No free pass on hate speech just because you have a hamster!
I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here.
I am. Although I'm not as down on the OSA as most here. I think there might be some excessive caution going on (understandable with a new law) which will be corrected once it's been in for a while and the practical implications become clearer.
Perhaps some amendments around the due diligence will be necessary. You don't want it to become so onerous to run an online forum that nobody in their right mind does it. If this transpires to be the case it will fail the cost/benefit test.
But as things stand, based on what I know and my own assessment of "free speech vs harm caused by an unfettered internet" it passes that test.
It does absolutely nothing to stop the real problems online.
Farcebook, Twatter, Instagram and TikTok will be promoting all the worst shit.
Meanwhile innocuous fora that don’t have hate promoting algorithms shut down because their amateur owners can’t take the risk….
Yes, I know you think this. And you may be right. Let's see how it pans out. But as of now I'm not ready to join the PB consensus that it's a monstrosity.
Aside from I have actual expertise in the area…
From previous encounters with regulation that raises barriers, pointlessly, for small entrants…. Nothing will change. Forcing a small cycling forum to close doesn’t register with government. The big guys *like* barriers to entry.
It’s the same in building. Every year the door steps of paper get heavier. Now AI generated, often.
Actually site safety is getting worse. And firms are hiding injuries - “if you tell them this happened on the site, we will not pay your wages you are owed.”
So the big corporates will carry on selling radicalisation, porn made from actual crimes etc etc.
But at least OFCOM can have a shiny new office. Full of people bustling around in circles. So that’s good.
Completely off topic, but at the weekend I went to see NeZha 2 (pronounced, roughly, 'Nerjar'), the animated Chinese film that is blitzing the all-time box office list, and is now up to fifth on the highest-grossers list, just behind Titanic. The film has only been out for eight weeks.
I was looking forward to sniffing out clunky propaganda moments, but - despite the Little Pinks on the Chinese internet lauding the film's patriotism - there really aren't any. In truth, it's a superb movie. In the subtitled version, it's easy to follow plotlines (based loosely on Chinese mythology) and the visuals are richly impressive on the big screen. It's funny and moving too, and concludes with an extended battle sequence that (apparently) features 200 million individually rendered characters (AI did its bit, along with 4,000 animators). For scale, just imagine the whole population of Brazil beating the shit out of each other.
But there was one surprising element of the film worth commenting on. The takeaway message was pretty much: do your own thing; follow your heart; ignore the advice of elderly pontificators. That's in part aligned with a key theme in mythology throughout the world - cheeky rebels good, musty authority bad - but there is more to it than that, and the message has really resonated with Chinese Gen Zs, who have embraced the film enthusiastically. After the early-life prison tariff that is the Chinese education system, so many have reached their early 20s with nothing - high rents, no jobs, zero expectations. The film obviously has official backing, so the censors must have got wind of the discontent amongst this demographic and allowed the film to sound this note of solidarity with the audience. This an unsual change and a potentially hopeful moment. And even if it isn't, it's an effing great piece of cinema.
I really want to see a dubbed version (with the lips synched up with AI) of "The Wandering Earth 2", which nobody but me has heard of. Apart from a billion Chinese, of course.
I was struck by how little was actually said in the announcement by Liz Kendall. It was all quite brief really, I think done and dusted in 20 mins. Lots of Tories bad, we won't do what they proposed, but not a huge amount of detail.
Remarkably telling new ad from VoteVets targeting vulnerable House Rs. The spot focuses solely on Musk cutting VA services. it doesn't once mention Trump
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
If you think handing over the hostages would have stopped the Israelis doing this then I have a very rickety bridge to sell you. Even they aren't pretending that is the case. Look at their news conference this morning where they outlined the aims of this renewed bombimg and shelling. Yes they mention the hostages - who I think are now unlikely ever to be released given Israel's actions today - but they also fall back on the aims from before the cease fire. Destroy the Hamas command and control structure and target their weapons dumps and fighters.
I doubt very much that Netenyahu ever had any intention of honouring the cease fire - neither did Hamas. But the idea that handing over the hostages would have stopped this attack is just bollocks.
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
If you think handing over the hostages would have stopped the Israelis doing this then I have a very rickety bridge to sell you. Even they aren't pretending that is the case. Look at their news conference this morning where they outlined the aims of this renewed bombimg and shelling. Yes they mention the hostages - who I think are now unlikely ever to be released given Israel's actions today - but they also fall back on the aims from before the cease fire. Destroy the Hamas command and control structure and target their weapons dumps and fighters.
I doubt very much that Netenyahu ever had any intention of honouring the cease fire - neither did Hamas. But the idea that handing over the hostages would have stopped this attack is just bollocks.
Are there any hostages to even hand over? Hamas struggled towards the end of the first phase, missing one deadline where they clearly couldn't find the number of required alive hostages. It seemed like they even struggled for bodies as well.
It's lazy ... much like the Frank Gardner one we were talking about.
Their material consists of a quote from one person from a group of 4 interviewed in a local park. I think it's one of the costs of having a prominent, noisy MP. No analysis to back it up, or thinking about overall demographics, or realising that with generally lower living costs here the pressure is perhaps likely to be on expensive places.
We had it when the Graun took a picture of three shops being refurbed in the square, ignored all the others, and ran a story about delapidated town centres.
And again when Novara came and did some public interviews at the times when everybody is at work.
Very weird. Massive drop in employment rate in Ashfield since 2021- otherwise was actually doing quite well. Anyone local know why?
With its crazy politics, would YOU invest in Ashfield?
See also Trump's America.
I think of the chap I knew, years back, who looked at the idea of building a factory in the U.K. vs Far East.
He got the distinct impression that for a lot of people, in some deprived areas, new jobs and businesses were not wanted.
Not just the people. I remember seeing a letter from a Government Ministry to a German company wanting to build a factory in Swansea that effectively said "Fuck off, and take your green jobs with you..." That was certainy how it was interpeted.
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
Maybe less so now. Peep Show for instance has some class elements to it but most of the characters inhabit a broad middle class space and I'd say that class isn't really central to the programme.
Likewise the Inbetweeners
Isn't the whole setup of the Inbetweeners being the posh one has to go to a comp because his Dad stop paying the private school fees and lots of the gags are about him being posh / out of touch with his briefcase, school trips to shitty British seaside resorts rather than ski trips, etc?
I always saw it as an upper to lower middle class move rather than anything more drastic
Well yes, but the lower middle class see him as a posho. And he starts off himself seeing himself better than them and especially working class e.g. the work experience episode.
IMO, the setup does revolve around differences in perception and reality in class.
Yeah, fair enough. In hindsight, I agree with you.
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
If you think handing over the hostages would have stopped the Israelis doing this then I have a very rickety bridge to sell you. Even they aren't pretending that is the case. Look at their news conference this morning where they outlined the aims of this renewed bombimg and shelling. Yes they mention the hostages - who I think are now unlikely ever to be released given Israel's actions today - but they also fall back on the aims from before the cease fire. Destroy the Hamas command and control structure and target their weapons dumps and fighters.
I doubt very much that Netenyahu ever had any intention of honouring the cease fire - neither did Hamas. But the idea that handing over the hostages would have stopped this attack is just bollocks.
Are there any hostages to even hand over? Hamas struggled towards the end of the first phase, missing one deadline where they clearly couldn't find the number of required alive hostages. It seemed like they even struggled for bodies as well.
Quite poossibly. Who decided how many there were I wonder? Was it Israel just believing that everyone unaccounted for must be a hostage? Did Hamas ever present a list? Who knows.
The IT Crowd, Black Books, Spaced and others only address class obliquely if at all
I think it WAS true that class pervaded nearly all UK comedy, not any more
Has the golden age of UK comedy passed? Is there anything up there with Office, Phoenix Nights, InBetweeners, IT Crowd, Peep Show, etc currently? The fact a one off Gavin and Stacey was the biggest thing in comedy all year by miles and Mrs Brown Boys keeps getting renewed sort of indicates that perhaps things aren't that healthy.
Also The Office: only tangentially touches on class
Much more about the hopelessness of all young British life. Cheerfully
Apologies, coming to this late so may be rehashing old ground, but can't resist an interlude on sitcoms - the greatest of all British artforms:
Best sitcoms of the last 60 years, OTTOMH: Dad's Army - some jokes about class in there but not the central tenet of the show. Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - almost 100% about class, albeit from a specifically Northern perspective. (Ditto I Never Knew You Cared) Porridge - Not really about class at all The Young Ones - Ditto Yes Minister - sort of about class Ever Decreasing Circles - very much a middleclass-com, but not really much about class in there. One Foot in the Grace - ditto. (Although slightly incongruously, Victor was a security guard at the start.) Father Ted - sui generis, and really Irish rather than British. The Royle Family - touches on class but not the basis of the humour. The Office - see Leon's comment above. The IT crowd -again, not really. Car Share - arguably? You have to be very well attuned to the nuances of Northern class to spot it though. Detectorists - not really about class.
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
If you think handing over the hostages would have stopped the Israelis doing this then I have a very rickety bridge to sell you. Even they aren't pretending that is the case. Look at their news conference this morning where they outlined the aims of this renewed bombimg and shelling. Yes they mention the hostages - who I think are now unlikely ever to be released given Israel's actions today - but they also fall back on the aims from before the cease fire. Destroy the Hamas command and control structure and target their weapons dumps and fighters.
I doubt very much that Netenyahu ever had any intention of honouring the cease fire - neither did Hamas. But the idea that handing over the hostages would have stopped this attack is just bollocks.
Are there any hostages to even hand over? Hamas struggled towards the end of the first phase, missing one deadline where they clearly couldn't find the number of required alive hostages. It seemed like they even struggled for bodies as well.
I believe Israel is taking the view that there are no live hostages left to hand over. Those tortured by Hamas will have been killed to stop them telling their stories to the world on release.
Hamas can now say "well, they were alive, until you killed them in these new strikes." Which might even have been true. I can imagine Hamas keeing them close to the leadership for this very reason. There is a terrible cynicism at play on both sides.
“This is a significant reform package that is expected to save over £5 billion in 2029/30 and the OBR will set out their final assessment of the costings next week,”
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
The best sitcoms had proper depth to multiple characters. There are at least 5 or 6 three dimensional characters in Dad’s Army before you get into the more thinly drawn ones.
I feel quite similar about Allo-Allo, but not so much for three dimensional characters- most are deliberately absurd and stereotypical- but for the depth and diversity of the stereotypes.
Among the French characters in particular we have so many recognisable types: the harassed but benign Rene, the grating-voiced matriarch Edith, the pompous pillar of the community M. Alfonse, the saucy maids - and each of those two represent slightly different French archetypes - and the 1968-coded resistance fighter. And there are several very stereotypical yet each very different versions of Germanness on display.
Dad's Army, Allo Allo, even It Ain't Half Hot Mum also had quite solid backgrounds. Sometimes I jokingly call them documentaries but they were well-grounded so that if you look past the jokes you can see how things really were in wartime Britain, France or India.
Completely off topic, but at the weekend I went to see NeZha 2 (pronounced, roughly, 'Nerjar'), the animated Chinese film that is blitzing the all-time box office list, and is now up to fifth on the highest-grossers list, just behind Titanic. The film has only been out for eight weeks.
I was looking forward to sniffing out clunky propaganda moments, but - despite the Little Pinks on the Chinese internet lauding the film's patriotism - there really aren't any. In truth, it's a superb movie. In the subtitled version, it's easy to follow plotlines (based loosely on Chinese mythology) and the visuals are richly impressive on the big screen. It's funny and moving too, and concludes with an extended battle sequence that (apparently) features 200 million individually rendered characters (AI did its bit, along with 4,000 animators). For scale, just imagine the whole population of Brazil beating the shit out of each other.
But there was one surprising element of the film worth commenting on. The takeaway message was pretty much: do your own thing; follow your heart; ignore the advice of elderly pontificators. That's in part aligned with a key theme in mythology throughout the world - cheeky rebels good, musty authority bad - but there is more to it than that, and the message has really resonated with Chinese Gen Zs, who have embraced the film enthusiastically. After the early-life prison tariff that is the Chinese education system, so many have reached their early 20s with nothing - high rents, no jobs, zero expectations. The film obviously has official backing, so the censors must have got wind of the discontent amongst this demographic and allowed the film to sound this note of solidarity with the audience. This an unsual change and a potentially hopeful moment. And even if it isn't, it's an effing great piece of cinema.
Incredibly based take.
Do you mean 'biased'? If so, what is your take? I haven't seen or even heard of the film but I quite enjoyed @BillyLiar 's report.
Completely off topic, but at the weekend I went to see NeZha 2 (pronounced, roughly, 'Nerjar'), the animated Chinese film that is blitzing the all-time box office list, and is now up to fifth on the highest-grossers list, just behind Titanic. The film has only been out for eight weeks.
I was looking forward to sniffing out clunky propaganda moments, but - despite the Little Pinks on the Chinese internet lauding the film's patriotism - there really aren't any. In truth, it's a superb movie. In the subtitled version, it's easy to follow plotlines (based loosely on Chinese mythology) and the visuals are richly impressive on the big screen. It's funny and moving too, and concludes with an extended battle sequence that (apparently) features 200 million individually rendered characters (AI did its bit, along with 4,000 animators). For scale, just imagine the whole population of Brazil beating the shit out of each other.
But there was one surprising element of the film worth commenting on. The takeaway message was pretty much: do your own thing; follow your heart; ignore the advice of elderly pontificators. That's in part aligned with a key theme in mythology throughout the world - cheeky rebels good, musty authority bad - but there is more to it than that, and the message has really resonated with Chinese Gen Zs, who have embraced the film enthusiastically. After the early-life prison tariff that is the Chinese education system, so many have reached their early 20s with nothing - high rents, no jobs, zero expectations. The film obviously has official backing, so the censors must have got wind of the discontent amongst this demographic and allowed the film to sound this note of solidarity with the audience. This an unsual change and a potentially hopeful moment. And even if it isn't, it's an effing great piece of cinema.
Incredibly based take.
Do you mean 'biased'? If so, what is your take? I haven't seen or even heard of the film but I quite enjoyed @BillyLiar 's report.
I was struck by how little was actually said in the announcement by Liz Kendall. It was all quite brief really, I think done and dusted in 20 mins. Lots of Tories bad, we won't do what they proposed, but not a huge amount of detail.
...because Labour is about to follow the Tory playbook.
They will get crucified for it - not by the Tories, but by Reform.
I was struck by how little was actually said in the announcement by Liz Kendall. It was all quite brief really, I think done and dusted in 20 mins. Lots of Tories bad, we won't do what they proposed, but not a huge amount of detail.
What I took from it was:
1) They will bring back F2F assessments, (which will help weed out bogus claimants) 2) They are increasing the eligibility criteria (so some current claimants won't be able to claim any more) 3) They are making it harder for young people to claim (to stop young people going straight from school to benefits)
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
If you think handing over the hostages would have stopped the Israelis doing this then I have a very rickety bridge to sell you. Even they aren't pretending that is the case. Look at their news conference this morning where they outlined the aims of this renewed bombimg and shelling. Yes they mention the hostages - who I think are now unlikely ever to be released given Israel's actions today - but they also fall back on the aims from before the cease fire. Destroy the Hamas command and control structure and target their weapons dumps and fighters.
I doubt very much that Netenyahu ever had any intention of honouring the cease fire - neither did Hamas. But the idea that handing over the hostages would have stopped this attack is just bollocks.
The belligerents couldn't reach agreement on continuing the ceasefire so hostilities commenced.
The IT Crowd, Black Books, Spaced and others only address class obliquely if at all
I think it WAS true that class pervaded nearly all UK comedy, not any more
Has the golden age of UK comedy passed? Is there anything up there with Office, Phoenix Nights, InBetweeners, IT Crowd, Peep Show, etc currently? The fact a one off Gavin and Stacey was the biggest thing in comedy all year by miles and Mrs Brown Boys keeps getting renewed sort of indicates that perhaps things aren't that healthy.
Some cracking US comedy shows now, or being aired now, taking over, perhaps, from the golden age of drama. Shrinking, Ted Lasso, The Kominsky Method, Platonic, etc
No free pass on hate speech just because you have a hamster!
I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here.
I am. Although I'm not as down on the OSA as most here. I think there might be some excessive caution going on (understandable with a new law) which will be corrected once it's been in for a while and the practical implications become clearer.
Perhaps some amendments around the due diligence will be necessary. You don't want it to become so onerous to run an online forum that nobody in their right mind does it. If this transpires to be the case it will fail the cost/benefit test.
But as things stand, based on what I know and my own assessment of "free speech vs harm caused by an unfettered internet" it passes that test.
It does absolutely nothing to stop the real problems online.
Farcebook, Twatter, Instagram and TikTok will be promoting all the worst shit.
Meanwhile innocuous fora that don’t have hate promoting algorithms shut down because their amateur owners can’t take the risk….
Yes, I know you think this. And you may be right. Let's see how it pans out. But as of now I'm not ready to join the PB consensus that it's a monstrosity.
Aside from I have actual expertise in the area…
From previous encounters with regulation that raises barriers, pointlessly, for small entrants…. Nothing will change. Forcing a small cycling forum to close doesn’t register with government. The big guys *like* barriers to entry.
It’s the same in building. Every year the door steps of paper get heavier. Now AI generated, often.
Actually site safety is getting worse. And firms are hiding injuries - “if you tell them this happened on the site, we will not pay your wages you are owed.”
So the big corporates will carry on selling radicalisation, porn made from actual crimes etc etc.
But at least OFCOM can have a shiny new office. Full of people bustling around in circles. So that’s good.
Yep, new regs can definitely be counterproductive. Although not so much this one imo. On balance, and recognising the downsides, I support this one.
An interesting question is how to assess the success or failure of a change. You need to compare the damage caused to the damage prevented. Unless it's incredibly obvious this isn't easy. In fact it's probably often impossible.
Does the UK have a practice of promotion at or just before retirement?
Yes, until recently. It was primarily used as a pension bumping bribe to get people out with no fuss.
I got promoted to Commander on my very last day of service to get rid of me because they were concerned that I was going to top myself on MoD property which would have caused a great deal of unwelcome and tiresome paperwork.
Being Commander Bond would definitely have made me much cheerier too.
The IT Crowd, Black Books, Spaced and others only address class obliquely if at all
I think it WAS true that class pervaded nearly all UK comedy, not any more
Has the golden age of UK comedy passed? Is there anything up there with Office, Phoenix Nights, InBetweeners, IT Crowd, Peep Show, etc currently? The fact a one off Gavin and Stacey was the biggest thing in comedy all year by miles and Mrs Brown Boys keeps getting renewed sort of indicates that perhaps things aren't that healthy.
Absolutely passed. It’s dismal now
It’s also passed in the USA but their golden age was more recent
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
If you think handing over the hostages would have stopped the Israelis doing this then I have a very rickety bridge to sell you. Even they aren't pretending that is the case. Look at their news conference this morning where they outlined the aims of this renewed bombimg and shelling. Yes they mention the hostages - who I think are now unlikely ever to be released given Israel's actions today - but they also fall back on the aims from before the cease fire. Destroy the Hamas command and control structure and target their weapons dumps and fighters.
I doubt very much that Netenyahu ever had any intention of honouring the cease fire - neither did Hamas. But the idea that handing over the hostages would have stopped this attack is just bollocks.
If one were cynical one might think it suits Netanyahu that the hostages are now a lost cause, a perpetually festering sore to be displayed to the world along with all the others.
From my brief listen to the news the hostages’ families are very angry, not that Bibi cares much.
No free pass on hate speech just because you have a hamster!
I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here.
I am. Although I'm not as down on the OSA as most here. I think there might be some excessive caution going on (understandable with a new law) which will be corrected once it's been in for a while and the practical implications become clearer.
Perhaps some amendments around the due diligence will be necessary. You don't want it to become so onerous to run an online forum that nobody in their right mind does it. If this transpires to be the case it will fail the cost/benefit test.
But as things stand, based on what I know and my own assessment of "free speech vs harm caused by an unfettered internet" it passes that test.
It does absolutely nothing to stop the real problems online.
Farcebook, Twatter, Instagram and TikTok will be promoting all the worst shit.
Meanwhile innocuous fora that don’t have hate promoting algorithms shut down because their amateur owners can’t take the risk….
Yes, I know you think this. And you may be right. Let's see how it pans out. But as of now I'm not ready to join the PB consensus that it's a monstrosity.
Aside from I have actual expertise in the area…
From previous encounters with regulation that raises barriers, pointlessly, for small entrants…. Nothing will change. Forcing a small cycling forum to close doesn’t register with government. The big guys *like* barriers to entry.
It’s the same in building. Every year the door steps of paper get heavier. Now AI generated, often.
Actually site safety is getting worse. And firms are hiding injuries - “if you tell them this happened on the site, we will not pay your wages you are owed.”
So the big corporates will carry on selling radicalisation, porn made from actual crimes etc etc.
But at least OFCOM can have a shiny new office. Full of people bustling around in circles. So that’s good.
Yep, new regs can definitely be counterproductive. Although not so much this one imo. On balance, and recognising the downsides, I support this one.
An interesting question is how to assess the success or failure of a change. You need to compare the damage caused to the damage prevented. Unless it's incredibly obvious this isn't easy. In fact it's probably often impossible.
It’s simple. Regulation costs. Therefore, if there isn’t an identifiable improvement, it’s a fuck up.
The resistance to this idea is from those who get all excited by clipboards and rules.
I was struck by how little was actually said in the announcement by Liz Kendall. It was all quite brief really, I think done and dusted in 20 mins. Lots of Tories bad, we won't do what they proposed, but not a huge amount of detail.
...because Labour is about to follow the Tory playbook.
They will get crucified for it - not by the Tories, but by Reform.
I suspect the Reform line will be that if we need to save money on benefits then focus first on migrants, child benefit being sent abroad etc etc
No free pass on hate speech just because you have a hamster!
I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here.
I am. Although I'm not as down on the OSA as most here. I think there might be some excessive caution going on (understandable with a new law) which will be corrected once it's been in for a while and the practical implications become clearer.
Perhaps some amendments around the due diligence will be necessary. You don't want it to become so onerous to run an online forum that nobody in their right mind does it. If this transpires to be the case it will fail the cost/benefit test.
But as things stand, based on what I know and my own assessment of "free speech vs harm caused by an unfettered internet" it passes that test.
It does absolutely nothing to stop the real problems online.
Farcebook, Twatter, Instagram and TikTok will be promoting all the worst shit.
Meanwhile innocuous fora that don’t have hate promoting algorithms shut down because their amateur owners can’t take the risk….
Yes, I know you think this. And you may be right. Let's see how it pans out. But as of now I'm not ready to join the PB consensus that it's a monstrosity.
Aside from I have actual expertise in the area…
From previous encounters with regulation that raises barriers, pointlessly, for small entrants…. Nothing will change. Forcing a small cycling forum to close doesn’t register with government. The big guys *like* barriers to entry.
It’s the same in building. Every year the door steps of paper get heavier. Now AI generated, often.
Actually site safety is getting worse. And firms are hiding injuries - “if you tell them this happened on the site, we will not pay your wages you are owed.”
So the big corporates will carry on selling radicalisation, porn made from actual crimes etc etc.
But at least OFCOM can have a shiny new office. Full of people bustling around in circles. So that’s good.
Yep, new regs can definitely be counterproductive. Although not so much this one imo. On balance, and recognising the downsides, I support this one.
An interesting question is how to assess the success or failure of a change. You need to compare the damage caused to the damage prevented. Unless it's incredibly obvious this isn't easy. In fact it's probably often impossible.
It’s simple. Regulation costs. Therefore, if there isn’t an identifiable improvement, it’s a fuck up.
The resistance to this idea is from those who get all excited by clipboards and rules.
The IT Crowd, Black Books, Spaced and others only address class obliquely if at all
I think it WAS true that class pervaded nearly all UK comedy, not any more
Has the golden age of UK comedy passed? Is there anything up there with Office, Phoenix Nights, InBetweeners, IT Crowd, Peep Show, etc currently? The fact a one off Gavin and Stacey was the biggest thing in comedy all year by miles and Mrs Brown Boys keeps getting renewed sort of indicates that perhaps things aren't that healthy.
Two more obscure ones from the 80s that hardly anybody ever mentions, but I'd take over any of those (except maybe the IT Crowd):
Hot Metal - a brilliant satire on tabloid journalism Happy Families - about a psychopathic grandmother and her brainless grandson trying to reassemble her granddaughters from around the world to harvest their organs.
I was struck by how little was actually said in the announcement by Liz Kendall. It was all quite brief really, I think done and dusted in 20 mins. Lots of Tories bad, we won't do what they proposed, but not a huge amount of detail.
...because Labour is about to follow the Tory playbook.
They will get crucified for it - not by the Tories, but by Reform.
I suspect the Reform line will be that if we need to save money on benefits then focus first on migrants, child benefit being sent abroad etc etc
I was struck by how little was actually said in the announcement by Liz Kendall. It was all quite brief really, I think done and dusted in 20 mins. Lots of Tories bad, we won't do what they proposed, but not a huge amount of detail.
...because Labour is about to follow the Tory playbook.
They will get crucified for it - not by the Tories, but by Reform.
I suspect the Reform line will be that if we need to save money on benefits then focus first on migrants, child benefit being sent abroad etc etc
Completely off topic, but at the weekend I went to see NeZha 2 (pronounced, roughly, 'Nerjar'), the animated Chinese film that is blitzing the all-time box office list, and is now up to fifth on the highest-grossers list, just behind Titanic. The film has only been out for eight weeks.
I was looking forward to sniffing out clunky propaganda moments, but - despite the Little Pinks on the Chinese internet lauding the film's patriotism - there really aren't any. In truth, it's a superb movie. In the subtitled version, it's easy to follow plotlines (based loosely on Chinese mythology) and the visuals are richly impressive on the big screen. It's funny and moving too, and concludes with an extended battle sequence that (apparently) features 200 million individually rendered characters (AI did its bit, along with 4,000 animators). For scale, just imagine the whole population of Brazil beating the shit out of each other.
But there was one surprising element of the film worth commenting on. The takeaway message was pretty much: do your own thing; follow your heart; ignore the advice of elderly pontificators. That's in part aligned with a key theme in mythology throughout the world - cheeky rebels good, musty authority bad - but there is more to it than that, and the message has really resonated with Chinese Gen Zs, who have embraced the film enthusiastically. After the early-life prison tariff that is the Chinese education system, so many have reached their early 20s with nothing - high rents, no jobs, zero expectations. The film obviously has official backing, so the censors must have got wind of the discontent amongst this demographic and allowed the film to sound this note of solidarity with the audience. This an unsual change and a potentially hopeful moment. And even if it isn't, it's an effing great piece of cinema.
I really want to see a dubbed version (with the lips synched up with AI) of "The Wandering Earth 2", which nobody but me has heard of. Apart from a billion Chinese, of course.
WE1 was terrible. Hope WE2 is a lot better.
Their Wolf Warrior films are quite good - a Chinese copy of a lot a US Seal/Ranger movies
I was struck by how little was actually said in the announcement by Liz Kendall. It was all quite brief really, I think done and dusted in 20 mins. Lots of Tories bad, we won't do what they proposed, but not a huge amount of detail.
...because Labour is about to follow the Tory playbook.
They will get crucified for it - not by the Tories, but by Reform.
I suspect the Reform line will be that if we need to save money on benefits then focus first on migrants, child benefit being sent abroad etc etc
Research indicates that immigrants paid approximately £20 billion in taxes in 2020, which is substantially higher than the costs associated with public services they utilise. This tax revenue is essential for funding public services and social welfare programmes that benefit all residents.
Studies have shown that the tax contributions made by immigrants generally outweigh the public service costs incurred. According to the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), immigrants from outside the EU contributed about £4.6 billion more in taxes than they received in benefits and public services. Even among EU immigrants, the net fiscal contribution remains positive, although slightly less pronounced.
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
If you think handing over the hostages would have stopped the Israelis doing this then I have a very rickety bridge to sell you. Even they aren't pretending that is the case. Look at their news conference this morning where they outlined the aims of this renewed bombimg and shelling. Yes they mention the hostages - who I think are now unlikely ever to be released given Israel's actions today - but they also fall back on the aims from before the cease fire. Destroy the Hamas command and control structure and target their weapons dumps and fighters.
I doubt very much that Netenyahu ever had any intention of honouring the cease fire - neither did Hamas. But the idea that handing over the hostages would have stopped this attack is just bollocks.
The belligerents couldn't reach agreement on continuing the ceasefire so hostilities commenced.
There's war for you.
Given the enormous disparities in firepower and casualties, I'd suggest that "hostilities and ""war" aren't really suitable terms. "Slaughter" and "genocide" would appear to be more fitting.
“This is a significant reform package that is expected to save over £5 billion in 2029/30 and the OBR will set out their final assessment of the costings next week,”
That’s not far off from being in the roundings.
The pitiful young wastrel claimant just interviewed on R4 WATO did nothing to persuade listeners that we aren’t just wasting a shedload of public finances.
The IT Crowd, Black Books, Spaced and others only address class obliquely if at all
I think it WAS true that class pervaded nearly all UK comedy, not any more
Has the golden age of UK comedy passed? Is there anything up there with Office, Phoenix Nights, InBetweeners, IT Crowd, Peep Show, etc currently? The fact a one off Gavin and Stacey was the biggest thing in comedy all year by miles and Mrs Brown Boys keeps getting renewed sort of indicates that perhaps things aren't that healthy.
Two more obscure ones from the 80s that hardly anybody ever mentions, but I'd take over any of those (except maybe the IT Crowd):
Hot Metal - a brilliant satire on tabloid journalism Happy Families - about a psychopathic grandmother and her brainless grandson trying to reassemble her granddaughters from around the world to harvest their organs.
Liz Kendall just complained about too many Tory consultations before announcing another new consultation....
Kendall plans to save £5bn a year by 2030. To get the scale of this, the government has set aside £12bn for the infected blood scandal. It is tiny in the the great scheme of things, but is £1000 pa for 5 million people - so it's tiny and massive at the same time.
And as always, all welfare systems will get dislocated on the question, impossible for administrators to ask in the modern world, but which working class communities have strong feelings about, of distinguishing between the deserving and the undeserving recipients.
Van driver who doesn’t know how to drive, part XXXVIII
Coked off his tits maybe. One young woman dead, two pedestrians in hospital.
The driver of the van, a 26-year-old man, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by careless driving and driving with a concentration of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8ypjyv3ymo
I was struck by how little was actually said in the announcement by Liz Kendall. It was all quite brief really, I think done and dusted in 20 mins. Lots of Tories bad, we won't do what they proposed, but not a huge amount of detail.
...because Labour is about to follow the Tory playbook.
They will get crucified for it - not by the Tories, but by Reform.
I suspect the Reform line will be that if we need to save money on benefits then focus first on migrants, child benefit being sent abroad etc etc
Research indicates that immigrants paid approximately £20 billion in taxes in 2020, which is substantially higher than the costs associated with public services they utilise. This tax revenue is essential for funding public services and social welfare programmes that benefit all residents.
Studies have shown that the tax contributions made by immigrants generally outweigh the public service costs incurred. According to the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), immigrants from outside the EU contributed about £4.6 billion more in taxes than they received in benefits and public services. Even among EU immigrants, the net fiscal contribution remains positive, although slightly less pronounced.
Sounding rather coy about the actual benefit of EU immigrants' contribution there...
No free pass on hate speech just because you have a hamster!
I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here.
I am. Although I'm not as down on the OSA as most here. I think there might be some excessive caution going on (understandable with a new law) which will be corrected once it's been in for a while and the practical implications become clearer.
Perhaps some amendments around the due diligence will be necessary. You don't want it to become so onerous to run an online forum that nobody in their right mind does it. If this transpires to be the case it will fail the cost/benefit test.
But as things stand, based on what I know and my own assessment of "free speech vs harm caused by an unfettered internet" it passes that test.
It does absolutely nothing to stop the real problems online.
Farcebook, Twatter, Instagram and TikTok will be promoting all the worst shit.
Meanwhile innocuous fora that don’t have hate promoting algorithms shut down because their amateur owners can’t take the risk….
Yes, I know you think this. And you may be right. Let's see how it pans out. But as of now I'm not ready to join the PB consensus that it's a monstrosity.
Aside from I have actual expertise in the area…
From previous encounters with regulation that raises barriers, pointlessly, for small entrants…. Nothing will change. Forcing a small cycling forum to close doesn’t register with government. The big guys *like* barriers to entry.
It’s the same in building. Every year the door steps of paper get heavier. Now AI generated, often.
Actually site safety is getting worse. And firms are hiding injuries - “if you tell them this happened on the site, we will not pay your wages you are owed.”
So the big corporates will carry on selling radicalisation, porn made from actual crimes etc etc.
But at least OFCOM can have a shiny new office. Full of people bustling around in circles. So that’s good.
Yep, new regs can definitely be counterproductive. Although not so much this one imo. On balance, and recognising the downsides, I support this one.
An interesting question is how to assess the success or failure of a change. You need to compare the damage caused to the damage prevented. Unless it's incredibly obvious this isn't easy. In fact it's probably often impossible.
It’s simple. Regulation costs. Therefore, if there isn’t an identifiable improvement, it’s a fuck up.
The resistance to this idea is from those who get all excited by clipboards and rules.
Not quite as simple as that. Eg there might be tangible benefits but they are exceeded by the cost. That probably means don't do it. Or the benefits could be huge but intangible. That might mean it's a goer even though you can't prove it.
But anyway, with the OSA, your view is what. That there are no benefits? Or that there are but they are difficult to measure?
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
The IT Crowd, Black Books, Spaced and others only address class obliquely if at all
I think it WAS true that class pervaded nearly all UK comedy, not any more
Has the golden age of UK comedy passed? Is there anything up there with Office, Phoenix Nights, InBetweeners, IT Crowd, Peep Show, etc currently? The fact a one off Gavin and Stacey was the biggest thing in comedy all year by miles and Mrs Brown Boys keeps getting renewed sort of indicates that perhaps things aren't that healthy.
Absolutely passed. It’s dismal now
It’s also passed in the USA but their golden age was more recent
The same phenomenon we see with pop music and general TV though. When we remember the past we only remember the best stuff. We then compare it with the whole spectrum of material that’s out there currently.
There was plenty of bilge in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Probably a lower floor back then, and possibly a higher ceiling.
Macron is reportedly resisting British defence companies being included in the 800 billion rearmament plan for Europe.
For France, its main proponent, the EU Army was always about spending German Euros in French arms factories, and had very little to do with defence.
I'm not sure why British defence companies should be included, unless they're making something indispensable or of a far higher quality than EU companies can provide.
“This is a significant reform package that is expected to save over £5 billion in 2029/30 and the OBR will set out their final assessment of the costings next week,”
That’s not far off from being in the roundings.
The pitiful young wastrel claimant just interviewed on R4 WATO did nothing to persuade listeners that we aren’t just wasting shedload of public finances.
I accept that the BBC needs to be balanced but over many years I have never heard a news programme like WATO discuss in any detail or at all cases where large quantities of public money go in benefits to people because they are feckless wasters who prefer to live off other people working.
The IT Crowd, Black Books, Spaced and others only address class obliquely if at all
I think it WAS true that class pervaded nearly all UK comedy, not any more
Has the golden age of UK comedy passed? Is there anything up there with Office, Phoenix Nights, InBetweeners, IT Crowd, Peep Show, etc currently? The fact a one off Gavin and Stacey was the biggest thing in comedy all year by miles and Mrs Brown Boys keeps getting renewed sort of indicates that perhaps things aren't that healthy.
Two more obscure ones from the 80s that hardly anybody ever mentions, but I'd take over any of those (except maybe the IT Crowd):
Hot Metal - a brilliant satire on tabloid journalism Happy Families - about a psychopathic grandmother and her brainless grandson trying to reassemble her granddaughters from around the world to harvest their organs.
Hot Metal in the shadow of Drop The Dead Donkey.
On the subject of forgotten gems from the 80s, I would advance Chance in a Million.
Macron is reportedly resisting British defence companies being included in the 800 billion rearmament plan for Europe.
For France, its main proponent, the EU Army was always about spending German Euros in French arms factories, and had very little to do with defence.
I'm not sure why British defence companies should be included, unless they're making something indispensable or of a far higher quality than EU companies can provide.
It's not that they should, but rather that it would be better for our economy if they were.
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
Where does Ghosts fall?
Detectorists is surely comedy drama, like Fleabag.
Among recent comedies, Motherland - which I expect is mainly popular among people who recognise the milieu ie parents of school age children - is definitely heavily about class, as is the spinoff Amandaland.
The IT Crowd, Black Books, Spaced and others only address class obliquely if at all
I think it WAS true that class pervaded nearly all UK comedy, not any more
Has the golden age of UK comedy passed? Is there anything up there with Office, Phoenix Nights, InBetweeners, IT Crowd, Peep Show, etc currently? The fact a one off Gavin and Stacey was the biggest thing in comedy all year by miles and Mrs Brown Boys keeps getting renewed sort of indicates that perhaps things aren't that healthy.
I love Not Going Out, which has a superb ensemble, but even that is getting past it now.
The IT Crowd, Black Books, Spaced and others only address class obliquely if at all
I think it WAS true that class pervaded nearly all UK comedy, not any more
Has the golden age of UK comedy passed? Is there anything up there with Office, Phoenix Nights, InBetweeners, IT Crowd, Peep Show, etc currently? The fact a one off Gavin and Stacey was the biggest thing in comedy all year by miles and Mrs Brown Boys keeps getting renewed sort of indicates that perhaps things aren't that healthy.
Absolutely passed. It’s dismal now
It’s also passed in the USA but their golden age was more recent
Upstart Crow, Mum and Motherland are very good. Not so keen on Amandaland but my wife thinks it hilarious.
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
Where does Ghosts fall?
Ghosts is ok, but definitely feels post-golden-age. Everything in it is good, but it somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. But I have only seen about 5 episodes so maybe it is worth sticking with.
Detectorists absolutely is comedy. It's extremely slow paced, but that's ok.
I'm going to stick up for Gavin and Stacey in the face of TUD's cynicism. I missed that off my list but for me it is absolutely perfect. Funnier than 99% of sitcoms, an unbeatable narrative arc, and genuine warmth and likeability. It gets looked down on because it's a crowd-pleaser, but sometimes the masses are right.
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
Where does Ghosts fall?
Ghosts is ok, but definitely feels post-golden-age. Everything in it is good, but it somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. But I have only seen about 5 episodes so maybe it is worth sticking with.
Detectorists absolutely is comedy. It's extremely slow paced, but that's ok.
I'm going to stick up for Gavin and Stacey in the face of TUD's cynicism. I missed that off my list but for me it is absolutely perfect. Funnier than 99% of sitcoms, an unbeatable narrative arc, and genuine warmth and likeability. It gets looked down on because it's a crowd-pleaser, but sometimes the masses are right.
I'd stick with Ghosts. Eventually the back story of all the characters is revealed and it adds a lot. There are some great moments (often touching) within it.
The @NPA1921 has announced that it is advising its 6,000 member pharmacies to limit services and reduce opening hours in protest against “unsustainable” #funding.
Macron is reportedly resisting British defence companies being included in the 800 billion rearmament plan for Europe.
For France, its main proponent, the EU Army was always about spending German Euros in French arms factories, and had very little to do with defence.
I'm not sure why British defence companies should be included, unless they're making something indispensable or of a far higher quality than EU companies can provide.
It's not that they should, but rather that it would be better for our economy if they were.
It probably would be, but not for the EU. It would mean production of potentially key weapons sitting outside EU territory and at (moderate) risk of being requisitioned if the shit ever hit the fan, apart from the revenue going elsewhere.
It goes without saying that we should not depend unduly on EU companies for similar reasons.
The @NPA1921 has announced that it is advising its 6,000 member pharmacies to limit services and reduce opening hours in protest against “unsustainable” #funding.
The @NPA1921 has announced that it is advising its 6,000 member pharmacies to limit services and reduce opening hours in protest against “unsustainable” #funding.
This has been coming. At the same time as trying to get pharmacy to do more too...
And of course the NI rise....the bit that Rachel from accounts seemed to forget that NI increases affect lots of these services not just horrible greedy mega corps.
I really want to see a dubbed version (with the lips synched up with AI) of "The Wandering Earth 2", which nobody but me has heard of. Apart from a billion Chinese, of course.
The subtitled version had limited release in the UK, but it was less enjoyable than the first film (which itself was pretty average) and overdid the flag-waving content. The Netflix series was not great but more fun and could include all the Cultural Revolution stuff.
“This is a significant reform package that is expected to save over £5 billion in 2029/30 and the OBR will set out their final assessment of the costings next week,”
That’s not far off from being in the roundings.
The pitiful young wastrel claimant just interviewed on R4 WATO did nothing to persuade listeners that we aren’t just wasting shedload of public finances.
I accept that the BBC needs to be balanced but over many years I have never heard a news programme like WATO discuss in any detail or at all cases where large quantities of public money go in benefits to people because they are feckless wasters who prefer to live off other people working.
Tbh, when I was desperately searching for jobs back in the day, I wanted as many as possible to be feckless wasters.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
Where does Ghosts fall?
Ghosts is ok, but definitely feels post-golden-age. Everything in it is good, but it somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. But I have only seen about 5 episodes so maybe it is worth sticking with.
Detectorists absolutely is comedy. It's extremely slow paced, but that's ok.
I'm going to stick up for Gavin and Stacey in the face of TUD's cynicism. I missed that off my list but for me it is absolutely perfect. Funnier than 99% of sitcoms, an unbeatable narrative arc, and genuine warmth and likeability. It gets looked down on because it's a crowd-pleaser, but sometimes the masses are right.
Broadly agree with that.
I'd give a shout to Toast (although that does look like it's in the past as no sign of another after Toast of Tinseltown a couple of years ago) and Everyone Else Burns.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
They need to get the share price down to double digits, then buy him out cheaply.
It's lazy ... much like the Frank Gardner one we were talking about.
Their material consists of a quote from one person from a group of 4 interviewed in a local park. I think it's one of the costs of having a prominent, noisy MP. No analysis to back it up, or thinking about overall demographics, or realising that with generally lower living costs here the pressure is perhaps likely to be on expensive places.
We had it when the Graun took a picture of three shops being refurbed in the square, ignored all the others, and ran a story about delapidated town centres.
And again when Novara came and did some public interviews at the times when everybody is at work.
Very weird. Massive drop in employment rate in Ashfield since 2021- otherwise was actually doing quite well. Anyone local know why?
Isn't this just an example of the wider issue that there are areas of the UK that have rapidly increasingly economic inactivity.
The Held Back areas voting Reform.
Meaning they are going to be held back because, well, voting Reform...
I was in Grimsby last week for a funeral. Looking around the mourners, I suspect many voted for Boris. Even more for Farage.
Ironically, the only obvious growth area there is in 3-4 bedroom Executive houses. A truly massive boom. Where these executives are going to come from is a mystery.
Did you give them Nobby's best line "I remember this place before it was gentrified"
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
Where does Ghosts fall?
Ghosts is ok, but definitely feels post-golden-age. Everything in it is good, but it somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. But I have only seen about 5 episodes so maybe it is worth sticking with.
Detectorists absolutely is comedy. It's extremely slow paced, but that's ok.
I'm going to stick up for Gavin and Stacey in the face of TUD's cynicism. I missed that off my list but for me it is absolutely perfect. Funnier than 99% of sitcoms, an unbeatable narrative arc, and genuine warmth and likeability. It gets looked down on because it's a crowd-pleaser, but sometimes the masses are right.
Broadly agree with that.
I'd give a shout to Toast (although that does look like it's in the past as no sign of another after Toast of Tinseltown a couple of years ago) and Everyone Else Burns.
What we’re missing recently is proper knockabout farces, the sort that are excruciating to watch. Motherland gets close at times but remains relatively gentle.
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
Where does Ghosts fall?
Ghosts is ok, but definitely feels post-golden-age. Everything in it is good, but it somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. But I have only seen about 5 episodes so maybe it is worth sticking with.
Detectorists absolutely is comedy. It's extremely slow paced, but that's ok.
I'm going to stick up for Gavin and Stacey in the face of TUD's cynicism. I missed that off my list but for me it is absolutely perfect. Funnier than 99% of sitcoms, an unbeatable narrative arc, and genuine warmth and likeability. It gets looked down on because it's a crowd-pleaser, but sometimes the masses are right.
Broadly agree with that.
I'd give a shout to Toast (although that does look like it's in the past as no sign of another after Toast of Tinseltown a couple of years ago) and Everyone Else Burns.
Toast needs you to step into the surreal. If you do, it can be briliant. The episode where Toast cannot let go of the pillar, so it becomes part of his portrayal is superb. Add in the weird distorted portrayal of real life actors (Peter Davidson etc) and its a gem.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
Never mind, he's still got SpaceX.
Oh...
Musk’s impotent attempts to get his giant shiny phallus to work are the perfect metaphor for the man.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
They need to get the share price down to double digits, then buy him out cheaply.
Musk can't sell without triggering a huge tax liability (subject to a handy law change). The way squillionaires avoid tax is by borrowing money using their stakes as collateral. No income, no capital gains.
The question is what could turn Tesla’s slide of share price round?
Musk getting banished by Trump and going into rehab?
Musk has 13% of Tesla shares, and the only obvious way out for the company is for him to sell out and the company continue with him cut loose. The question is how long it will take for them to reach the same conclusion?
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
They need to get the share price down to double digits, then buy him out cheaply.
Musk can't sell without triggering a huge tax liability (subject to a handy law change). The way squillionaires avoid tax is by borrowing money using their stakes as collateral. No income, no capital gains.
The Tesla patriotic tax cuts and incentives act winging its way to congress as we speak.
No free pass on hate speech just because you have a hamster!
I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here.
I am. Although I'm not as down on the OSA as most here. I think there might be some excessive caution going on (understandable with a new law) which will be corrected once it's been in for a while and the practical implications become clearer.
Perhaps some amendments around the due diligence will be necessary. You don't want it to become so onerous to run an online forum that nobody in their right mind does it. If this transpires to be the case it will fail the cost/benefit test.
But as things stand, based on what I know and my own assessment of "free speech vs harm caused by an unfettered internet" it passes that test.
It does absolutely nothing to stop the real problems online.
Farcebook, Twatter, Instagram and TikTok will be promoting all the worst shit.
Meanwhile innocuous fora that don’t have hate promoting algorithms shut down because their amateur owners can’t take the risk….
Yes, I know you think this. And you may be right. Let's see how it pans out. But as of now I'm not ready to join the PB consensus that it's a monstrosity.
Aside from I have actual expertise in the area…
From previous encounters with regulation that raises barriers, pointlessly, for small entrants…. Nothing will change. Forcing a small cycling forum to close doesn’t register with government. The big guys *like* barriers to entry.
It’s the same in building. Every year the door steps of paper get heavier. Now AI generated, often.
Actually site safety is getting worse. And firms are hiding injuries - “if you tell them this happened on the site, we will not pay your wages you are owed.”
So the big corporates will carry on selling radicalisation, porn made from actual crimes etc etc.
But at least OFCOM can have a shiny new office. Full of people bustling around in circles. So that’s good.
Yep, new regs can definitely be counterproductive. Although not so much this one imo. On balance, and recognising the downsides, I support this one.
An interesting question is how to assess the success or failure of a change. You need to compare the damage caused to the damage prevented. Unless it's incredibly obvious this isn't easy. In fact it's probably often impossible.
It’s simple. Regulation costs. Therefore, if there isn’t an identifiable improvement, it’s a fuck up.
The resistance to this idea is from those who get all excited by clipboards and rules.
Not quite as simple as that. Eg there might be tangible benefits but they are exceeded by the cost. That probably means don't do it. Or the benefits could be huge but intangible. That might mean it's a goer even though you can't prove it.
But anyway, with the OSA, your view is what. That there are no benefits? Or that there are but they are difficult to measure?
What are the supposed benefits of the act? Measure those.
The moment that people start saying that the benefits are “huge but intangible”, that’s when I say “TILT”. That’s a justification for anything.
Grinding up the unemployable to make Soyulent Green has huge, but intangible benefits. According to me.
Conscription ended in 1960 , with National Service ending in 1963. That is, 65 and 62 years ago.
The Silent Generation were subject to it; the boomers had people around them subject to it when they were young. I'm Gen X, but I had adults around me who had been conscripted when I was growing up (eg to Malaya).
I think the question is a bit of a media-created red herring in that even the armed forces don't like it - they lose more from looking after them for short term conscription than any gain. So if we get to a situwation where it is necessary, it will be necessary.
It will be major expansion of reserves first.
The vast majority of the silent generation wouldn't have done National Service either.
Wikipedia may not be accurate, but it suggests it was phased out in 1957, except for people who were born before 1939 and had deferred. That makes it 85/86+ men, and even if it was all of them, that's only going to be (very approximately) 10% of the over 75s.
My father was one of the last do it. He was in the RAF Education Branch in Aden and, like all of his other interactions with the working class, hated it. The did hand out promotions like crab ointment in the Education Branch though. He made it to Flt. Lt. in 18 months which isn't quite Mordaunt pace but still impressive.
It's hard to see how conscription fits into a 21st century Western fighting force though. It makes a sort of sense of for SMO-style semi-mechanised trench based carnage. For high tech maneuvering/airborne warfare they could backfill a few blanket stacker jobs but that's about it.
Wars will tend to accelerate progress up the ranks. Enoch Powell famously went from Private to Brigadier during WW2.
(I imagine he would be feeling quite vindicated by his US-scepticism if he were still around.)
Gen. Nathan Twining was promoted 22 times from 1916 to 1953. He went from being a Private in the Oregon Nation Guard to a USAF 4 Star and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
One of my uncles went from 'the ranks' to commissioned officer in both World Wars. Fought in France in WWi and East & North Africa in WWII. Described on his tombstone as 'Major', although he'd long since left the Army.
OF-3 and above can use their rank titles after retirement if they've got 15 years in. Apart from cavalry regiments who have their own mad rules that nobody understands but involves horses.
Captain Tom Moore seems to have started using his WWII rank long after he left the Army. However, I suspect other people might have been involved.
Mainwaring: "Oh you’d stick up for him wouldn’t you? You both went to public school didn’t you?" Wilson: "You know sir, I can’t help feeling that you’ve got a bit of a chip on your shoulder about that." Mainwaring: "There’s no chip on my shoulder. I’ll tell you what there is though, three pips and don’t you forget it."
The writing for Dads Army was so good.
Yes, the characters never became caricatures. Mainwaring in particular is an extraordinarily well drawn character, assisted by Arthur Lowe's subtle performance. On one level ridiculous, pompous and prickly, but also principled and imbued with real dignity. Some very clever stuff around class, too, as you point out. And amid the absurdity a real sense they were fighting for something important, that they represented something worth fighting for. I could watch Dads Army all day long.
We laugh at them but there is no doubt that they would have 'died with blood choking in their throats' if the Germans had invaded Warmington On Sea. The episode where the think the attack is on is remarkably good for showing that. The genius choice to have the snobbish but ultimately slightly lower class Captain and his laconic slightly higher class sergeant is one of the best decisions.
"All great British comedies are about the class structure": discuss
The only 2 exceptions I can think of feature non-British characters: Father Ted and Allo Allo.
Even a Sci-fi comedy like Red Dwarf is about the class system.
The Detectorists (which is great) maybe? Gavin and Stacey (which isn’t).
Is detectorists comedy? Don't get me wrong - I love it, but I'm not sure I'd class it as comedy.
Where does Ghosts fall?
Ghosts is ok, but definitely feels post-golden-age. Everything in it is good, but it somehow feels less than the sum of its parts. But I have only seen about 5 episodes so maybe it is worth sticking with.
Detectorists absolutely is comedy. It's extremely slow paced, but that's ok.
I'm going to stick up for Gavin and Stacey in the face of TUD's cynicism. I missed that off my list but for me it is absolutely perfect. Funnier than 99% of sitcoms, an unbeatable narrative arc, and genuine warmth and likeability. It gets looked down on because it's a crowd-pleaser, but sometimes the masses are right.
Ghosts is a family favourite in our house, ditto the Goes Wrong Show. Death in Paradise is a guilty pleasure too, it's actually pretty funny. My son is a big fan of People Just Do Nothing.
One of the pro Genocide ministers is happy to return to Netanyahu’s cabinet after the genocide re-started.
Congrats to all those in Michigan who supported Trump . I’m sure your fellow Muslims in Gaza appreciate your support for the genocide enabler in the WH .
Hamas literally just had to hand over the hostages and dead bodies and this wouldn't be happening. Why aren't you blaming Hamas?
While that's half true, there's no great evidence that Netanyahu wouldn't have done this anyway. He did after all say thaf he reserved the right to resume the war after all hostages had been returned.
Comments
From previous encounters with regulation that raises barriers, pointlessly, for small entrants…. Nothing will change. Forcing a small cycling forum to close doesn’t register with government. The big guys *like* barriers to entry.
It’s the same in building. Every year the door steps of paper get heavier. Now AI generated, often.
Actually site safety is getting worse. And firms are hiding injuries - “if you tell them this happened on the site, we will not pay your wages you are owed.”
So the big corporates will carry on selling radicalisation, porn made from actual crimes etc etc.
But at least OFCOM can have a shiny new office. Full of people bustling around in circles. So that’s good.
The IT Crowd, Black Books, Spaced and others only address class obliquely if at all
I think it WAS true that class pervaded nearly all UK comedy, not any more
I doubt very much that Netenyahu ever had any intention of honouring the cease fire - neither did Hamas. But the idea that handing over the hostages would have stopped this attack is just bollocks.
At least it can only surprise on the upside
Best sitcoms of the last 60 years, OTTOMH:
Dad's Army - some jokes about class in there but not the central tenet of the show.
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - almost 100% about class, albeit from a specifically Northern perspective. (Ditto I Never Knew You Cared)
Porridge - Not really about class at all
The Young Ones - Ditto
Yes Minister - sort of about class
Ever Decreasing Circles - very much a middleclass-com, but not really much about class in there.
One Foot in the Grace - ditto. (Although slightly incongruously, Victor was a security guard at the start.)
Father Ted - sui generis, and really Irish rather than British.
The Royle Family - touches on class but not the basis of the humour.
The Office - see Leon's comment above.
The IT crowd -again, not really.
Car Share - arguably? You have to be very well attuned to the nuances of Northern class to spot it though.
Detectorists - not really about class.
So I'm not convinced.
Hamas can now say "well, they were alive, until you killed them in these new strikes." Which might even have been true. I can imagine Hamas keeing them close to the leadership for this very reason. There is a terrible cynicism at play on both sides.
Not really about class but family.
Incredibly based take.
Biased? If you mean I'm biased towards good films, you've got me there fella, guilty as charged.
If you don't mean that, what are you talking about?
They will get crucified for it - not by the Tories, but by Reform.
1) They will bring back F2F assessments, (which will help weed out bogus claimants)
2) They are increasing the eligibility criteria (so some current claimants won't be able to claim any more)
3) They are making it harder for young people to claim (to stop young people going straight from school to benefits)
There's war for you.
An interesting question is how to assess the success or failure of a change. You need to compare the damage caused to the damage prevented. Unless it's incredibly obvious this isn't easy. In fact it's probably often impossible.
A van has crashed into a number of pedestrians on the Strand in central London, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed.
Police said the incident, which happened close to the entrance to King's College London at approximately 11:50 GMT, was not terror related.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8ypjyv3ymo
Union 27%
AfD 23%
SPD 14%
Green 12%
Left 11%
FDP 4%
BSW 3%
Others 6%
https://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/
It’s also passed in the USA but their golden age was more recent
From my brief listen to the news the hostages’ families are very angry, not that Bibi cares much.
Macron is reportedly resisting British defence companies being included in the 800 billion rearmament plan for Europe.
The resistance to this idea is from those who get all excited by clipboards and rules.
Hot Metal - a brilliant satire on tabloid journalism
Happy Families - about a psychopathic grandmother and her brainless grandson trying to reassemble her granddaughters from around the world to harvest their organs.
Their Wolf Warrior films are quite good - a Chinese copy of a lot a US Seal/Ranger movies
Research indicates that immigrants paid approximately £20 billion in taxes in 2020, which is substantially higher than the costs associated with public services they utilise. This tax revenue is essential for funding public services and social welfare programmes that benefit all residents.
Studies have shown that the tax contributions made by immigrants generally outweigh the public service costs incurred. According to the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM), immigrants from outside the EU contributed about £4.6 billion more in taxes than they received in benefits and public services. Even among EU immigrants, the net fiscal contribution remains positive, although slightly less pronounced.
Trump declares that it constitutes a high crime and misdemeanor worthy of impeachment for a federal judge to rule against him.
The pitiful young wastrel claimant just interviewed on R4 WATO did nothing to persuade listeners that we aren’t just wasting a shedload of public finances.
And as always, all welfare systems will get dislocated on the question, impossible for administrators to ask in the modern world, but which working class communities have strong feelings about, of distinguishing between the deserving and the undeserving recipients.
The driver of the van, a 26-year-old man, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by careless driving and driving with a concentration of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8ypjyv3ymo
Give us the numbers!
But anyway, with the OSA, your view is what. That there are no benefits? Or that there are but they are difficult to measure?
Where does Ghosts fall?
There was plenty of bilge in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Probably a lower floor back then, and possibly a higher ceiling.
Among recent comedies, Motherland - which I expect is mainly popular among people who recognise the milieu ie parents of school age children - is definitely heavily about class, as is the spinoff Amandaland.
Oh dear, what a shame, never mind….
Detectorists absolutely is comedy. It's extremely slow paced, but that's ok.
I'm going to stick up for Gavin and Stacey in the face of TUD's cynicism. I missed that off my list but for me it is absolutely perfect. Funnier than 99% of sitcoms, an unbeatable narrative arc, and genuine warmth and likeability. It gets looked down on because it's a crowd-pleaser, but sometimes the masses are right.
Pharmacies to cut hours and services from April 1
https://chemistanddruggist.co.uk/news/funding/breaking-pharmacies-to-cut-hours-and-services-from-april-1-5Y2YIQRCFNEDXM2NWLUW2J3V34/
The @NPA1921 has announced that it is advising its 6,000 member pharmacies to limit services and reduce opening hours in protest against “unsustainable” #funding.
https://x.com/ChemistDruggist/status/1901921123996250539
It goes without saying that we should not depend unduly on EU companies for similar reasons.
The market’s only been open half an hour and I am up another £500 already.
I really want to see a dubbed version (with the lips synched up with AI) of "The Wandering Earth 2", which nobody but me has heard of. Apart from a billion Chinese, of course.
The subtitled version had limited release in the UK, but it was less enjoyable than the first film (which itself was pretty average) and overdid the flag-waving content. The Netflix series was not great but more fun and could include all the Cultural Revolution stuff.
Meanwhile, their global brand is worse than Ratnered.
I'd give a shout to Toast (although that does look like it's in the past as no sign of another after Toast of Tinseltown a couple of years ago) and Everyone Else Burns.
Early days tho. I’ve been out of the airport for 17 minutes
The episode where Toast cannot let go of the pillar, so it becomes part of his portrayal is superb. Add in the weird distorted portrayal of real life actors (Peter Davidson etc) and its a gem.
"Yes I can hear you, Clem Fandango..."
Oh...
Musk’s impotent attempts to get his giant shiny phallus to work are the perfect metaphor for the man.
https://www.planetearthandbeyond.co/p/starship-was-doomed-from-the-beginning
The moment that people start saying that the benefits are “huge but intangible”, that’s when I say “TILT”. That’s a justification for anything.
Grinding up the unemployable to make Soyulent Green has huge, but intangible benefits. According to me.
He did after all say thaf he reserved the right to resume the war after all hostages had been returned.