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You have to love the way Kezia Dugdale's own Dad is calling her out on Twitter

Pulpstar said:

I'd love it if McSmear has flushed Murphy's seat down the toilet, there'd be some poetic justice in that.

It's one of those things.

The "British" idea of fair play is not British at all. Australia and Canada are Scottish countries, heavily influenced by their Scottish immigrant past and that's where the idea of the "fair go" is so strong. Fair play is a Scottish concept because Scotland had Universal Education 200 years before England, it had an egalitarian society at least 100 years before England, it's why the Industrial Revolution was born in Scotland (albeit with English Inherited Wealth, e.g, Watt and Boulton).

When you realise this, when you understand this, it tells you why McTernan failed in Australia, it tells you why McTernan fails in Scotland. He has no idea what his country (which is foreign to him) stands for.

"Oor Nicki" won't be smeared. We like her. Even her opponents like her. The more smears Westminster tries, the worse it will get for them. The population of Scotland is too committed to the "fair go", too immune to the smear and too damn switched on to politics after last year to let any of this bother us.

HYUFD said:

TSE Rob D Ashcroft had Mundell tied

You mean there's hope??

Pulpstar said:

You have to love the way Kezia Dugdale's own Dad is calling her out on Twitter

Jeff Dugdale won the Internet yesterday.

Dair said:

anotherDave said:

Dair said:

HYUFD said:

Dair No if it is 45% that is pretty much what SNP have been polling for months, and, surprise surprise, exactly the level of Yes support in the referendum, unionist parties need to start voting tactically

Non politics/betting question.

I've often wondered about reading the Flashman novels. Are they any good - I mean do they stand up and are readable today or are they much like watching a Confessions Of... movie?

As a scot you should start with the McAuslan stories, rather than Flashman.

From a skim of Wiki (and only a skim) it sounds like it's tone would be like a sequel to Second From Last in the Sack Race?

I met David Nobbs once in a pub near Harrogate.

notme said:

Dair said:

Pulpstar said:

I'd love it if McSmear has flushed Murphy's seat down the toilet, there'd be some poetic justice in that.

It's one of those things.

The "British" idea of fair play is not British at all. Australia and Canada are Scottish countries, heavily influenced by their Scottish immigrant past and that's where the idea of the "fair go" is so strong. Fair play is a Scottish concept because Scotland had Universal Education 200 years before England, it had an egalitarian society at least 100 years before England, it's why the Industrial Revolution was born in Scotland (albeit with English Inherited Wealth, e.g, Watt and Boulton).

When you realise this, when you understand this, it tells you why McTernan failed in Australia, it tells you why McTernan fails in Scotland. He has no idea what his country (which is foreign to him) stands for.

"Oor Nicki" won't be smeared. We like her. Even her opponents like her. The more smears Westminster tries, the worse it will get for them. The population of Scotland is too committed to the "fair go", too immune to the smear and too damn switched on to politics after last year to let any of this bother us.

The industrial revolution was 'born' in Scotland?

Along with the Scottish space programme?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4CGwSqrGq8

Or the Monty Python sketch about aliens landing on earth to make a Scot win Wimbledon - this predates Andy Murray by over 40 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVbb6pZLfzU

HurstLlama said:

Dair said:

HurstLlama said:

@Dair,

"I've often wondered about reading the Flashman novels. Are they any good - I mean do they stand up and are readable today or are they much like watching a Confessions Of... movie?"

Yes, they are very good and they stand the test of time and are best read in chronological order rather than the order they were published. However, judging from your posts on here I don't think you would enjoy them.

I realised after I posted that I'd asked the wrong acronym, thanks for the response.

My expectation is it would be Discworldy if good - satire on a non-present setting, I would enjoy that. Is that what I should expect?

No. They are the memoirs of a Victorian English military hero and frontier roughneck who just happens to be an lecherous poltroon who will shag anything in a skirt and run from any fight. The books are definitely not a satire and I think you would find the protagonists views and use of language unpleasant.

Didn't Sean Bean do the TV show?

Tim_B said:

HurstLlama said:

Dair said:

HurstLlama said:

@Dair,

"I've often wondered about reading the Flashman novels. Are they any good - I mean do they stand up and are readable today or are they much like watching a Confessions Of... movie?"

Yes, they are very good and they stand the test of time and are best read in chronological order rather than the order they were published. However, judging from your posts on here I don't think you would enjoy them.

I realised after I posted that I'd asked the wrong acronym, thanks for the response.

My expectation is it would be Discworldy if good - satire on a non-present setting, I would enjoy that. Is that what I should expect?

No. They are the memoirs of a Victorian English military hero and frontier roughneck who just happens to be an lecherous poltroon who will shag anything in a skirt and run from any fight. The books are definitely not a satire and I think you would find the protagonists views and use of language unpleasant.

Didn't Sean Bean do the TV show?

Best of my knowledge, Mr B, Flashman has never been televised but then, aside from some children's programmes when my son was small, I haven't watched TV in decades so I could be wrong.

Tim_B said:

Dair said:

anotherDave said:

Dair said:

HYUFD said:

Dair No if it is 45% that is pretty much what SNP have been polling for months, and, surprise surprise, exactly the level of Yes support in the referendum, unionist parties need to start voting tactically

Non politics/betting question.

I've often wondered about reading the Flashman novels. Are they any good - I mean do they stand up and are readable today or are they much like watching a Confessions Of... movie?

As a scot you should start with the McAuslan stories, rather than Flashman.

From a skim of Wiki (and only a skim) it sounds like it's tone would be like a sequel to Second From Last in the Sack Race?

I met David Nobbs once in a pub near Harrogate.

Weird thing is I never enjoyed Reggie Perrin but Second From Last which I only ever heard as a Radio Play stayed with me, pretty much to this day (and made the first Robin Hobb trilogy even more moving). I guess I was just the right age to really enjoy Second From Last and when I read the Assassin Trilogy it hit a memory button.

When I first heard Second From Last, I had no idea it was the same guy behind Reggie Perrin. Never knew it till a few years ago.

Tim_B said:

Or the Monty Python sketch about aliens landing on earth to make a Scot win Wimbledon - this predates Andy Murray by over 40 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVbb6pZLfzU

That was just awful.

I think it made Ain't Half Hot Mum look racially acceptable.

HurstLlama said:

Dair said:

HurstLlama said:

@Dair,

"I've often wondered about reading the Flashman novels. Are they any good - I mean do they stand up and are readable today or are they much like watching a Confessions Of... movie?"

Yes, they are very good and they stand the test of time and are best read in chronological order rather than the order they were published. However, judging from your posts on here I don't think you would enjoy them.

I realised after I posted that I'd asked the wrong acronym, thanks for the response.

My expectation is it would be Discworldy if good - satire on a non-present setting, I would enjoy that. Is that what I should expect?

No. They are the memoirs of a Victorian English military hero and frontier roughneck who just happens to be an lecherous poltroon who will shag anything in a skirt and run from any fight. The books are definitely not a satire and I think you would find the protagonists views and use of language unpleasant.

Weird, I'd always been told Flashman was a satire. Oh well.

Dair said:

Tim_B said:

Dair said:

anotherDave said:

Dair said:

HYUFD said:

Dair No if it is 45% that is pretty much what SNP have been polling for months, and, surprise surprise, exactly the level of Yes support in the referendum, unionist parties need to start voting tactically

Non politics/betting question.

I've often wondered about reading the Flashman novels. Are they any good - I mean do they stand up and are readable today or are they much like watching a Confessions Of... movie?

As a scot you should start with the McAuslan stories, rather than Flashman.

From a skim of Wiki (and only a skim) it sounds like it's tone would be like a sequel to Second From Last in the Sack Race?

I met David Nobbs once in a pub near Harrogate.

Weird thing is I never enjoyed Reggie Perrin but Second From Last which I only ever heard as a Radio Play stayed with me, pretty much to this day (and made the first Robin Hobb trilogy even more moving). I guess I was just the right age to really enjoy Second From Last and when I read the Assassin Trilogy it hit a memory button.

When I first heard Second From Last, I had no idea it was the same guy behind Reggie Perrin. Never knew it till a few years ago.

I actually have "The Complete Pratt" on the table here.

Reggie Perrin was of it's time - the mid 70s - and was about a mid-life crisis and the pointlessness of many jobs in the corporate world. It also requires a particular sense of humor. My wife - a Scot - was not fond of it either. Leonard Rossiter was perfect in the role.

I have all the books and dvds. When it came out, us commuters into London would say to each other lines like "broken signal box at Clapham junction" or whatever had been on the show the previous night.

My favorite was on the episode involving a new line of 'exotic ice creams' which was "I like to stroke my nipple with a strawberry and lychee ripple". Alternatively when being shown around a house and seeing the dining room "if this isn't an intimate and surprisingly spacious setting for formal and informal dining, I'm the Queen of Sheba's surprisingly spacious left tit."

Tim_B said:

I actually have "The Complete Pratt" on the table here.

Reggie Perrin was of it's time - the mid 70s - and was about a mid-life crisis and the pointlessness of many jobs in the corporate world. It also requires a particular sense of humor. My wife - a Scot - was not fond of it either. Leonard Rossiter was perfect in the role.

I have all the books and dvds. When it came out, us commuters into London would say to each other lines like "broken signal box at Clapham junction" or whatever had been on the show the previous night.

My favorite was on the episode involving a new line of 'exotic ice creams' which was "I like to stroke my nipple with a strawberry and lychee ripple". Alternatively when being shown around a house and seeing the dining room "if this isn't an intimate and surprisingly spacious setting for formal and informal dining, I'm the Queen of Sheba's surprisingly spacious left tit."

There's almost certianly a difference between the Englsih and Scottish sense of humour. No-one (well tere are one or two) in Scotland thinks that Morcambe and Wise are funny. I suspect Vic and Bob are much more appreciated in Scotland.

I've now watched all three parts of that Monty Python link above. It's just horrible, regardless of the anti-Scottish racism, the misogyny is just unbelievable. I realise it's the 70s but, wow, that's just unbelievable. The woman was literally a prop to be felt up.

As for Second From Last and The Complete Pratt, you've reminded me there are sequels to it. My main concern is that a cherished childhood memory might be... spoiled. I think I should risk it and try them despite the risks.

Dair said:

Tim_B said:

I actually have "The Complete Pratt" on the table here.

Reggie Perrin was of it's time - the mid 70s - and was about a mid-life crisis and the pointlessness of many jobs in the corporate world. It also requires a particular sense of humor. My wife - a Scot - was not fond of it either. Leonard Rossiter was perfect in the role.

I have all the books and dvds. When it came out, us commuters into London would say to each other lines like "broken signal box at Clapham junction" or whatever had been on the show the previous night.

My favorite was on the episode involving a new line of 'exotic ice creams' which was "I like to stroke my nipple with a strawberry and lychee ripple". Alternatively when being shown around a house and seeing the dining room "if this isn't an intimate and surprisingly spacious setting for formal and informal dining, I'm the Queen of Sheba's surprisingly spacious left tit."

There's almost certianly a difference between the Englsih and Scottish sense of humour. No-one (well tere are one or two) in Scotland thinks that Morcambe and Wise are funny. I suspect Vic and Bob are much more appreciated in Scotland.

I've now watched all three parts of that Monty Python link above. It's just horrible, regardless of the anti-Scottish racism, the misogyny is just unbelievable. I realise it's the 70s but, wow, that's just unbelievable. The woman was literally a prop to be felt up.

As for Second From Last and The Complete Pratt, you've reminded me there are sequels to it. My main concern is that a cherished childhood memory might be... spoiled. I think I should risk it and try them despite the risks.

I am a Yorkshireman, who lived for several years in London, so the whole Nobbs canon works for me.

The Python clip was (I think) '68 or '69. There was no political correctness then, and Python was known for being edgy. They even had a sketch about mobsters visiting an army base to demand protection money for not damaging tanks etc.

Where I live (Atlanta GA) 'racism' is a highly charged word, so please pardon my pedantry - English and Scots are the same race.

Also remember that at the time talking about "Scottish tennis players" would raise a smile in conversation.

This week I was in my favorite watering hole for lunch and Andy Murray was playing in a match on TV.

The owner of the restaurant, a friend, asked "How does this work? If he wins he's British, if he loses he's Scottish?" My wife let loose a few choice words. The complexities of the Anglo-Scottish relationship are about as well known as the Anglo-French one.

Go for it and read the Pratt trilogy!

dugarbandier said:

Tim_B said:

Where I live (Atlanta GA) 'racism' is a highly charged word, so please pardon my pedantry - English and Scots are the same race.

race is about as definable as intelligence. i.e. not very.

Funnily enough I filled in some details on a demographic survey for some tools I was using online (originating in Arizona USA) and I could choose between "white, hispanic" and "white, including Arabic" which was a new one on me!

Yes, in this country, 'race' is a flexible term.

dugarbandier said:

Tim_B said:

dugarbandier said:

Tim_B said:

Where I live (Atlanta GA) 'racism' is a highly charged word, so please pardon my pedantry - English and Scots are the same race.

race is about as definable as intelligence. i.e. not very.

Funnily enough I filled in some details on a demographic survey for some tools I was using online (originating in Arizona USA) and I could choose between "white, hispanic" and "white, including Arabic" which was a new one on me!

Yes, in this country, 'race' is a flexible term.

I'm hoping my membership of the Arabic nation will stand me in good stead in the coming global caliphate

Is that Arabic - white, Arabic - African American, or Arabic - American Indian?