Howdy, Stranger!

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

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Tonight’s local by-elections saw

2»

Comments

  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,321
    edited March 2016
    SeanT said:

    Ken Clarke on Newsnight:

    "I do know South Wales well, I often drive past Port Talbot"

    I OFTEN DRIVE PAST PORT TALBOT

    A decent Labour party would put that on General Election posters. Just the most ghastly error. Appallingly stupid.

    It does give away something about him, but not what you think.

    Wales is poorly served by motorways, and there's only one in South Wales: the M4. It hugs the coastline, going west thru Newport and Cardiff and ends at Swansea. The Valleys are north of the M4, the coastline is south. Port Talbot has a river, is coastal, close to a harbour and has very good train and motorway access: coal, fresh water, transport - let's build a steel works. Well, that's how it used to work

    The M4 runs thru Port Talbot like a bolt thru a nut, and if you do it by night it used to be spectacular: the works run 24/7 so there's huge clouds of steam, pipeworks black in the night, actinic glare from the lights: you are contractually obliged to hum the Blade Runner music and yes, Terry Gilliam did conceive "Brazil" whilst sitting on a coal-blackened beach there.

    These days...not so much.

    By driving past Port Talbot he's telling you he's *visiting*: you drive to visit friends or colleagues (Gower is a hyper-marginal Con seat), then when you've visited, you drive back. He knows Port Talbot like Clinton knows New Mexico: you fly past it, note its austere beauty briefly, then back to the journey. Where was that? Oh, y'know, nowhere special...
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,321
    SeanT said:

    Oooh. Ta. Sincerely.
    My local library has it on display with a "Good Read!" sticker. What did you decide for the title of the follow-up after?
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,321
    Fenster said:

    Scandalous that John Sullivan wasn't knighted. Uneducated, working class Londoner who created a work of genius. There was genuine pathos in Only Fools; it was beautifully conceived. The 'Harrison Watch' episode had 26 million viewers. Extraordinary!
    Not many people can lay claim to writing all the episodes of a show by themselves. Terry Nation did it for the 1970's Survivors, Aaron Sorkin[1] and J. Michael Straczinski did (nearly all?) the first four seasons of their shows (West Wing and Babylon 5), but if memory serves, John Sullivan did write all the OF&H episodes: normals, specials, the lot. He is up there with Carla Lane[2] as somebody with a distinct voice and comedic talent, and edges her by virtue that his how was actually funny.

    Now let's discuss Victoria Wood. Is she actually funny?

    [1] Although some people disagree with this.
    [2] Now I come to think of it...did she write the whole of Butterflies by herself?
  • MP_SEMP_SE Posts: 3,642

    Indeed the Brexiteers who are so keen on trading arrangements with China are rather quiet on the steel issue. Tariff war with China on our own? Or negotiate as part of the EU? The latter seems a better idea to me.




    A trade war with China is not possible unless we want to be on the receiving end of huge WTO fines.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,321

    Indeed the Brexiteers who are so keen on trading arrangements with China are rather quiet on the steel issue.

    They are not quiet. The Mail and the Sun excoriated the EU today and blamed it for the Tata steel closures. The irony is that (if AEP is correct) the EU steel tariffs are low because the UK forced them down. Unfortunately a lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on, and many people will now erroneously believe the plant closed because of the EU.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,679
    viewcode said:

    It does give away something about him, but not what you think.

    Wales is poorly served by motorways, and there's only one in South Wales: the M4. It hugs the coastline, going west thru Newport and Cardiff and ends at Swansea. The Valleys are north of the M4, the coastline is south. Port Talbot has a river, is coastal, close to a harbour and has very good train and motorway access: coal, fresh water, transport - let's build a steel works. Well, that's how it used to work

    The M4 runs thru Port Talbot like a bolt thru a nut, and if you do it by night it used to be spectacular: the works run 24/7 so there's huge clouds of steam, pipeworks black in the night, actinic glare from the lights: you are contractually obliged to hum the Blade Runner music and yes, Terry Gilliam did conceive "Brazil" whilst sitting on a coal-blackened beach there.

    These days...not so much.

    By driving past Port Talbot he's telling you he's *visiting*: you drive to visit friends or colleagues (Gower is a hyper-marginal Con seat), then when you've visited, you drive back. He knows Port Talbot like Clinton knows New Mexico: you fly past it, note its austere beauty briefly, then back to the journey. Where was that? Oh, y'know, nowhere special...
    Evocative post - thank you.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,365
    edited March 2016
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,693

    Indeed the Brexiteers who are so keen on trading arrangements with China are rather quiet on the steel issue. Tariff war with China on our own? Or negotiate as part of the EU? The latter seems a better idea to me.

    The steel issue is happening DESPITE our membership of the EU.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,321
    MP_SE said:

    A trade war with China is not possible unless we want to be on the receiving end of huge WTO fines.
    The point foxinsoxuk was making is that the UK is better off dealing with China as part of the EU[1] than dealing with China as a singleton.

    [1] Although the news that the UK messed up the EU steel tariffs deliberately makes me think that the UK will find a way to self-destruct regardless.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,321

    The steel issue is happening DESPITE our membership of the EU.
    Did you read this?
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,321

    Evocative post - thank you.
    You're welcome.
  • Moses_Moses_ Posts: 4,865
    edited April 2016
    The name is Bond ......JANE Bond

    Broadchurch star Olivia Colman is set to make history by becoming the first female 007. The Daily Mail can exclusively reveal that 42-year-old Miss Colman will take over from Daniel Craig for the next movie – currently known only as Bond 25 – in a controversial move sure to outrage many diehard fans.

    She won the role after impressing producer Barbara Broccoli with her portrayal of spymaster Angela Burr in BBC1’s The Night Manager, which ended on Sunday.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3518227/Now-S-real-Bond-girl-O-O-Olivia-Coleman-lined-play-007-Broadchurch-star-set-make-history-taking-Daniel-Craig-movie.html#ixzz44WqkNlFu
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,321

    The steel issue is happening DESPITE our membership of the EU.
    That's an unusually pro-EU message from you: did you mean to phrase it like that?
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,693
    viewcode said:

    That's an unusually pro-EU message from you: did you mean to phrase it like that?
    You appear to have replied to my message twice :)
  • JohnLoonyJohnLoony Posts: 1,790
    Today I can officially announce that I have turned into a hippopotamus.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,554
    edited April 2016
    Apparently Ronnie Corbett had ALS for past 2 years.

    It seems not only has the Grim Reaper been busy taking very famous stars over the past few months, they seem to go in some pretty nasty way e.g. only a few days since Paul Daniels went with a brain tumour. David Bowie with liver cancer.
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited April 2016

    Apparently Ronnie Corbett had ALS for past 2 years.

    It seems not only has the Grim Reaper been busy taking very famous stars over the past few months, they seem to go in some pretty nasty way e.g. only a few days since Paul Daniels went with a brain tumour. David Bowie with liver cancer.

    It keeps being said that more famous people have departed this year so far than usual, but I'd be surprised if the statistics actually support the contention.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,554
    edited April 2016
    AndyJS said:

    It keeps being said that more famous people have departed this year so far than usual, but I'd be surprised if the statistics actually support the contention.
    I am sure you a right. I think it is more that the people dying at the moment were the big draws from an era when many of the media were growing up, so means a lot more to them and thus the attention e.g. 2015 Omar Sharif died or 2014 Shirley Temple, but I would think they were a big deal before many of those deciding what to push in the news were really in the biz.

    Just looking at who died in 2014 and 2015, some massive names passed away.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 73,575
    viewcode said:

    Not many people can lay claim to writing all the episodes of a show by themselves. Terry Nation did it for the 1970's Survivors, Aaron Sorkin[1] and J. Michael Straczinski did (nearly all?) the first four seasons of their shows (West Wing and Babylon 5), but if memory serves, John Sullivan did write all the OF&H episodes: normals, specials, the lot. He is up there with Carla Lane[2] as somebody with a distinct voice and comedic talent, and edges her by virtue that his how was actually funny.

    Now let's discuss Victoria Wood. Is she actually funny?

    [1] Although some people disagree with this.
    [2] Now I come to think of it...did she write the whole of Butterflies by herself?
    Roy Clarke - all 258(?) episodes of Last of the Summer Wine.
This discussion has been closed.