can we talk about Tony Blair's bookshelves?

[DrZaraCarmichael]

WTF is going on here??

It's his lower teeth I always notice now.

Brilliant!

Love The Prince.

But there aren't any books, certainly not enough to fill the shelves. A couple of books on each shelf, "artfully" arranged. Just why? Even if it's not his house (which on reflection it's probably not), why would you even look at those shelves and decide that's what you put on them?

And secondly, when you're being interviewed for national telly and are asked to sit somewhere at home/in the office, do you think the idea place is against your weird department store bookshelves?

@Abstractthinking I thought exactly the same, Richard Osman isn't a psychopath but Tony....

He's probably not in his house. That looks like a bar to me. And while I can't stand TB and never voted for him and was glad to see the back of him, I suspect he's quite well read and his own shelves are full!

Maybe the shelves are badly made and can't cope with much weight. Could be like that memorable "Changing Rooms " episode where the hanging shelf collapsed with disastrous consequences.

When you want a library but don't have enough books

Where are people seeing gaps???

I just assumed he was in some kind of private members club or something like that and that's the aesthetic they've gone with

The only logical explanation I can think of is that the shelves have only recently been put up and he is going through the process of rearranging his books. The books on the shelves so far are acting as place holders while he works out what to do next.

I am seeing vertical gold shiny, reflective strips down the edge of each shelf but those could be gaps too I suppose.

I’d put quite a lot of money on the bet that TB has loads of books - and they won’t be loads of 3 for 2 bestsellers.

It looked to me like he was either away from home or chose a background that was ( intended to be!) not distracting/ revealing ( as low on details) .

I couldn't stop thinking about this all day yesterday!

What was he going for?

I thought they were gaps at first, which would be really bizarre but then I actually think it's reflective strips. If gaps it makes the whole thing looks so slap dash and badly made, which I can't imagine would be the case.

What have you done, I thought it was just me obsessing about it yesterday 😅

At first glance I would have assumed he collected model trains and these were locomotives displayed on the shelves.

Oh the teapots !!!! That was a very bad episode.

It does look very sneaker display 😂

I can see the buttocks!! I agree with pp that it's a reflection but what of? It's definitely skin!

It’s his forehead and hairline. The other side matches his ear and arm, I think.

The angle is odd but both sides have shapes that exactly match an element of his silhouette.

Me too !

Thought it was one of those backgrounds you can choose for presentations.

Probably borrowed them from Peter Mandelson and never gave them back.

Yes, it was a joke.

It looks like he's in a walk in wardrobe disguised with some books on the shoe and bag storage.

Will never forget the massacre of the teapots. Oh shit.

Think that's just a random background behind Tony Blair isn't it?

In decades to come there will be endless PhDs written about the psychology of choosing your background for Zoom calls.