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The same wombats appear to be in charge of Tory campaign as last time. 'Britain deserves better....' Err, yes it does? You've been in power for 9 years! What an open goal for the opposition parties that is!

A Green/Lib Dem pact? How does that go? "Ok, we wont stand in Brighton Pavillion and in return, you don't stand anywhere else..."

I can usually make it down to the pub.

Was talking about this the other day, if we get historic blizzards on election day then it could presumably help the left quite a bit as older voters will be less able to get out and vote.

Does a PSA to raise awareness about pancreatic cancer. https://people.com/tv/alex-trebek-psa-pancreatic-cancer-awareness-day/

Tory MPs go to cancer screening services more often? The Tory MPs who got cancer all seem to have gone into remission. 1997 and 2001 likely cleaned out a lot of Tory MPs born 1932-45 who would have been in parliament till the bitter end. There's only been 3 of them since the 97 election (Tory MPs who die in office: Clark, Forth and Colvin) but there was 17 (!) of them in the decade before the 1997 election.

Interesting. I was updating the UK MP megalist and noted that John Ellis, former Labour MP for Bristol North West and then Brigg and Scunthorpe, died back in May 2019 with little fanfare, except this: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/local-news/john-ellis-mp-scunthorpe-tribute-2953230 Death date on Wiki with no reference and still marked as a living person, so that's one rotten edit.

Another hit for me.

Jimmy Elder (March 5th 1928) who played a single game for Portsmouth in November 1949 before a successful five year stint at Colchester confirmed still living at 91 by the Pompey History Society through detective work. Not even on the lists in the opening post. https://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/news/2019/october/last-surviving-member-of-championship-team-re-discovered/

Ah. I see we are weighing in on this. As I recall, the main issue was that the DDP seemed to have lost its way (though I'm willing to be corrected on this by some of the more seasoned players). You can call FFBI/cancer sufferers "interesting picks" all you want (though I don't think that was what DDT meant, I hasten to add), they are not celebrities. Culminating in the Shameless era, it showed up the worst instincts of those desperate to win at all costs and the appearance of complete and total ghoulishness. To my mind picking those FFBI types is basically the equivalent of picking folk on Death Row (without the infamy). Now, the Drop 40 bonus never really solved the problem as I think I pointed out on many an occasion. The bonus for a unique pick and the Drop 40 were the same, so given those picking FFBI types generally picked those younger, the FFBI picks still had an advantage and even more so when unique. The narrowing of the QOs abated that somewhat, as the risk of picking a FFBI type was increased with the requirement for a better quality of QO. I thought that was rather a jolly idea and a superb compromise to try and give a bit of balance. Remember, even those of us who picked folk genuinely famous for something didn't necessarily get a QO, or indeed on a couple of occasions, no QO at all. (Ah Zara Nutley, how you were forgotten!). So that made it a doubly horrid slap in the face when John Doe with Stage 4 brain cancer who died at a tender age known only to journos or the worst sort of researcher gets a write up in the Mirror and huge pointage to boot. The game had become a back-slapping clique of players congratulating themselves and each other on spotting an unique with John and Jane Doe with terminal illnesses. How lovely. Treating the other participants as those folk dressed as chickens, Big Ben or a double decker bus in a marathon, only really there to help the game and its clique congratulate themselves further on breaking the record for the number of deaths in a year/breaking the record for the number of teams participating. It will never be perfect, you will never and cannot eliminate the issue. But diminishing the risk for the FFBI pickers by opening up the QOs seems to me to be an open invitation to the Shameless-es to return many fold. In a world where social media is poisonous, why add to it? I miss the voice of TMIB too. I felt kindred in some way and could see how he became a bit of a hostage. I too hope he returns sometime, even occasionally, just to poke us in the ribs. We all need that. TL DR: I'm against opening up the QOs further, failing which I'm with Toast and do away with the Mail, lol.

Julian Keane? https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50232957

Yes.Unless there is an anonymous case.

And to think we have Ann Widdicombe standing in my constituency of Plymouth Sutton and Devonport. It's currently held by Luke Pollard for Labour, but it could be an interesting on to watch

Providing that no current MPs die in the next 2 months, all of the incumbents who died in the 2010s were Labour members: 1) Ashok Kumar (1956-2010) 2) David Cairns (1966-2011) 3) Alan Keen (1937-2011) 4) Sir Stuart Bell (1938-2012) 5) Malcolm Wicks (1947-2012) 6) Jim Dobbin (1941-2014) 7) Paul Goggins (1953-2014) 8) Michael Meacher (1939-2015) 9) Harry Harpham (1954-2016) 10) Jo Cox (1974-2016) 11) Sir Gerald Kaufman (1930-2017) 12) Paul Flynn (1935-2019) With the exception of Jo Cox, who was murdered, what is it with Labour MPs that reduces their mortality? The Conservatives were in power for all of this decade bar 6 months, and so had more MPs, and a lot of old ones too, yet none of them died?

Time for the follow-up: "Brexxx-tension to the maxxx"

Yes, Ripon City FC, currently showcasing their skills in division two of the West Yorkshire League, is the correct answer.

The actor John Witherspoon has died at 77 https://deadline.com/2019/10/john-witherspoon-dead-obituary-comedian-friday-star-77-1202772258/

I meant the posts, not the thread. You could make the same arguments for all the birthday posts people do and I’m sure you ignore those.

Not the actress but the author Rosemary Harris, dead at 96: http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/236935/harris DDP Pick.

Ely are in the ninth tier and Wells are in the tenth.

al-Baghdadi's undercrackers were stolen by Kurds to prove his identity - just, like, labouring the point in the hope it'll take us closer to a points payout. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50218637

That is not the case at all. There had been comments in her thread about the silence. Her family chose not to announce her death immediately, and that was their prerogative.

While we're here, an illustration of the use of a pointless phrase. Twice. Lee Salmon, from Great North Air Ambulance, said: "There are case studies which suggest that at this moment in time the gentleman could still be alive. So at this moment in time it's still a rescue." Hmm, let's try this. Lee Salmon, from Great North Air Ambulance, said: "There are case studies which suggest that the gentleman could still be alive. So it's still a rescue."

Used to listen to 'Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun' a lot in the 70s. Some quite psychedelic stuff on that album, but for obvious reasons this is the one that stays with me