Chris Brooke

@chrisbrooke.bsky.social

9390 Followers 1009 Following

"an already elusive subject is considered here from a variety of oblique angles"

Polar bear, football.
A black and white cat.
A cat.
A fox.
Flowchart explaining when you use "vous" and when you use "tu" when you are speaking French.
Baba Yaga and her hut on a chicken’s leg.
Cringe from Barry Gardiner.
NOTICE No toilet rolls stored in here overnight.
P-B: Of course, as First Lord of the Treasury, I could propose a special vote that would cover all expenses, if it were not that, as Leader of the Opposition, it would be my duty to resist it, tooth and nail. Or, as Paymaster General, I could so cook the accounts that, as Lord High Auditor, I should never discover the fraud. But then, as Archbishop of Titipu, it would be my duty to denounce my dishonesty and give myself into my own custody as first Commissioner of Police. K-K: That's extremely awkward. P-B: I don't say that all these distinguished people couldn't be squared; but it is right to tell you that they wouldn't be sufficiently degraded in their own estimation unless they were insulted with a very considerable bribe.
A duck.
Wedding photo with Golden Gate Bridge.
An academics bookshelves, with the juxtaposition of Q: “What is ancient history” with A: “Enshittification”.
List of some people who got Third class degrees in Modern History in Oxford in 1976, with the word "Biggar" highlighted in green for some reason.
Two Negronis.
From the excellent Allister Heath headline generator.
Two magpies. #joy
This book was conceived in various places. The spark was ignited in Cambridge, where Christopher Brooke acted as a wonderfully supportive and witty supervisor...
The kind of tweets I post when the national anthem is played.
Yes, it's the cuneiformdating.com advert, again.
Marat, Danton, and Robespierre.
Text from the Labour Party rulebook.
Snippet from Josephine Quinn in the LRB describing the hilarious Amarna Letters.
An Old Fashioned cocktail.
The bus that smashed into my head a few years ago.
Marat (played by Antonin Artaud), Danton & Robespierre, in Napoléon vu par Abel Gance.
A chunk of Rousseau, enthusing about population growth.
A copy of Claire Connolly’s Irish Romanticism, which is obviously going to be excellent, together with Charlotte Brooke’s Reliques of Irish Poetry and a picture of some flowers.
Legal verbiage from Mr Trump quoting Liz Truss.
A ticket to the Bangalore Test Match in December 2001.
From James Joyce, "Chamber Music 15". No-one would say that it was the finest poetry that there is. But we had it at our wedding in San Francisco almost twenty-five years ago, which was a time when we were living on different continents, and so it resonated. (Still does.)
Text from an email message from Jo Grady, General Secretary of the UCU: "This morning (Tuesday 2 December 2025) we were notified by Civica Election Services of the results of our UK-wide higher education ballot, and I am sorry to report that turnout has fallen short of the legally required threshold to take industrial action. The overall turnout was 39.34% (for England, Scotland and Wales), with 69.69% voting yes and 30.31% voting no to industrial action. You can find the full break down for Northern Ireland here and for the rest of UK here."
Enkidu on the BBC visiting the derelict boatyard site in Jericho many years ago.
Virgil describes the invention of pizza.
Verbiage from the chatbot.
A snippet from the end of a recent academic book review.
A #walrusselfie, from 2014.
An infamous story from the Daily Mail, from which the Labour Government both inexplicably and disgracefully seeks inspiration.
Pt.
A photograph of Leonard Brooke, who was killed in action shortly before the end of the First World War on the Western Front.
James Joyce and Josephine Quinn
Chapter 10: Democracy and alcohol. Democracy's worst enemy is alcohol, because it produces or perpetuates misery, ignorance, coarseness, and violence.