The 'Long Seventies' (1968-1982) was by far the best era of music. It has been all downhill since then even if there have been rare hummocks of decent music.
Two reasons: Radio One and Top of the Pops meant everyone listened to the same things, and playlists were eclectic. Nowadays you can go through the day never being exposed to any song you do not already like.
Used to watch TOTP almost religiously every Thursday night during the 1980s
Youtube recently started recommending me John Peel's "Festive Fifty" episodes - which have taken me right back to sitting with my big bundle of C90 tapes :-)
Nice, also, going up through the nested comments, I would put the golden age age of chart music only slightly later - 1977-1984. Also, on thread: I have a bugbear - I always have had - about quite such a large proportion of popular music being on the subject of romantic love and/or lust. A worthwhile subject, sure, but surely not to the extent that 75%+ of popular music is about it? In any case, I always rather like songs which cover other matters. The Pixies, for example, who deal largely with aliens and space travel.
Depeche Mode - Everything Counts = capitalism Depeche Mode - People Are People = racism Specials - Ghost Town = urban decay
OMD and Nena - nuclear war.
The Stranglers - Golden Brown The Las - There she goes.
Both about Heroin.
Running to stand still Back to Black. E-Bow the letter
Fulham 1 Liverpool 1 after 60 minutes, both goals given by VAR having been originally flagged offside!
I'm officially fearful for West Ham's chances of staying up.
Astonishing VAR decision on Liverpool’s favour today, the actual lines on the pitch showed it to be offside. Even Carragher couldn’t believe it.
That's why they are called Li VAR pool.
Bollocks.
Liverpool were the victims of the most disgraceful VAR decision in history as this Luis Diaz goal was ruled offside.
How the refs/linos are still allowed to officiate is a mystery.
Was that the game where Liverpool also had two sent off and lost to a last minute own goal?
Yup.
PGMOL admitted Jota shouldn't have been sent off.
People make mistakes, if you fired all referees after they made a mistake you wouldn't have any available to referee a match.
Football needs miked up referees that publicly explain their decisions to the players and the supporters. It also needs a rule that only the captains can discuss decisions with the referee. Prima donna referees and players don’t help. Neither do self important TV commentators.
It's such a simple thing that would end a lot of the play acting, crowding round the refs (which causes delays), that it is bizarre it has not been done.
It could be done without any changes in the Laws. All it needs is refs to start applying them. Why won't they? Because none of them are prepared to go out on limb. They know they wouldn't be backed by the FA. So they just carry on doing what everyone else does, which results in the chaotic and unsatisfactory situation which contrasts so obviously with what happens in other sports, such as rugby.
Miking up won't happen. It would give the refs too much authority. The FA don't want that. They want to keep a much control for themselves as possible.
The refs are miked up, and only the captains are allowed to talk to them!!!
Yes. And actually, the days when players frequently surrounded the ref and tried to bully him are long gone - it's quite rare these days. Compare with the great Leeds team of the 70s - the refs never stood a chance.
If we confine ourselves to the permanent members of the UN Security Council, only the United Kingdom and France can be said to respect - more or less consistently - what Europeans refer to as “the rules-based international order.”
Russia is waging war in Ukraine in blatant violation of international law. China’s conduct in the South China Sea has no place within the framework of international law. And neither does the American arrest of Maduro.
In other words, the majority of the permanent members of the Security Council have - diplomatically speaking - a relaxed relationship with the UN Charter and other fundamental components of the rules-based international order.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
So, Rubio says the US will not govern Venezuela, beyond continuing their oil blockade as a way to exert pressure. Trump was lying and/or senile.
It's mission accomplished, I think. The tv moment. That was Venezuela. Next up ... we'll see. Anything that requires hard work or complex thinking or sustained engagement won't happen. Eg the stealing the oil thing, I don't even buy that.
So, Rubio says the US will not govern Venezuela, beyond continuing their oil blockade as a way to exert pressure. Trump was lying and/or senile.
It's mission accomplished, I think. The tv moment. That was Venezuela. Next up ... we'll see. Anything that requires hard work or complex thinking or sustained engagement won't happen. Eg the stealing the oil thing, I don't even buy that.
A President announcing something big that falls apart within 24 hours would once have been a giant scandal, dominating the headlines for weeks. But this is Trump.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
In reference to an earlier post about a signed statement objecting to the Venezuelan escapade, it would be a laugh if Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay and Chile retaliate by boycotting the World Cup. Tricky for Mexico, I guess.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
No, clearly the way to speak to Trump is to tell him that the US has taken over Greenland, and that he's really great. He can do a press conference about how the US will govern Greenland and US companies will make a lot of money there, and he'll never be bothered to check what the reality is. Everyone in Greenland can then just get on with living their lives.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
No, clearly the way to speak to Trump is to tell him that the US has taken over Greenland, and that he's really great. He can do a press conference about how the US will govern Greenland and US companies will make a lot of money there, and he'll never be bothered to check what the reality is. Everyone in Greenland can then just get on with living their lives.
Well, he's just after TV ratings, so why not a new Truman Show?
Melania already looks like someone who has been playing a part for 20 years, so would he notice?
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
No, clearly the way to speak to Trump is to tell him that the US has taken over Greenland, and that he's really great. He can do a press conference about how the US will govern Greenland and US companies will make a lot of money there, and he'll never be bothered to check what the reality is. Everyone in Greenland can then just get on with living their lives.
Sometimes I think Trump fans should be embarrassed for how disconnected from reality his press conference yesterday was... But actually it's the journalists reporting on it who should be embarrassed. Instead of breathlessly reporting Trump's every word, they should be saying to readers/viewers, "Trump said a bunch of stuff, but we have no particular reason to believe anything he says is true or not, so we're waiting for some actual news."
I don't think Trump is even lying. To lie, you have to know you are saying a falsehood. This guy is meant to be the Leader of the Free World, but he literally is unable to understand what is going on.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
No, clearly the way to speak to Trump is to tell him that the US has taken over Greenland, and that he's really great. He can do a press conference about how the US will govern Greenland and US companies will make a lot of money there, and he'll never be bothered to check what the reality is. Everyone in Greenland can then just get on with living their lives.
Sometimes I think Trump fans should be embarrassed for how disconnected from reality his press conference yesterday was... But actually it's the journalists reporting on it who should be embarrassed. Instead of breathlessly reporting Trump's every word, they should be saying to readers/viewers, "Trump said a bunch of stuff, but we have no particular reason to believe anything he says is true or not, so we're waiting for some actual news."
I don't think Trump is even lying. To lie, you have to know you are saying a falsehood. This guy is meant to be the Leader of the Free World, but he literally is unable to understand what is going on.
Trump is a keen student of J.L. Austin's concept of performative utterances and recognises that to say is to do.
It's meaningless to judge a statement like "we're going to run Venezuela" on the basis of whether it's true or false because it is not meant to describe reality but to shape it.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
No, clearly the way to speak to Trump is to tell him that the US has taken over Greenland, and that he's really great. He can do a press conference about how the US will govern Greenland and US companies will make a lot of money there, and he'll never be bothered to check what the reality is. Everyone in Greenland can then just get on with living their lives.
Sometimes I think Trump fans should be embarrassed for how disconnected from reality his press conference yesterday was... But actually it's the journalists reporting on it who should be embarrassed. Instead of breathlessly reporting Trump's every word, they should be saying to readers/viewers, "Trump said a bunch of stuff, but we have no particular reason to believe anything he says is true or not, so we're waiting for some actual news."
I don't think Trump is even lying. To lie, you have to know you are saying a falsehood. This guy is meant to be the Leader of the Free World, but he literally is unable to understand what is going on.
Trump is a keen student of J.L. Austin's concept of performative utterances and recognises that to say is to do.
It's meaningless to judge a statement like "we're going to run Venezuela" on the basis of whether it's true or false because it is not meant to describe reality but to shape it.
Well, he has completely failed to shape it!
Look at Venezuela. Total mess. Lots of talk, no results. Weak strategy, bad follow-through, and now America looks foolish on the world stage. Leadership means RESULTS! Thank you for your attention.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
So, half an idea more than the typical Telegraph column?
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
The 'Long Seventies' (1968-1982) was by far the best era of music. It has been all downhill since then even if there have been rare hummocks of decent music.
Two reasons: Radio One and Top of the Pops meant everyone listened to the same things, and playlists were eclectic. Nowadays you can go through the day never being exposed to any song you do not already like.
Used to watch TOTP almost religiously every Thursday night during the 1980s
Youtube recently started recommending me John Peel's "Festive Fifty" episodes - which have taken me right back to sitting with my big bundle of C90 tapes :-)
Nice, also, going up through the nested comments, I would put the golden age age of chart music only slightly later - 1977-1984. Also, on thread: I have a bugbear - I always have had - about quite such a large proportion of popular music being on the subject of romantic love and/or lust. A worthwhile subject, sure, but surely not to the extent that 75%+ of popular music is about it? In any case, I always rather like songs which cover other matters. The Pixies, for example, who deal largely with aliens and space travel.
Depeche Mode - Everything Counts = capitalism Depeche Mode - People Are People = racism Specials - Ghost Town = urban decay
OMD and Nena - nuclear war.
The Stranglers - Golden Brown The Las - There she goes.
Both about Heroin.
Running to stand still Back to Black. E-Bow the letter
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
It's almost like she didn't feel the need to phone him before coming to a conclusion based on principle.
Thank goodness we have Keir to muddy the vacuous waters with his dither-stick.
(and get your minds out of the gutter - dither stick was a reasonable phrase. children!)
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Hiring people with talent might be an idea. Also people working on series (films or TV) should have an idea of a thing called "a plan". Also people who cooperate with each other.
We've seen various franchises worth multiple billions ridden into the ground - and not through lack of spending.
Not far or quickly enough or far enough for me. Why can't he f*** off properly to some dubious Cambodian brothel?
I didn't know the old buffer had been living it large in LaLaLand since 2011. I thought he was still decorating his flat over a chippie in Camden, occasionally punctuated by trips to Penarth.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
I'm very much looking forward to "Wonder Man" later this month, and "Doomsday" is going to be huge at the end of the year.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
I'm gonna go right out on a limb here and say that I bet Trump and co have not done any serious planning as to what happens next in Venezuela.
Politics is the art of the possible, and the way they've done it keeps almost all options open. It's much more intelligent than the way Saddam Hussian was handled on the eve of the second Gulf War.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
Marvel just produces films with Mary Sue’s and bossgirls. Hence M She U.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
"Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK should move towards closer alignment with EU markets "if it's in our national interest". The prime minister told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg it would be "better looking to the single market rather than the customs union for our further alignment", in order to protect trade deals with India and the US.
But he ruled out revisiting manifesto promises not to rejoin the EU single market or customs union, or to end freedom of movement."
Starmer understands the customs union stuff is silly.
Customs Union is only silly relative to full membership. Estimates are that in its own it increases GDP by 0.5%, which is nothing remarkable but still more than the combined post Brexit trade deals. And the EU does trade deals as well that the UK would probably be part of in a customs union.
I do think if Starmer talks about a closer relationship with the EU, as most people want, he needs to spell out what this means. Otherwise it's just words.
A lot of ignorance there I'm afraid.
Two basic facts.
1. We cannot rejoin the Customs Union. To do so woukd require the EU making changes to the main treaties that govern the existence of the EU and for a huge number of reasons that just isn't happening.
2. Any ad hoc customs union a la Turkey would not give us access to any FTAs that the EU has or will have with third parties. This is because any existing FTAs would have to be renegotiated between the EU and the third parties to include the UK and again that isn't going to happen. The result is that any country with an FTA with the EU would have full access to the UK market but we would have no reciprocal access.
So a CU would be far worse for UK trade than the existing situation.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
Marvel just produces films with Mary Sue’s and bossgirls. Hence M She U.
I’ve seen a good number of them and a lot of them appear to me to be mainly Marty Sue’s. The sad fact is that the RDJ (for instance ) of Zodiac or A Scanner Darkly was more interesting than the RDJ of the first Iron Man.
Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore
German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.
How to make friends and influence people, cut of their power to a f##k load of people in the middle of sodding winter. That's not compaigning that is terrorism.
I reckon It will get worse.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
I'm no fan of Tate, but the final Star Wars sequel (released 2019) was utter trash. Unwatchable! It's two immediate predecessors weren't much better!
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
I'm no fan of Tate, but the final Star Wars sequel (released 2019) was utter trash. Unwatchable! It's two immediate predecessors weren't much better!
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
It’s not about Mary Sue or any of her relatives.
It’s about making crap and then wondering why people don’t love it.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
It's true: people who invested in Netflix like me have lost... oh wait... haven't lost.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
No, clearly the way to speak to Trump is to tell him that the US has taken over Greenland, and that he's really great. He can do a press conference about how the US will govern Greenland and US companies will make a lot of money there, and he'll never be bothered to check what the reality is. Everyone in Greenland can then just get on with living their lives.
Well, he's just after TV ratings, so why not a new Truman Show?
Melania already looks like someone who has been playing a part for 20 years, so would he notice?
Wash your mouth out. Trump is not fit to be mentioned in the same post as Truman.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
Bollocks.
The issue the MCU faces is they're being somewhat challenged by the thing that made them successful in the first place - the continuity.
Comic books have always had core key characters that are more popular than others - Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man etc - and while sometimes the comics might kill off one of those characters they very rapidly come back again if so and don't stay dead. Or instead new stories continually come out involving them.
The MCU has burnt through its key material. Iron Man is gone. They're scraping the barrel metaphorically for their characters to write stories for, which has exposed people to new characters but they're not the sort of characters that many besides hardcore fans would have read or dressed up as when younger etc
Of the 6 films in MCU Phase Five, 1 of the six was headlined by women, 4 of the six were headlined by men, and 1 was headlined by a mixed team of men and women.
"Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK should move towards closer alignment with EU markets "if it's in our national interest". The prime minister told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg it would be "better looking to the single market rather than the customs union for our further alignment", in order to protect trade deals with India and the US.
But he ruled out revisiting manifesto promises not to rejoin the EU single market or customs union, or to end freedom of movement."
Starmer understands the customs union stuff is silly.
Customs Union is only silly relative to full membership. Estimates are that in its own it increases GDP by 0.5%, which is nothing remarkable but still more than the combined post Brexit trade deals. And the EU does trade deals as well that the UK would probably be part of in a customs union.
I do think if Starmer talks about a closer relationship with the EU, as most people want, he needs to spell out what this means. Otherwise it's just words.
A lot of ignorance there I'm afraid.
Two basic facts.
1. We cannot rejoin the Customs Union. To do so woukd require the EU making changes to the main treaties that govern the existence of the EU and for a huge number of reasons that just isn't happening.
2. Any ad hoc customs union a la Turkey would not give us access to any FTAs that the EU has or will have with third parties. This is because any existing FTAs would have to be renegotiated between the EU and the third parties to include the UK and again that isn't going to happen. The result is that any country with an FTA with the EU would have full access to the UK market but we would have no reciprocal access.
So a CU would be far worse for UK trade than the existing situation.
It's not going to happen, and it wouldn't be a good idea anyway.
That said, I think a more friendly relationship with the EU is probaby on the cards on the next four years is probably near certain, thanks to Messrs Putin and Trump. The sprectre of truly bad shit has made many people inside the EU realize that Brexit is far from the worst thing in the world.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
No, clearly the way to speak to Trump is to tell him that the US has taken over Greenland, and that he's really great. He can do a press conference about how the US will govern Greenland and US companies will make a lot of money there, and he'll never be bothered to check what the reality is. Everyone in Greenland can then just get on with living their lives.
That won't work. Milked and Vance might be mad, but they are not stupid. And they're the ones who really want Greenland. It just appeals to Trump's ego.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
I'm no fan of Tate, but the final Star Wars sequel (released 2019) was utter trash. Unwatchable! It's two immediate predecessors weren't much better!
The Last Jedi was quite frankly awful and the worst of the Disney excremental efforts - lore busting trash and led to the retcon necessary for the Rise Of Skywalker. ROS was bad. Very bad. But it had to deal with the plot holes and shite left by its predecessor.
But hey. Rey Palpatine, Skywalker whatever bossgirled her way to obliterating the Starwars franchise for a generation.
Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore
German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.
How to make friends and influence people, cut of their power to a f##k load of people in the middle of sodding winter. That's not compaigning that is terrorism.
I reckon It will get worse.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
There are too many people. In the UK and globally.
The UK government can do something about the former. A lab in China tried a drastic approach to dealing with the latter.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Yes, there are plenty of legitimate complaints about the direction and quality of the MCU and indeed Star Wars as well, one can even talk about the audience focus (eg unsuccessfully chasing after a new one without retaining the old one), but any use of things like 'M She U' immediately undercuts the legitimate complaints.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
White men don't make up the majority of the global audience, yet it wasn't until their eighteenth film that the MCU dared to have a lead who wasn't a white man.
In the recent Phase 5 (2023-5), there were 6 films, 3 with white male leads, 2 with white female leads, and 1 with a black male lead. There are 4 films so far announced in Phase 6. Three effectively have white male leads, while 1 shared the lead role between a white female and a Latino male.
And yet this is considered propaganda by the M-She-U crowd.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
I'm no fan of Tate, but the final Star Wars sequel (released 2019) was utter trash. Unwatchable! It's two immediate predecessors weren't much better!
They were, indeed, terrible. But that's Star Wars, not the MCU...???
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
Bollocks.
The issue the MCU faces is they're being somewhat challenged by the thing that made them successful in the first place - the continuity.
Comic books have always had core key characters that are more popular than others - Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man etc - and while sometimes the comics might kill off one of those characters they very rapidly come back again if so and don't stay dead. Or instead new stories continually come out involving them.
The MCU has burnt through its key material. Iron Man is gone. They're scraping the barrel metaphorically for their characters to write stories for, which has exposed people to new characters but they're not the sort of characters that many besides hardcore fans would have read or dressed up as when younger etc
Of the 6 films in MCU Phase Five, 1 of the six was headlined by women, 4 of the six were headlined by men, and 1 was headlined by a mixed team of men and women.
The idea it was all women is just bullshit.
Exactly.
I haven't seen a Marvel Movie since Avengers: Endgame.
It's nothing to do with male characters or female characters or black charcters or gay charcaters.
It's because they had a fabulous story line that lasted over a decade and culminated with Endgame, and they kind of ran out of ideas after that. It's hardly an uncommon creative occurance.
(The only exception, I guess, is the Sony/sort of Marvel Spiderman movies.)
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
White men don't make up the majority of the global audience, yet it wasn't until their eighteenth film that the MCU dared to have a lead who wasn't a white man.
In the recent Phase 5 (2023-5), there were 6 films, 3 with white male leads, 2 with white female leads, and 1 with a black male lead. There are 4 films so far announced in Phase 6. Three effectively have white male leads, while 1 shared the lead role between a white female and a Latino male.
And yet this is considered propaganda by the M-She-U crowd.
They wasted Scarlett Johansson. But then they wasted a lot of people.
"Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK should move towards closer alignment with EU markets "if it's in our national interest". The prime minister told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg it would be "better looking to the single market rather than the customs union for our further alignment", in order to protect trade deals with India and the US.
But he ruled out revisiting manifesto promises not to rejoin the EU single market or customs union, or to end freedom of movement."
Starmer understands the customs union stuff is silly.
Customs Union is only silly relative to full membership. Estimates are that in its own it increases GDP by 0.5%, which is nothing remarkable but still more than the combined post Brexit trade deals. And the EU does trade deals as well that the UK would probably be part of in a customs union.
I do think if Starmer talks about a closer relationship with the EU, as most people want, he needs to spell out what this means. Otherwise it's just words.
A lot of ignorance there I'm afraid.
Two basic facts.
1. We cannot rejoin the Customs Union. To do so woukd require the EU making changes to the main treaties that govern the existence of the EU and for a huge number of reasons that just isn't happening.
2. Any ad hoc customs union a la Turkey would not give us access to any FTAs that the EU has or will have with third parties. This is because any existing FTAs would have to be renegotiated between the EU and the third parties to include the UK and again that isn't going to happen. The result is that any country with an FTA with the EU would have full access to the UK market but we would have no reciprocal access.
So a CU would be far worse for UK trade than the existing situation.
I'll offer the thought those who say this publicly are quite well aware of all this but the truth is a not insignificant part of the electorate regards leaving the EU as a mistake and would like us to return so to keep them, as it were, "in the tent", you have to say soft things about getting closer to Europe safe in the knowledge it will never happen.
It's analogous to those desperate for us to stay outside the EU being constantly told there's no backtracking and no question of a "betrayal" of the 2016 vote.
Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore
German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.
How to make friends and influence people, cut of their power to a f##k load of people in the middle of sodding winter. That's not compaigning that is terrorism.
I reckon It will get worse.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
There are too many people. In the UK and globally.
The UK government can do something about the former. A lab in China tried a drastic approach to dealing with the latter.
Yawn,
Given advance is energy, the world can comfortably support 40 billion people.
But given falling birth rates everywhere, that isn't going to happen. Total world births will peak in my lifetime.
Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore
German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.
How to make friends and influence people, cut of their power to a f##k load of people in the middle of sodding winter. That's not compaigning that is terrorism.
I reckon It will get worse.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
There are too many people. In the UK and globally.
The UK government can do something about the former. A lab in China tried a drastic approach to dealing with the latter.
Yawn,
Given advance is energy, the world can comfortably support 40 billion people.
But given falling birth rates everywhere, that isn't going to happen. Total world births will peak in my lifetime.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
White men don't make up the majority of the global audience, yet it wasn't until their eighteenth film that the MCU dared to have a lead who wasn't a white man.
In the recent Phase 5 (2023-5), there were 6 films, 3 with white male leads, 2 with white female leads, and 1 with a black male lead. There are 4 films so far announced in Phase 6. Three effectively have white male leads, while 1 shared the lead role between a white female and a Latino male.
And yet this is considered propaganda by the M-She-U crowd.
Isn't the problem that the films are tedious and self referential?
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
I'm no fan of Tate, but the final Star Wars sequel (released 2019) was utter trash. Unwatchable! It's two immediate predecessors weren't much better!
They were, indeed, terrible. But that's Star Wars, not the MCU...???
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
Bollocks.
The issue the MCU faces is they're being somewhat challenged by the thing that made them successful in the first place - the continuity.
Comic books have always had core key characters that are more popular than others - Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man etc - and while sometimes the comics might kill off one of those characters they very rapidly come back again if so and don't stay dead. Or instead new stories continually come out involving them.
The MCU has burnt through its key material. Iron Man is gone. They're scraping the barrel metaphorically for their characters to write stories for, which has exposed people to new characters but they're not the sort of characters that many besides hardcore fans would have read or dressed up as when younger etc
Of the 6 films in MCU Phase Five, 1 of the six was headlined by women, 4 of the six were headlined by men, and 1 was headlined by a mixed team of men and women.
The idea it was all women is just bullshit.
Exactly.
I haven't seen a Marvel Movie since Avengers: Endgame.
It's nothing to do with male characters or female characters or black charcters or gay charcaters.
It's because they had a fabulous story line that lasted over a decade and culminated with Endgame, and they kind of ran out of ideas after that. It's hardly an uncommon creative occurance.
(The only exception, I guess, is the Sony/sort of Marvel Spiderman movies.)
In fact the most remarkable thing about MCU was that it stayed on the road so long.
The problem with many films and series seems that they have stopped being interested in telling a good story well.
Some of the directors and writers seem to believe that if x hundred million is spent on a project, the public have a duty to watch it.
Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore
German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.
How to make friends and influence people, cut of their power to a f##k load of people in the middle of sodding winter. That's not compaigning that is terrorism.
I reckon It will get worse.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
There are too many people. In the UK and globally.
The UK government can do something about the former. A lab in China tried a drastic approach to dealing with the latter.
Yawn,
Given advance is energy, the world can comfortably support 40 billion people.
But given falling birth rates everywhere, that isn't going to happen. Total world births will peak in my lifetime.
Misanthropy disguised as some kind of deep position is just wearying.
Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore
German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.
How to make friends and influence people, cut of their power to a f##k load of people in the middle of sodding winter. That's not compaigning that is terrorism.
I reckon It will get worse.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
There are too many people. In the UK and globally.
The UK government can do something about the former. A lab in China tried a drastic approach to dealing with the latter.
Yawn,
Given advance is energy, the world can comfortably support 40 billion people.
But given falling birth rates everywhere, that isn't going to happen. Total world births will peak in my lifetime.
Is your view that scarcity isn't really an issue?
Yes.
We have the resources and the science and ingenuity to defeat any Malthusian bullshit that has been peddled for centuries.
The bigger problem is people not wanting development for those people because they want to keep what they have but not have anything developed for others, not the inability to develop.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
Bollocks.
The issue the MCU faces is they're being somewhat challenged by the thing that made them successful in the first place - the continuity.
Comic books have always had core key characters that are more popular than others - Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man etc - and while sometimes the comics might kill off one of those characters they very rapidly come back again if so and don't stay dead. Or instead new stories continually come out involving them.
The MCU has burnt through its key material. Iron Man is gone. They're scraping the barrel metaphorically for their characters to write stories for, which has exposed people to new characters but they're not the sort of characters that many besides hardcore fans would have read or dressed up as when younger etc
Of the 6 films in MCU Phase Five, 1 of the six was headlined by women, 4 of the six were headlined by men, and 1 was headlined by a mixed team of men and women.
The idea it was all women is just bullshit.
Exactly.
I haven't seen a Marvel Movie since Avengers: Endgame.
It's nothing to do with male characters or female characters or black charcters or gay charcaters.
It's because they had a fabulous story line that lasted over a decade and culminated with Endgame, and they kind of ran out of ideas after that. It's hardly an uncommon creative occurance.
(The only exception, I guess, is the Sony/sort of Marvel Spiderman movies.)
"Doomsday" is very much going to be a sequel to "Endgame". The MCU has pretty much admitted that ratings have worsened and are going back to what (many audiences see as having*) worked better.
* Personally, I thought "Thunderbolts*" was excellent, and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" very good.
How is that document distinguisable from a false report from a fantasist? All it says is that someone alleged something.
It was doing the rounds a couple of weeks ago. And no one serious has picked it up.
I read the internet address and accepted it as probably a genuine file.
The content? Dunno. It’s why I was asking.
Oh, I'm sure it's genuine as a document. It just doesn't contain anything other than the fact that a person claimed a thing. Note it's from 2020, when Trump was already (in)famous. If it had been from 2010, it might be interesting.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
White men don't make up the majority of the global audience, yet it wasn't until their eighteenth film that the MCU dared to have a lead who wasn't a white man.
In the recent Phase 5 (2023-5), there were 6 films, 3 with white male leads, 2 with white female leads, and 1 with a black male lead. There are 4 films so far announced in Phase 6. Three effectively have white male leads, while 1 shared the lead role between a white female and a Latino male.
And yet this is considered propaganda by the M-She-U crowd.
They wasted Scarlett Johansson. But then they wasted a lot of people.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
No, clearly the way to speak to Trump is to tell him that the US has taken over Greenland, and that he's really great. He can do a press conference about how the US will govern Greenland and US companies will make a lot of money there, and he'll never be bothered to check what the reality is. Everyone in Greenland can then just get on with living their lives.
Well, he's just after TV ratings, so why not a new Truman Show?
Melania already looks like someone who has been playing a part for 20 years, so would he notice?
Wash your mouth out. Trump is not fit to be mentioned in the same post as Truman.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
I'm no fan of Tate, but the final Star Wars sequel (released 2019) was utter trash. Unwatchable! It's two immediate predecessors weren't much better!
They were, indeed, terrible. But that's Star Wars, not the MCU...???
Similar thing, a franchise going downhill.
Starwars is dead. Thank Kathleen Kennedy for that. Thankfully she’s now put out to pasture to destroy what she touches next after destroying Starwars, Indiana Jones and um….Willow.
"Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK should move towards closer alignment with EU markets "if it's in our national interest". The prime minister told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg it would be "better looking to the single market rather than the customs union for our further alignment", in order to protect trade deals with India and the US.
But he ruled out revisiting manifesto promises not to rejoin the EU single market or customs union, or to end freedom of movement."
Starmer understands the customs union stuff is silly.
Customs Union is only silly relative to full membership. Estimates are that in its own it increases GDP by 0.5%, which is nothing remarkable but still more than the combined post Brexit trade deals. And the EU does trade deals as well that the UK would probably be part of in a customs union.
I do think if Starmer talks about a closer relationship with the EU, as most people want, he needs to spell out what this means. Otherwise it's just words.
A lot of ignorance there I'm afraid.
Two basic facts.
1. We cannot rejoin the Customs Union. To do so woukd require the EU making changes to the main treaties that govern the existence of the EU and for a huge number of reasons that just isn't happening.
2. Any ad hoc customs union a la Turkey would not give us access to any FTAs that the EU has or will have with third parties. This is because any existing FTAs would have to be renegotiated between the EU and the third parties to include the UK and again that isn't going to happen. The result is that any country with an FTA with the EU would have full access to the UK market but we would have no reciprocal access.
So a CU would be far worse for UK trade than the existing situation.
I'll offer the thought those who say this publicly are quite well aware of all this but the truth is a not insignificant part of the electorate regards leaving the EU as a mistake and would like us to return so to keep them, as it were, "in the tent", you have to say soft things about getting closer to Europe safe in the knowledge it will never happen.
It's analogous to those desperate for us to stay outside the EU being constantly told there's no backtracking and no question of a "betrayal" of the 2016 vote.
I think this is pretty much spot on.
It is a shame because it takes focus away from what should be our aim which is to rejoin the Single Market via EFTA.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
White men don't make up the majority of the global audience, yet it wasn't until their eighteenth film that the MCU dared to have a lead who wasn't a white man.
In the recent Phase 5 (2023-5), there were 6 films, 3 with white male leads, 2 with white female leads, and 1 with a black male lead. There are 4 films so far announced in Phase 6. Three effectively have white male leads, while 1 shared the lead role between a white female and a Latino male.
And yet this is considered propaganda by the M-She-U crowd.
Isn't the problem that the films are tedious and self referential?
Simply not very good.
Well, that's a matter of opinion. I adore the MCU. But, yes, I think Phase 5 has been weaker, with missteps in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania", "The Marvels" and "Captain America: Brave New World". But then "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" was great, I was in tears for the last third; "Deadpool & Wolverine" was random, self-referential nonsense, but very fun nonsense; and "Thunderbolts*" was a surprisingly insightful analysis of mental trauma.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
Bollocks.
The issue the MCU faces is they're being somewhat challenged by the thing that made them successful in the first place - the continuity.
Comic books have always had core key characters that are more popular than others - Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man etc - and while sometimes the comics might kill off one of those characters they very rapidly come back again if so and don't stay dead. Or instead new stories continually come out involving them.
The MCU has burnt through its key material. Iron Man is gone. They're scraping the barrel metaphorically for their characters to write stories for, which has exposed people to new characters but they're not the sort of characters that many besides hardcore fans would have read or dressed up as when younger etc
Of the 6 films in MCU Phase Five, 1 of the six was headlined by women, 4 of the six were headlined by men, and 1 was headlined by a mixed team of men and women.
The idea it was all women is just bullshit.
Exactly.
I haven't seen a Marvel Movie since Avengers: Endgame.
It's nothing to do with male characters or female characters or black charcters or gay charcaters.
It's because they had a fabulous story line that lasted over a decade and culminated with Endgame, and they kind of ran out of ideas after that. It's hardly an uncommon creative occurance.
(The only exception, I guess, is the Sony/sort of Marvel Spiderman movies.)
"Doomsday" is very much going to be a sequel to "Endgame". The MCU has pretty much admitted that ratings have worsened and are going back to what (many audiences see as having*) worked better.
* Personally, I thought "Thunderbolts*" was excellent, and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" very good.
FF was good, and was tonally distinct from the previous films, so had its own identity. Didn't do very well though, even if they should know they aren't going back to 1bn films all over the place.
Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore
German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.
How to make friends and influence people, cut of their power to a f##k load of people in the middle of sodding winter. That's not compaigning that is terrorism.
I reckon It will get worse.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
There are too many people. In the UK and globally.
The UK government can do something about the former. A lab in China tried a drastic approach to dealing with the latter.
Yawn,
Given advance is energy, the world can comfortably support 40 billion people.
But given falling birth rates everywhere, that isn't going to happen. Total world births will peak in my lifetime.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
I'm no fan of Tate, but the final Star Wars sequel (released 2019) was utter trash. Unwatchable! It's two immediate predecessors weren't much better!
They were, indeed, terrible. But that's Star Wars, not the MCU...???
Similar thing, a franchise going downhill.
Starwars is dead. Thank Kathleen Kennedy for that. Thankfully she’s now put out to pasture to destroy what she touches next after destroying Starwars, Indiana Jones and um….Willow.
"Star Wars" is badly wounded, but "Andor" was fantastic.
"Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK should move towards closer alignment with EU markets "if it's in our national interest". The prime minister told the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg it would be "better looking to the single market rather than the customs union for our further alignment", in order to protect trade deals with India and the US.
But he ruled out revisiting manifesto promises not to rejoin the EU single market or customs union, or to end freedom of movement."
Starmer understands the customs union stuff is silly.
Customs Union is only silly relative to full membership. Estimates are that in its own it increases GDP by 0.5%, which is nothing remarkable but still more than the combined post Brexit trade deals. And the EU does trade deals as well that the UK would probably be part of in a customs union.
I do think if Starmer talks about a closer relationship with the EU, as most people want, he needs to spell out what this means. Otherwise it's just words.
A lot of ignorance there I'm afraid.
Two basic facts.
1. We cannot rejoin the Customs Union. To do so woukd require the EU making changes to the main treaties that govern the existence of the EU and for a huge number of reasons that just isn't happening.
2. Any ad hoc customs union a la Turkey would not give us access to any FTAs that the EU has or will have with third parties. This is because any existing FTAs would have to be renegotiated between the EU and the third parties to include the UK and again that isn't going to happen. The result is that any country with an FTA with the EU would have full access to the UK market but we would have no reciprocal access.
So a CU would be far worse for UK trade than the existing situation.
Agreed. The logic of what's required is quite clear.
It's just going to take a while - possibly the shitshow of an actual Reform government - before it plays out.
Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore
German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.
How to make friends and influence people, cut of their power to a f##k load of people in the middle of sodding winter. That's not compaigning that is terrorism.
I reckon It will get worse.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
There are too many people. In the UK and globally.
The UK government can do something about the former. A lab in China tried a drastic approach to dealing with the latter.
Yawn,
Given advance is energy, the world can comfortably support 40 billion people.
But given falling birth rates everywhere, that isn't going to happen. Total world births will peak in my lifetime.
40 billion people, but how many tigers?
Probably more than now. They're at critical levels, but we can do better, and human population can increase with surprisingly little additional space in the areas Tigers inhabit.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
White men don't make up the majority of the global audience, yet it wasn't until their eighteenth film that the MCU dared to have a lead who wasn't a white man.
In the recent Phase 5 (2023-5), there were 6 films, 3 with white male leads, 2 with white female leads, and 1 with a black male lead. There are 4 films so far announced in Phase 6. Three effectively have white male leads, while 1 shared the lead role between a white female and a Latino male.
And yet this is considered propaganda by the M-She-U crowd.
Isn't the problem that the films are tedious and self referential?
Simply not very good.
Well, that's a matter of opinion. I adore the MCU. But, yes, I think Phase 5 has been weaker, with missteps in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania", "The Marvels" and "Captain America: Brave New World". But then "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" was great, I was in tears for the last third; "Deadpool & Wolverine" was random, self-referential nonsense, but very fun nonsense; and "Thunderbolts*" was a surprisingly insightful analysis of mental trauma.
I’m not sure GotG 3 actually works as a standalone film - it’s the MCU equivalent of the Hobbits going back to the shire.
Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore
German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.
How to make friends and influence people, cut of their power to a f##k load of people in the middle of sodding winter. That's not compaigning that is terrorism.
I reckon It will get worse.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
There are too many people. In the UK and globally.
The UK government can do something about the former. A lab in China tried a drastic approach to dealing with the latter.
Yawn,
Given advance is energy, the world can comfortably support 40 billion people.
But given falling birth rates everywhere, that isn't going to happen. Total world births will peak in my lifetime.
40 billion? You mean FIVE times as many as now?? I'd like to have some of what you're smoking!
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
White men don't make up the majority of the global audience, yet it wasn't until their eighteenth film that the MCU dared to have a lead who wasn't a white man.
In the recent Phase 5 (2023-5), there were 6 films, 3 with white male leads, 2 with white female leads, and 1 with a black male lead. There are 4 films so far announced in Phase 6. Three effectively have white male leads, while 1 shared the lead role between a white female and a Latino male.
And yet this is considered propaganda by the M-She-U crowd.
Isn't the problem that the films are tedious and self referential?
Simply not very good.
Well, that's a matter of opinion. I adore the MCU. But, yes, I think Phase 5 has been weaker, with missteps in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania", "The Marvels" and "Captain America: Brave New World". But then "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" was great, I was in tears for the last third; "Deadpool & Wolverine" was random, self-referential nonsense, but very fun nonsense; and "Thunderbolts*" was a surprisingly insightful analysis of mental trauma.
I’m not sure GotG 3 actually works as a standalone film - it’s the MCU equivalent of the Hobbits going back to the shire.
It's the last of a trilogy, and very much builds on what's come before, but it does much more as a film than merely hobbits returning to the shire.
The new Night Manager has a scene where two moving police cars use red lights (should be only when stationary). This is even worse than when they used the English Royal Coat of Arms in a scene supposedly set in the Court of Session.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
Meanwhile, studios listening to people that only think this is an “Andrew Tate” thing continue to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on films no one wants, has asked for or watches. All is the name of promoting “THE MESSAGE”.
White men don't make up the majority of the global audience, yet it wasn't until their eighteenth film that the MCU dared to have a lead who wasn't a white man.
In the recent Phase 5 (2023-5), there were 6 films, 3 with white male leads, 2 with white female leads, and 1 with a black male lead. There are 4 films so far announced in Phase 6. Three effectively have white male leads, while 1 shared the lead role between a white female and a Latino male.
And yet this is considered propaganda by the M-She-U crowd.
Isn't the problem that the films are tedious and self referential?
Simply not very good.
Well, that's a matter of opinion. I adore the MCU. But, yes, I think Phase 5 has been weaker, with missteps in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania", "The Marvels" and "Captain America: Brave New World". But then "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" was great, I was in tears for the last third; "Deadpool & Wolverine" was random, self-referential nonsense, but very fun nonsense; and "Thunderbolts*" was a surprisingly insightful analysis of mental trauma.
Foxy's view that the films are tedious etc as an explanation is just laziness, and similar to the 'M-She'U' crowd who often act like even the good older ones are retroactively no good, which I'm sure some snobbier critics are leaping on as they didn't like how well they did, as the sheer number of films means they are not all the same
The fact is that whilst they have gotten weaker, and part of that was making them too tonally similar(quippy humour undercutting emotion etc), there's a lot of variety among the films, from wacky sci-fi to more spy like thrillers, and the quality level is also very different. The latest phase has simply been more inconsistent in quality, some things they tried have not worked, and post-Endgame was always going to be tricky.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
No, clearly the way to speak to Trump is to tell him that the US has taken over Greenland, and that he's really great. He can do a press conference about how the US will govern Greenland and US companies will make a lot of money there, and he'll never be bothered to check what the reality is. Everyone in Greenland can then just get on with living their lives.
Sometimes I think Trump fans should be embarrassed for how disconnected from reality his press conference yesterday was... But actually it's the journalists reporting on it who should be embarrassed. Instead of breathlessly reporting Trump's every word, they should be saying to readers/viewers, "Trump said a bunch of stuff, but we have no particular reason to believe anything he says is true or not, so we're waiting for some actual news."
I don't think Trump is even lying. To lie, you have to know you are saying a falsehood. This guy is meant to be the Leader of the Free World, but he literally is unable to understand what is going on.
Trump is a keen student of J.L. Austin's concept of performative utterances and recognises that to say is to do.
It's meaningless to judge a statement like "we're going to run Venezuela" on the basis of whether it's true or false because it is not meant to describe reality but to shape it.
Lol. You'll be having him as the new Marshall McLuhan next.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
I'm no fan of Tate, but the final Star Wars sequel (released 2019) was utter trash. Unwatchable! It's two immediate predecessors weren't much better!
They were, indeed, terrible. But that's Star Wars, not the MCU...???
Similar thing, a franchise going downhill.
Starwars is dead. Thank Kathleen Kennedy for that. Thankfully she’s now put out to pasture to destroy what she touches next after destroying Starwars, Indiana Jones and um….Willow.
"Star Wars" is badly wounded, but "Andor" was fantastic.
It was…agreed. Thoughtful, well paced not relying on fan bait…complex characters with equally complex motivations and character arcs. It is a grown up production, challenging its audience in an intellectual way and not relying on bullshit modern day messaging “because we can”. It has been almost universally well received, but after the shitshow of the later Mandalorian series and the weird Boba Fett thing, the Obi Wan clusterfuck, and god forbid Ashoka - the audience has left - gone. No one gives a shit anymore - especially the loyal fan base that kept Starwars alive with fan fiction, and obsessive loyalty during the quieter years.
Leftwing militants claim responsibility for arson attack on Berlin power grid
Protest over climate crisis and AI has cut power to tens of thousands of homes which may take days to fully restore
German leftwing militants protesting over the climate crisis and AI have claimed responsibility for an arson attack that cut power to tens of thousands of households in Berlin.
How to make friends and influence people, cut of their power to a f##k load of people in the middle of sodding winter. That's not compaigning that is terrorism.
I reckon It will get worse.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
There are too many people. In the UK and globally.
The UK government can do something about the former. A lab in China tried a drastic approach to dealing with the latter.
Yawn,
Given advance is energy, the world can comfortably support 40 billion people.
But given falling birth rates everywhere, that isn't going to happen. Total world births will peak in my lifetime.
40 billion? You mean FIVE times as many as now?? I'd like to have some of what you're smoking!
Yes, why not?
Five time isn't very much, compared to the eight times growth in world population when Malthus wrote his original bullshit.
@OJoelsen Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
No, clearly the way to speak to Trump is to tell him that the US has taken over Greenland, and that he's really great. He can do a press conference about how the US will govern Greenland and US companies will make a lot of money there, and he'll never be bothered to check what the reality is. Everyone in Greenland can then just get on with living their lives.
Sometimes I think Trump fans should be embarrassed for how disconnected from reality his press conference yesterday was... But actually it's the journalists reporting on it who should be embarrassed. Instead of breathlessly reporting Trump's every word, they should be saying to readers/viewers, "Trump said a bunch of stuff, but we have no particular reason to believe anything he says is true or not, so we're waiting for some actual news."
I don't think Trump is even lying. To lie, you have to know you are saying a falsehood. This guy is meant to be the Leader of the Free World, but he literally is unable to understand what is going on.
Trump is a keen student of J.L. Austin's concept of performative utterances and recognises that to say is to do.
It's meaningless to judge a statement like "we're going to run Venezuela" on the basis of whether it's true or false because it is not meant to describe reality but to shape it.
Sean's phoning it in. He needs his old mucker Leon to post here first in order to test and polish his arguments. DEI in Hollywood has meant fewer WM scriptwriters, which has led to a decline in television and an increase in podcasts. Even if all of those things are true, they are not obviously related. Which podcasters are Hollywood writers manqué? Marina Hyde of TRiE perhaps but she's not a chap. And television is being overturned by streamers among other trends, and so is the Hollywood film industry. It's half an idea he had reading his book in an airport lounge, and not developed.
The biggest problem is the bizarre and childish script writing in everything - and lunatic directors producing drek at the behest of the studios.
Umpteen variations on sci-fi comics on film, the streamers paying through the nose for film and programme makers, the decline of advertising as audiences are fragmented. And so on. Oh, and not hiring enough White male scriptwriters might or might not be part of it.
Fortunately, we appear to have hit peak MCU.
M She U.
Eh?
The sort of people who like Andrew Tate have long complained that the MCU is too woke because, for example, they've had some female lead characters. They have summarised their complaint by referring to the MCU as the "M She U".
I'm no fan of Tate, but the final Star Wars sequel (released 2019) was utter trash. Unwatchable! It's two immediate predecessors weren't much better!
They were, indeed, terrible. But that's Star Wars, not the MCU...???
Similar thing, a franchise going downhill.
Starwars is dead. Thank Kathleen Kennedy for that. Thankfully she’s now put out to pasture to destroy what she touches next after destroying Starwars, Indiana Jones and um….Willow.
"Star Wars" is badly wounded, but "Andor" was fantastic.
It was…agreed. Thoughtful, well paced not relying on fan bait…complex characters with equally complex motivations and character arcs. It is a grown up production, challenging its audience in an intellectual way and not relying on bullshit modern day messaging “because we can”. It has been almost universally well received, but after the shitshow of the later Mandalorian series and the weird Boba Fett thing, the Obi Wan clusterfuck, and god forbid Ashoka - the audience has left - gone. No one gives a shit anymore - especially the loyal fan base that kept Starwars alive with fan fiction, and obsessive loyalty during the quieter years.
Mark Carney levels of clarity. And definitely the way to speak to Trump.
In other news, Denmark places a $1.8bn order with Boeing this week. Talk is cheap.
They also ordered a few billion worth of SAMPT rather than Patriot. I don't think you can read much into that other than a hedging of bets.
The P8 is also a capability not available from Europe, so it's entirely consistent with the Danish statement.
.. The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic...
Dura is right, talk is cheap. Not quite the point he thinks it is though.
Comments
Back to Black.
E-Bow the letter
Where would pop music be without Heroin?
However Trump sucking up all the worst lawyers must mean there’s lots of talent out there.
https://x.com/SociologenHD/status/2007768737961689529
If we confine ourselves to the permanent members of the UN Security Council, only the United Kingdom and France can be said to respect - more or less consistently - what Europeans refer to as “the rules-based international order.”
Russia is waging war in Ukraine in blatant violation of international law. China’s conduct in the South China Sea has no place within the framework of international law. And neither does the American arrest of Maduro.
In other words, the majority of the permanent members of the Security Council have - diplomatically speaking - a relaxed relationship with the UN Charter and other fundamental components of the rules-based international order.
Statement from the Prime Minister of Denmark 🇩🇰:
“I must say this very clearly to the United States:
It makes absolutely no sense to speak of any necessity for the United States to take over Greenland. The United States has no legal basis to annex one of the three countries of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic.
I therefore strongly urge the United States to cease its threats against a historically close ally, and against another country and another people who have stated very clearly that they are not for sale.”
Mette Frederiksen
Prime Minister of Denmark
Melania already looks like someone who has been playing a part for 20 years, so would he notice?
I don't think Trump is even lying. To lie, you have to know you are saying a falsehood. This guy is meant to be the Leader of the Free World, but he literally is unable to understand what is going on.
It's meaningless to judge a statement like "we're going to run Venezuela" on the basis of whether it's true or false because it is not meant to describe reality but to shape it.
https://x.com/igorsushko/status/2007906495657353261
Look at Venezuela. Total mess. Lots of talk, no results. Weak strategy, bad follow-through, and now America looks foolish on the world stage. Leadership means RESULTS! Thank you for your attention.
Did you hear about the Boeing advent calendar?
The doors open at 30,000 feet.
Thank goodness we have Keir to muddy the vacuous waters with his dither-stick.
(and get your minds out of the gutter - dither stick was a reasonable phrase. children!)
We've seen various franchises worth multiple billions ridden into the ground - and not through lack of spending.
The boy dun good.
You seem to imply there's something weak about them doing so. There isn't.
Two basic facts.
1. We cannot rejoin the Customs Union. To do so woukd require the EU making changes to the main treaties that govern the existence of the EU and for a huge number of reasons that just isn't happening.
2. Any ad hoc customs union a la Turkey would not give us access to any FTAs that the EU has or will have with third parties. This is because any existing FTAs would have to be renegotiated between the EU and the third parties to include the UK and again that isn't going to happen. The result is that any country with an FTA with the EU would have full access to the UK market but we would have no reciprocal access.
So a CU would be far worse for UK trade than the existing situation.
The number of people on the doorstep I hear saying things like, “there are too many people”, is scary.
https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet 8/EFTA00025010.pdf
I’ve only seen it on instagram so far. ?
Précis
Trump stated as a witness to a child being sexually abused, this is a complaint by the child.
It’s about making crap and then wondering why people don’t love it.
See The Wheel Of Time series.
Trump is not fit to be mentioned in the same post as Truman.
https://bsky.app/profile/chadbourn.bsky.social/post/3mbmurlxasc2r
https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2026-01/bnd-barack-obama-air-force-one-angela-merkel
It was doing the rounds a couple of weeks ago. And no one serious has picked it up.
The issue the MCU faces is they're being somewhat challenged by the thing that made them successful in the first place - the continuity.
Comic books have always had core key characters that are more popular than others - Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man etc - and while sometimes the comics might kill off one of those characters they very rapidly come back again if so and don't stay dead. Or instead new stories continually come out involving them.
The MCU has burnt through its key material. Iron Man is gone. They're scraping the barrel metaphorically for their characters to write stories for, which has exposed people to new characters but they're not the sort of characters that many besides hardcore fans would have read or dressed up as when younger etc
Of the 6 films in MCU Phase Five, 1 of the six was headlined by women, 4 of the six were headlined by men, and 1 was headlined by a mixed team of men and women.
The idea it was all women is just bullshit.
That said, I think a more friendly relationship with the EU is probaby on the cards on the next four years is probably near certain, thanks to Messrs Putin and Trump. The sprectre of truly bad shit has made many people inside the EU realize that Brexit is far from the worst thing in the world.
Milked and Vance might be mad, but they are not stupid. And they're the ones who really want Greenland.
It just appeals to Trump's ego.
But hey. Rey Palpatine, Skywalker whatever bossgirled her way to obliterating the Starwars franchise for a generation.
The UK government can do something about the former. A lab in China tried a drastic approach to dealing with the latter.
In the recent Phase 5 (2023-5), there were 6 films, 3 with white male leads, 2 with white female leads, and 1 with a black male lead. There are 4 films so far announced in Phase 6. Three effectively have white male leads, while 1 shared the lead role between a white female and a Latino male.
And yet this is considered propaganda by the M-She-U crowd.
I haven't seen a Marvel Movie since Avengers: Endgame.
It's nothing to do with male characters or female characters or black charcters or gay charcaters.
It's because they had a fabulous story line that lasted over a decade and culminated with Endgame, and they kind of ran out of ideas after that. It's hardly an uncommon creative occurance.
(The only exception, I guess, is the Sony/sort of Marvel Spiderman movies.)
It's analogous to those desperate for us to stay outside the EU being constantly told there's no backtracking and no question of a "betrayal" of the 2016 vote.
Given advance is energy, the world can comfortably support 40 billion people.
But given falling birth rates everywhere, that isn't going to happen. Total world births will peak in my lifetime.
Simply not very good.
I don't think you can read much into that other than a hedging of bets.
The problem with many films and series seems that they have stopped being interested in telling a good story well.
Some of the directors and writers seem to believe that if x hundred million is spent on a project, the public have a duty to watch it.
We have the resources and the science and ingenuity to defeat any Malthusian bullshit that has been peddled for centuries.
The bigger problem is people not wanting development for those people because they want to keep what they have but not have anything developed for others, not the inability to develop.
I read the internet address and accepted it as probably a genuine file.
The content? Dunno.
It’s why I was asking.
* Personally, I thought "Thunderbolts*" was excellent, and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" very good.
It is a shame because it takes focus away from what should be our aim which is to rejoin the Single Market via EFTA.
The logic of what's required is quite clear.
It's just going to take a while - possibly the shitshow of an actual Reform government - before it plays out.
#defundtheBBC
The fact is that whilst they have gotten weaker, and part of that was making them too tonally similar(quippy humour undercutting emotion etc), there's a lot of variety among the films, from wacky sci-fi to more spy like thrillers, and the quality level is also very different. The latest phase has simply been more inconsistent in quality, some things they tried have not worked, and post-Endgame was always going to be tricky.
Shit on your audience and they’ll shit on you.
Five time isn't very much, compared to the eight times growth in world population when Malthus wrote his original bullshit.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Trump said the US is going to 'run Venezuela.' Under what legal authority?
RUBIO: We want a better future for the people of Venezuela
STEPHANOPOULOS: I'll ask again -- what is the legal authority?
RUBIO: We have court orders
https://x.com/atrupar/status/2007849595234099697
With the world's most powerful military.
Clowns are scary fuckers.
.. The Kingdom of Denmark — and thus Greenland — is a member of NATO and is therefore covered by the Alliance’s collective security guarantee. We already have a defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States that grants the U.S. broad access to Greenland. In addition, the Kingdom has made significant investments in security in the Arctic...
Dura is right, talk is cheap.
Not quite the point he thinks it is though.