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Early voting in the second biggest state now at 43.7% of the 2016 total – and there’s still more tha

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  • I've never been there but the hatred for Frankfurt baffles me.

    Does it not have pubs to drink in, restaurants to eat in, parks to sit in, countryside to walk in ?

    Just as every city does ?

    I've been to Frankfurt more than any other German city. I've also been to Stuttgart, Mainz, Munich and Würzburg.

    Very compact city with pretty good transportation with the airport being less than a 15 minute train ride away.

    Well connected to Mainz, Cologne, Stuttgart and so on.

    Nice enough Altstadt and the Museums on the south bank of the river are pretty good.

  • Roy_G_Biv said:

    IanB2 said:

    Take out the purple Asian countries, where there is an array of other factors in play, and there really isn’t any significant correlation there at all.
    Every country has arrays of different factors. Can you justify which factors you think should lead to a country being excluded from an analysis?
    Any that makes the UK look bad, will be excluded by the Tories. Recall that we can only do international comparisons when it's good for the Tories
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,717
    alex_ said:

    dixiedean said:

    If it's never too early what was wrong with January?
    Treacherous snowflake Lefty.
    Wonder if he paid for it, or just took out last year's? Amazing how many people don't realise the primary purpose is to raise money not to visibly demonstrate support.
    I don't think there are poppy sellers on the streets this year, though some fixed sites such as shops wi
    Nigelb said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Not even Bodies ?
    One of Mercurio’s most entertaining.
    Green wing is the most accurate.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,222
    edited October 2020
    TBF, Kennedy has been dead for a few years.

    Though why would Melania have been seeing him ?
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,868
    Roy_G_Biv said:

    MaxPB said:

    Roy_G_Biv said:

    MaxPB said:

    So when will we know whether @MaxPB's hypothesis is correct? I hope he is

    In a few days, I think by Wednesday we'll have a pretty clear picture of whether the R is falling. I also hope I'm right.
    R is quite clearly falling - up til 4 days ago, it was on a steady downward trajectory -

    image

    and

    image

    What's does this graph mean? For example, the figures for the 14th October, let's say one region has an R of exactly 1.00.

    As I understand it, R is the number of people infected by each infected person across the course of their illness. So does R=1.00 for the 14th October mean
    1. The average person who was INFECTIOUS on 14/10 could be expected to transmit it to one other?
    2. The average person who BECAME INFECTED on 14/10 will be expected to transmit it to one other?
    3. The average person who CEASED BEING INFECTIOUS on 14/10 has transmitted it to one other?
    4. Something else?
    It's easier to work in tens, but basically at R=1 if 10 people get the virus they will collectively pass it on to 10 other people.

    The R is calculated as a function of the viral growth rate, incubation period and infectiousness during the incubation period. With no non-pharmaceutical interventions the R of COVID is around 4.5 for symptomatic people and around 1.5 for asymptomatic people.

    The way nations have sought to reduce the R is by introducing NPIs like mask wearing and social distancing. This brings the R of asymptomatic people to well below 1 and reduces the likelihood of susperspreader events occurring.
    Thanks, but this answered a slightly different question to the one I asked. I think I understand what R means, and the ways in which is can be affected. My question was what does the graph mean. If, say, a random person in an urban area, let's say Epping Forest, becomes infectious on 9th October, ceases to be infectious on 20th October, and during that time infects twenty people. Have they brought up the R number for the 9th October, the 18th October, for each of the days they infected someone, or what? Do they bring the 14th October R number up?
    For each of the days one of those 20 infected people gets a test.
  • Andy_CookeAndy_Cooke Posts: 5,005
    Foxy said:

    Roy_G_Biv said:

    MaxPB said:

    The national R is still going down ever so slightly which is good news. I think the R in England is actually below 1 now which is a positive development and this is with just the local lockdown measures rather than the tier system which introduced more restrictions to more parts of England.

    New infections published today up 31% on a week ago.
    I'm unclear why you think that's compatible with R being below 1. To me it seems to contradict your assertion.
    I think it is the difference between reporting date and testing date that makes for the discrepancy. The Actuaries group reckons 1.3. Locally to me, it seems pretty flat.


    https://twitter.com/COVID19actuary/status/1317488856044797960?s=19
    Average 5 days from infection to symptoms.
    Average 7 days from symptoms to hospitalisation.
    Then 2 days reporting lag.
    Ergo they are estimating an R of 1.3 as of a fortnight earlier.
    Which might be accurate, but of limited utility for understanding how things have gone recently.
  • Alistair said:

    alex_ said:

    Nigelb said:

    alex_ said:

    alex_ said:

    If we're comparing new cases Sunday by Sunday then:

    France
    11/10/20 16,101
    18/10 20 29,837

    Italy
    11/10/20 5,456
    18/10/20 11,705

    Poland
    11/10/20 4,178
    18/10/20 8,536

    are all looking worrying.

    All three doing significantly less testing than the UK.


    Honourable mention to Belgium pretending to be a country of five times its actual size.
    The Netherlands are almost as bad.
    Not quite. Even they are getting on for 1.7 times the size of Belgium with fewer cases.
    Czech Republic is giving Belgium a run for their money over the last few days :-(
    Along with North and South Dakota...

    https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1317906618944614400
    Trump had any rallies there?
    https://twitter.com/agearan/status/1317662436489560066
    Re: last nights sidebar re: Hunter S. Thompson, note that HST's first book, which justly earned him fame if not fortune, was "Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga".
    HST's review of my favoured bike (a relatively slow one even then).

    'Song of the Sausage Creature'

    https://tinyurl.com/y743kph3
  • https://twitter.com/guardiannews/status/1317933670460739587

    Levelling down the North, these people I hope will never vote Tory again
  • YBarddCwscYBarddCwsc Posts: 7,172
    Roy_G_Biv said:

    IanB2 said:

    Take out the purple Asian countries, where there is an array of other factors in play, and there really isn’t any significant correlation there at all.
    Every country has arrays of different factors. Can you justify which factors you think should lead to a country being excluded from an analysis?
    If the data doesn't have error bars, it shows that the person who constructed the graph is not really interested in letting the data speak for itself.

    The graph can be safely binned.
  • Betting post:
    Trump is currently 2.6 on betfair and Biden 8 to get 46% - 49%.
    Surely virtually all of Trump's wins would leave Biden between those percentages.
    Obviously its just about possible that Biden could lose with over 49% of the vote but unlikely (only Nixon has lost with 49+ since the war).
    Also v unlikely that Biden will end up below 46% and the odds are over 3x higher.
    Value?
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,315

    Andy_JS said:

    HYUFD said:

    New Hugh Lawrie political drama on BBC1 now, Roadkill

    Written by David Hare.
    I'm not impressed so far but perhaps it suffers as the first episode from having to belt through a lot of exposition.
    Recent big BBC dramas have suffered the other way...the first 2-3 episodes promising, then rapidly downhill e.g. McMafia.
    I offered my advice to them. Still waiting to hear back......

    The real stories are so much more interesting than what gets invented and it’s really not hard to find those who have such stories.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,410
    edited October 2020
    The spectre of mass unemployment. Northern councils in bitter standoff with Whitehall. Everton, Villa, Liverpool top 3. An inability to meet the demand for sports leisurewear.
    It's all gone a bit 80's.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,717
    Nigelb said:

    TBF, Kennedy has been dead for a few years.

    Though why would Melania have been seeing him ?
    JFK haunts the White House?
  • Burnham is absolutely right
  • Re: Shy Trumpsky vote, in addition to discounting the Shy Biden vote, are not many PBers totally ignoring yet another critical voting bloc?

    Namely the Shy Kanye West vote.

    Of course impact is limited by fact KW only qualified for the ballot in three potential swing states: Colorado, Iowa & Minnesota.

    FYI the US has rich history of joke - satirical - novelty "candidates" for President. Perhaps most notably Pat Paulsen who "ran" in several elections starting in 1968 when his "candidacy" was launched on the "Smothers Brothers" TV show. In 1992 he received over 10k votes running against George Bush the Elder in Republican primaries, and in 1996 came in 2nd to Bill Clinton in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary.

    Another funny guy who garnered some support AND a lot of laughs, was Will Rogers, an Oklahoma Democrat transferred to Hollywood who went from cowboy rodeo rope-trick artist to national sage; one of his most famous lines was, "I belong to no organized political party - I'm a Democrat".

    Got to hand it to the Trumpskys - esp. Jared - for taking a fun national pastime and turning it into an actual political stratagem.
  • Roadkill conclusion: everyone is shagging
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,695
    Foxy said:

    Nigelb said:

    TBF, Kennedy has been dead for a few years.

    Though why would Melania have been seeing him ?
    JFK haunts the White House?
    He surely does metaphorically.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,717
    lockhimup said:

    Betting post:
    Trump is currently 2.6 on betfair and Biden 8 to get 46% - 49%.
    Surely virtually all of Trump's wins would leave Biden between those percentages.
    Obviously its just about possible that Biden could lose with over 49% of the vote but unlikely (only Nixon has lost with 49+ since the war).
    Also v unlikely that Biden will end up below 46% and the odds are over 3x higher.
    Value?

    I think that a good band. It covers Trump wins but also narrow Biden wins.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 34,695
    Cyclefree said:

    Andy_JS said:

    HYUFD said:

    New Hugh Lawrie political drama on BBC1 now, Roadkill

    Written by David Hare.
    I'm not impressed so far but perhaps it suffers as the first episode from having to belt through a lot of exposition.
    Recent big BBC dramas have suffered the other way...the first 2-3 episodes promising, then rapidly downhill e.g. McMafia.
    I offered my advice to them. Still waiting to hear back......

    The real stories are so much more interesting than what gets invented and it’s really not hard to find those who have such stories.
    You should write a script or novel @Cyclefree. I for one would watch / read it.
  • Cyclefree said:

    Andy_JS said:

    HYUFD said:

    New Hugh Lawrie political drama on BBC1 now, Roadkill

    Written by David Hare.
    I'm not impressed so far but perhaps it suffers as the first episode from having to belt through a lot of exposition.
    Recent big BBC dramas have suffered the other way...the first 2-3 episodes promising, then rapidly downhill e.g. McMafia.
    I offered my advice to them. Still waiting to hear back......

    The real stories are so much more interesting than what gets invented and it’s really not hard to find those who have such stories.
    You should write a script or novel @Cyclefree. I for one would watch / read it.
    Hear hear
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131


    If you want to compare the division in the UK with a country of high devolution and cooperative government compare this.....

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization_and_World_Cities_Research_Network#:~:text= v t e Loughborough,Field ... 1 more rows

    Alpha ++ London

    Alpha +

    Alpha Frankfurt

    Alpha - Munich

    Beta + Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg

    Beta

    Beta - Stuttgart, Manchester

    Gamma + Belfast, Glasgow

    Gamma Bristol

    High Sufficiency Birmingham, Leeds

    Sufficiency Aberdeen, Cardiff, Dortmund, Dresden, Essen, Hanover, Leipzig, Liverpool, Mannheim, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton,


    What's the bloody point of a classification system with 4 alpha classifications? What's wrong with using more than the first three letters of the Greek alphabet if they don't wish to generalise to broad categories only?

  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,366

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    It's a variant of Gell-Mann Amnesia effect.

    Anyone with knowledge of a field finds that field to be portrayed inaccurately on TV and in film.

    But they still consider believing other things - in the same piece of work!
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,222
    edited October 2020
    Foxy said:

    lockhimup said:

    Betting post:
    Trump is currently 2.6 on betfair and Biden 8 to get 46% - 49%.
    Surely virtually all of Trump's wins would leave Biden between those percentages.
    Obviously its just about possible that Biden could lose with over 49% of the vote but unlikely (only Nixon has lost with 49+ since the war).
    Also v unlikely that Biden will end up below 46% and the odds are over 3x higher.
    Value?

    I think that a good band. It covers Trump wins but also narrow Biden wins.
    It’s an interesting alternative hedge to the number of electoral college votes market. Might take a look.

    (btw, I bet Goldwater would barely have been longer than 3 against LBJ on Betfair Exchange, had it then existed.)
  • "Zoom and enhance", my favourite movie cliche
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    eristdoof said:

    "So far, the only response of the lockdown enthusiasts has been an attempt to smear the Great Barrington authors with allegations they are the tools of Right-wing doctrinaires or antisemites. If there was a better answer than abuse, we would no doubt have heard it."

    Lord Sumption (Mail)

    "the only response" he missed out the words 'that he has seen', and he has not been looking very hard. There has been plenty rebuttal to the Great Barrington report based analysis of the last 9 months.
    It's a bit disappointing that such an intelligent and learned man can use such lazy techniques to dismiss opponents like anyone else. It does not bode well for his upcoming book.
  • https://twitter.com/AllieHBNews/status/1317936447802978307

    Will the Sun be looking to see how much Keir bows this year and the coat he wears?
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,717
    dixiedean said:

    The spectre of mass unemployment. Northern councils in bitter standoff with Whitehall. Everton, Villa, Liverpool top 3. An inability to meet the demand for sports leisurewear.
    It's all gone a bit 80's.

    And the mullet is back in fashion...

    https://haircutinspiration.com/the-modern-mullet-for-men/
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    In fairness JFK is probably looking a bit rough right now, as NigelB notes.
  • Roy_G_BivRoy_G_Biv Posts: 998
    Earlier, I was mapping Brexit onto the timeline of the French Revolution. It was meant mainly as a joke, but I note that the parallel timeline has us pretty much exactly at the point where refactory bishops were deemed outlaws who could be killed on sight. Maybe there's more to this toy theory than even I suspected.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    Foxy said:

    dixiedean said:

    The spectre of mass unemployment. Northern councils in bitter standoff with Whitehall. Everton, Villa, Liverpool top 3. An inability to meet the demand for sports leisurewear.
    It's all gone a bit 80's.

    And the mullet is back in fashion...

    https://haircutinspiration.com/the-modern-mullet-for-men/
    Sign of the endtimes - as a child of the late 90s and adult of the 00s. one of the few things I could hold onto was that my generation's hair and clothing styles was not as ridiculous as the 70s, 80s and early 90s.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,702
    Roy_G_Biv said:

    Earlier, I was mapping Brexit onto the timeline of the French Revolution. It was meant mainly as a joke, but I note that the parallel timeline has us pretty much exactly at the point where refactory bishops were deemed outlaws who could be killed on sight. Maybe there's more to this toy theory than even I suspected.
    Disestablishment of the church can't be far away.
  • Alistair said:

    alex_ said:

    Nigelb said:

    alex_ said:

    alex_ said:

    If we're comparing new cases Sunday by Sunday then:

    France
    11/10/20 16,101
    18/10 20 29,837

    Italy
    11/10/20 5,456
    18/10/20 11,705

    Poland
    11/10/20 4,178
    18/10/20 8,536

    are all looking worrying.

    All three doing significantly less testing than the UK.


    Honourable mention to Belgium pretending to be a country of five times its actual size.
    The Netherlands are almost as bad.
    Not quite. Even they are getting on for 1.7 times the size of Belgium with fewer cases.
    Czech Republic is giving Belgium a run for their money over the last few days :-(
    Along with North and South Dakota...

    https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1317906618944614400
    Trump had any rallies there?
    https://twitter.com/agearan/status/1317662436489560066
    Re: last nights sidebar re: Hunter S. Thompson, note that HST's first book, which justly earned him fame if not fortune, was "Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga".
    HST's review of my favoured bike (a relatively slow one even then).

    'Song of the Sausage Creature'

    https://tinyurl.com/y743kph3
    Thanks! Muchly!

    ". . . . I never got to sixth gear, and I didn't get deep into fifth. This is a shameful admission for a full-bore Cafe Racer, but let me tell you something, old sport: This motorcycle is simply too goddamn fast to ride at speed in any kind of normal road traffic unless you're ready to go straight down the centerline with your nuts on fire and a silent scream in your throat.

    . . . . But somehow the brute straightened out. I passed a schoolbus on the right and got the bike under control long enough to gear down and pull off into an abandoned gravel driveway where I stopped and turned off the engine. My hands had seized up like claws and the rest of my body was numb. I felt nauseous and I cried for my mama, but nobody heard, then I went into a trance for 30 or 40 seconds until I was finally able to light a cigarette and calm down enough to ride home. I was too hysterical to shift gears, so I went the whole way in first at 40 miles an hour."
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    edited October 2020
    People really get into the competitive spirit I see.

    Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of violating a humanitarian ceasefire in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh...

    But an Armenian defence ministry spokeswoman said Azerbaijan broke the ceasefire after just four minutes by firing artillery shells and rockets.

    Azerbaijan later said Armenia had broken the truce after two minutes.


    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54586437

    By this time tomorrow they'll be arguing who broke it down to the tenth of a second.
  • Roy_G_Biv said:

    Earlier, I was mapping Brexit onto the timeline of the French Revolution. It was meant mainly as a joke, but I note that the parallel timeline has us pretty much exactly at the point where refactory bishops were deemed outlaws who could be killed on sight. Maybe there's more to this toy theory than even I suspected.
    Disestablishment of the church can't be far away.
    Not under this monarch surely, however No 10 might resent power bases that are higher than them.
  • That's a terrible chart.

    The Y axis is economic growth H1 2020
    The X axis is deaths until mid October 2020

    Those aren't the same data sets.

    As a result because the deaths hit America later they're showing as comparable deaths to the UK but much less economic damage. Whereas the better comparison for that death period would be Q1-Q3 2020 which I expect will bring the two more in line with each other.
  • JohnLilburneJohnLilburne Posts: 6,259

    https://twitter.com/guardiannews/status/1317933670460739587

    Levelling down the North, these people I hope will never vote Tory again

    Why do ill people in the north have to go to hospital in the north? Its supposed to be a national health service.
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,468

    Roy_G_Biv said:
    NJ and RI are among the LEAST rural states in the Union.

    In 2010 census, New Jersey rural pop = 5.3% of total (ranked 49th) while Rhode Island = 9.3% (44th)
    Indeed, so far out I'd assumed he was being ironic ...
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,868
    Roy_G_Biv said:

    IanB2 said:

    Take out the purple Asian countries, where there is an array of other factors in play, and there really isn’t any significant correlation there at all.
    Every country has arrays of different factors. Can you justify which factors you think should lead to a country being excluded from an analysis?
    A good tip is to start with the dots that are drawn in a different colour.
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518
    Re: potential Welsh “circuit breaker”. I wonder if the Welsh executive has jumped the gun a bit, assuming that England and Scotland would follow imminently and they would stand out as being leaders rather than followers? And are now getting a bit twitchy that they won’t and they are going to look a bit isolated, and with no money to pay for it. Especially as a single circuit breaker, as opposed to a series, wasn’t actually what SAGE wanted, and Labour’s England policy now seems to be for a much longer lockdown.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 48,717

    Alistair said:

    alex_ said:

    Nigelb said:

    alex_ said:

    alex_ said:

    If we're comparing new cases Sunday by Sunday then:

    France
    11/10/20 16,101
    18/10 20 29,837

    Italy
    11/10/20 5,456
    18/10/20 11,705

    Poland
    11/10/20 4,178
    18/10/20 8,536

    are all looking worrying.

    All three doing significantly less testing than the UK.


    Honourable mention to Belgium pretending to be a country of five times its actual size.
    The Netherlands are almost as bad.
    Not quite. Even they are getting on for 1.7 times the size of Belgium with fewer cases.
    Czech Republic is giving Belgium a run for their money over the last few days :-(
    Along with North and South Dakota...

    https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1317906618944614400
    Trump had any rallies there?
    https://twitter.com/agearan/status/1317662436489560066
    Re: last nights sidebar re: Hunter S. Thompson, note that HST's first book, which justly earned him fame if not fortune, was "Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga".
    HST's review of my favoured bike (a relatively slow one even then).

    'Song of the Sausage Creature'

    https://tinyurl.com/y743kph3
    Thanks! Muchly!

    ". . . . I never got to sixth gear, and I didn't get deep into fifth. This is a shameful admission for a full-bore Cafe Racer, but let me tell you something, old sport: This motorcycle is simply too goddamn fast to ride at speed in any kind of normal road traffic unless you're ready to go straight down the centerline with your nuts on fire and a silent scream in your throat.

    . . . . But somehow the brute straightened out. I passed a schoolbus on the right and got the bike under control long enough to gear down and pull off into an abandoned gravel driveway where I stopped and turned off the engine. My hands had seized up like claws and the rest of my body was numb. I felt nauseous and I cried for my mama, but nobody heard, then I went into a trance for 30 or 40 seconds until I was finally able to light a cigarette and calm down enough to ride home. I was too hysterical to shift gears, so I went the whole way in first at 40 miles an hour."
    Thats a great bike review. I didn't realise Hunter S Thompson was still alive.

  • Roy_G_Biv said:

    Earlier, I was mapping Brexit onto the timeline of the French Revolution. It was meant mainly as a joke, but I note that the parallel timeline has us pretty much exactly at the point where refactory bishops were deemed outlaws who could be killed on sight. Maybe there's more to this toy theory than even I suspected.
    Disestablishment of the church can't be far away.
    It is centuries overdue.
  • dixiedean said:

    The spectre of mass unemployment. Northern councils in bitter standoff with Whitehall. Everton, Villa, Liverpool top 3. An inability to meet the demand for sports leisurewear.
    It's all gone a bit 80's.

    Does that mean we can get some decent music soon?
  • Roy_G_Biv said:

    Earlier, I was mapping Brexit onto the timeline of the French Revolution. It was meant mainly as a joke, but I note that the parallel timeline has us pretty much exactly at the point where refactory bishops were deemed outlaws who could be killed on sight. Maybe there's more to this toy theory than even I suspected.
    Disestablishment of the church can't be far away.
    It is centuries overdue.
    So it will be the next Tory pitch, you're basically their PR at this point
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,487

    Roadkill conclusion: everyone is shagging

    It's just as bad as I thought it would be.

    Laurie's villainous character is far too obvious. They got the Tories 'destroying our future', privatising/selling off the NHS, gross indifference to justice, and a bit of wink-wink racist insinuation all in the first episode. Plus the sex was just gratitutous - absolutely no story at all: people just walk into a flat, shut the door and start shagging.

    I mean, really?

    And like @Cyclefree says the legal stuff was just poor - my wife is a solicitor and was shaking her head throughout.

    If I continue watching it will be because of Hugh Laurie and Hugh Laurie alone.
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    As someone with a lifetime of Maths and Physics... can you imagine what I think of most SciFi / Space fiction?

    And do NOT get me started on computers & Hollywood, especially CSI "We found a saliva sample and sequenced DNA. Our computer says he is 6ft 2 with blond hair and is wearing a red T-shirt and is having breakfast at O'Leary's Cafe ..... OK we'll pick him up"
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,315
    edited October 2020
    Nigelb said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Not even Bodies ?
    One of Mercurio’s most entertaining.
    Green wing is the most accurate.

    And one of the funniest.

    Cyclefree said:

    Andy_JS said:

    HYUFD said:

    New Hugh Lawrie political drama on BBC1 now, Roadkill

    Written by David Hare.
    I'm not impressed so far but perhaps it suffers as the first episode from having to belt through a lot of exposition.
    Recent big BBC dramas have suffered the other way...the first 2-3 episodes promising, then rapidly downhill e.g. McMafia.
    I offered my advice to them. Still waiting to hear back......

    The real stories are so much more interesting than what gets invented and it’s really not hard to find those who have such stories.
    You should write a script or novel @Cyclefree. I for one would watch / read it.
    ** Taps nose significantly **

    Characters identified and named and plot outline. But script-writing - eesh! Looked at a professional script the other day. So much is in the acting and visual.
  • nichomarnichomar Posts: 7,483

    dixiedean said:

    The spectre of mass unemployment. Northern councils in bitter standoff with Whitehall. Everton, Villa, Liverpool top 3. An inability to meet the demand for sports leisurewear.
    It's all gone a bit 80's.

    Does that mean we can get some decent music soon?
    Live queen concert up on five in half an hour
  • Roy_G_Biv said:

    Earlier, I was mapping Brexit onto the timeline of the French Revolution. It was meant mainly as a joke, but I note that the parallel timeline has us pretty much exactly at the point where refactory bishops were deemed outlaws who could be killed on sight. Maybe there's more to this toy theory than even I suspected.
    Disestablishment of the church can't be far away.
    It is centuries overdue.
    So it will be the next Tory pitch, you're basically their PR at this point
    I'm an atheist republican. I have believed in disestablishmentarianism all my life but I don't think we will get the secular Republic I think we should be any time soon.
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,468
    edited October 2020
    Cyclefree said:

    Nigelb said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Not even Bodies ?
    One of Mercurio’s most entertaining.
    Green wing is the most accurate.
    And one of the funniest.

    Cyclefree said:

    Andy_JS said:

    HYUFD said:

    New Hugh Lawrie political drama on BBC1 now, Roadkill

    Written by David Hare.
    I'm not impressed so far but perhaps it suffers as the first episode from having to belt through a lot of exposition.
    Recent big BBC dramas have suffered the other way...the first 2-3 episodes promising, then rapidly downhill e.g. McMafia.
    I offered my advice to them. Still waiting to hear back......

    The real stories are so much more interesting than what gets invented and it’s really not hard to find those who have such stories.
    You should write a script or novel @Cyclefree. I for one would watch / read it.
    ** Taps nose significantly **

    Characters identified and named and plot outline. But script-writing - eesh! Looked at a professional script the other day. So much is in the acting and visual.

    Almost any movie/TV involving diplomacy or the UN is unwatchable for me. My wife loved Madame Secretary, but for me it was like fingernails on a blackboard, despite the delectable Tea Leoni. (something wrong with block quotes, lumping Cyclefree's comments in with mine)
  • Nigelb said:

    Alistair said:

    alex_ said:

    Nigelb said:

    alex_ said:

    alex_ said:

    If we're comparing new cases Sunday by Sunday then:

    France
    11/10/20 16,101
    18/10 20 29,837

    Italy
    11/10/20 5,456
    18/10/20 11,705

    Poland
    11/10/20 4,178
    18/10/20 8,536

    are all looking worrying.

    All three doing significantly less testing than the UK.


    Honourable mention to Belgium pretending to be a country of five times its actual size.
    The Netherlands are almost as bad.
    Not quite. Even they are getting on for 1.7 times the size of Belgium with fewer cases.
    Czech Republic is giving Belgium a run for their money over the last few days :-(
    Along with North and South Dakota...

    https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1317906618944614400
    Trump had any rallies there?
    https://twitter.com/agearan/status/1317662436489560066
    Re: last nights sidebar re: Hunter S. Thompson, note that HST's first book, which justly earned him fame if not fortune, was "Hells Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga".
    Just started rereading ‘Campaign Trail.
    He combines snark, vituperation, observation, and genuine feeling in a manner unmatched since.
    The story of his sitting in the back of Nixon’s car in ‘68, talking football for two hours, is rather strange and wonderful.

    Would have been great on Twitter. :smile:
    HST talking football with RN is my 2nd favorite part ; 1st is Thompson's account of Ed Muskie versus the Savage Boohoo.
  • Roadkill conclusion: everyone is shagging

    It's just as bad as I thought it would be.

    Laurie's villainous character is far too obvious. They got the Tories 'destroying our future', privatising/selling off the NHS, gross indifference to justice, and a bit of wink-wink racist insinuation all in the first episode. Plus the sex was just gratitutous - absolutely no story at all: people just walk into a flat, shut the door and start shagging.

    I mean, really?

    And like @Cyclefree says the legal stuff was just poor - my wife is a solicitor and was shaking her head throughout.

    If I continue watching it will be because of Hugh Laurie and Hugh Laurie alone.
    So no reason to switch Netflix off then? What a shame.
  • guybrushguybrush Posts: 257
    IanB2 said:

    Take out the purple Asian countries, where there is an array of other factors in play, and there really isn’t any significant correlation there at all.
    I'd be wary of holding up Indonesia as a beacon of good pandemic response.

    The remedies reflect the unscientific approach to battling the coronavirus in the world’s fourth-most populous country, where the rate of testing is among the world’s lowest, contact tracing is minimal, and authorities have resisted lockdowns even as infections spiked.

    Indonesia has officially reported 6,346 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, the highest overall toll in Southeast Asia. Including people who died with acute COVID-19 symptoms but were not tested, the death toll is three times higher.


    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-indonesia-insight-idUSKCN25G02J

    I do admit on the face of it, the stats look good, as per Vietnam.
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163

    https://twitter.com/guardiannews/status/1317933670460739587

    Levelling down the North, these people I hope will never vote Tory again

    Why do ill people in the north have to go to hospital in the north? Its supposed to be a national health service.
    "NHS" is just a label that the various health-based businesses stick to their signs so that the public know which doors to go through. There is no "monolithic" NHS organisation...
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,315
    edited October 2020
    TimT said:

    Cyclefree said:

    Nigelb said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Not even Bodies ?
    One of Mercurio’s most entertaining.
    Green wing is the most accurate.
    And one of the funniest.

    Cyclefree said:

    Andy_JS said:

    HYUFD said:

    New Hugh Lawrie political drama on BBC1 now, Roadkill

    Written by David Hare.
    I'm not impressed so far but perhaps it suffers as the first episode from having to belt through a lot of exposition.
    Recent big BBC dramas have suffered the other way...the first 2-3 episodes promising, then rapidly downhill e.g. McMafia.
    I offered my advice to them. Still waiting to hear back......

    The real stories are so much more interesting than what gets invented and it’s really not hard to find those who have such stories.
    You should write a script or novel @Cyclefree. I for one would watch / read it.
    ** Taps nose significantly **

    Characters identified and named and plot outline. But script-writing - eesh! Looked at a professional script the other day. So much is in the acting and visual.
    Almost any movie/TV involving diplomacy or the UN is unwatchable for me. My wife loved Madame Secretary, but for me it was like fingernails on a blackboard, despite the delectable Tea Leoni. (something wrong with block quotes, lumping Cyclefree's comments in with mine)


    MY COMMENTS START HERE (Bloody diplomats messing up block quotes!)

    The trouble is - and I’ve yet to find a way through it - is making what is interesting, shocking etc to those in the know also interesting to a general audience without having to explain everything at tedious length.

    So it’s a case of stripping down to the essentials of what makes a good story.

    Easy to say. Hard to do. Where’s @SeanT when you need him, eh?
  • CorrectHorseBatteryCorrectHorseBattery Posts: 21,436
    edited October 2020
    @LadyG can "stand in" @Cyclefree
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,315

    @LadyG can "stand in" @Cyclefree

    Yes - I can have a banker besotted with newts.......!
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,390
    IanB2 said:

    Take out the purple Asian countries, where there is an array of other factors in play, and there really isn’t any significant correlation there at all.
    That's a very strange reading of that graph, when you compare non-Asian countries with a death rate of under 250 per million with those with a death rate of over 500 per million - i.e. at least twice as high, and often much more. Although the economic hit doesn't vary massively between non-Asian countries, the death rate certainly does.
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    rkrkrk said:

    That is amazing. And will presumably be a massive blow to those trying c
    voter suppression.

    If Texas flips then Trump has zero chance.
    Though Hubert Humphrey did win Texas in 1968 yet still lost nationally!
  • https://twitter.com/guardiannews/status/1317933670460739587

    Levelling down the North, these people I hope will never vote Tory again

    Why do ill people in the north have to go to hospital in the north? Its supposed to be a national health service.
    Or to another northern hospital ten miles away.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
  • kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    I can't remember Eastenders doing local council elections but decades ago it was quite big on Coronation Street with Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts and Deidre Barlow all being councillors.
  • edbedb Posts: 66
    Foxy said:

    lockhimup said:

    Betting post:
    Trump is currently 2.6 on betfair and Biden 8 to get 46% - 49%.
    Surely virtually all of Trump's wins would leave Biden between those percentages.
    Obviously its just about possible that Biden could lose with over 49% of the vote but unlikely (only Nixon has lost with 49+ since the war).
    Also v unlikely that Biden will end up below 46% and the odds are over 3x higher.
    Value?

    I think that a good band. It covers Trump wins but also narrow Biden wins.
    Why not back (even longer) Trump narrow win bands. What do we think he might get in the Biden disaster scenario?
    Eg bit of Trump 49-52% at 12.5

    I can't make my mind up on some of these fringe bf markets. Seems like a lot of weird prices.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,315
    A friend of mine is an ex-spook. Spooks needless to say is nothing like the real thing.

    Just watching the Savoy documentary. There is something a bit sad about all these rich lonely women coming to a hotel for company. Lots of luxury and pampering no doubt. But still...
  • IanB2 said:

    Take out the purple Asian countries, where there is an array of other factors in play, and there really isn’t any significant correlation there at all.
    That's a very strange reading of that graph, when you compare non-Asian countries with a death rate of under 250 per million with those with a death rate of over 500 per million - i.e. at least twice as high, and often much more. Although the economic hit doesn't vary massively between non-Asian countries, the death rate certainly does.
    The graph is very flawed by mixing data sets, they've got until June on the Y Axis and until mid October on the X Axis.

    Intriguingly if they didn't screw that up it'd probably improve their theory. Most of the nations with high deaths but less economic damage are in the Americas - the USA, Brazil, Chile for example. But their deaths were in Q3 so you're showing deaths from Q3 but not the economic damage from Q3.

    Once we have an accurate 2020 chart not the flawed one I suspect it will show the correlation between controlling the virus and reducing damage to the economy even clearer.

    It's long been known that if healthcare collapses the economy does too because people get afraid.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,366
    kle4 said:

    People really get into the competitive spirit I see.

    Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of violating a humanitarian ceasefire in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh...

    But an Armenian defence ministry spokeswoman said Azerbaijan broke the ceasefire after just four minutes by firing artillery shells and rockets.

    Azerbaijan later said Armenia had broken the truce after two minutes.


    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54586437

    By this time tomorrow they'll be arguing who broke it down to the tenth of a second.

    I always liked the Kaiser's excuses for invading Belgium -

    - That if he hadn't done it, the French would have. The French not having plans to do so and having moved their troops away from Belgium was evidence of their perfidy.
    - The French withdrawing from the border with Germany, to their fortifications was a disgusting trick to put Germany in the bad. By making them have to invade...
    - The Belgians illegally resisted being invaded.

    I've just realised that in an another life, the Kaiser could have been happy as a cop in certain parts of small town America.

    "He was attacking me"
    "Hence the 47 bullets in the back.... Just sprinkle some crack on him and we are good here. That was a nasty, sharp, piece of fruit he was carrying...."
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    edited October 2020

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    I can't remember Eastenders doing local council elections but decades ago it was quite big on Coronation Street with Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts and Deidre Barlow all being councillors.
    And of course we have the whole gang, practically, being parish councillors on Vicar of Dibley, though I doubt any were elected (excepting the Chair, who was elected on the district council).
  • kle4 said:

    People really get into the competitive spirit I see.

    Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of violating a humanitarian ceasefire in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh...

    But an Armenian defence ministry spokeswoman said Azerbaijan broke the ceasefire after just four minutes by firing artillery shells and rockets.

    Azerbaijan later said Armenia had broken the truce after two minutes.


    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54586437

    By this time tomorrow they'll be arguing who broke it down to the tenth of a second.

    I always liked the Kaiser's excuses for invading Belgium -

    - That if he hadn't done it, the French would have. The French not having plans to do so and having moved their troops away from Belgium was evidence of their perfidy.
    - The French withdrawing from the border with Germany, to their fortifications was a disgusting trick to put Germany in the bad. By making them have to invade...
    - The Belgians illegally resisted being invaded.

    I've just realised that in an another life, the Kaiser could have been happy as a cop in certain parts of small town America.

    "He was attacking me"
    "Hence the 47 bullets in the back.... Just sprinkle some crack on him and we are good here. That was a nasty, sharp, piece of fruit he was carrying...."
    Fruit?

    The real thugs carry Campbell's Soup 🍲
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,222
    edited October 2020
    Cyclefree said:


    MY COMMENTS START HERE (Bloody diplomats messing up block quotes!)

    The trouble is - and I’ve yet to find a way through it - is making what is interesting, shocking etc to those in the know also interesting to a general audience without having to explain everything at tedious length.

    So it’s a case of stripping down to the essentials of what makes a good story.

    Easy to say. Hard to do. Where’s @SeanT when you need him, eh?

    Bodies was a bit in the Sean mode.
    Utterly scabrous; half the medics were drunk or incompetent; the management either craven or bullying; patients treated with condescension or obfuscation.
    Appeared quite realistic :wink:

    And Keith Allen’s best role.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,410

    dixiedean said:

    The spectre of mass unemployment. Northern councils in bitter standoff with Whitehall. Everton, Villa, Liverpool top 3. An inability to meet the demand for sports leisurewear.
    It's all gone a bit 80's.

    Does that mean we can get some decent music soon?
    When you get a mahoosive tight curly perm, and not a moment sòoner.
  • rpjsrpjs Posts: 3,787
    edited October 2020
    Cyclefree said:

    A friend of mine is an ex-spook. Spooks needless to say is nothing like the real thing.

    Just watching the Savoy documentary. There is something a bit sad about all these rich lonely women coming to a hotel for company. Lots of luxury and pampering no doubt. But still...

    Many years ago, just out of university I had a job interview with what turned out to be a TLA, or it being the UK a TL+ONA. It seemed from what I could glean that the job would in practice involve much hanging around in car parks in the less-pleasant parts of Northern Ireland late at night waiting to meet informants, so I wasn’t very upset that I didn’t get past the first interview.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,390

    Roadkill conclusion: everyone is shagging

    It's just as bad as I thought it would be.

    Laurie's villainous character is far too obvious. They got the Tories 'destroying our future', privatising/selling off the NHS, gross indifference to justice, and a bit of wink-wink racist insinuation all in the first episode. Plus the sex was just gratitutous - absolutely no story at all: people just walk into a flat, shut the door and start shagging.

    I mean, really?

    And like @Cyclefree says the legal stuff was just poor - my wife is a solicitor and was shaking her head throughout.

    If I continue watching it will be because of Hugh Laurie and Hugh Laurie alone.
    It's written by David Hare, so it's hardly surprising that it has a slant. Do you get equally snowflakey about the TV stuff written by Michael Dobbs?
  • nichomarnichomar Posts: 7,483
    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    I can't remember Eastenders doing local council elections but decades ago it was quite big on Coronation Street with Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts and Deidre Barlow all being councillors.
    And of course we have the whole gang, practically, being parish councillors on Vicar of Dibley, though I doubt any were elected (excepting the Chair, who was elected on the district council).
    PPC church council not local government I think
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,410
    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    I can't remember Eastenders doing local council elections but decades ago it was quite big on Coronation Street with Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts and Deidre Barlow all being councillors.
    And of course we have the whole gang, practically, being parish councillors on Vicar of Dibley, though I doubt any were elected (excepting the Chair, who was elected on the district council).
    My Parish Council is always advertising for members. We haven't had an election in 15 years I've lived here.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,222
    justin124 said:

    rkrkrk said:

    That is amazing. And will presumably be a massive blow to those trying c
    voter suppression.

    If Texas flips then Trump has zero chance.
    Though Hubert Humphrey did win Texas in 1968 yet still lost nationally!
    While we’re back with Humphrey and Hunter S, I see that James A Johnson has just died.
    Ran Mondale’s campaign against Reagan. Which capped a long stretch of rough losses.
    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/18/james-johnson-obituaries-mondale-430078
    ... Johnson had a political, cultural and business resume that prompted Harold M. Ickes, President Bill Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, to dub him “the chairman of the universe.” Johnson chaired the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Brookings Institution think tank and Fannie Mae all at the same time.
    Besides running Mondale’s failed run for the White House against Ronald Reagan in 1984, Johnson was a key player in the presidential campaigns of Eugene McCarthy, Edmund Muskie and George McGovern...

  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    nichomar said:

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    I can't remember Eastenders doing local council elections but decades ago it was quite big on Coronation Street with Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts and Deidre Barlow all being councillors.
    And of course we have the whole gang, practically, being parish councillors on Vicar of Dibley, though I doubt any were elected (excepting the Chair, who was elected on the district council).
    PPC church council not local government I think
    A common misconception. They acted more like a PCC, but were explicitly referred to as a parish council on many occasions. There was a specific episode about the Chair being on the District Council, however.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,366
    edited October 2020
    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    I can't remember Eastenders doing local council elections but decades ago it was quite big on Coronation Street with Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts and Deidre Barlow all being councillors.
    And of course we have the whole gang, practically, being parish councillors on Vicar of Dibley, though I doubt any were elected (excepting the Chair, who was elected on the district council).
    I have a theory that bad TV led to Donald Trump

    No, not the obvious way.

    During the late Soviet Union, the state broadcasters pirated (pretty much) Dallas and Dynasty. To show the proles the evils of Capitalism.

    This taught every Russian that Capitalists -

    - Never actually do real work
    - Work consists of macho threats, drinking and elaborate criminal conspiracies against your partners. Murder included.
    - All women need giant hair, giant shoulder pads, more alcohol etc

    When 1989 came the Russians set out to implement Capitalism.

    Some time later Putin met Donald Trump. It was plainly obvious that Trump was better at American Capitalism than anyone else (apart from the drinking).......
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    nichomar said:

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    I can't remember Eastenders doing local council elections but decades ago it was quite big on Coronation Street with Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts and Deidre Barlow all being councillors.
    And of course we have the whole gang, practically, being parish councillors on Vicar of Dibley, though I doubt any were elected (excepting the Chair, who was elected on the district council).
    PPC church council not local government I think
    PCC, otherwise agreed.
  • CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,315
    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    It is curious that there have been very few successful portrayals of the world of money in drama or fiction over the last two or three decades. Not sure why. I wrote about it here - https://barry-walsh.co.uk/financial-dramas/.

    Ironically the best ever single essay on the financial world was written by a novelist, Julian Barnes - https://barry-walsh.co.uk/ask-not-for-whom-the-bell-tolls/.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,131
    edited October 2020
    dixiedean said:

    kle4 said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    I can't remember Eastenders doing local council elections but decades ago it was quite big on Coronation Street with Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts and Deidre Barlow all being councillors.
    And of course we have the whole gang, practically, being parish councillors on Vicar of Dibley, though I doubt any were elected (excepting the Chair, who was elected on the district council).
    My Parish Council is always advertising for members. We haven't had an election in 15 years I've lived here.
    A lot of the time it's because the council is a lot larger than it needs to be. A parish council with 11, 13 or even more members will often struggle to have sufficient candidates to require an election. Unless you're a very large parish or a town, I think you'd rarely need more than 9. Did have an election round my way with 15 seats and 16 candidates, so one poor bugger missed out.

    Principal authorities have the ability to sort such matters out, but unless requested to do so I believe they are very reluctant to go against the status quo or even look into it. It's not unheard of to discover parishes which haven't even had any councillors for years as they cannot find anyone to stand.

    Parishes as a whole can be a murky business, as its hard to even complain about the things they do have authority to do, if you think there is a problem.
  • kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    I can't remember Eastenders doing local council elections but decades ago it was quite big on Coronation Street with Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts and Deidre Barlow all being councillors.
    Minder had an episode with Arthur Daley standing for election to the borough council.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Hunter Biden story going well

    https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1317945295196532736?s=19

    You'd think legitimate journalist would want to be associated with the scoop of the century.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,929
    edited October 2020
    deleted
  • Roadkill conclusion: everyone is shagging

    It's just as bad as I thought it would be.

    Laurie's villainous character is far too obvious. They got the Tories 'destroying our future', privatising/selling off the NHS, gross indifference to justice, and a bit of wink-wink racist insinuation all in the first episode. Plus the sex was just gratitutous - absolutely no story at all: people just walk into a flat, shut the door and start shagging.

    I mean, really?

    And like @Cyclefree says the legal stuff was just poor - my wife is a solicitor and was shaking her head throughout.

    If I continue watching it will be because of Hugh Laurie and Hugh Laurie alone.
    So no reason to switch Netflix off then? What a shame.
    The BBC will be paying Hugh Laurie a damn sight less than he'd charge Netflix.
  • state_go_awaystate_go_away Posts: 5,816
    edited October 2020
    Cyclefree said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    It is curious that there have been very few successful portrayals of the world of money in drama or fiction over the last two or three decades. Not sure why. I wrote about it here - https://barry-walsh.co.uk/financial-dramas/.

    Ironically the best ever single essay on the financial world was written by a novelist, Julian Barnes - https://barry-walsh.co.uk/ask-not-for-whom-the-bell-tolls/.
    My favs about money in film/dram are

    Billions
    The Big Short
    Margin Call (really good !)
    Casino (gangster mixed with money /business)
    Hustle (how to get it illegally!)
    Ozarks (mainly about money laundering with a bit of Hick /Redneck quirkiness!)

    You are right though in that loads of films /dramas about politics and power and crime and even law (I used to joke when working in an accountancy firm in the 1990s that whilst a drama then was called LA law you would never get one called W1 Accountancy!)

  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,366
    Cyclefree said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    It is curious that there have been very few successful portrayals of the world of money in drama or fiction over the last two or three decades. Not sure why. I wrote about it here - https://barry-walsh.co.uk/financial-dramas/.

    Ironically the best ever single essay on the financial world was written by a novelist, Julian Barnes - https://barry-walsh.co.uk/ask-not-for-whom-the-bell-tolls/.
    Boiler Room was pretty good - apart from a couple of liberties with technicalities...
  • edb said:

    Foxy said:

    lockhimup said:

    Betting post:
    Trump is currently 2.6 on betfair and Biden 8 to get 46% - 49%.
    Surely virtually all of Trump's wins would leave Biden between those percentages.
    Obviously its just about possible that Biden could lose with over 49% of the vote but unlikely (only Nixon has lost with 49+ since the war).
    Also v unlikely that Biden will end up below 46% and the odds are over 3x higher.
    Value?

    I think that a good band. It covers Trump wins but also narrow Biden wins.
    Why not back (even longer) Trump narrow win bands. What do we think he might get in the Biden disaster scenario?
    Eg bit of Trump 49-52% at 12.5

    I can't make my mind up on some of these fringe bf markets. Seems like a lot of weird prices.
    Trouble is, Trump probably wins with anything above 47 so you can't arb so easily with the 49+ band.
    The point is rather than back Trump at 2.6 you may as well back Biden at 8 to get 46-49 because if Trump were to win, Biden would be in this band nearly always.
    You could also of course lay Trump at 2.62 and hedge with Biden 46/49 at 8.
  • Cyclefree said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    It is curious that there have been very few successful portrayals of the world of money in drama or fiction over the last two or three decades. Not sure why. I wrote about it here - https://barry-walsh.co.uk/financial-dramas/.

    Ironically the best ever single essay on the financial world was written by a novelist, Julian Barnes - https://barry-walsh.co.uk/ask-not-for-whom-the-bell-tolls/.
    My favs about money in film/dram are

    Billions
    The Big Short
    Margin Call (really good !)
    Casino (gangster mixed with money /business)
    Hustle (how to get it illegally!)

    Wall Street was good. ("Greed is good.")

    My Cousin Vinny is said to be recommended viewing at American law schools for its accurate portrayal of trial procedure.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 57,209

    NEW POST

  • rcs1000 said:

    NEW POST

    Not for long.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,222
    Someone was asking about the possible legal consequences for Trump should he lose.
    Here’s a long (but almost certainly not exhaustive) list:
    https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/17/politics/trump-election-legal-reckoning/index.html
  • Roadkill conclusion: everyone is shagging

    It's just as bad as I thought it would be.

    Laurie's villainous character is far too obvious. They got the Tories 'destroying our future', privatising/selling off the NHS, gross indifference to justice, and a bit of wink-wink racist insinuation all in the first episode. Plus the sex was just gratitutous - absolutely no story at all: people just walk into a flat, shut the door and start shagging.

    I mean, really?

    And like @Cyclefree says the legal stuff was just poor - my wife is a solicitor and was shaking her head throughout.

    If I continue watching it will be because of Hugh Laurie and Hugh Laurie alone.
    So no reason to switch Netflix off then? What a shame.
    The BBC will be paying Hugh Laurie a damn sight less than he'd charge Netflix.
    Though from the reviews tonight, if Netflix made it then it might actually have been a good drama.
  • rpjsrpjs Posts: 3,787

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    Cyclefree said:

    kinabalu said:

    OT Roadkill -- new politics drama BBC1 9pm tonight

    Celebrating his win in a newspaper libel case, cabinet minister Peter Laurence is summoned to Downing Street to see PM Dawn Ellison, who reveals she is looking to promote him to an office of state. However, he is soon bought back down to earth with a bump when his special adviser Duncan Knock reveals an inmate in a women's prison is claiming to have a secret about his past that could affect his future.

    Thriller by David Hare, starring Hugh Laurie and Helen McCrory.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/mrg9jq/roadkill--series-1-episode-1/

    Oh yes. In the bag. Thanks for flagging. Who needs atomized globalist Netflix? Not us.
    It's just the sort of good drama (I hope) that the BBC should be doing much more of.

    I expect it to have a leftist "Tories are evil" tilt - luvvie screenwriters almost always struggle to get Conservatives right, or don't want to - but I'll still be watching enthusiastically.
    God Almighty! Why can’t its producers get the legal aspects right? It’s not hard. Spoils the credibility for me.

    I know, I know, I’m being a pedant, should get a life etc etc.....

    Still, for a huge fee, I am available to act as the legal consultant to aspiring dramatists......
    For similar reasons I cannot abide medical dramas.
    Don't get me started on how Eastenders portray local council elections.
    I am genuinely intrigued to learn they have ever bothered to do so, and would love to know how they portrayed it.

    I'm very forgiving of shows taking huge liberties with how things really are in governance, law or medicine, or whatever, depending on how 'realistic' they are seeking to portray themselves, but when you can be relatively realistic without sacrificing the story or the type of story you are telling, and it would take a 5 minute google search to be closer to reality, there's not really much excuse.
    I can't remember Eastenders doing local council elections but decades ago it was quite big on Coronation Street with Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts and Deidre Barlow all being councillors.
    Minder had an episode with Arthur Daley standing for election to the borough council.
    Iain Beale was a councillor in EastEnders years back.
This discussion has been closed.