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The state of it – politicalbetting.com

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  • Sean_F said:

    You might also have thought the invasion of Ukraine might have led China to conclude that mounting an invasion in far more challenging circumstances might end very badly for them.

    That fact that China is building large logistics ships who's only purpose is to land equipment on to beaches suggests Xi isn't thinking that way. I suspect the lesson China will draw from Putin's folly is the need to be fully, totally prepared before going to war.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198

    That’s nothing.

    I’ve been in the same hotel room as the one Margaret Thatcher, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and David Cameron have all had sex in. Well slept in.

    Also been in the same hotel room where David Cameron, Tony Blair, and Theresa May have used.
    I have been in the room at Rudding Park where Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton stayed when they visited Tony Blair up in Sedgefield.

    They stayed separately to each other as the visits were at different times.

    The status of their nocturnal activities, Nelson with the delightful Winnie and Bill with Hillary, is not known or documented in the room.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,955
    Cookie said:

    That must have been quite a night. Makes Nick Palmer look tame by comparison.
    Well, there's an image over lunch I wasn't expecting...☹️
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,520
    Taz said:

    I have nothing anywhere near as good as any of these, and neither am I likely to as I do not move in such exalted circles.

    But I did once go to a pre-season soccer friendly in the non league. and told a young left back he was talented and should play professionally if he got the chance.

    He thanked me, said he hoped he would and was most humble.

    That chap was Chris Powell.

    Quite the punchline.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295

    ...

    I can beat all of that. I had a brief conversation with George Best at Xenon nightclub in Piccadilly circa 1985. I win!
    No, you don’t understand. It’s either got to be a genuinely impressive “I did this with them”” anecdote - eg “I did coke with Pope John Paul the Second in a Spoons in Walsall in 1981” OR it’s got to be so pathetically feeble it’s funny

    Look at @Cookie. He delivered pizza to Northern Uproar in the mid 90s, that’s how to do it

    Your story is neither of these things so it’s a pathetic fail. Sorry
  • Isn't that three steps? Julia, Julia's mum and then Hitler. Impressive nonetheless.

    If this is a willy waving contest, I can match that. I met Salim Bin Laden in the 1980s ( the one who killed himself in a Florida plane crash and whose English widow married his brother Abdullah. Salim was a half brother of Osama.
    Ted Danson was in a film with Kevin Bacon.
    My sister-in-law's sister-in-law was in a film with Ted Danson.
    I have played charades at family gatherings with my sister-in-law's sister-in-law.
    So I am 3 steps from Kevin Bacon himself.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,520
    Misal Hussein in Snappy Snaps.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,934
    Leon said:

    No, you don’t understand. It’s either got to be a genuinely impressive “I did this with them”” anecdote - eg “I did coke with Pope John Paul the Second in a Spoons in Walsall in 1981” OR it’s got to be so pathetically feeble it’s funny

    Look at @Cookie. He delivered pizza to Northern Uproar in the mid 90s, that’s how to do it

    Your story is neither of these things so it’s a pathetic fail. Sorry
    Well I didn't think the John Paul story was worth telling. He pissed everyone off as he always relied on other people's gear.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,369
    Leon said:

    That’s very good

    Do you remember when this was a brilliant Viz meme? Ah, Viz. When it was funny… it was really very very funny

    Anyway the meme was Lame-to-Claim Celebrity Anecdotes. I dare say yours is right up there, delivering pizza to the band members of Northern Uproar

    I had a friend who used to go an NA meeting which was also attended by “the posh colonel” - that really obscure character from It Ain’t Half Hot Mum who had about two lines once every six episodes. And occasionally they would get the bass guitarist from the house band that appeared in the kids’ show Rainbow, in the distance behind Bungle and Zippy

    I could never beat that
    Isn't it meant to be anonymous? Does Freddy deserve to have his demons discussed on Britain's premier political betting website?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    Pulpstar said:

    Me and Brian Mcfadden played the same Poker Tournament in Dublin 18 yrs ago. I was also briefly Tony Guoga (Who is really nice in real life) on his laptop playing as him on his own site, he's now a crypto bro having been an MEP.

    “I was also Tony Guoga on his laptop” might be one of my favourite PB lines of the post-Covid era
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,051
    Leon said:

    No, you don’t understand. It’s either got to be a genuinely impressive “I did this with them”” anecdote - eg “I did coke with Pope John Paul the Second in a Spoons in Walsall in 1981” OR it’s got to be so pathetically feeble it’s funny

    Look at @Cookie. He delivered pizza to Northern Uproar in the mid 90s, that’s how to do it

    Your story is neither of these things so it’s a pathetic fail. Sorry
    I trod on Bergerac”s foot at the airport. He was very grumpy with me about it. I was 10.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    The grandson of John Tyler is still alive.

    John Tyler was President of the USA between 1841 and 1845.

    Civil war pensions were being paid until 2020.
    The Civil War pensions story is brilliant.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War_widows_who_survived_into_the_21st_century

    The lady who lived until 2020 (aged 101) was married at the age of 17 to a 93-year-old veteran. A lot of these sort of ‘marriages’ were encouraged at the time, either to loose relatives or as a big FU to the government.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    Leon said:

    No, you don’t understand. It’s either got to be a genuinely impressive “I did this with them”” anecdote - eg “I did coke with Pope John Paul the Second in a Spoons in Walsall in 1981” OR it’s got to be so pathetically feeble it’s funny

    Look at @Cookie. He delivered pizza to Northern Uproar in the mid 90s, that’s how to do it

    Your story is neither of these things so it’s a pathetic fail. Sorry
    Mine verges to the latter not the former.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,003
    Sandpit said:

    I can up that, I’ve actually shaken hands with all of East 17. :D

    I was working at their concert as a volunteer charity collector back in the university RAG days, and we got given passes to the afterparty. It all got quite messy with a free bar until well after midnight.
    Kudos for admitting that
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    No.
    Did you just say No, when you meant to say Yes?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,902

    CHIPS Act in the US?

    EDIT: It's an interesting piece of game theory.

    1) Current State
    a) Taiwan is the only source of high end microchips (some of)
    b) If the Chinese invade, they plan to destroy the capability
    c) Either this succeeds causing a hi-tech recession in every country, or China gets control and gets to dictate to other countries as it pleases

    2) CHIPS act
    a) -
    b) -
    c) If the destruction succeeds, the US is the sole supplier of theses chips. They can invoke devastating sanctions on China or anyone who allow smuggling on the chips to China. If the destruction doesn't succeed, then China can't use the chip supply to control international reaction.
    They aren't, as S Korea has advanced fabs, too.
    And US manufacturing is technically still quite some way behind Taiwan (and S Korea).

    But it's certainly a very sensible mitigation.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,520
    boulay said:

    I trod on Bergerac”s foot at the airport. He was very grumpy with me about it. I was 10.
    He's my mum's idea of what a man should look like.
  • Sandpit said:

    Did you just say No, when you meant to say Yes?
    Yes.

    The grooming story is still off limits.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    malcolmg said:

    Kudos for admitting that
    It’s not as if I bought tickets, and what 1990s student doesn’t turn down a free bar in exchange for a couple of hours shaking a collecting tin?
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,369
    Leon said:

    No, you don’t understand. It’s either got to be a genuinely impressive “I did this with them”” anecdote - eg “I did coke with Pope John Paul the Second in a Spoons in Walsall in 1981” OR it’s got to be so pathetically feeble it’s funny

    Look at @Cookie. He delivered pizza to Northern Uproar in the mid 90s, that’s how to do it

    Your story is neither of these things so it’s a pathetic fail. Sorry
    I had a wee next to Jarvis Cocker in the gents toilet at Watord Gap services.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    kinabalu said:

    He's my mum's idea of what a man should look like.
    I cannot believe they are so devoid of original ideas in the world of TV that they are re-making Bergerac

    Cannot be as shit as the new Van Der Valk's with Marc Warren though.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,195
    A revealing interview (20 minutes) with Andrew Hale, a Senior Policy Analyst from the Heritage Foundation on GB News. It is about UK relations with a Trump administration.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCT6hH9UQaU

    What it reveals will depend on your viewpoint !
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,051
    kinabalu said:

    He's my mum's idea of what a man should look like.
    Really really long nose and ginormous elaborate hat?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295

    I had a wee next to Jarvis Cocker in the gents toilet at Watord Gap services.
    He’s too famous for Lame to Claim but the anecdote isn’t good enough for “Coke with the Pope”

    Soz Boz
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,127
    boulay said:

    I trod on Bergerac”s foot at the airport. He was very grumpy with me about it. I was 10.
    Boringly I think I’ve recounted this before, but hey ho. I was sick on Sir Peter Scott on the flight back from Sudan, he was also very grumpy about it. One degree of separation from dissing Scott of the Antarctic I guess.

    Plus I have some of the same DNA as the most famous man in the world coursing through my veins, so suck on that as Donald might say.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,003
    Sandpit said:

    It’s not as if I bought tickets, and what 1990s student doesn’t turn down a free bar in exchange for a couple of hours shaking a collecting tin?
    Free bar is acceptable, you could have made up a real band though
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,520
    Leon said:

    No, you don’t understand. It’s either got to be a genuinely impressive “I did this with them”” anecdote - eg “I did coke with Pope John Paul the Second in a Spoons in Walsall in 1981” OR it’s got to be so pathetically feeble it’s funny

    Look at @Cookie. He delivered pizza to Northern Uproar in the mid 90s, that’s how to do it

    Your story is neither of these things so it’s a pathetic fail. Sorry
    Where would me knowing the drummer in T'Pau fit in?

    Knowing him, note, not just meeting him.
  • Sky reporting anti - ceasefire demonstrations in Israel

    It makes one despair
  • Boringly I think I’ve recounted this before, but hey ho. I was sick on Sir Peter Scott on the flight back from Sudan, he was also very grumpy about it. One degree of separation from dissing Scott of the Antarctic I guess.

    Plus I have some of the same DNA as the most famous man in the world coursing through my veins, so suck on that as Donald might say.
    You’re related to Brian Blessed?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,084

    Sky reporting anti - ceasefire demonstrations in Israel

    It makes one despair

    Is Netanyahu at the front of the line ?
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 799
    boulay said:

    I trod on Bergerac”s foot at the airport. He was very grumpy with me about it. I was 10.
    I accidentally attended Jeremy Thorpe's 80th birthday party. I followed an acquaintance into a room and got caught up in a receiving line to say happy birthday to the poor old boy. I then helped revive a very glamorous looking Chinese woman who was on the arm of someone in a Russian admiral's uniform. He presented Jeremy with a bottle of vodka then his 'companion' feinted. It was a very strange occasion.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,414
    edited January 16
    Stereodog said:

    I accidentally attended Jeremy Thorpe's 80th birthday party. I followed an acquaintance into a room and got caught up in a receiving line to say happy birthday to the poor old boy. I then helped revive a very glamorous looking Chinese woman who was on the arm of someone in a Russian admiral's uniform. He presented Jeremy with a bottle of vodka then his 'companion' feinted. It was a very strange occasion.
    Were any dogs present?
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,541
    edited January 16

    Boringly I think I’ve recounted this before, but hey ho. I was sick on Sir Peter Scott on the flight back from Sudan, he was also very grumpy about it. One degree of separation from dissing Scott of the Antarctic I guess.

    Plus I have some of the same DNA as the most famous man in the world coursing through my veins, so suck on that as Donald might say.
    Not sure a scion of Jesus of Nazareth should be telling people to "suck on that".
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Leon said:

    I can report that China totally dominates the new car market here in junta-ruled south central Myanmar. Probably not a massive market, in the wider scheme, but interesting

    20, 40 , 60 years ago it must have been very different, they might even have driven new British cars, at one point

    Leon said:

    I can report that China totally dominates the new car market here in junta-ruled south central Myanmar. Probably not a massive market, in the wider scheme, but interesting

    20, 40 , 60 years ago it must have been very different, they might even have driven new British cars, at one point

    If it’s anything like the sandpit, the difference in THREE years is blindingly obvious. China exported almost no cars until 2021, yet they now seem to be 20% of the cars on the roads.
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 799

    Were any dogs present?
    You mean to present an arrest warrant or something?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,084
    Taz said:

    I cannot believe they are so devoid of original ideas in the world of TV that they are re-making Bergerac

    Cannot be as shit as the new Van Der Valk's with Marc Warren though.
    Maybe they will redo Columbo in a few years. Millions of kids are now familiar with his catchphrase via Alexander Armstrong.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,520
    boulay said:

    Really really long nose and ginormous elaborate hat?
    Well she's never seen him off duty.
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,369
    Leon said:

    He’s too famous for Lame to Claim but the anecdote isn’t good enough for “Coke with the Pope”

    Soz Boz
    I have done community theatre with a member of Four Poofs and a Piano.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    kinabalu said:

    Where would me knowing the drummer in T'Pau fit in?

    Knowing him, note, not just meeting him.
    B+, not bad at all
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,541
    edited January 16

    I have done community theatre with a member of Four Poofs and a Piano.
    What a euphemism. Good Lord.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,084
    Sandpit said:

    If it’s anything like the sandpit, the difference in THREE years is blindingly obvious. China exported almost no cars until 2021, yet they now seem to be 20% of the cars on the roads.
    2022:

    https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3908276,-1.4487944,3a,75y,308.92h,80.78t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sp3_-f375W5_qrr4xk4mPig!2e0!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=9.218509459095614&panoid=p3_-f375W5_qrr4xk4mPig&yaw=308.92189748995406!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDExMC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

    2024:

    https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3908336,-1.4487785,3a,75y,323.5h,72.22t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1swvzcvlrKUCUb81Ft6hkU1w!2e0!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=17.78390245122185&panoid=wvzcvlrKUCUb81Ft6hkU1w&yaw=323.50233086498173!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDExMC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,220
    MattW said:

    I've been off Parris since 2007, when he wrote a poisonous Christmas column about stringing piano wire at neck height across cycle paths (Rod Liddle did something similar more recently). Then pretended it was a joke (as they always do) to avoid looking himself in the mirror.

    At the time (as now) it was a practice that happened occasionally, causing serious injury for some.

    https://archive.is/20240630164937/https://www.thetimes.com/article/whats-smug-and-deserves-to-be-decapitated-5k877kjgfpk
    Apart from the other things wrong with it, this part is bizarre "lodged high in hedgerows at cyclist level. Forgive me, but pedestrians were not the culprits here". What does he think modern cyclists use, penny farthings? Cyclists, particularly road ones, don't have their hands substantially higher than pedestrians.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,876
    So. Should Biden or Trump be blamed for this non ceasefire?
  • OnlyLivingBoyOnlyLivingBoy Posts: 16,369

    Were any dogs present?
    Apart from Stereodog themselves?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    Stereodog said:

    I accidentally attended Jeremy Thorpe's 80th birthday party. I followed an acquaintance into a room and got caught up in a receiving line to say happy birthday to the poor old boy. I then helped revive a very glamorous looking Chinese woman who was on the arm of someone in a Russian admiral's uniform. He presented Jeremy with a bottle of vodka then his 'companion' feinted. It was a very strange occasion.
    “I accidentally attended Jeremy Thorpe's 80th birthday party” is top notch. PB on form tonight
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,220
    edited January 16
    dixiedean said:

    So. Should Biden or Trump be blamed for this non ceasefire?

    I thought we blamed everything on Starmer nowadays?
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,220
    Taz said:

    I have been in the room at Rudding Park where Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton stayed when they visited Tony Blair up in Sedgefield.

    They stayed separately to each other as the visits were at different times.

    The status of their nocturnal activities, Nelson with the delightful Winnie and Bill with Hillary, is not known or documented in the room.
    Might not have been Hillary :wink:
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,084
    Leon said:

    “I was also Tony Guoga on his laptop” might be one of my favourite PB lines of the post-Covid era
    He had a bet on South Africa in their ODI against Pakistan that day too.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,902
    Ministers pledge record £410m to support UK nuclear fusion energy
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/16/ministers-pledge-record-410m-to-support-uk-nuclear-fusion-energy

    It's largely for a spherical tokamak design, so probably won't work, but probably still a good investment in the necessary engineering capability.
    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plan-for-change-to-deliver-jobs-and-growth-in-uk-leading-fusion-industry
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,017
    dixiedean said:

    So. Should Biden or Trump be blamed for this non ceasefire?

    The opposite of whoever one gave credit to yesterday of course!
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    My Lame to Claim is that I helped “punk poet” John Cooper Clarke back-comb his hair in a club toilet in Hereford in about 1982

    *sits backs, smugly*
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,955
    MattW said:

    A revealing interview (20 minutes) with Andrew Hale, a Senior Policy Analyst from the Heritage Foundation on GB News. It is about UK relations with a Trump administration.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCT6hH9UQaU

    What it reveals will depend on your viewpoint !

    What it reveals is that he's had so much badly-administered Botox he cannot move one of his eyebrows.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,220
    Stereodog said:

    I accidentally attended Jeremy Thorpe's 80th birthday party. I followed an acquaintance into a room and got caught up in a receiving line to say happy birthday to the poor old boy. I then helped revive a very glamorous looking Chinese woman who was on the arm of someone in a Russian admiral's uniform. He presented Jeremy with a bottle of vodka then his 'companion' feinted. It was a very strange occasion.
    Feinted? You mean like moved left then dodged right in case Thorpe tried to shoot her? :tongue:
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,051
    Taz said:

    I cannot believe they are so devoid of original ideas in the world of TV that they are re-making Bergerac

    Cannot be as shit as the new Van Der Valk's with Marc Warren though.
    My brother was an extra in an episode of Bergerac but I’m not including this in the current discussion as we aren’t talking about major links with celebs, just low level stuff.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,551
    I once held a torch so that Sharleen Spiteri could see to sign an autograph for somebody else
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Nigelb said:

    Ministers pledge record £410m to support UK nuclear fusion energy
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/16/ministers-pledge-record-410m-to-support-uk-nuclear-fusion-energy

    It's largely for a spherical tokamak design, so probably won't work, but probably still a good investment in the necessary engineering capability.
    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plan-for-change-to-deliver-jobs-and-growth-in-uk-leading-fusion-industry

    Yet still nothing for the Rolls Royce SMR project?
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    Pulpstar said:

    Maybe they will redo Columbo in a few years. Millions of kids are now familiar with his catchphrase via Alexander Armstrong.
    They'll probably cast someone like Will Mellor to play him.
  • Nigelb said:

    Ministers pledge record £410m to support UK nuclear fusion energy
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/16/ministers-pledge-record-410m-to-support-uk-nuclear-fusion-energy

    It's largely for a spherical tokamak design, so probably won't work, but probably still a good investment in the necessary engineering capability.
    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plan-for-change-to-deliver-jobs-and-growth-in-uk-leading-fusion-industry

    Carbon Capture, now Cold Fusion, jeez these guys truly are gullible. Oh but cold fusion is just around the corner, yeah, the same corner it was just around 40 years ago, the corner between reality and imagination.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    boulay said:

    My brother was an extra in an episode of Bergerac but I’m not including this in the current discussion as we aren’t talking about major links with celebs, just low level stuff.
    I used to exchange comments on Twitter about old TV with Reece Dinsdale, now flounced to Bluesky but a nice chap, about his Episode of Bergerac "Tennis Racket" where he played a precocious McEnroeesque British Tennis prodigy.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,955
    MattW said:

    A revealing interview (20 minutes) with Andrew Hale, a Senior Policy Analyst from the Heritage Foundation on GB News. It is about UK relations with a Trump administration.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCT6hH9UQaU

    What it reveals will depend on your viewpoint !

    Jeez, that's worrying. Trump is a thin-skinned king with a long memory and things like sending activists to help Kamala will be punished in a painful manner. So they are going to threaten the UK with tariffs and if profound apologies and policy changes do not result, they will turn the screws on us.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,051
    Taz said:

    I used to exchange comments on Twitter about old TV with Reece Dinsdale, now flounced to Bluesky but a nice chap, about his Episode of Bergerac "Tennis Racket" where he played a precocious McEnroeesque British Tennis prodigy.
    That was the one - my brother was a ball boy. Made a nice change for him as he was usually called a ball bag.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,414
    edited January 16
    A friend’s father once told Princess Anne to ‘fuck off out of here’.

    He didn’t realise it was her, she had some unruly dogs attacking other dogs/harassing other animals in the countryside somewhere, one of the dogs was his so he was quite het up.
  • Daveyboy1961Daveyboy1961 Posts: 4,430
    dixiedean said:

    So. Should Biden or Trump be blamed for this non ceasefire?

    It would help the negotiation if Israel stopped killing Palestinians.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295
    viewcode said:

    Jeez, that's worrying. Trump is a thin-skinned king with a long memory and things like sending activists to help Kamala will be punished in a painful manner. So they are going to threaten the UK with tariffs and if profound apologies and policy changes do not result, they will turn the screws on us.
    You would have thought this might have occurred to Starmer and Labour before they did what they did. “What happens if Harris LOSES and we are left with a vengeful President Trump? Is it worth the potential grief for the UK, maybe we should hang back and not send 100 activists to help the Dems? It won’t make any difference to her chances either way”

    They are clueless flailing childish idiots. We are governed, without exaggeration, by morons who can’t think more than 10 minutes ahead
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,551
    Leon said:

    We are governed, without exaggeration, by morons who can’t think more than 10 minutes ahead

    A vast improvement on the morons who came before
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,140
    Leon said:

    You would have thought this might have occurred to Starmer and Labour before they did what they did. “What happens if Harris LOSES and we are left with a vengeful President Trump? Is it worth the potential grief for the UK, maybe we should hang back and not send 100 activists to help the Dems? It won’t make any difference to her chances either way”

    They are clueless flailing childish idiots. We are governed, without exaggeration, by morons who can’t think more than 10 minutes ahead
    They were just simply hoping that he wouldn't win, like lots of people. I got it wrong too with my prediction.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    boulay said:

    That was the one - my brother was a ball boy. Made a nice change for him as he was usually called a ball bag.
    Bloody hell. What a coincidence. There were around 100 episodes of the original run.
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 799
    Selebian said:

    Feinted? You mean like moved left then dodged right in case Thorpe tried to shoot her? :tongue:
    Bah! That's a good anecdote spoilt with clumsy spelling. I of course meant fainted.
  • theProletheProle Posts: 1,297
    Leon said:

    My Lame to Claim is that I helped “punk poet” John Cooper Clarke back-comb his hair in a club toilet in Hereford in about 1982

    *sits backs, smugly*

    My naff random celeb...

    I was once fireman on a heritage railway, went inside to uncouple us off our train, climbed back into the cab to find no driver and instead some random bird in there. Was about to utter some remark along the lines of "who are you and what on earth are you doing on my engine uninvited" when the penny dropped that there had been some fuss made about Lucy Worsley doing some sort of photos op that day...
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 799
    Leon said:

    “I accidentally attended Jeremy Thorpe's 80th birthday party” is top notch. PB on form tonight
    Thank you. It's better than my only other anecdote which is starring in an episode of Channel 4's Car Booty against my will.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    edited January 16
    Leon said:

    You would have thought this might have occurred to Starmer and Labour before they did what they did. “What happens if Harris LOSES and we are left with a vengeful President Trump? Is it worth the potential grief for the UK, maybe we should hang back and not send 100 activists to help the Dems? It won’t make any difference to her chances either way”

    They are clueless flailing childish idiots. We are governed, without exaggeration, by morons who can’t think more than 10 minutes ahead
    Utter morons and when labour complain about Musk interefering in UK politics this gets thrown back at them,.

    At least people from the other parties who went over to campaign for the Hapless Harris, like Robert Buckland former Tory Minister, went as individuals not through an organised group.

  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 34,140
    Who's the most "famous" person you've met? Question of the day on PB.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,840

    Carbon Capture, now Cold Fusion, jeez these guys truly are gullible. Oh but cold fusion is just around the corner, yeah, the same corner it was just around 40 years ago, the corner between reality and imagination.
    Wrong

    This is hot fusion - billions of degrees. ITER, which will probably achieve breakeven, is building now.

    Cold Fusion is about equivalent to using crystals to improve your aura.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,617
    I saw Sophie Okonedo in (the foyer of) the National Theatre yesterday, ie not on stage at eg the Lyttleton where you might expect to see her, so I win if we time-weight our experiences.
  • HYUFD said:

    Only because of immigration, our birthrate is well below replacement level.

    Cut immigration further and per capita it will be growing too
    It doesn't work that way, cut immigration and you cut all the production and demand that those migrants do.

    So we'd probably be officially in recession were it not for migration, but evading a recession because of a per capita decline isn't replacing the fact that it's a decline either way.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,617
    edited January 16
    Andy_JS said:

    Who's the most "famous" person you've met? Question of the day on PB.

    Who are (or were in recent living memory) the top ten most famous people on the planet.
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,877
    edited January 16
    My Dad complained about the racket coming from the club under his office in Matthew Street, Liverpool.

    There was a really crap pop band practicing for their evening gig.
  • Pulpstar said:

    Near Barty's patch.
    Donkey with a red rosette territory.

    If it's not a ridiculously easy Lab hold then we could be seeing a change.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,781

    A friend’s father once told Princess Anne to ‘fuck off out of here’.

    He didn’t realise it was her, she had some unruly dogs attacking other dogs/harassing other animals in the countryside somewhere, one of the dogs was his so he was quite het up.

    But the question we all need to know is whether Princess Anne did indeed "fuck off" ?
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,342

    Were any dogs present?
    https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=rex+barker+jeremy+thorpe+is+innocent&mid=BBAF816E93864D012078BBAF816E93864D012078&mcid=A9E9A32528BE482DA9420895DBDA3742&FORM=VIRE
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,934
    Andy_JS said:

    Who's the most "famous" person you've met? Question of the day on PB.

    Not met him directly, however, back on the six stages of Kevin Bacon, a school friend of mine's dad was a Deputy Head at Aylestone school at the time I believe the world famous author Sean Thomas was there.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,295

    My Dad complained about the racket coming from the club under his office in Matthew Street, Liverpool.

    There was a really crap pop band practicing for their evening gig.

    if that was them that is excellent
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,744
    My dad, in his British Rail days, escorted Harold Wilson on a trip from London to Liverpool.
    I, by contrast, have met Lloyd Russell-Moyle.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    Donkey with a red rosette territory.

    If it's not a ridiculously easy Lab hold then we could be seeing a change.
    Potential Reform target?
  • carnforthcarnforth Posts: 5,541

    Donkey with a red rosette territory.

    If it's not a ridiculously easy Lab hold then we could be seeing a change.
    Nothing's an easy hold in a low turnout by-election.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,617
    edited January 16

    A friend’s father once told Princess Anne to ‘fuck off out of here’.

    He didn’t realise it was her, she had some unruly dogs attacking other dogs/harassing other animals in the countryside somewhere, one of the dogs was his so he was quite het up.

    Talking about my activities last night (ooh er missus) I eventually went to see 10 Nights at the Riverside which was excellent. You keep telling us what a good Muslim boy you are I think you would find it super entertaining and interesting.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,551
    kinabalu said:

    Where would me knowing the drummer in T'Pau fit in?

    Knowing him, note, not just meeting him.

    I know a guy who knows the drummer from Iron Maiden
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 9,220
    edited January 16

    Carbon Capture, now Cold Fusion, jeez these guys truly are gullible. Oh but cold fusion is just around the corner, yeah, the same corner it was just around 40 years ago, the corner between reality and imagination.
    Hot fusion.

    Don't know the detail, but I'm not sure where £410m is going to get us with tokamak approaches, unless there's something quite new to explore (presumably there is - it's many billions otherwise to do anything at useful scale). The alternative approaches, targets hit with lasers etc, would seem more appropriate for a few hundred million of development money.

    On today's topic, pathetic claims to fame - I've been both to JET and inside the AWE without working at either.

    On other pathetic claims to fame, I once knocked over Brandon Flowers' drink at a Killers gig. Well, it was actually a British Sea Power gig, with Killers as the support act, before they were famous. Bought him a replacement. He took it well.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,955
    viewcode said:

    Jeez, that's worrying. Trump is a thin-skinned king with a long memory and things like sending activists to help Kamala will be punished in a painful manner. So they are going to threaten the UK with tariffs and if profound apologies and policy changes do not result, they will turn the screws on us.
    I've tried to get this AI summarised but the transcript is over 3,000 words. Suffice to say that Trump will use whatever weapon is at his disposal to advance goals far outside the usual foreign policy goals and those will include tariffs on the UK to force changes in UK domestic policy.
  • Sean_FSean_F Posts: 38,342
    Andy_JS said:

    Who's the most "famous" person you've met? Question of the day on PB.

    Probably Margaret Thatcher.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 43,617
    Leon said:

    if that was them that is excellent
    Yes. My seeing U2 support the Lemon Kittens in a pub in London back in the day pales into insignificance.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    edited January 16
    Andy_JS said:

    Who's the most "famous" person you've met? Question of the day on PB.

    Deffo one for Mid Morning Matters.
    .
    Scott_xP said:

    I know a guy who knows the drummer from Iron Maiden
    Someone I work with is related to the wife of Burt Reynolds.
  • GIN1138 said:

    But the question we all need to know is whether Princess Anne did indeed "fuck off" ?
    She did.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    TOPPING said:

    Yes. My seeing U2 support the Lemon Kittens in a pub in London back in the day pales into insignificance.
    My watching a chap called Rowan Atkinson in some student Fringe production at the Edinburgh Festival before it got far too big (the Fringe I mean). About 1978?
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,198
    My sister was canvassed by Jess Phillips in the general election who was not happy when she politely, but firmly, asked her to go away as she was busy trying to sort out the dogs.


  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,414
    edited January 16
    Andy_JS said:

    Who's the most "famous" person you've met? Question of the day on PB.

    Dependent on my mood,

    David Cameron, The Queen, Jurgen Klopp, and The Roling Stones.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 23,955
    Leon said:

    You would have thought this might have occurred to Starmer and Labour before they did what they did. “What happens if Harris LOSES and we are left with a vengeful President Trump? Is it worth the potential grief for the UK, maybe we should hang back and not send 100 activists to help the Dems? It won’t make any difference to her chances either way”

    They are clueless flailing childish idiots. We are governed, without exaggeration, by morons who can’t think more than 10 minutes ahead
    A point the interviewee made with some force. It occurs to me that there has been a "phony war" approach to Trump: that we could just insult him and giggle with impunity. Those days are rapidly drawing to a close and we have to work out what to do when Trump kicks the shit out of us. I don't think Starmer can cope. All Badenoch will do is give a stupid grin and agree with whatever Trump says. Farage can cope because he's an Anglosphere patriot and doesn't mind if Trump kicks UK because Farage's loyalty lies elsewhere. So all the signs are not good really... :(
This discussion has been closed.