Sod's Law

I've just thought that if Sunak (who's already ruled out January 2025) refuses to give in to sense one last time and delays the election till November, could that be the first time we see the US and UK elections take place on the same day? And how will that affect coverage of both elections in the UK? UK political journalists are gonna be spread pretty thin on the ground.

I'll go with Le Pen. The last few years have been bad ones for ancient French politicians.

The trouble with that is monarchs in the days of yore mostly didn't live into their eighties or nineties like they all do these days. There was always some plague epidemic or dynastic conflict around the corner to finish them off and leave a young fresh-faced heir in their place. If none of them abdicated then we'll probably never see a new monarch under the age of sixty in any country again.

I'm not sure he's any more likely to die this year than Dick van Dyke personally. Both very mobile for their age and both seem to have that 'work keeps me going' mentality.

I often wonder what he'd be like by now if he'd managed to retain his seat at the 2019 election. I think he would have struggled during Covid with the 'zoom parliament' (he was pretty tech averse and never had any form of social media) but he had that kind of work ethic that meant he probably never would have let anything short of death stand between him and a by-election. Would he have been begged to stand down by now (he's in his nineties after all) or is his current decline linked to him no longer having the job which was his life for such a long time?

Whoo, love a fresh list with fresh old faces.

Joakim is the one who kicked up a storm because his kids were stripped of their titles, right? I'm guessing that trimming-down of the royal family went down very well with the Danish public (and would be something that Charles would be wise to explore in future)?

Spain becoming a republic would make Catalan independence even less likely. Hatred of the monarchy is something that unites almost all Catalan nationalists. I'm not really aware of the same kind of situation in Belgium with their monarchy though.

You wash your mouth. He achieved more than 99% of the current crop in government ever will, plus he had one of the highest attendance and voting records of any MP and claimed the lowest amount of expenses. I didn't always agree with him but he was very much a model MP who spoke to people on their level and took his job seriously.

I think Catalonia is more likely to split from Spain than Belgium splits in half, but neither is particularly likely. People like the idea of going it alone more than the reality.

Come to think of it, how will this affect the popularity of the monarchy in Denmark as well? I got the impression that she was personally very popular, but is it the same story with Frederik or do we have a Liz v. Charles situation here?

Doesn't have a Wikipedia page and is already listed as dead on another wiki as of... tomorrow?

How are the Works even still going for that matter? I used to love them as a source for cheap books you couldn't really find elsewhere, but every time I visit one nowadays, it seems more and more bare of customers and more of the adult book section has given way to more kids colouring books and glitter sets.

Still, I don't see Tim Martin's behaviour during the pandemic winning him many friends even with this government. Maybe if the prime minister was Laurence Fox.

Why has she taken this long? Has she been working on some 'why it's everyone's fault but mine' memoir I'm not aware of?

I mean, even if he was in a Hawking-style situation of being completely paralysed and reliant on a wheelchair for motion and life support, you would have expected something about his condition to have slipped out over the years (photos from afar, glimpses from members of the public, etc). The complete radio silence suggests he's never even left his bedroom since the day he went home from hospital and only a very small pool of people are ever allowed any access to him. What a horrific existence to inflict on anyone.

Lech Walesa Harrison Ruffin Taylor Milos Zeman Hu Jintao Maggie Smith (joker) Ozzy Osbourne Judi Dench Nayantara Sahgal Estelle Parsons Richard Ottinger Yoko Ono James Hong Mel Brooks Geoff Hurst Ali Khamenei Raul Castro Dennis Skinner Roy Hattersley Gay Talese Ken Clark Michael Heseltine George Soros Rupert Murdoch Thomas Sowell Alexei Navalny Bartholomew I of Constantinople Dame Cleo Laine The Dalai Lama LK Advani Edward, Duke of Kent Juan Carlos Sophia Loren Timothy West Smokey Robinson Woody Allen Roman Polanski George Lazenby Billy Connolly William Russell (actor) Egon Krenz Prunella Scales Esther Rantzen Martin Cooper (inventor) Jimmy Carter Beatrix (Queen) Tom Baker Noam Chomsky Dustin Hoffman Jim Dale (actor) Phyllida Law Subs: Arthur Brown David Icke Pope Francis Derek Draper

Gotta do something to get those tabloid bosses onboard before they tell people who to vote for in the next election.

I just use a cropped version of a photo I uploaded to Wikipedia myself several years ago (so no-one can complain that I stole their picture). You click on the picture and download the smallest file size version of it, then upload it on your personal profile page.

First time player. I just sent mine in.

So would I. Plus it's the only way they'll ever lend any democratic legitimacy to the PCC elections happening at the same time.

First time player. Here I go: Al Pacino Alberto Fujimori Anthony McLeod Kennedy Beatrix (ex-Queen) Bruce Willis Dustin Hoffman Edward, Duke of Kent Esther Rantzen Kris Kristofferson Harry Shearer Jack Nicholson John Astin Joni Mitchell Marianne Faithful Michael Caine Michael Rosen (joker) Mitch McConnell Patti Smith Prunella Scales Ratna, Queen of Nepal Roy Hattersley Shelley Duvall Terry Gillian Vanessa Redgrave Yoko Ono Subs: Annette Crosbie John Deacon Mary Berry Rupert Murdoch

Damn it. My first year playing this and one of my picks just popped his clogs before the year's out. Can I sub Salman for Monsieur Delors?

'Vice Chairman of the Monster Raving Loony Party' was the one that came to mind for me in that last post.