Interesting. Most people who find Blade Runner underwhelming have only watched the theatrical cut.
I suspect the problem is three fold:
One - I have always heard how amazing it is, so expectation were ludicrously high
Two - It is now quite old, and the themes and questions it touches upon are ones I've seen in movies, books and games before, in ways that I found more engaging than a single film can manage,
"Who was it that did your media training, Myra Hindley? It's terrible! All these hands all over the place. You were like a sweaty octopus trying to unhook a bra. It was like watching John Leslie at work."
Just taken the dog for a walk, and thought through the alternatives. Which ever way you throw the dice, there only seems to be one viable route.
Tomorrow, May has to go to HMQ and return the Great Seal. A GE to be called in 4 weeks time.
There is no potential leader to replace May within the Conservative MP's who has the confidence of the majority of them. There is probably no conservative MP who wants the job as they can all recognise a poison chalice of Brexit.
The EU leaders will have watched or found out about her appearance at the conference. Her already diminished reputation has gone even further down, if that is possible.
It might be surprising to some, but I actually believe that a dual or multi party system is good for democracy in that an opposition must be able to question the administration, to discover faults and allow rectification. When the administration, as with the present one, tries to override the opposition, whether within the Commons or Lords, then they have lost the right to govern.
In the words of Margaret Thatcher, "There is no alternative".
ANOTHER General Election?? We’ll be turning into Italy at this rate.
Even the thick of it couldn't foresee may and corbyn..Let's not forget corbyn over the past 2 years has had plenty of total fuck ups...."strong message here" and multiple total meltdowns when properly pushed.
The difference is may doesn't appear to be able to improve.
Just taken the dog for a walk, and thought through the alternatives. Which ever way you throw the dice, there only seems to be one viable route.
Tomorrow, May has to go to HMQ and return the Great Seal. A GE to be called in 4 weeks time.
There is no potential leader to replace May within the Conservative MP's who has the confidence of the majority of them. There is probably no conservative MP who wants the job as they can all recognise a poison chalice of Brexit.
The EU leaders will have watched or found out about her appearance at the conference. Her already diminished reputation has gone even further down, if that is possible.
It might be surprising to some, but I actually believe that a dual or multi party system is good for democracy in that an opposition must be able to question the administration, to discover faults and allow rectification. When the administration, as with the present one, tries to override the opposition, whether within the Commons or Lords, then they have lost the right to govern.
In the words of Margaret Thatcher, "There is no alternative".
ANOTHER General Election?? We’ll be turning into Italy at this rate.
Seems like they're pretty stable election wise now. Japanese elections seem to come along pretty frequently, particularly since the same party wins them almost every time.
Just taken the dog for a walk, and thought through the alternatives. Which ever way you throw the dice, there only seems to be one viable route.
Tomorrow, May has to go to HMQ and return the Great Seal. A GE to be called in 4 weeks time.
There is no potential leader to replace May within the Conservative MP's who has the confidence of the majority of them. There is probably no conservative MP who wants the job as they can all recognise a poison chalice of Brexit.
The EU leaders will have watched or found out about her appearance at the conference. Her already diminished reputation has gone even further down, if that is possible.
It might be surprising to some, but I actually believe that a dual or multi party system is good for democracy in that an opposition must be able to question the administration, to discover faults and allow rectification. When the administration, as with the present one, tries to override the opposition, whether within the Commons or Lords, then they have lost the right to govern.
In the words of Margaret Thatcher, "There is no alternative".
ANOTHER General Election?? We’ll be turning into Italy at this rate.
Seems like they're pretty stable election wise now. Japanese elections seem to come along pretty frequently, particularly since the same party wins them almost every time.
I fear any replacement could see us lose to Labour.
But I also fear no replacement could see us lose to Labour.
May wasn't my initial choice but spoke my language. Gove, Boris and Hunt all speak my language too - not to the same extent, but it wouldn't be awful like Soubry or Patel.
I fear any replacement could see us lose to Labour.
But I also fear no replacement could see us lose to Labour.
May wasn't my initial choice but spoke my language. Gove, Boris and Hunt all speak my language too - not to the same extent, but it wouldn't be awful like Soubry or Patel.
Seems improbable the spanish authorities will just let the Catalan parliament meet on Monday to 'discuss' the referendum. Would being prevented from even the chance of UDI actually be better for the latter I wonder?
This is turning out to be abuse towards an ill woman Have none of you had a cough before? Since when has a cough meant your not fit for office?
Plenty of people are feeling sorry for her ill luck. But she had next to no authority left anyway, the only question was when she would be ousted and whether she would go voluntarily or not.
Just taken the dog for a walk, and thought through the alternatives. Which ever way you throw the dice, there only seems to be one viable route.
Tomorrow, May has to go to HMQ and return the Great Seal. A GE to be called in 4 weeks time.
There is no potential leader to replace May within the Conservative MP's who has the confidence of the majority of them. There is probably no conservative MP who wants the job as they can all recognise a poison chalice of Brexit.
The EU leaders will have watched or found out about her appearance at the conference. Her already diminished reputation has gone even further down, if that is possible.
It might be surprising to some, but I actually believe that a dual or multi party system is good for democracy in that an opposition must be able to question the administration, to discover faults and allow rectification. When the administration, as with the present one, tries to override the opposition, whether within the Commons or Lords, then they have lost the right to govern.
In the words of Margaret Thatcher, "There is no alternative".
ANOTHER General Election?? We’ll be turning into Italy at this rate.
Seems like they're pretty stable election wise now. Japanese elections seem to come along pretty frequently, particularly since the same party wins them almost every time.
I fear any replacement could see us lose to Labour.
But I also fear no replacement could see us lose to Labour.
May wasn't my initial choice but spoke my language. Gove, Boris and Hunt all speak my language too - not to the same extent, but it wouldn't be awful like Soubry or Patel.
Big announcement for US F1 viewers today - from next year F1 will be on ESPN. NBC declined to bid on the new contract because Liberty Media plan to have streaming options available.
NBC paid $3 million for a 4 year deal, called a 'popcorn fart' by F1's new owners earlier this year. To give NBC their due, viewership went up about 150% over the 4 year deal.
Typical comments from the blogs include "I just hope they don't fuck it up - there's a reason F1 is becoming more popular as NASCAR fades", and the almost universal view that "If they don't keep Diffey, Matchett, Hobbs and Buxton we'll be disappointed".
When NBC got the F1 deal from Speed, they took the entire commentary team (the 4 mentioned above) with them.
Just taken the dog for a walk, and thought through the alternatives. Which ever way you throw the dice, there only seems to be one viable route.
Tomorrow, May has to go to HMQ and return the Great Seal. A GE to be called in 4 weeks time.
There is no potential leader to replace May within the Conservative MP's who has the confidence of the majority of them. There is probably no conservative MP who wants the job as they can all recognise a poison chalice of Brexit.
The EU leaders will have watched or found out about her appearance at the conference. Her already diminished reputation has gone even further down, if that is possible.
It might be surprising to some, but I actually believe that a dual or multi party system is good for democracy in that an opposition must be able to question the administration, to discover faults and allow rectification. When the administration, as with the present one, tries to override the opposition, whether within the Commons or Lords, then they have lost the right to govern.
In the words of Margaret Thatcher, "There is no alternative".
ANOTHER General Election?? We’ll be turning into Italy at this rate.
Seems like they're pretty stable election wise now. Japanese elections seem to come along pretty frequently, particularly since the same party wins them almost every time.
This is turning out to be abuse towards an ill woman Have none of you had a cough before? Since when has a cough meant your not fit for office?
It is abuse and it's terrible and awful and horrible... But that's politics.
She's not up to it (just as Brown wasn't up to it and IDS and William Hague and the later John Major and Neil Kinnock and Michael Foot and Ted Heath weren't up to it)
Some people have "it" and some people don't and Theresa just doesn't have "it" so for her own well-being more than anything else she needs to say enough and stand aside.
Oh god. Rewatching on News Ten. This is unbearable.
Nick Watt on Newsnight — Theresa May more likely to go sooner than later.
If as suggested she goes in the next few weeks we're more likely than not to have Corbyn as PM by early next year. There is no one with the possible exception of Hammond who will be able to hang on to the coalition majority. The second bit of good news; if it's Boris there's every chance Brexit will collapse.
I fear any replacement could see us lose to Labour.
But I also fear no replacement could see us lose to Labour.
May wasn't my initial choice but spoke my language. Gove, Boris and Hunt all speak my language too - not to the same extent, but it wouldn't be awful like Soubry or Patel.
Oh god. Rewatching on News Ten. This is unbearable.
Nick Watt on Newsnight — Theresa May more likely to go sooner than later.
If as suggested she goes in the next few weeks we're more likely than not to have Corbyn as PM by early next year. There is no one with the possible exception of Hammond who will be able to hang on to the coalition majority. The second bit of good news; if it's Boris there's every chance Brexit will collapse.
Why would that happen? Labour are supporting Brexit too, it's the details everyone disagrees on.
And the EU has no incentive to halt the process, even if they can.
Oh god. Rewatching on News Ten. This is unbearable.
Nick Watt on Newsnight — Theresa May more likely to go sooner than later.
If as suggested she goes in the next few weeks we're more likely than not to have Corbyn as PM by early next year. There is no one with the possible exception of Hammond who will be able to hang on to the coalition majority. The second bit of good news; if it's Boris there's every chance Brexit will collapse.
Go Boris!!!!
I remember when you was tipping Ken Livingstone to beat Boris in London. Twice.
Oh god. Rewatching on News Ten. This is unbearable.
Nick Watt on Newsnight — Theresa May more likely to go sooner than later.
If as suggested she goes in the next few weeks we're more likely than not to have Corbyn as PM by early next year. There is no one with the possible exception of Hammond who will be able to hang on to the coalition majority. The second bit of good news; if it's Boris there's every chance Brexit will collapse.
Go Boris!!!!
Rogerdamus strikes again.
There isn't a coalition.
The C&S deal is between the whips for this very reason.
The notion that the DUP trigger a Corbyn premiership is laughable.
Are there sufficient conservative MP's to send in letters
How does Graham Brady view the situation
How do the polls reflect the position. She may have garnered votes for batting on under such duress and she may not
And the falling letters...
It's actually a little hard to believe it happened if there were not evidence. How many days have they been up with no issue, why that moment to fall off?
Apparently all the standing ovations caused them to fall off. No really.
So if Mrs May didn't have her coughing fits, and the members didn't need to give her all those ovations to recover, they wouldn't have fallen off.
Oh god. Rewatching on News Ten. This is unbearable.
Nick Watt on Newsnight — Theresa May more likely to go sooner than later.
If as suggested she goes in the next few weeks we're more likely than not to have Corbyn as PM by early next year. There is no one with the possible exception of Hammond who will be able to hang on to the coalition majority. The second bit of good news; if it's Boris there's every chance Brexit will collapse.
Go Boris!!!!
What? Why would the DUP vote themselves out of power? Why would they help Labour get in by supporting a no confidence motion? Or, alternatively, why would the Conservatives decline to be a minority government? Why would Boris make Brexit collapse (presumably in the brief time before the inexplicable next election)?
Are there sufficient conservative MP's to send in letters
How does Graham Brady view the situation
How do the polls reflect the position. She may have garnered votes for batting on under such duress and she may not
And the falling letters...
It's actually a little hard to believe it happened if there were not evidence. How many days have they been up with no issue, why that moment to fall off?
Apparently all the standing ovations caused them to fall off. No really.
So if Mrs May didn't have her coughing fits, and the members didn't need to give her all those ovations to recover, they wouldn't have fallen off.
Interesting. Most people who find Blade Runner underwhelming have only watched the theatrical cut.
I suspect the problem is three fold:
One - I have always heard how amazing it is, so expectation were ludicrously high
Two - It is now quite old, and the themes and questions it touches upon are ones I've seen in movies, books and games before, in ways that I found more engaging than a single film can manage,
Three - As suggested on here, I have no soul.
All three are probably true... but two is the most convincing. Rewatching it these days mostly reminds me of seeing it when it first appeared - when there really was nothing to compare it with. Now it's just one SF film among many, even if it did beget many of today's tropes.
And the 'tears in rain' speech still raises the hairs on the back of my neck a bit.
This is turning out to be abuse towards an ill woman Have none of you had a cough before? Since when has a cough meant your not fit for office?
Yes - some of us had coughs before and far worse and did our jobs. But authority is essential in a PM. And effective public speaking is one essential part of gaining and maintaining that authority and inspiring her troops, as well as the country.
This speech was important and, if she was suffering from a cold, then maybe she should have not done the interviews and concentrated on the speech. Thatcher gave an absolute barmstorner of a speech hours after surviving an assassination attempt. That’s the level you have to be operating at. It’s tough but no-one forced her to apply for the role.
May needed this speech to be an astonishing success if she were to have any chance of resetting her administration and regaining some authority. It hasn’t been. It may make no difference. But we have a weak PM leading a divided and fractious Cabinet trying to develop a European strategy fit for the 21st century. We need people at the top of their game, however much we may have sympathy on a personal level.
May is trying her best. But her best is simply not good enough.
I cannot see anyone better, frankly. But if I were her husband I’d tell her to leave before her health gets worse.
This is turning out to be abuse towards an ill woman Have none of you had a cough before? Since when has a cough meant your not fit for office?
It isn't. Lack of ability. Failure to be orgainised to run an Election you called. Not having a set that won't fall down. No vision. Uninspiring speaker. Allowing a well-known mischief-maker to approach the PM and Senior Cabinet members. Announcements of policies that are taking a piss in the Atlantic as to dealing with the housing situation. That is why I criticise her, Oh and she DOES have a cough too.
After today, when parliament is recalled I can only hope that there will be a modern Leo Amery figure who will say in the chamber "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"
It would take a heart of stone not to have any sympathy for Mrs Theresa 'treason' May today, but really, as others have said, the whole performance was cringeworthy in the extreme. I had to laugh at so many moments, but the moment when Amber Rudd was encouraging Boris to get up off his seat took the biscuit for me. Equally the bit where the PM said 'Corbyn causing a run on the ground (pound)' was comical too.
It really has come to something when this is the best the country can do. There comes a point where in spite of the lack of an obvious alternative, the incumbent is just so ghastly bad that people just want rid and to hell with the consequences as to who is the successor. I think that rubicon was crossed today. Please be rid of that woman as soon as possible! Surely the Tories with their famed ruthlessness are not going to fail now?
Just taken the dog for a walk, and thought through the alternatives. Which ever way you throw the dice, there only seems to be one viable route.
Tomorrow, May has to go to HMQ and return the Great Seal. A GE to be called in 4 weeks time.
There is no potential leader to replace May within the Conservative MP's who has the confidence of the majority of them. There is probably no conservative MP who wants the job as they can all recognise a poison chalice of Brexit.
The EU leaders will have watched or found out about her appearance at the conference. Her already diminished reputation has gone even further down, if that is possible.
It might be surprising to some, but I actually believe that a dual or multi party system is good for democracy in that an opposition must be able to question the administration, to discover faults and allow rectification. When the administration, as with the present one, tries to override the opposition, whether within the Commons or Lords, then they have lost the right to govern.
In the words of Margaret Thatcher, "There is no alternative".
ANOTHER General Election?? We’ll be turning into Italy at this rate.
We have an administration who cannot administrate, who are widely regarded as a joke, even by their own supporters let alone by those they are discussing the future of the UK with. Italy has a strong and stable government in comparison.
I remember well having my boss put a joke P45 in my inbox around 15 years ago. He was an interesting boss, deep down he respected me for my work but he delighted in taking the proverbial out of me many times. When I first saw the fake P45, it did cross my mind that it was real but I realised one second later that it was a hilarious p$ss take. Still, I never thought in my wildest dreams that I'd see that situation play out large in a set piece conference speech!
Does anyone know what the company was that prepared the conference stage? That reminded me of the 1983 general election and that famous Foot press conference where the table collapsed in front of him. Amazing theatre!
Shame about the Alzheimer's banner that looks like it headlines the Prime Minister.
But is this it? It seems a bit tame to lead on a policy already in place in Wales and Scotland. If it weren't already midnight I'd wonder if the Mail were holding back a real scoop.
Just taken the dog for a walk, and thought through the alternatives. Which ever way you throw the dice, there only seems to be one viable route.
Tomorrow, May has to go to HMQ and return the Great Seal. A GE to be called in 4 weeks time.
There is no potential leader to replace May within the Conservative MP's who has the confidence of the majority of them. There is probably no conservative MP who wants the job as they can all recognise a poison chalice of Brexit.
The EU leaders will have watched or found out about her appearance at the conference. Her already diminished reputation has gone even further down, if that is possible.
It might be surprising to some, but I actually believe that a dual or multi party system is good for democracy in that an opposition must be able to question the administration, to discover faults and allow rectification. When the administration, as with the present one, tries to override the opposition, whether within the Commons or Lords, then they have lost the right to govern.
In the words of Margaret Thatcher, "There is no alternative".
ANOTHER General Election?? We’ll be turning into Italy at this rate.
We have an administration who cannot administrate, who are widely regarded as a joke, even by their own supporters let alone by those they are discussing the future of the UK with. Italy has a strong and stable government in comparison.
And what if that GE returned very similar proportions, or a Labour increase but not to the point of being able to form a stable government? What a waste - the people voted in this parliament despite being asked early, now let them get on with it. It may well be they cannot pass much legislation, but so be it.
Anyone but Boris is a sound principle, until you start considering some of the possible alternatives. It's all gone a bit Pink Floyd... Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.
Copeland led the Conservatives into a false sense of security, I think. Remarkably the government won a byelection off the opposition, who fielded a GP and a personable candidate with a ready-made local hospitals issue to exploit.
Yes, the thing that is worth remembering is that it wasn't merely polls that were leading the belief the Tories would win, and likely win big. Copeland, the poor showing for Labour in the locals, and mayoralties, there was plenty there. Even with a good Labour campaign, it seemed solid enough. Oh well. Regrettably, May turning out to be a duffer does not erase the problems with the opposition, for all the dissenters are pretending their only issue was believing Corbyn would do badly.
Marina Hyde is on the money, as well as her usual amusing self in the Guardian today:
Each party – even given their occasionally radioactive levels of self-regard – must be privately gripped by one question: how the hell are we not thrashing this lot?
...
The numbers suggest that at present Labour and the Conservatives are not far from evenly matched, while each side openly professes themselves the natural party of government. Yet, without wishing to go out on a limb here, we might hesitate to characterise them as what is known in fiction as “worthy foes”. You know the sort of thing – they’re such class acts that when they meet in battle, one adversary might break off momentarily to compliment the other’s swordsmanship and say what a shame it is that they’re going to have to kill them.
No, as conference season draws to a close, it feels a stretch to imagine we are watching two equally formidable adversaries grappling at the Reichenbach Falls. Two drunks fighting in a puddle feels more like it. We might get a clear victor, we might not. But let’s not be deluded as to the quality of the spectacle.
Just read the whole article and it is stunningly good writing.
My goodness; that's the best thing I've read in the Guardian for many a year.
Anyone but Boris is a sound principle, until you start considering some of the possible alternatives. It's all gone a bit Pink Floyd... Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.
I didn't see the speech live, but the BBC 10 o'clock news programme didn't seem too bad to me - it gave plenty of space to supportive delegates and to her policy message. If the BBC were the Tory-hating channel that some suspect, it would have been much worse.
Shame about the Alzheimer's banner that looks like it headlines the Prime Minister.
But is this it? It seems a bit tame to lead on a policy already in place in Wales and Scotland. If it weren't already midnight I'd wonder if the Mail were holding back a real scoop.
I didn't see the speech live, but the BBC 10 o'clock news programme didn't seem too bad to me - it gave plenty of space to supportive delegates and to her policy message. If the BBC were the Tory-hating channel that some suspect, it would have been much worse.
Even if it were, there's no need to stick a knife in when the subject is already fatally wounded, with apologies for the George Osborne like gruesome analogy (though unlike him I have no desire to see such things)
As for Boris’s own manoeuvres, his allies seem to think he has done enough this week to be able to resign later and say he told them so. What a man of principle he remains. I am reminded of a passage I shrieked with laughter at in his book about Churchill (a work that obviously turned out to be a thinly veiled fantasy portrait of himself). “To some extent all politicians are gamblers with events,” this ran. “They try to anticipate what will happen, to put themselves on the right side of history.”
Remarkably, Boris characterised Churchill’s 1930s opposition to Hitler as just this type of self-motivated punt. Churchill “put his shirt on a horse called anti-Nazism … and his bet came off in spectacular fashion”. Dear, dear. If only we had Churchill’s other column – the one where he argued the case for a fascist dictatorship, Lebensraum and the elimination of Jews from Germany. Still, as Johnson went on to note, these kind of reputation-stakings “gave him the chance to test his egocentric thesis that he was special”.
Copeland led the Conservatives into a false sense of security, I think. Remarkably the government won a byelection off the opposition, who fielded a GP and a personable candidate with a ready-made local hospitals issue to exploit.
Yes, the thing that is worth remembering is that it wasn't merely polls that were leading the belief the Tories would win, and likely win big. Copeland, the poor showing for Labour in the locals, and mayoralties, there was plenty there. Even with a good Labour campaign, it seemed solid enough. Oh well. Regrettably, May turning out to be a duffer does not erase the problems with the opposition, for all the dissenters are pretending their only issue was believing Corbyn would do badly.
Marina Hyde is on the money, as well as her usual amusing self in the Guardian today:
Each party – even given their occasionally radioactive levels of self-regard – must be privately gripped by one question: how the hell are we not thrashing this lot?
...
The numbers suggest that at present Labour and the Conservatives are not far from evenly matched, while each side openly professes themselves the natural party of government. Yet, without wishing to go out on a limb here, we might hesitate to characterise them as what is known in fiction as “worthy foes”. You know the sort of thing – they’re such class acts that when they meet in battle, one adversary might break off momentarily to compliment the other’s swordsmanship and say what a shame it is that they’re going to have to kill them.
No, as conference season draws to a close, it feels a stretch to imagine we are watching two equally formidable adversaries grappling at the Reichenbach Falls. Two drunks fighting in a puddle feels more like it. We might get a clear victor, we might not. But let’s not be deluded as to the quality of the spectacle.
Just read the whole article and it is stunningly good writing.
My goodness; that's the best thing I've read in the Guardian for many a year.
2 drunks fighting in a puddle!...sad but scarily close to the bone.
...Rewatching it these days mostly reminds me of seeing it when it first appeared - when there really was nothing to compare it with. Now it's just one SF film among many, even if it did beget many of today's tropes...
This phenomenon - when an original film inspires so many imitators that future audiences think of it as cliche ridden even though it originated them - is so widespread there is a trope associated with it.
Parenthetically, here's Stuckmann's review. A+. Presumably Kermode's review when it comes out will be so orgasmic his pants will ricochet off the wall and impact the floor like a crusty meteorite of pants.
Just taken the dog for a walk, and thought through the alternatives. Which ever way you throw the dice, there only seems to be one viable route.
Tomorrow, May has to go to HMQ and return the Great Seal. A GE to be called in 4 weeks time.
There is no potential leader to replace May within the Conservative MP's who has the confidence of the majority of them. There is probably no conservative MP who wants the job as they can all recognise a poison chalice of Brexit.
The EU leaders will have watched or found out about her appearance at the conference. Her already diminished reputation has gone even further down, if that is possible.
It might be surprising to some, but I actually believe that a dual or multi party system is good for democracy in that an opposition must be able to question the administration, to discover faults and allow rectification. When the administration, as with the present one, tries to override the opposition, whether within the Commons or Lords, then they have lost the right to govern.
In the words of Margaret Thatcher, "There is no alternative".
A GE cannot be called in 4 weeks time. The FTA stipulates at least 25 working days - ie 5 weeks - between Dissolution and Polling Day. Parliament would also need to be sitting in order to vote for a Dissolution. Earliest date now would be November 16th - but it will not happen!
I didn't see the speech live, but the BBC 10 o'clock news programme didn't seem too bad to me - it gave plenty of space to supportive delegates and to her policy message. If the BBC were the Tory-hating channel that some suspect, it would have been much worse.
One answer is to ignore it, call for a boycott by your own side then dismiss the outcome as illegal and point to the low turnout (caused by the boycott).
A good answer is not to beat up elderly voters, drag women by their hair and shoot rubber bullets at people. The law didn't demand any of that.
Yes, I agree. That's why I said it was an error. A stupid, grotesque unnecessary and totally counterproductive error that may tear Spain apart.
However, the narrow point that it was under the circumstances slightly less of an unforced error than calling an unneeded general election and blowing a huge lead in the polls over a tenth rate nutcase like Corbyn. While it may be worse overall, it wasn't totally unforced.
Are you sure May blew a huge lead in the polls? I doubt it was real in the first place
It may be hard for her to admit that she is not up to it and/or that implementing Brexit with her current Cabinet is like herding black cats in the dark. But those who love her need to speak some hard truths to her.
I suspect the problem now is that with things as they stand the only person with a credible chance at replacing her swiftly is Boris Johnson, and call me crazy, they don't seem to be fans of one another, or at least their allies leak enough to make it seem that way. Her demeanour is not that of someone who thinks they can overcome the wounds suffered in June, it's of someone who does not they are not up to it, but desperate to be there long enough to at least deny Boris the prize.
George was right on June 9th.
She wasted 3 months on an election and another 3 clinging on.
The election was actually less than 2 months - announced on April 18th - Polling Day June 8th.
...Rewatching it these days mostly reminds me of seeing it when it first appeared - when there really was nothing to compare it with. Now it's just one SF film among many, even if it did beget many of today's tropes...
This phenomenon - when an original film inspires so many imitators that future audiences think of it as cliche ridden even though it originated them - is so widespread there is a trope associated with it.
Yes, but Seinfeld never was funny. What's the trope for something that truly was brilliant in its day, but now is just good ?
...Rewatching it these days mostly reminds me of seeing it when it first appeared - when there really was nothing to compare it with. Now it's just one SF film among many, even if it did beget many of today's tropes...
This phenomenon - when an original film inspires so many imitators that future audiences think of it as cliche ridden even though it originated them - is so widespread there is a trope associated with it.
Yes, but Seinfeld never was funny. What's the trope for something that truly was brilliant in its day, but now is just good ?
Not sure - alot of US 'comedy' is dire though... the Big Bang theory springs to mind as particularly overrated tosh. Rick & Morty OTOH is brilliant.
Yes, Am I the only one to not be keen on the government nationalising the dead to use as spare parts?
No - I share your concerns.
No problem personally - so long as the opt out option is done properly.
Then again, I don’t know what it’s like to be a medic attempting to persuade a bereaved family to donate. Can you really wave away strong family objections with “but s/he didn’t opt out, so we’re going to take the kidneys. You only get to bury/burn the bits of the body that nobody else needs. It’s the law”
Not donating - if useful - seems ridiculous to me and cadavers don’t have rights, but lots of people seem to have strong objections.
Oh god. Rewatching on News Ten. This is unbearable.
Nick Watt on Newsnight — Theresa May more likely to go sooner than later.
If as suggested she goes in the next few weeks we're more likely than not to have Corbyn as PM by early next year. There is no one with the possible exception of Hammond who will be able to hang on to the coalition majority. The second bit of good news; if it's Boris there's every chance Brexit will collapse.
Go Boris!!!!
Rogerdamus strikes again.
There isn't a coalition.
The C&S deal is between the whips for this very reason.
The notion that the DUP trigger a Corbyn premiership is laughable.
Totally agree. What influence would the DUP have in a Corbyn led government needing SNP, Plaid and Lib Dem MPs as well as Lady Hermon and the MP for Brighton Pavillion to outvote the Tories? Precisely zero!
They are potentially sitting pretty for five years if the current arrangement carries on. And they back Brexit too - which might never happen if the Tories leave office.
Oh god. Rewatching on News Ten. This is unbearable.
Nick Watt on Newsnight — Theresa May more likely to go sooner than later.
If as suggested she goes in the next few weeks we're more likely than not to have Corbyn as PM by early next year. There is no one with the possible exception of Hammond who will be able to hang on to the coalition majority. The second bit of good news; if it's Boris there's every chance Brexit will collapse.
Go Boris!!!!
Rogerdamus strikes again.
There isn't a coalition.
The C&S deal is between the whips for this very reason.
The notion that the DUP trigger a Corbyn premiership is laughable.
Totally agree. What influence would the DUP have in a Corbyn led government needing SNP, Plaid and Lib Dem MPs as well as Lady Hermon and the MP for Brighton Pavillion to outvote the Tories? Precisely zero!
They are potentially sitting pretty for five years if the current arrangement carries on. And they back Brexit too - which might never happen if the Tories leave office.
The DUP are an indispensable ally right up until the vote on the final Brexit deal.
Northern Ireland is a not a large economy. Once you strip out government work, it is almost as dependent on trade with the Republic as it is with the rest of the UK.
This is why the DUP - despite generally despising Brussels - insists on a "frictionless" border with the Republic of Ireland. The DUP, backed by so many small business owning Ulster Protestants, would not survive a Brexit that pushed Northern Ireland into a serious recession.
My worry, and it may be baseless, is that if the final deal doesn't look good for the Northern Irish economy, then there will be numerous DUP waverers. The party as a whole may even say to the whoever is PM "I'm sorry, but we were promised a frictionless border and no impact on trade, and this doesn't deliver that."
In an ideal world, Labour Eurosceptics would outnumber the DUP and Conservative traitors.
This is not an ideal world.
Jeremy Corbyn sniffs power, and would vote down the perfect Brexit bill if he thought it brought him just a single step closer to Number 10.
Perhaps I am paranoid. But I think relying on the DUP's hatred of Jeremy Corbyn is naive in the context of some closely fought Northern Irish seats. (I would also note that the current boundary review sees the DUP losing seats and Sinn Fein gaining them, which won't go down well with them either.)
...Rewatching it these days mostly reminds me of seeing it when it first appeared - when there really was nothing to compare it with. Now it's just one SF film among many, even if it did beget many of today's tropes...
This phenomenon - when an original film inspires so many imitators that future audiences think of it as cliche ridden even though it originated them - is so widespread there is a trope associated with it.
Yes, but Seinfeld never was funny. What's the trope for something that truly was brilliant in its day, but now is just good ?
Not sure - alot of US 'comedy' is dire though... the Big Bang theory springs to mind as particularly overrated tosh. Rick & Morty OTOH is brilliant.
To be fair, a lot of comedy is dire - ours too. Decades later, I still remember the utter bemusement of Americans first confronted with Terry and June...
Oh god. Rewatching on News Ten. This is unbearable.
Nick Watt on Newsnight — Theresa May more likely to go sooner than later.
If as suggested she goes in the next few weeks we're more likely than not to have Corbyn as PM by early next year. There is no one with the possible exception of Hammond who will be able to hang on to the coalition majority. The second bit of good news; if it's Boris there's every chance Brexit will collapse.
Go Boris!!!!
Rogerdamus strikes again.
There isn't a coalition.
The C&S deal is between the whips for this very reason.
The notion that the DUP trigger a Corbyn premiership is laughable.
Totally agree. What influence would the DUP have in a Corbyn led government needing SNP, Plaid and Lib Dem MPs as well as Lady Hermon and the MP for Brighton Pavillion to outvote the Tories? Precisely zero!
They are potentially sitting pretty for five years if the current arrangement carries on. And they back Brexit too - which might never happen if the Tories leave office.
The DUP are an indispensable ally right up until the vote on the final Brexit deal.
Northern Ireland is a not a large economy. Once you strip out government work, it is almost as dependent on trade with the Republic as it is with the rest of the UK.
This is why the DUP - despite generally despising Brussels - insists on a "frictionless" border with the Republic of Ireland. The DUP, backed by so many small business owning Ulster Protestants, would not survive a Brexit that pushed Northern Ireland into a serious recession.
My worry, and it may be baseless, is that if the final deal doesn't look good for the Northern Irish economy, then there will be numerous DUP waverers. The party as a whole may even say to the whoever is PM "I'm sorry, but we were promised a frictionless border and no impact on trade, and this doesn't deliver that."
In an ideal world, Labour Eurosceptics would outnumber the DUP and Conservative traitors.
This is not an ideal world.
Jeremy Corbyn sniffs power, and would vote down the perfect Brexit bill if he thought it brought him just a single step closer to Number 10.
Perhaps I am paranoid. But I think relying on the DUP's hatred of Jeremy Corbyn is naive in the context of some closely fought Northern Irish seats. (I would also note that the current boundary review sees the DUP losing seats and Sinn Fein gaining them, which won't go down well with them either.)
In an ideal world, Brexiteers wouldn't have advocated something that was clearly going to cause such a total mess, but there we go. You wanted a revolution, but they never turn out as those who instigate them expect.
Yes, Am I the only one to not be keen on the government nationalising the dead to use as spare parts?
No - I share your concerns.
No problem personally - so long as the opt out option is done properly.
Then again, I don’t know what it’s like to be a medic attempting to persuade a bereaved family to donate. Can you really wave away strong family objections with “but s/he didn’t opt out, so we’re going to take the kidneys. You only get to bury/burn the bits of the body that nobody else needs. It’s the law”
Not donating - if useful - seems ridiculous to me and cadavers don’t have rights, but lots of people seem to have strong objections.
I put it a bit provocatively and I believe that the current legal position is that the dead belong to the coroner until released to the ramily via a death certificate.
I recall the Alder Hey organ retention scandal. A different issue, but very damaging to my profession. The objection was taking organs for research without consent.
If a family does not want their deceased relatives organs used, I cannot conceive taking them against their wishes. But if we do get permission, then that is the current law.
I have been in the position of asking relatives permission for organ retreival. It is not an easy task, and needs delicacy to broach the subject. Generally it is in the situation of sudden death so often no chance to ask the patient in advance, and most families give permission. Those that do not should be allowed to grieve their own way.
I didn't see the speech live, but the BBC 10 o'clock news programme didn't seem too bad to me - it gave plenty of space to supportive delegates and to her policy message. If the BBC were the Tory-hating channel that some suspect, it would have been much worse.
I think she'll get some sympathy - after all none of the mishaps can be described as directly being her fault - unlike last year's "citizens of nowhere" speech, which eventually caught up with her at the election.
The problem is, those are still the headlines and she needed a gamechanger. She needed great headlines today about this incredible new vision for Britain she'd found that was going to make Brexit work out, cure the Tories' infighting and draw the young away from Jeremy Corbyn - or at least something tending that way and beginning to set out how those things could be achieved. Instead it's that she's an unlucky general.
I think she'll get some sympathy - after all none of the mishaps can be described as directly being her fault - unlike last year's "citizens of nowhere" speech, which eventually caught up with her at the election.
Sympathy isn't going to help her. Being PM isn't a pity fuck.
Davidson as leader and a reverse ferret on Brexit are now the two necessary conditions for keeping JC out of Number Ten. Both seem very unlikely.
I think she'll get some sympathy - after all none of the mishaps can be described as directly being her fault - unlike last year's "citizens of nowhere" speech, which eventually caught up with her at the election.
Sympathy isn't going to help her. Being PM isn't a pity fuck.
Davidson as leader and a reverse ferret on Brexit are now the two necessary conditions for keeping JC out of Number Ten. Both seem very unlikely.
A reverse ferret would result in JC being in number 10....
Yes, Am I the only one to not be keen on the government nationalising the dead to use as spare parts?
No - I share your concerns.
No problem personally - so long as the opt out option is done properly.
Then again, I don’t know what it’s like to be a medic attempting to persuade a bereaved family to donate. Can you really wave away strong family objections with “but s/he didn’t opt out, so we’re going to take the kidneys. You only get to bury/burn the bits of the body that nobody else needs. It’s the law”
Not donating - if useful - seems ridiculous to me and cadavers don’t have rights, but lots of people seem to have strong objections.
I put it a bit provocatively and I believe that the current legal position is that the dead belong to the coroner until released to the ramily via a death certificate.
I recall the Alder Hey organ retention scandal. A different issue, but very damaging to my profession. The objection was taking organs for research without consent.
If a family does not want their deceased relatives organs used, I cannot conceive taking them against their wishes. But if we do get permission, then that is the current law.
I have been in the position of asking relatives permission for organ retreival. It is not an easy task, and needs delicacy to broach the subject. Generally it is in the situation of sudden death so often no chance to ask the patient in advance, and most families give permission. Those that do not should be allowed to grieve their own way.
Our daughter died at 49 of Motor Neurone Disease almost 4 years ago. I’m pretty sure her husband wasn't asked about organ donation; I’m sure he’d have told us, and I did wonder whether some of her organs could have been used. I think, and I’ve not discussed this, that he might have consented, although I’m not sure my wife would. I suspect her (adult) children would have.
O/T (if only because this is just too depressing for words) an interesting story from the BBC yesterday about taxes and the EU: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41497459
Apparently Eire are going to be taken to Court for not claiming £13bn of back taxes from Apple as are Luxembourg for a relatively trivial £250m deal with Amazon negotiated by some plonker called Junker. Both are being characterised as State Aid but if the principle is accepted how long can Eire hope to retain their super aggressive CT rate?
Yes, Am I the only one to not be keen on the government nationalising the dead to use as spare parts?
No - I share your concerns.
No problem personally - so long as the opt out option is done properly.
Then again, I don’t know what it’s like to be a medic attempting to persuade a bereaved family to donate. Can you really wave away strong family objections with “but s/he didn’t opt out, so we’re going to take the kidneys. You only get to bury/burn the bits of the body that nobody else needs. It’s the law”
Not donating - if useful - seems ridiculous to me and cadavers don’t have rights, but lots of people seem to have strong objections.
I put it a bit provocatively and I believe that the current legal position is that the dead belong to the coroner until released to the ramily via a death certificate.
I recall the Alder Hey organ retention scandal. A different issue, but very damaging to my profession. The objection was taking organs for research without consent.
If a family does not want their deceased relatives organs used, I cannot conceive taking them against their wishes. But if we do get permission, then that is the current law.
I have been in the position of asking relatives permission for organ retreival. It is not an easy task, and needs delicacy to broach the subject. Generally it is in the situation of sudden death so often no chance to ask the patient in advance, and most families give permission. Those that do not should be allowed to grieve their own way.
Our daughter died at 49 of Motor Neurone Disease almost 4 years ago. I’m pretty sure her husband wasn't asked about organ donation; I’m sure he’d have told us, and I did wonder whether some of her organs could have been used. I think, and I’ve not discussed this, that he might have consented, although I’m not sure my wife would. I suspect her (adult) children would have.
I fear that that is what happens too often, that there is an understandable reluctance to have a very difficult conversation (as @foxinsoxuk describes) at a terrible time. This change in the law should make the discussion much easier and the process more automatic. It may be within a relatively short period of time that replacement organs will be grown in the lab but right now transplants can be life saving and transformative. On balance I favour this new policy.
Comments
Sorry but simply not up to the job nor a Conservative.
https://twitter.com/adampayne26/status/915585205771096064
One - I have always heard how amazing it is, so expectation were ludicrously high
Two - It is now quite old, and the themes and questions it touches upon are ones I've seen in movies, books and games before, in ways that I found more engaging than a single film can manage,
Three - As suggested on here, I have no soul.
The difference is may doesn't appear to be able to improve.
Even Hunt.
And there is no need or chance of an election.
She won more votes than anyone ever.
But can't seem to recover.
I fear any replacement could see us lose to Labour.
But I also fear no replacement could see us lose to Labour.
May wasn't my initial choice but spoke my language. Gove, Boris and Hunt all speak my language too - not to the same extent, but it wouldn't be awful like Soubry or Patel.
Have none of you had a cough before? Since when has a cough meant your not fit for office?
John Major won more votes than anyone ever.
Could we actually see something like a civil war in Spain?
But as we both know, it is not just the cough.
NBC paid $3 million for a 4 year deal, called a 'popcorn fart' by F1's new owners earlier this year. To give NBC their due, viewership went up about 150% over the 4 year deal.
Typical comments from the blogs include "I just hope they don't fuck it up - there's a reason F1 is becoming more popular as NASCAR fades", and the almost universal view that "If they don't keep Diffey, Matchett, Hobbs and Buxton we'll be disappointed".
When NBC got the F1 deal from Speed, they took the entire commentary team (the 4 mentioned above) with them.
So coverage next year should be interesting!
She's not up to it (just as Brown wasn't up to it and IDS and William Hague and the later John Major and Neil Kinnock and Michael Foot and Ted Heath weren't up to it)
Some people have "it" and some people don't and Theresa just doesn't have "it" so for her own well-being more than anything else she needs to say enough and stand aside.
Go Boris!!!!
And the EU has no incentive to halt the process, even if they can.
Wonder how that worked out?
There isn't a coalition.
The C&S deal is between the whips for this very reason.
The notion that the DUP trigger a Corbyn premiership is laughable.
The standing ovations between sentences seemed eerily reminiscent of IDS' final speech I thought...
Rewatching it these days mostly reminds me of seeing it when it first appeared - when there really was nothing to compare it with. Now it's just one SF film among many, even if it did beget many of today's tropes.
And the 'tears in rain' speech still raises the hairs on the back of my neck a bit.
This speech was important and, if she was suffering from a cold, then maybe she should have not done the interviews and concentrated on the speech. Thatcher gave an absolute barmstorner of a speech hours after surviving an assassination attempt. That’s the level you have to be operating at. It’s tough but no-one forced her to apply for the role.
May needed this speech to be an astonishing success if she were to have any chance of resetting her administration and regaining some authority. It hasn’t been. It may make no difference. But we have a weak PM leading a divided and fractious Cabinet trying to develop a European strategy fit for the 21st century. We need people at the top of their game, however much we may have sympathy on a personal level.
May is trying her best. But her best is simply not good enough.
I cannot see anyone better, frankly. But if I were her husband I’d tell her to leave before her health gets worse.
It would take a heart of stone not to have any sympathy for Mrs Theresa 'treason' May today, but really, as others have said, the whole performance was cringeworthy in the extreme. I had to laugh at so many moments, but the moment when Amber Rudd was encouraging Boris to get up off his seat took the biscuit for me. Equally the bit where the PM said 'Corbyn causing a run on the ground (pound)' was comical too.
It really has come to something when this is the best the country can do. There comes a point where in spite of the lack of an obvious alternative, the incumbent is just so ghastly bad that people just want rid and to hell with the consequences as to who is the successor. I think that rubicon was crossed today. Please be rid of that woman as soon as possible! Surely the Tories with their famed ruthlessness are not going to fail now?
Does anyone know what the company was that prepared the conference stage? That reminded me of the 1983 general election and that famous Foot press conference where the table collapsed in front of him. Amazing theatre!
But is this it? It seems a bit tame to lead on a policy already in place in Wales and Scotland. If it weren't already midnight I'd wonder if the Mail were holding back a real scoop.
It's all gone a bit Pink Floyd...
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/22/theresa-may-speech-brexit-prime-minister-florence
As for Boris’s own manoeuvres, his allies seem to think he has done enough this week to be able to resign later and say he told them so. What a man of principle he remains. I am reminded of a passage I shrieked with laughter at in his book about Churchill (a work that obviously turned out to be a thinly veiled fantasy portrait of himself). “To some extent all politicians are gamblers with events,” this ran. “They try to anticipate what will happen, to put themselves on the right side of history.”
Remarkably, Boris characterised Churchill’s 1930s opposition to Hitler as just this type of self-motivated punt. Churchill “put his shirt on a horse called anti-Nazism … and his bet came off in spectacular fashion”. Dear, dear. If only we had Churchill’s other column – the one where he argued the case for a fascist dictatorship, Lebensraum and the elimination of Jews from Germany. Still, as Johnson went on to note, these kind of reputation-stakings “gave him the chance to test his egocentric thesis that he was special”.
Parenthetically, here's Stuckmann's review. A+. Presumably Kermode's review when it comes out will be so orgasmic his pants will ricochet off the wall and impact the floor like a crusty meteorite of pants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6eRA8PnuW4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z32WpsHyJgw
Must be a chance we get a Lab lead of say approx 10% in the next polls - if that happens surely that would be the end of her as PM - immediately.
Then again, I don’t know what it’s like to be a medic attempting to persuade a bereaved family to donate. Can you really wave away strong family objections with “but s/he didn’t opt out, so we’re going to take the kidneys. You only get to bury/burn the bits of the body that nobody else needs. It’s the law”
Not donating - if useful - seems ridiculous to me and cadavers don’t have rights, but lots of people seem to have strong objections.
They are potentially sitting pretty for five years if the current arrangement carries on. And they back Brexit too - which might never happen if the Tories leave office.
Northern Ireland is a not a large economy. Once you strip out government work, it is almost as dependent on trade with the Republic as it is with the rest of the UK.
This is why the DUP - despite generally despising Brussels - insists on a "frictionless" border with the Republic of Ireland. The DUP, backed by so many small business owning Ulster Protestants, would not survive a Brexit that pushed Northern Ireland into a serious recession.
My worry, and it may be baseless, is that if the final deal doesn't look good for the Northern Irish economy, then there will be numerous DUP waverers. The party as a whole may even say to the whoever is PM "I'm sorry, but we were promised a frictionless border and no impact on trade, and this doesn't deliver that."
In an ideal world, Labour Eurosceptics would outnumber the DUP and Conservative traitors.
This is not an ideal world.
Jeremy Corbyn sniffs power, and would vote down the perfect Brexit bill if he thought it brought him just a single step closer to Number 10.
Perhaps I am paranoid. But I think relying on the DUP's hatred of Jeremy Corbyn is naive in the context of some closely fought Northern Irish seats. (I would also note that the current boundary review sees the DUP losing seats and Sinn Fein gaining them, which won't go down well with them either.)
Decades later, I still remember the utter bemusement of Americans first confronted with Terry and June...
Sigh.
I recall the Alder Hey organ retention scandal. A different issue, but very damaging to my profession. The objection was taking organs for research without consent.
If a family does not want their deceased relatives organs used, I cannot conceive taking them against their wishes. But if we do get permission, then that is the current law.
I have been in the position of asking relatives permission for organ retreival. It is not an easy task, and needs delicacy to broach the subject. Generally it is in the situation of sudden death so often no chance to ask the patient in advance, and most families give permission. Those that do not should be allowed to grieve their own way.
The problem is, those are still the headlines and she needed a gamechanger. She needed great headlines today about this incredible new vision for Britain she'd found that was going to make Brexit work out, cure the Tories' infighting and draw the young away from Jeremy Corbyn - or at least something tending that way and beginning to set out how those things could be achieved. Instead it's that she's an unlucky general.
Davidson as leader and a reverse ferret on Brexit are now the two necessary conditions for keeping JC out of Number Ten. Both seem very unlikely.
Apparently Eire are going to be taken to Court for not claiming £13bn of back taxes from Apple as are Luxembourg for a relatively trivial £250m deal with Amazon negotiated by some plonker called Junker. Both are being characterised as State Aid but if the principle is accepted how long can Eire hope to retain their super aggressive CT rate?