On politicians and humor: Abraham LIncoln used it to great effect. For example, when an office seeker came in to complain about not getting a federal job, and said he had made Lincoln president, Lincoln pointed to the papers on his desk and said: "And look what a pretty mess you got me into."
So, of course, did Reagan. (I assume all of you know about his famous line in a debate with Mondale.)
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
Berlusconi was exceptionally charming and able to mock himself with great wit. I learnt this by watching him tell a joke about himself. He had the audience in the palm of his hand. He was classes above Trump and Skinner for this.
No idea about Stalin and Amin. Stalin could definitely do the kindly uncle. As for a speechmaker he was like a BBC newsreader - here is the news. Nowhere near the skill level of Hitler or even Lenin.
Angela RAYNER has a filthy sense of humour IRL.
John Smith was exceptionally quick with a witty retort, Tony Banks, often hilarious, Churchill also. Skinner became famous for his often hilarious quips; once leading to a departing Black Rod saying "I'll miss you Dennis". Wilson very funny and self depreciating sometimes.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
If Stalin cracked a joke, you can be sure that everyone nearby thought it hilarious.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
If Stalin cracked a joke, you can be sure that everyone nearby thought it hilarious.
What greater evidence of wit do you need?
He is the ostensible subject of the funniest film of all time
Or at least it is level pegging with some like it hot
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
Clement Freud was a master as a long time panellist on Just a Minute, he perfected the lugubrious retort.
Actually probably the funniest member of recent times is Stephen Pound. His 1997 maiden speech is hysterical, him trying to recount memorable things associated with his constituency. Very good.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
Being fair to Johnson, a rare thing from me, it is hard to make someone with no discernible sense of humour laugh.
Boris is properly funny. It’s the one thing foreign leaders who loathe him - and there are many - nonetheless admit. He’s funny. You can see it in their social interactions on camera - G7 meetings etc - they are genuinely pleased to see him and they break into an unforced smile as he approaches: because they are thinking - Ah, at last, here’s someone who will lighten the mood and entertain me - after all these boring wankers
That does not make him good PM material. Far from it. It’s an asset but you need lots of other stuff. Churchill was by all accounts genuinely witty but it was one tool in a wider skill set
Johnson is definitely funny. But he's not that funny. He's only got one joke, ultimately, and he stole it from PG Wodehouse, who was much, much funnier.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
Berlusconi was exceptionally charming and able to mock himself with great wit. I learnt this by watching him tell a joke about himself. He had the audience in the palm of his hand. He was classes above Trump and Skinner for this.
No idea about Stalin and Amin. Stalin could definitely do the kindly uncle. As for a speechmaker he was like a BBC newsreader - here is the news. Nowhere near the skill level of Hitler or even Lenin.
Angela RAYNER has a filthy sense of humour IRL.
John Smith was exceptionally quick with a witty retort, Tony Banks, often hilarious, Churchill also. Skinner became famous for his often hilarious quips; once leading to a departing Black Rod saying "I'll miss you Dennis". Wilson very funny and self depreciating sometimes.
""The suspect was named in local media reports on Wednesday night as Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old resident of Levice in western Slovakia.
Mr Cintula, who is the author of three poetry collections and two books, is listed as one of the founders of the Dúha literary club, in which he has been active since 2005.
In 2015, he founded the campaign group Against Violence, and had sought to get it officially registered in Slovakia.
“Violence is often a reaction of people, as a form of expression of ordinary dissatisfaction with the state of affairs. Let’s be dissatisfied, but not violent,” a petition circulated by Mr Cintula states.
The movement had called on people to stand against violence of all kinds, from “martial law to domestic physical or psychological violence,” as well as violence on the international stage, in Europe, “in which militarisation, extremism, neo-Nazism, anarchy are growing”."
Let's hope Fico recovers and also that Cintula does not experience a rapid deterioration in his health either.
If there are further assassination attempts in Europe, that'll be a marker for things getting even more scary than they already are, WW3-wise.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
Being fair to Johnson, a rare thing from me, it is hard to make someone with no discernible sense of humour laugh.
Boris is properly funny. It’s the one thing foreign leaders who loathe him - and there are many - nonetheless admit. He’s funny. You can see it in their social interactions on camera - G7 meetings etc - they are genuinely pleased to see him and they break into an unforced smile as he approaches: because they are thinking - Ah, at last, here’s someone who will lighten the mood and entertain me - after all these boring wankers
That does not make him good PM material. Far from it. It’s an asset but you need lots of other stuff. Churchill was by all accounts genuinely witty but it was one tool in a wider skill set
Johnson is definitely funny. But he's not that funny. He's only got one joke, ultimately, and he stole it from PG Wodehouse, who was much, much funnier.
It's a good joke, and Boris performs it well.
But any joke wears thin with repetition.
(Private Eye tried a Wodehouse parody of Boris and Dom, called Leaves and Booster, but it didn't last. How could it?)
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
If Stalin cracked a joke, you can be sure that everyone nearby thought it hilarious.
What greater evidence of wit do you need?
A load of them apparently died laughing, he was so good.
Ligue 1 side Reims haven't had a Frenchman score for them all season. I wonder if that has ever happened before in a league season (obviously I mean that no one from the country the team is based in has scored for them, not that a Frenchman hasn't, before you crazy out of the box thinkers rush in)
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
Being fair to Johnson, a rare thing from me, it is hard to make someone with no discernible sense of humour laugh.
Boris is properly funny. It’s the one thing foreign leaders who loathe him - and there are many - nonetheless admit. He’s funny. You can see it in their social interactions on camera - G7 meetings etc - they are genuinely pleased to see him and they break into an unforced smile as he approaches: because they are thinking - Ah, at last, here’s someone who will lighten the mood and entertain me - after all these boring wankers
That does not make him good PM material. Far from it. It’s an asset but you need lots of other stuff. Churchill was by all accounts genuinely witty but it was one tool in a wider skill set
Johnson is definitely funny. But he's not that funny. He's only got one joke, ultimately, and he stole it from PG Wodehouse, who was much, much funnier.
It's a good joke, and Boris performs it well.
But any joke wears thin with repetition.
(Private Eye tried a Wodehouse parody of Boris and Dom, called Leaves and Booster, but it didn't last. How could it?)
Johnson's problem is that the lack of seriousness that makes him an entertaining after dinner speaker carried over to his role as leader of a G7 economy, where it proved to be a genuine handicap.
"Wow. Looks like Slovak PM Robert Fico's reported assailant, writer Juraj Cintula, was associated with pro-Russian paramilitary group Slovenskí Branci (SB). Their leader was even trained by Russian ex-Spetsnaz soldiers."
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
I don't think a sense of humour in itself is a necessary asset in a politician, and in fact some may do great without one, but if you can harness it it can be powerful. Many politicians have revealed, often post office, that they are pretty engaging and funny people, but they were either too disciplined to attempt to make use of it, or couldn't quite manage it, and would be accused of being insufficiently serious or the like.
We should be more forgiving of top politicians having the occasional gag, showing a bit of personality besides stern, righteous indignation or plodding administrator.
In general successful politicians don't have a sense of humour. They take themselves far too seriously for that, and need to have that monomaniac ambition to achieve their success. There are some exceptions of course. The rest would probably benefit from a bit more humour. But the personality that got them there in the first place doesn't lend itself to that lack of seriousness.
Unsuccessful politicians on the other hand can have a very good sense of humour.
If memory serves, both Wilson and Churchill had a well-developed sense of humour and could quip under pressure.
"Wow. Looks like Slovak PM Robert Fico's reported assailant, writer Juraj Cintula, was associated with pro-Russian paramilitary group Slovenskí Branci (SB). Their leader was even trained by Russian ex-Spetsnaz soldiers."
I very much dislike words like "associated", because they can mean "really closely involved with", or "knows someone who is a member".
The joys of the english language.
I like how something being outstanding could be good or bad, based on context.
Apparently most headline "writers" of YouTube vids believe that "infamous" = "famous".
Thus when FDR said that December 7, 1941 was "a date which will live in infamy" he apparently meant that we'd all be hearing about it for a long long long time.
Well, he wasn’t wrong was he?
I rtemember when a child being puzzled by the descriptions on the tubes of glue I bought. Some were 'flammable' and the others were 'inflammable' but still apparent incendiary ...
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
If Stalin cracked a joke, you can be sure that everyone nearby thought it hilarious.
What greater evidence of wit do you need?
A load of them apparently died laughing, he was so good.
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
I refer the hon. PBer to the report posted earlier. All about the stutter and nothing else: in other words, Mr Sunak is implying that only presentation matters.
'The same thing happened later. Starmer stuttered. The whole of the Tory side went ballistic. "This proves he's not fit to lead this country", shot a delighted Sunak. Ten seconds later he was, again unsuccessfully, trying to pivot from fratboy bully to solemn statesman.'
Fair enough, stuttering under pressure is a good thing for a politician to have in their armoury during an election campaign
Stumbling over Tech-bro wasn't a stutter, which is quite a distinct speech impediment.
It seems to be a one off, or do you have other examples?
It was damning because it showed he had been handed the script and had no ability to think on his feet, that modern speak is wholly alien to him, and that the idea of a tech bro is unknown to him. Those are not the qualities of a good PM albeit he will be our next one.
To bring the convo back to cereals, does anyone know of an own brand Ricicles? It was killed off in 2018ish. Took me a couple of years to miss it so I wasn't exactly a major customer of Captain Rik but god I miss it. Not seen any.
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
And don’t you like to tell us about it…
Sorry
What is it we are allowed to talk about on here again
NOT
The most exciting thing to happen in the history of technology The most outrageous idea in human sexual definition since the dawn of time Anything that might cast the Leader of the Opposition in a bad light
I've said on here for ages that Starmer is a liar par excellence and utterly ruthless. Adversarial solicitor personality type.
Like you I can't stand the bloke. Neither the sight nor sound of him.,
Great for getting Labour elected though. Tories' worst nightmare. I wonder where Lab would be if Long Bailey had won?
The most interesting thing about PMQs was that Starmer went on law and order. And that Sunak had not been briefed.
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
"Wow. Looks like Slovak PM Robert Fico's reported assailant, writer Juraj Cintula, was associated with pro-Russian paramilitary group Slovenskí Branci (SB). Their leader was even trained by Russian ex-Spetsnaz soldiers."
I very much dislike words like "associated", because they can mean "really closely involved with", or "knows someone who is a member".
The joys of the english language.
I like how something being outstanding could be good or bad, based on context.
Apparently most headline "writers" of YouTube vids believe that "infamous" = "famous".
Thus when FDR said that December 7, 1941 was "a date which will live in infamy" he apparently meant that we'd all be hearing about it for a long long long time.
Well, he wasn’t wrong was he?
I rtemember when a child being puzzled by the descriptions on the tubes of glue I bought. Some were 'flammable' and the others were 'inflammable' but still apparent incendiary ...
The cendiary ones went up best.
Provided you were ept in gniting them, of course.
May I point out how gruntled I am by this exchange.
"Wow. Looks like Slovak PM Robert Fico's reported assailant, writer Juraj Cintula, was associated with pro-Russian paramilitary group Slovenskí Branci (SB). Their leader was even trained by Russian ex-Spetsnaz soldiers."
I very much dislike words like "associated", because they can mean "really closely involved with", or "knows someone who is a member".
The joys of the english language.
I like how something being outstanding could be good or bad, based on context.
Apparently most headline "writers" of YouTube vids believe that "infamous" = "famous".
Thus when FDR said that December 7, 1941 was "a date which will live in infamy" he apparently meant that we'd all be hearing about it for a long long long time.
Well, he wasn’t wrong was he?
I rtemember when a child being puzzled by the descriptions on the tubes of glue I bought. Some were 'flammable' and the others were 'inflammable' but still apparent incendiary ...
The cendiary ones went up best.
Provided you were ept in gniting them, of course.
May I point out how gruntled I am by this exchange.
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
And don’t you like to tell us about it…
Sorry
What is it we are allowed to talk about on here again
NOT
The most exciting thing to happen in the history of technology The most outrageous idea in human sexual definition since the dawn of time Anything that might cast the Leader of the Opposition in a bad light
I've said on here for ages that Starmer is a liar par excellence and utterly ruthless. Adversarial solicitor personality type.
Like you I can't stand the bloke. Neither the sight nor sound of him.,
Great for getting Labour elected though. Tories' worst nightmare. I wonder where Lab would be if Long Bailey had won?
The most interesting thing about PMQs was that Starmer went on law and order. And that Sunak had not been briefed.
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
Either that or he is useless at anything unscripted.
Did you go to the Treasurer's House, round the back of the Minster? Rather a treat (had a conference dinner there once).
Is that the Tudor style building?
That's the one I was thinking of, St William's College, yes! I had muddled the name! The Treasurer's House is tucked away a bit more to the NW, looks worth a try.
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
And don’t you like to tell us about it…
Sorry
What is it we are allowed to talk about on here again
NOT
The most exciting thing to happen in the history of technology The most outrageous idea in human sexual definition since the dawn of time Anything that might cast the Leader of the Opposition in a bad light
I've said on here for ages that Starmer is a liar par excellence and utterly ruthless. Adversarial solicitor personality type.
Like you I can't stand the bloke. Neither the sight nor sound of him.,
Great for getting Labour elected though. Tories' worst nightmare. I wonder where Lab would be if Long Bailey had won?
The most interesting thing about PMQs was that Starmer went on law and order. And that Sunak had not been briefed.
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
The tech bro thing will though be the new Tory attack line, for at least a week. In CCHQ they’re high fiving right now, having finally found their Ed eating a sandwich or Kinnock falling on the beach moment. They’ve realised that what sinks Labour leaders is not having beer and curry during lockdown or their deputies not knowing what their principal residence is, but mildly embarrassing moments captured on camera.
It’ll then get dropped as a thing after a fortnight or so when it doesn’t move the polls, and they’ll move back on to him defending terrorists.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
Clement Freud was a master as a long time panellist on Just a Minute, he perfected the lugubrious retort.
Actually probably the funniest member of recent times is Stephen Pound. His 1997 maiden speech is hysterical, him trying to recount memorable things associated with his constituency. Very good.
"Wow. Looks like Slovak PM Robert Fico's reported assailant, writer Juraj Cintula, was associated with pro-Russian paramilitary group Slovenskí Branci (SB). Their leader was even trained by Russian ex-Spetsnaz soldiers."
I very much dislike words like "associated", because they can mean "really closely involved with", or "knows someone who is a member".
The joys of the english language.
I like how something being outstanding could be good or bad, based on context.
Apparently most headline "writers" of YouTube vids believe that "infamous" = "famous".
Thus when FDR said that December 7, 1941 was "a date which will live in infamy" he apparently meant that we'd all be hearing about it for a long long long time.
Well, he wasn’t wrong was he?
I rtemember when a child being puzzled by the descriptions on the tubes of glue I bought. Some were 'flammable' and the others were 'inflammable' but still apparent incendiary ...
The cendiary ones went up best.
Provided you were ept in gniting them, of course.
May I point out how gruntled I am by this exchange.
That's fine, provided you remain kempt and hevelled. Rest assured we are norant of your feelings.
""The suspect was named in local media reports on Wednesday night as Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old resident of Levice in western Slovakia.
Mr Cintula, who is the author of three poetry collections and two books, is listed as one of the founders of the Dúha literary club, in which he has been active since 2005.
In 2015, he founded the campaign group Against Violence, and had sought to get it officially registered in Slovakia.
“Violence is often a reaction of people, as a form of expression of ordinary dissatisfaction with the state of affairs. Let’s be dissatisfied, but not violent,” a petition circulated by Mr Cintula states.
The movement had called on people to stand against violence of all kinds, from “martial law to domestic physical or psychological violence,” as well as violence on the international stage, in Europe, “in which militarisation, extremism, neo-Nazism, anarchy are growing”."
Let's hope Fico recovers and also that Cintula does not experience a rapid deterioration in his health either.
If there are further assassination attempts in Europe, that'll be a marker for things getting even more scary than they already are, WW3-wise.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
Berlusconi was exceptionally charming and able to mock himself with great wit. I learnt this by watching him tell a joke about himself. He had the audience in the palm of his hand. He was classes above Trump and Skinner for this.
No idea about Stalin and Amin. Stalin could definitely do the kindly uncle. As for a speechmaker he was like a BBC newsreader - here is the news. Nowhere near the skill level of Hitler or even Lenin.
Angela RAYNER has a filthy sense of humour IRL.
John Smith was exceptionally quick with a witty retort, Tony Banks, often hilarious, Churchill also. Skinner became famous for his often hilarious quips; once leading to a departing Black Rod saying "I'll miss you Dennis". Wilson very funny and self depreciating sometimes.
"Wow. Looks like Slovak PM Robert Fico's reported assailant, writer Juraj Cintula, was associated with pro-Russian paramilitary group Slovenskí Branci (SB). Their leader was even trained by Russian ex-Spetsnaz soldiers."
I very much dislike words like "associated", because they can mean "really closely involved with", or "knows someone who is a member".
The joys of the english language.
I like how something being outstanding could be good or bad, based on context.
Apparently most headline "writers" of YouTube vids believe that "infamous" = "famous".
Thus when FDR said that December 7, 1941 was "a date which will live in infamy" he apparently meant that we'd all be hearing about it for a long long long time.
Well, he wasn’t wrong was he?
I rtemember when a child being puzzled by the descriptions on the tubes of glue I bought. Some were 'flammable' and the others were 'inflammable' but still apparent incendiary ...
The cendiary ones went up best.
Provided you were ept in gniting them, of course.
May I point out how gruntled I am by this exchange.
I think gruntled originally meant the same as disgruntled. Like how overwhelmed and whelmed meant the same.
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
And don’t you like to tell us about it…
Sorry
What is it we are allowed to talk about on here again
NOT
The most exciting thing to happen in the history of technology The most outrageous idea in human sexual definition since the dawn of time Anything that might cast the Leader of the Opposition in a bad light
I've said on here for ages that Starmer is a liar par excellence and utterly ruthless. Adversarial solicitor personality type.
Like you I can't stand the bloke. Neither the sight nor sound of him.,
Great for getting Labour elected though. Tories' worst nightmare. I wonder where Lab would be if Long Bailey had won?
The most interesting thing about PMQs was that Starmer went on law and order. And that Sunak had not been briefed.
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
The tech bro thing will though be the new Tory attack line, for at least a week. In CCHQ they’re high fiving right now, having finally found their Ed eating a sandwich or Kinnock falling on the beach moment. They’ve realised that what sinks Labour leaders is not having beer and curry during lockdown or their deputies not knowing what their principal residence is, but mildly embarrassing moments captured on camera.
It’ll then get dropped as a thing after a fortnight or so when it doesn’t move the polls, and they’ll move back on to him defending terrorists.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
If Stalin cracked a joke, you can be sure that everyone nearby thought it hilarious.
What greater evidence of wit do you need?
A load of them apparently died laughing, he was so good.
"It is a brave man who is first to stop clapping the glorious leader"
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
Clement Freud was a master as a long time panellist on Just a Minute, he perfected the lugubrious retort.
Actually probably the funniest member of recent times is Stephen Pound. His 1997 maiden speech is hysterical, him trying to recount memorable things associated with his constituency. Very good.
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
And don’t you like to tell us about it…
Sorry
What is it we are allowed to talk about on here again
NOT
The most exciting thing to happen in the history of technology The most outrageous idea in human sexual definition since the dawn of time Anything that might cast the Leader of the Opposition in a bad light
I've said on here for ages that Starmer is a liar par excellence and utterly ruthless. Adversarial solicitor personality type.
Like you I can't stand the bloke. Neither the sight nor sound of him.,
Great for getting Labour elected though. Tories' worst nightmare. I wonder where Lab would be if Long Bailey had won?
The most interesting thing about PMQs was that Starmer went on law and order. And that Sunak had not been briefed.
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
I think Starmer was busy setting traps. Next time an early released prisoner gets nicked for something serious Starmer can pin it on Sunak.
It's a bit like the traps he set for Johnson that caught him for lying to parliament.
Starmer is a prosecutor, he doesn't ask a question unless he knows the answer already.
I am not a fan and won't be voting Labour but Starmer is brutally effective and always well prepared. It isn't crowd pleasing jokes, or high rhetoric.
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
And don’t you like to tell us about it…
Sorry
What is it we are allowed to talk about on here again
NOT
The most exciting thing to happen in the history of technology The most outrageous idea in human sexual definition since the dawn of time Anything that might cast the Leader of the Opposition in a bad light
I've said on here for ages that Starmer is a liar par excellence and utterly ruthless. Adversarial solicitor personality type.
Like you I can't stand the bloke. Neither the sight nor sound of him.,
Great for getting Labour elected though. Tories' worst nightmare. I wonder where Lab would be if Long Bailey had won?
The most interesting thing about PMQs was that Starmer went on law and order. And that Sunak had not been briefed.
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
The tech bro thing will though be the new Tory attack line, for at least a week. In CCHQ they’re high fiving right now, having finally found their Ed eating a sandwich or Kinnock falling on the beach moment. They’ve realised that what sinks Labour leaders is not having beer and curry during lockdown or their deputies not knowing what their principal residence is, but mildly embarrassing moments captured on camera.
It’ll then get dropped as a thing after a fortnight or so when it doesn’t move the polls, and they’ll move back on to him defending terrorists.
Along with his flip flopping, it’s the thing they should hammer on every day until the GE. He is trying to sell himself as Mr Integrity and Competence; just keep showing him being deceitful whilst flapping. There are many compilations on X to use as resources
“In South America, reports of a study in August 2014 revealed that TB had likely been spread via seals that contracted it on beaches of Africa, from humans via domesticated animals, and carried it across the Atlantic.”
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
And don’t you like to tell us about it…
Sorry
What is it we are allowed to talk about on here again
NOT
The most exciting thing to happen in the history of technology The most outrageous idea in human sexual definition since the dawn of time Anything that might cast the Leader of the Opposition in a bad light
I've said on here for ages that Starmer is a liar par excellence and utterly ruthless. Adversarial solicitor personality type.
Like you I can't stand the bloke. Neither the sight nor sound of him.,
Great for getting Labour elected though. Tories' worst nightmare. I wonder where Lab would be if Long Bailey had won?
The most interesting thing about PMQs was that Starmer went on law and order. And that Sunak had not been briefed.
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
The tech bro thing will though be the new Tory attack line, for at least a week. In CCHQ they’re high fiving right now, having finally found their Ed eating a sandwich or Kinnock falling on the beach moment. They’ve realised that what sinks Labour leaders is not having beer and curry during lockdown or their deputies not knowing what their principal residence is, but mildly embarrassing moments captured on camera.
It’ll then get dropped as a thing after a fortnight or so when it doesn’t move the polls, and they’ll move back on to him defending terrorists.
Along with his flip flopping, it’s the thing they should hammer on every day until the GE. He is trying to sell himself as Mr Integrity and Competence; just keep showing him being deceitful whilst flapping. There are many compilations on X to use as resources
That is what Sunak has been doing for the last year. It hasn't worked.
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
And don’t you like to tell us about it…
Sorry
What is it we are allowed to talk about on here again
NOT
The most exciting thing to happen in the history of technology The most outrageous idea in human sexual definition since the dawn of time Anything that might cast the Leader of the Opposition in a bad light
I've said on here for ages that Starmer is a liar par excellence and utterly ruthless. Adversarial solicitor personality type.
Like you I can't stand the bloke. Neither the sight nor sound of him.,
Great for getting Labour elected though. Tories' worst nightmare. I wonder where Lab would be if Long Bailey had won?
The most interesting thing about PMQs was that Starmer went on law and order. And that Sunak had not been briefed.
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
The tech bro thing will though be the new Tory attack line, for at least a week. In CCHQ they’re high fiving right now, having finally found their Ed eating a sandwich or Kinnock falling on the beach moment. They’ve realised that what sinks Labour leaders is not having beer and curry during lockdown or their deputies not knowing what their principal residence is, but mildly embarrassing moments captured on camera.
It’ll then get dropped as a thing after a fortnight or so when it doesn’t move the polls, and they’ll move back on to him defending terrorists.
Along with his flip flopping, it’s the thing they should hammer on every day until the GE. He is trying to sell himself as Mr Integrity and Competence; just keep showing him being deceitful whilst flapping. There are many compilations on X to use as resources
That is what Sunak has been doing for the last year. It hasn't worked.
""The suspect was named in local media reports on Wednesday night as Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old resident of Levice in western Slovakia.
Mr Cintula, who is the author of three poetry collections and two books, is listed as one of the founders of the Dúha literary club, in which he has been active since 2005.
In 2015, he founded the campaign group Against Violence, and had sought to get it officially registered in Slovakia.
“Violence is often a reaction of people, as a form of expression of ordinary dissatisfaction with the state of affairs. Let’s be dissatisfied, but not violent,” a petition circulated by Mr Cintula states.
The movement had called on people to stand against violence of all kinds, from “martial law to domestic physical or psychological violence,” as well as violence on the international stage, in Europe, “in which militarisation, extremism, neo-Nazism, anarchy are growing”."
Let's hope Fico recovers and also that Cintula does not experience a rapid deterioration in his health either.
If there are further assassination attempts in Europe, that'll be a marker for things getting even more scary than they already are, WW3-wise.
Right age to be a 68-er.
For some reason the above reminds me of the killer of Pim Fortuyn
I went to a scientific conference at a Slovakian government-owned castle at a place called Smolenice. Beautiful location, spolit by two things: we had to sleep six to a room (not warned in advance), and I saw a dead cat in a gutter on the walk from the station. Food was decent if prosaic.
Bratislava was pleasant enough, but it was never meant to be a capital - so it's rather underpowered. But it's worth a visit - In the summer there is a regular river boat service to and from Vienna.
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
And don’t you like to tell us about it…
Sorry
What is it we are allowed to talk about on here again
NOT
The most exciting thing to happen in the history of technology The most outrageous idea in human sexual definition since the dawn of time Anything that might cast the Leader of the Opposition in a bad light
I've said on here for ages that Starmer is a liar par excellence and utterly ruthless. Adversarial solicitor personality type.
Like you I can't stand the bloke. Neither the sight nor sound of him.,
Great for getting Labour elected though. Tories' worst nightmare. I wonder where Lab would be if Long Bailey had won?
The most interesting thing about PMQs was that Starmer went on law and order. And that Sunak had not been briefed.
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
The tech bro thing will though be the new Tory attack line, for at least a week. In CCHQ they’re high fiving right now, having finally found their Ed eating a sandwich or Kinnock falling on the beach moment. They’ve realised that what sinks Labour leaders is not having beer and curry during lockdown or their deputies not knowing what their principal residence is, but mildly embarrassing moments captured on camera.
It’ll then get dropped as a thing after a fortnight or so when it doesn’t move the polls, and they’ll move back on to him defending terrorists.
Along with his flip flopping, it’s the thing they should hammer on every day until the GE. He is trying to sell himself as Mr Integrity and Competence; just keep showing him being deceitful whilst flapping. There are many compilations on X to use as resources
That is what Sunak has been doing for the last year. It hasn't worked.
Indeed voters seem to like a bit of pragmatism.
Or, at the very least, they don't mind it. Especially given the alternative.
Thing is, "probably adequate under the circumstances and definitely better than giving the current lot another five years" is a plausible recipe for a landslide for Kier Stammer.
Valuable as all the other stuff is, the main thing a politician needs is to be in the right place at the right time.
Did you go to the Treasurer's House, round the back of the Minster? Rather a treat (had a conference dinner there once).
Is that the Tudor style building?
That's the one I was thinking of, St William's College, yes! I had muddled the name! The Treasurer's House is tucked away a bit more to the NW, looks worth a try.
There are some words I stumble over. I would not be impressed by anyone who thought the less of my argument for a few extra seconds.
Of course, if one is only concerned with presentation, rather than, say, content, or truth, or logic, or those tired old things, one might feel entirely free to sneer at someone for having a stammer, or a trip of the tongue.
Oh wonderful you!
Of course content of character etc is more important, although Sir Keir is a dishonest sneak who devalues words such as "principle" and "integrity", but unfortunately presentation and charisma do play a part, and I think Starmer's stiff, awkward manner will be a negative for Labour during the campaign/in the debates
And don’t you like to tell us about it…
Sorry
What is it we are allowed to talk about on here again
NOT
The most exciting thing to happen in the history of technology The most outrageous idea in human sexual definition since the dawn of time Anything that might cast the Leader of the Opposition in a bad light
I've said on here for ages that Starmer is a liar par excellence and utterly ruthless. Adversarial solicitor personality type.
Like you I can't stand the bloke. Neither the sight nor sound of him.,
Great for getting Labour elected though. Tories' worst nightmare. I wonder where Lab would be if Long Bailey had won?
The most interesting thing about PMQs was that Starmer went on law and order. And that Sunak had not been briefed.
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
The tech bro thing will though be the new Tory attack line, for at least a week. In CCHQ they’re high fiving right now, having finally found their Ed eating a sandwich or Kinnock falling on the beach moment. They’ve realised that what sinks Labour leaders is not having beer and curry during lockdown or their deputies not knowing what their principal residence is, but mildly embarrassing moments captured on camera.
It’ll then get dropped as a thing after a fortnight or so when it doesn’t move the polls, and they’ll move back on to him defending terrorists.
Along with his flip flopping, it’s the thing they should hammer on every day until the GE. He is trying to sell himself as Mr Integrity and Competence; just keep showing him being deceitful whilst flapping. There are many compilations on X to use as resources
That is what Sunak has been doing for the last year. It hasn't worked.
Indeed voters seem to like a bit of pragmatism.
I've never thought the public genuinely cares about politicians flip flopping. It happens all the time, sometimes for good reasons sometimes for less good reasons, and whether you can get away with it depends on how well you sell the change - since the public may well agree with the reasoning - and the general political atmosphere in which it takes place.
It's the same with things like manifesto committments - do a generally good job or the opposition a bad job, and you won't get particularly punished even for missing a major committment. It's not like the Tories got punished for not meeting immigration targets.
So Keir isn't bulletproof when it comes to changing views and policies, but he is in a strong position.
Click on a picture and open it in a new tab, or download it if you are feeling brave. You will find our fuzzy photos are actually tiny photos stretched to be far too large to fit, and rendered fuzzy in that process.
Basically the mods have been playing with the picture settings to stop the half-full glass of beer for scale mob from bankrupting the site, but they've done it badly.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
William Hague could write a good gag and deliver it. Both matter. Public speaking is no longer part of a politician's tradecraft and it shows. Gordon Brown and Liz Truss, for instance, both wrote better than they spoke. Brown gabbled monotonically and Truss had an odd, almost French delivery.
Looks like Ficos party will use the shooting to try and muzzle any criticism of the party and its pro Russian policies aswell as its attempts to stifle media freedom .
The polarization in the country didn’t happen in a vacuum and has been made worse since Ficos party came to power .
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
Naturally funny politicians with proper comic timing and the ability to go beyond one joke into an impromptu riff (and I agree Johnson annoyingly did have that):
- Trump. Sad. - Apparently Stalin - Berlusconi - Dennis Skinner - Idi Amin
And a few who have their moments but fall short of being full natural comedians, including Farage, Farron, Charles Kennedy, Salmond.
I never heard that about Stalin. Funny?? But maybe. He was definitely capable of dark humour
I’m trying to think of funny monarchs. Perhaps Charles II - the merrie monarch for a reason. Elizabeth II had a gift for dry irony and litotes. God I miss Her Maj - the world has not been right since she passed
Clement Freud was a master as a long time panellist on Just a Minute, he perfected the lugubrious retort.
Actually probably the funniest member of recent times is Stephen Pound. His 1997 maiden speech is hysterical, him trying to recount memorable things associated with his constituency. Very good.
I think it would be a brave MP who tried this today. Five years of youtube clips about how your elite MP is mocking people like you.
Yes, times and the view of politicians has drastically changed. To be fair to Pound and having grown up in the area it's hard to find memorable things related to Ealing North. Hoover Factory? (indeed a fine building) Spencer Percival? Assassinated. A buried circus elephant... He's still popular locally, despite retiring.
And of course Tories MPs are salt of the earth and whiter than white when it comes to expenses ! If the DT wants to declare open season on MPs living arrangements then there’s plenty of muck to go around !
And of course Tories MPs are salt of the earth and whiter than white when it comes to expenses ! If the DT wants to declare open season on MPs living arrangements then there’s plenty of muck to go around !
Other way round imo and this is an attempt to shut down the criticism of Conservatives who made money from property sales that was starting to circulate following Raynergate.
Someone asked yesterday what had happened to Radio 4. I replied the BBC in general was in the shit... now they are putting adverts on podcasts and downloads... wtf..... they really sre in trouble... desperate times.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
Being fair to Johnson, a rare thing from me, it is hard to make someone with no discernible sense of humour laugh.
Boris is properly funny. It’s the one thing foreign leaders who loathe him - and there are many - nonetheless admit. He’s funny. You can see it in their social interactions on camera - G7 meetings etc - they are genuinely pleased to see him and they break into an unforced smile as he approaches: because they are thinking - Ah, at last, here’s someone who will lighten the mood and entertain me - after all these boring wankers
That does not make him good PM material. Far from it. It’s an asset but you need lots of other stuff. Churchill was by all accounts genuinely witty but it was one tool in a wider skill set
he is as funny as a hole in the head, an utter balloon. It must be an English thing as he is about as funny as Jimmy Carr or that fat git that went to America.
Someone asked yesterday what had happened to Radio 4. I replied the BBC in general was in the shit... now they are putting adverts on podcasts and downloads... wtf..... they really sre in trouble... desperate times.
British television in particular is skint. Costs are rising, the licence fee is not keeping pace, and advertising is leaving for warmer climes. Channels are reluctant to commission new programmes without foreign sales or partnerships. This is why Doctor Who is now paid for by The Mouse and is dropped early on iplayer so the BBC can say it is not being scooped by American streamers the night before its traditional British Saturday slot. It is why ITV warned it could not repeat Mr Bates because no-one abroad cares about the Post Office, and Channel 4 has announced a number of suspensions such as 8 Out of 10 Cats does Countdown.
A mainstream school with that level of sickness absence? Just shouldn't be happening.
(As an aside, even by their standards OFSTED's comment is utterly asinine. What is a report unless a comment on an individual inspection?)
It shouldn't be happening but it is just about plausible that an infectious disease has torn through the staff room. A school with 70 children might not have a teaching staff in double figures. If this has been going on for months (since last year) then something else is wrong.
I went to a scientific conference at a Slovakian government-owned castle at a place called Smolenice. Beautiful location, spolit by two things: we had to sleep six to a room (not warned in advance), and I saw a dead cat in a gutter on the walk from the station. Food was decent if prosaic.
Bratislava was pleasant enough, but it was never meant to be a capital - so it's rather underpowered. But it's worth a visit - In the summer there is a regular river boat service to and from Vienna.
Yes agree, I thought it was very pleasant , nice old town with lovely restaurants and you can sit with a beer overlooking the Danube, verypleasant.
The options for the BBC in terms of changing the license fee model are limited .
Personally I can live with adverts if this helps protect it but other broadcasters will go into meltdown as that will effect their revenues .
Encrypting the BBC and forcing people to have a separate decoder will destroy it . Putting something like a media tax on to council tax bills will see a lot of pushback .
The BBC remit means it’s asked to do a lot . People often forget just how many things it does .
Personally I feel the license fee is good value. The BBC is part of British life , many of our shared moments happen because of it.
People don’t appreciate what they have until it’s gone .
A mainstream school with that level of sickness absence? Just shouldn't be happening.
(As an aside, even by their standards OFSTED's comment is utterly asinine. What is a report unless a comment on an individual inspection?)
Academy trust, governors, head. Choose one.
But my guess is usually governors who customarily combine absolutely no qualifications or knowledge whatsoever with a massive sense of self-importance.
Mr. 679, the BBC does do a lot. That includes making stupid decisions. Throwing away the F1 rights and spending the 'saving' on the cost of the concept alone of The Voice is a wonderful example.
He was trying to say "bro" and he thought, I sound ridiculous, so he then tried to say "brother" and he did.
Does this mean he is not our next PM? Probably not.
After all, our Greatest Ever Prime Minister® wasn't renowned for getting to the end of a coherent sentence, ever.
But he Had Charisma and Delivered Brexit, so that's fine.
Boris was an untrustworthy lying shit (and I wasn't even married to him) but he was a funny untrustworthy lying shit. Worth a lot in my book.
‘Funny’ is such a subjective thing. I always found his heavily signalled overworked or underworked zingers followed by an expectation that everyone would be amused & charmed distinctly unfunny, so that’s a no redeeming qualities from me.
“There are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters “.
You don’t find that funny?
Not really. What does it even mean? I suppose I might conjure up a grim rictus at the irony of BJ having a bit of a laff about disasters.
Still, speaking of rictus smiles and exPMs, just had Gordy Broon on C4 going on about how terrible & damaging child poverty was in the UK. Thank goodness we listened to him in 2014, think how much worse it could have been.
It wasn't that Boris necessarily did comedy routines, but one knew he had a sense of humour. An early speech referencing Huskisson's violent death due to Stevenson's rocket (back in the halcyon days) was funny because Boris accidentally made himself laugh. I don't think Truss is renowned for her sense of humour, though she seems quite a sport. Sunak doesn’t have a detectable sense of humour. Nor does Starmer.
Truss is just insane Starmer seems like he's hiding a sense of humour somewhere Sunak won't share
Starmer seems to be funnier in private than public, which is unhelpful for him. Truss I think had quite a decent sense of humour. May showed herself to have decent comic timing after the Queen’s death. Neither Cameron nor Clegg nor Brown had the humour gene. Blair had his moments. Major had it. Thatcher didn’t.
I think Cameron could do a decent cutting line, like his 'not like we're brothers' jibe to Miliband, but it's a kind of top boy bullying humour perhaps. Truss I don't know but she has a cheeky grin.
Having a sense of humour - getting jokes, laughing naturally, being at ease in the comic moment, capable of self deprecation - is quite common. Especially in the British. Actually BEING FUNNY - making people crack up - is vastly rarer
I’d say Boris is the only PM with the gift that I can recall. And he proves that being funny can get you very far in life (into a lot of beds; and into great jobs) but it doesn’t mean you will be good at those jobs - not at all
Indeed it’s so rare I’m not sure I can think of another significant British politician with the gift. Certainly not Cameron or brown or Blair or Truss or TMay.
Maybe George Osborne?
Gag writing, like plumbing, is something that really ought to be left to the professionals. There's still a talent to deliver someone else's material well, but to come up with good new jokes means seeing the world in a peculiar way that isn't that compatible with much else.
(The inexplicable thing about Rishi isn't so much the poor delivery as the terrible material. That ought to be fixable by getting some competent writers in.)
William Hague could write a good gag and deliver it. Both matter. Public speaking is no longer part of a politician's tradecraft and it shows. Gordon Brown and Liz Truss, for instance, both wrote better than they spoke. Brown gabbled monotonically and Truss had an odd, almost French delivery.
His speech on the development of the office of a President of the EU, and the spectre of Tony Blair holding the office, was genuinely hilarious. Even as an ardent Remainer, I go back and watch that one from time to time.
The options for the BBC in terms of changing the license fee model are limited .
Personally I can live with adverts if this helps protect it but other broadcasters will go into meltdown as that will effect their revenues .
Encrypting the BBC and forcing people to have a separate decoder will destroy it . Putting something like a media tax on to council tax bills will see a lot of pushback .
The BBC remit means it’s asked to do a lot . People often forget just how many things it does .
Personally I feel the license fee is good value. The BBC is part of British life , many of our shared moments happen because of it.
People don’t appreciate what they have until it’s gone .
Funding it from general taxation is also an option; probably the best one.
The alternative is that we just become an offshoot of US broadcast culture.
The options for the BBC in terms of changing the license fee model are limited .
Personally I can live with adverts if this helps protect it but other broadcasters will go into meltdown as that will effect their revenues .
Encrypting the BBC and forcing people to have a separate decoder will destroy it . Putting something like a media tax on to council tax bills will see a lot of pushback .
The BBC remit means it’s asked to do a lot . People often forget just how many things it does .
Personally I feel the license fee is good value. The BBC is part of British life , many of our shared moments happen because of it.
People don’t appreciate what they have until it’s gone .
So why does the BBC continue to alienate its audiences....
I went to a scientific conference at a Slovakian government-owned castle at a place called Smolenice. Beautiful location, spolit by two things: we had to sleep six to a room (not warned in advance), and I saw a dead cat in a gutter on the walk from the station. Food was decent if prosaic.
Bratislava was pleasant enough, but it was never meant to be a capital - so it's rather underpowered. But it's worth a visit - In the summer there is a regular river boat service to and from Vienna.
Yes agree, I thought it was very pleasant , nice old town with lovely restaurants and you can sit with a beer overlooking the Danube, verypleasant.
Good stat is that they have less than a tenth of our population, and produce more cars than we do.
The options for the BBC in terms of changing the license fee model are limited .
Personally I can live with adverts if this helps protect it but other broadcasters will go into meltdown as that will effect their revenues .
Encrypting the BBC and forcing people to have a separate decoder will destroy it . Putting something like a media tax on to council tax bills will see a lot of pushback .
The BBC remit means it’s asked to do a lot . People often forget just how many things it does .
Personally I feel the license fee is good value. The BBC is part of British life , many of our shared moments happen because of it.
People don’t appreciate what they have until it’s gone .
Stop paying the “talent” quite so much money, would help. Pay up and coming presenters, newsreaders etc. There are plenty of BBC presenters on huge salaries bed blocking the younger generations. I don’t watch MOTD to see Lineker.
Comments
Doesn't make up for the criminality, but pretty funny.
What greater evidence of wit do you need?
Or at least it is level pegging with some like it hot
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SYTXkgzotoU
Telegraph:
""The suspect was named in local media reports on Wednesday night as Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old resident of Levice in western Slovakia.
Mr Cintula, who is the author of three poetry collections and two books, is listed as one of the founders of the Dúha literary club, in which he has been active since 2005.
In 2015, he founded the campaign group Against Violence, and had sought to get it officially registered in Slovakia.
“Violence is often a reaction of people, as a form of expression of ordinary dissatisfaction with the state of affairs. Let’s be dissatisfied, but not violent,” a petition circulated by Mr Cintula states.
The movement had called on people to stand against violence of all kinds, from “martial law to domestic physical or psychological violence,” as well as violence on the international stage, in Europe, “in which militarisation, extremism, neo-Nazism, anarchy are growing”."
Let's hope Fico recovers and also that Cintula does not experience a rapid deterioration in his health either.
If there are further assassination attempts in Europe, that'll be a marker for things getting even more scary than they already are, WW3-wise.
But any joke wears thin with repetition.
(Private Eye tried a Wodehouse parody of Boris and Dom, called Leaves and Booster, but it didn't last. How could it?)
Barman says: “Is this some kind of joke?”
That suggests Starmer has high self-confidence at the moment, and that Sunak has got complacent on those kind of core Tory topics.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd131l3k9jno
Also considered the fabulously named merchant adventurers' hall for our wedding, although it was a bit too booked up.
If you're in York, Sunil, I assume you've checked out the national railway museum?
It’ll then get dropped as a thing after a fortnight or so when it doesn’t move the polls, and they’ll move back on to him defending terrorists.
Christ I miss her and wish her all the best.
Wistful.
It's a bit like the traps he set for Johnson that caught him for lying to parliament.
Starmer is a prosecutor, he doesn't ask a question unless he knows the answer already.
I am not a fan and won't be voting Labour but Starmer is brutally effective and always well prepared. It isn't crowd pleasing jokes, or high rhetoric.
“In South America, reports of a study in August 2014 revealed that TB had likely been spread via seals that contracted it on beaches of Africa, from humans via domesticated animals, and carried it across the Atlantic.”
@DougSeal !!!
Indeed voters seem to like a bit of pragmatism.
Bratislava was pleasant enough, but it was never meant to be a capital - so it's rather underpowered. But it's worth a visit - In the summer there is a regular river boat service to and from Vienna.
Thing is, "probably adequate under the circumstances and definitely better than giving the current lot another five years" is a plausible recipe for a landslide for Kier Stammer.
Valuable as all the other stuff is, the main thing a politician needs is to be in the right place at the right time.
It's the same with things like manifesto committments - do a generally good job or the opposition a bad job, and you won't get particularly punished even for missing a major committment. It's not like the Tories got punished for not meeting immigration targets.
So Keir isn't bulletproof when it comes to changing views and policies, but he is in a strong position.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/15/labour-chief-claimed-40000-expenses-to-rent-house-nextdoor/
"Covid inquiry costing £300,000 a day"
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/covid-inquiry-costs-taxpayers-300k-day-wjgwgfr3d
The firm run by a man dubbed "Britain's kindest plumber" faked stories of helping people as it raised millions in donations, the BBC can reveal.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3gxg4jd0ggo
https://www.reddit.com/r/InternationalNews/comments/1cslua9/israelis_block_aid_bound_for_gaza_delivery_trucks/
Basically the mods have been playing with the picture settings to stop the half-full glass of beer for scale mob from bankrupting the site, but they've done it badly.
The polarization in the country didn’t happen in a vacuum and has been made worse since Ficos party came to power .
What would happen if they paid the lawyers just the minimum wage? Apart from being over much more quickly....
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6pypkx43qko
A mainstream school with that level of sickness absence? Just shouldn't be happening.
(As an aside, even by their standards OFSTED's comment is utterly asinine. What is a report unless a comment on an individual inspection?)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ca84b531-c56f-4574-952d-b6891232193a?shareToken=c0c8a843e10cadc957e59d7fbb63c84a
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3262838/france-declares-state-emergency-bans-tiktok-new-caledonia-amid-deadly-riots
Interesting place. I was there in 1990.
Personally I can live with adverts if this helps protect it but other broadcasters will go into meltdown as that will effect their revenues .
Encrypting the BBC and forcing people to have a separate decoder will destroy it . Putting something like a media tax on to council tax bills will see a lot of pushback .
The BBC remit means it’s asked to do a lot . People often forget just how many things it does .
Personally I feel the license fee is good value. The BBC is part of British life , many of our shared moments happen because of it.
People don’t appreciate what they have until it’s gone .
But my guess is usually governors who customarily combine absolutely no qualifications or knowledge whatsoever with a massive sense of self-importance.
Mr. 679, the BBC does do a lot. That includes making stupid decisions. Throwing away the F1 rights and spending the 'saving' on the cost of the concept alone of The Voice is a wonderful example.
The alternative is that we just become an offshoot of US broadcast culture.
Chasing fringe support at the expense of the bedrock
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