Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Could Reform leader Tice benefit from BoJo’s travails? – politicalbetting.com

2

Comments

  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080
    IshmaelZ said:

    rcs1000 said:

    HYUFD said:

    Andy_JS said:

    "Huw Edwards ‘being spoken to’ by BBC after he objected to ‘censorship’ of historic painting

    Newsreader could be taken to task over impartiality after he criticised ‘decolonising’ gallery for removing portrait of Sir Thomas Picton"

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/11/04/huw-edwards-spoken-bbc-objected-censorship-historic-painting/

    Ridiulous. Edwards was right, we should not erase our history even if some aspects of it make us uncomfortable
    Quite right. That's why I've stored every post you've ever submitted.... :)
    Do they sell hard drives that big?
    There's a bloke in the news today who had 14 million pornographic images on local storage of one kind and another in a modest sized house
    No wonder his ‘L’ key was a bit sticky.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    So the Paris bit is good?
  • Paul Sculley, whoever he is, has been sent out by Tories to defend this shit on QT.

    Poor sod.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,569
    DavidL said:

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    When someone likes your post you can see who it is. Its a pity we cannot see who thinks Off Topic is a good idea too.
    Surely Robert can ?
    I suspect it can get quite irritating for him.
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 11,059
    DougSeal said:

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    I have and my excuse was (the hopefully more believable) I was trying to "like" a post while pissed and using an iPhone 5.
    LOL! Keep 'em coming!
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,762

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    Some of this is just public school name calling by prats who have never grown up and are incapable of mature reflection. Most of it is deeply weird and more than a bit sad. I fear Yorkshire may not be unique in the game.
  • FarooqFarooq Posts: 10,775
    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    How does it compare to 1984 / AF? Those are the only two of his I've read and I'm sort of glad I did but haven't felt much motivation to read more. If it's as good/better I'll queue it up.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Nigelb said:

    DavidL said:

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    When someone likes your post you can see who it is. Its a pity we cannot see who thinks Off Topic is a good idea too.
    Surely Robert can ?
    I suspect it can get quite irritating for him.
    Nah you irritate him by flagging posts
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 19,598

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    Absolutely horrible. Sickening.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,583

    Not sure this is a good idea

    BBC News - Parties may stand aside in by-election to replace MP Owen Paterson
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59167967

    The Tories will still win, but a campaign fighting sleaze looming large on the nightly news might focus Johnson's mind.

    The programme for change yesterday was outrageously partisan and it was Johnson's wizard wheeze to save his own sorry arse at a later date.
  • New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,766
    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    So the Paris bit is good?
    Yes.

    The London bit is OK, but it's a very different tone.

    Paris is really the story of Orwell working in kitchens and relating anecdotes. The London bit is different; much more reportage than personal story.
  • IshmaelZ said:

    Orwell would have loved Squid Game or at least have felt vindicated by its existence. Remember the bit early in 1984 where WS goes to the cinema?

    The bit that fuelled KT Hopkins immigration control fantasies?
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    rcs1000 said:

    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    So the Paris bit is good?
    Yes.

    The London bit is OK, but it's a very different tone.

    Paris is really the story of Orwell working in kitchens and relating anecdotes. The London bit is different; much more reportage than personal story.
    It’s only the Paris but I remember to be honest
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080

    This sounds like the first thread on Chesham & Amersham when I was ridiculed for my betting plan. Funny things can happen at by-elections particularly where the consensus is that the outcome is a certainty. I made £4,300 at C&A and have risked £5 here.

    A £4,295 profit is not to be sniffed at.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,766
    Farooq said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    How does it compare to 1984 / AF? Those are the only two of his I've read and I'm sort of glad I did but haven't felt much motivation to read more. If it's as good/better I'll queue it up.
    You should read it. Firstly, it's not a novel, and secondly, it's not profoundly depressing.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 14,772
    IshmaelZ said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    Wrote a few books, apparently...
    Yes.

    My approach to the question is to read and evaluate the books, rather than look up Orwell on some sort of spreadsheet of the world's 100 most influential literary brands. The answer is he's world class at autobiography and fiction, and pretty disappointing at essays and sustained political analysis.
    His directions for brewing tea are contradictory. They would lead to an excessively strong brew, he extols the virtues of its bitterness, dismisses adding sugar as detracting from the taste, but then he adds milk to it. Baffling.
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,480
    edited November 2021

    New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.

    Interesting. Now that's definitely not off-topic.

    Cue off-topic clicks ;.)
  • Nigelb said:

    DavidL said:

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    When someone likes your post you can see who it is. Its a pity we cannot see who thinks Off Topic is a good idea too.
    Surely Robert can ?
    I suspect it can get quite irritating for him.
    Mike, Robert, myself, and the mod team can see it.

    It annoys the hell out of OGH as they get an email for every off topic hit.

    People have been smote with the ban hammer for misuse of the off topic button.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,766
    Nigelb said:

    DavidL said:

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    When someone likes your post you can see who it is. Its a pity we cannot see who thinks Off Topic is a good idea too.
    Surely Robert can ?
    I suspect it can get quite irritating for him.
    I can. I didn't realise you guys couldn't.

    I can cause a lot of mischief, I think.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    edited November 2021

    Paul Sculley, whoever he is, has been sent out by Tories to defend this shit on QT.

    Poor sod.

    Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets apparently.

    Not even sending a Minister of State or some party grandee. Lord knows what he did to get the gig.

    Minister of London too supposedly, but even the government site seem unclear what level that is - it exists, wiki says it reports in to Housing (now the execrebly named Department of Levelling up) but no mention of the role on its own list of ministers.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,254

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    What is the "very particular Yorkshire problem"? Does the county (or the club?) have more racists that other places, or clubs? I mean of course there's evidence for the latter, given the revelations, but the wording seems to imply something beyond the Rafiq case.

    (Living in Yorkshire, I can't say I've found it any worse than anywhere else, but as a white man I'm probably not best placed to judge)
  • WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,480
    edited November 2021

    Nigelb said:

    DavidL said:

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    When someone likes your post you can see who it is. Its a pity we cannot see who thinks Off Topic is a good idea too.
    Surely Robert can ?
    I suspect it can get quite irritating for him.
    Mike, Robert, myself, and the mod team can see it.

    It annoys the hell out of OGH as they get an email for every off topic hit.

    People have been smote with the ban hammer for misuse of the off topic button.
    I think people (ahem) have just been having a bit of fun with it tonight as a collective one-off joke, so hopefully there won't be mass arrests and national trials over that.
  • Tim Stanley not doing himself any favours by being the government smuck who is defending this crap.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 113,957
    edited November 2021
    Selebian said:

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    What is the "very particular Yorkshire problem"? Does the county (or the club?) have more racists that other places, or clubs? I mean of course there's evidence for the latter, given the revelations, but the wording seems to imply something beyond the Rafiq case.

    (Living in Yorkshire, I can't say I've found it any worse than anywhere else, but as a white man I'm probably not best placed to judge)
    Dirty Leeds fans during the summer months turn up at Headingley and bring the 'football banter'.

    It's a bit unedifying at times, which you don't see in other test grounds.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,766
    IshmaelZ said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    Wrote a few books, apparently...
    Yes.

    My approach to the question is to read and evaluate the books, rather than look up Orwell on some sort of spreadsheet of the world's 100 most influential literary brands. The answer is he's world class at autobiography and fiction, and pretty disappointing at essays and sustained political analysis.
    I think it's probably more accurate to say that his essays are wildly inconsistent. There are some which are real gems (I remember enjoying Books vs Cigarettes very much). And others which he clearly dashed off in an hour to meet his quota.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 53,766
    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    So the Paris bit is good?
    Yes.

    The London bit is OK, but it's a very different tone.

    Paris is really the story of Orwell working in kitchens and relating anecdotes. The London bit is different; much more reportage than personal story.
    It’s only the Paris but I remember to be honest
    Which pretty much answers the question as to which is the better half of the book!
  • "Trust comes on foot and leaves on horseback" says CEO, Polman, on QT.
  • kle4 said:

    Paul Sculley, whoever he is, has been sent out by Tories to defend this shit on QT.

    Poor sod.

    Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets apparently.

    Not even sending a Minister of State or some party grandee. Lord knows what he did to get the gig.

    Minister of London too supposedly, but even the government site seem unclear what level that is - it exists, wiki says it reports in to Housing (now the execrebly named Department of Levelling up) but no mention of the role on its own list of ministers.
    I reckon he must have kicked Dilyn the dog to have landed this gig from hell.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279
    Betfair Exch, next US president:

    Trump 4.3 / 4.4
    Biden 6.6 / 7
    Harris 8.6 / 9
    DeSantis 12 / 13

    https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.176878927
  • FarooqFarooq Posts: 10,775

    "Trust comes on foot and leaves on horseback" says CEO, Polman, on QT.

    Trust steals my horse? That's the last time I ever trust trust.
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 2,721
    edited November 2021
    *Edited my usual terrible grammar"

    Nigelb said:

    DavidL said:

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    When someone likes your post you can see who it is. Its a pity we cannot see who thinks Off Topic is a good idea too.
    Surely Robert can ?
    I suspect it can get quite irritating for him.
    Mike, Robert, myself, and the mod team can see it.

    It annoys the hell out of OGH as they get an email for every off topic hit.

    People have been smote with the ban hammer for misuse of the off topic button.
    Wait, so there are you three, *and* a mod team? Who the hell are they?!
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,762

    Nigelb said:

    DavidL said:

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    When someone likes your post you can see who it is. Its a pity we cannot see who thinks Off Topic is a good idea too.
    Surely Robert can ?
    I suspect it can get quite irritating for him.
    Mike, Robert, myself, and the mod team can see it.

    It annoys the hell out of OGH as they get an email for every off topic hit.

    People have been smote with the ban hammer for misuse of the off topic button.
    I think people (ahem) have just been having a bit of fun with it tonight as a collective one-off joke, so hopefully there won't be mass arrests and national trials over it.
    Surely through the Looking glass its first sentence then trial?
  • Andy_JS said:

    Betfair Exch, next US president:

    Trump 4.3 / 4.4
    Biden 6.6 / 7
    Harris 8.6 / 9
    DeSantis 12 / 13

    https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/politics/market/1.176878927

    You forget Pete B - 30/1
  • FarooqFarooq Posts: 10,775
    CatMan said:

    Nigelb said:

    DavidL said:

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    When someone likes your post you can see who it is. Its a pity we cannot see who thinks Off Topic is a good idea too.
    Surely Robert can ?
    I suspect it can get quite irritating for him.
    Mike, Robert, myself, and the mod team can see it.

    It annoys the hell out of OGH as they get an email for every off topic hit.

    People have been smote with the ban hammer for misuse of the off topic button.
    Wait, so there's you three, *and* a mod team? Who the hell are they?!
    The first rule about the mod team is... I'm not allowed to say
  • CatMan said:

    Nigelb said:

    DavidL said:

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    When someone likes your post you can see who it is. Its a pity we cannot see who thinks Off Topic is a good idea too.
    Surely Robert can ?
    I suspect it can get quite irritating for him.
    Mike, Robert, myself, and the mod team can see it.

    It annoys the hell out of OGH as they get an email for every off topic hit.

    People have been smote with the ban hammer for misuse of the off topic button.
    Wait, so there's you three, *and* a mod team? Who the hell are they?!
    They prefer anonymity.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080

    "Trust comes on foot and leaves on horseback" says CEO, Polman, on QT.

    I didn’t know she could ride?
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709
    Selebian said:

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    What is the "very particular Yorkshire problem"? Does the county (or the club?) have more racists that other places, or clubs? I mean of course there's evidence for the latter, given the revelations, but the wording seems to imply something beyond the Rafiq case.

    (Living in Yorkshire, I can't say I've found it any worse than anywhere else, but as a white man I'm probably not best placed to judge)
    The BNP of course won an MEP in Yorkshire in 2009 and elected councillors in Kirklees and Bradford and Leeds as well
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,053

    Prof. Devi Sridhar
    @devisridhar
    ·
    1h
    Fascinating new study: scientists have identified a gene that doubles risk of respiratory failure from COVID. 60% of people with S. Asian ancestry carry this- which could partially explain why ethnic minorities in UK & Indian subcontinent were hit harder.

    Surely not, it was all the government’s fault. Something about institutional racism or other. Right?
    Well, mortality rates are also high in other ethnic groups from Africa and Philipines too, so this gene doesn't explain everything. Deprivation, overcrowded housing, levels of obesity, cardiovascular disease, multi-generational households, concentration in particularly risky front line jobs etc etc. There are many factors involved.

  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 50,762

    Selebian said:

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    What is the "very particular Yorkshire problem"? Does the county (or the club?) have more racists that other places, or clubs? I mean of course there's evidence for the latter, given the revelations, but the wording seems to imply something beyond the Rafiq case.

    (Living in Yorkshire, I can't say I've found it any worse than anywhere else, but as a white man I'm probably not best placed to judge)
    Dirty Leeds fans during the summer months turn up at Headingley and bring the 'football banter'.

    It's a bit unedifying at times, which you don't see in other test grounds.
    I've never come across cricket fans anywhere quite like those on the Western Terrace at Headingly. At the risk of being thought po faced it can be quite amusing until early afternoon but goes downhill thereafter quite rapidly and by tea has a definite edge to it.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080
    HYUFD said:

    Selebian said:

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    What is the "very particular Yorkshire problem"? Does the county (or the club?) have more racists that other places, or clubs? I mean of course there's evidence for the latter, given the revelations, but the wording seems to imply something beyond the Rafiq case.

    (Living in Yorkshire, I can't say I've found it any worse than anywhere else, but as a white man I'm probably not best placed to judge)
    The BNP of course won an MEP in Yorkshire in 2009 and elected councillors in Kirklees and Bradford and Leeds as well
    My postman in London was a BNP councillor, on the side.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,053
    IanB2 said:

    "Trust comes on foot and leaves on horseback" says CEO, Polman, on QT.

    I didn’t know she could ride?
    I think the evidence is that she is quite the cowgirl.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279
    I'd love to hear what Geoff Boycott, Dickie Bird, Michael Parkinson and Ray Illingworth think about the Yorkshire cricket situation.
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878
    Foxy said:

    Prof. Devi Sridhar
    @devisridhar
    ·
    1h
    Fascinating new study: scientists have identified a gene that doubles risk of respiratory failure from COVID. 60% of people with S. Asian ancestry carry this- which could partially explain why ethnic minorities in UK & Indian subcontinent were hit harder.

    Surely not, it was all the government’s fault. Something about institutional racism or other. Right?
    Well, mortality rates are also high in other ethnic groups from Africa and Philipines too, so this gene doesn't explain everything. Deprivation, overcrowded housing, levels of obesity, cardiovascular disease, multi-generational households, concentration in particularly risky front line jobs etc etc. There are many factors involved.

    Yes, and my point was mainly in jest. Biology is always complex. I once saw Paul Nurse talk, and that was his take home - it’s complex. Too often we try to make things simple, and look for simple explanations.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279
    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    The second half isn't bad, but I agree the first half is brilliant. Especially the Parisian hotel kitchen portrayal.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    Farooq said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    How does it compare to 1984 / AF? Those are the only two of his I've read and I'm sort of glad I did but haven't felt much motivation to read more. If it's as good/better I'll queue it up.
    The Road to Wigan Pier is a documentary in novel form. Superb.
  • isamisam Posts: 40,725
    edited November 2021
    REFUK +2 to 5% is good for Mike’s bet, but they surely won’t get even 2% in a GE? I doubt they’ll stand 200 candidates
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.

    @CorrectHorseBattery will be holding his head in his hands. He just hit the post.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    Is Boris missing Dom?
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878
    dixiedean said:

    New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.

    @CorrectHorseBattery will be holding his head in his hands. He just hit the post.
    Not really. I doubt his bet exists in the real world.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,709
    edited November 2021

    New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.

    Full figures of the new Yougov

    Cons 36%
    Lab 35%
    Greens 9%
    LDs 8%
    RefUK 5%

    https://twitter.com/BritainElects/status/1456391492621279233?s=20

    Electoral calculus gives Conservatives 314, Labour 253, SNP 54 and LDs 8 on the new boundaries.

    So Boris' Tories and the DUP would have a lead of 1 seat over Labour, the LDs, SNP, PC, Greens, SDLP and Alliance combined

    https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/usercode.py?scotcontrol=Y&CON=36&LAB=35&LIB=8&Reform=5&Green=9&UKIP=&TVCON=&TVLAB=&TVLIB=&TVReform=&TVGreen=&TVUKIP=&SCOTCON=22.3&SCOTLAB=18.3&SCOTLIB=6.3&SCOTReform=0.7&SCOTGreen=0.7&SCOTUKIP=&SCOTNAT=48.3&display=AllChanged&regorseat=(none)&boundary=2019nbbase
  • dixiedean said:

    New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.

    @CorrectHorseBattery will be holding his head in his hands. He just hit the post.
    I expect he will win but not sure how much and who with
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    edited November 2021
    IanB2 said:

    HYUFD said:

    Selebian said:

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    What is the "very particular Yorkshire problem"? Does the county (or the club?) have more racists that other places, or clubs? I mean of course there's evidence for the latter, given the revelations, but the wording seems to imply something beyond the Rafiq case.

    (Living in Yorkshire, I can't say I've found it any worse than anywhere else, but as a white man I'm probably not best placed to judge)
    The BNP of course won an MEP in Yorkshire in 2009 and elected councillors in Kirklees and Bradford and Leeds as well
    My postman in London was a BNP councillor, on the side.
    Did he make jokes about letterboxes too?
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,263

    New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.

    Correct Horse Battery poised to collect on his wild bet if there's another poll in a day or two. I hope he's OK - haven't seen him here for a few days.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080
    dixiedean said:

    New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.

    @CorrectHorseBattery will be holding his head in his hands. He just hit the post.
    You can’t fault the government for giving his bet their best shot
  • FarooqFarooq Posts: 10,775
    YouGov: Greens down 1% during Cop26. In a sense, not encouraging for them. But 9% is still high. Cannot see it being that high in an actual election, even if they fielded candidates in every seat, surely?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392
    Jonathan said:

    Is Boris missing Dom?

    Missing someone who apparently despised him and the job every second and doesn't seem very good at covering up his thoughts and feelings?
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279
    YouGov also have Reform UK on 5%, the first time they've reached that figure AFAIK.
  • sladeslade Posts: 1,921
    LD hold in Huntingdonshire.
  • FarooqFarooq Posts: 10,775
    Jonathan said:

    Is Boris missing Dom?

    Given the headlines in the papers, he could do with a friendly Sub.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,569
    edited November 2021
    Just brought forward my biweekly LFT this evening as feeling a bit crap.
    Tested positive dammit.

    Still, it should give me the time to read the Grant biography which has been sitting around.
  • isamisam Posts: 40,725

    New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.

    Correct Horse Battery poised to collect on his wild bet if there's another poll in a day or two. I hope he's OK - haven't seen him here for a few days.
    As if he had the bet he claimed to have had. As far as I know, no bookmaker is offering it, and if they were, they wouldn’t lay £5k on such a mickey mouse market
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279

    New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.

    Correct Horse Battery poised to collect on his wild bet if there's another poll in a day or two. I hope he's OK - haven't seen him here for a few days.
    Just checked his Twitter page but he hasn't posted there for a few weeks.

    https://twitter.com/CorrectHorseB
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 14,878
    Nigelb said:

    Just brought forward my biweekly LFT this evening as feeling a bit crap.
    Tested positive dammit.

    Still, it should give me the time to read the Grant biography which has been sitting around.

    Bad luck. Get well soon.👍
  • Farooq said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    How does it compare to 1984 / AF? Those are the only two of his I've read and I'm sort of glad I did but haven't felt much motivation to read more. If it's as good/better I'll queue it up.
    Don't miss Burmese Days. It's superb.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    slade said:

    LD hold in Huntingdonshire.

    Ooh. Good point. Forgot it was Thursday.
  • Andy_JS said:

    New YouGov poll for The Times (changes from 28/29 October).

    Con 36 (-3)

    Lab 35 (+2)

    Fieldwork Wednesday evening.

    Correct Horse Battery poised to collect on his wild bet if there's another poll in a day or two. I hope he's OK - haven't seen him here for a few days.
    Just checked his Twitter page but he hasn't posted there for a few weeks.

    https://twitter.com/CorrectHorseB
    He posted yesterday I think, saying he was feeling low.

    Hope he is ok.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 47,080
    dixiedean said:

    slade said:

    LD hold in Huntingdonshire.

    Ooh. Good point. Forgot it was Thursday.
    Remembered only just in time, too
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 61,569

    Nigelb said:

    Just brought forward my biweekly LFT this evening as feeling a bit crap.
    Tested positive dammit.

    Still, it should give me the time to read the Grant biography which has been sitting around.

    Bad luck. Get well soon.👍
    Cheers.
    Have continued to be pretty careful, too.
  • BigRichBigRich Posts: 3,489
    Nigelb said:

    Just brought forward my biweekly LFT this evening as feeling a bit crap.
    Tested positive dammit.

    Still, it should give me the time to read the Grant biography which has been sitting around.

    Hope you feel better soon.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,254

    Selebian said:

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    What is the "very particular Yorkshire problem"? Does the county (or the club?) have more racists that other places, or clubs? I mean of course there's evidence for the latter, given the revelations, but the wording seems to imply something beyond the Rafiq case.

    (Living in Yorkshire, I can't say I've found it any worse than anywhere else, but as a white man I'm probably not best placed to judge)
    Dirty Leeds fans during the summer months turn up at Headingley and bring the 'football banter'.

    It's a bit unedifying at times, which you don't see in other test grounds.
    Ah, thanks. I wasn't aware of that (Headingley is the only common test ground I haven't been to, I think, despite having been my nearest for a few years)
  • IanB2 said:

    HYUFD said:

    Selebian said:

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    What is the "very particular Yorkshire problem"? Does the county (or the club?) have more racists that other places, or clubs? I mean of course there's evidence for the latter, given the revelations, but the wording seems to imply something beyond the Rafiq case.

    (Living in Yorkshire, I can't say I've found it any worse than anywhere else, but as a white man I'm probably not best placed to judge)
    The BNP of course won an MEP in Yorkshire in 2009 and elected councillors in Kirklees and Bradford and Leeds as well
    My postman in London was a BNP councillor, on the side.
    I think mine is a Marxist based on the odd chat we have had.

    Still, he always makes sure my second-hand vinyl deliveries are well handled and not thrown over the fence like some other delivery companies I could mention.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,053
    Farooq said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    How does it compare to 1984 / AF? Those are the only two of his I've read and I'm sort of glad I did but haven't felt much motivation to read more. If it's as good/better I'll queue it up.
    Homage to Catalonia is great, it gives an insight into how Orwell went off Communism, and also a fascinating insight into the Spanish Civil War and the political atmosphere of the late Thirties.

    The Road to Wigan Pier is great reportage, as is Down and out in Paris and London.

    Of the novels, I have a soft spot for Keep the Aspidistra Flying, and Burmese Days is a fascinating look at the fag end of British Empire, and how it degrades both colonised and colonialists. Coming up for Air is poor, but has interesting insights into the Thirties suburbisation of the Home Counties.

    Orwell's politics are often misrepresented, particularly by anti-Communists. I think his real sympathies were always more Anarcho -Syndicalist. In Animal Farm his sympathies are with neither the Pigs nor the humans, but with the other animals, and 1984 is as much an attack on wartime and postwar Britain as anything else. The Ministry of Information is based on his experience of the wartime BBC.

    Ultimately his politics are interesting in the context of the Times, but the Thirties and Forties were very different times to our own.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 24,583
    edited November 2021
    .

    Tim Stanley not doing himself any favours by being the government smuck who is defending this crap.

    Paul Scully cuts a lonely figure tonight. If I were a Conservative MP who had been railroaded into voting for Leadsom's amendment I would be spitting feathers.

    Dear Sir Graham...
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    Scottish 0-15 age group covid numbers seem to have started another lift off move over the last couple of days.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    Farooq said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    How does it compare to 1984 / AF? Those are the only two of his I've read and I'm sort of glad I did but haven't felt much motivation to read more. If it's as good/better I'll queue it up.
    Don't miss Burmese Days. It's superb.
    As is Homage to Catalonia.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    rcs1000 said:

    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Charles said:

    rcs1000 said:

    Farooq said:

    Farooq said:

    IshmaelZ said:

    DavidL said:

    Nigelb said:

    I didn’t realise this, assuming the running gags were entirely affectionate.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48513358
    … In the mid-90s, Blair became the butt of lewd gay Give Us A Clue jokes on Radio 4's Sorry I Haven't A Clue. They went on for nearly 15 years, made originally by host Humphrey Lyttelton and continued by his successor Jack Dee. The audience loved it. Blair himself was less amused.
    "It was merciless and just plain mean. I didn't mind for myself but my wife and family really hated it and became very upset," he told the Mirror.
    "I don't understand why they had to be gay gags either. Yes, I'm very over-the-top and flamboyant but I always have been. I'm theatrical, darling!
    "I could have sued, I suppose, but that would have been breaking the comedians' code - and you simply don't do that."…

    Some samples:

    - The most highly skilled of all was Lionel Blair, but how the tears of frustration welled up in his eyes during their Italian tour, at not being allowed the use of his mouth to finish off Two Gentlemen Of Verona.

    - Who can ever forget opposing team captain Una Stubbs sitting open mouthed as he tried to pull off Twelve Angry Men in under two minutes!

    - Possibly the most versatile performer was Lionel Blair, and no one will ever forget the occasion he was given A Town Like Alice, when he chose to do a silent impression of the author. Such was the performance, Una Stubbs gasped in amazement when she saw Neville Shute in Lionel's face...

    - Give Us A Clue was made all the better by it's resident expert Lionel Blair, who was particularly good at the films of Richard Gere. Who can forget the gleam of satisfaction in his eye when he was given Yanks by Michael Aspel for two minutes .


    https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/12/18/16817/lay_off_lionel!
    To call that infantile is to insult infants. I mean, it would have been embarrassing in the 1960s...
    You had to be there. Lyttelton's delivery made it bloody funny.

    You may of course think this is just another illustration of the One rule for old Etonians, another for the rest rule which blights British life.
    Humphrey Lyttleton and Orwell are in my small group of favoured "good old Etonians", personally.
    was Orwell good?
    I don't think much of his cultural criticism, but a great writer, social researcher, and generally well-inientioned and committed person, I think.
    I think "great writer" is stretching it a little. I think Nineteen Eighty Four and Animal Farm are both worthy and important novels, but I wouldn't personally class them as great. Eye of the beholder though.
    I guess I have this slightly odd sense of Orwell being a bit of a prig. I don't know where this sense comes from, so perhaps it's unfair on him.
    The first half of Down and Out in London & Paris is absolutely superb.
    So the Paris bit is good?
    Yes.

    The London bit is OK, but it's a very different tone.

    Paris is really the story of Orwell working in kitchens and relating anecdotes. The London bit is different; much more reportage than personal story.
    It’s only the Paris but I remember to be honest
    Which pretty much answers the question as to which is the better half of the book!
    I couldn’t remember if Paris was first or second!
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 7,254
    HYUFD said:

    Selebian said:

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    What is the "very particular Yorkshire problem"? Does the county (or the club?) have more racists that other places, or clubs? I mean of course there's evidence for the latter, given the revelations, but the wording seems to imply something beyond the Rafiq case.

    (Living in Yorkshire, I can't say I've found it any worse than anywhere else, but as a white man I'm probably not best placed to judge)
    The BNP of course won an MEP in Yorkshire in 2009 and elected councillors in Kirklees and Bradford and Leeds as well
    Not specifically a Yorkshire thing though - also the NW MEP and councillors in a number of other places.
  • Suspect Sunday Times in-depth look at what happened this week in the bunker is going to be brutal.

    Also suspect there will be an announcement within days of some changes in No 10 staff, comms, chief of staff etc etc. As clearly someone has dropped a fecking bollock in the last 24 hours.

  • TheValiantTheValiant Posts: 1,678

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    Damn. I can't click both 'Like' and 'Off Topic' at the same time.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,053
    Selebian said:

    HYUFD said:

    Selebian said:

    Wow.

    The racism that cricketer Azeem Rafiq suffered while playing for Yorkshire goes beyond the county to the very heart of the English game. It reflects the fact that, in stark contrast to football, cricket has for decades drawn a veil over racism and become less diverse, not more so.

    There is, of course, a very particular Yorkshire problem, which explains why Rafiq’s teammates, and his club itself, might have felt that calling him the P-word was acceptable dressing-room banter. That was not the only racist banter he was subjected to. Recently, while researching my book, The Impossible Dream, Rafiq told me how for about two years some of his Yorkshire teammates had called him “Rafa the kafir”. For Rafiq, a practising Muslim who has been to Mecca for hajj – the pilgrimage all Muslims are meant to do once in their lifetime – that meant he was an unbeliever and is a devastating charge. He was puzzled because none of the people calling him “kafir” were Muslims or knew anything about Islam.

    What he did not know was they were using the word “kaffir” – not the Islamic “kafir”, but the term used in apartheid-era South Africa to denigrate black and brown people. Rafiq only discovered this when Yorkshire later held an investigation into his allegations that he had suffered racism. His reaction was: “Wow. How was that allowed to be my nickname? These are not guys who have come from small towns. These are guys who played international cricket, travelling the world. They knew exactly what they were saying. I didn’t have a clue.”


    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/yorkshire-cricket-race-row-sport-azeem-rafiq

    What is the "very particular Yorkshire problem"? Does the county (or the club?) have more racists that other places, or clubs? I mean of course there's evidence for the latter, given the revelations, but the wording seems to imply something beyond the Rafiq case.

    (Living in Yorkshire, I can't say I've found it any worse than anywhere else, but as a white man I'm probably not best placed to judge)
    The BNP of course won an MEP in Yorkshire in 2009 and elected councillors in Kirklees and Bradford and Leeds as well
    Not specifically a Yorkshire thing though - also the NW MEP and councillors in a number of other places.
    Coalville in NW Leicestershire too. Andrew Bridgen territory now.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 58,941

    Suspect Sunday Times in-depth look at what happened this week in the bunker is going to be brutal.

    Also suspect there will be an announcement within days of some changes in No 10 staff, comms, chief of staff etc etc. As clearly someone has dropped a fecking bollock in the last 24 hours.

    Yeah, it will be a fascinating read. The biggest balls up since the balls up last week.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,279

    Paul Sculley, whoever he is, has been sent out by Tories to defend this shit on QT.

    Poor sod.

    Doesn't Paterson's resignation take a lot of the heat out of this situation.
  • TheValiantTheValiant Posts: 1,678
    rcs1000 said:

    Can't see it. Surely this guy's just a Killroy-Silk character without the name recognition.

    Wow Robert Kilroy-Silk, what a blast from the past. Stored in my memory on a back shelf with BBC Pebble Mill, Tomorrow's World and Christine Hamilton.
    Do you remember Veritas?
    I do.

    Kilroy-Silk even flounced out of that party six months after he formed it.
    They achieved absolutely nothing but kept going for ten years after forming before folding into the English Democrats.

    Wiki has the 'details': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veritas_(political_party)
  • .

    Tim Stanley not doing himself any favours by being the government smuck who is defending this crap.

    Paul Scully cuts a lonely figure tonight. If I were a Conservative MP who had been railroaded into voting for Leadsom's amendment I would be spitting feathers.

    Dear Sir Graham...
    Yep. How many times can Johnson do this stunt? Marching them all into a hole in the ground and then announcing the hole was not worth defending. Sorry chaps, for all the dead.

    Kwasi Kwarteng must have reached the end of his loyalty card points after this morning's round of interviews defending the crap.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 91,392

    Suspect Sunday Times in-depth look at what happened this week in the bunker is going to be brutal.

    Also suspect there will be an announcement within days of some changes in No 10 staff, comms, chief of staff etc etc. As clearly someone has dropped a fecking bollock in the last 24 hours.

    To adapt a common expression, if you keep finding bad apples perhaps the problem is the orchard.
  • kle4 said:

    Suspect Sunday Times in-depth look at what happened this week in the bunker is going to be brutal.

    Also suspect there will be an announcement within days of some changes in No 10 staff, comms, chief of staff etc etc. As clearly someone has dropped a fecking bollock in the last 24 hours.

    To adapt a common expression, if you keep finding bad apples perhaps the problem is the orchard.
    Or the head apple tree grower.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,053
    Nigelb said:

    Just brought forward my biweekly LFT this evening as feeling a bit crap.
    Tested positive dammit.

    Still, it should give me the time to read the Grant biography which has been sitting around.

    Sorry to hear it. Generally not too bad in the double vaxxed but take care.
  • sladeslade Posts: 1,921
    Suggestions that Con hold in West Lancashire.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,053
    edited November 2021
    Andy_JS said:

    Paul Sculley, whoever he is, has been sent out by Tories to defend this shit on QT.

    Poor sod.

    Doesn't Paterson's resignation take a lot of the heat out of this situation.
    Some, but nowhere near as much as it would have if the Party had accepted the report.

    Soon attention moves to who else had their snout in the public trough for their own finances. How big is the iceberg of Tory sleaze?
  • Suspect Sunday Times in-depth look at what happened this week in the bunker is going to be brutal.

    Also suspect there will be an announcement within days of some changes in No 10 staff, comms, chief of staff etc etc. As clearly someone has dropped a fecking bollock in the last 24 hours.

    Trouble is that we all know who did the dropping, and he's not going anywhere willingly.
  • sladeslade Posts: 1,921
    It looks like an amazing Labour gain in Rutland.
  • Foxy said:

    Andy_JS said:

    Paul Sculley, whoever he is, has been sent out by Tories to defend this shit on QT.

    Poor sod.

    Doesn't Paterson's resignation take a lot of the heat out of this situation.
    Some, but nowhere near as much as it would have if the Party had accepted the report.

    Soon attention moves to who else had their snout in the public trough for their own finances. How big is the iceberg of Tory sleaze?
    Big. Very. very big after over a decade at the trough.

    COP is wiped out of headlines for next week I suspect as Fleet Street's finest comb the details.

  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835
    edited November 2021
    Labour win in Rutland. Gain from Indy. First Lab on Council.
    Lab 62.6%
    Con 37.4%
  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 19,598

    My question is: has any PBer ever admitted to hitting the fabled Off Topic button deliberately, in the entire history of PB?

    I have witnessed manifold ‘excuses’ such as “my cat clicked it”, “I did it accidentally on my phone while trying to eat a biryani”, and “I only pressed it to see what it would do”.

    Fucking own up.

    Damn. I can't click both 'Like' and 'Off Topic' at the same time.
    I might be unwise to do so, but I’m interpreting the OTs as Ls
  • dixiedean said:

    Labour win in Rutland. Gain from Indy. First Lab on Council.

    Rutland goes Labour?

    It's over for Johnson.

  • AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 19,598
    Interesting, perhaps, or maybe not… but not a single covidian question on QT tonight.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,835

    dixiedean said:

    Labour win in Rutland. Gain from Indy. First Lab on Council.

    Rutland goes Labour?

    It's over for Johnson.

    62.6% of the vote. See edit.
  • sladeslade Posts: 1,921
    Lab hold in Salford.
This discussion has been closed.