Bibliogryphon

I have been suspicious of Cruz for a while and thought that Trump was maybe his fall guy. Mouthed off to the press and appeared obnoxious so that Cruz looked less extreme but politically they seem to inhabit the same ground. Nigel Farage and David Cameron pulled a similar trick in the UK last May.

Am I missing something? If I were to make a list of the posters on here who are most likely to be rude, offensive or just irritatingly arrogant, Toast would be way, way down the list. I think of them as one of the more considerate posters which means if you have manager to piss them off to the extent they will respond with a less than polite retort then you probably deserve it. In the years I have been posting here I have mostly been met with polite discourse. OK I have been insulted by Dr Zorders and Tempus Fugit but I think most regular posters can claim the same.

My opinion of The One Show is it is like That's Life with the backbone removed.

It is not about the rules. It is the principle of it! Two of the deaths which gained points have had their names coded so they don't turn up on search engines! What does this prove? It proves that even the organiser of the DDP knows things have gone too far, and that the rules need to be fixed to bring the game back to something which it used to be! Either that or he should uncode the names, and take the consequences of running a dead pool that accepts that sort of thing. TMIB has tightened the rules but the current climate of 24 hour news and lazy journalism by social media means that these individually very tragic cases get propelled into a mawkish sense of national hand wringing. I do not think it is fair to suggest that TMIB takes the rap for someone else's unscrupulous picks. I know I am never going to win if these are the types of picks that are going to win it but the world changes and we must accept that or we end up like a mad old hermit railing at the dying of the light.

But we are building up a bit of a backlog of ex-presidents, vice presidents and first and second ladies. We need to clear a few of them out before we start discussing Obama as a serious DL candidate.

Michael Heseltine said that this was he favorite Spitting Image sketch.

Iowa. Little. The fallout will occur after New Hampshire.

I think the character Otto says a line very close to that in A Fish Called Wanda.

BBC coverage of Ed Stewart's funeral. Mike Read looks OK but Anita Harris is channeling her June Brown look.

Do we need the DDP equivalent of the Financial Fair Play rules?

Thank you Shroud for the in-depth analysis. Is there a genuine moderate Republican candidate who could seriously take votes off Hilary if needed to. From what we see in the UK someone like Chris Christie seemed to have the right credentials but his star has faded somewhat in the past few months.

Wogan's death is not bigger than Bowie. Otherwise I agree with your post. He's one of the three people who I will never pick for my DDP teams (Grace Slick and June Whitfield are the other two). Perhaps I should have picked him, he'd have lasted longer then... I think YIA was pertaining to the UK for the biggest hit? I quite agree with that. Bowie was universal but Wogan was utterly integral to our society, a true broadcasting legend that reached the public in a bigger way than Bowie did. His Radio 2 shows attracted millions, his TV shows ditto and his audience was all ages and all walks of life. His like wont be seen again. I did think for a while Jonathon Ross was (in his own mind) aiming for the Terry Wogan mantle but he rather let himself down and was far too interested in himself rather than the people he was talking to. Graham Norton has inherited some of Terry's actual roles but he does alienate quite a few people. People underestimate the ability Terry had for being apparently very at ease and making his guests likewise.

I think Novak is a nice name.....

Looking at the BBC tribute feed there are names in there to note for the future but when did Simon Mayo suddenly start looking so rough.

I think the thing about Wogan is that he was part of the cultural furniture. If Bowie was a precious ornament Wogan was your really comfy armchair.

If Trump puts of the Republican leaning middle voters and Sanders puts off the left leaning middle voters isn't there the potential room for an independent free thinking (nice guy) candidate. President Gates anyone?

"Thou shalt not eat the fruit of the carrot tree" Very sad. I liked him he played Johnny Maxwell's Grandfather in the TV adaptation of Terry Pratchet's Johnny and the Dead.

As we are going by US time I still have a few hours to get my prediction correct. Will check in when I land to see if it came up,

Currently in the business lounge at Birmingham airport about to board a flight to Delhi for a business trip. Never been to India before. Not really looking forward to it.

I hate to be pedantic (he lied) but the reality is that Switch and Sir Creep are effectively tied in first place because one more hit within the next two months will end it for either of you. The advantage Sir C has only really comes into play if you have the same pick that dies (effectively the goal difference scenario). I however only have a small number of points and will not be troubling the leader board.

The BBC did quite a good overview of the 11 candidates in the Republican race. Iowa and New Hampshire will probably see off up to 5 of these and it then when we will see whether the polls can match the votes on the ground. A lot will depend on whether Democrats who elect to vote in the Republican primary think Trump offers a more beatable opponent for Hillary than anyone else.

Baroness Shirley Williams is stepping down from the House of Lords. Today is her final speech in a debate. Will she see a surge in popularity in these parts in 2017?

So Abe Vigoda checks in just to give us a hit at the right time if we have a linear hit rate and we want to get 14 hits. Last year we had to wait till Feb to get the first hit so we can't complain at the moment.

Henry Blofeld was on Museum of Curiosities on R4 Monday night and spoke about his heart bypass operation and how he almost died. One to keep an eye on.

Just checking we are in a euphemism free zone. Otherwise I would have to vigorously deny it.