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Next UK General Election: The great graduate/non-graduate divide – politicalbetting.com

SystemSystem Posts: 11,002
edited August 2021 in General
imageNext UK General Election: The great graduate/non-graduate divide – politicalbetting.com

Following on from the latest Ipsos-MORI voting poll we now have the full dataset which highlights what looks like being a big divide in public opinion – the choice of those who are graduates against those who are not.

Read the full story here

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Comments

  • MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    Test
  • TimTTimT Posts: 6,328
    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    Lefties always think they are smarter and more ethical. Like Spitzer and Cuomo and Schneiderman.
  • Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    The header is actually about how LibDems are smarter.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,766
    TimT said:

    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    Lefties always think they are smarter and more ethical. Like Spitzer and Cuomo and Schneiderman.
    Oh come on, is that the best you can come up with?

    What about Anthony Wiener, he was way badder than Spitzer or Cuomo?
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    rcs1000 said:

    TimT said:

    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    Lefties always think they are smarter and more ethical. Like Spitzer and Cuomo and Schneiderman.
    Oh come on, is that the best you can come up with?

    What about Anthony Wiener, he was way badder than Spitzer or Cuomo?
    Harvey Weinstein was a big democrat too, wasn’t he?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,559
    rcs1000 said:

    TimT said:

    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    Lefties always think they are smarter and more ethical. Like Spitzer and Cuomo and Schneiderman.
    Oh come on, is that the best you can come up with?

    What about Anthony Wiener, he was way badder than Spitzer or Cuomo?
    You’re not even trying….

    Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and the MyPillow Guy Are in Huge Trouble
    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/08/rudy-giuliani-mike-lindell-dominion-lawsuit.html
    On Wednesday, a Trump-appointed judge spanked three Trump boosters for spreading Trump’s lies in a ruling that could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. District Judge Carl J. Nichols crafted a blistering opinion allowing three defamation lawsuits filed by Dominion Voting Systems against MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Trump’s lawyers, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, to move forward to trial.

    Nichols’ opinion sets forth the false claims peddled by each of the three defendants, then picks apart the evidence they used to support it. The resulting decision—which suggests that Dominion might satisfy even the high bar set for defamation claims from public figures about political contests—is a beatdown. It was a small wonder on Thursday that Alan Dershowitz, appearing at Lindell’s MyPillow Symposium, denounced the Dominion suit as the “new McCarthyism.” If you are not free to lie brazenly about everything, always, causing untold financial and institutional ruin, what liberty can possibly remain?…
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,559
    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    TimT said:

    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    Lefties always think they are smarter and more ethical. Like Spitzer and Cuomo and Schneiderman.
    Oh come on, is that the best you can come up with?

    What about Anthony Wiener, he was way badder than Spitzer or Cuomo?
    Harvey Weinstein was a big democrat too, wasn’t he?
    It’s a tough call.
    But if we’re looking at it rationally, we need to consider whole populations.

    So how many Democrats voted for Trump ?

    There is, admittedly, the inconvenient counter example of Corbyn.


    Perhaps Sturgeon’s Law applies to smarts and ethics, too ?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,559
    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    You made that assumption, Charles.
    Mike merely pointed out some possibly inconvenient facts. Which are of undeniable interest to political punters.
    The numbers for Hartlepool and C&A are striking.

    You might alternately conclude that the Lib Dem’s appeal is so esoteric that it requires a degree to understand, I suppose.
  • Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080
    Nigelb said:

    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    You made that assumption, Charles.
    Mike merely pointed out some possibly inconvenient facts. Which are of undeniable interest to political punters.
    The numbers for Hartlepool and C&A are striking.

    You might alternately conclude that the Lib Dem’s appeal is so esoteric that it requires a degree to understand, I suppose.
    Some education does help see through the current lot, as well.

    The relationship does hold, independent of age, although the age effect compounds it.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,082
    RobD said:

    It would be interesting to see this broken down by age given the greater number of degrees awarded these days.

    There are two "doublings" in numbers of degrees awarded. The steady rise from 1964-1994 with the expansion of the red bricks, up from ~50k to 100k per year. Then the big "overnight" jump is in 1994 when the old Polys have become universities and start awarding degrees - another 100k or so. Since then we've had another near doubling up to ~350k or so.

    The 1994 number is convenient for popular age banding. It is fair to say that the number of graduates under 50 is far and away greater than those over 50, because most of those who graduated in 1994 are ~48/49 now.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,559
    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
  • Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Wasn't Orange Is The New Black a bigger premium series for them than House of Cards?

    Either way Netflix invested in a few big names not just one. We'll see if Amazon can do the same.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 32,730
    The absurd Johnson/ Cummings ban on the government giving interviews to BBC Newsnight exploded tonight by none other than Chancellor Rishi Sunak. That he used it to strengthen his standing as an exponent of Treasury policy won’t go unnoticed either. The implications are obvious
    https://twitter.com/williamnhutton/status/1425946743984857093


  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,052
    IanB2 said:

    Nigelb said:

    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    You made that assumption, Charles.
    Mike merely pointed out some possibly inconvenient facts. Which are of undeniable interest to political punters.
    The numbers for Hartlepool and C&A are striking.

    You might alternately conclude that the Lib Dem’s appeal is so esoteric that it requires a degree to understand, I suppose.
    Some education does help see through the current lot, as well.

    The relationship does hold, independent of age, although the age effect compounds it.
    Indeed. The median age of C&A was higher than Hartlepool. The difference of voting dramatic.

    Ultimately it is either going to have to change the Tory party quite a lot to hold onto the Hartlepools, or they won't do so. Brexitism and hosing money at client groups can go a long way.
  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,082
    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    It's also a looooong time since the Jackson films, which, though remarkable, are starting to show their age. Plus, it's not a remake, but more stories set at a different time.

    But yes, it could easily be a super-expensive flop.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,559
    edited August 2021

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Wasn't Orange Is The New Black a bigger premium series for them than House of Cards?

    Either way Netflix invested in a few big names not just one. We'll see if Amazon can do the same.
    House of Cards was foundational, I think.
    Everything else followed.
    https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2015/feb/27/house-cards-netflix-internet-video-kings

    https://variety.com/2018/tv/columns/house-of-cards-season-6-streaming-era-1203017193/
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226
    edited August 2021
    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
  • mwadams said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    It's also a looooong time since the Jackson films, which, though remarkable, are starting to show their age. Plus, it's not a remake, but more stories set at a different time.

    But yes, it could easily be a super-expensive flop.
    For Fantasy geeks, Amazon are also investing in a Wheel of Time TV show too.

    A WoT TV series has supposedly been getting made and been dragging on since before Game of Thrones was aired so my expectations for it right now are pretty low sadly but I hope to be proved wrong.
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 12,880
    RobD said:

    It would be interesting to see this broken down by age given the greater number of degrees awarded these days.

    Nobody thinks tories are all thick. Now go and sit the in the corner and play with your fleg.
  • mwadamsmwadams Posts: 3,082
    mwadams said:

    RobD said:

    It would be interesting to see this broken down by age given the greater number of degrees awarded these days.

    There are two "doublings" in numbers of degrees awarded. The steady rise from 1964-1994 with the expansion of the red bricks, up from ~50k to 100k per year. Then the big "overnight" jump is in 1994 when the old Polys have become universities and start awarding degrees - another 100k or so. Since then we've had another near doubling up to ~350k or so.

    The 1994 number is convenient for popular age banding. It is fair to say that the number of graduates under 50 is far and away greater than those over 50, because most of those who graduated in 1994 are ~48/49 now.
    So to @Charles point, this is more or less an exact proxy for the age split.

    One could argue the direction of the arrow of cause->effect but we need a other 30 years or so until we will have compelling evidence that University education trumps Age. And that will, almost by definition, be when I've left this mortal coil. (I'm 48.)
  • murali_smurali_s Posts: 3,037
    RobD said:

    It would be interesting to see this broken down by age given the greater number of degrees awarded these days.

    Are you saying there is more to "Thickos vote Tory and clever people vote Labour"?
  • Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Wasn't Orange Is The New Black a bigger premium series for them than House of Cards?

    Either way Netflix invested in a few big names not just one. We'll see if Amazon can do the same.
    House of Cards was foundational, I think.
    Everything else followed.
    https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2015/feb/27/house-cards-netflix-internet-video-kings

    https://variety.com/2018/tv/columns/house-of-cards-season-6-streaming-era-1203017193/
    You're right that House of Cards was technically first but Orange Is The New Black was released the same year too.

    Netflix used them both as their original Netflix Original series for advertising for years.

    My point was they had, and probably needed, more than just a single big title.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited August 2021
    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Amazon have also been gambling a serious amount on making computer games. First effort was such a flop it got unreleased before it was fully released. Second effort is doing better.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 39,744
    Who said righties aren’t big brayne jeenyuses?

    https://twitter.com/neilhwilliams/status/1425543574007996417?s=21
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,761
    Where this split is going to be important is University towns, constituencies dominated by the public sector workforce (which tends to have more graduates) and the odd posher bit to give some hope to the Lib Dems. Where it is generally less important is in the red wall marginals that Boris won at the last election and gave him his 80 seat majority.

    Personally, I think that Boris will take that trade. And 11% is a hell of a lead for the government to have midterm, having staggered through a pandemic with many still going on about Brexit. The only thing I can remember that was remotely similar was Blair during his first term. And his second election was pretty much a repeat of the first.
  • moonshine said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
    My issue with Amazon Prime Video is the app for it has always been pretty unwieldly and clunky compared to Netflix and Disney and really seems to push towards selling more shows and videos to you rather than what you've paid for already/what is on Prime.

    Watch a movie on Prime and the 'suggested titles' titles afterwards are almost never it seems to me stuff that you have paid for via Prime or individual purchase.

    It feels like watching shows in a shopping mall rather than from a service. Netflix doesn't do that.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,052
    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    moonshine said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
    I have never been a fan of the tedious LotR, since plodding through the turgid books as a teenager, but clearly others are. I suspect that the one bit that they will not spend money on will be decent scripts with rounded characterisation.

    Another bloated derivative franchise from a corporate giant. Count me out.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226

    moonshine said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
    My issue with Amazon Prime Video is the app for it has always been pretty unwieldly and clunky compared to Netflix and Disney and really seems to push towards selling more shows and videos to you rather than what you've paid for already/what is on Prime.

    Watch a movie on Prime and the 'suggested titles' titles afterwards are almost never it seems to me stuff that you have paid for via Prime or individual purchase.

    It feels like watching shows in a shopping mall rather than from a service. Netflix doesn't do that.
    Yeah that’s exactly right. And I assume it’s because they don’t yet have enough proprietary content and can’t give away too much of other peoples before it burns their cash.

    Apple TV+ shows you the opposite decision. They’ve got almost nothing on their app and oh my, isn’t it obvious when you scroll. Should start to slowly change, Foundation and Shantaram being two adaptations of best sellers coming to Apple.

    Just shows you what a remarkable achievement it was by Reed Hastings Netflix that he started a studio from scratch that’s still embarrassing two giants.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,052
    Powerful interview with Durrani here from Kandahar, waiting for a knock on the door:

    “This means losing your houses, your dreams, your goals, your ambition... everything.”

    Pashtana Durrani, executive director of an NGO for girls' education speaks to @krishgm from Kandahar in Afghanistan, a city under siege by the Taliban. https://t.co/j6qUPzDkP3
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    edited August 2021
    Good morning, everyone.

    Given recent history on remakes, reboots, etc, I'm not expecting great things from the LOTR TV show. A shame, as I like The Silmarillion a lot, and the trilogy* is great.

    Edited extra bit: *film trilogy, that is.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,080
    edited August 2021
    murali_s said:

    RobD said:

    It would be interesting to see this broken down by age given the greater number of degrees awarded these days.

    Are you saying there is more to "Thickos vote Tory and clever people vote Labour"?
    I'd say that the mistake there is associating degrees with intelligence, and education with cleverness.

    The IQ (or choose your measure) did not suddenly jump by 20 points in 1994, or whatever date you choose.

    Education (hopefully) adds certain skills, and perhaps extra perspectives.

    There are a lot of highly educated stupid people out there.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,761
    Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    In the UK the key number is not the number infected but the number in hospital That is hovering around 6k, having dropped a bit but currently pretty stable. There are roughly 1250 hospitals in the UK so each hospital has an average of 4.8 patients with Covid. Of course it won't be quite like that as quite a number of these hospitals will be specialist or for geriatrics etc but the burden currently being applied to the NHS is modest and not increasing. Ultimately, that is what matters.
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226
    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    moonshine said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
    I have never been a fan of the tedious LotR, since plodding through the turgid books as a teenager, but clearly others are. I suspect that the one bit that they will not spend money on will be decent scripts with rounded characterisation.

    Another bloated derivative franchise from a corporate giant. Count me out.
    Indeed. If I ran one of these platforms, I’d throw money at Tarantino to make a 10-part series about whatever he wants. It might appeal to him, as it would be a get out from retiring after his “tenth and final movie”. Band of Brothers / Pacific showed what’s possible when you get proper giants (Spielberg and Hanks) behind a well funded and well written / adapted series.

    Nolan seems uninterested in the format which is a shame. But there will be other big names that are. Instead they throw money at people with no experience of the medium, like Obama and Mrs Sussex. Odd.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392

    Good morning, everyone.

    Given recent history on remakes, reboots, etc, I'm not expecting great things from the LOTR TV show. A shame, as I like The Silmarillion a lot, and the trilogy* is great.

    Edited extra bit: *film trilogy, that is.

    I dont expect much either for multiple reasons, but I'd say recent history on remakes and reboots is actually pretty decent, and it's not either of those things anyway.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,080
    PS Morning all.

    A tragedy with whatever happened at Plymouth. Time will show.

    The usual lazy sensationalism has already kicked in. From the Indy:

    Scores of air ambulances were filmed in the area while two were filmed taking off from a field.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/plymouth-shooting-live-keyham-today-b1901942.html

    Quite where they got scores of air ambulances from is strange, as the Wiki List for the whole of England and Wales shows a total of about 36-37, and I doubt they pulled all the ones from North Wales, Cumbria and Northumberland down to Plymouth.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,761

    Good morning, everyone.

    Given recent history on remakes, reboots, etc, I'm not expecting great things from the LOTR TV show. A shame, as I like The Silmarillion a lot, and the trilogy* is great.

    Edited extra bit: *film trilogy, that is.

    There is a lot of untapped Tolkein material in the Silmarillion in particular but also in the material that Christopher Tolkein has made a living churning out, most of which I have not read. I think redoing the LOTR itself or the Hobbit would be an error as they have been done pretty definitively.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392

    mwadams said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    It's also a looooong time since the Jackson films, which, though remarkable, are starting to show their age. Plus, it's not a remake, but more stories set at a different time.

    But yes, it could easily be a super-expensive flop.
    For Fantasy geeks, Amazon are also investing in a Wheel of Time TV show too.

    A WoT TV series has supposedly been getting made and been dragging on since before Game of Thrones was aired so my expectations for it right now are pretty low sadly but I hope to be proved wrong.
    I'd rather a WoT series than LOTR backstory which is also creatively constrained. Not many shows would last sufficient seasons to complete it though.

    Likely has more female characters too, for equality worriers.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878
    DavidL said:

    Good morning, everyone.

    Given recent history on remakes, reboots, etc, I'm not expecting great things from the LOTR TV show. A shame, as I like The Silmarillion a lot, and the trilogy* is great.

    Edited extra bit: *film trilogy, that is.

    There is a lot of untapped Tolkein material in the Silmarillion in particular but also in the material that Christopher Tolkein has made a living churning out, most of which I have not read. I think redoing the LOTR itself or the Hobbit would be an error as they have been done pretty definitively.
    True, but it didn’t stop ITV doing Marple, after the Joan Hickson...
  • isamisam Posts: 40,722
    edited August 2021
    ….
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,052
    DavidL said:

    Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    In the UK the key number is not the number infected but the number in hospital That is hovering around 6k, having dropped a bit but currently pretty stable. There are roughly 1250 hospitals in the UK so each hospital has an average of 4.8 patients with Covid. Of course it won't be quite like that as quite a number of these hospitals will be specialist or for geriatrics etc but the burden currently being applied to the NHS is modest and not increasing. Ultimately, that is what matters.
    That number of hospitals is quite misleading, including cottage hospitals and private ones. A better indicator is number of beds for acute admissions. There are about 100 000 of these (depending on what is counted as Acute) and 5000 current covid inpatients. In addition another 8000 or so are out of action because of infection control. Details here in this thread from the CEO of NHS Providers:

    https://twitter.com/ChrisCEOHopson/status/1425418703294935040?s=19

    To give an idea of what this means, in my Trust we have about 100 Covid patients, 20 on ICU/ECMO. This means cancellations of planned surgery because of lack of beds particularly post op. Patients are often being cancelled on the day for this reason.
  • felixfelix Posts: 15,122
    OT - The great educational 'divide' is simewhat exaggerated given the
    murali_s said:

    RobD said:

    It would be interesting to see this broken down by age given the greater number of degrees awarded these days.

    Are you saying there is more to "Thickos vote Tory and clever people vote Labour"?
    More a case of the more people on the left insult the voters the better.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,080
    MattW said:

    PS Morning all.

    A tragedy with whatever happened at Plymouth. Time will show.

    The usual lazy sensationalism has already kicked in. From the Indy:

    Scores of air ambulances were filmed in the area while two were filmed taking off from a field.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/plymouth-shooting-live-keyham-today-b1901942.html

    Quite where they got scores of air ambulances from is strange, as the Wiki List for the whole of England and Wales shows a total of about 36-37, and I doubt they pulled all the ones from North Wales, Cumbria and Northumberland down to Plymouth.

    Aha - Plymouth Live says "at least 3", whilst the HeliPilot on Twitter says "four".

    The incident started just after 6pm in the Keyham area of Plymouth and at least three air ambulances landed in North Prospect this evening.

    https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/air-ambulances-land-north-prospect-5780498
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878
    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    PS Morning all.

    A tragedy with whatever happened at Plymouth. Time will show.

    The usual lazy sensationalism has already kicked in. From the Indy:

    Scores of air ambulances were filmed in the area while two were filmed taking off from a field.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/plymouth-shooting-live-keyham-today-b1901942.html

    Quite where they got scores of air ambulances from is strange, as the Wiki List for the whole of England and Wales shows a total of about 36-37, and I doubt they pulled all the ones from North Wales, Cumbria and Northumberland down to Plymouth.

    Aha - Plymouth Live says "at least 3", whilst the HeliPilot on Twitter says "four".

    The incident started just after 6pm in the Keyham area of Plymouth and at least three air ambulances landed in North Prospect this evening.

    https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/air-ambulances-land-north-prospect-5780498
    Makes you wonder if the hack or sub knows what ‘scores’ means.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,038
    "The public inquiry into Covid must be broad enough to consider the narrowness of the perspectives and experiences involved in making decisions [on lockdown] that have had such an unprecedented effect on the economic and emotional wellbeing of the youngest and worst-off members of the population."

    "...we suspect that we are going to be proved right that the cure of lockdown has been much more harmful than the disease of Covid."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/13/lockdown-based-faith-not-evidence/


    Sunetra Gupta trigger warning.
  • isamisam Posts: 40,722
    edited August 2021
    Boris ratings with IPSOS-MORI are beaten only by Tony Blair’s at this stage of his Premiership

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8pviAcX0AQ3Wvu?format=jpg&name=large

    Sir Keir’s are only better than Corbyn, Foot & Hague’s

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8pviAmXsAADNg2?format=jpg&name=large
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    moonshine said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
    I have never been a fan of the tedious LotR, since plodding through the turgid books as a teenager, but clearly others are. I suspect that the one bit that they will not spend money on will be decent scripts with rounded characterisation.

    Another bloated derivative franchise from a corporate giant. Count me out.
    Not sure how you can call it derivative before we know what the plot is going to be, seems a bit irrational.

    But LotR is plodding, certainly. If he were writing today I imagine an editor would have quite a few notes.

    Game of Thrones wasnt well known beyond geeks and only had a couple million viewers in its first season, and it then really took off, so I sort of see why Amazon are planning multiple seasons at high cost out of a brand with more name recognition, but as a fantasy fan and fan of LotR I think the inherent interest in Tolkien's backstory collections is not that high, so that first season has to be pretty good to hold onto the curious initial audience. As you imply production values being sky high only get you so far.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,933
    Mr. L, oh, I agree. Better not to try redoing LOTR itself.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,761
    MattW said:

    murali_s said:

    RobD said:

    It would be interesting to see this broken down by age given the greater number of degrees awarded these days.

    Are you saying there is more to "Thickos vote Tory and clever people vote Labour"?
    I'd say that the mistake there is associating degrees with intelligence, and education with cleverness.

    The IQ (or choose your measure) did not suddenly jump by 20 points in 1994, or whatever date you choose.

    Education (hopefully) adds certain skills, and perhaps extra perspectives.

    There are a lot of highly educated stupid people out there.
    Several million of them voted for Jeremy Corbyn. I mean, jeez.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,764
    @Foxy is absolutely right. If one is going to adapt a book, or book series, firstly work on the writing and characterisation. Too many series focus on CGI and expensive set-piece scenes (a big part of why the last two Seasons of Game of Thrones ended up as such a mess).
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 6,287
    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    Another hope that there is something to grab hold of to defeat the menace of Boris!
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878

    "The public inquiry into Covid must be broad enough to consider the narrowness of the perspectives and experiences involved in making decisions [on lockdown] that have had such an unprecedented effect on the economic and emotional wellbeing of the youngest and worst-off members of the population."

    "...we suspect that we are going to be proved right that the cure of lockdown has been much more harmful than the disease of Covid."

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/08/13/lockdown-based-faith-not-evidence/


    Sunetra Gupta trigger warning.

    I read something from her earlier this week that was just astonishing. She says she was ‘quoted out of context’ on the ludicrous IFR she came up with for the U.K., and still believes we reached herd immunity last summer. Maybe just fess up and admit you got it wrong?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    PS Morning all.

    A tragedy with whatever happened at Plymouth. Time will show.

    The usual lazy sensationalism has already kicked in. From the Indy:

    Scores of air ambulances were filmed in the area while two were filmed taking off from a field.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/plymouth-shooting-live-keyham-today-b1901942.html

    Quite where they got scores of air ambulances from is strange, as the Wiki List for the whole of England and Wales shows a total of about 36-37, and I doubt they pulled all the ones from North Wales, Cumbria and Northumberland down to Plymouth.

    Aha - Plymouth Live says "at least 3", whilst the HeliPilot on Twitter says "four".

    The incident started just after 6pm in the Keyham area of Plymouth and at least three air ambulances landed in North Prospect this evening.

    https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/air-ambulances-land-north-prospect-5780498
    Makes you wonder if the hack or sub knows what ‘scores’ means.
    I'm sure it is used not as a precise number sometimes, but even if you don't know how many are supposed to be in a score one would think its clear it would be more than a handful.

    Used liberally in fantasy, I think as it seems old timey.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,764
    Compared to a lot of modern fantasy series, LOTR is a model of terse and well-disciplined writing.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,761
    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    moonshine said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
    I have never been a fan of the tedious LotR, since plodding through the turgid books as a teenager, but clearly others are. I suspect that the one bit that they will not spend money on will be decent scripts with rounded characterisation.

    Another bloated derivative franchise from a corporate giant. Count me out.
    Not sure how you can call it derivative before we know what the plot is going to be, seems a bit irrational.

    But LotR is plodding, certainly. If he were writing today I imagine an editor would have quite a few notes.

    Game of Thrones wasnt well known beyond geeks and only had a couple million viewers in its first season, and it then really took off, so I sort of see why Amazon are planning multiple seasons at high cost out of a brand with more name recognition, but as a fantasy fan and fan of LotR I think the inherent interest in Tolkien's backstory collections is not that high, so that first season has to be pretty good to hold onto the curious initial audience. As you imply production values being sky high only get you so far.
    There is also the small problem that in Tolkein, as opposed to GOT, there is not a lot of getting your kit off. Indeed the Fellowship of the Ring managed to go a months long quest without even a toilet break.
  • isamisam Posts: 40,722
    edited August 2021
    DavidL said:

    Where this split is going to be important is University towns, constituencies dominated by the public sector workforce (which tends to have more graduates) and the odd posher bit to give some hope to the Lib Dems. Where it is generally less important is in the red wall marginals that Boris won at the last election and gave him his 80 seat majority.

    Personally, I think that Boris will take that trade. And 11% is a hell of a lead for the government to have midterm, having staggered through a pandemic with many still going on about Brexit. The only thing I can remember that was remotely similar was Blair during his first term. And his second election was pretty much a repeat of the first.

    Blair is the only PM with better ratings than Boris at this stage, since 1979 anyway
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    DavidL said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    moonshine said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
    I have never been a fan of the tedious LotR, since plodding through the turgid books as a teenager, but clearly others are. I suspect that the one bit that they will not spend money on will be decent scripts with rounded characterisation.

    Another bloated derivative franchise from a corporate giant. Count me out.
    Not sure how you can call it derivative before we know what the plot is going to be, seems a bit irrational.

    But LotR is plodding, certainly. If he were writing today I imagine an editor would have quite a few notes.

    Game of Thrones wasnt well known beyond geeks and only had a couple million viewers in its first season, and it then really took off, so I sort of see why Amazon are planning multiple seasons at high cost out of a brand with more name recognition, but as a fantasy fan and fan of LotR I think the inherent interest in Tolkien's backstory collections is not that high, so that first season has to be pretty good to hold onto the curious initial audience. As you imply production values being sky high only get you so far.
    There is also the small problem that in Tolkein, as opposed to GOT, there is not a lot of getting your kit off. Indeed the Fellowship of the Ring managed to go a months long quest without even a toilet break.
    Perhaps times were less prudish in the Second Age.

    I think its be funny if it was just a high production Legend of Hercules/Xena from the 90s. Legend of the Seeker (based on the Sword of Truth series) was basically a repeat of those and was entertaining.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,761
    Foxy said:

    DavidL said:

    Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    In the UK the key number is not the number infected but the number in hospital That is hovering around 6k, having dropped a bit but currently pretty stable. There are roughly 1250 hospitals in the UK so each hospital has an average of 4.8 patients with Covid. Of course it won't be quite like that as quite a number of these hospitals will be specialist or for geriatrics etc but the burden currently being applied to the NHS is modest and not increasing. Ultimately, that is what matters.
    That number of hospitals is quite misleading, including cottage hospitals and private ones. A better indicator is number of beds for acute admissions. There are about 100 000 of these (depending on what is counted as Acute) and 5000 current covid inpatients. In addition another 8000 or so are out of action because of infection control. Details here in this thread from the CEO of NHS Providers:

    https://twitter.com/ChrisCEOHopson/status/1425418703294935040?s=19

    To give an idea of what this means, in my Trust we have about 100 Covid patients, 20 on ICU/ECMO. This means cancellations of planned surgery because of lack of beds particularly post op. Patients are often being cancelled on the day for this reason.
    And when you refer to the trust will that be spread over several hospitals? It does seem to me that occupancy of 5% of beds with a particular virus should not be causing enormous problems but perhaps that reflects how stretched the system was pre Covid.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    Sean_F said:

    Compared to a lot of modern fantasy series, LOTR is a model of terse and well-disciplined writing.

    Fair point, to a degree. People think LotR is long, but it really isnt. It does seem longer than it is in fairness.

    One recent series I liked which I thought I wouldn't was by Stephen Aryan, as it was a breezy read and seemed like a series in reverse, opening not closing with grand war against a big bad.

    But enough non politics geekery from me.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715
    DavidL said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    moonshine said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
    I have never been a fan of the tedious LotR, since plodding through the turgid books as a teenager, but clearly others are. I suspect that the one bit that they will not spend money on will be decent scripts with rounded characterisation.

    Another bloated derivative franchise from a corporate giant. Count me out.
    Not sure how you can call it derivative before we know what the plot is going to be, seems a bit irrational.

    But LotR is plodding, certainly. If he were writing today I imagine an editor would have quite a few notes.

    Game of Thrones wasnt well known beyond geeks and only had a couple million viewers in its first season, and it then really took off, so I sort of see why Amazon are planning multiple seasons at high cost out of a brand with more name recognition, but as a fantasy fan and fan of LotR I think the inherent interest in Tolkien's backstory collections is not that high, so that first season has to be pretty good to hold onto the curious initial audience. As you imply production values being sky high only get you so far.
    There is also the small problem that in Tolkein, as opposed to GOT, there is not a lot of getting your kit off. Indeed the Fellowship of the Ring managed to go a months long quest without even a toilet break.
    Good morning everyone. Cloudy here, and almost 15degC.

    Personally, although I've read LotR, I much prefer the writings of Sir Terry Pratchett. Lot of wry comments which could be directed at society.
    I couldn't NOT manage the Silmarillon.

    I believe there are films, but I'm by no means convinced that making a film of a book is always a good idea.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 4,199
    MattW said:

    murali_s said:

    RobD said:

    It would be interesting to see this broken down by age given the greater number of degrees awarded these days.

    Are you saying there is more to "Thickos vote Tory and clever people vote Labour"?
    I'd say that the mistake there is associating degrees with intelligence, and education with cleverness.

    The IQ (or choose your measure) did not suddenly jump by 20 points in 1994, or whatever date you choose.

    Education (hopefully) adds certain skills, and perhaps extra perspectives.

    There are a lot of highly educated stupid people out there.
    MattW said:

    murali_s said:

    RobD said:

    It would be interesting to see this broken down by age given the greater number of degrees awarded these days.

    Are you saying there is more to "Thickos vote Tory and clever people vote Labour"?
    I'd say that the mistake there is associating degrees with intelligence, and education with cleverness.

    The IQ (or choose your measure) did not suddenly jump by 20 points in 1994, or whatever date you choose.

    Education (hopefully) adds certain skills, and perhaps extra perspectives.

    There are a lot of highly educated stupid people out there.
    I don't know how much of an effect is left to explain once you account for age.

    But putting together this poll with the recent poll that showed immigration as the most important issues for Conservative voters (54% vs 14% for Labour), could it be that more non-graduates are more concerned about immigration than graduates, and that is what is making non-graduates more likely to vote Conservative?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 18,080
    For @isam from last night. Apologies if someone else has covered this.
    isam said:

    I'd like to post the latest graphs of Leader Ratings, but the photos are coming up miniscule, whats all that about?

    I think that means that upload quota is currently full.

    Not sure when it frees up, but the picture icon on the comments system gives you an option to hotlink the url, which usually works.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080
    MattW said:

    murali_s said:

    RobD said:

    It would be interesting to see this broken down by age given the greater number of degrees awarded these days.

    Are you saying there is more to "Thickos vote Tory and clever people vote Labour"?
    I'd say that the mistake there is associating degrees with intelligence, and education with cleverness.

    The IQ (or choose your measure) did not suddenly jump by 20 points in 1994, or whatever date you choose.

    Education (hopefully) adds certain skills, and perhaps extra perspectives.

    There are a lot of highly educated stupid people out there.
    There are people with education who still vote Tory, for sure..
  • Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    Probably easiest to let all the pupils get infected then restart in a month.

    Placebo masks aren't going to stop Delta circulating among kids.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392

    MattW said:

    MattW said:

    PS Morning all.

    A tragedy with whatever happened at Plymouth. Time will show.

    The usual lazy sensationalism has already kicked in. From the Indy:

    Scores of air ambulances were filmed in the area while two were filmed taking off from a field.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/plymouth-shooting-live-keyham-today-b1901942.html

    Quite where they got scores of air ambulances from is strange, as the Wiki List for the whole of England and Wales shows a total of about 36-37, and I doubt they pulled all the ones from North Wales, Cumbria and Northumberland down to Plymouth.

    Aha - Plymouth Live says "at least 3", whilst the HeliPilot on Twitter says "four".

    The incident started just after 6pm in the Keyham area of Plymouth and at least three air ambulances landed in North Prospect this evening.

    https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/air-ambulances-land-north-prospect-5780498
    Makes you wonder if the hack or sub knows what ‘scores’ means.
    'Growing exponentially' is another often casually used phrase. I wonder if reporters are more careful with it post Covid.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    Is it true that the next LOTR is going to be set in a car park in Droitwich? The quest for the golden kebab?
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    MattW said:

    PS Morning all.

    A tragedy with whatever happened at Plymouth. Time will show.

    The usual lazy sensationalism has already kicked in. From the Indy:

    Scores of air ambulances were filmed in the area while two were filmed taking off from a field.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/plymouth-shooting-live-keyham-today-b1901942.html

    Quite where they got scores of air ambulances from is strange, as the Wiki List for the whole of England and Wales shows a total of about 36-37, and I doubt they pulled all the ones from North Wales, Cumbria and Northumberland down to Plymouth.

    Sounds similar to the case in north County Cork from last October that turned out to follow a dispute over a farm in a will. https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2021/0804/1239009-kanturk-deaths-inquest/
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715

    Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    Probably easiest to let all the pupils get infected then restart in a month.

    Placebo masks aren't going to stop Delta circulating among kids.
    The interviews in Louisiana, broadcast on BBC News last night were very odd.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,733
    Jonathan said:

    Is it true that the next LOTR is going to be set in a car park in Droitwich? The quest for the golden kebab?

    And it would still be better than the film version of The Two Towers.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,052
    DavidL said:

    Foxy said:

    DavidL said:

    Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    In the UK the key number is not the number infected but the number in hospital That is hovering around 6k, having dropped a bit but currently pretty stable. There are roughly 1250 hospitals in the UK so each hospital has an average of 4.8 patients with Covid. Of course it won't be quite like that as quite a number of these hospitals will be specialist or for geriatrics etc but the burden currently being applied to the NHS is modest and not increasing. Ultimately, that is what matters.
    That number of hospitals is quite misleading, including cottage hospitals and private ones. A better indicator is number of beds for acute admissions. There are about 100 000 of these (depending on what is counted as Acute) and 5000 current covid inpatients. In addition another 8000 or so are out of action because of infection control. Details here in this thread from the CEO of NHS Providers:

    https://twitter.com/ChrisCEOHopson/status/1425418703294935040?s=19

    To give an idea of what this means, in my Trust we have about 100 Covid patients, 20 on ICU/ECMO. This means cancellations of planned surgery because of lack of beds particularly post op. Patients are often being cancelled on the day for this reason.
    And when you refer to the trust will that be spread over several hospitals? It does seem to me that occupancy of 5% of beds with a particular virus should not be causing enormous problems but perhaps that reflects how stretched the system was pre Covid.
    We have 3 Acute hospitals in our Trust, with one emergency dept, and a number of regional and national specialities. ECMO gets patients from hundreds of miles away, being the original one in the country. ECMO is very much the last resort for Covid, with nearly all the patients under 45, and even then mortality of greater than 50%.
  • Foxy said:

    Powerful interview with Durrani here from Kandahar, waiting for a knock on the door:

    “This means losing your houses, your dreams, your goals, your ambition... everything.”

    Pashtana Durrani, executive director of an NGO for girls' education speaks to @krishgm from Kandahar in Afghanistan, a city under siege by the Taliban. https://t.co/j6qUPzDkP3

    Give the women guns.

    They couldn't do worse than the Afghan army and get some sympathy from Western countries.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    DavidL said:

    Foxy said:

    DavidL said:

    Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    In the UK the key number is not the number infected but the number in hospital That is hovering around 6k, having dropped a bit but currently pretty stable. There are roughly 1250 hospitals in the UK so each hospital has an average of 4.8 patients with Covid. Of course it won't be quite like that as quite a number of these hospitals will be specialist or for geriatrics etc but the burden currently being applied to the NHS is modest and not increasing. Ultimately, that is what matters.
    That number of hospitals is quite misleading, including cottage hospitals and private ones. A better indicator is number of beds for acute admissions. There are about 100 000 of these (depending on what is counted as Acute) and 5000 current covid inpatients. In addition another 8000 or so are out of action because of infection control. Details here in this thread from the CEO of NHS Providers:

    https://twitter.com/ChrisCEOHopson/status/1425418703294935040?s=19

    To give an idea of what this means, in my Trust we have about 100 Covid patients, 20 on ICU/ECMO. This means cancellations of planned surgery because of lack of beds particularly post op. Patients are often being cancelled on the day for this reason.
    And when you refer to the trust will that be spread over several hospitals? It does seem to me that occupancy of 5% of beds with a particular virus should not be causing enormous problems but perhaps that reflects how stretched the system was pre Covid.
    NHS Lothian has over a dozen hospitals, only 3 of them (I think) have acute beds.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    DavidL said:

    Foxy said:

    DavidL said:

    Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    In the UK the key number is not the number infected but the number in hospital That is hovering around 6k, having dropped a bit but currently pretty stable. There are roughly 1250 hospitals in the UK so each hospital has an average of 4.8 patients with Covid. Of course it won't be quite like that as quite a number of these hospitals will be specialist or for geriatrics etc but the burden currently being applied to the NHS is modest and not increasing. Ultimately, that is what matters.
    That number of hospitals is quite misleading, including cottage hospitals and private ones. A better indicator is number of beds for acute admissions. There are about 100 000 of these (depending on what is counted as Acute) and 5000 current covid inpatients. In addition another 8000 or so are out of action because of infection control. Details here in this thread from the CEO of NHS Providers:

    https://twitter.com/ChrisCEOHopson/status/1425418703294935040?s=19

    To give an idea of what this means, in my Trust we have about 100 Covid patients, 20 on ICU/ECMO. This means cancellations of planned surgery because of lack of beds particularly post op. Patients are often being cancelled on the day for this reason.
    And when you refer to the trust will that be spread over several hospitals? It does seem to me that occupancy of 5% of beds with a particular virus should not be causing enormous problems but perhaps that reflects how stretched the system was pre Covid.
    I'm not sure that I would describe the NHS as being stretched before the pandemic, as it is by intent that it was run as close to capacity as possible in order to maximise efficient use of resources.

    Increasing efficiency in normal times will naturally mean that there is less spare capacity to respond when something unusual happens.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392

    DavidL said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    moonshine said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
    I have never been a fan of the tedious LotR, since plodding through the turgid books as a teenager, but clearly others are. I suspect that the one bit that they will not spend money on will be decent scripts with rounded characterisation.

    Another bloated derivative franchise from a corporate giant. Count me out.
    Not sure how you can call it derivative before we know what the plot is going to be, seems a bit irrational.

    But LotR is plodding, certainly. If he were writing today I imagine an editor would have quite a few notes.

    Game of Thrones wasnt well known beyond geeks and only had a couple million viewers in its first season, and it then really took off, so I sort of see why Amazon are planning multiple seasons at high cost out of a brand with more name recognition, but as a fantasy fan and fan of LotR I think the inherent interest in Tolkien's backstory collections is not that high, so that first season has to be pretty good to hold onto the curious initial audience. As you imply production values being sky high only get you so far.
    There is also the small problem that in Tolkein, as opposed to GOT, there is not a lot of getting your kit off. Indeed the Fellowship of the Ring managed to go a months long quest without even a toilet break.
    Good morning everyone. Cloudy here, and almost 15degC.

    Personally, although I've read LotR, I much prefer the writings of Sir Terry Pratchett. Lot of wry comments which could be directed at society.
    I couldn't NOT manage the Silmarillon.

    I believe there are films, but I'm by no means convinced that making a film of a book is always a good idea.
    I think anything can be adapted from one medium to another, but some will require a lot more skill to do so, and may need a lot of adjustments. Being 'true' to the source material is often to cause problems - even if you should be cautious about changing core elements for no reason, you should be prepared to do so.

    The latter seems like a political lesson about deviating from your brand and historic supporters too.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080
    More than one in five adults said they experienced a complete breakdown in a relationship at home or at work in the past year, the UK’s largest study of social ties during the pandemic has revealed.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 10,456

    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    Another hope that there is something to grab hold of to defeat the menace of Boris!
    Why not post something constructive or if you don't like it go elsewhere.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,764
    kle4 said:

    DavidL said:

    kle4 said:

    Foxy said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    moonshine said:

    Nigelb said:

    IanB2 said:

    Good morning

    It may have an effect in the margins of the next GE but I doubt it will be any more than that

    And in another good news story for the UK has this been posted yet

    BBC News - Lord of the Rings: Amazon moves show to UK from New Zealand
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58196473

    After the award winning Jackson film(s), I am surprised they are taking the not inconsiderable risk of producing a flop.
    Bezos has deep pockets, and has seen what a large gamble on a premium series (House of Cards) did for Netflix.
    The competition was, of course, rather different back then.
    Bezos paid a cool quarter of a billion for the rights to the show in 2017. A big number but only 2% of Amazon’s capex that year. And a drop in the ocean if it marks the first step in the Tv platform becoming a proper rival to Netflix and Disney, which right now it’s not. Netflix market cap is circa quarter of a trillion of course.

    They will throw enough money at every aspect of the production to ensure at least the first season is not a “flop”. Once it has its own legs and fan base they’ll build from there.
    I have never been a fan of the tedious LotR, since plodding through the turgid books as a teenager, but clearly others are. I suspect that the one bit that they will not spend money on will be decent scripts with rounded characterisation.

    Another bloated derivative franchise from a corporate giant. Count me out.
    Not sure how you can call it derivative before we know what the plot is going to be, seems a bit irrational.

    But LotR is plodding, certainly. If he were writing today I imagine an editor would have quite a few notes.

    Game of Thrones wasnt well known beyond geeks and only had a couple million viewers in its first season, and it then really took off, so I sort of see why Amazon are planning multiple seasons at high cost out of a brand with more name recognition, but as a fantasy fan and fan of LotR I think the inherent interest in Tolkien's backstory collections is not that high, so that first season has to be pretty good to hold onto the curious initial audience. As you imply production values being sky high only get you so far.
    There is also the small problem that in Tolkein, as opposed to GOT, there is not a lot of getting your kit off. Indeed the Fellowship of the Ring managed to go a months long quest without even a toilet break.
    Perhaps times were less prudish in the Second Age.

    I think its be funny if it was just a high production Legend of Hercules/Xena from the 90s. Legend of the Seeker (based on the Sword of Truth series) was basically a repeat of those and was entertaining.
    Oh, undoubtedly. Celeborn and Galadriel were a pair of swingers, when they were younger.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,761
    ydoethur said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is it true that the next LOTR is going to be set in a car park in Droitwich? The quest for the golden kebab?

    And it would still be better than the film version of The Two Towers.
    I enjoyed the films but after the Two Towers getting a member of my family to come with me to the cinema was...challenging. My wife is still prone to mutter something about the battle of Helm's Deep to this day.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,052

    Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    Probably easiest to let all the pupils get infected then restart in a month.

    Placebo masks aren't going to stop Delta circulating among kids.
    Considering the low vaccination rates in the deep South, a school based epidemic is quite a risky superspreader event.

    Vaccinating the adults I'd the obvious solution, but the Trumpist anti-vaxxers are bonkers. Here they are threatening doctors in Tennessee:

    https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1425449438202548224?s=19
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    IanB2 said:

    More than one in five adults said they experienced a complete breakdown in a relationship at home or at work in the past year, the UK’s largest study of social ties during the pandemic has revealed.

    Is that high or low?
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715
    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is it true that the next LOTR is going to be set in a car park in Droitwich? The quest for the golden kebab?

    And it would still be better than the film version of The Two Towers.
    I enjoyed the films but after the Two Towers getting a member of my family to come with me to the cinema was...challenging. My wife is still prone to mutter something about the battle of Helm's Deep to this day.
    I've only seen the first film, but the scene where the 'wolves' leapt out among the audience was 'startling', to put it mildly.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 10,456
    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    You make a good point. We need to see that analysis as well. From my generation very few went to university. However these stats shouldn't be ignored, we just need the age data as well combined with it.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    On topic and for the third time - this is exactly the topic of Dave Skelton's book. The rise of the degree-ocracy which looks down on those who have received what is a diminishing amount of vocational training.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Snobbery-David-Skelton/dp/1785906577/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+new+snobbery&qid=1628839417&sr=8-1

    (not resting until everyone on PB has read it :smile: )
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,761

    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is it true that the next LOTR is going to be set in a car park in Droitwich? The quest for the golden kebab?

    And it would still be better than the film version of The Two Towers.
    I enjoyed the films but after the Two Towers getting a member of my family to come with me to the cinema was...challenging. My wife is still prone to mutter something about the battle of Helm's Deep to this day.
    I've only seen the first film, but the scene where the 'wolves' leapt out among the audience was 'startling', to put it mildly.
    I thought that the first one was a bit like HP 1. They were (rightly) incredibly proud of the sets that they had created and anxious to show them off. It got in the way a bit.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,733

    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is it true that the next LOTR is going to be set in a car park in Droitwich? The quest for the golden kebab?

    And it would still be better than the film version of The Two Towers.
    I enjoyed the films but after the Two Towers getting a member of my family to come with me to the cinema was...challenging. My wife is still prone to mutter something about the battle of Helm's Deep to this day.
    I've only seen the first film, but the scene where the 'wolves' leapt out among the audience was 'startling', to put it mildly.
    I’ve not come across that. Were you in a wargzone?
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    Alistair said:

    DavidL said:

    Foxy said:

    DavidL said:

    Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    In the UK the key number is not the number infected but the number in hospital That is hovering around 6k, having dropped a bit but currently pretty stable. There are roughly 1250 hospitals in the UK so each hospital has an average of 4.8 patients with Covid. Of course it won't be quite like that as quite a number of these hospitals will be specialist or for geriatrics etc but the burden currently being applied to the NHS is modest and not increasing. Ultimately, that is what matters.
    That number of hospitals is quite misleading, including cottage hospitals and private ones. A better indicator is number of beds for acute admissions. There are about 100 000 of these (depending on what is counted as Acute) and 5000 current covid inpatients. In addition another 8000 or so are out of action because of infection control. Details here in this thread from the CEO of NHS Providers:

    https://twitter.com/ChrisCEOHopson/status/1425418703294935040?s=19

    To give an idea of what this means, in my Trust we have about 100 Covid patients, 20 on ICU/ECMO. This means cancellations of planned surgery because of lack of beds particularly post op. Patients are often being cancelled on the day for this reason.
    And when you refer to the trust will that be spread over several hospitals? It does seem to me that occupancy of 5% of beds with a particular virus should not be causing enormous problems but perhaps that reflects how stretched the system was pre Covid.
    NHS Lothian has over a dozen hospitals, only 3 of them (I think) have acute beds.
    Yes. I think it's 21 hospitals in NHS Lothian, but there are only three hospitals with acute beds, the Western General and Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh and St John's in Livingston.

    I did a very detailed post looking at all the different hospitals in NHS Lothian, a few don't even have any inpatient beds at all, so I'm very disappointed that the silly figure of 1250 hospitals is still being used to divide the number of Covid inpatients.

    There aren't going to be any Covid inpatients at a mental health hospital. Or a specialist eye surgery hospital. Or at the vast majority of facilities that are classed as "hospitals". There certainly aren't two hospitals with Covid inpatients in each parliamentary constituency. I think the right number of hospitals to use for this calculation is most likely closer to 200.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 31,715
    ydoethur said:

    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is it true that the next LOTR is going to be set in a car park in Droitwich? The quest for the golden kebab?

    And it would still be better than the film version of The Two Towers.
    I enjoyed the films but after the Two Towers getting a member of my family to come with me to the cinema was...challenging. My wife is still prone to mutter something about the battle of Helm's Deep to this day.
    I've only seen the first film, but the scene where the 'wolves' leapt out among the audience was 'startling', to put it mildly.
    I’ve not come across that. Were you in a wargzone?
    We were in another dimension!
  • isamisam Posts: 40,722
    edited August 2021
    kjh said:

    Charles said:

    Yay! Another thread dressing up the age divide to pretend that lefties are smarter

    You make a good point. We need to see that analysis as well. From my generation very few went to university. However these stats shouldn't be ignored, we just need the age data as well combined with it.
    What does it matter if lefty voters are cleverer? The point of our democracy is that all votes are equal. This isn’t Rhodesia where there was an academic qualification required

    Given that Labour were set up to give the less well educated a voice, it’s a bit galling if their supporters now condescend them. Mind you, Labour offered out low paid jobs to anyone in Europe who’d do it cheaper, so maybe they just hate commoners
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,092
    BBC:    "There will be tragedy behind this story, people that came into hospital with one problem, caught Covid and sadly died," one of the researchers, Prof Calum Semple, from the University of Liverpool, said.

    Exactly that happened to the one person I know who has died of Covid.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58186709
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 66,733

    ydoethur said:

    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is it true that the next LOTR is going to be set in a car park in Droitwich? The quest for the golden kebab?

    And it would still be better than the film version of The Two Towers.
    I enjoyed the films but after the Two Towers getting a member of my family to come with me to the cinema was...challenging. My wife is still prone to mutter something about the battle of Helm's Deep to this day.
    I've only seen the first film, but the scene where the 'wolves' leapt out among the audience was 'startling', to put it mildly.
    I’ve not come across that. Were you in a wargzone?
    We were in another dimension!
    They were running rings round you, weren’t they?
  • moonshinemoonshine Posts: 5,226
    DavidL said:

    ydoethur said:

    Jonathan said:

    Is it true that the next LOTR is going to be set in a car park in Droitwich? The quest for the golden kebab?

    And it would still be better than the film version of The Two Towers.
    I enjoyed the films but after the Two Towers getting a member of my family to come with me to the cinema was...challenging. My wife is still prone to mutter something about the battle of Helm's Deep to this day.
    As a Tolkien virgin (almost fantasy virgin in fact) when I saw the Fellowship of the Ring, I walked out believing it to be the perfect film. I still think the same. When I’m watching some tat on telly I often think, why am I watching this when I could be watching FOTR?

    There were diminishing returns to the sequels in some ways but they succeeded in broadening a world that I and millions of others had become hooked on. Let’s see what the telly programme manages to do. Not many people would have given much hope to the Mandalorian either but that had some fabulous moments.
  • Foxy said:

    Alistair said:

    School is back in Mississippi and it's going great

    https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1425949682782588931?s=19

    Probably easiest to let all the pupils get infected then restart in a month.

    Placebo masks aren't going to stop Delta circulating among kids.
    Considering the low vaccination rates in the deep South, a school based epidemic is quite a risky superspreader event.

    Vaccinating the adults I'd the obvious solution, but the Trumpist anti-vaxxers are bonkers. Here they are threatening doctors in Tennessee:

    https://twitter.com/natalie_allison/status/1425449438202548224?s=19
    Let them catch covid - they're going to get in any case.

    Mask mandates are displacement activity which aren't worth the hassle and punish those who have been vaccinated.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 40,950
    geoffw said:

    BBC:    "There will be tragedy behind this story, people that came into hospital with one problem, caught Covid and sadly died," one of the researchers, Prof Calum Semple, from the University of Liverpool, said.

    Exactly that happened to the one person I know who has died of Covid.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58186709

    And of course it happened, tragically, to @Dura's mother who went in, IIRC, for a suspected bone fracture.
This discussion has been closed.