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edited December 2018 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » For your Christmas day entertainment Saturday Night Live on Theresa and Brexit

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  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 52,838
    First!
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 35,631
    I'll second that!
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 52,838
    edited December 2018
    Americans are easily amused.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 35,631
    IanB2 said:

    Americans are easily amused.

    Indeed, it's pretty lame stuff. Bring back Spitting Image!
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 55,898
    Fifth portion of turkey....
  • dodradedodrade Posts: 597
    Benpointer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Americans are easily amused.

    Indeed, it's pretty lame stuff. Bring back Spitting Image!
    Matt Damon makes a surprisingly good David Cameron though.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,790
    dodrade said:

    Benpointer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Americans are easily amused.

    Indeed, it's pretty lame stuff. Bring back Spitting Image!
    Matt Damon makes a surprisingly good David Cameron though.
    +1. The others are nowhere near.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 55,936
    dodrade said:

    Benpointer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Americans are easily amused.

    Indeed, it's pretty lame stuff. Bring back Spitting Image!
    Matt Damon makes a surprisingly good David Cameron though.
    "David Webb Cameron. That's your real name. You were born 4-15-71."
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 30,998
    Matt Damon
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 23,391
    Sunil_Prasannan said:

    dodrade said:

    Benpointer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Americans are easily amused.

    Indeed, it's pretty lame stuff. Bring back Spitting Image!
    Matt Damon makes a surprisingly good David Cameron though.
    "David Webb Cameron. That's your real name. You were born 4-15-71."
    That must be a line from 'The Brexit Ultimatum'
  • tpfkartpfkar Posts: 1,579
    Happy Christmas friend and foe, leavers and remainers alike. hope you have all had a lovely day
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 53,202
    NickPalmer said:

    dodrade said:

    Benpointer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Americans are easily amused.

    Indeed, it's pretty lame stuff. Bring back Spitting Image!
    Matt Damon makes a surprisingly good David Cameron though.
    +1. The others are nowhere near.
    SNL has always been a bit patchy.
  • AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 123,800
    Happy Christmas everyone, and thanks once again to StJohn for the crossword.
  • grabcocquegrabcocque Posts: 4,234
    edited December 2018
    That SNL skit is so disgustingly, painfully unfunny it's just as bad as every other SNL skit.

    The Serkis version of Theresa May was so much better.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NpExkViy6M&t=3s
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    edited December 2018
    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    PBS had an interesting documentary about it the other day. Argued that it wasn’t pneumatic bubonic plague as everyone assumed.

    Case they made - I’d say it was intriguing and worthy of more work but unproven - was for haemorrhagic fever (aka Ebola)
  • grabcocquegrabcocque Posts: 4,234
    edited December 2018
    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    The Black Death only killed 25% of the population of Europe.

    But it didn't give us Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    The Black Death was therefore better than Brexit.
  • grabcocquegrabcocque Posts: 4,234
    edited December 2018
    Charles said:

    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    PBS had an interesting documentary about it the other day. Argued that it wasn’t pneumatic bubonic plague as everyone assumed.

    Case they made - I’d say it was intriguing and worthy of more work but unproven - was for haemorrhagic fever (aka Ebola)
    Somewhat implausible. Ebola (at least as it is currently) is way too virulent to be a reasonable candidate for a global pandemic.

    Anyone who's played Pandemic and successfully wiped out all life on Earth knows the key to a good bio-armageddon is a pathogen that (a) is highly infectious, (b) has a long incubation period, (c) is asymptomatic until very late in the infection, and (d) has vector of infection that is widely coterminous with human populations.

    Ebola meets 0/4 of those, whereas Plague scores 4 for 4.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 53,202
    grabcocque said:

    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    The Black Death only killed 25% of the population of Europe.

    But it didn't give us Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    The Black Death was therefore better than Brexit.
    By reducing the labour supply, the Black Death pushed up wage rates and brought a new economic order.

    Can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs. A bit tough on the eggs though...
  • FenmanFenman Posts: 1,047
    Foxy said:

    grabcocque said:

    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    The Black Death only killed 25% of the population of Europe.

    But it didn't give us Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    The Black Death was therefore better than Brexit.
    By reducing the labour supply, the Black Death pushed up wage rates and brought a new economic order.

    Can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs. A bit tough on the eggs though...
    Foxy said:

    grabcocque said:

    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    The Black Death only killed 25% of the population of Europe.

    But it didn't give us Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    The Black Death was therefore better than Brexit.
    By reducing the labour supply, the Black Death pushed up wage rates and brought a new economic order.

    Can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs. A bit tough on the eggs though...
    Most Historians think it was closer to a half.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 25,826
    Sunil_Prasannan said:

    dodrade said:

    Benpointer said:

    IanB2 said:

    Americans are easily amused.

    Indeed, it's pretty lame stuff. Bring back Spitting Image!
    Matt Damon makes a surprisingly good David Cameron though.
    "David Webb Cameron. That's your real name. You were born 4-15-71."
    "You look tired, Theresa: get some rest"

    ["Extreme Ways" starts, credits roll...]
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 25,826
    RochdalePioneers said:

    Matt Damon

    Matt Damon
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 53,202
    Fenman said:

    Foxy said:

    grabcocque said:

    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    The Black Death only killed 25% of the population of Europe.

    But it didn't give us Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    The Black Death was therefore better than Brexit.
    By reducing the labour supply, the Black Death pushed up wage rates and brought a new economic order.

    Can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs. A bit tough on the eggs though...
    Foxy said:

    grabcocque said:

    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    The Black Death only killed 25% of the population of Europe.

    But it didn't give us Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    The Black Death was therefore better than Brexit.
    By reducing the labour supply, the Black Death pushed up wage rates and brought a new economic order.

    Can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs. A bit tough on the eggs though...
    Most Historians think it was closer to a half.
    So, nothing like Brexit?
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 52,838
    Foxy said:

    grabcocque said:

    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    The Black Death only killed 25% of the population of Europe.

    But it didn't give us Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    The Black Death was therefore better than Brexit.
    By reducing the labour supply, the Black Death pushed up wage rates and brought a new economic order.

    Can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs. A bit tough on the eggs though...
    You can however break a lot of eggs and have nothing edible to show for it. Which is more akin to where we are currently heading.
  • Donny43Donny43 Posts: 634
    https://twitter.com/IanAustinMP/status/1077568593729110016
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,790
    grabcocque said:

    That SNL skit is so disgustingly, painfully unfunny it's just as bad as every other SNL skit.

    The Serkis version of Theresa May was so much better.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NpExkViy6M&t=3s

    Yes, that's great - not at all May-like in manner, of course, but blends her phrases with Gollum really cleverly.
  • Ishmael_ZIshmael_Z Posts: 8,981
    viewcode said:

    RochdalePioneers said:

    Matt Damon

    Matt Damon
    Mornington Crescent
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    edited December 2018
    grabcocque said:

    Charles said:

    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    PBS had an interesting documentary about it the other day. Argued that it wasn’t pneumatic bubonic plague as everyone assumed.

    Case they made - I’d say it was intriguing and worthy of more work but unproven - was for haemorrhagic fever (aka Ebola)
    Somewhat implausible. Ebola (at least as it is currently) is way too virulent to be a reasonable candidate for a global pandemic.

    Anyone who's played Pandemic and successfully wiped out all life on Earth knows the key to a good bio-armageddon is a pathogen that (a) is highly infectious, (b) has a long incubation period, (c) is asymptomatic until very late in the infection, and (d) has vector of infection that is widely coterminous with human populations.

    Ebola meets 0/4 of those, whereas Plague scores 4 for 4.
    Transmission via human to human contact or animal to human contact (and highly infectious at that point). Studies for the funeral records for Eyam in Derbyshire suggest clear pattern of victim>>cousin (regardless of physical residence) and victim>>neighbour for Black Death which is suggestive of contact rather than an independent vector

    Incubation period up to 21 days during which period people are asymptomatic (but non infectious). Potentially explains passage of disease through relatively unpopulated and *rat free* areas such as Northern England

    I would say Ebola hits 4/4 of your criteria

    However PBS only said it was haemorrhagic fever of which Ebola is the best known.

    FWIW I think it’s more likely to be a Marburg relative myself. Ebola virus mortality rates are only around 25-40%, while Marburg can be 25-99%. Estimates around 50-60% of the population were killed by the Black Death
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,201
    I hope everyone had a good day ?

    Just finished clearing up, and had time to peruse this Guardian opinion leave, which is unusually readable:
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/25/break-brexit-deadlock-ancient-athens-sortition

    And provides a classical alternative to Boris Johnson.
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,207
    Donny43 said:

    https://twitter.com/IanAustinMP/status/1077568593729110016

    Top trolling
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 81,201
    TheScreamingEagles said:

    Happy Christmas everyone, and thanks once again to StJohn for the crossword.

    Seconded.
    And particular thanks for his detailed solutions, on behalf of the challenged amongst us.
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,207
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6529111/Disgraced-Labour-MP-Kate-Osamor-says-proud-live-council-house.html

    Interesting - my first ever argument with my mother in law was on this very subject.

    My in laws owned their place (with a mortgage)

    My parents lived in a council house - but my father was earning full time and mum worked part time.

    My mother in law thought that people who could afford places should free up council housing for those who couldn't.

    In hindsight, I was probably wrong and she was right.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,790
    Floater said:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6529111/Disgraced-Labour-MP-Kate-Osamor-says-proud-live-council-house.html

    Interesting - my first ever argument with my mother in law was on this very subject.

    My in laws owned their place (with a mortgage)

    My parents lived in a council house - but my father was earning full time and mum worked part time.

    My mother in law thought that people who could afford places should free up council housing for those who couldn't.

    In hindsight, I was probably wrong and she was right.

    It depends what you think council housing is for, doesn't it? If one sees it as a safety net for people who are hard up, then your mother-in-law was right. If one sees it as provision of decent standard housing for those who don't want to buy, then probably not. A snag about the former position is that it implicitly labels anyone in a council house as a failure, or at least as someone who hasn't yet "made it". A snag about the latter position is that with any realistic level of council housing after the effects of Right to Buy, there won't be enough to meet demand from people who are indeed hard up, so it should be left to them.

    Personally I'd like to see the Continental model of a large rental sector (I don't much care whether it's state-run, but historically the state rented sector has tended to have higher standards than cheap private lets) with affordable rents but no right to buy, providing the default option. Buying a house is then seen as a possible additional goal in life, as an alternative to other ways to spend or save your money, but not something we all need to aspire to.
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    NickPalmer said:

    Floater said:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6529111/Disgraced-Labour-MP-Kate-Osamor-says-proud-live-council-house.html

    Interesting - my first ever argument with my mother in law was on this very subject.

    My in laws owned their place (with a mortgage)

    My parents lived in a council house - but my father was earning full time and mum worked part time.

    My mother in law thought that people who could afford places should free up council housing for those who couldn't.

    In hindsight, I was probably wrong and she was right.

    It depends what you think council housing is for, doesn't it? If one sees it as a safety net for people who are hard up, then your mother-in-law was right. If one sees it as provision of decent standard housing for those who don't want to buy, then probably not. A snag about the former position is that it implicitly labels anyone in a council house as a failure, or at least as someone who hasn't yet "made it". A snag about the latter position is that with any realistic level of council housing after the effects of Right to Buy, there won't be enough to meet demand from people who are indeed hard up, so it should be left to them.

    Personally I'd like to see the Continental model of a large rental sector (I don't much care whether it's state-run, but historically the state rented sector has tended to have higher standards than cheap private lets) with affordable rents but no right to buy, providing the default option. Buying a house is then seen as a possible additional goal in life, as an alternative to other ways to spend or save your money, but not something we all need to aspire to.
    Going back to the 1960s and 1970s I recall schoolmasters at my local Grammar School who lived in council housing- and continued to do so into retirement.Quite a few other middle class professional people did likewise. There was much less of an assumption that if a person had a reasonable income that they would choose to become home owners.
  • FloaterFloater Posts: 14,207
    NickPalmer said:

    Floater said:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6529111/Disgraced-Labour-MP-Kate-Osamor-says-proud-live-council-house.html

    Interesting - my first ever argument with my mother in law was on this very subject.

    My in laws owned their place (with a mortgage)

    My parents lived in a council house - but my father was earning full time and mum worked part time.

    My mother in law thought that people who could afford places should free up council housing for those who couldn't.

    In hindsight, I was probably wrong and she was right.

    It depends what you think council housing is for, doesn't it? If one sees it as a safety net for people who are hard up, then your mother-in-law was right. If one sees it as provision of decent standard housing for those who don't want to buy, then probably not. A snag about the former position is that it implicitly labels anyone in a council house as a failure, or at least as someone who hasn't yet "made it". A snag about the latter position is that with any realistic level of council housing after the effects of Right to Buy, there won't be enough to meet demand from people who are indeed hard up, so it should be left to them.

    Personally I'd like to see the Continental model of a large rental sector (I don't much care whether it's state-run, but historically the state rented sector has tended to have higher standards than cheap private lets) with affordable rents but no right to buy, providing the default option. Buying a house is then seen as a possible additional goal in life, as an alternative to other ways to spend or save your money, but not something we all need to aspire to.
    It is interesting

    TBH my father feared taking that leap to being a property owner, at least until he could afford to buy outright.

    I think he was wrong to fear the leap into home ownership - and owing money to a lender.

    We certainly were not well off, but we were not poor either.

    I remember when I left home and purchased he thought I was mad (to have the debt).

    Being older myself now with a well paid job I have to say that with waiting lists as they are and an obvious need it is wrong to clog up social housing if you could afford to stand on your own two feet,.

    I may be old fashioned but I think those of us that are financially secure enough to stand on our own should do so, the state provision should be there for those who actually need it.

  • DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300
    Floater said:

    NickPalmer said:


    It depends what you think council housing is for, doesn't it? If one sees it as a safety net for people who are hard up, then your mother-in-law was right. If one sees it as provision of decent standard housing for those who don't want to buy, then probably not. A snag about the former position is that it implicitly labels anyone in a council house as a failure, or at least as someone who hasn't yet "made it". A snag about the latter position is that with any realistic level of council housing after the effects of Right to Buy, there won't be enough to meet demand from people who are indeed hard up, so it should be left to them.

    Personally I'd like to see the Continental model of a large rental sector (I don't much care whether it's state-run, but historically the state rented sector has tended to have higher standards than cheap private lets) with affordable rents but no right to buy, providing the default option. Buying a house is then seen as a possible additional goal in life, as an alternative to other ways to spend or save your money, but not something we all need to aspire to.

    It is interesting

    TBH my father feared taking that leap to being a property owner, at least until he could afford to buy outright.

    I think he was wrong to fear the leap into home ownership - and owing money to a lender.

    We certainly were not well off, but we were not poor either.

    I remember when I left home and purchased he thought I was mad (to have the debt).

    Being older myself now with a well paid job I have to say that with waiting lists as they are and an obvious need it is wrong to clog up social housing if you could afford to stand on your own two feet,.

    I may be old fashioned but I think those of us that are financially secure enough to stand on our own should do so, the state provision should be there for those who actually need it.

    It is surely not old-fashioned if, as this thread seems to demonstrate, that view has only taken hold after the 1980s.

    Germany has a large rented sector, and its economy is stronger than ours. The two are not necessarily related but rented homes do afford greater labour market flexibility as it is easier for workers to get on their bikes, to quote Norman Tebbit
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/11417359/Germany-the-country-where-renting-is-a-dream.html
  • DecrepitJohnLDecrepitJohnL Posts: 13,300
    Nigelb said:

    TheScreamingEagles said:

    Happy Christmas everyone, and thanks once again to StJohn for the crossword.

    Seconded.
    And particular thanks for his detailed solutions, on behalf of the challenged amongst us.
    Tremendous fun, though I could not help noticing some pb regulars stayed away, presumably to make us think they had friends, families and, well, lives!

    As a complete novice, I got a few right and a few wrong with the aid of this guide to crosswords.
    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/12/how-to-solve-cryptic-crossword-clues
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,422
    https://twitter.com/DanRather/status/1077699885841842176
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 75,277
    grabcocque said:

    AlastairMeeks said:

    This Christmas I’ve been reading a history of the Black Death (to cheer me up after all the talk about Brexit).

    The Black Death only killed 25% of the population of Europe.

    But it didn't give us Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    The Black Death was therefore better than Brexit.
    Actually although records are very far from complete most studies put mortality at nearer 40%.

    With regard to what it was, I've seen dozens of different theories including smallpox and anthrax. But academics keep coming back to bubonic and pneumonic plague (which are somewhat different diseases caused by the same pathogen).
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