.social
How to do it HTB style when you're in Silicon Valley

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/b...
February 12, 2025 at 11:38 AM
seatrout.bsky.social
Um, right: "something much worse than nuclear war"
February 11, 2025 at 8:06 PM
seatrout.bsky.social
Here's a Mitford with whom we can all identify — Nancy writes
February 7, 2025 at 6:59 PM
seatrout.bsky.social
Ummm, no
February 7, 2025 at 9:33 AM