Best Of

From the NTA’s.

This is the great British Public for you.

Freddie Flintoff - Nearly Died
Rob Burrow - Died
Strictly Amy - Living with cancer
Molly Mae - Split up with her boyfriend

Which one wins the NTA… absolute bollocks #ntaawards


https://x.com/jord9393/status/1965884420617023623?s=61

An award show that is voted for by ITV viewers giving a number of awards to ITV programs and presenters - it's not a surprise.

Also Molly Mae's show was a lighter touch with a large audience than the other programs.

I’m having a day of ignorance the last 24 hours. I didn’t know who Charlie Kirk was save a vague sense he was someone American, I’d no idea what the NTA was until this post, and I’ve never heard of Mollie Mae.

Phew that is a relief. I'm not feeling so stupid now. All over my head. I didn't even have a vague sense re Charlie Kirk.

I hadn't heard of him either.

Yeah me neither. Seems like a thoroughly nasty piece of work but it should go without saying that his murder is a terrible thing.
After Sandy Hook though I decided not to allow myself to get too upset about US gun violence. It's like a drug addict who keeps relapsing and OD'ing. People who apparently have no desire to help themselves don't really deserve our sympathy.

Not a thoroughly nasty piece of work at all. A committed Christian (which I find bonkers but it takes all sorts) and articulated the views that are anti-fashionable and, no doubt (@Foxy?) biblically-based. I have heard him articulate support for Israel in terms of Jesus being Jewish and walking on water wherever it was but which is now modern-day Israel.

I have a lot of sympathy for saying committed religionists are weird, albeit, ironically, essentially human (and therefore scared which makes them turn to an unseen greater power), but not "thoroughly nasty".

The guy said that empathy was a made up term, he said Jews controlled the media and were pushing hatred of white people, he said black people only got their jobs because of affirmative action, he said school shootings were worth it to protect gun rights... yeah sounds like a lovely man.

For someone who hadn't heard of him until last night you happen to have a lot of his wit and wisdom to hand.

A quick google "Charlie Kirk....Jews" shows that many in that community, including notably Benjamin Netanyahu, are very much mourning his killing.

I have only ever heard him talk about black people in the context of proportional numbers and the major cause of death of black youths (he would say other black youths).

The 2nd Amendment yes he did say that, not particularly nasty although I don't happen to agree with it.

He was a big friend of Israel because, like a lot of US evangelicas, he saw the return of the Jews to Israel as fulfilling biblical prophecy and hence bringing forward the end times scenario sketched out in the Book of Revelation (at which point Jews in common with other non Christians will come to a sticky end). There is no inconsistency in this worldview with also thinking Jews in the US are a sinister cabal seeking to replace white Christians with minorities.

Yes I am aware of the support for Israel from evangelical Christians. Could you please post the source clip where he said that about the media. I'm interested in hearing it directly.

https://www.jta.org/2025/09/10/united-states/charlie-kirk-conservative-activist-who-considered-himself-a-defender-of-jews-and-israel-is-dead-at-31

This piece I think has links to the comments, apparently made on his show/podcast.

"APPARENTLY"

LOL

In other words you have never heard him say any of those things. FFS it helps if you don't make stuff up.

Wikipedia:
Kirk was highly supportive of Israel. Amidst the Gaza war, Israeli politicians and political activists including Itamar Ben-Gvir, Eli Cohen, Danny Danon, Benny Gantz, Isaac Herzog, Yoav Kisch, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yair Netanyahu, Amir Ohana, Miri Regev and Miki Zohar mourned Kirk's death, with many describing him as a "friend" of Israel and a few linking his death to anti-Zionist activism. *

Iran–Israel War
Main article: Iran-Israel War
In June 2025, Kirk opposed the involvement of the United States in the Iran–Israel War.

* In the usual manner of X, there are a significant number of posts (probably bots) blaming "the Jews" for his murder.

I mean he was totally out there in that (evangelical) christian ultra-conservative bonkers way but I didn't get any sense that he was malevolent towards specific groups, beyond repeating certain (who knows, perhaps spurious) statistics such as the number of Jews in/running Hollywood (can you run Hollywood these days with all the streamers) and in particular black-on-black violence and death statistics.

It's the old scorpion and frog tale.

I don't think he was nasty.

While dodgy Mandy getting the sack AGAIN is amusing, this is the damage that has been and is being done to the UK economy,

Blow for UK drugs sector as Merck scraps £1bn expansion
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgzyxjr0lzo

Discussed earlier on, upthread.

And, having read a little more and talked to some colleagues over coffee earlier, I've concluded that I'm out of date and you were largely right in our earlier exchange. Some years ago I worked on cost-effectiveness evaluations that were used by NICE, but the environment has changed since then, it seems. There's more to it than NHS drugs spend, but I do accept there's a problem there.

That is perhaps the first time I've ever persuaded anyone of a case on PB !

You and lefty woke academics expressing sympathy for big pharma companies!

Interesting lesson though, falling into the trap of thinking that because I used to know a lot about a subject I still do.

Well I must say that I have been laughing so loudly that the neighbouring stand at this trade show asked what was so funny.

Laugh? I nearly shat.

Why the actual fucking fuck did Starmer say that at PMQs yesterday?

Mandelson was a POLITICAL appointment, calculated as the best way for Britain to slime its way into the Trump cesspit. Which means forget all the guff yesterday about a proper process, Mandy was Starmer's choice.

It seems incomprehensible that nobody knew Mandy and Jeffrey were bezzies because everyone knew. So Mandy having to be sacked for something this bad directly calls Starmer's judgement into question.

Backing a man backing a nonce is not a good look at the best of times, never mind now in the febrile mood out there.

Starmer may have just holed himself below the water line and it's in danger of overtopping the watertight doors...