msc

@Bibliogryphon @Gooseberry Crumble old chaps, you know what I'm going to say yet again. As usual. Never 11 hits without the 12th.

I was expecting Sir Creep to suggest another thread but in fairness trying to use the forum Search engine to find anything music related is bollocked by the Kill game in extracurricular so I gave up and posted here.

Bernie Marsden of Whitesnake dead according to Facebook. Edit - Confirmed by his family. https://berniemarsden.com/

Sian Phillips and Brian Blessed interview on BBC4 last night about I Claudius, which is getting a repeat. Filmed four years ago so no form watching, but always good to be reminded that the ultra DLy name Sian Phillips is still with us.

OH FUCK OFF FFS That's to the news not you Willz. Beyond gutted.

He was in ICU at Christmas, and then back in ICU this summer, and while he did get out of hospital at some point, the updates suggested he's been in there for a few months. Yeah, he'll be down in the mud where the rivers all run dry soon.

Oh the comparison of the ISIS guy's tenure in office to Liz Truss damn near killed me.

I didn't even get the chance to take him off the shortlist only to add back on!

Every Labour PM actually elected has tried to look tough on unions. Even Wilson and Attlee. That's just part of the "getting elected" game. On the other hand, the "5 voters in Uxbridge mean more than everyone else" take on green policy is shit. Everyone's scared to tackle immigration, but there are four truths to it politicians try to avoid. 1. The best way to avoid boat crossings is to produce safe travel routes into the UK. 2. The people on the stupid big barge and hotels are there because of governmental back log in assessing individual cases, which is deliberate to try and deter people. It doesn't work as a deterrence, it just fucks up the economy and people's patience. Speed up the assessment service, and get folk into the economy in paying jobs etc ASAP. 3. We need immigrants to take over those jobs no one wants. Various UK industries are running desperately understaff, and the Daily Mail "make the feckless Brits do it" campaigns never work because it would be electoral suicide. 4. Britain has spent the better part of 500 years promoting ourselves as a beacon of tolerance, democracy, empathy and general amazingness. You can't make that an important part of your PR on the world, and then be shocked when vulnerable folk across the world see you as a beacon of security to try and get to. It's the same in America. "We call it the American Dream, best country in the world... hey, why do all these people want to live in the land of the free and best country in the world?" But I expect Starmer to be as a cowardly on that as Blair, Major, the last 5 Tory PMs, even Gordon Brown (sadly). (The "ever had a socialist thought" is of course social media bollocks. Last I checked, Emily Thornberry and Red Ed were still in the Shadow Cabinet. Speaking as someone who did get chucked out of the Labour party once, I am sceptical about such sob stories online. Blame folk like that guy in the Guardian, bemoaning how he'd been banned for socialism when it turned out he'd been suspended for telling people to vote down the official Labour candidates in a seat.) Our vote will be taken for granted. Sorry, just the way it is. This is not a statement on how amazing it is, just... c'est la vie.

Which particular bit now, or is this just in principle? Yeah, he's trying to win an election. Brexit's a vote loser in the marginals. It would be suicidal for Labour to take a more pro-EU stance. I voted to Remain. I still think Brexit, as it occurred, was a monumental piece of financial idiocy (and any passing Brexit voters, I'm talking about the government's role, not you) orchestrated by a government of charlatans interested in their own stock options over the welfare of the British public. But...it's done. Dead. We're out and unless you can change the minds of the people, and the political classes, and, most importantly, the fucking French (because they hold the veto now, its no longer a UK issue), we're not going back in, in any of our lifetimes. I know various polls point out that anti-Brexit support is now in the majority, but outside of polling, we live in a world where even the Lib Dems had to tone down their pro-EU stance in public to start winning seats again, and EU support has created wedges in other parties like the SNP. There's enough Labour voters who were pro-Brexit and still are, to make avoiding the elephant in the room pre-election sensible. There's certainly more than enough swing voters in key seats. Good way to keep the Tories in power tbh. They do well out of divided oppositions. This idea that Brexit can be overcome as easily as it happened is bollocks. It will take at the very least two decades of diplomacy and democracy. When Starmer says we need to live in the new arrangement and try to make it better, its one of the few times he's speaking honestly. Depends tbh. I doubt you're going to find a socialist in him. But your view will depend on if Tony Blair was just as bad as having Iain Duncan Smith or Michael Howard in charge. And we had full socialism on the menu last time. It got gubbed. Probably delayed the achievement of several of my political hobby horses within that manifesto by a decade. There is a lot to criticise Kier Starmer about who has had a mare of a month on PR and policy. His over cautious safety first approach means he's not doing a Corbyn, but it also means, well, this. Backtracking, fudging and being rather "the alternate" rather than the inspiring guy everyone wants. His messaging can often be terrible. But Brexit is just an indomitable fact now, no matter how little you or I would want them to be. (And we'll find out how underwhelming he is as leader soon enough, as the government are so abominably crap they just need to get sent to the vet to go to sleep...)

Absolutely the most mediocre DL name ever but the name Bill Gates Sr told me instantly who he was even if I didn't know why they'd picked him. Going back a few years I'd never heard of Shaw Taylor when he was picked but that was primarily an age thing.

Wonder what country Dame Angela Lansbury was from... (And because the DL tends to pick a Listers with the odd cult or wtf pick the last American name I'd genuinely never heard of was Kirk Kerkorian.)

At the risk of controversy and speaking as someone who genuinely loves Scottish culture, I've always found Burns vastly overrated.

If Duncan Campbell is still alive (we were on a cautious yes the other year) he was a Glasgow lad.

I don't understand this belief in the media that only a horse race election would interest viewers/voters. A lot of folk are expecting a landslide in the next UK election. If that happens I intend to enjoy the fuck out of every televised second of it.

He's on iPlayer talking about I Claudius filmed recently. Bar his hair going whiter that man hasn't aged in three decades.

Yeah I believe you said that during the DDP website crash of January 2020!

Got to the end of a Mario game and the princess was in another castle! Btw, The Stranglers are awesome.

Big name in academia. Had considered him for the DDP but tbh I got distracted with Book picking Jürgen Habermas each year and forgot.

Woodward

Bringing up @Spade_Cooleyclassic one more time then.

Parky was Toast? Shame, I'll miss her slightly acerbic wit.

On the set of Marathon Man, Laurence Olivier warned about the dangers of going too far with method acting. Sayedi didn't listen clearly.

Good work. The Eleventh Hour is a bit too recent for my liking to have so many deceased cast members!

Looks remarkably well for an alcoholic 88 year old. Chatty too, despite Caroline Munro and Mike Read being a bit poor at interviews. Still think on averages he's gone within 24 months mind you.