A friend of mine reckoned the key to a good comedy is characters who are basically trapped either with each other or in a situation.
Particularly two men, one older than the other, often a father. The younger one more aspiring, the older more worn down. It fits a lot of great shows like Porridge, Rising Damp, Frasier, Open All Hours, Father Ted, Steptoe and Son, Only Fools and Horses, and probably a load more.
I understand why Charlotte Dujardin is out of the Olympics.
But why then is a Dutch volleyball player who was convicted of raping an underage child allowed to compete?
As he has already served four years in prison for it?
Well he didn't serve 4 years, he did 1 year, sent back to Netherlands and released immediately. Even the 4 year original sentence was an unbelievably lenient sentence for raping a 12 year old.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
This is certainly true, and it's one reason I find most Armando Iannucci works like The Thick of It or Veep a little lacking, because they attempt to be more cutting but there's zero emotion to it because everyone is a hateful caricature.
The Death of Stalin worked as an exception because of the subject matter, and the lead in Avenue 5 was likeable by virtue of being Hugh Laurie.
That is I think why the remake of Reggie Perrin failed.
The originals were flawed but realistic human beings who were stuck in a situation and it was funny.
In the remake they were unlikeable, one dimensional, cretins and it was toe curling, not funny, as a result.
The only remake or updating I can think of that was actually any good is Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads.
I don’t know why they do it. It just doesn’t work.
A friend of mine reckoned the key to a good comedy is characters who are basically trapped either with each other or in a situation.
Yep - essentially characters are trapped in their situation. Ted Crilly on Craggy island, Basil Fawlty trapped running a hotel when he hates guests, Porridge with fletch physically trapped, but also subject to Grouty, and the warders.
I knew British comedy went downhill when Ricky Gervaises's character in Extras became a success. From Tony Hancock to the Office, everything was a study of people who were, as you say, trapped. Even a determinedly chirpy sitcom like "On The Buses" looks sad in retrospect when you realise Olive is effectively having a nervous breakdown. Steptoe was a two-handed play. Carla Lane reached the peak of comedies to slash your wrists to with Butterflies and I Woke Up One Morning. Oh happy, happy days...
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
Lets say the cost is the midpoint £14,250 and the saving is the midpoint £772.50p per year.
If I invest the money instead I only need a 5.5% annual return to be better off?
(noting also that Robert is predicting a gas glut so fuel prices will fall, lessening the saving.
Whats the point?
That article is seriously out of date (ten years). You can get 10 panels and a battery for £9,000
The cost of installation can depend on how many panels you need, whether you choose to have battery storage, and what size of battery you require. The cost of a panel-only installation by Octopus starts from £3,880 (for 2 panels). A 10 panel installation and a 5kWh battery (our most popular system) costs £9,199.
Try upping that return by a 30% reduction in costs and a 100% rise in electricity bills...
Which is great value if you have cash in your account to spend, since any reduction in costs comes post-tax while investments are pre-tax.
Not great value if needing to borrow to make the purchase.
According to that link that pack would save £58-70 per month on your bills, and cost typically £209 per month on the finance package they recommend.
I would say if you have a LOT of cash in your account.
If there is a serious chance you might in the meanwhile need it for eg new car, daughters wedding etc, by spending it on a solar installation you become a lot more "precarious"
Also if, like me you have a terraced house with several kids, space is at a premium (so space lost to batteries is an issue - they are bulky and need ventilation, both for thermal reasons and Hydrogen Lower Explosion Level reasons) and the whole place being turned upside down for the installation is several orders of magnitude more difficult.
There’s probably a hierarchy of no brainer energy saving investments, and it’s worth doing some things first if money is short.
1. Draught proofing windows and doors 2. Roof / loft insulation 3. Double or secondary glazing 4. Cavity wall insulation (if you have cavity walls) 5. Solar panels and batteries 6. IR heaters 7. Heat pump 8. Telling your teenage child to have showers shorter than 20 minutes
That’s assuming all electricals in the house are already low voltage.
I understand why Charlotte Dujardin is out of the Olympics.
But why then is a Dutch volleyball player who was convicted of raping an underage child allowed to compete?
As he has already served four years in prison for it?
He was sentenced to 4 years by a British court, but ended up serving only 1 year in the Netherlands.
Wonder if he would get a visa if London were holding the Olympics now. Would he if it were in the US? Or anywhere outside the EU? Does the IOC have rules on this?
The volleyball rapist situation is a tricky. Do we believe in rehabilitation, is he a danger now to anybody, or are there some crimes that are so bad you should never be allowed such an opportunity in the future?
I am going to guess there are plenty of other individuals who have competed in the Olympics that have gone under the radar after being convicted of terrible crimes. It is just the media have jumped on this one and as we saw with Paula Radcliffe comments and being forced to row them back for her own jobs sake, there is no discussion allowed.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
This is certainly true, and it's one reason I find most Armando Iannucci works like The Thick of It or Veep a little lacking, because they attempt to be more cutting but there's zero emotion to it because everyone is a hateful caricature.
The Death of Stalin worked as an exception because of the subject matter, and the lead in Avenue 5 was likeable by virtue of being Hugh Laurie.
That is I think why the remake of Reggie Perrin failed.
The originals were flawed but realistic human beings who were stuck in a situation and it was funny.
In the remake they were unlikeable, one dimensional, cretins and it was toe curling, not funny, as a result.
The only remake or updating I can think of that was actually any good is Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads.
I don’t know why they do it. It just doesn’t work.
A friend of mine reckoned the key to a good comedy is characters who are basically trapped either with each other or in a situation.
Yep - essentially characters are trapped in their situation. Ted Crilly on Craggy island, Basil Fawlty trapped running a hotel when he hates guests, Porridge with fletch physically trapped, but also subject to Grouty, and the warders.
I knew British comedy went downhill when Ricky Gervaises's character in Extras became a success. From Tony Hancock to the Office, everything was a study of people who were, as you say, trapped. Even a determinedly chirpy sitcom like "On The Buses" looks sad in retrospect when you realise Olive is effectively having a nervous breakdown. Steptoe was a two-handed play. Carla Lane reached the peak of comedies to slash your wrists to with Butterflies and I Woke Up One Morning. Oh happy, happy days...
These couple of posts have been an epiphany.
People trapped in each others’ company, in a situation. Fits almost all genres of British sitcom. Including later examples like peep show or outnumbered.
And overlaps in the Venn diagram almost but not quite perfectly with two men together, one wise and cynical, one young and naive. Jeeves and Wooster for example: they’re not trapped, but the rest is consistent.
And finally the grandiose, arrogant but faintly ridiculous twat character. Often combined with the above. Alan Partridge, Basil Fawlty, Arnold Rimmer / Gordon Brittas. Usually with others trapped with them.
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
I’m hearing from multiple credible sources within Democratic leadership that Arizona’s @SenMarkKelly is emerging as the leading candidate for Vice President – at least as of this moment.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
This is certainly true, and it's one reason I find most Armando Iannucci works like The Thick of It or Veep a little lacking, because they attempt to be more cutting but there's zero emotion to it because everyone is a hateful caricature.
The Death of Stalin worked as an exception because of the subject matter, and the lead in Avenue 5 was likeable by virtue of being Hugh Laurie.
That is I think why the remake of Reggie Perrin failed.
The originals were flawed but realistic human beings who were stuck in a situation and it was funny.
In the remake they were unlikeable, one dimensional, cretins and it was toe curling, not funny, as a result.
The only remake or updating I can think of that was actually any good is Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads.
I don’t know why they do it. It just doesn’t work.
A friend of mine reckoned the key to a good comedy is characters who are basically trapped either with each other or in a situation.
Yep - essentially characters are trapped in their situation. Ted Crilly on Craggy island, Basil Fawlty trapped running a hotel when he hates guests, Porridge with fletch physically trapped, but also subject to Grouty, and the warders.
I knew British comedy went downhill when Ricky Gervaises's character in Extras became a success. From Tony Hancock to the Office, everything was a study of people who were, as you say, trapped. Even a determinedly chirpy sitcom like "On The Buses" looks sad in retrospect when you realise Olive is effectively having a nervous breakdown. Steptoe was a two-handed play. Carla Lane reached the peak of comedies to slash your wrists to with Butterflies and I Woke Up One Morning. Oh happy, happy days...
These couple of posts have been an epiphany.
People trapped in each others’ company, in a situation. Fits almost all genres of British sitcom. Including later examples like peep show or outnumbered.
And overlaps in the Venn diagram almost but not quite perfectly with two men together, one wise and cynical, one young and naive. Jeeves and Wooster for example: they’re not trapped, but the rest is consistent.
And finally the grandiose, arrogant but faintly ridiculous twat character. Often combined with the above. Alan Partridge, Basil Fawlty, Arnold Rimmer / Gordon Brittas. Usually with others trapped with them.
Due you have any figures for the current UK/world % of energy from solar/renewables and future projections for the same with timescales?
Also what will it mean for the future of petrol vehicles? Cheaper petrol and less oil dependence means petrol vehicles become cheaper to run and less likely to become redundant? Or Electric vehicles become so cheap to run that petrol vehicles are too expensive a choice comparatively? (Vested interest here. We are thinking of buying a diesel campervan soon.)
The sooner we can get off fossil fuels, the better. So far, every month of this year has set a new record for the global average surface temperature for that month. We need to cut our use of fossil fuels pronto in order to mitigate the risk of climate catastrophe.
It can't be done in the short term without impoverishing the developing world because they are the reason fossil fuel consumption is still rising.
If we buy fewer fossil fuels, that means that the price of fossil fuels declines, which is good for the developing world.
But it doesn't reduce the consumption of fossil fuels overall.
Thanks to China and the developed world fossil fuel consumption is already peaking: even BP thinks that 2025 is peak world oil demand.
In 2020 they said we had already passed peak oil demand, so their predictions need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Even if they are right, it still means that substantial emissions will continue.
The idea that we can substantially change the trajectory without making people poorer is a fantasy, even if we succeed in increasing the proportion of renewable energy.
In one of their scenarios (Net Zero), they predict oil demand has peaked. But it was not their central scenario.
If you look at this year's Energy Outlook, it is significantly more pessimistic on oil demand than the 2020 piece.
From the key points in that document:
If regions with energy consumption per capita below EU levels increased to at least EU levels, global energy demand would be over 55% higher. This required increase falls to around 45% if regions with energy consumption per capital above EU levels reduced their average consumption levels to EU levels.
So a world in which the rest of the planet mirrors the EU, global energy demand will be 45% higher than it is today.
Even under their most optimistic net zero scenario, they predict that global consumption of oil will only fall to around the level it was at in the 1960s.
I'm struggling to see the problem here.
That sounds pretty amazing. And it suggests dramatically cheaper energy for developing world economies.
For all you PB psephologists, punters, pundits and pains-in-the-butt out there . . .
Updated AP Democratic National Convention delegate tracker now reporting
> 3,323 delegates surveyed out of 3,949 total (84.1%)
> Supporting Kamala Harris for President = 3,284 (98.9% of delegates surveyed) versus Undecided = 39
> KH delegates now accounting for 83.2% of total delegates (surveyed and NOT yet surveyed)
> 33 states, territories and DC show 100% surveyed; Harris support is 100% in 32 of these, and 92.3% (1 of 12) for Democrats Abroad.
> 14 states are over 80% surveyed, with KH support over 90% in all, and 100% in 9 state delegations.
> 8 states with from 5% to 77% of delegates surveyed, including 3 under 20% (Illinois, Michigan, Montana); of these 8 states, lowest level of KH support in Minnesota and Michigan.
> 2 states with zero delegates surveyed: Alabama and Washington
On regional basis, AP survey of DNC delegates (qualified to vote on first ballot which excludes super-delegates) is over 90% complete in the East, South and territories. Which are also Kamala Harris's best regions each with 99% (in the South 99.9%) Survey is least complete in Midwest (70.6%) and West (72.6%) and KH support is also "lowest" at 97% and 98%.
"On 11 April 2009, it was reported by The Daily Telegraph that McBride had sent a series of emails to former Labour Party official Derek Draper discussing plans to set up the Red Rag blog which would be used to post rumours they had made up about the private lives of senior and high-profile members of the Conservative Party. These false rumours were to have included sexual and personal allegations about Conservative politicians and their spouses, including Nadine Dorries, David and Samantha Cameron, and George and Frances Osborne."
More than just Nads - going after spouses is a bit off.
If I remember correctly McBride has quietly been working for Labour in opposition for a few years now. I think he worked for Thornberry, after coming in from the cold of working for a charity.
Due you have any figures for the current UK/world % of energy from solar/renewables and future projections for the same with timescales?
Also what will it mean for the future of petrol vehicles? Cheaper petrol and less oil dependence means petrol vehicles become cheaper to run and less likely to become redundant? Or Electric vehicles become so cheap to run that petrol vehicles are too expensive a choice comparatively? (Vested interest here. We are thinking of buying a diesel campervan soon.)
The sooner we can get off fossil fuels, the better. So far, every month of this year has set a new record for the global average surface temperature for that month. We need to cut our use of fossil fuels pronto in order to mitigate the risk of climate catastrophe.
It can't be done in the short term without impoverishing the developing world because they are the reason fossil fuel consumption is still rising.
If we buy fewer fossil fuels, that means that the price of fossil fuels declines, which is good for the developing world.
But it doesn't reduce the consumption of fossil fuels overall.
Thanks to China and the developed world fossil fuel consumption is already peaking: even BP thinks that 2025 is peak world oil demand.
In 2020 they said we had already passed peak oil demand, so their predictions need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Even if they are right, it still means that substantial emissions will continue.
The idea that we can substantially change the trajectory without making people poorer is a fantasy, even if we succeed in increasing the proportion of renewable energy.
In one of their scenarios (Net Zero), they predict oil demand has peaked. But it was not their central scenario.
If you look at this year's Energy Outlook, it is significantly more pessimistic on oil demand than the 2020 piece.
From the key points in that document:
If regions with energy consumption per capita below EU levels increased to at least EU levels, global energy demand would be over 55% higher. This required increase falls to around 45% if regions with energy consumption per capital above EU levels reduced their average consumption levels to EU levels.
So a world in which the rest of the planet mirrors the EU, global energy demand will be 45% higher than it is today.
Even under their most optimistic net zero scenario, they predict that global consumption of oil will only fall to around the level it was at in the 1960s.
I'm struggling to see the problem here.
That sounds pretty amazing. And it suggests dramatically cheaper energy for developing world economies.
As ever the punchline in these energy transition sceptic posts is missing, or silent.
So therefore, what?
More often than not the answer is therefore let’s just keep burning fossil fuels as fast as possible and not bother with the transition. But they don’t say that, they just leave it hanging.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
This is certainly true, and it's one reason I find most Armando Iannucci works like The Thick of It or Veep a little lacking, because they attempt to be more cutting but there's zero emotion to it because everyone is a hateful caricature.
The Death of Stalin worked as an exception because of the subject matter, and the lead in Avenue 5 was likeable by virtue of being Hugh Laurie.
That is I think why the remake of Reggie Perrin failed.
The originals were flawed but realistic human beings who were stuck in a situation and it was funny.
In the remake they were unlikeable, one dimensional, cretins and it was toe curling, not funny, as a result.
The only remake or updating I can think of that was actually any good is Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads.
I don’t know why they do it. It just doesn’t work.
A friend of mine reckoned the key to a good comedy is characters who are basically trapped either with each other or in a situation.
Yep - essentially characters are trapped in their situation. Ted Crilly on Craggy island, Basil Fawlty trapped running a hotel when he hates guests, Porridge with fletch physically trapped, but also subject to Grouty, and the warders.
I knew British comedy went downhill when Ricky Gervaises's character in Extras became a success. From Tony Hancock to the Office, everything was a study of people who were, as you say, trapped. Even a determinedly chirpy sitcom like "On The Buses" looks sad in retrospect when you realise Olive is effectively having a nervous breakdown. Steptoe was a two-handed play. Carla Lane reached the peak of comedies to slash your wrists to with Butterflies and I Woke Up One Morning. Oh happy, happy days...
These couple of posts have been an epiphany.
People trapped in each others’ company, in a situation. Fits almost all genres of British sitcom. Including later examples like peep show or outnumbered.
And overlaps in the Venn diagram almost but not quite perfectly with two men together, one wise and cynical, one young and naive. Jeeves and Wooster for example: they’re not trapped, but the rest is consistent.
And finally the grandiose, arrogant but faintly ridiculous twat character. Often combined with the above. Alan Partridge, Basil Fawlty, Arnold Rimmer / Gordon Brittas. Usually with others trapped with them.
Nigel Farage?
He would be a good sitcom lead.
In fact let me coin a new term: the twatcom. A sitcom that draws its comedy from the fact the leading character is a twat.
"On 11 April 2009, it was reported by The Daily Telegraph that McBride had sent a series of emails to former Labour Party official Derek Draper discussing plans to set up the Red Rag blog which would be used to post rumours they had made up about the private lives of senior and high-profile members of the Conservative Party. These false rumours were to have included sexual and personal allegations about Conservative politicians and their spouses, including Nadine Dorries, David and Samantha Cameron, and George and Frances Osborne."
More than just Nads - going after spouses is a bit off.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
This is certainly true, and it's one reason I find most Armando Iannucci works like The Thick of It or Veep a little lacking, because they attempt to be more cutting but there's zero emotion to it because everyone is a hateful caricature.
The Death of Stalin worked as an exception because of the subject matter, and the lead in Avenue 5 was likeable by virtue of being Hugh Laurie.
That is I think why the remake of Reggie Perrin failed.
The originals were flawed but realistic human beings who were stuck in a situation and it was funny.
In the remake they were unlikeable, one dimensional, cretins and it was toe curling, not funny, as a result.
The only remake or updating I can think of that was actually any good is Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads.
I don’t know why they do it. It just doesn’t work.
A friend of mine reckoned the key to a good comedy is characters who are basically trapped either with each other or in a situation.
Yep - essentially characters are trapped in their situation. Ted Crilly on Craggy island, Basil Fawlty trapped running a hotel when he hates guests, Porridge with fletch physically trapped, but also subject to Grouty, and the warders.
I knew British comedy went downhill when Ricky Gervaises's character in Extras became a success. From Tony Hancock to the Office, everything was a study of people who were, as you say, trapped. Even a determinedly chirpy sitcom like "On The Buses" looks sad in retrospect when you realise Olive is effectively having a nervous breakdown. Steptoe was a two-handed play. Carla Lane reached the peak of comedies to slash your wrists to with Butterflies and I Woke Up One Morning. Oh happy, happy days...
These couple of posts have been an epiphany.
People trapped in each others’ company, in a situation. Fits almost all genres of British sitcom. Including later examples like peep show or outnumbered.
And overlaps in the Venn diagram almost but not quite perfectly with two men together, one wise and cynical, one young and naive. Jeeves and Wooster for example: they’re not trapped, but the rest is consistent.
And finally the grandiose, arrogant but faintly ridiculous twat character. Often combined with the above. Alan Partridge, Basil Fawlty, Arnold Rimmer / Gordon Brittas. Usually with others trapped with them.
Nigel Farage?
He would be a good sitcom lead.
In fact let me coin a new term: the twatcom. A sitcom that draws its comedy from the fact the leading character is a twat.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
This is certainly true, and it's one reason I find most Armando Iannucci works like The Thick of It or Veep a little lacking, because they attempt to be more cutting but there's zero emotion to it because everyone is a hateful caricature.
The Death of Stalin worked as an exception because of the subject matter, and the lead in Avenue 5 was likeable by virtue of being Hugh Laurie.
That is I think why the remake of Reggie Perrin failed.
The originals were flawed but realistic human beings who were stuck in a situation and it was funny.
In the remake they were unlikeable, one dimensional, cretins and it was toe curling, not funny, as a result.
The only remake or updating I can think of that was actually any good is Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads.
I don’t know why they do it. It just doesn’t work.
A friend of mine reckoned the key to a good comedy is characters who are basically trapped either with each other or in a situation.
Yep - essentially characters are trapped in their situation. Ted Crilly on Craggy island, Basil Fawlty trapped running a hotel when he hates guests, Porridge with fletch physically trapped, but also subject to Grouty, and the warders.
I knew British comedy went downhill when Ricky Gervaises's character in Extras became a success. From Tony Hancock to the Office, everything was a study of people who were, as you say, trapped. Even a determinedly chirpy sitcom like "On The Buses" looks sad in retrospect when you realise Olive is effectively having a nervous breakdown. Steptoe was a two-handed play. Carla Lane reached the peak of comedies to slash your wrists to with Butterflies and I Woke Up One Morning. Oh happy, happy days...
These couple of posts have been an epiphany.
People trapped in each others’ company, in a situation. Fits almost all genres of British sitcom. Including later examples like peep show or outnumbered.
And overlaps in the Venn diagram almost but not quite perfectly with two men together, one wise and cynical, one young and naive. Jeeves and Wooster for example: they’re not trapped, but the rest is consistent.
And finally the grandiose, arrogant but faintly ridiculous twat character. Often combined with the above. Alan Partridge, Basil Fawlty, Arnold Rimmer / Gordon Brittas. Usually with others trapped with them.
Nigel Farage?
He would be a good sitcom lead.
In fact let me coin a new term: the twatcom. A sitcom that draws its comedy from the fact the leading character is a twat.
I would suggest Johnson too, but the caricature is just too ludicrous to be remotely believable. But yeah, Farage works.
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
Obscure britishism my shiny metal ass. Diamonds Are Forever, Leiter (CIA/Pinkerton's) to Bond
The trainer's another hoodlum--name of Budd, 'Rosy' Budd. They all sound pretty funny, these names. But you don't want to be taken in by it. He's from Kentucky, so he knows all about horses. He's been in trouble all over the South, what they call a 'little habitch' as opposed to a 'big habitch'--habitual criminal. Larceny, mugging, rape--nothing big. Enough to give him quite a bulky packet in police records. But for the last few years he's been running straight, if you care to call it that, as trainer for Spang."
Mind you Fleming pretty much made it up as he went along, so who knows?
The words "obscure Britishism" referred to the sitcom, not the phrase...
Outrageous it should be obscure. I quoted Blackadder to someone the other day and they didn't pick up on it. Young people today, do they teach them anything useful?
My two junior members of staff had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned Blackadder. Showed them a picture and they both exclaimed "Oh! Mister Bean!".
How I wept.
Why is that remembered but not Blackadder? Mr Bean was crap!
It was that damn Olympic opening ceremony wasn't it?
The head of a Russell Group University, while opening a campus in China, was met with much muttering. A lackey asked what was going on and was told "He looks .... just like Mister Bean".
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
Lets say the cost is the midpoint £14,250 and the saving is the midpoint £772.50p per year.
If I invest the money instead I only need a 5.5% annual return to be better off?
(noting also that Robert is predicting a gas glut so fuel prices will fall, lessening the saving.
Whats the point?
That article is seriously out of date (ten years). You can get 10 panels and a battery for £9,000
The cost of installation can depend on how many panels you need, whether you choose to have battery storage, and what size of battery you require. The cost of a panel-only installation by Octopus starts from £3,880 (for 2 panels). A 10 panel installation and a 5kWh battery (our most popular system) costs £9,199.
Try upping that return by a 30% reduction in costs and a 100% rise in electricity bills...
Which is great value if you have cash in your account to spend, since any reduction in costs comes post-tax while investments are pre-tax.
Not great value if needing to borrow to make the purchase.
According to that link that pack would save £58-70 per month on your bills, and cost typically £209 per month on the finance package they recommend.
I would say if you have a LOT of cash in your account.
If there is a serious chance you might in the meanwhile need it for eg new car, daughters wedding etc, by spending it on a solar installation you become a lot more "precarious"
Also if, like me you have a terraced house with several kids, space is at a premium (so space lost to batteries is an issue - they are bulky and need ventilation, both for thermal reasons and Hydrogen Lower Explosion Level reasons) and the whole place being turned upside down for the installation is several orders of magnitude more difficult.
There’s probably a hierarchy of no brainer energy saving investments, and it’s worth doing some things first if money is short.
1. Draught proofing windows and doors. **Done
2. Roof / loft insulation. **Done.
3. Double or secondary glazing. **Done.
4. Cavity wall insulation (if you have cavity walls) **Not done. Only got front and back walls to worry about. Sides insulated by next door. Got new boiler and gas central heating/hot water only 9,500 kwh last year.
5. Solar panels and batteries. **As discussed above.
6. IR heaters **Infrared? Can you elaborate?
7. Heat pump. **If I had a big enough garden for ground source I might be tempted.
8. Telling your teenage child to have showers shorter than 20 minutes **Shouldn't that one be [1]? :-)
That’s assuming all electricals in the house are already low voltage. **It is amazing how much xbox on a big screen tv costs.
**I would add LED lighting to those, although a direct swap without "upgrade" can have disappointing results, better than compact flourescent though.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
This is certainly true, and it's one reason I find most Armando Iannucci works like The Thick of It or Veep a little lacking, because they attempt to be more cutting but there's zero emotion to it because everyone is a hateful caricature.
The Death of Stalin worked as an exception because of the subject matter, and the lead in Avenue 5 was likeable by virtue of being Hugh Laurie.
That is I think why the remake of Reggie Perrin failed.
The originals were flawed but realistic human beings who were stuck in a situation and it was funny.
In the remake they were unlikeable, one dimensional, cretins and it was toe curling, not funny, as a result.
The only remake or updating I can think of that was actually any good is Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads.
I don’t know why they do it. It just doesn’t work.
A friend of mine reckoned the key to a good comedy is characters who are basically trapped either with each other or in a situation.
Yep - essentially characters are trapped in their situation. Ted Crilly on Craggy island, Basil Fawlty trapped running a hotel when he hates guests, Porridge with fletch physically trapped, but also subject to Grouty, and the warders.
I knew British comedy went downhill when Ricky Gervaises's character in Extras became a success. From Tony Hancock to the Office, everything was a study of people who were, as you say, trapped. Even a determinedly chirpy sitcom like "On The Buses" looks sad in retrospect when you realise Olive is effectively having a nervous breakdown. Steptoe was a two-handed play. Carla Lane reached the peak of comedies to slash your wrists to with Butterflies and I Woke Up One Morning. Oh happy, happy days...
These couple of posts have been an epiphany.
People trapped in each others’ company, in a situation. Fits almost all genres of British sitcom. Including later examples like peep show or outnumbered.
And overlaps in the Venn diagram almost but not quite perfectly with two men together, one wise and cynical, one young and naive. Jeeves and Wooster for example: they’re not trapped, but the rest is consistent.
And finally the grandiose, arrogant but faintly ridiculous twat character. Often combined with the above. Alan Partridge, Basil Fawlty, Arnold Rimmer / Gordon Brittas. Usually with others trapped with them.
Nigel Farage?
He would be a good sitcom lead.
In fact let me coin a new term: the twatcom. A sitcom that draws its comedy from the fact the leading character is a twat.
I would suggest Johnson too, but the caricature is just too ludicrous to be remotely believable. But yeah, Farage works.
Farage, Tice and Anderson are all sitcom classics. The three of them stuck together in a political party, with a crazy female co-lead like Liz Truss. The scrapes they’d get into. The quaintly English seaside settings.
I could also see canonical British sitcom type-parts for Cameron, Sunak, Starmer, Rayner, Widdecombe, Cummings and Corbyn.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
Link posted earlier to YouTube of "Porridge" intro was promising.
"Barney Miller" was about a diverse bunch of NYPD detectives in a local Manhattan substation. Stock characters except that each also had strong character AND quirky personalities, thanks to superior writing, excellent casting and splendid acting carried the day. Less shoot it out and more let's talk it out, with a light touch. NOT a police procedural, but instead funny philosophical dialogue that's sorta like an old Greek comedy in modern dress.
Due you have any figures for the current UK/world % of energy from solar/renewables and future projections for the same with timescales?
Also what will it mean for the future of petrol vehicles? Cheaper petrol and less oil dependence means petrol vehicles become cheaper to run and less likely to become redundant? Or Electric vehicles become so cheap to run that petrol vehicles are too expensive a choice comparatively? (Vested interest here. We are thinking of buying a diesel campervan soon.)
The sooner we can get off fossil fuels, the better. So far, every month of this year has set a new record for the global average surface temperature for that month. We need to cut our use of fossil fuels pronto in order to mitigate the risk of climate catastrophe.
It can't be done in the short term without impoverishing the developing world because they are the reason fossil fuel consumption is still rising.
If we buy fewer fossil fuels, that means that the price of fossil fuels declines, which is good for the developing world.
But it doesn't reduce the consumption of fossil fuels overall.
Thanks to China and the developed world fossil fuel consumption is already peaking: even BP thinks that 2025 is peak world oil demand.
In 2020 they said we had already passed peak oil demand, so their predictions need to be taken with a pinch of salt. Even if they are right, it still means that substantial emissions will continue.
The idea that we can substantially change the trajectory without making people poorer is a fantasy, even if we succeed in increasing the proportion of renewable energy.
In one of their scenarios (Net Zero), they predict oil demand has peaked. But it was not their central scenario.
If you look at this year's Energy Outlook, it is significantly more pessimistic on oil demand than the 2020 piece.
From the key points in that document:
If regions with energy consumption per capita below EU levels increased to at least EU levels, global energy demand would be over 55% higher. This required increase falls to around 45% if regions with energy consumption per capital above EU levels reduced their average consumption levels to EU levels.
So a world in which the rest of the planet mirrors the EU, global energy demand will be 45% higher than it is today.
Even under their most optimistic net zero scenario, they predict that global consumption of oil will only fall to around the level it was at in the 1960s.
I'm struggling to see the problem here.
That sounds pretty amazing. And it suggests dramatically cheaper energy for developing world economies.
A lot depends (future energy consumption wisevu how many people in India etc want air conditioning, fridges, washing machines etc etc going forward.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
Link posted earlier to YouTube of "Porridge" intro was promising.
"Barney Miller" was about a diverse bunch of NYPD detectives in a local Manhattan substation. Stock characters except that each also had strong character AND quirky personalities, thanks to superior writing, excellent casting and splendid acting carried the day. Less shoot it out and more let's talk it out, with a light touch. NOT a police procedural, but instead funny philosophical dialogue that's sorta like an old Greek comedy in modern dress.
Yesterday I watched episode 1 of The Commish, after a recommendation - a US police comedy drama of the early 90s. Couldn't get into it.
If I remember correctly McBride has quietly been working for Labour in opposition for a few years now. I think he worked for Thornberry, after coming in from the cold of working for a charity.
Yes - he had a part as a worldy-wise, veteran guest on political shows as the "one who knows how it works". The sort of thing they might roll Michael Portillo or David Blunkett out for.
Unlike Dolly, he didn't quite leave it all behind.
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
Lets say the cost is the midpoint £14,250 and the saving is the midpoint £772.50p per year.
If I invest the money instead I only need a 5.5% annual return to be better off?
(noting also that Robert is predicting a gas glut so fuel prices will fall, lessening the saving.
Whats the point?
That article is seriously out of date (ten years). You can get 10 panels and a battery for £9,000
The cost of installation can depend on how many panels you need, whether you choose to have battery storage, and what size of battery you require. The cost of a panel-only installation by Octopus starts from £3,880 (for 2 panels). A 10 panel installation and a 5kWh battery (our most popular system) costs £9,199.
Try upping that return by a 30% reduction in costs and a 100% rise in electricity bills...
Which is great value if you have cash in your account to spend, since any reduction in costs comes post-tax while investments are pre-tax.
Not great value if needing to borrow to make the purchase.
According to that link that pack would save £58-70 per month on your bills, and cost typically £209 per month on the finance package they recommend.
I would say if you have a LOT of cash in your account.
If there is a serious chance you might in the meanwhile need it for eg new car, daughters wedding etc, by spending it on a solar installation you become a lot more "precarious"
Also if, like me you have a terraced house with several kids, space is at a premium (so space lost to batteries is an issue - they are bulky and need ventilation, both for thermal reasons and Hydrogen Lower Explosion Level reasons) and the whole place being turned upside down for the installation is several orders of magnitude more difficult.
There’s probably a hierarchy of no brainer energy saving investments, and it’s worth doing some things first if money is short.
1. Draught proofing windows and doors. **Done
2. Roof / loft insulation. **Done.
3. Double or secondary glazing. **Done.
4. Cavity wall insulation (if you have cavity walls) **Not done. Only got front and back walls to worry about. Sides insulated by next door. Got new boiler and gas central heating/hot water only 9,500 kwh last year.
5. Solar panels and batteries. **As discussed above.
6. IR heaters **Infrared? Can you elaborate?
7. Heat pump. **If I had a big enough garden for ground source I might be tempted.
8. Telling your teenage child to have showers shorter than 20 minutes **Shouldn't that one be [1]? :-)
That’s assuming all electricals in the house are already low voltage. **It is amazing how much xbox on a big screen tv costs.
**I would add LED lighting to those, although a direct swap without "upgrade" can have disappointing results, better than compact flourescent though.
Infrared heating panels: very efficient as they’re like the sun on a cold day. Heat surfaces (including people) not space, so you can be comfortably warm in a room that’s at 15 or 16C. I’m looking into them at the moment. Suitable in particular for sitting rooms and studies, less so for bedrooms.
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
Lets say the cost is the midpoint £14,250 and the saving is the midpoint £772.50p per year.
If I invest the money instead I only need a 5.5% annual return to be better off?
(noting also that Robert is predicting a gas glut so fuel prices will fall, lessening the saving.
Whats the point?
That article is seriously out of date (ten years). You can get 10 panels and a battery for £9,000
The cost of installation can depend on how many panels you need, whether you choose to have battery storage, and what size of battery you require. The cost of a panel-only installation by Octopus starts from £3,880 (for 2 panels). A 10 panel installation and a 5kWh battery (our most popular system) costs £9,199.
Try upping that return by a 30% reduction in costs and a 100% rise in electricity bills...
Which is great value if you have cash in your account to spend, since any reduction in costs comes post-tax while investments are pre-tax.
Not great value if needing to borrow to make the purchase.
According to that link that pack would save £58-70 per month on your bills, and cost typically £209 per month on the finance package they recommend.
I would say if you have a LOT of cash in your account.
If there is a serious chance you might in the meanwhile need it for eg new car, daughters wedding etc, by spending it on a solar installation you become a lot more "precarious"
Also if, like me you have a terraced house with several kids, space is at a premium (so space lost to batteries is an issue - they are bulky and need ventilation, both for thermal reasons and Hydrogen Lower Explosion Level reasons) and the whole place being turned upside down for the installation is several orders of magnitude more difficult.
There’s probably a hierarchy of no brainer energy saving investments, and it’s worth doing some things first if money is short.
1. Draught proofing windows and doors. **Done
2. Roof / loft insulation. **Done.
3. Double or secondary glazing. **Done.
4. Cavity wall insulation (if you have cavity walls) **Not done. Only got front and back walls to worry about. Sides insulated by next door. Got new boiler and gas central heating/hot water only 9,500 kwh last year.
5. Solar panels and batteries. **As discussed above.
6. IR heaters **Infrared? Can you elaborate?
7. Heat pump. **If I had a big enough garden for ground source I might be tempted.
8. Telling your teenage child to have showers shorter than 20 minutes **Shouldn't that one be [1]? :-)
That’s assuming all electricals in the house are already low voltage. **It is amazing how much xbox on a big screen tv costs.
**I would add LED lighting to those, although a direct swap without "upgrade" can have disappointing results, better than compact flourescent though.
Infrared heating panels: very efficient as they’re like the sun on a cold day. Heat surfaces (including people) not space, so you can be comfortably warm in a room that’s at 15 or 16C. I’m looking into them at the moment. Suitable in particular for sitting rooms and studies, less so for bedrooms.
Interesting. Got a link?
(we did try the heating off jumper on for a while with it set to in the first winter after our fixed deal ended. But by the end of November realised damp/mould was starting to be a serious risk.
So that is something to bear in mind with IR although if it heats the walls you might be ok.
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
Lets say the cost is the midpoint £14,250 and the saving is the midpoint £772.50p per year.
If I invest the money instead I only need a 5.5% annual return to be better off?
(noting also that Robert is predicting a gas glut so fuel prices will fall, lessening the saving.
Whats the point?
5.5% post tax
Which is equivalent to a 10% pretax yield.
Equities typically return 7% per year pretax.
And, of course, if energy prices rise at the rate of inflation (which I claim they won't, of course), then that's 10% pretax index linked.
Octopus are recommending financing at 9.9% APR.
Not sure financing at 9.9% to yield 5.5% is the best investment.
Car loan rates would be an interesting comparison, and I wonder if there will be the same sort of claims in the future as we are now seeing on those?
I think the further benefit of solar is better resilience against price fluctuations, and a grid that is changing, as a way of effectively going partially off-grid. We reduced our elec use by about 15-20% ourselves 2013-15 when we moved in here by normal optimisation, and saved another 30% or so by switching every year.
Then when the solar went in it started self-generating a third of the remaining demand across the year, which all helped in the energy crisis.
In the crisis I did get stung by gas price rises, partly as I was not up to managing it carefully; but I have now been trying electric heating for the shoulder months, so the boiler is only 203 months a year, and the plan is A2A heat pumps at some point.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
This is certainly true, and it's one reason I find most Armando Iannucci works like The Thick of It or Veep a little lacking, because they attempt to be more cutting but there's zero emotion to it because everyone is a hateful caricature.
The Death of Stalin worked as an exception because of the subject matter, and the lead in Avenue 5 was likeable by virtue of being Hugh Laurie.
That is I think why the remake of Reggie Perrin failed.
The originals were flawed but realistic human beings who were stuck in a situation and it was funny.
In the remake they were unlikeable, one dimensional, cretins and it was toe curling, not funny, as a result.
The only remake or updating I can think of that was actually any good is Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads.
I don’t know why they do it. It just doesn’t work.
A friend of mine reckoned the key to a good comedy is characters who are basically trapped either with each other or in a situation.
Yep - essentially characters are trapped in their situation. Ted Crilly on Craggy island, Basil Fawlty trapped running a hotel when he hates guests, Porridge with fletch physically trapped, but also subject to Grouty, and the warders.
I knew British comedy went downhill when Ricky Gervaises's character in Extras became a success. From Tony Hancock to the Office, everything was a study of people who were, as you say, trapped. Even a determinedly chirpy sitcom like "On The Buses" looks sad in retrospect when you realise Olive is effectively having a nervous breakdown. Steptoe was a two-handed play. Carla Lane reached the peak of comedies to slash your wrists to with Butterflies and I Woke Up One Morning. Oh happy, happy days...
These couple of posts have been an epiphany.
People trapped in each others’ company, in a situation. Fits almost all genres of British sitcom. Including later examples like peep show or outnumbered.
And overlaps in the Venn diagram almost but not quite perfectly with two men together, one wise and cynical, one young and naive. Jeeves and Wooster for example: they’re not trapped, but the rest is consistent.
And finally the grandiose, arrogant but faintly ridiculous twat character. Often combined with the above. Alan Partridge, Basil Fawlty, Arnold Rimmer / Gordon Brittas. Usually with others trapped with them.
Nigel Farage?
He would be a good sitcom lead.
In fact let me coin a new term: the twatcom. A sitcom that draws its comedy from the fact the leading character is a twat.
I would suggest Johnson too, but the caricature is just too ludicrous to be remotely believable. But yeah, Farage works.
Farage, Tice and Anderson are all sitcom classics. The three of them stuck together in a political party, with a crazy female co-lead like Liz Truss. The scrapes they’d get into. The quaintly English seaside settings.
I could also see canonical British sitcom type-parts for Cameron, Sunak, Starmer, Rayner, Widdecombe, Cummings and Corbyn.
Farage, Tice and Anderson trapped in a bedsit sounds more like Pinter.
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
Lets say the cost is the midpoint £14,250 and the saving is the midpoint £772.50p per year.
If I invest the money instead I only need a 5.5% annual return to be better off?
(noting also that Robert is predicting a gas glut so fuel prices will fall, lessening the saving.
Whats the point?
That article is seriously out of date (ten years). You can get 10 panels and a battery for £9,000
The cost of installation can depend on how many panels you need, whether you choose to have battery storage, and what size of battery you require. The cost of a panel-only installation by Octopus starts from £3,880 (for 2 panels). A 10 panel installation and a 5kWh battery (our most popular system) costs £9,199.
Try upping that return by a 30% reduction in costs and a 100% rise in electricity bills...
Which is great value if you have cash in your account to spend, since any reduction in costs comes post-tax while investments are pre-tax.
Not great value if needing to borrow to make the purchase.
According to that link that pack would save £58-70 per month on your bills, and cost typically £209 per month on the finance package they recommend.
I would say if you have a LOT of cash in your account.
If there is a serious chance you might in the meanwhile need it for eg new car, daughters wedding etc, by spending it on a solar installation you become a lot more "precarious"
Also if, like me you have a terraced house with several kids, space is at a premium (so space lost to batteries is an issue - they are bulky and need ventilation, both for thermal reasons and Hydrogen Lower Explosion Level reasons) and the whole place being turned upside down for the installation is several orders of magnitude more difficult.
There’s probably a hierarchy of no brainer energy saving investments, and it’s worth doing some things first if money is short.
1. Draught proofing windows and doors. **Done
2. Roof / loft insulation. **Done.
3. Double or secondary glazing. **Done.
4. Cavity wall insulation (if you have cavity walls) **Not done. Only got front and back walls to worry about. Sides insulated by next door. Got new boiler and gas central heating/hot water only 9,500 kwh last year.
5. Solar panels and batteries. **As discussed above.
6. IR heaters **Infrared? Can you elaborate?
7. Heat pump. **If I had a big enough garden for ground source I might be tempted.
8. Telling your teenage child to have showers shorter than 20 minutes **Shouldn't that one be [1]? :-)
That’s assuming all electricals in the house are already low voltage. **It is amazing how much xbox on a big screen tv costs.
**I would add LED lighting to those, although a direct swap without "upgrade" can have disappointing results, better than compact flourescent though.
Sounds like a pretty good list to me.
Of course in my humble abode this time of year, when the sun comes out, I'm blocking my south-facing windows (only ones I've got) with panels, insulated and not, then shutting the blinds. Otherwise I risk my happy home turning into an Easy Bake Oven . . . and myself turning into a burnt offering.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
Link posted earlier to YouTube of "Porridge" intro was promising.
"Barney Miller" was about a diverse bunch of NYPD detectives in a local Manhattan substation. Stock characters except that each also had strong character AND quirky personalities, thanks to superior writing, excellent casting and splendid acting carried the day. Less shoot it out and more let's talk it out, with a light touch. NOT a police procedural, but instead funny philosophical dialogue that's sorta like an old Greek comedy in modern dress.
Yesterday I watched episode 1 of The Commish, after a recommendation - a US police comedy drama of the early 90s. Couldn't get into it.
Should I persevere?
Probably not, though maybe give it one more episode?
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
This is certainly true, and it's one reason I find most Armando Iannucci works like The Thick of It or Veep a little lacking, because they attempt to be more cutting but there's zero emotion to it because everyone is a hateful caricature.
The Death of Stalin worked as an exception because of the subject matter, and the lead in Avenue 5 was likeable by virtue of being Hugh Laurie.
That is I think why the remake of Reggie Perrin failed.
The originals were flawed but realistic human beings who were stuck in a situation and it was funny.
In the remake they were unlikeable, one dimensional, cretins and it was toe curling, not funny, as a result.
The only remake or updating I can think of that was actually any good is Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads.
I don’t know why they do it. It just doesn’t work.
A friend of mine reckoned the key to a good comedy is characters who are basically trapped either with each other or in a situation.
Yep - essentially characters are trapped in their situation. Ted Crilly on Craggy island, Basil Fawlty trapped running a hotel when he hates guests, Porridge with fletch physically trapped, but also subject to Grouty, and the warders.
I knew British comedy went downhill when Ricky Gervaises's character in Extras became a success. From Tony Hancock to the Office, everything was a study of people who were, as you say, trapped. Even a determinedly chirpy sitcom like "On The Buses" looks sad in retrospect when you realise Olive is effectively having a nervous breakdown. Steptoe was a two-handed play. Carla Lane reached the peak of comedies to slash your wrists to with Butterflies and I Woke Up One Morning. Oh happy, happy days...
These couple of posts have been an epiphany.
People trapped in each others’ company, in a situation. Fits almost all genres of British sitcom. Including later examples like peep show or outnumbered.
And overlaps in the Venn diagram almost but not quite perfectly with two men together, one wise and cynical, one young and naive. Jeeves and Wooster for example: they’re not trapped, but the rest is consistent.
And finally the grandiose, arrogant but faintly ridiculous twat character. Often combined with the above. Alan Partridge, Basil Fawlty, Arnold Rimmer / Gordon Brittas. Usually with others trapped with them.
Nigel Farage?
He would be a good sitcom lead.
In fact let me coin a new term: the twatcom. A sitcom that draws its comedy from the fact the leading character is a twat.
I would suggest Johnson too, but the caricature is just too ludicrous to be remotely believable. But yeah, Farage works.
Farage, Tice and Anderson are all sitcom classics. The three of them stuck together in a political party, with a crazy female co-lead like Liz Truss. The scrapes they’d get into. The quaintly English seaside settings.
I could also see canonical British sitcom type-parts for Cameron, Sunak, Starmer, Rayner, Widdecombe, Cummings and Corbyn.
Farage, Tice and Anderson trapped in a bedsit sounds more like Pinter.
Or Beckett.
"Waiting for Farage", Lyric Theatre, limited run.
"A nascent hard right political party discusses sundry topics not knowing whether Nigel will arrive and catapult them to relevance."
Nearly through a largish extension project on a seventies house. Realising how shut the seventies house was. Lower story double block/faced stone walls, but thin. Upper wood frame, not insulated. New seaction properly double skim all the way up, thoroughly lagged roof etc. New double glazing throughout (thicker than the old glazing). Am expecting a much easier to heat house (will be insulating and cladding the old upper story.). I know that it’s often a list of things that people have already done, but there are probably millions of places that COULD do more.
I can see why people don't want to let the geoengineering genie out of the bottle but it's going to escape the bottle, isn't it? Random people can do it, they only need it to be legal in one country in the world, and you can also do it offshore in international waters.
That's in addition to governments doing it. If you're running for election in India, you have pretty substantial GDP and you've got people dying from a problem mainly caused by more development countries, wouldn't you say, "I will fix the climate"? I don't mean what western politicians say when they say they'll fix the climate, ie they'll make your living standards drop and make a small dent in a global problem. I mean, "We're going to spend X to create the man-made equivalent of a volcano eruption, it's going to reduce the temperature by Y degrees, and Z fewer old people are going to die of heat stroke".
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
In the genre of comedy cop shows, can certainly recommend the OLD American TV series (NOT recent remake) "Night Court" which is about a . . . wait for it . . . night court in Manhattan, presided over by a wacky hipster who wheres fedoras and his a HUGE fan of Mel Torme. Who makes not infrequent guest appearances. Also sleazy prosecutor, feisty defense attorney & other regulars.
Ran long time, and still a staple of US re-run TV.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
That one foot in the grave episode was excellent not only because it was so well written but also it put a bit of background to the character. We learn they had lost a child. Something not,touched on before. They make the characters more than just one dimensional ones dropping funny lines.
That wasn't the one I was thinking of actually, but the one you mention was even more brilliant. They did a few in that format, and they were always superb. There was another one which was just Victor and Margaret talking in a car stuck in traffic - utterly brilliant dialogue, superbly acted; though the biggest joke was that Mrs Warboys clambered into the back seat unremarked about two thirds of the way through the episode.
But comedies make you feel something drama cannot. Possibly it lowers your defences, possibly it is more recognisable as real life - because real life is mainly funny. I offer you, off the top of my head, the last five minutes of each of the Royle Family Christmas specials, and also the end of the Office in which Brent finally gets some humanity. Moving to film for a moment, I also give you the first ten minutes of Up. Which I saw at the cinema with my wife, after having struggled to conceive our first child and just at the point it looked like we had got one to stick. My God. Thank goodness for the 3d glasses.
Nearly through a largish extension project on a seventies house. Realising how shut the seventies house was. Lower story double block/faced stone walls, but thin. Upper wood frame, not insulated. New seaction properly double skim all the way up, thoroughly lagged roof etc. New double glazing throughout (thicker than the old glazing). Am expecting a much easier to heat house (will be insulating and cladding the old upper story.). I know that it’s often a list of things that people have already done, but there are probably millions of places that COULD do more.
You mean, the list of things that Insulate Britain were asking for in their protests?
Would be remiss IF yours truly failed to mention two of the first great American TV cop shows, one big-city urban, the other small-town rural: "Car 54 Where Are You?" and "The Andy Griffith Show".
Nearly through a largish extension project on a seventies house. Realising how shut the seventies house was. Lower story double block/faced stone walls, but thin. Upper wood frame, not insulated. New seaction properly double skim all the way up, thoroughly lagged roof etc. New double glazing throughout (thicker than the old glazing). Am expecting a much easier to heat house (will be insulating and cladding the old upper story.). I know that it’s often a list of things that people have already done, but there are probably millions of places that COULD do more.
You mean, the list of things that Insulate Britain were asking for in their protests?
The problem was not what they asked for, it was how they asked for it.
Nearly through a largish extension project on a seventies house. Realising how shut the seventies house was. Lower story double block/faced stone walls, but thin. Upper wood frame, not insulated. New seaction properly double skim all the way up, thoroughly lagged roof etc. New double glazing throughout (thicker than the old glazing). Am expecting a much easier to heat house (will be insulating and cladding the old upper story.). I know that it’s often a list of things that people have already done, but there are probably millions of places that COULD do more.
You mean, the list of things that Insulate Britain were asking for in their protests?
The problem was not what they asked for, it was how they asked for it.
Also they are bad faith actors, it will never be enough until the capitalist system is overthrown.
I don't fully understand what's going on, but looking at the posters it appears to be fuelled by the BLM mob. It's not clear AFAICS what had happened at Manchester Airport which led to the incident.
Nearly through a largish extension project on a seventies house. Realising how shut the seventies house was. Lower story double block/faced stone walls, but thin. Upper wood frame, not insulated. New seaction properly double skim all the way up, thoroughly lagged roof etc. New double glazing throughout (thicker than the old glazing). Am expecting a much easier to heat house (will be insulating and cladding the old upper story.). I know that it’s often a list of things that people have already done, but there are probably millions of places that COULD do more.
You mean, the list of things that Insulate Britain were asking for in their protests?
The problem was not what they asked for, it was how they asked for it.
Also they are bad faith actors, it will never be enough until the capitalist system is overthrown.
Maybe some are like that, but many of them seem to be beyond that kind of reasoning. They know for sure that we are all going to die unless they do something utterly heroic and self-sacrificing. It's quasi-religious imho.
Nearly through a largish extension project on a seventies house. Realising how shut the seventies house was. Lower story double block/faced stone walls, but thin. Upper wood frame, not insulated. New seaction properly double skim all the way up, thoroughly lagged roof etc. New double glazing throughout (thicker than the old glazing). Am expecting a much easier to heat house (will be insulating and cladding the old upper story.). I know that it’s often a list of things that people have already done, but there are probably millions of places that COULD do more.
You mean, the list of things that Insulate Britain were asking for in their protests?
The problem was not what they asked for, it was how they asked for it.
Also they are bad faith actors, it will never be enough until the capitalist system is overthrown.
Maybe some are like that, but many of them seem to be beyond that kind of reasoning. They know for sure that we are all going to die unless they do something utterly heroic and self-sacrificing. It's quasi-religious imho.
The leaders of these groups have written articles in the past stating this very clearly. The green stuff is a bit of a trojan horse to enabling their preferred world order. I am sure that the many of the acolytes are blindly following.
"A typical 4kW solar panel system, including installation, costs £5,000 - £6,000. Added together, the total cost of solar panels and a battery in the UK is £13,000-£15,500.
You can save between £440 - £1,005 per year on electricity costs, breaking even in 7 - 9 years."
Lets say the cost is the midpoint £14,250 and the saving is the midpoint £772.50p per year.
If I invest the money instead I only need a 5.5% annual return to be better off?
(noting also that Robert is predicting a gas glut so fuel prices will fall, lessening the saving.
Whats the point?
That article is seriously out of date (ten years). You can get 10 panels and a battery for £9,000
The cost of installation can depend on how many panels you need, whether you choose to have battery storage, and what size of battery you require. The cost of a panel-only installation by Octopus starts from £3,880 (for 2 panels). A 10 panel installation and a 5kWh battery (our most popular system) costs £9,199.
Try upping that return by a 30% reduction in costs and a 100% rise in electricity bills...
Which is great value if you have cash in your account to spend, since any reduction in costs comes post-tax while investments are pre-tax.
Not great value if needing to borrow to make the purchase.
According to that link that pack would save £58-70 per month on your bills, and cost typically £209 per month on the finance package they recommend.
I would say if you have a LOT of cash in your account.
If there is a serious chance you might in the meanwhile need it for eg new car, daughters wedding etc, by spending it on a solar installation you become a lot more "precarious"
Also if, like me you have a terraced house with several kids, space is at a premium (so space lost to batteries is an issue - they are bulky and need ventilation, both for thermal reasons and Hydrogen Lower Explosion Level reasons) and the whole place being turned upside down for the installation is several orders of magnitude more difficult.
There’s probably a hierarchy of no brainer energy saving investments, and it’s worth doing some things first if money is short.
1. Draught proofing windows and doors. **Done
2. Roof / loft insulation. **Done.
3. Double or secondary glazing. **Done.
4. Cavity wall insulation (if you have cavity walls) **Not done. Only got front and back walls to worry about. Sides insulated by next door. Got new boiler and gas central heating/hot water only 9,500 kwh last year.
5. Solar panels and batteries. **As discussed above.
6. IR heaters **Infrared? Can you elaborate?
7. Heat pump. **If I had a big enough garden for ground source I might be tempted.
8. Telling your teenage child to have showers shorter than 20 minutes **Shouldn't that one be [1]? :-)
That’s assuming all electricals in the house are already low voltage. **It is amazing how much xbox on a big screen tv costs.
**I would add LED lighting to those, although a direct swap without "upgrade" can have disappointing results, better than compact flourescent though.
Infrared heating panels: very efficient as they’re like the sun on a cold day. Heat surfaces (including people) not space, so you can be comfortably warm in a room that’s at 15 or 16C. I’m looking into them at the moment. Suitable in particular for sitting rooms and studies, less so for bedrooms.
Good list - a couple of comments if I may.
Technically efficiency is energy out / energy in so all direct electric resistance heating is 100% efficient.
Normally the wrinkles are around the how you use it, the house environment (how much heat does it need - Passivehaus is ~90% less, EnerPHit perhaps 75% less, well-renovated trad perhaps 50-60% less), and getting a tariff or a something which lets you get your electricity at 30-35% of the full price; this last is often about time-shifting.
In a PH quite possibly the only heating required will be a bathroom towel radiator or loft heater used downstairs, and a plug in fan heater to be a boost in winter.
On a couple of things on the list - underfloor insulation is missing, GSHPs these days are expensive specialist systems by comparison with say A2A for capital, maintenance and consumables (especially antifreeze to go in the pipes), obvious things like a sealed, insulated loft hatch, and a controlled ventilation system of some sort if you have draught-proofed or used 2G (air carries a lot of heat out).
I don't fully understand what's going on, but looking at the posters it appears to be fuelled by the BLM mob. It's not clear AFAICS what had happened at Manchester Airport which led to the incident.
Film of police officer kicking a protester in the head.
Regardless of provocation, if any, pretty dumb thing to do in this day and age in front of a crowd where someone is sure to capture the moment.
I don't fully understand what's going on, but looking at the posters it appears to be fuelled by the BLM mob. It's not clear AFAICS what had happened at Manchester Airport which led to the incident.
Film of police officer kicking a protester in the head.
Regardless of provocation, if any, pretty dumb thing to do in this day and age in front of a crowd where someone is sure to capture the moment.
They weren't protesters. They were wanted for assaulting police officers and resisting arrest. 3 officers required hospital treatment. Clearly what has happened is the officer has lost his temper, which is worrying for an armed cop. In the UK, they are the most highly trained and is rare to see them be ones not acting calmly. Even the cases brought against them for shooting individuals, in basically every case, they only shot as a last resort. We don't really have the US problem of cops being trigger happy.
I don't fully understand what's going on, but looking at the posters it appears to be fuelled by the BLM mob. It's not clear AFAICS what had happened at Manchester Airport which led to the incident.
Film of police officer kicking a protester in the head.
Regardless of provocation, if any, pretty dumb thing to do in this day and age in front of a crowd where someone is sure to capture the moment.
They weren't protesters. They were wanted for assaulting police officers and resisting arrest.
I stand corrected, not protesters but suspected of serious crimes(s).
Still dumb to give them a kicking in front of a crowd armed with cell phones.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
Link posted earlier to YouTube of "Porridge" intro was promising.
"Barney Miller" was about a diverse bunch of NYPD detectives in a local Manhattan substation. Stock characters except that each also had strong character AND quirky personalities, thanks to superior writing, excellent casting and splendid acting carried the day. Less shoot it out and more let's talk it out, with a light touch. NOT a police procedural, but instead funny philosophical dialogue that's sorta like an old Greek comedy in modern dress.
Yesterday I watched episode 1 of The Commish, after a recommendation - a US police comedy drama of the early 90s. Couldn't get into it.
Should I persevere?
I've seen more than one season of it. The answer is No.
I don't fully understand what's going on, but looking at the posters it appears to be fuelled by the BLM mob. It's not clear AFAICS what had happened at Manchester Airport which led to the incident.
Film of police officer kicking a protester in the head.
Regardless of provocation, if any, pretty dumb thing to do in this day and age in front of a crowd where someone is sure to capture the moment.
They weren't protesters. They were wanted for assaulting police officers and resisting arrest.
I stand corrected, not protesters but suspected of serious crimes(s).
Still dumb to give them a kicking in front of a crowd armed with cell phones.
Its more than dumb, it probably criminal as by that point it appears the suspect was not an immediate threat. Being an airport there will be CCTV everywhere, so at some point the whole story will come out, but going to be difficult to excuse his actions as the suspect wasn't at that point going for his gun or anything.
I don't fully understand what's going on, but looking at the posters it appears to be fuelled by the BLM mob. It's not clear AFAICS what had happened at Manchester Airport which led to the incident.
Film of police officer kicking a protester in the head.
Regardless of provocation, if any, pretty dumb thing to do in this day and age in front of a crowd where someone is sure to capture the moment.
They weren't protesters. They were wanted for assaulting police officers and resisting arrest. 3 officers required hospital treatment. Clearly what has happened is the officer has lost his temper, which is worrying for an armed cop. In the UK, they are the most highly trained and is rare to see them be ones not acting calmly. Even the cases brought against them for shooting individuals, in basically every case, they only shot as a last resort. We don't really have the US problem of cops being trigger happy.
Yes, the police are rightly held to a very high standard because of the power they hold over us as a result of their positions. That does mean that on occasion it might feel harsh to condemn, but it is necessary not to let such things slide, even when context means it is not as awful as it might appear at first glance.
I don't fully understand what's going on, but looking at the posters it appears to be fuelled by the BLM mob. It's not clear AFAICS what had happened at Manchester Airport which led to the incident.
Film of police officer kicking a protester in the head.
Regardless of provocation, if any, pretty dumb thing to do in this day and age in front of a crowd where someone is sure to capture the moment.
They weren't protesters. They were wanted for assaulting police officers and resisting arrest. 3 officers required hospital treatment. Clearly what has happened is the officer has lost his temper, which is worrying for an armed cop. In the UK, they are the most highly trained and is rare to see them be ones not acting calmly. Even the cases brought against them for shooting individuals, in basically every case, they only shot as a last resort. We don't really have the US problem of cops being trigger happy.
Yes, the police are rightly held to a very high standard because of the power they hold over us as a result of their positions. That does mean that on occasion it might feel harsh to condemn, but it is necessary not to let such things slide, even when context means it is not as awful as it might appear at first glance.
There is also quite a big difference between the standards / training of the "bobby on the beat" and those allowed to carry weapons. Pretty much every case in the UK of police misbehaving, they aren't the ones with the shooters. There have been the odd high profile case e.g. Duggan, but again they weren't shooting him in a moment of rage, he was known violent armed criminal, they stopped him in a pre-planned operation, he pulled his weapon. There was no head stomping, in fact they tried to save his life.
Nearly through a largish extension project on a seventies house. Realising how shut the seventies house was. Lower story double block/faced stone walls, but thin. Upper wood frame, not insulated. New seaction properly double skim all the way up, thoroughly lagged roof etc. New double glazing throughout (thicker than the old glazing). Am expecting a much easier to heat house (will be insulating and cladding the old upper story.). I know that it’s often a list of things that people have already done, but there are probably millions of places that COULD do more.
You mean, the list of things that Insulate Britain were asking for in their protests?
The problem was not what they asked for, it was how they asked for it.
Also they are bad faith actors, it will never be enough until the capitalist system is overthrown.
Maybe some are like that, but many of them seem to be beyond that kind of reasoning. They know for sure that we are all going to die unless they do something utterly heroic and self-sacrificing. It's quasi-religious imho.
One enjoyable aspect of the Cold Fusion bollocks was the reaction of some people to the idea of unlimited, pollution free power.
I understand why Charlotte Dujardin is out of the Olympics.
But why then is a Dutch volleyball player who was convicted of raping an underage child allowed to compete?
As he has already served four years in prison for it?
Well he didn't serve 4 years, he did 1 year, sent back to Netherlands and released immediately. Even the 4 year original sentence was an unbelievably lenient sentence for raping a 12 year old.
On the other side of this, if he has not reoffended since and has been rehabilitated, it would suggest *something* is working and he is now a productive member of society.
And that, despite the perhaps justified outrage, is what we want to happen.
I understand why Charlotte Dujardin is out of the Olympics.
But why then is a Dutch volleyball player who was convicted of raping an underage child allowed to compete?
As he has already served four years in prison for it?
Well he didn't serve 4 years, he did 1 year, sent back to Netherlands and released immediately. Even the 4 year original sentence was an unbelievably lenient sentence for raping a 12 year old.
On the other side of this, if he has not reoffended since and has been rehabilitated, it would suggest *something* is working and he is now a productive member of society.
And that, despite the perhaps justified outrage, is what we want to happen.
I believe that is the point Paula Radcliffe was trying to make, but forced to retract.
Same judge as the last lot - an enemy of the people, no doubt.
Phoebe Plummer has already been to the cink for previous crimes. Repeat offender.
An habitual criminal? One who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard and accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner?
Like pre-WW1 suffragettes?
It's an obscure Britishism, @SeaShantyIrish2 . It's part of the title sequence to a rather good 1970s British sitcom called "Porridge" (a slang term for a prison sentence)
On the Rocks. Ran for more episodes than the U.K. version although the episodes are about as likely to be made public as the Jerry Lewis film ‘The Day the Clown Cried’. A couple are held in the Paley.
Never heard of the US (or UK) show. Though the former ran for a year just after "Barney Miller" a comedy cop show that was a BIG hit and is still a re-run staple on American TV.
Porridge was brilliant. The humour hasn't dated, though you couldn't get away with it nowadays. Definitely in the top 30 of Britosh sitcoms. In common with the best sitcoms, conveys far more emotions than just humour, and conveys them better because your defences are down because its a comedy. The best episodes were always those where the whole 30 minutes was just a dialogue of the two main protagonists locked in a cell, chatting. This was a fairly common trope on British sitcoms, often at the end of a season because the budget had run out, and I maìntain that this has produced some of the most wonderful half hours of English television. One foot in the grave also did it well.
Link posted earlier to YouTube of "Porridge" intro was promising.
"Barney Miller" was about a diverse bunch of NYPD detectives in a local Manhattan substation. Stock characters except that each also had strong character AND quirky personalities, thanks to superior writing, excellent casting and splendid acting carried the day. Less shoot it out and more let's talk it out, with a light touch. NOT a police procedural, but instead funny philosophical dialogue that's sorta like an old Greek comedy in modern dress.
Yesterday I watched episode 1 of The Commish, after a recommendation - a US police comedy drama of the early 90s. Couldn't get into it.
Should I persevere?
I've seen more than one season of it. The answer is No.
It's really odd seeing people who've only just entered the Commons speaking from the despatch box in quite important positions, such as Georgia Gould who I'm watching on the BBC Parliament channel at the moment.
In the genre of comedy cop shows, can certainly recommend the OLD American TV series (NOT recent remake) "Night Court" which is about a . . . wait for it . . . night court in Manhattan, presided over by a wacky hipster who wheres fedoras and his a HUGE fan of Mel Torme. Who makes not infrequent guest appearances. Also sleazy prosecutor, feisty defense attorney & other regulars.
Ran long time, and still a staple of US re-run TV.
Bring back "Rhoda", that's what I say. She had a hat and threw it in the air. Such daring!
Would be remiss IF yours truly failed to mention two of the first great American TV cop shows, one big-city urban, the other small-town rural: "Car 54 Where Are You?" and "The Andy Griffith Show".
Comments
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Beckinsale
Poor bugger.
1. Draught proofing windows and doors
2. Roof / loft insulation
3. Double or secondary glazing
4. Cavity wall insulation (if you have cavity walls)
5. Solar panels and batteries
6. IR heaters
7. Heat pump
8. Telling your teenage child to have showers shorter than 20 minutes
That’s assuming all electricals in the house are already low voltage.
I am going to guess there are plenty of other individuals who have competed in the Olympics that have gone under the radar after being convicted of terrible crimes. It is just the media have jumped on this one and as we saw with Paula Radcliffe comments and being forced to row them back for her own jobs sake, there is no discussion allowed.
"He'll feed votes to the tangerine"
"One Big Mac from the nuclear key"
Republicans against Trump
@RpsAgainstTrump
·
1h
This is pure gold.
I’m starting to think JD Vance is a worse VP pick than Sarah Palin
https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1816564886001836387
https://x.com/patrickkmaguire/status/1816404383304708188
"When Elizabeth Francis turned 114 years old last year, she said if she made it to her 115th birthday, she had a simple wish: two slices of cake.
Today, Francis — the oldest person in the U.S. — celebrates that birthday. Her family plans to present her with a large floral-covered vanilla cream sheet cake, her favorite flavor."
source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2024/07/25/oldest-person-elizabeth-francis-birthday/
Some details on her, here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Francis
As an American I hope she beat’s Calment’s record, though it seems quite unlikely.
(I'd sing "Happy Birthday" to her, but fear that might violate some Geneva convention.)
People trapped in each others’ company, in a situation. Fits almost all genres of British sitcom. Including later examples like peep show or outnumbered.
And overlaps in the Venn diagram almost but not quite perfectly with two men together, one wise and cynical, one young and naive. Jeeves and Wooster for example: they’re not trapped, but the rest is consistent.
And finally the grandiose, arrogant but faintly ridiculous twat character. Often combined with the above. Alan Partridge, Basil Fawlty, Arnold Rimmer / Gordon Brittas. Usually with others trapped with them.
Equities typically return 7% per year pretax.
And, of course, if energy prices rise at the rate of inflation (which I claim they won't, of course), then that's 10% pretax index linked.
Oh, as you were.
Frank Luntz
@FrankLuntz
·
1h
I’m hearing from multiple credible sources within Democratic leadership that Arizona’s
@SenMarkKelly is emerging as the leading candidate for Vice President – at least as of this moment.
That sounds pretty amazing. And it suggests dramatically cheaper energy for developing world economies.
Updated AP Democratic National Convention delegate tracker now reporting
> 3,323 delegates surveyed out of 3,949 total (84.1%)
> Supporting Kamala Harris for President = 3,284 (98.9% of delegates surveyed) versus Undecided = 39
> KH delegates now accounting for 83.2% of total delegates (surveyed and NOT yet surveyed)
> 33 states, territories and DC show 100% surveyed; Harris support is 100% in 32 of these, and 92.3% (1 of 12) for Democrats Abroad.
> 14 states are over 80% surveyed, with KH support over 90% in all, and 100% in 9 state delegations.
> 8 states with from 5% to 77% of delegates surveyed, including 3 under 20% (Illinois, Michigan, Montana); of these 8 states, lowest level of KH support in Minnesota and Michigan.
> 2 states with zero delegates surveyed: Alabama and Washington
On regional basis, AP survey of DNC delegates (qualified to vote on first ballot which excludes super-delegates) is over 90% complete in the East, South and territories. Which are also Kamala Harris's best regions each with 99% (in the South 99.9%) Survey is least complete in Midwest (70.6%) and West (72.6%) and KH support is also "lowest" at 97% and 98%.
More than just Nads - going after spouses is a bit off.
So therefore, what?
More often than not the answer is therefore let’s just keep burning fossil fuels as fast as possible and not bother with the transition. But they don’t say that, they just leave it hanging.
In fact let me coin a new term: the twatcom. A sitcom that draws its comedy from the fact the leading character is a twat.
Edit: so to speak
Is this not like Dr Who and Leon, with 16 versions - for Mr Vance depending on what he thinks his Sugar Daddy wants to hear?
Not sure financing at 9.9% to yield 5.5% is the best investment.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/banking/french-supermarket-shoppers-pay-scan-palm/
I was under the impression that these days you could just swipe, no payment was required.
1. Draught proofing windows and doors.
**Done
2. Roof / loft insulation.
**Done.
3. Double or secondary glazing.
**Done.
4. Cavity wall insulation (if you have cavity walls)
**Not done. Only got front and back walls to worry about. Sides insulated by next door. Got new boiler and gas central heating/hot water only 9,500 kwh last year.
5. Solar panels and batteries.
**As discussed above.
6. IR heaters
**Infrared? Can you elaborate?
7. Heat pump.
**If I had a big enough garden for ground source I might be tempted.
8. Telling your teenage child to have showers shorter than 20 minutes
**Shouldn't that one be [1]? :-)
That’s assuming all electricals in the house are already low voltage.
**It is amazing how much xbox on a big screen tv costs.
**I would add LED lighting to those, although a direct swap without "upgrade" can have disappointing results, better than compact flourescent though.
@OwenWntr
Nine polls from eight firms, compared with their final Biden numbers:
Trump: 46.5% (+0.1)
Harris: 45.1% (+2.2)
https://x.com/OwenWntr/status/1816551114722148708
I could also see canonical British sitcom type-parts for Cameron, Sunak, Starmer, Rayner, Widdecombe, Cummings and Corbyn.
"Barney Miller" was about a diverse bunch of NYPD detectives in a local Manhattan substation. Stock characters except that each also had strong character AND quirky personalities, thanks to superior writing, excellent casting and splendid acting carried the day. Less shoot it out and more let's talk it out, with a light touch. NOT a police procedural, but instead funny philosophical dialogue that's sorta like an old Greek comedy in modern dress.
Should I persevere?
Unlike Dolly, he didn't quite leave it all behind.
Infrared heating panels: very efficient as they’re like the sun on a cold day. Heat surfaces (including people) not space, so you can be comfortably warm in a room that’s at 15 or 16C. I’m looking into them at the moment. Suitable in particular for sitting rooms and studies, less so for bedrooms.
Currently paying 0% tax on savings /investments though (ISA etc). That might change temporarily when I retire and get a lump sum though.
Interesting. Got a link?
(we did try the heating off jumper on for a while with it set to in the first winter after our fixed deal ended. But by the end of November realised damp/mould was starting to be a serious risk.
So that is something to bear in mind with IR although if it heats the walls you might be ok.
I think the further benefit of solar is better resilience against price fluctuations, and a grid that is changing, as a way of effectively going partially off-grid. We reduced our elec use by about 15-20% ourselves 2013-15 when we moved in here by normal optimisation, and saved another 30% or so by switching every year.
Then when the solar went in it started self-generating a third of the remaining demand across the year, which all helped in the energy crisis.
In the crisis I did get stung by gas price rises, partly as I was not up to managing it carefully; but I have now been trying electric heating for the shoulder months, so the boiler is only 203 months a year, and the plan is A2A heat pumps at some point.
Sounds like a pretty good list to me.
Of course in my humble abode this time of year, when the sun comes out, I'm blocking my south-facing windows (only ones I've got) with panels, insulated and not, then shutting the blinds. Otherwise I risk my happy home turning into an Easy Bake Oven . . . and myself turning into a burnt offering.
"Waiting for Farage", Lyric Theatre, limited run.
"A nascent hard right political party discusses sundry topics not knowing whether Nigel will arrive and catapult them to relevance."
New seaction properly double skim all the way up, thoroughly lagged roof etc. New double glazing throughout (thicker than the old glazing). Am expecting a much easier to heat house (will be insulating and cladding the old upper story.).
I know that it’s often a list of things that people have already done, but there are probably millions of places that COULD do more.
https://makesunsets.com/products/join-the-next-balloon-launch-and-cool-the-planet
I can see why people don't want to let the geoengineering genie out of the bottle but it's going to escape the bottle, isn't it? Random people can do it, they only need it to be legal in one country in the world, and you can also do it offshore in international waters.
That's in addition to governments doing it. If you're running for election in India, you have pretty substantial GDP and you've got people dying from a problem mainly caused by more development countries, wouldn't you say, "I will fix the climate"? I don't mean what western politicians say when they say they'll fix the climate, ie they'll make your living standards drop and make a small dent in a global problem. I mean, "We're going to spend X to create the man-made equivalent of a volcano eruption, it's going to reduce the temperature by Y degrees, and Z fewer old people are going to die of heat stroke".
If I offer to reduce your expenses by £100 a year, or to increase your pretax income by £100 year, which is worth more?
Ran long time, and still a staple of US re-run TV.
But comedies make you feel something drama cannot. Possibly it lowers your defences, possibly it is more recognisable as real life - because real life is mainly funny. I offer you, off the top of my head, the last five minutes of each of the Royle Family Christmas specials, and also the end of the Office in which Brent finally gets some humanity.
Moving to film for a moment, I also give you the first ten minutes of Up. Which I saw at the cinema with my wife, after having struggled to conceive our first child and just at the point it looked like we had got one to stick. My God. Thank goodness for the 3d glasses.
"Protests break out for second night in Manchester after Burnham calls for calm"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/25/politics-latest-news-keir-starmer-tom-tugendhat/
Good list - a couple of comments if I may.
Technically efficiency is energy out / energy in so all direct electric resistance heating is 100% efficient.
Normally the wrinkles are around the how you use it, the house environment (how much heat does it need - Passivehaus is ~90% less, EnerPHit perhaps 75% less, well-renovated trad perhaps 50-60% less), and getting a tariff or a something which lets you get your electricity at 30-35% of the full price; this last is often about time-shifting.
In a PH quite possibly the only heating required will be a bathroom towel radiator or loft heater used downstairs, and a plug in fan heater to be a boost in winter.
On a couple of things on the list - underfloor insulation is missing, GSHPs these days are expensive specialist systems by comparison with say A2A for capital, maintenance and consumables (especially antifreeze to go in the pipes), obvious things like a sealed, insulated loft hatch, and a controlled ventilation system of some sort if you have draught-proofed or used 2G (air carries a lot of heat out).
Regardless of provocation, if any, pretty dumb thing to do in this day and age in front of a crowd where someone is sure to capture the moment.
Still dumb to give them a kicking in front of a crowd armed with cell phones.
Albeit unless she gets to 48% it would still be the worst voteshare for a Democratic presidential candidate this century.
She is lucky Trump has a low ceiling as if Haley had been Republican candidate it would have been a GOP landslide
The GOP would eat it's own face in disbelief.
Edit - apparently they are hats from the French revolution. How French.
And that, despite the perhaps justified outrage, is what we want to happen.
He only got 43% in 1992 as Perot got 19% but over 300 EC votes which I also doubt she matches with her EC total
‘It is time for this war to end,’ Harris tells Netanyahu; ‘I will not be silent’ on Palestinian suffering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb-BXZF1s0I