Andrew Brown

@seatrout

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.

739 Folgt876 Follower539 Posts

Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir seatrout.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Jul 13

I try not to think about American politics (Don't look up) but this is very nicely put:

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Jul 2

Mine too

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Jun 18

You could have read it first in the Church Times, the day after April Fool's www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202...

I AM not a fan of biblical prophecy, but it’s still remarkable that, in a year’s time, we’ll be able to look back and see that Israel has brought two mighty empires to conclusive and humiliating defeats in the span of 72 years. It will have done so not by attacking them, but by allying with them. In 1955, the British were persuaded into the attack on Suez; in 2026, the Americans were brought into the Iran war.

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Jun 8

one of those stories where the future jumps down your throat New AI espionage powers trigger Putin camera scare - www.ft.com/content/6f4d... via @FT

Andrew Brown@seatrout· May 21

A perfect Alfred Dugan paragraph

Andrew Brown@seatrout· May 6

James Ball says everything that matters about Polanski: www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-w...

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Apr 5

open.substack.com/pub/andrewbr...

A lamb lies on grass, in front of the back end of its mother; over it is superimposed a typo.

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Mar 27

I fed the General Confession from the Prayer Book into Kagi's LInkedIn translator ... two friends commented that it would be no surprise to find HTB using it.

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Mar 27

Quick thoughts on Francis Spufford, love, sex, and God; also a rather shocking anecdote from India open.substack.com/pub/andrewbr...

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Mar 17

A conveersation with Sohrab Ahmari open.substack.com/pub/andrewbr...

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Mar 4

Martin Wolf, here to ruin your breakfast: My quarrel with this analysis is that it leaves all consideration of religion off the table. Whoever emerges to run Iran must I suspect be pretty sincerely devout to have risen to where they might be considered.

Yet, when considering this administration, the best bet is the most cynical. Whether Trump planned it or not, he might have created the conditions for a deal with those who control Iran's levers of power. Such a deal would be acceptable to its neighbours, who do not want a democratic Iran. US power would have been demonstrated. Europe and China would have been discomforted. Iran's rulers (and the Trump family) would be richer. What would be not to like about all of this, at least for Trump?

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Feb 14

On this theme, compare and contrast the Wall Street Journal: with comrade Turnbull: "utter degenerates in taxpayer funded fuck planes".

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Feb 14

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Feb 2

I am boggled by this extract from Claude's "Constitution". In what senses can an AI believe anything, still less distinguish between truth and falsehood? I suppose you could say these are instructions to role play a character who'd act as if these things were true of it

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Jan 29

I have bought a hat to express the spirit of the year. What a time to be alive, indeed.

Hat showing a cheerful figure of Death, with the caption "what a time to be alive"

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Jan 28

Rob Hutton's sketch delivers every day

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Jan 27

Sixty years ago, this was satire — from C.M. Kornbluth's story "The Little Black Bag"

The fetish of higher education had some weird avatars by the twentieth generation: “colleges” where not a member of the student body could read words of three syllables; “universities” where such degrees as “Bachelor of Typewriting,” “Master of Shorthand” and “Doctor of Philosophy (Card Filing)” were conferred with the traditional pomp. The handful of supernormals used such devices in order that the vast majority might keep some semblance of a social order going.

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Jan 21

The pitch writes itself, doesn't it: "You're a grifter who knows how to work the system? — I'm a grifter who knows how to work the system! Together, we'll be unstoppable. Thank you for your attention in this matter."

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Jan 8

The extract from a Wired story below is disgusting and disturbing. But if I were trying to rouse Reform voters against Elon Musk the example in the last par is what I'd use. www.wired.com/story/grok-i...

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Dec 25

A nice bit of random wikipedia

Mirza and his companion named Gaouk, a Russian-German revolutionary adventurer, left alone in Talesh mountains around "Masal", both died of frostbite. His body was decapitated by a local landlord and his head was displayed in Rasht to establish the government's new hegemony over revolution and revolutionary ideas. They buried his body in Soleymandarab in Rasht and sent his severed head to Cossack commander Reza Khan (who later became the first Pahlavi King of Iran) in Tehran. During the Second World War and after the departure of Reza Shah for exile, friends of Mirza Kuchak brought his head back from Tehran and buried it in his tomb.

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Dec 22

I took him for a polar bear at first glance! Anni sends love

A lapphund in a rough meadow; in the background, a river

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Dec 22

AS part of a book I'm writing I have been looking up the prelude to the Suez crisis. Here is how the Times reported riots and lynchings of Europeans in Cairo in 1952, which followed the British Army slaughtering Egyptian auxiliary police in Ismailia. Read to the end for crowd control advice.

The police showed themselves unreliable—they were seen at Shepheard’s cheering incendiaries. By evening the Egyptian Army began to take the situation in hand. Troops lined up from wall to wall and advanced along the Streets, shooting from the hip. They very soon brought the situation under control.

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Dec 16

How to be bishop, by Robert Browning

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Oct 28

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.

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Oct 26

So I have been lent a dressing room

Dressing room apparently belonging to Vanessa someone. Clothes rack with spare sparkly shoes

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Oct 23

Excellent @rostaylor.bsky.social on some ghastly TV

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Sep 20

open.substack.com/pub/andrewbr...

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Sep 19

Why I am catsitting in a city tyrannised by cars

A kitten with a wounded eye next to a feather toy, looking cute

Andrew Brown@seatrout· Jul 29

Why or why did I never see the missing step to auccess and start my own underwear company?