msc

Lord Rosebery, Arthur Balfour and Theresa May all went for them. I wonder how they did at their respective early elections... (Gubbed.)

Worth noting on Virgil that he used to have a very carny reputation. Anything to make a quick buck off fans. But those who would point this out in the past are basically going oh shit now. Apparently at his last few public appearances, his memory was shot, he kept forgetting why he was there and asking about friends as though he'd never met them. A subdued frail figure, unlike how they were used to. Sounds like quite a quick decline.

Aging Miriam Margolyes appeared on The Last Leg for first time since the whole wishing Boris dead bit. Reminds me she will totally be a hit for 4 DDP teams sometime in the next 5 years. At which point I'm glad its @Death Impendsdoes the obits and not me, as trying to spell her name correct here damn near gave me a stress headache!

There is a route. Outshine Truss in the debates, siphon votes during the weekend and sneak into the final three to take advantage of being none of the others. Unfortunately for her, if Truss was mediocre in this first debate, Badenoch wasn't much better! Think Truss still seems likeliest but by default rather than talent.

1997 vast number of Tory voters stayed at home. 2019, ditto Labour.

Owen Jones is a fucking idiot. Also, the fewer nihilistic right wingers who vote, the better, IMO.

Knew her family once, was too shy to meet her though, was a wean. Loved her books as a kid. RIP

Truss/Mordaunt final two is my guess. Sunak is the Heseltine.

Yeah, it would make the bastards own it, as a wiseman once said.

On Newsnight last night. Seemed well for his age and whisky habit!

Unredacted for the first time. I can only assume by someone close to Kwasi Kwarteng to show off. Shagging around should not be on a sleaze list next to sexual assault and NDAs, though.

Michael Barratt a unique DDP pick. A BBC legend, so he ought to get the BBC obit!

Very. The most talented and yet troubled by personal demons player I ever saw. Unsurprising but terribly sad news.

Seller of RVs and bombs. The American dream in a character!

Another shame. @Death Impends he has a very memorable role as a smuggler in Colombo you should see soon. Feels like a bad year so far for Columbo alumni.

Everyone's eyes are on Don West, and instead Japanese journeyman Masashi Aoyagi has been counted out at 65. He started in Onita'*s FMW before become a New Japan regular in the 1990s. He switched to NOAH and other companies this century, and had many matches with all the huge stars of Japanese wrestling - Kobashi, Misawa, and so on. His final match was a last summer, when he won a 6 man tag against Onita's team in a Barbed Wire Current Blast, Current Blast Bat, Current Blast Table & Barricade Mat Mine Blast Board Gunpowder Triple Hell Death match. *Yes, the same Onita who tried to get Invader 1 to Japan for a "match" so the Yakuza could allegedly get revenge for Bruiser Brody's murder.

Ah, sorry to hear of this. I didn't know the name written down but I recognised the face instantly from lots of 90s American TV! Beyond the various Treks and 24 (iirc he has a pretty major role in that), I remember him as the Mayor of Eerie, Indiana, in the cult 90s kids TV series!

Yes, you are right. Five has been the joint record up till now. (More details follow but they can be skipped unless folk are excited by stats) In the 1760s, we had five former Prime Ministers (a combination of the Duke of Newcastle, the Earl of Bute, George Grenville, Marquess of Rockingham, Pitt the Elder and the Duke of Grafton) but most of them died out during Lord North's long and disastrous reign. We got to 5 again when Pitt the Younger took over due to heavy turnover of office in the years before (Bute, Grafton, North, plus the Earl of Shelburne and the Duke of Portland). But he was PM for about 18 years on his first go. And this, a combination of long reigns (Liverpool), older men (Grenville the younger), assassinations (Spencer Perceval) and people who promptly died the second they got the job (poor old Canning) lowered the number of long surviving PMs. So next time we got to 5 was Robert Peel's second reign in 1841, with Henry Addington, Viscount Goderich, the Duke of Wellington, Earl Grey and Lord Melbourne around. Only for Addington and Grey to pretty much immediately snuff it, and Peel himself died young when he fell off a horse, as you do. Then came the period where Gladstone, Disraeli and Salisbury basically hogged the job for 35 years... (Yes, I know, hogged feels unfair talking about 2 of the greatest PMs the country ever had.) But because of all of that, we didn't get 5 living former PMs again until 1924 when Ramsay MacDonald became the first Labour PM. That being the Earl of Rosebery, Arthur Balfour, HH Asquith, David Lloyd George and Stanley Baldwin. We had 5 living former PMs again in 1964 when Harold Wilson became Prime Minister, with Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, Sir Anthony Eden, Harold MacMillan and Alec Douglas-Home alive. Then from 1976-95, we had 5 living PMs under 3 consecutive PMs, with the run of Eden (till 1977), MacMillan (till 1986), Douglas-Home (till 1995), Wilson (till 1995), Heath, Callaghan, and Thatcher. Finally we had it under Boris Johnson, so in a few weeks we should have Living Prime Minister plus 6 surviving former Prime Ministers, a new longevity record. Unless Gordon Brown or John Major decide to randomly snuff it in the next month to create a new superstition!

That was towards the end when Hague was doing his clearly well deserved last bow. Although, Cameron had about 3 or 4 people deputise for him over that parliament, which only furthers my point!

Personally I'd like a Tory leader who can lose around 350 seats in an election...

I'm aware this is likely rhetorical, but in case it was a legit question, there is none. It's a ceremonial role. In the past it was given to the important party heavyweight who could keep dissenters on side (the Willie Whitelaw, John Prescott type) who were clearly an important liasion and control between the Prime Minister and his MPs. (In fact, MPs hoping to push policies on Thatcher would sound out Whitelaw to sound her out on them.) But it largely sounds more important than it is, and its a job that looks good when a certain person has it, not one that makes people look good because they have it. Certainly not one of the big jobs of state. That's why it was so telling when Nick Clegg demanded it. It's not even an automatic "stand in if the PM is unavailable spot" as Cameron got George Osborne to do that!

Yes, a government which falls on a confidence vote could avoid an election by finding someone else who can command the confidence of the house, but there is confusion because this has only happened once in a hundred years and in that instance, the party of the Prime Minister changed. Also, note in 2019 when Jeremy Corbyn held once under the Fixed Terms Parliament Act, when a majority of the Tory party wanted rid of Theresa May, and when the FTPA meant that there was a 14 day grace period to find an alternative Prime Minister before an election needed called. So, pretty much as bullet proof a way of preventing Corbyn becoming PM as possible and just getting rid of May. Despite this, parliament decided it was in fact a choice of May or Corbyn and so voted to keep her in place. I don't think the understanding of parliamentary procedure has improved much in the last three years...

Richard Franklin's recent hospital stay was covid related. He's on the mend from it, apparently.

You notice how many are picking Penny Mordaunt as their darkhorse tip, as Ben Wallace is too obvious, and it makes them look dull and unimaginative? Well, Mordaunt's my tip.

Obviously a huge name in the US, but let's not forget the link only me and @drol remember - yes, one of the dwindling cast of Silence of the Hams, the greatest terrible spoof movie of all time.