Corbyn was in Gateshead today, 3 days before the election, Labour majority 14,000 and not even in the top 100 Tory target seats and got a 10,000 turnout. Hooray! Meanwhile May was in Scotland targeting marginal seats held by the SNP. Surge or no surge I have never seen a general election campaign as strategically inept as this Labour campaign, Blair and Mandelson must have their heads in their hands!
She looked sedated. Soon snapped out of it when asked about Trump, though.
Because she had no fucking clue what the reporter was on about
He was kind, other reporters would have eviscerated her for that pile of shite.
It was far better to let herself hang out to dry than pulling her to shreds which would only marginally improve the sympathy vote, how did she get past a constituency selection meeting, was their only one candidate?
She was almost certainly the only black woman, this being in the heyday of Militant and the Loony Left when things like gender and race were shall we say rather important.
That said, although I've never been her biggest admirer I've been really shocked by her meltdown over this campaign. Is she suffering from some kind of illness?
From my own personal experience with early onset dementia the sufferer is able to answer open questions very criedibly but if they are specific they fall back on what the think they would have done. Not suggesting this is the case but if my wife is asked did she enjoy a the meal last night will say yes, even if we didn't go out. If asked what did you have then it will be prawn cocktail, lamb and ice cream even if we have been to the Chinese. So viewing the interview from that perspective the open questions she can handle but if it requires detailed recall she falls back to what she thinks she would answe or do in that situation
Some students will continue taking AS levels e.g. to demonstrate what their likely final A-level grades will be.
However, as universities can no longer use them in coming to a decision on probable grades and making offers, I wonder how long most AS levels will last. My guess is that it may not be long given the expense involved in managing a subordinate course and putting them in for exams, not to mention the disruption in the summer term.
They are great questions and I'm glad kids are being taught/can choose to be taught this stuff. Certainly better than my miserable AS level geography about oxbox lakes.....
They have, pretty much. Except in Maths, politics and DT. Daughter is doing both maths and politics, so she's been a lot busier than most of her peers for these last few weeks. I think all A-levels will be 2-year linear courses then, and AS levels will just be stand-alone qualifications with a level of difficulty between GCSEs and A-levels.
Edited to add: I loved doing all the stuff about ox bow lakes and glaciated valleys!
She looked sedated. Soon snapped out of it when asked about Trump, though.
Because she had no fucking clue what the reporter was on about
He was kind, other reporters would have eviscerated her for that pile of shite.
It was far better to let herself hang out to dry than pulling her to shreds which would only marginally improve the sympathy vote, how did she get past a constituency selection meeting, was their only one candidate?
She was almost certainly the only black woman, this being in the heyday of Militant and the Loony Left when things like gender and race were shall we say rather important.
That said, although I've never been her biggest admirer I've been really shocked by her meltdown over this campaign. Is she suffering from some kind of illness?
I remember those days in London. Militant was anti black. In fact, Militant was against the middle class as well.
That's more than a little surprising given they went through children's books seeking out caricatures of black people they could ban. I don't think Ms Abbott would thank you for calling her middle class either.
I think you are confusing the Militant Tendency and the Labour Hard Left of which Abbott and Corbyn were part of. Militant was not particularly strong in London but they did try to enter a few CLPs.
Regarding children's books [ gollywog ? ], it was the Left campaign and I support that to this day.
Evening all do we think Corbyn is safe even if he loses the election? I am not so sure, we haven't heard much from the moderate side of the party, presumably they are waiting to see what happens but are they going to back Corbyn continuing in his job when most MPs had no confidence in him last year. Even if he increases the vote share he will have failed to get them elected.
Corbyn was in Gateshead today, 3 days before the election, Labour majority 14,000 and not even in the top 100 Tory target seats and got a 10,000 turnout. Hooray! Meanwhile May was in Scotland targeting marginal seats held by the SNP. Surge or no surge I have never seen a campaign as strategically inept as this Labour campaign, Blair and Mandelson must have their heads in their hands!
The Tories' internal polling is either seriously out of whack and there will be serious eggs on faces come Friday, or it's majority of 70-80+. Strange.
My antenna are picking up a potential bloodbath for Labour. No evidence. All gut and sniffing guff on the Internet. But it could be brutal in three days time.
Some students will continue taking AS levels e.g. to demonstrate what their likely final A-level grades will be.
However, as universities can no longer use them in coming to a decision on probable grades and making offers, I wonder how long most AS levels will last. My guess is that it may not be long given the expense involved in managing a subordinate course and putting them in for exams, not to mention the disruption in the summer term.
I find that strange. Surely Universities can chose themselves what they use to come to their decisions.
Evening all do we think Corbyn is safe even if he loses the election? I am not so sure, we haven't heard much from the moderate side of the party, presumably they are waiting to see what happens but are they going to back Corbyn continuing in his job when most MPs had no confidence in him last year. Even if he increases the vote share he will have failed to get them elected.
Everything depends on his numbers. 200+ seats and an increase in labour share - he will be very tough to shift.
Evening all do we think Corbyn is safe even if he loses the election? I am not so sure, we haven't heard much from the moderate side of the party, presumably they are waiting to see what happens but are they going to back Corbyn continuing in his job when most MPs had no confidence in him last year. Even if he increases the vote share he will have failed to get them elected.
Everything depends on his numbers. 200+ seats and an increase in labour share - he will be very tough to shift.
I think everyone is going to wake up to a 120-125 seat Con majority on Friday. The mood music has changed after Saturday night, even within the London liberal bubble that is my social group.
I have seen at least 1 Labour 2015 voter posting that video of Corbyn refusing to endorse the 'shoot to kill' policy on twitter
Some students will continue taking AS levels e.g. to demonstrate what their likely final A-level grades will be.
However, as universities can no longer use them in coming to a decision on probable grades and making offers, I wonder how long most AS levels will last. My guess is that it may not be long given the expense involved in managing a subordinate course and putting them in for exams, not to mention the disruption in the summer term.
I find that strange. Surely Universities can chose themselves what they use to come to their decisions.
Yes, but already universities are moving away from using ASs to help inform their decision making from what I've seen, both anecdotally and from admissions officers.
Evening all do we think Corbyn is safe even if he loses the election? I am not so sure, we haven't heard much from the moderate side of the party, presumably they are waiting to see what happens but are they going to back Corbyn continuing in his job when most MPs had no confidence in him last year. Even if he increases the vote share he will have failed to get them elected.
Everything depends on his numbers. 200+ seats and an increase in labour share - he will be very tough to shift.
Quite. Given how much better that would be that predicted, he would some justification for suggesting perhaps they would have done even better had his critics not spent his entire leadership undermining him.
I once listened to this song about 50 times in a row, without a break. It's that good.
Gosh, that is very good. I'd quite forgotten it.
I reckon pop song writing is (ahem) a bit like thriller writing. People sneer at it (especially if it is popular) because it appears cheap and ubiquitous - sold in supermarkets like detergent. In reality, it is very difficult and few can do it well, hence the huge rewards if you get it right - as the Bee Gees clearly did.
Here's another forsaken classic. In my mind the greatest song about male lovesickness and romantic rejection ever written
They are great questions and I'm glad kids are being taught/can choose to be taught this stuff. Certainly better than my miserable AS level geography about oxbox lakes.....
They have, pretty much. Except in Maths, politics and DT. Daughter is doing both maths and politics, so she's been a lot busier than most of her peers for these last few weeks. I think all A-levels will be 2-year linear courses then, and AS levels will just be stand-alone qualifications with a level of difficulty between GCSEs and A-levels.
Edited to add: I loved doing all the stuff about ox bow lakes and glaciated valleys!
Oh, okay.
Never got the option to do a Politics AS Level [insert sad emoticon]. Would definitely have done one.
'Glaciated valleys'! It all comes flooding back.....
No - politics is being reformed from next year anyway, so it is still on the old system (it's one of the last to change and is incidentally changing very much for the worse). However, the key thing is that AS levels under the new system no longer count towards A-levels. You can still do them, but they are a qualification worth half an A-level, rather than half of a full A-level.
Why is the Politics subject changing for the worse? Watered down?
Not watered down - indeed, if anything the opposite. A great deal more content is being crammed in but it is becoming a great deal more theoretical and such examples as remain are historical rather than contemporary - e.g. AQA insist students learn about the 1832 Reform Act but make no mention of Brexit. Popular protest covers the Iraq War but not anything more recent. It's also very heavily based on the UK and USA (and only one board offers the second in any detail).
Also OCR has decided to drop it entirely which is a shame as theirs used to be the best spec.
My antenna are picking up a potential bloodbath for Labour. No evidence. All gut and sniffing guff on the Internet. But it could be brutal in three days time.
How well did your antenna serve you last time? (mine were crap)
That interview was unspeakably bad. Possibly the worst I've ever seen. I've never been a fan of Abbott's even during my most fervent support of Corbyn in the 2015 leadership campaign, but she was so far out of her depth it was unreal. Shit! Shit shit shit.
O/T My older daughter sat her AS Government and Politics earlier today.
The questions were:
VOTING BEHAVIOUR
1) Explain the term Safe seat
2) Explain reasons for differential turnout between constituencies at General Elections.
3) 'Voting behaviour at UK General elections is primarily down to the personalities of those seeking office, as opposed to their policies' Discuss
ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
1) Explain the term representative democracy
2) Identify and explain two reasons why David Cameron decided to call the EU Referendum.
3) 'The use of referendums since 1975 has done little to enhance democracy' Discuss
I reckon most posters here would be nailed on for an easy "A" with those questions. (No A* grade for AS levels). My daughter thought it pretty easy, too - we'll find out if she did as well as she thought on results day in August.
I'd guess the higher marks would go to those who can make a convincing argument, and *also* contextualising + representing (and rebutting) opposing arguments.
Quite hard when you're 17 and only have 15 mins per question...
I recon most posters on here would do ok but struggle to get the highest grades.
Good luck to your daughter!
Thanks. She's still only 16 (summer birthday). She did work experience in the House of Lords last year and managed to get a seat in the gallery for PMQs, the first one after the referendum. She was sitting directly opposite Cameron (and above Corbyn) when Cameron uttered the lines "For goodness sake man, just go now!".
What on Earth is work experience in Hol? A long nap?
LOL. She spent a week there meeting various politicians, being taken out to lunch in various dining rooms (including both terraces, if I remember correctly), having a few guided tours and erm... doing some photocopying for about an hour. Amazing experience for her.
That interview was unspeakably bad. Possibly the worst I've ever seen. I've never been a fan of Abbott's even during my most fervent support of Corbyn in the 2015 leadership campaign, but she was so far out of her depth it was unreal. Shit! Shit shit shit.
Abbott is getting shared a lot on Facebook, seen 3 or 4 videos of her in the past week.
My antenna are picking up a potential bloodbath for Labour. No evidence. All gut and sniffing guff on the Internet. But it could be brutal in three days time.
How well did your antenna serve you last time? (mine were crap)
My antenna are picking up a potential bloodbath for Labour. No evidence. All gut and sniffing guff on the Internet. But it could be brutal in three days time.
I think you could be right.
I am happy i cashed out a decent profit on Tories LT 399.5
QT with Farron and Sturgeon starting on BBC1 in a minute - though not showing on the Sky EPG.
Interestingly it is being hosted by Nick Robinson - not sure why not Dimbleby (it was scheduled to be him as usual) - maybe so he can have a good rest before Thur and Fri.
Could maybe be a pointer that Robinson will take over QT when Dimbleby retires.
I also know the sneering and snobbery aimed at Coldplay is rather pathetic.
Coldplay, the Theresa May of 'rock' music.
Prediction: in ten years Coldplay will be seen as unquestionably great. Their problem is they just got too popular, so insecure people (such as yourself, it seems) feel forced to prove their coolness - to separate themselves from the plebs - by sneering at them.
This process happens time and again in pop music. The Bee Gees are an excellent example. Became massively famous, became as reviled as Coldplay. Now no one doubts their enormous talent.
100 million views. 100 million! And rightly so. A genius song.
May is not the Bee Gees. She is not Coldplay. Both wrote their own tunes and demonstrated not only popularity ,but creativity.
If May were a band, she would be Jive Bunny. Popular initially with her nostalgic remixes, but ultimately with nothing much to say.
I agree! i never made the comparison. I was just pointing out that people like to sneer at very popular acts, but these acts are often - usually - very popular because they are very talented.
Though I'm not sure TMay is *quite* as bad as Jive Bunny.
I genuinely can't think of anything original from May. Nothing at all. Mostly carries on what Dave started. Borrows from Ed. Borrows from Nigel. Evokes Maggie through her gender. But offers nothing really of her own at all.
It's remarkable really when you think about it. Not a single idea. Even John Major had his cones hotline.
I was scanning the Conservative Party manifesto and came across something I hadn't heard of before. They plan to create nine* Her Majesty's Commissioners for Trade after Brexit. I did some googling. It seems these dated back to the empire. Their job was to make sure the colonies made their necessary economic contributions to the mother country.
* John McDonnell's quip about the only numbers in the manifesto are page numbers isn't quite true. There are a half dozen or so numbers. This is one.
Don't you remember Heseltine calling himself the "President of the Board of Trade"? The Commissioners are the members of the Board
No - politics is being reformed from next year anyway, so it is still on the old system (it's one of the last to change and is incidentally changing very much for the worse). However, the key thing is that AS levels under the new system no longer count towards A-levels. You can still do them, but they are a qualification worth half an A-level, rather than half of a full A-level.
Why is the Politics subject changing for the worse? Watered down?
Not watered down - indeed, if anything the opposite. A great deal more content is being crammed in but it is becoming a great deal more theoretical and such examples as remain are historical rather than contemporary - e.g. AQA insist students learn about the 1832 Reform Act but make no mention of Brexit. Popular protest covers the Iraq War but not anything more recent. It's also very heavily based on the UK and USA (and only one board offers the second in any detail).
Also OCR has decided to drop it entirely which is a shame as theirs used to be the best spec.
FFS. I envisaged Politics being a bit closer to something like 'Citizenship', with plenty of contemporary subject matter and in some part putting in context the events of now. 1832 etc - just as interesting but should be in History.
She looked sedated. Soon snapped out of it when asked about Trump, though.
Because she had no fucking clue what the reporter was on about
He was kind, other reporters would have eviscerated her for that pile of shite.
It was far better to let herself hang out to dry than pulling her to shreds which would only marginally improve the sympathy vote, how did she get past a constituency selection meeting, was their only one candidate?
She was almost certainly the only black woman, this being in the heyday of Militant and the Loony Left when things like gender and race were shall we say rather important.
That said, although I've never been her biggest admirer I've been really shocked by her meltdown over this campaign. Is she suffering from some kind of illness?
I remember those days in London. Militant was anti black. In fact, Militant was against the middle class as well.
That's more than a little surprising given they went through children's books seeking out caricatures of black people they could ban. I don't think Ms Abbott would thank you for calling her middle class either.
I think you are confusing the Militant Tendency and the Labour Hard Left of which Abbott and Corbyn were part of. Militant was not particularly strong in London but they did try to enter a few CLPs.
Regarding children's books [ gollywog ? ], it was the Left campaign and I support that to this day.
I was thinking of the famous example of the black horse to which a girl fed white sugar.
I am happy to take your word for my confusion re Militant/Hard Left.
Corbyn was in Gateshead today, 3 days before the election, Labour majority 14,000 and not even in the top 100 Tory target seats and got a 10,000 turnout. Hooray! Meanwhile May was in Scotland targeting marginal seats held by the SNP. Surge or no surge I have never seen a general election campaign as strategically inept as this Labour campaign, Blair and Mandelson must have their heads in their hands!
May was in an invitation only meeting with activists in a warehouse specialising in office storage. perhaps she has a plan for Mayexit? Is packing tea-chests a boy or girl job?
That interview was unspeakably bad. Possibly the worst I've ever seen. I've never been a fan of Abbott's even during my most fervent support of Corbyn in the 2015 leadership campaign, but she was so far out of her depth it was unreal. Shit! Shit shit shit.
Abbott is getting shared a lot on Facebook, seen 3 or 4 videos of her in the past week.
I do wonder if she might have cost Labour many seats. It's hard to judge, but Corbyn has definitely had a good campaign, I can recall only one media gaffe, whereas she has had loads, and they are often embarrassing, and it must affect some people.
Some students will continue taking AS levels e.g. to demonstrate what their likely final A-level grades will be.
However, as universities can no longer use them in coming to a decision on probable grades and making offers, I wonder how long most AS levels will last. My guess is that it may not be long given the expense involved in managing a subordinate course and putting them in for exams, not to mention the disruption in the summer term.
I find that strange. Surely Universities can chose themselves what they use to come to their decisions.
They are obliged, by law, not to disadvantage students who have not done AS levels in making offers.
The only way they can do this is to ignore them entirely, which as Chameleon has noted is what they are doing.
Look at the age of the faces in the crowd. How many live and are registered to vote in Gateshead?
He's a trendy pop star that you tweet your mates you've gone to see.
Thought exactly the same when I saw this on C4. A lot of the crowd were too young to vote and definitely a 'festival with your mates' air. Not sure it will translate into a great deal of actual votes.
Corbyn was in Gateshead today, 3 days before the election, Labour majority 14,000 and not even in the top 100 Tory target seats and got a 10,000 turnout. Hooray! Meanwhile May was in Scotland targeting marginal seats held by the SNP. Surge or no surge I have never seen a campaign as strategically inept as this Labour campaign, Blair and Mandelson must have their heads in their hands!
The Tories' internal polling is either seriously out of whack and there will be serious eggs on faces come Friday, or it's majority of 70-80+. Strange.
I am beginning to think it may even now be 100+ Tory majority just because the Labour campaign on the ground is so awful, CCHQ is ruthlessly targeting Labour marginals in the North and Midlands and sending May only to those areas and seats in Scotland they want to win from the SNP, the Labour campaign seems mainly focused on getting huge crowds for Jeremy in seats that would vote for a donkey in a red rosette.
They are great questions and I'm glad kids are being taught/can choose to be taught this stuff. Certainly better than my miserable AS level geography about oxbox lakes.....
Daughter is doing both maths and politics
Add psychology to the mix and imo she'd have the perfect skillset for political betting.
Obviously not advising gambling for an u18, but still!
QT with Farron and Sturgeon starting on BBC1 in a minute - though not showing on the Sky EPG.
Interestingly it is being hosted by Nick Robinson - not sure why not Dimbleby (it was scheduled to be him as usual) - maybe so he can have a good rest before Thur and Fri.
Could maybe be a pointer that Robinson will take over QT when Dimbleby retires.
Coldplay fan who also saw them at Wembley.. easily the most impressive show I've ever seen. How many bands can play over twenty songs at a concert?
Hmm. I think it is a generational thing. I saw your posting and my first thought was if I saw a band that played less than 20 songs I would feel cheated. But most of the bands I watch have been around for decades. Of those I have seen in the last couple of years
Springsteen regularly does 30 plus songs - 33 when I saw him at Coventry last year Fleetwood Mac did 23 at Leeds in 2015 The Eagles did 27 at Leeds the year before ELO did 20 at Nottingham
Even the young upstarts Suede did 27 at Leeds last year.
I saw Paul Simon play for almost four hours a few years ago. I didn't count how many songs he sung, but it was a lot.
I remember going to see Lenny Kravitz Just after the 7/7 bombings and he was on stage for around 3 hours, some of which was just him and his band jamming and doing covers of songs about togetherness and love. It is one of the best gigs I've been to.
Aren't Grateful Dead the winners of this competition, every time?
Coz they were all on heroin. Not hard to play for 19 hours if you're totally smacked out (as I can personally attest)
Surely the question should be: how many good or great songs can you play, i.e. how brilliant is your back catalogue? Most pop stars can only claim one or two famous songs (if they write themselves).
The acts in a different league can claim a dozen, even two dozen: the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zep, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Genesis, the Smiths, Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, the Bee Gees, Abba, the entire Stone Roses first album (and nothing since)
I struggle to name bands post 1985 because I genuinely think pop music has declined since then, the way Italian painting declined post-Raphael, or English verse drama after Shakespeare.
There was a golden age of popular music, and it was 1965-1985, maybe 1990 at a push. Art forms are born, they thrive, and then they kind of die - or evolve dramatically into something different.
QT with Farron and Sturgeon starting on BBC1 in a minute - though not showing on the Sky EPG.
Interestingly it is being hosted by Nick Robinson - not sure why not Dimbleby (it was scheduled to be him as usual) - maybe so he can have a good rest before Thur and Fri.
Could maybe be a pointer that Robinson will take over QT when Dimbleby retires.
Corbyn was in Gateshead today, 3 days before the election, Labour majority 14,000 and not even in the top 100 Tory target seats and got a 10,000 turnout. Hooray! Meanwhile May was in Scotland targeting marginal seats held by the SNP. Surge or no surge I have never seen a general election campaign as strategically inept as this Labour campaign, Blair and Mandelson must have their heads in their hands!
May was in an invitation only meeting with activists in a warehouse specialising in office storage. perhaps she has a plan for Mayexit? Is packing tea-chests a boy or girl job?
She was at a rally in Scotland in a marginal seat then went to a factory in Berwickshire meeting voters who might be won over from the SNP, not one voter who attended that Corbyn rally in a safe Labour seat will not already be voting for him
Bradford South strikes me as the sort of place that could easily be an unexpected gain on the night.
I heard the Labour vote was "hemorrhaging" on council estates in Southampton at the weekend, from a CCHQ source, and holding up a bit better amongst the ABs, but, in the absence of seeing the figures myself, I took it to just be a motivational anecdote.
No - politics is being reformed from next year anyway, so it is still on the old system (it's one of the last to change and is incidentally changing very much for the worse). However, the key thing is that AS levels under the new system no longer count towards A-levels. You can still do them, but they are a qualification worth half an A-level, rather than half of a full A-level.
Why is the Politics subject changing for the worse? Watered down?
Not watered down - indeed, if anything the opposite. A great deal more content is being crammed in but it is becoming a great deal more theoretical and such examples as remain are historical rather than contemporary - e.g. AQA insist students learn about the 1832 Reform Act but make no mention of Brexit. Popular protest covers the Iraq War but not anything more recent. It's also very heavily based on the UK and USA (and only one board offers the second in any detail).
Also OCR has decided to drop it entirely which is a shame as theirs used to be the best spec.
FFS. I envisaged Politics being a bit closer to something like 'Citizenship', with plenty of contemporary subject matter and in some part putting in context the events of now. 1832 etc - just as interesting but should be in History.
So do I and I've taught both subjects. I've no objection to context, but when it comes to a full constitutional narrative (which AQA's is) I think it's going a bit far. And I think AQA is still better than Edexcel, the de facto alternative, which starts with Runnymede the small matter of 800 years ago and goes downhill from there.
Now you will see why I think it's not getting better.
My mate who I believe is a good representative of the white working class in the North East outside of Tyneside told me today that May has had an awful campaign. He did, however, describe Corbyn as a 'f*cking idiot'.
My antenna are picking up a potential bloodbath for Labour. No evidence. All gut and sniffing guff on the Internet. But it could be brutal in three days time.
I think you could be right.
I am happy i cashed out a decent profit on Tories LT 399.5
Blimey bigjohnowls, do you think it could really go over 400?
Awww Peter Sallis. Aside from Wallace he was also good in the original Ice Warriors story in Doctor Who with Patrick Troughton. I remember he best in Last of the Summer Wine, the show itself was awful but I used to watch it when I was a lad with my grandparents. Cocoa and Cleggy.
My mate who I believe is a good representative of the white working class in the North East outside of Tyneside told me today that May has had an awful campaign. He did, however, describe Corbyn as a 'f*cking idiot'.
My antenna are picking up a potential bloodbath for Labour. No evidence. All gut and sniffing guff on the Internet. But it could be brutal in three days time.
I think you could be right.
I am happy i cashed out a decent profit on Tories LT 399.5
Been a toss-up for me between a 2005 style election where the disliked incumbent wins against a polarising opponent or a very heavy Labour defeat.
I'm coming down on the latter. Does it feel like a change of government is coming? No. Not at all.
I also know the sneering and snobbery aimed at Coldplay is rather pathetic.
Coldplay, the Theresa May of 'rock' music.
Prediction: in ten years Coldplay will be seen as unquestionably great. Their problem is they just got too popular, so insecure people (such as yourself, it seems) feel forced to prove their coolness - to separate themselves from the plebs - by sneering at them.
This process happens time and again in pop music. The Bee Gees are an excellent example. Became massively famous, became as reviled as Coldplay. Now no one doubts their enormous talent.
100 million views. 100 million! And rightly so. A genius song.
Yep. I used to refer to the Bee Gees as one of my guilty pleasures. Now they are just a pleasure and I don't care who knows it.
ABBA are the prime example of this phenomonen.
Also Elton John, the Carpenters. Phil Collins and Genesis.
Coldplay aren't fit to lick Benny and Bjorn's spangly boots! 90% of their songs are instantly forgettable. Yellow and the one with the backwards video are the only things they've written that have made any lasting impression on my mind.
Also a terrible insult to the Bee Gees and Phil Collins to compare them to Chris Martin et al. Coldplay are more like Simple Minds, but without the interesting early stuff.
Karen carpenter has the best voice of all time for me.
It was amazing.
Annie Lennox (when with the Eurythmics) and Stevie Nicks (when in her pomp) are particular favorite female voices I really enjoy listening to.
I once listened to this song about 50 times in a row, without a break. It's that good.
Gosh, that is very good. I'd quite forgotten it.
I reckon pop song writing is (ahem) a bit like thriller writing. People sneer at it (especially if it is popular) because it appears cheap and ubiquitous - sold in supermarkets like detergent. In reality, it is very difficult and few can do it well, hence the huge rewards if you get it right - as the Bee Gees clearly did.
Here's another forsaken classic. In my mind the greatest song about male lovesickness and romantic rejection ever written
My antenna are picking up a potential bloodbath for Labour. No evidence. All gut and sniffing guff on the Internet. But it could be brutal in three days time.
I think you could be right.
I am happy i cashed out a decent profit on Tories LT 399.5
Coldplay fan who also saw them at Wembley.. easily the most impressive show I've ever seen. How many bands can play over twenty songs at a concert?
Hmm. I think it is a generational thing. I saw your posting and my first thought was if I saw a band that played less than 20 songs I would feel cheated. But most of the bands I watch have been around for decades. Of those I have seen in the last couple of years
Springsteen regularly does 30 plus songs - 33 when I saw him at Coventry last year Fleetwood Mac did 23 at Leeds in 2015 The Eagles did 27 at Leeds the year before ELO did 20 at Nottingham
Even the young upstarts Suede did 27 at Leeds last year.
I saw Paul Simon play for almost four hours a few years ago. I didn't count how many songs he sung, but it was a lot.
I remember going to see Lenny Kravitz Just after the 7/7 bombings and he was on stage for around 3 hours, some of which was just him and his band jamming and doing covers of songs about togetherness and love. It is one of the best gigs I've been to.
Aren't Grateful Dead the winners of this competition, every time?
Coz they were all on heroin. Not hard to play for 19 hours if you're totally smacked out (as I can personally attest)
Surely the question should be: how many good or great songs can you play, i.e. how brilliant is your back catalogue? Most pop stars can only claim one or two famous songs (if they write themselves).
The acts in a different league can claim a dozen, even two dozen: the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zep, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Genesis, the Smiths, Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, the Bee Gees, Abba, the entire Stone Roses first album (and nothing since)
I struggle to name bands post 1985 because I genuinely think pop music has declined since then, the way Italian painting declined post-Raphael, or English verse drama after Shakespeare.
There was a golden age of popular music, and it was 1965-1985, maybe 1990 at a push. Art forms are born, they thrive, and then they kind of die - or evolve dramatically into something different.
Coldplay fan who also saw them at Wembley.. easily the most impressive show I've ever seen. How many bands can play over twenty songs at a concert?
Hmm. I think it is a generational thing. I saw your posting and my first thought was if I saw a band that played less than 20 songs I would feel cheated. But most of the bands I watch have been around for decades. Of those I have seen in the last couple of years
Springsteen regularly does 30 plus songs - 33 when I saw him at Coventry last year Fleetwood Mac did 23 at Leeds in 2015 The Eagles did 27 at Leeds the year before ELO did 20 at Nottingham
Even the young upstarts Suede did 27 at Leeds last year.
I saw Paul Simon play for almost four hours a few years ago. I didn't count how many songs he sung, but it was a lot.
I remember going to see Lenny Kravitz Just after the 7/7 bombings and he was on stage for around 3 hours, some of which was just him and his band jamming and doing covers of songs about togetherness and love. It is one of the best gigs I've been to.
Aren't Grateful Dead the winners of this competition, every time?
Coz they were all on heroin. Not hard to play for 19 hours if you're totally smacked out (as I can personally attest)
Surely the question should be: how many good or great songs can you play, i.e. how brilliant is your back catalogue? Most pop stars can only claim one or two famous songs (if they write themselves).
The acts in a different league can claim a dozen, even two dozen: the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zep, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Genesis, the Smiths, Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, the Bee Gees, Abba, the entire Stone Roses first album (and nothing since)
I struggle to name bands post 1985 because I genuinely think pop music has declined since then, the way Italian painting declined post-Raphael, or English verse drama after Shakespeare.
There was a golden age of popular music, and it was 1965-1985, maybe 1990 at a push. Art forms are born, they thrive, and then they kind of die - or evolve dramatically into something different.
Kasabian are the best stadium band, or festival headliners at the moment. They are great live and know how to put on a show. They are headlining at Reading this August. Worth taking in. I have seen them 4 times, and they too are well known Leicester City Fans. They did a free concert for us on Vicky Park a year ago.
For the best song about breakup, I would nominate Husker Du's "Don't want to know if you are lonely"
O/T My older daughter sat her AS Government and Politics earlier today.
The questions were:
VOTING BEHAVIOUR
1) Explain the term Safe seat
2) Explain reasons for differential turnout between constituencies at General Elections.
3) 'Voting behaviour at UK General elections is primarily down to the personalities of those seeking office, as opposed to their policies' Discuss
ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
1) Explain the term representative democracy
2) Identify and explain two reasons why David Cameron decided to call the EU Referendum.
3) 'The use of referendums since 1975 has done little to enhance democracy' Discuss
I reckon most posters here would be nailed on for an easy "A" with those questions. (No A* grade for AS levels). My daughter thought it pretty easy, too - we'll find out if she did as well as she thought on results day in August.
Is there going to be a PB prediction competition this year?
Seemingly not. Presumably the bookies were all too tight-fisted to come up with a few hundred quids worth of prize money. Actually i think with one or two exceptions (eg Betfair), the bookies have put up a pretty disappointing show this time. Oddschecker have been worse still with the result that most of the time one has to do the hard spadework in seeking out betting markets.
That interview was unspeakably bad. Possibly the worst I've ever seen. I've never been a fan of Abbott's even during my most fervent support of Corbyn in the 2015 leadership campaign, but she was so far out of her depth it was unreal. Shit! Shit shit shit.
Abbott is getting shared a lot on Facebook, seen 3 or 4 videos of her in the past week.
I do wonder if she might have cost Labour many seats. It's hard to judge, but Corbyn has definitely had a good campaign, I can recall only one media gaffe, whereas she has had loads, and they are often embarrassing, and it must affect some people.
Even those who are adoring of Corbyn must acknowledge that as a Presidential candidate he would be in a much stronger position than where he is asking to head a Government with Abbott and McDonnell stood by your side.
That maybe the best way of stopping the religious fanatics who commit atrocities. I have no understanding of the religion but does it leave the dead suicide bombers soul in limbo? I suppose if you were a believer it could be a barrier to doing something nasty.
Oasis first two albums were the soundtrack to my generations teen years really. They could just play them plus a couple of B sides and that's two dozen
blur seem a bit like wankers, but I do like them. I am a bit of a fan so I guess I could name a dozen or so songs I really liked. Their album Think Tank is brilliant, I still listen to it a lot. Tender is a lovely song too
Paul Weller has done two dozen w various bands/solo I would say. Nowadays I am too old, I barely knew who any of the artists were last night. Little Mix are fit, so is Ariana Grande, but I wouldn't have recognised them in Brentwood High St!
Comments
I think all A-levels will be 2-year linear courses then, and AS levels will just be stand-alone qualifications with a level of difficulty between GCSEs and A-levels.
Edited to add: I loved doing all the stuff about ox bow lakes and glaciated valleys!
Regarding children's books [ gollywog ? ], it was the Left campaign and I support that to this day.
Never got the option to do a Politics AS Level [insert sad emoticon]. Would definitely have done one.
'Glaciated valleys'! It all comes flooding back.....
Also OCR has decided to drop it entirely which is a shame as theirs used to be the best spec.
He's a trendy pop star that you tweet your mates you've gone to see.
I am happy i cashed out a decent profit on Tories LT 399.5
Interestingly it is being hosted by Nick Robinson - not sure why not Dimbleby (it was scheduled to be him as usual) - maybe so he can have a good rest before Thur and Fri.
Could maybe be a pointer that Robinson will take over QT when Dimbleby retires.
I am happy to take your word for my confusion re Militant/Hard Left.
The only way they can do this is to ignore them entirely, which as Chameleon has noted is what they are doing.
Obviously not advising gambling for an u18, but still!
https://twitter.com/standardnews/status/871819048039968769
I heard the Labour vote was "hemorrhaging" on council estates in Southampton at the weekend, from a CCHQ source, and holding up a bit better amongst the ABs, but, in the absence of seeing the figures myself, I took it to just be a motivational anecdote.
Maybe it wasn't.
Now you will see why I think it's not getting better.
My mate who I believe is a good representative of the white working class in the North East outside of Tyneside told me today that May has had an awful campaign. He did, however, describe Corbyn as a 'f*cking idiot'.
"Why don't we have internment?"
I remember he best in Last of the Summer Wine, the show itself was awful but I used to watch it when I was a lad with my grandparents. Cocoa and Cleggy.
https://order-order.com/2017/06/05/diane-abbott-car-crash-clueless-about-terror-report/
And just as useless as ever
Olive: you're not alone, and Everything But the Girl: Missing, both hold a lot of memories for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4sPkS8b62Q
Or were you excluding Ulysses and Finnegans Wake because they're unreadable?
I'm coming down on the latter. Does it feel like a change of government is coming? No. Not at all.
Anyway, I am getting an early night. Have a good evening everyone!
That is all.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/31/one-manchesters-biggest-mosques-refuses-bury-salman-abedis-body/
For the best song about breakup, I would nominate Husker Du's "Don't want to know if you are lonely"
https://youtu.be/eoKeH7JYE48
Actually i think with one or two exceptions (eg Betfair), the bookies have put up a pretty disappointing show this time. Oddschecker have been worse still with the result that most of the time one has to do the hard spadework in seeking out betting markets.
Oasis first two albums were the soundtrack to my generations teen years really. They could just play them plus a couple of B sides and that's two dozen
blur seem a bit like wankers, but I do like them. I am a bit of a fan so I guess I could name a dozen or so songs I really liked. Their album Think Tank is brilliant, I still listen to it a lot. Tender is a lovely song too
Paul Weller has done two dozen w various bands/solo I would say. Nowadays I am too old, I barely knew who any of the artists were last night. Little Mix are fit, so is Ariana Grande, but I wouldn't have recognised them in Brentwood High St!