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Sorry, I am straight, Willz.

My copy of Phil's autobiography fell apart. Apparently a jacket was required. I'll join you in that coat DJL.

It's all crazy. Personally speaking, the UK flourished historically because all parts of it had something to offer and contributed to its success and therefore benefited to a greater or lesser degree from it. Not been like that for decades. Large swathes of all the constituent nations denuded of their main industries, little to no roll out of the benefits that London and the South East has been reaping and continues to reap from the rest of us. Brexit I believe was a cry for help from the country. "We want our country back" or summat. Make Westminster accountable to the country, and they'll be able to give us what we want. The answer? Thanks for your vote. London will be a special case and fuck your fishing industry, fuck your farmers, in fact fuck you all, like we have been doing since 1979. We forgot all about you and we'll suck the wealth from the regions to prop up the very people who benefited most and fucked you all in 2008. And will continue to do so until at least 2030. What's that? New giant oilfield discovered off the coast of Scotland? We'll have that, so fuck your independence vote. Wales? Heavily reliant on EU funding, because hey if they're going to do it, why should Westminster? Voted out. Now they'll be even poorer and why would Westminster want it otherwise? Will they see the benefits of more control? I doubt it. As BiblioG says, it's much more intermingled culturally, societally, etc etc. and heavily reliant on the public sector. If it gains something (such as a giant oilfield) I'm sure the calls might be different, but it will be a long while if ever that Wales could even consider independence imo.

He's obviously in distress.

I don't know enough about the history of Wales. There is a highway from North to South though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A470_road not a motorway though and a part of it does appear to be local road. Trains, yeah agreed, why? Wales does appear to that part of the UK that contributed raw materials (coal, slate, copper etc) to other parts of the UK to manufacture or assist in the manufacture of finished goods. Mostly gone. Watched a recent Question Time from Wales and there does seem to be a divide between the North and South and a further divide between the rest of Wales and Anglesey. But I'd say most countries have a divergence of needs or opinions within them due to geography or what work is done in a particular part, etc, nothing unique to the individual countries of the UK. Wales has never had a distinct system of laws though, that is where it really differs from Scotland. What applies in England has always applied in Wales so they have a much more homogenous system with each other, whereas Scotland has had very distinct and different traditions. I well remember the dander being raised for example when Cameron was announcing "national days of celebration" for the anniversary of Magna Carta, something absolutely alien and inapplicable to Scotland. Maybe that different tradition contributes to a different sense of identity to other parts of the UK. Doesn't mean we have to stand alone. But when you are told to shut up and we have to "come together" after being told the different result in the referendum doesn't matter a jot... Well, who knows?

As someone who lives in Arkansas, not even I know who's being executed and I regularly follow the news. I doubt that they'll obit.

I've just been listening to Anna-Frid's "Something Going On" album for the first time, which was notoriously produced by Phil. My goodness, he really loves using stupid echo effects on her voice. She had one of the most beloved voices in the field of commercial pop (well 50% of the most beloved voice at any rate!), so what does our Phil do? Drown her in cheesey echo effects. Anyway, I have been thinking a bit about Genesis lately since reading parts of Phil's autobiography. I am starting to realise that the only Genesis members I would actually probably like/would want to have a beer with are Pete and (maybe) Steve. Phil's... well, Phil... but Tony and Mike also seem like creeps the way they completely ostracised Ray Wilson after Calling All Stations flopped. He was a disaster for the band but he was THEIR hiring decision. Also, the way Mike and Tony colluded with Phil to throw out all attempts at artistry in chase of the almighty dollar/pound irks. They seem like very political people and the type of English upperclassmen who don't disclose what they really think and would rather stab you in the back then let you know they have a problem with you that you could address if you were informed about it. Don't really know much about Steve as a person but he seems fairly genial in interviews. He still doesn't much discuss why he resigned (he always uses a stock answer that he wanted to record more of his own compositions but hints that there was more to it). I suspect it was basically down to band politics and the trio being a bit of a clique towards him. Tony looked really uncomfortable when Steve talked about leaving in the doco. (Don't know much about Ant Phillips as a person either.) Pete definitely sounds the most humane, albeit somewhat eccentric, of them. He might have some weird hippie ideas at times but his heart seems to be in the right place and he maintained his artistic integrity and has really put an effort into his human rights work and comes across as a genuinely thoughtful person. I really can't imagine him shafting Ray the way his former bandmates did. Pity the other three guys didn't leave Genesis instead, leaving Gabriel and Hackett to record a Genesis album called "And Then There Were Two"! The only real problem I have with Pete is that he tends to equate artsy with ponderous way too often. He needs to record some upbeat fun stuff occassionally - can still be arty without being dark. Being avant garde and taking risks means he tends to be it and miss too (I think many Genesis fans would be torn between this kind of risk-taking resulting in failure and the middle of the road, low-risk commercial strategy employed by 1980s Genesis where a lot of music worked in a commercial sense but there weren't that many spectacular high points either.) //end rant Back on topic: Phil isn't dead yet.

All very good questions. The problem with Wales is that it is far too small and there are very few pure blood welsh and a lot of the property is owned by English people. I think they will be happy to reap the rewards of failed independence (more devolution) but if Scotland (and N.I.) go they will suffer a back lash because all the funding models will have to be redrawn and there is no money.

Today's despatch: Could be the first space war: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3195394/boeing-x-37-space-plane-air-force-orbit-planet-world-war-3/

My mirror is crap it makes me look fat with grey hair.

Vienna? Sounds good, I'd give it a whirl.

Thirty years since Patrick Troughton became a relative dimension in time and space.

A good list: List_of_living_centenarians

Trumpeter Tony Terran, last surviving member of Desi Arnaz's Ricky Ricardo Orchestra, frequently appearing on I Love Lucy, has died aged 90. He aslo performed with numerous artists, including Elvis Presley, Diana Ross, Dean Martin, Barbra Streisand and more household names.

Don't know why, but coming here I expected to see George P. Shultz was dead. But, unless he was also known as Piers DIxon in Britain, that is bullshit.

As an excuse for looking at a young Jenny Agutter naked this was an excellent post. As a flippant comment to my serious suggestion it's the kind of reasoning that prevents discussion. There is a world of difference between withdrawing medical treatment at a certain age and actually going to the trouble and expense of killing people. We all know that we will all die - medical science is extending that time to a level that is not sensible or practical. A lot of people will live well beyond 70 without medical treatment, 25% of us don't make it anyway and some of us will die as a result of not getting medical treatment. This is already happening now with much younger cancer sufferers where budgets don't allow treatment - my suggestion just reallocates the budget to those who have had a shorter time on the planet whilst also meaning we are able to care properly for those of us who are old but unable to look after themselves and for those that can they will have a pension that enables them to live a full life. This is not a full costed proposal but I would like to see a discussion that included one by people who have access to the facts and are paid to look after the country.

Chuck Barris dead. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chuck-barris-dead-gong-show-929310 Shame. I loved The Gong Show. The 1986 Channel 4 repeats were fantastic.

Is that Iggy Pop?

A Colme-Over?

R1P-2. May his remains rust in peace.

Or unless the BBC are getting their news reports confused with the shipping forecast.

Ankle, he's fine. How do you know how fine he really is? Did you use the force or something? Fuck off. No, I had already seen the shit on my Feniany forum, where people 'care'............. could be his Achilles heel ....

It's a shame that Harrison Ford went on to live on to make films such as What Lies Beneath which has him with his old man's chest out. Put it away

Alec Guinness too, although dying in Stars Wars didn't stop him appearing in the next two episodes so maybe thats fair

Holy crap! Jack Purrvis died thrice?