Best Of

It saddens me, but this site - this pub - is dying. Visitors are in major decline

The deadly PB centrist Dads chased away @williamglenn and he has not returned. And he was an absolutely key, crucial commenter. You stupid fucking fools banned him, simply because you didn't like his rightwing opinions. And now look where we are. He didn't even break any rules - he was banned for "wrongthink"

You are utter fucking imbeciles. You have turned this place into Bluesky. And no one uses Bluesky. Morons

I don’t know if that is the reason, but it does feel like the peak is behind us. In the early to mid 2010s, leading up to the referendum it was brilliant on here, despite me being banned about a hundred times for one thing or another.

Richard Nabavi, Tim, Antifrank, Southam Observer, Charles, Mike Smithson, Plato; these were big characters that have been written out or left and not replaced. Can’t think why really, but it is a shame

Finally.

Braveheart is a load of bollocks, says Brian Cox

The pro-Scottish independence actor turned down a part in the film before being persuaded to appear by its star Mel Gibson

Scotland’s greatest living male actor has finally admitted what the rest of the world suspected — Braveheart is “bollocks”.

Brian Cox, who agreed to star in the 1995 Oscar-winning film after repeated entreaties from its director and star Mel Gibson, said the script was “crap” and that liberties were taken with historical accuracy.

“The film is just bollocks. It doesn’t make any sense,” the 79-year-old actor told the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Cox revealed that he had initially turned down Braveheart, instead opting to perform in Rob Roy — another Scottish historical epic that was due to be shot at the same time.

He said Gibson then pleaded with him to take a part in the film and Cox finally relented.

“I said, well, there is a very good part at the beginning, a guy called Argyle but I’m wrong for him because he should be cadaverous and thin. And he [Gibson] said: “No, you can play it.”

Cox added: “I just didn’t want to be in a kilt. Of course they didn’t have kilts in those days but they had to have kilts [in the film] because that is what it is about.”

In response to questioning from film critic Mark Kermode, Cox agreed the film was “tosh-like”, adding: “It is a f***ing lie, the whole thing.”

Braveheart, which won the best picture Oscar, has been lauded by generations of Scottish nationalist politicians, with the late Alex Salmond’s Alba Party even channelling the film in a 2021 campaign advert.

At its premiere in 1995, Salmond — in reference to the film’s central character William Wallace being hung, drawn and quartered in London — said he would “decapitate” his then political opponent, Michael Forsyth.

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/braveheart-film-bollocks-brian-cox-edinburgh-festival-dkvlv5203?t=1755118506484

The strange thing is:

Braveheart is a really really fine movie. Yes it's historically garbage and full of nonsense, but my God it is stirring, and it deserved an Oscar. Mel Gibson is a genius storyteller

And yet Rob Roy is EVEN BETTER.. A masterpiece, much neglected

FPT:

Coming a bit late to the debate but a few observations.

1. Agree with tightening up the laws on drink driving. I know from my own experience that there is really no level of alcohol I can consume without it affecting my driving. This has always been the way with me even when I was able to drink heavily in my student days. So my rule for my whole driving career has been that I won't drive after drinking any alcohol at all. I think the 0.5 g/l level seems reasonable for legal purposes but think the 0.2 g/l level used in Norway and other Eureopan countries is probably a bit excessive as it does catch out a lot of people with the 'morning after' effect.

2. Whilst I agree with the eye tests, I don't see why they should start at 70. Deterioration in eye function can and does start much earlier for many people. AT 60 my eyesight is no where near as good as it was at 50. Perhaps we should consider an eye test as necessary for veryone renewing their licence every 10 years. As someone pointed out yesterday, setting the starting age at 70 but expecting people with driving jobs to continue until they are 67 (and sure to rise in the future) seems a bit daft to me.

3. What does seem to be missing from these proposals is the need to do far more than just test eyesight for the elderly. I would be interstd to know how many accdents are caused by poor eyesight and how many by other infirmaties. Currently it is pretty much impossible for a concerned relative to get someones driving licence revoked even when it is obvious to family members they are no longer fit to drive. It can be a cause of great animosity within families and as a result often it is just ignored. A test for mental and physical ability to drive safely should become a standard part of a more regular licence renewal for the elderly.

Fair enough but I disagree with pretty much all of this, as I do the suggestion of "no passenger" rules for young new drivers over on the BBC.

The last thing we need is more restrictions, process, and regulations regarding how we move around.

We are obsessed with trying to legislate to remove all risk in this country, regardless of the economic or social impact.

These are basic safety ideas to stop people getting killed. As you know two 18 year old lads from my sons class got killed in June as passengers in cars driven by new drivers. Both the young and the old need some controls placed on their driving where they are a danger to others.

It is not a question of legislating to emove 'All' risk, simply to deal with the bleeding obvious risks posed by those who are unfit to drive, either due to age or being under the influence.

I didn't know that and I'm sorry to hear that.

The trouble is if you legislate for a tragedy that hits and restricts the options for all 18 year old drivers, and there are over 150k of them.

In general, one should always be cautious in responding to a tragedy with knee-jerk legislation. And I don't agree with it.

Instead I'd put the risk and judgement onto the 18 year olds themselves. Most of whom will get it absolutely right.

Except it is not just them who are at risk of being killed or injured.

Overall, in 2023, around a fifth of all killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties from collisions involving cars were in collisions which involved a young car driver.

Young male car drivers aged 17 to 24 are 4 times as likely to be killed or seriously injured compared with all car drivers aged 25 or over.

In 2023 there were 4959 people killed or seriously injured in accidents involving a young driver.
In 2023 there were 1860 people killed or seriously injured in accidents involving a drunk driver.

So more than twice as many people were killed or seriously injured in accidents involving young drivers as were killed or seriously injured in accidents involving drunk drivers.

Not doubting you, but where do you get those figures from?

As somebody who in about 18 months will have a kid ready to take his driving test I find this terrifying.

The UK Govs own figures.

KSIs involving alcohol

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-in-great-britain-involving-illegal-alcohol-levels-2023/reported-road-casualties-in-great-britain-involving-illegal-alcohol-levels-2023

KSIs involving young drivers

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-older-and-younger-driver-factsheets-2023/reported-road-casualties-in-great-britain-younger-driver-factsheet-2023

The contributory factors breakdown for 2023 has speeding top, but there may be multiple factors and it's imperfect as it relies on the investigating officer and what they tick.
Certainly youth and male are overrepresented in drivers involved in ksi. As are rural roads which probably strongly correlates with risky speeding/loss of control.

Given my last 2 cars have been capable of telling me I'm driving poorly. I don't see why they can't be used more effectively and that driver tailgating you or on the limit of control on a winding country road find that the car has gone onto limp mode or at least vastly reduced performance.