I have just joined the Green Party because I am a total leftie stereotype, but good God, I can't live with no hope that a fairer world isn't possible. And being a realist, if I want to see change, I've got to support something rather than just despairing the entire time.

We French love our history teachers – Samuel Paty made us remember why In Memoriam #SamuelPaty www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Being accountable to an international court means our Government has to answer to them if it tries to undermine your human rights. Be very suspicious of any UK politician who wants to remove that check on their powers. Share this and speak up for your freedoms.

I saw this @literaturesc.bsky.social and thought of you

Day 449, Aug 23: “What do you think of Enoch?” = Enoch Powell, UK politician known for his views on immigration & demographic change. In 1968 Powell attracted much attention for his "Rivers of Blood" speech, in which he criticised immigration to UK, esp. from former colonies. #anthonypowelltogether

My thought about migrants on small boats: numbers are only ever going to keep increasing and increasing, because of climate change. Pretending otherwise is just wishful thinking. The only effective thing anyone can try to do to help is attempt to reduce or mitigate (the effects of) climate change.

Day 441, Aug 15, Fri: I’m a day ahead, sorry, but… reference to Trapnel as a “Ninetyish figure” is I think a reference to the decadent writers/artists of the 1890s - I found this article about it. internationaltimes.it/decadence-an... #anthonypowelltogether

Day 438, Aug 12, Tues - START CH 2 p30: (1) heresiarch: founder of a heresy or leader of a heretical sect (2) thaumaturge: a worker of wonders and performer of miracles; a magician (3) neophyte: (a) person who is new to a subject or activity (b) a new convert to a religion #anthonypowelltogether

Day 435, Aug 9, Sat: Yet again another book opening where Powell flings us headfirst into new waters, and we just have to sink or swim. I started to quite enjoy it, once I’d managed to resurface and catch my breath. And I learned a new word: ‘vaticinatory’ means ‘prophetic’. #anthonypowelltogether

#prousttogether libertiesjournal.com/online-artic...

Hey, this is an article by Kirtan Nautiyal, do any of you remember him from #Tolstoytogether ? #anthonypowelltogether www.theguardian.com/society/ng-i...

Saw this bar-restaurant in Tavistock Square in London where VW once lived. You can order the Woolf sea bass if you like. 🤦‍♂️

A good reason to visit Paris #prousttogether

From the ‘newspaper’ - woman awoken by slug.

I do know that I booked tickets for a show with this title. But this reminder still felt like an email from the Grim Reaper! 🙀

Nick is like a private detective, but he’s not trying to solve a crime, he’s trying to solve a mystery: what is the latest gossip? He knows when to talk and ask questions, and when to keep quiet and let other people talk until they spill the beans. #anthonypowelltogether

This is my maddest ever result. Wordle 1,482 4/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

One other 7/7 thread today. Because I think how the bus network got running again is a real testament to some serious heroes that day: The bus drivers and staff who got that network running again and got London home that night. And TfL/the Mayor disobeyed the Security Services to make it happen /1

Let's introduce new versions of golf or football where everyone has a nice sit down every 10 minutes like in tennis.

Day 401, July 6: So, Americans are all the same in substance, although they appear in different allotropes, i.e. with varying properties. Amusing idea. Perhaps this applies to all nationalities, not just Americans. Welsh, English and Scottish perhaps allotropes of Britishness. #anthonypowelltogether

Day 400, July 5: (1) 70s Powell is more likely to write something outré than 50s (or even 60s) Powell (2) Like last book I still feel the narrator is more Powell than Nick (3) Temporary Kings would be a good name for a band (4) Is Pamela bound to have an affair with Gwinnett? #anthonypowelltogether

Day 375, June 10, Tues: “He gave her one of those ’adoring looks’ Lermontov says mean so little to women”. (Lermontov very fond of a Byronic romantic hero.) Thoughts? What do we think about being looked at adoringly? #anthonypowelltogether

Day 372, June 7, Sat: Widmerpool saying how much he dislikes pompous people… #anthonypowelltogether

Day 372, June 7, Sat: “Now he began a long dissertation about ’pairing’” #anthonypowelltogether www.parliament.uk/site-informa...

The best dresses for summer wedding guests, according to an insane article in the Guardian. This one is primary school art smock meets Alien 3.

Day 371, June 6: "Callot-like figures pervaded labyrinthine corridors". Wiki mentions Jacques Callot, a baroque printmaker who made many etchings of soldiers, clowns, drunkards, beggars, court life. Hopefully there'll be an @alisonjaye.bsky.social 'Pictures in Powell' post... #anthonypowelltogether

Day 370, June 5, Thurs: Have we discussed Powell's use of fake book titles, especially in this vol? They seem (deliberately) naff/bad to me. Is he just being funny? Or is he making a broader comment? (I found a TLS article about it but it was spoiler-y & mostly behind paywall) #anthonypowelltogether

Day 368, June 3, Tuesday: I’ve ‘lost’ Nick in this (section of the) book. I’m hearing Powell discussing Trapnel et al, not Nick. #anthonypowelltogether

Day 367, June 2, Mon: “If you bring off adequate preservation of your personal myth, nothing much else in life matters. It is not what happens to people that is significant, but what they think happens to them.” Quite a profound statement lurking amidst the literary squabbles. #anthonypowelltogether

Day 364, May 30, Fri; Talk of Trapnel’s doctrine of facing the world with ’panache’ (always taking a taxi even though he can’t afford it) - does anyone have panache any more? Anyone in public life? Perhaps some people in the world of fashion.

Day 363, May 29, Thurs: Ha, that’s funny, you know when to ‘call it a night’ with a drunken Trapnel when he starts doing his Boris Karloff impression. (Same with @miss-mainwaring.bsky.social when she starts doing the can-can 💃 😉) #anthonypowelltogether

Day 361, May 27, Tues: “To lose one husband, Ms. Manasch, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.” Powell’s descriptions of Rosie are always rather double-edged; any compliment somewhat backhanded… #anthonypowelltogether

Day 360, May 26, Mon: Funny that Powell should say that Jimmy Brent now works in Oil, given that the Brent oil field was discovered in the North Sea the same year as this book was written (1971) Quite possibly just a coincidence. #anthonypowelltogether

Day 359, May 25, Sun: The TV comedy ‘Blandings’ (adapted from stories of P. G. Wodehouse) featured a Death Comes for the Archbishop cocktail, composed of equal measures of gin, sherry, port, brandy, pudding wine, and a substantial dash of bitters. I dare you to make one. #anthonypowelltogether

Day 357, May 23, Fri: that spelling ‘cupper’ is very odd. It’s invariably spelled ’cuppa’, as in ‘Fancy a cuppa?’, i.e. a cup o’ tea (cup of tea). Still used today in the UK, although less commonly than in the past. ☕️ #anthonypowelltogether

Day 356, May 22, Thurs: So Widmerpool is a Labour MP. But is he genuinely left-wing? Or did he just go the way the political winds were blowing, and he wanted to be in power? I suppose he had friends from the left. But his pre-war career in finance/investment was rather… Tory? #anthonypowelltogether

Day 354, May 20, Tues: As these novels progress, more and more ‘ghosts’ gather, of the characters we have lost. If one gets to a very great age, one must feel positively surrounded by such ghosts. I was reminded of this by today’s pages. #anthonypowelltogether

Day 353, May 19, Mon: “The parson, a very old man presented to the living by Erridge’s grandfather…” I misread this (literally) then I realised it meant ‘living’ as in ‘a church position as a vicar or rector with an income or property’. Lots of mentions of ‘livings’ in Austen. #anthonypowelltogether

Day 351, May 17, Sat: the “canting” (hypocritical and sanctimonious) Latin motto appears to mean something like “What burden should they take off for the time being?”. I suspected that the late interruption to Erridge’s funeral would be Widmerpool. He invariably pops up. #anthonypowelltogether

Day 350, May 16, Fri: sorry if I am stating the obvious (or incorrect) but I am guessing that DT = delirium tremens, aka The DTs (v bad alcohol withdrawal symptoms) #anthonypowelltogether

Day 349, May 15, Thurs: I haven’t thought of Sillery’s gatherings as being a salon. Of course there are similarities. But Sillery’s get-togethers are too male, too unfashionable, too far from the capital, too ad hoc, too hidden away, to be a salon, in my sense of the term. #anthonypowelltogether

Day 346, Monday May 12: “clothing coupons” - a reference to clothes rationing, which lasted from 1941 to 1949 in Britain. Much rationing lasted well after the war ended. #anthonypowelltogether www.iwm.org.uk/history/8-fa...

LETTER OF THE LATE POPE FRANCIS ON THE ROLE OF LITERATURE IN FORMATION www.vatican.va/content/fran...

Our cavemen brains, combined with a pre-modern political system, an outdated education system, but futuristic technology, really is a toxic combination.

Powell has such a good grasp of so many subjects - scripture, languages, mythology, history, the military, art, literature, poetry, wine, etc etc - that he can make allusions to all sorts of topics. Do people exist like this anymore, with such a depth and breadth of knowledge? #anthonypowelltogether

I’ve just read Yiyun Li's novel ‘Where Reasons End’, which explores the experience of grief and the imagined conversation a mother might have with her deceased son. Quite remarkable. I was struck by this passage from the book.

His Orangeness acts like Tom Sawyer: he always thinks he can get someone else to paint the fence, and pay him for the privilege of doing it. Perhaps that’s why he’s been bankrupt six times.

Day 310, Apr 6: My knowledge of scripture not as good as Vavassor’s. Luckily I have Wikipedia. He refers to Simon Peter using a sword to cut off Malchus’s ear (Malchus being, like Vavassor, a servant, in his case of high priest Caiaphus) in an attempt to prevent Jesus’s arrest #anthonypowelltogether

Day 310, Apr 6: After France fell in 1940, the Soviets were left fighting the Axis Powers in the east. From 1941 the Soviets pressed for Second Front to be reopened in Western Europe. Churchill insisted they weren’t ready. They eventually opened the Second Front in June 1944 #anthonypowelltogether

Day 304, Mar 31, Mon: I love the details Powell drops in. The sneezing marine with the head cold. Makes it all seem real… and even though you might have just been to an important hush-hush meeting, the snotty handkerchief drying on the radiator brings you back down to Earth. #anthonypowelltogether