To wonder why all the 'WFH' COVID experts, journalists, MPs etc are filmed with bookshelves behind...

[Dances]

I mean really, in MN terms, it's a book boast

Doing Bookshelf Bingo now

Last time I was on a zoom call I was in the basement as it was the only quiet place at the time (I no longer have a study, had to give it up to become a bedroom when DC2 came alone) so in the background there was a lovely view of my very messy and cluttered store room.

Usually I'm at the dining table, where there is a book shelf in view but its full of toddler books so I'm not sure it counts as boasting...

Iain Duncan Smiths bookcase was a poor effort for a politician.

I guess Rees-Mogg probably has a library the size of the Albert Hall that he Skypes from.

@Dances what makes you think they have bookshelves on every wall? You see a tiny percent on their house. I think I'd worry more if they didn't have some books to be honest! I bet Trump has very little in the way of books and if he has they are probably- 50 shades of grey and other such shit!

Because it’s their office

DuLANGDuLANGDuLANG
I really enjoyed the WHO guys plant collection too - loved his styling of them - deliberate or not.
I'm guilty of always positioning myself in front of one of my own paintings. I know that's really twattish and my colleagues couldn't give a shit, but I think it's pleasing to the eye.
On another note: Krishnan G-M didn't wear his glasses the other day (think he'd put them down somewhere) and he looked great! (My secret crush )

Here’s a message in a bookshelf doing the rounds:

I work in HE and a lot of the academics are hosting virtual events. It is a great way to have a bit of a snoop at their living space, mostly their home offices with lots of book shelves. I made sure when I was on my background was ok

Nothing wrong with books on display but they are distracting as I like to know what’s there.

I have also noticed Jonathan Ashworth has a very tidy kitchen - impressive.

Am also assuming hair and makeup staff are furloughed in the U.K. - some presenters are putting on way too much makeup! Doesn’t appear to be so in the rest of the worlds newsreaders and reporters though!

Of course people are deliberately choosing a place in their house to have video calls. Bookshelves say look at me I read and you can take me seriously. It’s the equivalent of you tubers filming on their bed with fairy lights, plumped cushions and a lit candle in the background.

I personally am intrigued that Kate & Will chose the most boring non descript part of their home to film in. A closed door, a tiny picture (you can’t even see what it is) and the corner of a dresser or armoire. Absolutely nothing there for the daily fail to comment on! Carefully chosen......of course.

I imagine Kate and Will have a vast number of rooms to pick from for video broadcasting. Your average person doesn’t.

Of course people are deliberately choosing a place in their house to have video calls

Some might be but a lot won't. It's correlation not causation. The people they are talking to have lots of books, so the books would be in shot, no matter where they sit. Plus, they're using their office, whether temporary or permanently. So the books that they use for their work are nearby. It wouldn't be very efficient if they had to trek to another room every time they wanted to look something up, would it.

I'm currently working on the kitchen island because it's the most suitable place in the house. It's also where I like to sit with a coffee and flick through my recipe books. So it's next to my cookbook bookcase, which is integrated into a wall of tall cupboards. Completely coincidental that it is what be in shot on a video call.

There may be an element of making sure there's nothing that looks a bit crap during video calls, eg I'd rather colleagues and clients saw my cookbooks rather than the washing up that hasn't been done, or the cooker hood that's well overdue a decreasing but there's not been a 'l want to show off my inner Nigella' thought.

To me it would be more boastful to see lots of space and elegant room layouts.

I'm sick of the crammed rooms we have here and would love to get rid of all the sodding books, since we only actually ever use the kindles and have too much dust.

It's hard work though, they're heavy to move in batches, a pain to sell online, and mostly too dull/academic for the local bookshop. I can't quite bring myself to bin or recycle them although I don't know why not, its just paper.

For now I look at everyone's video messages with lots of space in their kitchens/gardens and feel envious.

I’m working class on minimum wage and I have an office with bookshelves ceiling high filled with books. You’d see it if I did video calls. It’s not a boast, it’s the background of a room

I zoom from a sofa with a blank wall behind me. I was actually filmed for something recently on that sofa. I was just pleased I managed to avoid the double chin/up the nostril look. It's hard doing it virtually! (and the cat came in and threw up during it too which wasn't very helpful).

I would love to have a spare room that I can use as an office - I think I'm a few children leaving away from that yet.

I have a lot of books too, but none on display in my "office" .

To do a video call you need

• quiet no interruptions or sounds from others in the house
• good acoustics, not hard surfaces & echoes
• no visible window behind you for stuff to come into view and be distracting
• your computer
• nothing too personal on display to distract or break privacy

A home office sounds the perfect place. Home offices have books.

I’m surprised by how many people have no sense of composition or apparently no awareness of how unnecessarily dreadful the image and or content they have chosen to broadcast is.
Did you see and hear Paul McCartney on the pre-recorded ‘live’ One World music programme? He might not be able to help his faded voice but I assumed he would have some degree of visual awareness.

The real boast for these sorts of people would be if you could see how many of the books they'd actually written themselves. DD has a friend whose family has a whole shelf written by various members.

I love seeing the bookshelves! So what if they are a boast?

I hate the British peculiarly of anti- book reverse snobbery.

Yep so much reverse snobbery. How dare you be clever? How dare you have books and display them in your house?
Whoever said they don't have books in their house because they don't like clutter.....books aren't clutter! They're things of beauty 😍

My in laws have all the family's doctorate theses in their library- except DH who had to resist his A levels and scraped into a 2:2 in his degree. Hes the black sheep of the family! I have similar qualifications and I'm the highest qualified in mine

OP you're right. Intellectual snobbery.

Have you noticed media people tend to have music related background (or sparkly clean /glitzy rooms if looking at those doing strictly) now what amuzed me was the Eastenders big night in quiz, do you think they all agreed to have blank magnolia walls? Now to me that's proper boasting if having to show background with your bookshelves is boasting cause it said look at all the space i have and you don't have space for empty walls

I’m thoroughly enjoying looking at the TV talking heads bookcases (and judging them by the quality of their reading material 😀).

They are all fake, they are stunt bookcases to make them look more intelligent/interesting