The royalists are at the don't let rotten Andy spoil our barrel of superb apples stage.
Pretty sure that HMQ is the only obstacle stopping 'the Firm' indulging in one of its periodic acts of self preservation by leaving the colonel of the Grenadier Guards to hang out to dry.
Not really an accurate article given even Harry and his children with Meghan are now higher in the line of succession than Prince Andrew.
Andrew is now only 9th in line to the throne, he is far less relevant to the future of the monarchy than he was in 1980 when he was 2nd in line behind Charles before William and Harry and their children were born
Mm. But the point about monarchy is that we don't get to choose. If things had turned out slightly differently, we'd now have King Andrew I, and we would have to suck it up.
That's why the system is ridiculous.
Bloody Normans. If it hadn't been for them England would have still had the Witan and the king would have been elected. Out of a small group, admittedly.
» show previous quotes Hello Malky. It is indeed dreich and I don't have Covid! Edit: weather's grey enough in itself without that as well, I mean ...
Hello Carnyx, yes but buds are already out, will soon be spring Flag Quote · Off Topic Like
We have primroses out. Snowdrops are almost out.
Fat buds on many things.
You do have an advantage of 500 miles or so though. You will be sunbathing soon. Sounds very pleasant, we will have snowdrops out soon as well. PS: All the best for 2022, did not see you on here as much in 20221.
Good wishes to you and your good lady, malc. Been rather busy lately with a number of projects, one of which is a children's/inner child animation based in London and another an interesting opportunity with a couple of guys in your neck of the woods. Look forward to finding some time this year to butt heads though!
I look forward to it Mark, good luck with the projects.
The dominos are starting to fall. Just as well we have plenty in the piggy bank to get us through the disruption of the next year. Sorry, what's that? We spent it all on Covid? Ahh...
Stock markets rising today.
The UK markets are officially closed today but the BBC has very modestly negative figures for the FTSE and FTSE 250.
IG trading out of hours Ftse at about +0.3% today, which is similar to the big US indices that are open. Dax up 1%.
Odd story - seemingly Daniel Kawczynski has had state subsidised polish lessons. I'm trying to work out i) Is it true. ii) Why on earth they would be a state subsidised expense. iii) Can't he speak it already ?
Plenty of people can't speak (very well) the language of their minority origin.
He grew up in Poland until he was 6 and has previously described himself as fluent in the language.
He is a Tory, why would anyone expect he was not be robbing the public
If he hasn't spoken Polish daily since he was six, he may have found himself getting very rusty. Even if they spoke Polish in the family home, he wouldn't have had much opportunity since leaving home.
This might be true and very commendable to learn to speak the language of your birth fluently...but not sure how it is justifiable to charge the public purse for this. I don't see how it is essential to his ability to be an MP.
According to the Times, it is part of an obscure parliamentary scheme for language lessons so that bit's legit. There was a discussion of Kawczynski's costs on the last thread.
You would hope if this is the case, there would be an upper bound of the cost on any such scheme.
I once worked for a company that had a very generous scheme that allowed you to claim for personal development i.e. it could be any sort of random night school course from basket weaving to language courses, but there was a cap on how much you could claim every year, so you couldn't a) just get your mate to charge £100 / hr to teach you car mechanics and b) you couldn't just sign up for a different class every night of the week.
For £22k he could have had a qualified English teacher from Poland accompany him everywhere he went for a year.
It would appear that the DfE did not mean tests should be taken 'before' rejoining lessons, but rather, 'when returning to school.'
Which is completely different, and is what they said back in November.
So why have they reannounced it today and got it completely wrong?
Because they are totally fucking stupid and unfit to run a village fete.
Somebody please just lock them up in a lunatic asylum where they belong.
Running a village fete is not easy, as anyone who has done will confirm. The back-biting, personal hostility and general spite could reasonably be compared with Westminster.
And one has to live with the other villagers afterwards.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
The royalists are at the don't let rotten Andy spoil our barrel of superb apples stage.
Pretty sure that HMQ is the only obstacle stopping 'the Firm' indulging in one of its periodic acts of self preservation by leaving the colonel of the Grenadier Guards to hang out to dry.
They will bring in a law that makes him immune, these parasites always look after themselves.
Surely it's not clear there is evidence of an offence being committed. She was 17 at the time and they would have to show he was aware she was trafficked, or was a minor engaging in prostitution.
Dunno how relevant that is. He is being sued for assault not prosecuted for anything
Will be rivetting to see the Epstein release agreement he says gets him off the hook. Due today apparently.
Malcolm referred to "a law granting him immunity" which surely would only work against a criminal offence in the UK. There's nothing much that can be done to stop the US civil action now he has failed to find the court ultra vires.
Odd story - seemingly Daniel Kawczynski has had state subsidised polish lessons. I'm trying to work out i) Is it true. ii) Why on earth they would be a state subsidised expense. iii) Can't he speak it already ?
Plenty of people can't speak (very well) the language of their minority origin.
He grew up in Poland until he was 6 and has previously described himself as fluent in the language.
He is a Tory, why would anyone expect he was not be robbing the public
If he hasn't spoken Polish daily since he was six, he may have found himself getting very rusty. Even if they spoke Polish in the family home, he wouldn't have had much opportunity since leaving home.
This might be true and very commendable to learn to speak the language of your birth fluently...but not sure how it is justifiable to charge the public purse for this. I don't see how it is essential to his ability to be an MP.
According to the Times, it is part of an obscure parliamentary scheme for language lessons so that bit's legit. There was a discussion of Kawczynski's costs on the last thread.
You would hope if this is the case, there would be an upper bound of the cost on any such scheme.
I once worked for a company that had a very generous scheme that allowed you to claim for personal development i.e. it could be any sort of random night school course from basket weaving to language courses, but there was a cap on how much you could claim every year, so you couldn't a) just get your mate to charge £100 / hr to teach you car mechanics and b) you couldn't just sign up for a different class every night of the week.
Indeed, it used to be common for larger corporations and government departments both to budget for, and expect, continuing training for personnel. I received a fair bit of it while with the FCO - writing, speed reading, public speaking, management, Arabic (formal, and in country x 2), French, economics, EU institutions and laws, personal security, addressing alcoholism are the courses I can remember.
But GBP20k seems on the excessive side for one language.
The royalists are at the don't let rotten Andy spoil our barrel of superb apples stage.
Pretty sure that HMQ is the only obstacle stopping 'the Firm' indulging in one of its periodic acts of self preservation by leaving the colonel of the Grenadier Guards to hang out to dry.
They will bring in a law that makes him immune, these parasites always look after themselves.
Surely it's not clear there is evidence of an offence being committed. She was 17 at the time and they would have to show he was aware she was trafficked, or was a minor engaging in prostitution.
He is a creep John, he was running about , staying with and inviting a convicted sex criminal to Balmoral , etc. These people think they can do what they want, I sincerely hope he gets dragged across the water and gets his just desserts. Sweating all the way.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
Forget restrictions. The international evidence suggests they don’t work, the public have got the memo that Omicron is mild, and support for lockdowns and masking is sliding away.
The policy challenge should now be around the seven day isolation penalty, which is crippling services and private businesses. We have millions sitting at home with nothing much wrong with them.
Three days test and release seems a sensible compromise to me.
I was still testing positive after 8 days
They advise you not to test for 90 days because of the possibility of false positives. It's unclear whether this includes LFTs but a bit of Google research found some govt advice to care home owners which advised that their staff shouldn't have to test within 90 days of infection and that included LFTs.
But the advice now is 2 negative tests on day 6 and 7 and you are free. Are you supposed to have PCR?
I'm not sure. Maybe there is still a possibility of a false positive, but still a possibility you will test negative and be allowed out a couple of days early. I have only hot two left so not tempted to waste one to experiment. I did do a positive PCR for the ONS survey 5 weeks after testing positive the first time, but you don't have to self-isolate in such circumstances.
When do we expect the Work From Home If You Can to be lifted?
I am thinking end of Jan? Need to get a cheapo motor for station runs before it’s lifted.
I don't think that any of the relatively modest restrictions we've got will be lifted until it is obvious both that the case wave has peaked and that the hospitals are over the worst of it (exception: the self-isolation rules might be reviewed again if they're preventing society from continuing to function.) That'd put us some distance into February at least. It's all about optics, of course: lifting any of the rules before that would make it look as if the Government wasn't taking the situation seriously and didn't care about the suffering of the NHS or the patients, even if the rules themselves were demonstrably useless.
Which is the big problem with bringing in rules without evidence: they tend to hang around even though they are useless.
So theatregoers and fashion shopping trips will remain under masks until February? I hope you are wrong, but I fear you could be right.
OTOH, think Plan B has a sunset clause on 26 Jan. Would require a fresh vote and continued Labour C&S. Let’s see where we are on the data.
This is nothing more than a half-educated guess on my part, but I suspect that the end of January may coincide with the peak of hospital admissions and that the headline figures for those will be horrendous (the large majority of them will be incidental admissions, but that fine distinction won't make it through the media filter - only horrified screaming about 6k-7k patients a day.) The Government should have no trouble ramming through an extension under those circumstances.
How long the extension may last for, and whether the rules will remain in force for all of it or be repealed early, is a different matter.
The incidental admissions thing is utterly bonkers - as such patients have by definition not been admitted to hospital for covid, they have simply failed a covid test at some point during their stay.
This means that a nontrivial amount of ‘covid admissions’ are in fact ‘asymptomatic covid hospitalisations’ - a concept so utterly bonkers and bizarre it is worthy of much greater billing.
The royalists are at the don't let rotten Andy spoil our barrel of superb apples stage.
Pretty sure that HMQ is the only obstacle stopping 'the Firm' indulging in one of its periodic acts of self preservation by leaving the colonel of the Grenadier Guards to hang out to dry.
They will bring in a law that makes him immune, these parasites always look after themselves.
Surely it's not clear there is evidence of an offence being committed. She was 17 at the time and they would have to show he was aware she was trafficked, or was a minor engaging in prostitution.
He is a creep John, he was running about , staying with and inviting a convicted sex criminal to Balmoral , etc. These people think they can do what they want, I sincerely hope he gets dragged across the water and gets his just desserts. Sweating all the way.
And it does not matter what British law is, the determining law is US law. The age of consent in Florida is 18.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Odd story - seemingly Daniel Kawczynski has had state subsidised polish lessons. I'm trying to work out i) Is it true. ii) Why on earth they would be a state subsidised expense. iii) Can't he speak it already ?
The Mail ran the story in November so it would be fairly amazing if not true. Obviously bluffed/exaggerated/lied about speaking it already, not much of a surprise given his politics.
Or bluffed/exaggerated/lied about is expenses.
I would like to see the receipts and know his relationship to his language teacher. A relative perhaps, or perhaps some other sleight of hand.
A pound to a penny that it's just another Tory MP taking the piss and enriching himself from the public purse.
Forget restrictions. The international evidence suggests they don’t work, the public have got the memo that Omicron is mild, and support for lockdowns and masking is sliding away.
The policy challenge should now be around the seven day isolation penalty, which is crippling services and private businesses. We have millions sitting at home with nothing much wrong with them.
Three days test and release seems a sensible compromise to me.
I was still testing positive after 8 days
They advise you not to test for 90 days because of the possibility of false positives. It's unclear whether this includes LFTs but a bit of Google research found some govt advice to care home owners which advised that their staff shouldn't have to test within 90 days of infection and that included LFTs.
But the advice now is 2 negative tests on day 6 and 7 and you are free. Are you supposed to have PCR?
IIRC you can't have a PCR for 90 days after testing positive on a PCR.
But Lat flows you should be fine.
On reducing the isolation during duration it's a tricky one. In the US there is a bit divide about it, the CDC were reportedly pressured into it by the Delta Airlines boss and some other business leaders couple with political pressure. Scientists in the CDC were not happy about it when they were told by their head as their evidence did not justify a move at this time.
If you reduce it here again it would be a business and political move and not on health grounds. You can't say you are trying to protect the vulnerable in society on one hand and on the other basically tell infectious people who are clearly unwell to go and spread it.
Lat flows that are negative along with mandatory mask wearing during a period of so many days as you return to society and work would be my recommendation if you have to reduce the duration of isolation. Anything less is morally questionable.
The royalists are at the don't let rotten Andy spoil our barrel of superb apples stage.
Pretty sure that HMQ is the only obstacle stopping 'the Firm' indulging in one of its periodic acts of self preservation by leaving the colonel of the Grenadier Guards to hang out to dry.
They will bring in a law that makes him immune, these parasites always look after themselves.
Surely it's not clear there is evidence of an offence being committed. She was 17 at the time and they would have to show he was aware she was trafficked, or was a minor engaging in prostitution.
Dunno how relevant that is. He is being sued for assault not prosecuted for anything
Will be rivetting to see the Epstein release agreement he says gets him off the hook. Due today apparently.
Malcolm referred to "a law granting him immunity" which surely would only work against a criminal offence in the UK. There's nothing much that can be done to stop the US civil action now he has failed to find the court ultra vires.
O I see what you mean. I don't think the law Malcolm fears is a realistic possibility
AFAIK the US suit is still all to play for, we find out tomorrow whether the Court will throw it out because she is Australian/because of the 2009 settlement agreement
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
The royalists are at the don't let rotten Andy spoil our barrel of superb apples stage.
Pretty sure that HMQ is the only obstacle stopping 'the Firm' indulging in one of its periodic acts of self preservation by leaving the colonel of the Grenadier Guards to hang out to dry.
They will bring in a law that makes him immune, these parasites always look after themselves.
Surely it's not clear there is evidence of an offence being committed. She was 17 at the time and they would have to show he was aware she was trafficked, or was a minor engaging in prostitution.
He is a creep John, he was running about , staying with and inviting a convicted sex criminal to Balmoral , etc. These people think they can do what they want, I sincerely hope he gets dragged across the water and gets his just desserts. Sweating all the way.
There was an exchange in A Very British Scandal' about the Argyll divorce affair which suggested that your second and third sentences were exactly what the British aristocracy felt about such sexual shenanigans.
The royalists are at the don't let rotten Andy spoil our barrel of superb apples stage.
Pretty sure that HMQ is the only obstacle stopping 'the Firm' indulging in one of its periodic acts of self preservation by leaving the colonel of the Grenadier Guards to hang out to dry.
Not really an accurate article given even Harry and his children with Meghan are now higher in the line of succession than Prince Andrew.
Andrew is now only 9th in line to the throne, he is far less relevant to the future of the monarchy than he was in 1980 when he was 2nd in line behind Charles before William and Harry and their children were born
Mm. But the point about monarchy is that we don't get to choose. If things had turned out slightly differently, we'd now have King Andrew I, and we would have to suck it up.
That's why the system is ridiculous.
Bloody Normans. If it hadn't been for them England would have still had the Witan and the king would have been elected. Out of a small group, admittedly.
I have been reading Earl Spencer's book on the White Ship and did not realise William the Conquerer could not read. Henry 1st could read only because he was the youngest son and was sent to be trained for the Church and was not expected to become King
When do we expect the Work From Home If You Can to be lifted?
I am thinking end of Jan? Need to get a cheapo motor for station runs before it’s lifted.
I don't think that any of the relatively modest restrictions we've got will be lifted until it is obvious both that the case wave has peaked and that the hospitals are over the worst of it (exception: the self-isolation rules might be reviewed again if they're preventing society from continuing to function.) That'd put us some distance into February at least. It's all about optics, of course: lifting any of the rules before that would make it look as if the Government wasn't taking the situation seriously and didn't care about the suffering of the NHS or the patients, even if the rules themselves were demonstrably useless.
Which is the big problem with bringing in rules without evidence: they tend to hang around even though they are useless.
So theatregoers and fashion shopping trips will remain under masks until February? I hope you are wrong, but I fear you could be right.
OTOH, think Plan B has a sunset clause on 26 Jan. Would require a fresh vote and continued Labour C&S. Let’s see where we are on the data.
This is nothing more than a half-educated guess on my part, but I suspect that the end of January may coincide with the peak of hospital admissions and that the headline figures for those will be horrendous (the large majority of them will be incidental admissions, but that fine distinction won't make it through the media filter - only horrified screaming about 6k-7k patients a day.) The Government should have no trouble ramming through an extension under those circumstances.
How long the extension may last for, and whether the rules will remain in force for all of it or be repealed early, is a different matter.
You are still (!) completely misreading the politics of this. The government will not be motivated to 'ram through' an unwarranted extension to restrictions. The strong strong preference will be to drop them asap.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
Generally, I can't get into Chapelle. Some bits are very good though, his take down of "French actor" Jussie Smollett was very good, as was his bit on the uncomfortable alliance of the L, B, G, and Ts.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Odd story - seemingly Daniel Kawczynski has had state subsidised polish lessons. I'm trying to work out i) Is it true. ii) Why on earth they would be a state subsidised expense. iii) Can't he speak it already ?
Plenty of people can't speak (very well) the language of their minority origin.
He grew up in Poland until he was 6 and has previously described himself as fluent in the language.
He is a Tory, why would anyone expect he was not be robbing the public
If he hasn't spoken Polish daily since he was six, he may have found himself getting very rusty. Even if they spoke Polish in the family home, he wouldn't have had much opportunity since leaving home.
This might be true and very commendable to learn to speak the language of your birth fluently...but not sure how it is justifiable to charge the public purse for this. I don't see how it is essential to his ability to be an MP.
According to the Times, it is part of an obscure parliamentary scheme for language lessons so that bit's legit. There was a discussion of Kawczynski's costs on the last thread.
You would hope if this is the case, there would be an upper bound of the cost on any such scheme.
I once worked for a company that had a very generous scheme that allowed you to claim for personal development i.e. it could be any sort of random night school course from basket weaving to language courses, but there was a cap on how much you could claim every year, so you couldn't a) just get your mate to charge £100 / hr to teach you car mechanics and b) you couldn't just sign up for a different class every night of the week.
For £22k he could have had a qualified English teacher from Poland accompany him everywhere he went for a year.
Possibly a young lady?
Not for £22k. You oldies need to wise up to inflation!
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
I watched Strangelove for the first time a couple of days ago. Not as funny as I thought it would be - admittedly not trying to be merely funny - but Sellers not nearly as good in any of those roles as he is as Clouseau, and the Strangelove character's mein fuhrer and involuntary salutes stuff is surely equally lazy?
Perhaps, but Strangelove will live on as iconic cinema, and Don't Look Up will not. Yet it could have. Frustrating
I read a critique on Rotten Tomatoes which said it should have been directed by Armando Iannuci. Which seems bang on. If he could have brought the brilliant satirical tone of Death of Stalin to this idea, then wow
The politics should have been much more layered and nuanced. Attack the liberals as well, for worrrying more about animals than humans, for obsessing about gender during the apocalypse
Imagine if they'd tried that: subtly satirise everyone. Instead they went for an all out one-way assault on - FFS - Donald Trump. Played by the secular saint of Woke Liberal Hollywood, Meryl Streep
Hollywood has lost its way, but the movie also shows it still has ideas and energy, at least
Trouble with that is I am watching Veep (dir Iannuci, A) for exactly that reason and it isn't really doing much for me. Pale imitation of Stalin/Thick.
Ditto. Veep has its moments - I'm half way into season 2 - but it is definitely patchy
A somewhat unhappy meld between the American form of sitcom and the British style of Iannucci
The point is they should have given him the whole movie - complete creative control of Don't Look Up. It would have sung
What's odd about the failings of Don't Look Up is that the director, Adam McKay is the creator/showrunner of Succession, one of the best things on TV. Should be at the top of his game
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
One positive for Bill Maher he has a slightly different opinion than the rest.....although it is a little predictable.
Ha, am I late to the party in just noticing that the PoliticsForAll guy finally got kicked off Twitter?
The whole network of accounts and personal accounts got torpedoed.
My presumption is there has to be more to the story. They don't normally nuke all your accounts like that if say it was a copyright issue or claims of an inaccurate statement.
I’m surprised it took so long.
It was clearly a bot that scraped headlines from news websites as they were published, and reprinted the headline unattributed, then had hundreds of likes within seconds, manipulating Twitter’s platform in order to be seen as the original source of the story on Twitter.
I would have thought that all the genuine press sources were completing to Twitter about the copyright infringement, which was quite deliberate and widespread. The correct etiquette is to link to the source of the story, which he was making a point of not doing.
I believe they recently registered as a business, I wonder if that also triggered it, as now there is a legal entity trying to monetarise this approach.
The conspiracy theory was it was really some sort of covert Tory plan to do (non) independent news, but that always seemed rubbish to me. The guy behind it might have been a Tory voter, but it spammed out all sorts of headlines that were not exactly in the interests of the Tories to be widely disseminated.
I think it is might more like as you say there was botting going on and the guy had found an exploit within the twitter algorithm that meant those account always got lots of spread. The speed of their growth, even if they did early get some plugs by established journalists, just seemed unrealistic. It was nowhere to everywhere in a no time. Most new brands can only dream of doing this.
it was a 55 Tufton Street funded set-up most likely
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
Always going to be tough to make effective satire in defence of the establishment orthodox view.
Odd story - seemingly Daniel Kawczynski has had state subsidised polish lessons. I'm trying to work out i) Is it true. ii) Why on earth they would be a state subsidised expense. iii) Can't he speak it already ?
Plenty of people can't speak (very well) the language of their minority origin.
He grew up in Poland until he was 6 and has previously described himself as fluent in the language.
He is a Tory, why would anyone expect he was not be robbing the public
If he hasn't spoken Polish daily since he was six, he may have found himself getting very rusty. Even if they spoke Polish in the family home, he wouldn't have had much opportunity since leaving home.
This might be true and very commendable to learn to speak the language of your birth fluently...but not sure how it is justifiable to charge the public purse for this. I don't see how it is essential to his ability to be an MP.
According to the Times, it is part of an obscure parliamentary scheme for language lessons so that bit's legit. There was a discussion of Kawczynski's costs on the last thread.
You would hope if this is the case, there would be an upper bound of the cost on any such scheme.
I once worked for a company that had a very generous scheme that allowed you to claim for personal development i.e. it could be any sort of random night school course from basket weaving to language courses, but there was a cap on how much you could claim every year, so you couldn't a) just get your mate to charge £100 / hr to teach you car mechanics and b) you couldn't just sign up for a different class every night of the week.
Indeed, it used to be common for larger corporations and government departments both to budget for, and expect, continuing training for personnel. I received a fair bit of it while with the FCO - writing, speed reading, public speaking, management, Arabic (formal, and in country x 2), French, economics, EU institutions and laws, personal security, addressing alcoholism are the courses I can remember.
But GBP20k seems on the excessive side for one language.
I think this kind of problem is inevitable until we actually come up with a better definition of what MPs do and are for. Are they company directors with essentially unlimited expense account making it up as they go? Or are they professionals with actual career development?
We have a hybrid system where MP was really supposed to be a part time hobby for people rich enough to have the time to spare. And the amount of time it took to be an MP was quite small. In addition politics was the ultimate job in more ways than one - a career after politics was not expected.
We have bolted that onto an expectation of modern middle managers, as paid employees. Complete with the social status aspirations of the original.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
One positive for Bill Maher he has a slightly different opinion than the rest.....although it is a little predictable.
But Bill Maher bears a special responsibility for this state of play having pioneered (at least in the US) this approach to 'comedy'.
Odd story - seemingly Daniel Kawczynski has had state subsidised polish lessons. I'm trying to work out i) Is it true. ii) Why on earth they would be a state subsidised expense. iii) Can't he speak it already ?
Plenty of people can't speak (very well) the language of their minority origin.
He grew up in Poland until he was 6 and has previously described himself as fluent in the language.
He is a Tory, why would anyone expect he was not be robbing the public
If he hasn't spoken Polish daily since he was six, he may have found himself getting very rusty. Even if they spoke Polish in the family home, he wouldn't have had much opportunity since leaving home.
This might be true and very commendable to learn to speak the language of your birth fluently...but not sure how it is justifiable to charge the public purse for this. I don't see how it is essential to his ability to be an MP.
According to the Times, it is part of an obscure parliamentary scheme for language lessons so that bit's legit. There was a discussion of Kawczynski's costs on the last thread.
You would hope if this is the case, there would be an upper bound of the cost on any such scheme.
I once worked for a company that had a very generous scheme that allowed you to claim for personal development i.e. it could be any sort of random night school course from basket weaving to language courses, but there was a cap on how much you could claim every year, so you couldn't a) just get your mate to charge £100 / hr to teach you car mechanics and b) you couldn't just sign up for a different class every night of the week.
For £22k he could have had a qualified English teacher from Poland accompany him everywhere he went for a year.
Possibly a young lady?
Not for £22k. You oldies need to wise up to inflation!
Could probably learn Thai that way for that. Sean T would know.
Forget restrictions. The international evidence suggests they don’t work, the public have got the memo that Omicron is mild, and support for lockdowns and masking is sliding away.
The policy challenge should now be around the seven day isolation penalty, which is crippling services and private businesses. We have millions sitting at home with nothing much wrong with them.
Three days test and release seems a sensible compromise to me.
I was still testing positive after 8 days
They advise you not to test for 90 days because of the possibility of false positives. It's unclear whether this includes LFTs but a bit of Google research found some govt advice to care home owners which advised that their staff shouldn't have to test within 90 days of infection and that included LFTs.
But the advice now is 2 negative tests on day 6 and 7 and you are free. Are you supposed to have PCR?
IIRC you can't have a PCR for 90 days after testing positive on a PCR.
But Lat flows you should be fine.
On reducing the isolation during duration it's a tricky one. In the US there is a bit divide about it, the CDC were reportedly pressured into it by the Delta Airlines boss and some other business leaders couple with political pressure. Scientists in the CDC were not happy about it when they were told by their head as their evidence did not justify a move at this time.
If you reduce it here again it would be a business and political move and not on health grounds. You can't say you are trying to protect the vulnerable in society on one hand and on the other basically tell infectious people who are clearly unwell to go and spread it.
Lat flows that are negative along with mandatory mask wearing during a period of so many days as you return to society and work would be my recommendation if you have to reduce the duration of isolation. Anything less is morally questionable.
Morally questionable? I see we are back to inflammatory, borderline hysterical, language. A shame. We’ve had two blissful days of sensible discourse on here.
Didn’t the CDC’s own data show that the vast majority of transmission occurred in the first 48 hours of infection, then tailed off rapidly?
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
Satirizing dumbo enablers of the most toxic politician in the western world in 2021 is like laughing at Mother in Law jokes in 1971?
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
Satirizing dumbo enablers of the most toxic politician in the western world in 2021 is like laughing at Mother in Law jokes in 1971?
Hmm. Ok.
Of course you don't understand the point. How could you?
When do we expect the Work From Home If You Can to be lifted?
I am thinking end of Jan? Need to get a cheapo motor for station runs before it’s lifted.
I don't think that any of the relatively modest restrictions we've got will be lifted until it is obvious both that the case wave has peaked and that the hospitals are over the worst of it (exception: the self-isolation rules might be reviewed again if they're preventing society from continuing to function.) That'd put us some distance into February at least. It's all about optics, of course: lifting any of the rules before that would make it look as if the Government wasn't taking the situation seriously and didn't care about the suffering of the NHS or the patients, even if the rules themselves were demonstrably useless.
Which is the big problem with bringing in rules without evidence: they tend to hang around even though they are useless.
So theatregoers and fashion shopping trips will remain under masks until February? I hope you are wrong, but I fear you could be right.
OTOH, think Plan B has a sunset clause on 26 Jan. Would require a fresh vote and continued Labour C&S. Let’s see where we are on the data.
This is nothing more than a half-educated guess on my part, but I suspect that the end of January may coincide with the peak of hospital admissions and that the headline figures for those will be horrendous (the large majority of them will be incidental admissions, but that fine distinction won't make it through the media filter - only horrified screaming about 6k-7k patients a day.) The Government should have no trouble ramming through an extension under those circumstances.
How long the extension may last for, and whether the rules will remain in force for all of it or be repealed early, is a different matter.
The incidental admissions thing is utterly bonkers - as such patients have by definition not been admitted to hospital for covid, they have simply failed a covid test at some point during their stay.
This means that a nontrivial amount of ‘covid admissions’ are in fact ‘asymptomatic covid hospitalisations’ - a concept so utterly bonkers and bizarre it is worthy of much greater billing.
Well, there are, of course, two major issues with the incidental admissions that complicate matters. Firstly, the hospitals are lumbered with infection control measures for any patient with Covid, which means that anyone who's harbouring it creates extra work even if they are just a bit sneezy or even completely asymptomatic. And secondly, there are an awful lot of people who both pay some attention to the news, yet do not understand the incidental admission problem, who'll look at the headline numbers and assume that thousands of patients a day = thousands of grannies dying on ventilators. This has the capacity to generate a lot of panic, especially when accompanied by a shrill backing chorus of iSAGE types screaming for another lockdown.
It fortunately looks like the Government is likely to resist calls for tighter restrictions this time around, but we're still in for a rough ride for the next 4-6 weeks until we're over the worst of it.
Odd story - seemingly Daniel Kawczynski has had state subsidised polish lessons. I'm trying to work out i) Is it true. ii) Why on earth they would be a state subsidised expense. iii) Can't he speak it already ?
Plenty of people can't speak (very well) the language of their minority origin.
He grew up in Poland until he was 6 and has previously described himself as fluent in the language.
He is a Tory, why would anyone expect he was not be robbing the public
If he hasn't spoken Polish daily since he was six, he may have found himself getting very rusty. Even if they spoke Polish in the family home, he wouldn't have had much opportunity since leaving home.
This might be true and very commendable to learn to speak the language of your birth fluently...but not sure how it is justifiable to charge the public purse for this. I don't see how it is essential to his ability to be an MP.
According to the Times, it is part of an obscure parliamentary scheme for language lessons so that bit's legit. There was a discussion of Kawczynski's costs on the last thread.
You would hope if this is the case, there would be an upper bound of the cost on any such scheme.
I once worked for a company that had a very generous scheme that allowed you to claim for personal development i.e. it could be any sort of random night school course from basket weaving to language courses, but there was a cap on how much you could claim every year, so you couldn't a) just get your mate to charge £100 / hr to teach you car mechanics and b) you couldn't just sign up for a different class every night of the week.
Indeed, it used to be common for larger corporations and government departments both to budget for, and expect, continuing training for personnel. I received a fair bit of it while with the FCO - writing, speed reading, public speaking, management, Arabic (formal, and in country x 2), French, economics, EU institutions and laws, personal security, addressing alcoholism are the courses I can remember.
But GBP20k seems on the excessive side for one language.
I think this kind of problem is inevitable until we actually come up with a better definition of what MPs do and are for. Are they company directors with essentially unlimited expense account making it up as they go? Or are they professionals with actual career development?
We have a hybrid system where MP was really supposed to be a part time hobby for people rich enough to have the time to spare. And the amount of time it took to be an MP was quite small. In addition politics was the ultimate job in more ways than one - a career after politics was not expected.
We have bolted that onto an expectation of modern middle managers, as paid employees. Complete with the social status aspirations of the original.
Also the question of whether they are to conform to the strict ethics required - by MPs themselves - of other public servants such as civil servants and other public sector workers. Notably in what were permissible expenses, and what it is permissible to accept from contractors etc.. Some of tthe discussion touching on drinks and other jollies the other day highlighted some of the issues.
Odd story - seemingly Daniel Kawczynski has had state subsidised polish lessons. I'm trying to work out i) Is it true. ii) Why on earth they would be a state subsidised expense. iii) Can't he speak it already ?
Plenty of people can't speak (very well) the language of their minority origin.
He grew up in Poland until he was 6 and has previously described himself as fluent in the language.
He is a Tory, why would anyone expect he was not be robbing the public
If he hasn't spoken Polish daily since he was six, he may have found himself getting very rusty. Even if they spoke Polish in the family home, he wouldn't have had much opportunity since leaving home.
This might be true and very commendable to learn to speak the language of your birth fluently...but not sure how it is justifiable to charge the public purse for this. I don't see how it is essential to his ability to be an MP.
According to the Times, it is part of an obscure parliamentary scheme for language lessons so that bit's legit. There was a discussion of Kawczynski's costs on the last thread.
You would hope if this is the case, there would be an upper bound of the cost on any such scheme.
I once worked for a company that had a very generous scheme that allowed you to claim for personal development i.e. it could be any sort of random night school course from basket weaving to language courses, but there was a cap on how much you could claim every year, so you couldn't a) just get your mate to charge £100 / hr to teach you car mechanics and b) you couldn't just sign up for a different class every night of the week.
Indeed, it used to be common for larger corporations and government departments both to budget for, and expect, continuing training for personnel. I received a fair bit of it while with the FCO - writing, speed reading, public speaking, management, Arabic (formal, and in country x 2), French, economics, EU institutions and laws, personal security, addressing alcoholism are the courses I can remember.
But GBP20k seems on the excessive side for one language.
I think this kind of problem is inevitable until we actually come up with a better definition of what MPs do and are for. Are they company directors with essentially unlimited expense account making it up as they go? Or are they professionals with actual career development?
We have a hybrid system where MP was really supposed to be a part time hobby for people rich enough to have the time to spare. And the amount of time it took to be an MP was quite small. In addition politics was the ultimate job in more ways than one - a career after politics was not expected.
We have bolted that onto an expectation of modern middle managers, as paid employees. Complete with the social status aspirations of the original.
Obvs I'm not an MP but way back in the mid 90's the NHS where I worked offered assistance with a further education course. Got myself a part-time MA with it.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Surely you recall his face when his old boss came on the show and suggested that covid might just possibly have leaked from a lab?
I heartily approve of MP's doing some CPD on their own time. Brushing up on a language seems on the more useful end of the spectrum, too. However, £22k sounds suspiciously like the salary of a bi-lingual researcher to me.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
US comedy talk show hosts never were that funny, though, were they?
When do we expect the Work From Home If You Can to be lifted?
I am thinking end of Jan? Need to get a cheapo motor for station runs before it’s lifted.
I don't think that any of the relatively modest restrictions we've got will be lifted until it is obvious both that the case wave has peaked and that the hospitals are over the worst of it (exception: the self-isolation rules might be reviewed again if they're preventing society from continuing to function.) That'd put us some distance into February at least. It's all about optics, of course: lifting any of the rules before that would make it look as if the Government wasn't taking the situation seriously and didn't care about the suffering of the NHS or the patients, even if the rules themselves were demonstrably useless.
Which is the big problem with bringing in rules without evidence: they tend to hang around even though they are useless.
So theatregoers and fashion shopping trips will remain under masks until February? I hope you are wrong, but I fear you could be right.
OTOH, think Plan B has a sunset clause on 26 Jan. Would require a fresh vote and continued Labour C&S. Let’s see where we are on the data.
This is nothing more than a half-educated guess on my part, but I suspect that the end of January may coincide with the peak of hospital admissions and that the headline figures for those will be horrendous (the large majority of them will be incidental admissions, but that fine distinction won't make it through the media filter - only horrified screaming about 6k-7k patients a day.) The Government should have no trouble ramming through an extension under those circumstances.
How long the extension may last for, and whether the rules will remain in force for all of it or be repealed early, is a different matter.
The incidental admissions thing is utterly bonkers - as such patients have by definition not been admitted to hospital for covid, they have simply failed a covid test at some point during their stay.
This means that a nontrivial amount of ‘covid admissions’ are in fact ‘asymptomatic covid hospitalisations’ - a concept so utterly bonkers and bizarre it is worthy of much greater billing.
Well, there are, of course, two major issues with the incidental admissions that complicate matters. Firstly, the hospitals are lumbered with infection control measures for any patient with Covid, which means that anyone who's harbouring it creates extra work even if they are just a bit sneezy or even completely asymptomatic. And secondly, there are an awful lot of people who both pay some attention to the news, yet do not understand the incidental admission problem, who'll look at the headline numbers and assume that thousands of patients a day = thousands of grannies dying on ventilators. This has the capacity to generate a lot of panic, especially when accompanied by a shrill backing chorus of iSAGE types screaming for another lockdown.
It fortunately looks like the Government is likely to resist calls for tighter restrictions this time around, but we're still in for a rough ride for the next 4-6 weeks until we're over the worst of it.
Oh, to clarify, I agree. But I simply don’t grasp why the hospitalisation numbers aren’t sequestered into actual and incidental. What possible incentive is there for the government to bundle them all together?
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
Satirizing dumbo enablers of the most toxic politician in the western world in 2021 is like laughing at Mother in Law jokes in 1971?
Hmm. Ok.
The point is not to equate Mother-in-Laws to Trumpsters, but to equate the laziness of the comedians.
I heartily approve of MP's doing some CPD on their own time. Brushing up on a language seems on the more useful end of the spectrum, too. However, £22k sounds suspiciously like the salary of a bi-lingual researcher to me.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
I heartily approve of MP's doing some CPD on their own time. Brushing up on a language seems on the more useful end of the spectrum, too. However, £22k sounds suspiciously like the salary of a bi-lingual researcher to me.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
They are doing piss poor in what the US call the "key demographic". The absolutely crap Fox News alternative Gutfeld! is doing better then all of them in both total and key figures.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
That is indeed the case. But these shows have a shadow of their former viewership, regardless of how you measure it. Precisely because they have narrowed the viewership base.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Surely you recall his face when his old boss came on the show and suggested that covid might just possibly have leaked from a lab?
Yes. The rictus grin. Hiding absolute alarm. Desperately if silently signalling: Don't go there
You could do a brilliant, scorching sketch satirising the lab leak insanity. Take Jon Stewart's little riff and turn it into ten minutes of very very dark comedy. It is waiting to be done. By someone strong and someone brave
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
How are you feeling sir?
Absolutely fine. Just have another 7 days of isolation ffs.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
US comedy talk show hosts never were that funny, though, were they?
Larry Sanders which satirised the whole shebang was excellent, but quite a long time ago.
I might give Dave Chappelle a go. I’m looking for a comic who is willing to target all groups and vested interests but who isn’t quite as extreme gross-out as Gervais can be. Would Chappelle fit the bill?
I heartily approve of MP's doing some CPD on their own time. Brushing up on a language seems on the more useful end of the spectrum, too. However, £22k sounds suspiciously like the salary of a bi-lingual researcher to me.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Surely you recall his face when his old boss came on the show and suggested that covid might just possibly have leaked from a lab?
Yes. The rictus grin. Hiding absolute alarm. Desperately if silently signalling: Don't go there
You could do a brilliant, scorching sketch satirising the lab leak insanity. Take Jon Stewart's little riff and turn it into ten minutes of very very dark comedy. It is waiting to be done. By someone strong and someone brave
It would be wonderful to do a collage of all these smug lazy talk show hosts to demonstrate both just how unoriginal and how wrong they are on many of the issues.
I might give Dave Chappelle a go. I’m looking for a comic who is willing to target all groups and vested interests but who isn’t quite as extreme gross-out as Gervais can be. Would Chappelle fit the bill?
He isn't for everybody. The liberal use of the N word I find off putting, and it is never used in the way Chris Rock used to have a very funny takes on the difference between African American's and N's.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
Generally, I can't get into Chapelle. Some bits are very good though, his take down of "French actor" Jussie Smollett was very good, as was his bit on the uncomfortable alliance of the L, B, G, and Ts.
Of course, LGBT (along with its various alphabet soup extensions) is a very lazy roping together of people with quite different concerns and experiences. In fact, I'd argue that it's lazier than BAME, an expression which we've recently been advised is insulting and ought to be cancelled.
At least one can make some kind of a case for BAME as a catch-all term for non-white, although even that gets messy when Jewish and Romany people enter the conversation. LGBTQIA+ is an entire spectrum of minorities so broad as to be meaningless. It would be helpful if we could give the latter expression the heave-ho as well as the former.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
US comedy talk show hosts never were that funny, though, were they?
Colbert was absolutely hilarious at his best. A moderately left wing comedian pretending to be a raging right wing talk show host, doing a talk show. The structure allowed him to attack all sides (generally the right but often the left as well, or indeed anything)
It reminded me of Ali G/Borat, creations which gave permission to Sacha Baron Cohen to unexpectedly take the piss out of everyone, not just one side - you never knew quite what was coming, but it had you on edge. Which is key to brilliant political comedy.
When do we expect the Work From Home If You Can to be lifted?
I am thinking end of Jan? Need to get a cheapo motor for station runs before it’s lifted.
I don't think that any of the relatively modest restrictions we've got will be lifted until it is obvious both that the case wave has peaked and that the hospitals are over the worst of it (exception: the self-isolation rules might be reviewed again if they're preventing society from continuing to function.) That'd put us some distance into February at least. It's all about optics, of course: lifting any of the rules before that would make it look as if the Government wasn't taking the situation seriously and didn't care about the suffering of the NHS or the patients, even if the rules themselves were demonstrably useless.
Which is the big problem with bringing in rules without evidence: they tend to hang around even though they are useless.
So theatregoers and fashion shopping trips will remain under masks until February? I hope you are wrong, but I fear you could be right.
OTOH, think Plan B has a sunset clause on 26 Jan. Would require a fresh vote and continued Labour C&S. Let’s see where we are on the data.
This is nothing more than a half-educated guess on my part, but I suspect that the end of January may coincide with the peak of hospital admissions and that the headline figures for those will be horrendous (the large majority of them will be incidental admissions, but that fine distinction won't make it through the media filter - only horrified screaming about 6k-7k patients a day.) The Government should have no trouble ramming through an extension under those circumstances.
How long the extension may last for, and whether the rules will remain in force for all of it or be repealed early, is a different matter.
The incidental admissions thing is utterly bonkers - as such patients have by definition not been admitted to hospital for covid, they have simply failed a covid test at some point during their stay.
This means that a nontrivial amount of ‘covid admissions’ are in fact ‘asymptomatic covid hospitalisations’ - a concept so utterly bonkers and bizarre it is worthy of much greater billing.
Well, there are, of course, two major issues with the incidental admissions that complicate matters. Firstly, the hospitals are lumbered with infection control measures for any patient with Covid, which means that anyone who's harbouring it creates extra work even if they are just a bit sneezy or even completely asymptomatic. And secondly, there are an awful lot of people who both pay some attention to the news, yet do not understand the incidental admission problem, who'll look at the headline numbers and assume that thousands of patients a day = thousands of grannies dying on ventilators. This has the capacity to generate a lot of panic, especially when accompanied by a shrill backing chorus of iSAGE types screaming for another lockdown.
It fortunately looks like the Government is likely to resist calls for tighter restrictions this time around, but we're still in for a rough ride for the next 4-6 weeks until we're over the worst of it.
Oh, to clarify, I agree. But I simply don’t grasp why the hospitalisation numbers aren’t sequestered into actual and incidental. What possible incentive is there for the government to bundle them all together?
Because they cannot be fully separated logically. Even asymptomatic infection is indeed a problem to the patient with a different condition - higher risk of strokes, operational complications such as anaesthesia problems. Foxy was discussing this a few days back.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
Better than what far too many other people did - spend those 4 years making excuses for him, having a chuckle at how he trolled the libs, downplaying the horror of his presidency, offering fatuous 'man of the world' context instead of plain & simple condemnation of his racism and misogyny and pig ignorance and utter lack of ethics, seeking to find redeeming features where there were none, drawing false equivalences with the left, pretending there was some strategic intelligence in his politics, that he'd "identified some real problems" as opposed to simply being the biggest of them, in denial at the threat to democracy and civic life he posed and staying in denial about it long past the point where anybody in their right mind could see it.
Course people deny now that they did all or most or some of the above but I am here to inform otherwise. It was knee deep and it used to drive me potty sometimes.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
That is indeed the case. But these shows have a shadow of their former viewership, regardless of how you measure it. Precisely because they have narrowed the viewership base.
One of the saddest cases is Sarah Silverman, who used to be splendidly edgy and offensive - yet clever - and then went all Woke and unfunny.
That said, I see she is now admitting that Wokeness is total a dead end for her craft:
"Sarah Silverman weighed in on the current state of comedy and so-called cancel culture from the Emmys red carpet on Sunday.
“There’s definitely pressure,” Silverman told red carpet host Kelly Osbourne in response to a question about being a comedian with the recent emphasis on political correctness. “There’s a kind of righteousness porn going on.”
“As a standup, it’s really odd,” she continued. “To talk about what’s really going on, or to talk about the world as we decide to see it, or to push and see where the line is or go past it, is so oddly unacceptable.”
She also commented on the lack of a host for this year’s Emmys: “I think comics are too scared to [host], but they aren’t even asked to,” she said.
“Nuance is gone. It’s an odd time, but I hope that comedy pushes through,” she concluded.""
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
I have said this before, one of the big problems for comedy in the UK at least, is the failure of Jongleurs. Around the 2000s, if you wanted to make it, you had to do their circuit, which meant going around the whole country to their clubs every weekend, but you needed current and updated material on a regular basis and you got shall we say often very harsh "instant feedback".
Now, so many of the comics, they do a bit of this, get signed with the right agency and soon on the panel show circuit, then flip it to these big venue tours, where they do the same 60 min show for a year.
Yes they all do Edinburgh, but that isn't representative of the whole UK. Its lots of agents looking to pick up people they like, which leads to group think.
Its the equivalent of bands that you know have grinded out the small shows, got plenty of "feedback" on their way. If they finally make it, they normally absolutely the business live e.g (not really my kind of thing but you can see the talent) Ed Sheeran or Frank Turner. Compared to the latest manufactured band that hasn't been battled tested and only told they are awesome.
Forget restrictions. The international evidence suggests they don’t work, the public have got the memo that Omicron is mild, and support for lockdowns and masking is sliding away.
The policy challenge should now be around the seven day isolation penalty, which is crippling services and private businesses. We have millions sitting at home with nothing much wrong with them.
Three days test and release seems a sensible compromise to me.
I was still testing positive after 8 days
They advise you not to test for 90 days because of the possibility of false positives. It's unclear whether this includes LFTs but a bit of Google research found some govt advice to care home owners which advised that their staff shouldn't have to test within 90 days of infection and that included LFTs.
But the advice now is 2 negative tests on day 6 and 7 and you are free. Are you supposed to have PCR?
IIRC you can't have a PCR for 90 days after testing positive on a PCR.
But Lat flows you should be fine.
On reducing the isolation during duration it's a tricky one. In the US there is a bit divide about it, the CDC were reportedly pressured into it by the Delta Airlines boss and some other business leaders couple with political pressure. Scientists in the CDC were not happy about it when they were told by their head as their evidence did not justify a move at this time.
If you reduce it here again it would be a business and political move and not on health grounds. You can't say you are trying to protect the vulnerable in society on one hand and on the other basically tell infectious people who are clearly unwell to go and spread it.
Lat flows that are negative along with mandatory mask wearing during a period of so many days as you return to society and work would be my recommendation if you have to reduce the duration of isolation. Anything less is morally questionable.
This is recent Government advice
The 90-day window after a positive test
If someone has tested positive with a PCR test, they should not be tested using either PCR or rapid lateral flow tests for 90 days, unless they develop new symptoms during this time – in which case they should be retested immediately using PCR.
This 90-day period is from the initial onset of symptoms or, if asymptomatic when tested, their positive test result.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
Better than what far too many other people did - spend those 4 years making excuses for him, having a chuckle at how he trolled the libs, downplaying the horror of his presidency, offering fatuous 'man of the world' context instead of plain & simple condemnation of his racism and misogyny and pig ignorance and utter lack of ethics, seeking to find redeeming features where there were none, drawing false equivalences with the left, pretending there was some strategic intelligence in his politics, that he'd "identified some real problems" as opposed to simply being the biggest of them, in denial at the threat to democracy and civic life he posed and staying in denial about it long past the point where anybody in their right mind could see it.
Course people deny now that they did all or most or some of the above but I am here to inform otherwise. It was knee deep and it used to drive me potty sometimes.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
They did a 'BJ and his crew are hypocritical, troughing arseholes' (I paraphrase) gag at the Glasgow one just before Christmas.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
2019 or 2020 one?
2021 lad
EDIT: oh, I get it.
No, I was being confused about the date (always happens at this time of year)! And had misplaced the famous trek north. But the fact the gag is still going is significant.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
Point proven I think :-)
Absolutely proven. If a joke is so tired it can only be warmed over and served at a pantomime, then it is utterly dead to the world
Pantos were, rather strikingly, the retirement home of mother-in-law jokes. The last place they could be heard
When do we expect the Work From Home If You Can to be lifted?
I am thinking end of Jan? Need to get a cheapo motor for station runs before it’s lifted.
I don't think that any of the relatively modest restrictions we've got will be lifted until it is obvious both that the case wave has peaked and that the hospitals are over the worst of it (exception: the self-isolation rules might be reviewed again if they're preventing society from continuing to function.) That'd put us some distance into February at least. It's all about optics, of course: lifting any of the rules before that would make it look as if the Government wasn't taking the situation seriously and didn't care about the suffering of the NHS or the patients, even if the rules themselves were demonstrably useless.
Which is the big problem with bringing in rules without evidence: they tend to hang around even though they are useless.
So theatregoers and fashion shopping trips will remain under masks until February? I hope you are wrong, but I fear you could be right.
OTOH, think Plan B has a sunset clause on 26 Jan. Would require a fresh vote and continued Labour C&S. Let’s see where we are on the data.
This is nothing more than a half-educated guess on my part, but I suspect that the end of January may coincide with the peak of hospital admissions and that the headline figures for those will be horrendous (the large majority of them will be incidental admissions, but that fine distinction won't make it through the media filter - only horrified screaming about 6k-7k patients a day.) The Government should have no trouble ramming through an extension under those circumstances.
How long the extension may last for, and whether the rules will remain in force for all of it or be repealed early, is a different matter.
The incidental admissions thing is utterly bonkers - as such patients have by definition not been admitted to hospital for covid, they have simply failed a covid test at some point during their stay.
This means that a nontrivial amount of ‘covid admissions’ are in fact ‘asymptomatic covid hospitalisations’ - a concept so utterly bonkers and bizarre it is worthy of much greater billing.
Well, there are, of course, two major issues with the incidental admissions that complicate matters. Firstly, the hospitals are lumbered with infection control measures for any patient with Covid, which means that anyone who's harbouring it creates extra work even if they are just a bit sneezy or even completely asymptomatic. And secondly, there are an awful lot of people who both pay some attention to the news, yet do not understand the incidental admission problem, who'll look at the headline numbers and assume that thousands of patients a day = thousands of grannies dying on ventilators. This has the capacity to generate a lot of panic, especially when accompanied by a shrill backing chorus of iSAGE types screaming for another lockdown.
It fortunately looks like the Government is likely to resist calls for tighter restrictions this time around, but we're still in for a rough ride for the next 4-6 weeks until we're over the worst of it.
Oh, to clarify, I agree. But I simply don’t grasp why the hospitalisation numbers aren’t sequestered into actual and incidental. What possible incentive is there for the government to bundle them all together?
That's a very good question, to which I don't have the answer. One would've thought that separating the two categories of cases and making the incidental admission problem obvious would help them to resist calls for more restrictions?
I'd imagine that it's most probably an issue with ease of data collection and ambiguity. First of all, you go down that path and you can't just label every Covid positive patient as a unit, you have to categorise them (and decide whether borderline cases, such as those where the primary reason for admission could be a condition that is exacerbated by Covid infection, should be included or not.) And secondly, someone could enter hospital with an incidental infection and then develop serious Covid illness and require treatment for it later, i.e. some patients will change categorisation during their stay.
I'm guessing that these sorts of complications are what has prevented a split of the cases being published, although I suppose it's possible that the Government may wish to emphasise the headline figure to keep frightening the population into taking Covid seriously and reducing their social contacts? I'm not sure that any measures are going to do much to squash the sombrero of the Omicron wave, but if anything is going to have an effect it's liable to be social distancing (of the not going anywhere near other people variety, rather than the 1m or 2m kind.)
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
They did a 'BJ and his crew are hypocritical, troughing arseholes' (I paraphrase) gag at the Glasgow one just before Christmas.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
Point proven I think :-)
Absolutely proven. If a joke is so tired it can only be warmed over and served at a pantomime, then it is utterly dead to the world
Pantos were, rather strikingly, the retirement home of mother-in-law jokes. The last place they could be heard
When do we expect the Work From Home If You Can to be lifted?
I am thinking end of Jan? Need to get a cheapo motor for station runs before it’s lifted.
I don't think that any of the relatively modest restrictions we've got will be lifted until it is obvious both that the case wave has peaked and that the hospitals are over the worst of it (exception: the self-isolation rules might be reviewed again if they're preventing society from continuing to function.) That'd put us some distance into February at least. It's all about optics, of course: lifting any of the rules before that would make it look as if the Government wasn't taking the situation seriously and didn't care about the suffering of the NHS or the patients, even if the rules themselves were demonstrably useless.
Which is the big problem with bringing in rules without evidence: they tend to hang around even though they are useless.
So theatregoers and fashion shopping trips will remain under masks until February? I hope you are wrong, but I fear you could be right.
OTOH, think Plan B has a sunset clause on 26 Jan. Would require a fresh vote and continued Labour C&S. Let’s see where we are on the data.
This is nothing more than a half-educated guess on my part, but I suspect that the end of January may coincide with the peak of hospital admissions and that the headline figures for those will be horrendous (the large majority of them will be incidental admissions, but that fine distinction won't make it through the media filter - only horrified screaming about 6k-7k patients a day.) The Government should have no trouble ramming through an extension under those circumstances.
How long the extension may last for, and whether the rules will remain in force for all of it or be repealed early, is a different matter.
The incidental admissions thing is utterly bonkers - as such patients have by definition not been admitted to hospital for covid, they have simply failed a covid test at some point during their stay.
This means that a nontrivial amount of ‘covid admissions’ are in fact ‘asymptomatic covid hospitalisations’ - a concept so utterly bonkers and bizarre it is worthy of much greater billing.
Well, there are, of course, two major issues with the incidental admissions that complicate matters. Firstly, the hospitals are lumbered with infection control measures for any patient with Covid, which means that anyone who's harbouring it creates extra work even if they are just a bit sneezy or even completely asymptomatic. And secondly, there are an awful lot of people who both pay some attention to the news, yet do not understand the incidental admission problem, who'll look at the headline numbers and assume that thousands of patients a day = thousands of grannies dying on ventilators. This has the capacity to generate a lot of panic, especially when accompanied by a shrill backing chorus of iSAGE types screaming for another lockdown.
It fortunately looks like the Government is likely to resist calls for tighter restrictions this time around, but we're still in for a rough ride for the next 4-6 weeks until we're over the worst of it.
Oh, to clarify, I agree. But I simply don’t grasp why the hospitalisation numbers aren’t sequestered into actual and incidental. What possible incentive is there for the government to bundle them all together?
Because they cannot be fully separated logically. Even asymptomatic infection is indeed a problem to the patient with a different condition - higher risk of strokes, operational complications such as anaesthesia problems. Foxy was discussing this a few days back.
Er, surely they can be separated completely logically. The test is simply: did you acquire a positive result while in hospital?
I’m aware of Foxy’s points. Which are valid. But they do not answer my question.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
Point proven I think :-)
Absolutely proven. If a joke is so tired it can only be warmed over and served at a pantomime, then it is utterly dead to the world
Pantos were, rather strikingly, the retirement home of mother-in-law jokes. The last place they could be heard
They are also the bedrock of provincial Britain
They really really aren't. lol. How many people go to pantos? A few hundred thousand, mostly bewildered kids and a lot of mindlessly bored parents. Plus some strange retarded adults without kids. Literally: retarded. Drooling.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
How are you feeling sir?
Absolutely fine. Just have another 7 days of isolation ffs.
The royalists are at the don't let rotten Andy spoil our barrel of superb apples stage.
Pretty sure that HMQ is the only obstacle stopping 'the Firm' indulging in one of its periodic acts of self preservation by leaving the colonel of the Grenadier Guards to hang out to dry.
Not really an accurate article given even Harry and his children with Meghan are now higher in the line of succession than Prince Andrew.
Andrew is now only 9th in line to the throne, he is far less relevant to the future of the monarchy than he was in 1980 when he was 2nd in line behind Charles before William and Harry and their children were born
Mm. But the point about monarchy is that we don't get to choose. If things had turned out slightly differently, we'd now have King Andrew I, and we would have to suck it up.
That's why the system is ridiculous.
Whereas we could have elected a president who would never go near Epstein? I doubt the counterfactual that Andrew as king would have been allowed even to meet him. It is precisely because he is peripheral that he could get involved. Seriously, the fault on the part of Trump and Clinton is a million times more grave than anything Andrew has done, much as I dislike him. This is all about power corrupting, whether it's royal or presidential power.
I assume you aren't in favour of pinning stuff Piers does, onto Jeremy?
No, I agree, and anyway we all have to reserve judgement on Andrew too. But my point about Presidents is that you can get rid of them. You can't get legally rid of the King, regardless of what he's like. There will be all kinds of social constraints on what the royals are expected to do, and IMO the Queen has been exemplary in that way. But we have seen enough recent examples that social constraints don't always work to want a mechanism to remove people who ignore them.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
Point proven I think :-)
Absolutely proven. If a joke is so tired it can only be warmed over and served at a pantomime, then it is utterly dead to the world
Pantos were, rather strikingly, the retirement home of mother-in-law jokes. The last place they could be heard
They are also the bedrock of provincial Britain
They really really aren't. lol. How many people go to pantos? A few hundred thousand, mostly bewildered kids and a lot of mindlessly bored parents. Plus some strange retarded adults without kids. Literally: retarded. Drooling.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
They did a Barnard Castle gag at the Sunderland panto
They did a 'BJ and his crew are hypocritical, troughing arseholes' (I paraphrase) gag at the Glasgow one just before Christmas.
What was the audfience reaction?
Laughter, cheers etc, what you'd expect from a Glasgow audience. There wasn't too much of the political satire thing actually, the whole thing was quite enjoyable in a 'back to normal' sort of way (even though going to panto is very much not my normal).
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
I absolutely cannot stand the likes of Russell Howard. The only thing that separates him from racist, misogynistic old school comics of the 1970s is that the latter were sometimes funny, despite their egregious bigotry
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
If you head to the Witham in Barnard Castle, joke 1 is always specsavers or equivalent just to get it out of the way
people still doing "barnard castle eye test" material can literally get in the sea.
When do we expect the Work From Home If You Can to be lifted?
I am thinking end of Jan? Need to get a cheapo motor for station runs before it’s lifted.
I don't think that any of the relatively modest restrictions we've got will be lifted until it is obvious both that the case wave has peaked and that the hospitals are over the worst of it (exception: the self-isolation rules might be reviewed again if they're preventing society from continuing to function.) That'd put us some distance into February at least. It's all about optics, of course: lifting any of the rules before that would make it look as if the Government wasn't taking the situation seriously and didn't care about the suffering of the NHS or the patients, even if the rules themselves were demonstrably useless.
Which is the big problem with bringing in rules without evidence: they tend to hang around even though they are useless.
So theatregoers and fashion shopping trips will remain under masks until February? I hope you are wrong, but I fear you could be right.
OTOH, think Plan B has a sunset clause on 26 Jan. Would require a fresh vote and continued Labour C&S. Let’s see where we are on the data.
This is nothing more than a half-educated guess on my part, but I suspect that the end of January may coincide with the peak of hospital admissions and that the headline figures for those will be horrendous (the large majority of them will be incidental admissions, but that fine distinction won't make it through the media filter - only horrified screaming about 6k-7k patients a day.) The Government should have no trouble ramming through an extension under those circumstances.
How long the extension may last for, and whether the rules will remain in force for all of it or be repealed early, is a different matter.
The incidental admissions thing is utterly bonkers - as such patients have by definition not been admitted to hospital for covid, they have simply failed a covid test at some point during their stay.
This means that a nontrivial amount of ‘covid admissions’ are in fact ‘asymptomatic covid hospitalisations’ - a concept so utterly bonkers and bizarre it is worthy of much greater billing.
Well, there are, of course, two major issues with the incidental admissions that complicate matters. Firstly, the hospitals are lumbered with infection control measures for any patient with Covid, which means that anyone who's harbouring it creates extra work even if they are just a bit sneezy or even completely asymptomatic. And secondly, there are an awful lot of people who both pay some attention to the news, yet do not understand the incidental admission problem, who'll look at the headline numbers and assume that thousands of patients a day = thousands of grannies dying on ventilators. This has the capacity to generate a lot of panic, especially when accompanied by a shrill backing chorus of iSAGE types screaming for another lockdown.
It fortunately looks like the Government is likely to resist calls for tighter restrictions this time around, but we're still in for a rough ride for the next 4-6 weeks until we're over the worst of it.
Oh, to clarify, I agree. But I simply don’t grasp why the hospitalisation numbers aren’t sequestered into actual and incidental. What possible incentive is there for the government to bundle them all together?
Because they cannot be fully separated logically. Even asymptomatic infection is indeed a problem to the patient with a different condition - higher risk of strokes, operational complications such as anaesthesia problems. Foxy was discussing this a few days back.
Er, surely they can be separated completely logically. The test is simply: did you acquire a positive result while in hospital?
I’m aware of Foxy’s points. Which are valid. But they do not answer my question.
Oh, yes, I see, you are right abvout that logical criterion. But the practical consequences were what I had in mind and aren't so easily separated.
I wonder if HMG is trying not to frighten folk off coming into hospital for treatment they need?
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
How are you feeling sir?
Absolutely fine. Just have another 7 days of isolation ffs.
It’s mad isn’t it?
It's frustrating. By the time my PCR had come back positive the illness was basically over. I wish i had recorded my "symptoms start date" a few days earlier, which in hindsight would probably have been accurate.
I heartily approve of MP's doing some CPD on their own time. Brushing up on a language seems on the more useful end of the spectrum, too. However, £22k sounds suspiciously like the salary of a bi-lingual researcher to me.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
How are you feeling sir?
Absolutely fine. Just have another 7 days of isolation ffs.
It’s mad isn’t it?
It's frustrating. By the time my PCR had come back positive the illness was basically over. I wish i had recorded my "symptoms start date" a few days earlier, which in hindsight would probably have been accurate.
Are you not able to revise the symptoms start date? That seems daft if not.
A mate recently staged a complete recovery from a mild bout of covid in 48 hours. Then spent five days in isolation with nothing wrong with him, except extreme cabin fever.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
How are you feeling sir?
Absolutely fine. Just have another 7 days of isolation ffs.
It’s mad isn’t it?
When did you test positive? I thought you can get out on day 7 if you test neg on day 6 and 7? Apologies if it was today.
The royalists are at the don't let rotten Andy spoil our barrel of superb apples stage.
Pretty sure that HMQ is the only obstacle stopping 'the Firm' indulging in one of its periodic acts of self preservation by leaving the colonel of the Grenadier Guards to hang out to dry.
Not really an accurate article given even Harry and his children with Meghan are now higher in the line of succession than Prince Andrew.
Andrew is now only 9th in line to the throne, he is far less relevant to the future of the monarchy than he was in 1980 when he was 2nd in line behind Charles before William and Harry and their children were born
Mm. But the point about monarchy is that we don't get to choose. If things had turned out slightly differently, we'd now have King Andrew I, and we would have to suck it up.
That's why the system is ridiculous.
Whereas we could have elected a president who would never go near Epstein? I doubt the counterfactual that Andrew as king would have been allowed even to meet him. It is precisely because he is peripheral that he could get involved. Seriously, the fault on the part of Trump and Clinton is a million times more grave than anything Andrew has done, much as I dislike him. This is all about power corrupting, whether it's royal or presidential power.
I assume you aren't in favour of pinning stuff Piers does, onto Jeremy?
No, I agree, and anyway we all have to reserve judgement on Andrew too. But my point about Presidents is that you can get rid of them. You can't get legally rid of the King, regardless of what he's like. There will be all kinds of social constraints on what the royals are expected to do, and IMO the Queen has been exemplary in that way. But we have seen enough recent examples that social constraints don't always work to want a mechanism to remove people who ignore them.
We have a constitutional monarch not an absolute monarch so parliament has far more impact on our lives than the monarch does now. However as the abdication showed monarchs can be replaced while still alive, though God clearly intervened to give Charles heirs and grandchildren so Andrew never got near the throne anyway
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
How are you feeling sir?
Absolutely fine. Just have another 7 days of isolation ffs.
It’s mad isn’t it?
It's frustrating. By the time my PCR had come back positive the illness was basically over. I wish i had recorded my "symptoms start date" a few days earlier, which in hindsight would probably have been accurate.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
How are you feeling sir?
Absolutely fine. Just have another 7 days of isolation ffs.
It’s mad isn’t it?
It's frustrating. By the time my PCR had come back positive the illness was basically over. I wish i had recorded my "symptoms start date" a few days earlier, which in hindsight would probably have been accurate.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
How are you feeling sir?
Absolutely fine. Just have another 7 days of isolation ffs.
It’s mad isn’t it?
When did you test positive? I thought you can get out on day 7 if you test neg on day 6 and 7? Apologies if it was today.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
How are you feeling sir?
Absolutely fine. Just have another 7 days of isolation ffs.
It’s mad isn’t it?
When did you test positive? I thought you can get out on day 7 if you test neg on day 6 and 7? Apologies if it was today.
Watched Don't Look Up last night. It is properly entertaining, and a clever premise - comet as allegory for climate change. And there are some brilliant moments, especially at the start, when the astronomers encounter outrageous NORMALCY BIAS
But then it becomes uneven in tone, sometimes low farce, sometimes witty comedy, sometimes sentimental drama, and they jar, and the parochial Americanism is tedious, especially the laboured, lazy assaults on Trumpism and silly white people. Yes yes yes we know they are awful but it's such a crappy obvious target, and it is annoying and boring.
It's a film that wants to be Doctor Strangelove for global warming but lacks the Southern/Kubrick Strangelove script - and it lacks Peter Sellers - one star to bring together a stellar cast. Something of a missed opportunity. Coulda been a masterpiece
For all the talk among the "right on" lefty comedians that one should only punch up and speak truth to power, it does seem thick (British / American) white working class (Brexit / Trump voter) have become the go to punch line of lazy joke in the way the "thick" Irish were at one point for right wing comedians.
Yes, exactly. Laughing at Maga hat wearers is like laughing at Mother in Law Jokes in the 70s. Pathetically feeble comedy
If you have to do it find a new and stealthy way, at least. The racist old school pilot was cringeworthy
I made the mistake of watching Russell Howard's Netflix special and it was literally this....insert "right on" big talking point, e.g. trans rights...oh look thicky (puts on accent) says they ain't proppa women....rinse and repeat in between talking the piss out of his thick (white working class Bristolian) brother and mother and odd pop at Boris.
We have gone through four years plus where punchlines could be "Trump, am I right?" and people would merrily applaud.
That about sums up what John Oliver's show became, 30 mins where this was the only punchline. He has managed to move a little bit away from that more recently, but still can't resist.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
Alas, virtually all 'comedy' talk shows in the US are just this. Unwatchable rants. Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher ... The list goes on. Clever people capable of being witty but who have become just too lazy.
Has Colbert become tediously Woke as well? That's a damn shame. He used to be hilarious in his old incarnation, because it was layered
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
Every single one of the US late night talk shows are now predictably tediously identikit stuff. It is like the same writers just write for all of them, change around a few words in the "gag" for each show.
Maybe you guys are not the target audience anymore
How are you feeling sir?
Absolutely fine. Just have another 7 days of isolation ffs.
It’s mad isn’t it?
When did you test positive? I thought you can get out on day 7 if you test neg on day 6 and 7? Apologies if it was today.
Comments
But GBP20k seems on the excessive side for one language.
This means that a nontrivial amount of ‘covid admissions’ are in fact ‘asymptomatic covid hospitalisations’ - a concept so utterly bonkers and bizarre it is worthy of much greater billing.
What I did notice in British audiences was "take the piss out of thick Brexit voters" routines weren't working come end of 2019. I went to a few events and soon as the comedians started down this line there was an applaudable groan.
I saw Mark Watson, who came out and said no Brexit jokes tonight, nobody wants that shit, and there was a massive cheer (and this event was in a town that you would be hard to find a Brexit voter).
A pound to a penny that it's just another Tory MP taking the piss and enriching himself from the public purse.
But Lat flows you should be fine.
On reducing the isolation during duration it's a tricky one. In the US there is a bit divide about it, the CDC were reportedly pressured into it by the Delta Airlines boss and some other business leaders couple with political pressure. Scientists in the CDC were not happy about it when they were told by their head as their evidence did not justify a move at this time.
If you reduce it here again it would be a business and political move and not on health grounds. You can't say you are trying to protect the vulnerable in society on one hand and on the other basically tell infectious people who are clearly unwell to go and spread it.
Lat flows that are negative along with mandatory mask wearing during a period of so many days as you return to society and work would be my recommendation if you have to reduce the duration of isolation. Anything less is morally questionable.
AFAIK the US suit is still all to play for, we find out tomorrow whether the Court will throw it out because she is Australian/because of the 2009 settlement agreement
If you want a challenging, brilliant comedian who takes on all-comers, try Dave Chapelle? If you haven't already?
The Closer on Netflix is magnificent. Edgy, creative, unexpected, with proper regular if shocking LOLs. And his timing is immaculate
A somewhat unhappy meld between the American form of sitcom and the British style of Iannucci
The point is they should have given him the whole movie - complete creative control of Don't Look Up. It would have sung
What's odd about the failings of Don't Look Up is that the director, Adam McKay is the creator/showrunner of Succession, one of the best things on TV. Should be at the top of his game
We have a hybrid system where MP was really supposed to be a part time hobby for people rich enough to have the time to spare. And the amount of time it took to be an MP was quite small. In addition politics was the ultimate job in more ways than one - a career after politics was not expected.
We have bolted that onto an expectation of modern middle managers, as paid employees. Complete with the social status aspirations of the original.
Didn’t the CDC’s own data show that the vast majority of transmission occurred in the first 48 hours of infection, then tailed off rapidly?
Hmm. Ok.
It fortunately looks like the Government is likely to resist calls for tighter restrictions this time around, but we're still in for a rough ride for the next 4-6 weeks until we're over the worst of it.
I confess I haven't watched the new talk show (which started about 5 years back?)
However, £22k sounds suspiciously like the salary of a bi-lingual researcher to me.
You could do a brilliant, scorching sketch satirising the lab leak insanity. Take Jon Stewart's little riff and turn it into ten minutes of very very dark comedy. It is waiting to be done. By someone strong and someone brave
At least one can make some kind of a case for BAME as a catch-all term for non-white, although even that gets messy when Jewish and Romany people enter the conversation. LGBTQIA+ is an entire spectrum of minorities so broad as to be meaningless. It would be helpful if we could give the latter expression the heave-ho as well as the former.
It reminded me of Ali G/Borat, creations which gave permission to Sacha Baron Cohen to unexpectedly take the piss out of everyone, not just one side - you never knew quite what was coming, but it had you on edge. Which is key to brilliant political comedy.
Plus great timing. Colbert had that, too
Course people deny now that they did all or most or some of the above but I am here to inform otherwise. It was knee deep and it used to drive me potty sometimes.
That said, I see she is now admitting that Wokeness is total a dead end for her craft:
"Sarah Silverman weighed in on the current state of comedy and so-called cancel culture from the Emmys red carpet on Sunday.
“There’s definitely pressure,” Silverman told red carpet host Kelly Osbourne in response to a question about being a comedian with the recent emphasis on political correctness. “There’s a kind of righteousness porn going on.”
“As a standup, it’s really odd,” she continued. “To talk about what’s really going on, or to talk about the world as we decide to see it, or to push and see where the line is or go past it, is so oddly unacceptable.”
She also commented on the lack of a host for this year’s Emmys: “I think comics are too scared to [host], but they aren’t even asked to,” she said.
“Nuance is gone. It’s an odd time, but I hope that comedy pushes through,” she concluded.""
https://www.thewrap.com/emmys-sarah-silverman-laments-righteousness-porn-hurting-comedy/
Now, so many of the comics, they do a bit of this, get signed with the right agency and soon on the panel show circuit, then flip it to these big venue tours, where they do the same 60 min show for a year.
Yes they all do Edinburgh, but that isn't representative of the whole UK. Its lots of agents looking to pick up people they like, which leads to group think.
Its the equivalent of bands that you know have grinded out the small shows, got plenty of "feedback" on their way. If they finally make it, they normally absolutely the business live e.g (not really my kind of thing but you can see the talent) Ed Sheeran or Frank Turner. Compared to the latest manufactured band that hasn't been battled tested and only told they are awesome.
The 90-day window after a positive test
If someone has tested positive with a PCR test, they should not be tested using either PCR or rapid lateral flow tests for 90 days, unless they develop new symptoms during this time – in which case they should be retested immediately using PCR.
This 90-day period is from the initial onset of symptoms or, if asymptomatic when tested, their positive test result.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-testing-in-adult-care-homes/covid-19-testing-schedule-for-a-suspected-or-confirmed-outbreak-in-a-care-home
EDIT: oh, I get it.
Pantos were, rather strikingly, the retirement home of mother-in-law jokes. The last place they could be heard
I'd imagine that it's most probably an issue with ease of data collection and ambiguity. First of all, you go down that path and you can't just label every Covid positive patient as a unit, you have to categorise them (and decide whether borderline cases, such as those where the primary reason for admission could be a condition that is exacerbated by Covid infection, should be included or not.) And secondly, someone could enter hospital with an incidental infection and then develop serious Covid illness and require treatment for it later, i.e. some patients will change categorisation during their stay.
I'm guessing that these sorts of complications are what has prevented a split of the cases being published, although I suppose it's possible that the Government may wish to emphasise the headline figure to keep frightening the population into taking Covid seriously and reducing their social contacts? I'm not sure that any measures are going to do much to squash the sombrero of the Omicron wave, but if anything is going to have an effect it's liable to be social distancing (of the not going anywhere near other people variety, rather than the 1m or 2m kind.)
I’m aware of Foxy’s points. Which are valid. But they do not answer my question.
Time to knap. Later
I wonder if HMG is trying not to frighten folk off coming into hospital for treatment they need?
A mate recently staged a complete recovery from a mild bout of covid in 48 hours. Then spent five days in isolation with nothing wrong with him, except extreme cabin fever.
The rules need reviewing.