Quite. Have they even got any policy at the moment, apart from that pathetic 'exit from Brexit' line...
LDs on 9% seems quite believable to me. They will always pick up a proportion of 'soft' conservatives who are unhappy with the government for whatever reason. Plus they are the only home for the most devout Remainers.
It's partly a joke, but seriously, not even the most loyal LDs can be happy with the present situation which sees them getting less publicity than a party which has had god knows how many leaders in the past year.
You are certainly right there. If I were a LD I'd be deeply disappointed (but not surprised) at only polling 9% given the current government and opposition.
If we assume UKIP on 2% that gives Labour a majority of 2.
Given Survation underestimated the Tory lead by 1% at the general election it most likely still leads to a hung parliament and Labour and SNP government same as all the other polls, though as it is a GMB poll treat with some care
That's a slur on the UK's top pollster.
No, it is a fact.
Survation's final 2017 poll was Con 41.3% Lab 40.4%. Tory lead 0.9%.
If we assume UKIP on 2% that gives Labour a majority of 2.
Given Survation underestimated the Tory lead by 1% at the general election it most likely still leads to a hung parliament and Labour and SNP government same as all the other polls, though as it is a GMB poll treat with some care
That's a slur on the UK's top pollster.
No, it is a fact.
Survation's final 2017 poll was Con 41.3% Lab 40.4%.
What little interest I had in this poll derived from pondering how I might have answered had I been asked. Since there wasn't a 'Don't care' category I would have struggled.
As long as we go ahead and leave the EU, as requested, I will be perfectly happy - and the sooner the better. We can then all get on with enjoying the benefits promised to us, or alternatively enjoy stringing up those who lied to us should the said benefits fail to materialise.
If we assume UKIP on 2% that gives Labour a majority of 2.
Given Survation underestimated the Tory lead by 1% at the general election it most likely still leads to a hung parliament and Labour and SNP government same as all the other polls, though as it is a GMB poll treat with some care
That's a slur on the UK's top pollster.
No, it is a fact.
Survation's final 2017 poll was Con 41.3% Lab 40.4%.
I was referring to your comment 'though as it is a GMB poll treat with some care'
I would treat any poll commissioned by a body aligned with one of the main parties with some caution regardless of the pollster even if I would not dismiss it entirely
It's not glamourous but my perception is people are starting slowly to listen to us again as the memory of Coalition fades - the Party's policy on Brexit remains a problem though I sense some nuance developing from Cable away from slavish adherence to the pre-23/6/16 REMAIN position.
Listening to you SAY WHAT though? The only noise coming out of the LibDems is that self-same problem Brexit policy. There is literally nothing else coming out into the public consciousness.
If we assume UKIP on 2% that gives Labour a majority of 2.
Given Survation underestimated the Tory lead by 1% at the general election it most likely still leads to a hung parliament and Labour and SNP government same as all the other polls, though as it is a GMB poll treat with some care
That's a slur on the UK's top pollster.
No, it is a fact.
Survation's final 2017 poll was Con 41.3% Lab 40.4%.
I notice the Telegraph today (which I buy for my Dad and the General Knowledge crossword, the one being harder work than the other) was banging the drum for tax cuts because Philip Hammond has a £7.5 billion windfall (apparently).
I actually thought Conservatives believed in sound financial management so reducing the deficit and paying down the debt seem much more sensible than this ludicrous notion of cutting taxes but for some reason the Telegraph believes we should have a little more money together and sod future generations stuck with our debt interest.
The problem is the Right is as bad as the Left when it comes to economics.
It's just the dying breath of neoliberalism.
Taxes need to (and will) rise a bit over the next 10 years, whichever party is in power.
Reducing tax rates can increase tax takes, if done correctly.
Fine, if it can be made to work, but what needs to happen is the tax % of GDP has to rise a bit, if that can be done through lower tax rates then ok (though I'm a sceptic). Our problem is many people in this country want Scandanavian levels of public service on US levels of taxation. Result: excessive debt.
If we assume UKIP on 2% that gives Labour a majority of 2.
Given Survation underestimated the Tory lead by 1% at the general election it most likely still leads to a hung parliament and Labour and SNP government same as all the other polls, though as it is a GMB poll treat with some care
That's a slur on the UK's top pollster.
No, it is a fact.
Survation's final 2017 poll was Con 41.3% Lab 40.4%.
As for Discovery, I was concerned they rushed to the Mirror Universe so quickly. It showed a lack of ideas to this observer.
Well they were floundering. The showrunner had been fired, the toy manufacturers were pissed off, the fandom were screaming. They tried arcs (Tyler is a Klingon! Lorca is Evil Lorca!) and it does feel like they were throwing everything in just to see what would stick. However some of it did stick, so hopefully it'll turn out OK. Hopefully... (crosses fingers)
So 52% still want Brexit (80% on the government's current terms) and only 33% want Brexit to be abandoned or a second referendum.
Provided we get a FTA that ends free movement most voters will be satisfied
An FTA ending free movement means a border down the Irish Sea. Do you think this government can deliver that? Do you think people will have happy with an FTA if it is accompanied by tax rises and a recession?
There was a poll in Northern Ireland in December asking the question. 58% in favour to 40% against prefer Northern Ireland to stay in the CU and SM on its own in preference to a hard border in Ireland
Reducing tax rates can increase tax takes, if done correctly.
If we are to believe the numbers, just over 300,000 people pay about 40% of the total income tax take and a significant portion of the population (more than half ?) pay no income tax at all.
Is that sustainable ? In trying to lift the poorest out of paying income tax (but not NI) the LDs and the Coalition were trying to help but Osborne at the same time pulled more people into higher rate taxation by not moving the threshold to higher rate taxation in line with wage inflation so more people moved into the 40% tax bracket.
As always, the very wealthy seem to have plenty of friends in financial journalism so we are seeing the traditional stories of how badly the rich are coping and how much tax they are paying and why we should feel sorry for them and support tax cuts for them.
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
Reducing tax rates can increase tax takes, if done correctly.
If we are to believe the numbers, just over 300,000 people pay about 40% of the total income tax take and a significant portion of the population (more than half ?) pay no income tax at all.
Is that sustainable ? In trying to lift the poorest out of paying income tax (but not NI) the LDs and the Coalition were trying to help but Osborne at the same time pulled more people into higher rate taxation by not moving the threshold to higher rate taxation in line with wage inflation so more people moved into the 40% tax bracket.
As always, the very wealthy seem to have plenty of friends in financial journalism so we are seeing the traditional stories of how badly the rich are coping and how much tax they are paying and why we should feel sorry for them and support tax cuts for them.
Always worth bearing in mind that income tax only accounts for circa 25% of government revenues. The poorest who pay no income tax probably pay a bigger proportion of the income in VAT than many of us on here.
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Well you certainly cannot get control of the black economy with free movement, at least work permits offer the chance to get control of it
The black economy is people being paid to do work, where no records are kept and no tax is paid.
To be employed, everyone should require ID and a National Insurance number. (And the two need to match, obviously.)
The black economy is based around people who don't pay tax, often don't have an ID, and frequently don't have a right to work.
We could, and should, start enforcing rules on this now. (The rules exist, it's just we don't enforce them.)
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
If we assume UKIP on 2% that gives Labour a majority of 2.
Given Survation underestimated the Tory lead by 1% at the general election it most likely still leads to a hung parliament and Labour and SNP government same as all the other polls, though as it is a GMB poll treat with some care
That's a slur on the UK's top pollster.
No, it is a fact.
Survation's final 2017 poll was Con 41.3% Lab 40.4%. Tory lead 0.9%.
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Well you certainly cannot get control of the black economy with free movement, at least work permits offer the chance to get control of it
The black economy is people being paid to do work, where no records are kept and no tax is paid.
To be employed, everyone should require ID and a National Insurance number. (And the two need to match, obviously.)
The black economy is based around people who don't pay tax, often don't have an ID, and frequently don't have a right to work.
We could, and should, start enforcing rules on this now. (The rules exist, it's just we don't enforce them.)
On a sheer level of fun and, for want of a better word, Trekness, I would go for The Orville too. It's a bit inconsistent, and in a way predictable, but even as someone who only saw Trek from TNG onwards, it just felt tonally more like Trek (not surprising since it was full of trek plots and cliches).
Which is not to say I didn't like Discovery. More than I thought i would.The acting was mostly stellar, and some of my favourite Trek parts were the darker ones, and extended arcs on DS9 relating to the war with the Dominion and a less saccharine take on the Federation. But for me Trek was always supposed to be about, well, discovery, and though it was the name of the ship there didn't seem all that much of that going on, nor does a format of a whole season devoted to a single theme lend itself to that. Things don't have to be be 'monster of the week' all the time, but Trek lends itself to that. Of course, without a fresh continuity its hard for Trek to do that, since all the races and big events are known unless they go post 24th century.
Thank you. It might be that the January Survation was an outlier, but it does seem odd that Survation and Ipsos Mori picked up such different movements over the last six weeks.
Listening to you SAY WHAT though? The only noise coming out of the LibDems is that self-same problem Brexit policy. There is literally nothing else coming out into the public consciousness.
Maybe that's what you hear but it's not what I hear. Vince Cable has modified the line in recent weeks and it was interesting to see Tom Brake challenging Labour on their policy re: the Customs Union.
I see a move away from the pre-23/6/16 position to something more nuanced - remaining within the Customs Union certainly and while unable to be part of the Single Market itself adopting much of the SM.
I'm still unhappy with that position personally but I'm warming toward membership of the CU only because I have grave doubts that the UK on its own will be able to achieve better trading deals with the rest of the world than as part of the EU.
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
No, we shouldn't, 'Ihre papiers, Bitte' won't wash in Britain; and we can enforce rules without them.
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
No, we shouldn't, 'Ihre papiers, Bitte' won't wash in Britain; and we can enforce rules without them.
Reducing tax rates can increase tax takes, if done correctly.
If we are to believe the numbers, just over 300,000 people pay about 40% of the total income tax take and a significant portion of the population (more than half ?) pay no income tax at all.
Is that sustainable ? In trying to lift the poorest out of paying income tax (but not NI) the LDs and the Coalition were trying to help but Osborne at the same time pulled more people into higher rate taxation by not moving the threshold to higher rate taxation in line with wage inflation so more people moved into the 40% tax bracket.
As always, the very wealthy seem to have plenty of friends in financial journalism so we are seeing the traditional stories of how badly the rich are coping and how much tax they are paying and why we should feel sorry for them and support tax cuts for them.
Productivity would almost certainly be raised by moving 1% per year of NI contributions from employees to employers, giving the former a tax cut and the latter an incentive to improve processes.
Unfortuntately I don't often get home in time to watch it, although it is nice to catch it when I can: it's odd comparing their younger selves to season five.
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
Why? Proving you are allowed to work doesn't require everyone be given a new ID card.
Listening to you SAY WHAT though? The only noise coming out of the LibDems is that self-same problem Brexit policy. There is literally nothing else coming out into the public consciousness.
Maybe that's what you hear but it's not what I hear. Vince Cable has modified the line in recent weeks and it was interesting to see Tom Brake challenging Labour on their policy re: the Customs Union.
I see a move away from the pre-23/6/16 position to something more nuanced - remaining within the Customs Union certainly and while unable to be part of the Single Market itself adopting much of the SM.
I'm still unhappy with that position personally but I'm warming toward membership of the CU only because I have grave doubts that the UK on its own will be able to achieve better trading deals with the rest of the world than as part of the EU.
Mr stodge, I have a lot of time for your posts, but outside of LDs, very few hear anything from the leadership. I'm a pretty committed anorak and haven't heard anything for weeks. It doesn't even cut through on PB...
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
No, we shouldn't, 'Ihre papiers, Bitte' won't wash in Britain; and we can enforce rules without them.
Having ID cards wouldn’t mean obliging people to carry them at all times.
Thank you. It might be that the January Survation was an outlier, but it does seem odd that Survation and Ipsos Mori picked up such different movements over the last six weeks.
Ipsos MORI picked up a decent movement for Mrs May in the Leader ratings so it does make the Ipsos MORI voting intention look plausible.
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
No, we shouldn't, 'Ihre papiers, Bitte' won't wash in Britain; and we can enforce rules without them.
Having ID cards wouldn’t mean obliging people to carry them at all times.
On a sheer level of fun and, for want of a better word, Trekness, I would go for The Orville too. It's a bit inconsistent, and in a way predictable, but even as someone who only saw Trek from TNG onwards, it just felt tonally more like Trek (not surprising since it was full of trek plots and cliches).
Which is not to say I didn't like Discovery. More than I thought i would.The acting was mostly stellar, and some of my favourite Trek parts were the darker ones, and extended arcs on DS9 relating to the war with the Dominion and a less saccharine take on the Federation. But for me Trek was always supposed to be about, well, discovery, and though it was the name of the ship there didn't seem all that much of that going on, nor does a format of a whole season devoted to a single theme lend itself to that. Things don't have to be be 'monster of the week' all the time, but Trek lends itself to that. Of course, without a fresh continuity its hard for Trek to do that, since all the races and big events are known unless they go post 24th century.
Just imagine how good a Trek reboot would be that focused on the time of the first Romulan war using the "primitive" ships described in the ToS era episode Balance of Terror. Somewhere between the Battlestar Galactica reboot and the "dark" Trek of the Dominion War DS9 arc, with a healthy dose of the submarines-in-space feel of Wrath of Khan.
The problem is not the universities but employers who only look at Oxbridge and the hiring manager's alma mater.
An Oxbridge degree is certainly an advantage but outside say the commercial bar and the Foreign Office very few employers will only recruit Oxbridge graduates
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
No, we shouldn't, 'Ihre papiers, Bitte' won't wash in Britain; and we can enforce rules without them.
Having ID cards wouldn’t mean obliging people to carry them at all times.
I'm yet to hear a convincing argument for the need of them at all...
On a sheer level of fun and, for want of a better word, Trekness, I would go for The Orville too. It's a bit inconsistent, and in a way predictable, but even as someone who only saw Trek from TNG onwards, it just felt tonally more like Trek (not surprising since it was full of trek plots and cliches).
Which is not to say I didn't like Discovery. More than I thought i would.The acting was mostly stellar, and some of my favourite Trek parts were the darker ones, and extended arcs on DS9 relating to the war with the Dominion and a less saccharine take on the Federation. But for me Trek was always supposed to be about, well, discovery, and though it was the name of the ship there didn't seem all that much of that going on, nor does a format of a whole season devoted to a single theme lend itself to that. Things don't have to be be 'monster of the week' all the time, but Trek lends itself to that. Of course, without a fresh continuity its hard for Trek to do that, since all the races and big events are known unless they go post 24th century.
Just imagine how good a Trek reboot would be that focused on the time of the first Romulan war using the "primitive" ships described in the ToS era episode Balance of Terror. Somewhere between the Battlestar Galactica reboot and the "dark" Trek of the Dominion War DS9 arc, with a healthy dose of the submarines-in-space feel of Wrath of Khan.
I fear I have strayed onto the wrong site - I was looking for the PB site that majors on Brexit, Brexit and er... Brexit? Can someone post me a link?
On a sheer level of fun and, for want of a better word, Trekness, I would go for The Orville too. It's a bit inconsistent, and in a way predictable, but even as someone who only saw Trek from TNG onwards, it just felt tonally more like Trek (not surprising since it was full of trek plots and cliches).
Which is not to say I didn't like Discovery. More than I thought i would.The acting was mostly stellar, and some of my favourite Trek parts were the darker ones, and extended arcs on DS9 relating to the war with the Dominion and a less saccharine take on the Federation. But for me Trek was always supposed to be about, well, discovery, and though it was the name of the ship there didn't seem all that much of that going on, nor does a format of a whole season devoted to a single theme lend itself to that. Things don't have to be be 'monster of the week' all the time, but Trek lends itself to that. Of course, without a fresh continuity its hard for Trek to do that, since all the races and big events are known unless they go post 24th century.
On a sheer level of fun and, for want of a better word, Trekness, I would go for The Orville too. It's a bit inconsistent, and in a way predictable, but even as someone who only saw Trek from TNG onwards, it just felt tonally more like Trek (not surprising since it was full of trek plots and cliches).
Which is not to say I didn't like Discovery. More than I thought i would.The acting was mostly stellar, and some of my favourite Trek parts were the darker ones, and extended arcs on DS9 relating to the war with the Dominion and a less saccharine take on the Federation. But for me Trek was always supposed to be about, well, discovery, and though it was the name of the ship there didn't seem all that much of that going on, nor does a format of a whole season devoted to a single theme lend itself to that. Things don't have to be be 'monster of the week' all the time, but Trek lends itself to that. Of course, without a fresh continuity its hard for Trek to do that, since all the races and big events are known unless they go post 24th century.
Just imagine how good a Trek reboot would be that focused on the time of the first Romulan war using the "primitive" ships described in the ToS era episode Balance of Terror. Somewhere between the Battlestar Galactica reboot and the "dark" Trek of the Dominion War DS9 arc, with a healthy dose of the submarines-in-space feel of Wrath of Khan.
It does sound fascinating. Sounds best suited to distinct Trek miniseries', focusing 5-10 episode arcs on different periods of history and characters or the like. Probably not a profitable venture to do it that way I suppose.
I'm not the biggest Trek fan ever (I've actually not seen TOS outside the movies with the cast), and I think people who dismissed the movies as not having deep enough themes or whatever were unfair (since while the best Trek 'said' deep things, a buttload of Trek was just goofy, for better or worse), but for a longer series focused on a ship, exploration and optimism, to some extent, just feel more right to me.
I had to laugh early on in Discovery when the lead was sentenced (not really a spoiler for anyone who has not seen it, it was the first or second episode) and how did the good and noble federation apparently conduct its sentencing hearings? Like a dystopia, with a dark room and judges with their faces hidden in shadow.
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
Careful. You must be close to being told that if you don't like it you can go somewhere else.
On a sheer level of fun and, for want of a better word, Trekness, I would go for The Orville too. It's a bit inconsistent, and in a way predictable, but even as someone who only saw Trek from TNG onwards, it just felt tonally more like Trek (not surprising since it was full of trek plots and cliches).
Which is not to say I didn't like Discovery. More than I thought i would.The acting was mostly stellar, and some of my favourite Trek parts were the darker ones, and extended arcs on DS9 relating to the war with the Dominion and a less saccharine take on the Federation. But for me Trek was always supposed to be about, well, discovery, and though it was the name of the ship there didn't seem all that much of that going on, nor does a format of a whole season devoted to a single theme lend itself to that. Things don't have to be be 'monster of the week' all the time, but Trek lends itself to that. Of course, without a fresh continuity its hard for Trek to do that, since all the races and big events are known unless they go post 24th century.
Just imagine how good a Trek reboot would be that focused on the time of the first Romulan war using the "primitive" ships described in the ToS era episode Balance of Terror. Somewhere between the Battlestar Galactica reboot and the "dark" Trek of the Dominion War DS9 arc, with a healthy dose of the submarines-in-space feel of Wrath of Khan.
I fear I have strayed onto the wrong site - I was looking for the PB site that majors on Brexit, Brexit and er... Brexit? Can someone post me a link?
Hee.
It has often been my experience that people who are nerdily obsessed with one thing (be it politics, sci-fi or, indeed, sports) are usually prone to nerdy obsession on other things.
Although, trek captains seem to me to be likely to be Brexit supporters. Sure, they were all into the harmony of different groups working together in harmony business, but in plenty of Trek series most of the Admirals we saw, the elite, were out of touch fools who didn't know what needed to be done and captains frequently disobeyed orders and ignored the prime directive in the interest of doing things their own way, and despite their claims of harmony one species totally dominated things.
It's partly a joke, but seriously, not even the most loyal LDs can be happy with the present situation which sees them getting less publicity than a party which has had god knows how many leaders in the past year.
It's not all about "publicity" as you put it. It's about the hard graft of working seats, re-building the membership, getting new people out and canvassing.
It's not glamourous but my perception is people are starting slowly to listen to us again as the memory of Coalition fades - the Party's policy on Brexit remains a problem though I sense some nuance developing from Cable away from slavish adherence to the pre-23/6/16 REMAIN position.
Asking serious questions about the future economic relationship with the EU is entirely legitimate and I'm yet to be fully convinced we will find as advantageous trade terms outside the EU than as part of the Customs Union. Protectionism or wanting what's best for your own country's industry isn't, I suspect, a wholly American trait.
John Stuart Mill once described the Tories as the stupid party. The trouble is that if you are generally in favour of the government doing less you don't generally have to think that much. Liberals and the left really do as they tend to believe in active government. If they are out of ideas it's no surprise the right will win by default. There has been a lot of talk about immigration. But more broadly over several decades we have seen the capital/labour balance shift massively in capital's favour, in part due to the openness of the world that liberals are so keen on. Yet it seems increasingly obvious that this imbalance is very politically destabilising. Don't forget even Conservative leaders up to Thatcher thought it necessary to show some deference towards labour for the sake of political stability or even fairness.
What happened? Were liberals unsympathetic to the plight of ordinary people all along? Maybe they just absorbed the mood of the time? As John Major said Britain is a classless society, by which I think he meant that a boy from Brixton with no education could become prime minister. And then John Prescott (yes I'm serious) said we're all middle class now, by which he probably meant that many working class people could increasingly enjoy consumer goods and lifestyles that were once exclusive. It no longer seemed that necessary to pay attention to how 'the other half' were doing. And for all that was wrong with the referendum it is only really that which has put all this to the forefront.
Reducing tax rates can increase tax takes, if done correctly.
If we are to believe the numbers, just over 300,000 people pay about 40% of the total income tax take and a significant portion of the population (more than half ?) pay no income tax at all.
Is that sustainable ? In trying to lift the poorest out of paying income tax (but not NI) the LDs and the Coalition were trying to help but Osborne at the same time pulled more people into higher rate taxation by not moving the threshold to higher rate taxation in line with wage inflation so more people moved into the 40% tax bracket.
As always, the very wealthy seem to have plenty of friends in financial journalism so we are seeing the traditional stories of how badly the rich are coping and how much tax they are paying and why we should feel sorry for them and support tax cuts for them.
Always worth bearing in mind that income tax only accounts for circa 25% of government revenues. The poorest who pay no income tax probably pay a bigger proportion of the income in VAT than many of us on here.
By the regular discussions about 1st class air travel, that could probably be quite quickly rectified by putting VAT on travel..
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
For all the fire and fury from remain supporters here and in the EU I would agree that opinion on Brexit and in the polls seems static even allowing for the poll from the GMB Union.
This poison case is becoming more serious day by day and how much real concern the population in Salisbury must have. It must be playing havoc with local business and we should all have a thought for all those caught up in this outrage.
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will join England in boycotting the World Cup if this case leads back to Russia
Reducing tax rates can increase tax takes, if done correctly.
If we are to believe the numbers, just over 300,000 people pay about 40% of the total income tax take and a significant portion of the population (more than half ?) pay no income tax at all.
Is that sustainable ? In trying to lift the poorest out of paying income tax (but not NI) the LDs and the Coalition were trying to help but Osborne at the same time pulled more people into higher rate taxation by not moving the threshold to higher rate taxation in line with wage inflation so more people moved into the 40% tax bracket.
As always, the very wealthy seem to have plenty of friends in financial journalism so we are seeing the traditional stories of how badly the rich are coping and how much tax they are paying and why we should feel sorry for them and support tax cuts for them.
Always worth bearing in mind that income tax only accounts for circa 25% of government revenues. The poorest who pay no income tax probably pay a bigger proportion of the income in VAT than many of us on here.
They also pay Fuel, Alcohol, Tobacco, and many other taxes. Indeed these are likely to be a higher proportion of their incomes, as with VAT.
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
No, we shouldn't, 'Ihre papiers, Bitte' won't wash in Britain; and we can enforce rules without them.
But we don't though! And never have!
Unless they come from the EU, suddenly the Civil Service is ready to gold plate them! Look at the looming BYOD issue for the City...
Productivity would almost certainly be raised by moving 1% per year of NI contributions from employees to employers, giving the former a tax cut and the latter an incentive to improve processes.
That's an interesting point and something I've seen argued elsewhere.
Another argument against mass migration is it has created a huge pool of cheap labour which has made it easier for firms to hire people rather than look at improving business processes via technology, automaton or whatever.
If there's a problem, just hire someone, there are plenty of people out there, well, especially at the cheap end of the labour market. There are skill shortages in some professional areas as we all know.
The problem will be if and when the pool of cheap labour fades - there will probably be a pike in wage inflation but also companies which have relied on labour to plug the gap in competitiveness will find their competitors who did invest in technology having a huge advantage.
Once again, public policy is dictated by short term gain rather than serious thought.
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
No, we shouldn't, 'Ihre papiers, Bitte' won't wash in Britain; and we can enforce rules without them.
But we don't though! And never have!
Unless they come from the EU, suddenly the Civil Service is ready to gold plate them! Look at the looming BYOD issue for the City...
Ha! Just read that article on The Register. How stupid!
The problem is not the universities but employers who only look at Oxbridge and the hiring manager's alma mater.
The problem is as much the universities. If you think the level of difficulty of the same subject from different institutions is identical you are sorely mistaken.
And of course there are some that like used to be the case with A-Levels, split everything into small modules and allow students to have multiple goes at them. And there are institutions who don't allow any of this.
On a sheer level of fun and, for want of a better word, Trekness, I would go for The Orville too. It's a bit inconsistent, and in a way predictable, but even as someone who only saw Trek from TNG onwards, it just felt tonally more like Trek (not surprising since it was full of trek plots and cliches).
Which is not to say I didn't like Discovery. More than I thought i would.The acting was mostly stellar, and some of my favourite Trek parts were the darker ones, and extended arcs on DS9 relating to the war with the Dominion and a less saccharine take on the Federation. But for me Trek was always supposed to be about, well, discovery, and though it was the name of the ship there didn't seem all that much of that going on, nor does a format of a whole season devoted to a single theme lend itself to that. Things don't have to be be 'monster of the week' all the time, but Trek lends itself to that. Of course, without a fresh continuity its hard for Trek to do that, since all the races and big events are known unless they go post 24th century.
Just imagine how good a Trek reboot would be that focused on the time of the first Romulan war using the "primitive" ships described in the ToS era episode Balance of Terror. Somewhere between the Battlestar Galactica reboot and the "dark" Trek of the Dominion War DS9 arc, with a healthy dose of the submarines-in-space feel of Wrath of Khan.
I fear I have strayed onto the wrong site - I was looking for the PB site that majors on Brexit, Brexit and er... Brexit? Can someone post me a link?
Be quiet, or I'll start talking about "The Expanse"...
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
No, we shouldn't, 'Ihre papiers, Bitte' won't wash in Britain; and we can enforce rules without them.
Having ID cards wouldn’t mean obliging people to carry them at all times.
I'm yet to hear a convincing argument for the need of them at all...
There was a discussion earlier about reforming the way state services are accessed. Having ID cards would make this much easier to administer.
Observers say that with Russia, it increasingly looks as if the intelligence agencies are happy with "implausible deniability" - even if it seems obvious they are behind an act, they simply say "prove it" and try to muddy the waters with misinformation as much as possible.
Surely not?
In all seriousness, if they are behind it in some fashion, the tactic seems to work.
Even though this sort of thing is clearly highly targeted, I am glad to be on the other side of Salisbury Plain.
Observers say that with Russia, it increasingly looks as if the intelligence agencies are happy with "implausible deniability" - even if it seems obvious they are behind an act, they simply say "prove it" and try to muddy the waters with misinformation as much as possible.
Surely not?
In all seriousness, if they are behind it in some fashion, the tactic seems to work.
I presume the tw@tter trolls are very busy spreading the misinformation.
Productivity would almost certainly be raised by moving 1% per year of NI contributions from employees to employers, giving the former a tax cut and the latter an incentive to improve processes.
That's an interesting point and something I've seen argued elsewhere.
Another argument against mass migration is it has created a huge pool of cheap labour which has made it easier for firms to hire people rather than look at improving business processes via technology, automaton or whatever.
If there's a problem, just hire someone, there are plenty of people out there, well, especially at the cheap end of the labour market. There are skill shortages in some professional areas as we all know.
The problem will be if and when the pool of cheap labour fades - there will probably be a pike in wage inflation but also companies which have relied on labour to plug the gap in competitiveness will find their competitors who did invest in technology having a huge advantage.
Once again, public policy is dictated by short term gain rather than serious thought.
Yup. I spent time and money investing in tech to do mind numbing tasks within my business, others just throw minimum wage labour at it....
Productivity would almost certainly be raised by moving 1% per year of NI contributions from employees to employers, giving the former a tax cut and the latter an incentive to improve processes.
That's an interesting point and something I've seen argued elsewhere.
Another argument against mass migration is it has created a huge pool of cheap labour which has made it easier for firms to hire people rather than look at improving business processes via technology, automaton or whatever.
If there's a problem, just hire someone, there are plenty of people out there, well, especially at the cheap end of the labour market. There are skill shortages in some professional areas as we all know.
The problem will be if and when the pool of cheap labour fades - there will probably be a pike in wage inflation but also companies which have relied on labour to plug the gap in competitiveness will find their competitors who did invest in technology having a huge advantage.
Once again, public policy is dictated by short term gain rather than serious thought.
Surely the problem with productivity is in large part due to the expansion of jobs in industries that are difficult or impossible to automate and get the same experience? I am thinking of health and social care, but also cleaning, retail, hospitality and hotels. Much of these are poorly paid but inevitably human centered. Automation works best in manufacturing, but that is a very small percentage of employment now.
On a sheer level of fun and, for want of a better word, Trekness, I would go for The Orville too. It's a bit inconsistent, and in a way predictable, but even as someone who only saw Trek from TNG onwards, it just felt tonally more like Trek (not surprising since it was full of trek plots and cliches).
Which is not to say I didn't like Discovery. More than I thought i would.The acting was mostly stellar, and some of my favourite Trek parts were the darker ones, and extended arcs on DS9 relating to the war with the Dominion and a less saccharine take on the Federation. But for me Trek was always supposed to be about, well, discovery, and though it was the name of the ship there didn't seem all that much of that going on, nor does a format of a whole season devoted to a single theme lend itself to that. Things don't have to be be 'monster of the week' all the time, but Trek lends itself to that. Of course, without a fresh continuity its hard for Trek to do that, since all the races and big events are known unless they go post 24th century.
Just imagine how good a Trek reboot would be that focused on the time of the first Romulan war using the "primitive" ships described in the ToS era episode Balance of Terror. Somewhere between the Battlestar Galactica reboot and the "dark" Trek of the Dominion War DS9 arc, with a healthy dose of the submarines-in-space feel of Wrath of Khan.
I fear I have strayed onto the wrong site - I was looking for the PB site that majors on Brexit, Brexit and er... Brexit? Can someone post me a link?
Hee.
It has often been my experience that people who are nerdily obsessed with one thing (be it politics, sci-fi or, indeed, sports) are usually prone to nerdy obsession on other things.
Although, trek captains seem to me to be likely to be Brexit supporters. Sure, they were all into the harmony of different groups working together in harmony business, but in plenty of Trek series most of the Admirals we saw, the elite, were out of touch fools who didn't know what needed to be done and captains frequently disobeyed orders and ignored the prime directive in the interest of doing things their own way, and despite their claims of harmony one species totally dominated things.
To understand the Federation, one has to only look at how they treat the Maquis - whose home planets were expropriated by the government and handed over without their consent to a hostile power. To the Federation, the needs of the many do outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
And let's not even get started on their tacit support for the secret police force, Section 31...
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
No, we shouldn't, 'Ihre papiers, Bitte' won't wash in Britain; and we can enforce rules without them.
Having ID cards wouldn’t mean obliging people to carry them at all times.
I'm yet to hear a convincing argument for the need of them at all...
There was a discussion earlier about reforming the way state services are accessed. Having ID cards would make this much easier to administer.
Still yet to hear a convincing argument. What about a positive human impact argument for ID cards. Everything I've heard is just to further the interests of the state...
Access of state services can be achieved by proving residency or entitlement now. There is no need for a further bit of ID.
Just imagine how good a Trek reboot would be that focused on the time of the first Romulan war using the "primitive" ships described in the ToS era episode Balance of Terror. Somewhere between the Battlestar Galactica reboot and the "dark" Trek of the Dominion War DS9 arc, with a healthy dose of the submarines-in-space feel of Wrath of Khan.
I fear I have strayed onto the wrong site - I was looking for the PB site that majors on Brexit, Brexit and er... Brexit? Can someone post me a link?
Hee.
It has often been my experience that people who are nerdily obsessed with one thing (be it politics, sci-fi or, indeed, sports) are usually prone to nerdy obsession on other things.
Although, trek captains seem to me to be likely to be Brexit supporters. Sure, they were all into the harmony of different groups working together in harmony business, but in plenty of Trek series most of the Admirals we saw, the elite, were out of touch fools who didn't know what needed to be done and captains frequently disobeyed orders and ignored the prime directive in the interest of doing things their own way, and despite their claims of harmony one species totally dominated things.
To understand the Federation, one has to only look at how they treat the Maquis - whose home planets were expropriated by the government and handed over without their consent to a hostile power. To the Federation, the needs of the many do outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
And let's not even get started on their tacit support for the secret police force, Section 31...
As much as I like to lose myself in an optimistic vision of the Federation (if not as sappy and boring as my recollection of early TNG), I want a Trek show to on the whole be about good people trying to do good, even if the universe is too dark for it to be entirely black and white, I do enjoy extrapolating a much darker, insidious vision from the opportunities we get.
You cannot begin to deal with those already here unless you gain control of who wants to come
Indeed but it's an immigration AND a migration policy we need. I don't believe the one exists without the other.
IF you are going to have a system where residency is dependent on having a work permit or visa how is that to be policed ? I don't believe the Government or its supporters have the slightest notion of the number of EU migrants living and working in the black economy.
Or, indeed, the number of NON-EU migrants (like Albanians) living and working here illegally.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
We should require everyone to have ID cards.
No, we shouldn't, 'Ihre papiers, Bitte' won't wash in Britain; and we can enforce rules without them.
Having ID cards wouldn’t mean obliging people to carry them at all times.
I'm yet to hear a convincing argument for the need of them at all...
There was a discussion earlier about reforming the way state services are accessed. Having ID cards would make this much easier to administer.
Still yet to hear a convincing argument. What about a positive human impact argument for ID cards. Everything I've heard is just to further the interests of the state...
Access of state services can be achieved by proving residency or entitlement now. There is no need for a further bit of ID.
Don't think of it as a further bit of ID but rather a better bit of ID. More convenient than collecting utility bills and so on.
If the NHS, for example, operated on this basis, they would have the kind of admin systems needed to cross charge other European countries for reciprocal health treatment. At the moment most of that money is lost simply because we don't have adequate systems.
Just imagine how good a Trek reboot would be that focused on the time of the first Romulan war using the "primitive" ships described in the ToS era episode Balance of Terror. Somewhere between the Battlestar Galactica reboot and the "dark" Trek of the Dominion War DS9 arc, with a healthy dose of the submarines-in-space feel of Wrath of Khan.
I fear I have strayed onto the wrong site - I was looking for the PB site that majors on Brexit, Brexit and er... Brexit? Can someone post me a link?
Hee.
It has often been my experience that people who are nerdily obsessed with one thing (be it politics, sci-fi or, indeed, sports) are usually prone to nerdy obsession on other things.
Although, trek captains seem to me to be likely to be Brexit supporters. Sure, they were all into the harmony of different groups working together in harmony business, but in plenty of Trek series most of the Admirals we saw, the elite, were out of touch fools who didn't know what needed to be done and captains frequently disobeyed orders and ignored the prime directive in the interest of doing things their own way, and despite their claims of harmony one species totally dominated things.
To understand the Federation, one has to only look at how they treat the Maquis - whose home planets were expropriated by the government and handed over without their consent to a hostile power. To the Federation, the needs of the many do outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
And let's not even get started on their tacit support for the secret police force, Section 31...
As much as I like to lose myself in an optimistic vision of the Federation (if not as sappy and boring as my recollection of early TNG), I want a Trek show to on the whole be about good people trying to do good, even if the universe is too dark for it to be entirely black and white, I do enjoy extrapolating a much darker, insidious vision from the opportunities we get.
Apart from the original series, which I watched as a child as it was first broadcast, I haven't seen any of the spin offs including the movies.
Just imagine how good a Trek reboot would be that focused on the time of the first Romulan war using the "primitive" ships described in the ToS era episode Balance of Terror. Somewhere between the Battlestar Galactica reboot and the "dark" Trek of the Dominion War DS9 arc, with a healthy dose of the submarines-in-space feel of Wrath of Khan.
I fear I have strayed onto the wrong site - I was looking for the PB site that majors on Brexit, Brexit and er... Brexit? Can someone post me a link?
Hee.
It has often been my experience that people who are nerdily obsessed with one thing (be it politics, sci-fi or, indeed, sports) are usually prone to nerdy obsession on other things.
Although, trek captains seem to me to be likely to be Brexit supporters. Sure, they were all into the harmony of different groups working together in harmony business, but in plenty of Trek series most of the Admirals we saw, the elite, were out of touch fools who didn't know what needed to be done and captains frequently disobeyed orders and ignored the prime directive in the interest of doing things their own way, and despite their claims of harmony one species totally dominated things.
To understand the Federation, one has to only look at how they treat the Maquis - whose home planets were expropriated by the government and handed over without their consent to a hostile power. To the Federation, the needs of the many do outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
And let's not even get started on their tacit support for the secret police force, Section 31...
As much as I like to lose myself in an optimistic vision of the Federation (if not as sappy and boring as my recollection of early TNG), I want a Trek show to on the whole be about good people trying to do good, even if the universe is too dark for it to be entirely black and white, I do enjoy extrapolating a much darker, insidious vision from the opportunities we get.
Apart from the original series, which I watched as a child as it was first broadcast, I haven't seen any of the spin offs including the movies.
Honestly I was into the BSG reboot a lot lot more. But then I am a nerd.
...Babylon 5 fans - a lost tribe of ultras slowly sinking into obscurity?...
Damn, you just made me feel a thousand years old...
Babylon 5's problem is that a lot of the cast have died, most of them far far too young.
The other problem is there's huge issues about re-releasing the original show and TV movies.
Hurrah for Pick TV for showing it.
Watching it on Pick for the first time since the original run, its shocking how quickly some of the arcs are resolved despite loads of really dull filler episodes. Still can't see what all the fuss was originally and still think its overrated. Although this rerun is beyond where I gave up originally so I guess I see it through if they show everything otherwise I might dig out the complete boxset from the garage as I'd been meaning to watch it again for years...
(NB: Not a major Trek fan, but I massively preferred DS9 and is my favourite Trek series after TOS)
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
For all the fire and fury from remain supporters here and in the EU I would agree that opinion on Brexit and in the polls seems static even allowing for the poll from the GMB Union.
This poison case is becoming more serious day by day and how much real concern the population in Salisbury must have. It must be playing havoc with local business and we should all have a thought for all those caught up in this outrage.
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will join England in boycotting the World Cup if this case leads back to Russia
I live near Salisbury and plan to go shopping there next week - this isn't going to affect my plans. I don't think many people in Salisbury are too worried - the time to be worried was last Sunday, when we were all unaware. It's a bit like after a terrorist attack or an air crash... you just have to get on with your life an recognise that the chances of being impacted by something like this is very small.
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
Agree. The best thing we can do is go to Russia AND WIN THE DAMNED CUP.
...Babylon 5 fans - a lost tribe of ultras slowly sinking into obscurity?...
Damn, you just made me feel a thousand years old...
Babylon 5's problem is that a lot of the cast have died, most of them far far too young.
The other problem is there's huge issues about re-releasing the original show and TV movies.
Hurrah for Pick TV for showing it.
Watching it on Pick for the first time since the original run, its shocking how quickly some of the arcs are resolved despite loads of really dull filler episodes. Still can't see what all the fuss was originally and still think its overrated. Although this rerun is beyond where I gave up originally so I guess I see it through if they show everything otherwise I might dig out the complete boxset from the garage as I'd been meaning to watch it again for years...
(NB: Not a major Trek fan, but I massively preferred DS9 and is my favourite Trek series after TOS)
DS9 is my favourite Trek.
In defence of Babylon 5 the way some of the arcs were wrapped up were due to outside influences such as Michael O'Hare leaving because of his mental health problems, which were only revealed after he died.
It was also expected that the show would be cancelled at season 4, so they brought forward the season 5 plotline into season 4, and that's why season 5 seemed so empty.
Explains why Claudia Christian didn't appear in season 5 except the last episode, because that episode was filmed as part of season 4 in the expectation of cancellation.
The whole arcs about why the Minbari surrendered at the Battle of the Line, and what happened to B4 were awesome.
B5 was probably the first serialised sci-fi show, they set the precedent for many other shows.
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
For all the fire and fury from remain supporters here and in the EU I would agree that opinion on Brexit and in the polls seems static even allowing for the poll from the GMB Union.
This poison case is becoming more serious day by day and how much real concern the population in Salisbury must have. It must be playing havoc with local business and we should all have a thought for all those caught up in this outrage.
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will join England in boycotting the World Cup if this case leads back to Russia
I live near Salisbury and plan to go shopping there next week - this isn't going to affect my plans. I don't think many people in Salisbury are too worried - the time to be worried was last Sunday, when we were all unaware. It's a bit like after a terrorist attack or an air crash... you just have to get on with your life an recognise that the chances of being impacted by something like this is very small.
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
My hospital has re-circulated its advice on how to medically manage such NBC issues, FWIW.
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
Careful. You must be close to being told that if you don't like it you can go somewhere else.
I was hoping the smiley would let me get away with it
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
Agree. The best thing we can do is go to Russia AND WIN THE DAMNED CUP.
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
I disagree. I think it would be quite a big statement. Would I expect others to follow? Probably not, but that doesn't mean we should be part of another event that is all about allowing Putin to show of his Russia.
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
For all the fire and fury from remain supporters here and in the EU I would agree that opinion on Brexit and in the polls seems static even allowing for the poll from the GMB Union.
This poison case is becoming more serious day by day and how much real concern the population in Salisbury must have. It must be playing havoc with local business and we should all have a thought for all those caught up in this outrage.
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will join England in boycotting the World Cup if this case leads back to Russia
I live near Salisbury and plan to go shopping there next week - this isn't going to affect my plans. I don't think many people in Salisbury are too worried - the time to be worried was last Sunday, when we were all unaware. It's a bit like after a terrorist attack or an air crash... you just have to get on with your life an recognise that the chances of being impacted by something like this is very small.
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will pullout if Russia is complicit in the poisoning.
Depends on how this goes over the next few weeks but it is more than possible that England may have to withdraw
Yeah I feel for them tbh. Been to the London Bankside one a few times after work and generally found it a cut above many other chains. And not a pineapple in site hurrah!
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
For all the fire and fury from remain supporters here and in the EU I would agree that opinion on Brexit and in the polls seems static even allowing for the poll from the GMB Union.
This poison case is becoming more serious day by day and how much real concern the population in Salisbury must have. It must be playing havoc with local business and we should all have a thought for all those caught up in this outrage.
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will join England in boycotting the World Cup if this case leads back to Russia
I live near Salisbury and plan to go shopping there next week - this isn't going to affect my plans. I don't think many people in Salisbury are too worried - the time to be worried was last Sunday, when we were all unaware. It's a bit like after a terrorist attack or an air crash... you just have to get on with your life an recognise that the chances of being impacted by something like this is very small.
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will pullout if Russia is complicit in the poisoning.
Depends on how this goes over the next few weeks but it is more than possible that England may have to withdraw
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
For all the fire and fury from remain supporters here and in the EU I would agree that opinion on Brexit and in the polls seems static even allowing for the poll from the GMB Union.
This poison case is becoming more serious day by day and how much real concern the population in Salisbury must have. It must be playing havoc with local business and we should all have a thought for all those caught up in this outrage.
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will join England in boycotting the World Cup if this case leads back to Russia
I live near Salisbury and plan to go shopping there next week - this isn't going to affect my plans. I don't think many people in Salisbury are too worried - the time to be worried was last Sunday, when we were all unaware. It's a bit like after a terrorist attack or an air crash... you just have to get on with your life an recognise that the chances of being impacted by something like this is very small.
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will pullout if Russia is complicit in the poisoning.
If it was indeed Russia, how much proof would be needed for states to accept 'complicity' I wonder. Even if Russian persons can be definitively proven to be behind it, and the Russian authorities don't deny that proof, they'd presumably just say it was people acting without their direction. Implausible, sure, but it's not like all nations cannot accept some really implausible positions from other nations.
Observers say that with Russia, it increasingly looks as if the intelligence agencies are happy with "implausible deniability" - even if it seems obvious they are behind an act, they simply say "prove it" and try to muddy the waters with misinformation as much as possible.
Surely not?
In all seriousness, if they are behind it in some fashion, the tactic seems to work.
Even though this sort of thing is clearly highly targeted, I am glad to be on the other side of Salisbury Plain.
The Russians presumably are making a point with this attempted killing. They WANT people to believe it's them to encourage the others.
From the UK's point of view this is a serious discourtesy. Either be discreet or do it on your own territory.
...Babylon 5 fans - a lost tribe of ultras slowly sinking into obscurity?...
Damn, you just made me feel a thousand years old...
Babylon 5's problem is that a lot of the cast have died, most of them far far too young.
The other problem is there's huge issues about re-releasing the original show and TV movies.
Hurrah for Pick TV for showing it.
Watching it on Pick for the first time since the original run, its shocking how quickly some of the arcs are resolved despite loads of really dull filler episodes. Still can't see what all the fuss was originally and still think its overrated. Although this rerun is beyond where I gave up originally so I guess I see it through if they show everything otherwise I might dig out the complete boxset from the garage as I'd been meaning to watch it again for years...
(NB: Not a major Trek fan, but I massively preferred DS9 and is my favourite Trek series after TOS)
It was also expected that the show would be cancelled at season 4, so they brought forward the season 5 plotline into season 4, and that's why season 5 seemed so empty.
Sigh, what could have been. I loved the 'get out of our galaxy' stuff, but with another season to build to that climax, ooh boy.
Yeah I feel for them tbh. Been to the London Bankside one a few times after work and generally found it a cut above many other chains. And not a pineapple in site hurrah!
Aaaah. Now it is begining to make some sense. Putin WILL get his pineapple on all our pizzas. Or you won't like the consequences....
I presume the tw@tter trolls are very busy spreading the misinformation.
I've seen a huge number of "coincidentally" similar points being made on all sorts of websites where people are commentating on this story. I'd be amazed if there isn't a disinformation campaign running.
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
For all the fire and fury from remain supporters here and in the EU I would agree that opinion on Brexit and in the polls seems static even allowing for the poll from the GMB Union.
This poison case is becoming more serious day by day and how much real concern the population in Salisbury must have. It must be playing havoc with local business and we should all have a thought for all those caught up in this outrage.
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will join England in boycotting the World Cup if this case leads back to Russia
I live near Salisbury and plan to go shopping there next week - this isn't going to affect my plans. I don't think many people in Salisbury are too worried - the time to be worried was last Sunday, when we were all unaware. It's a bit like after a terrorist attack or an air crash... you just have to get on with your life an recognise that the chances of being impacted by something like this is very small.
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will pullout if Russia is complicit in the poisoning.
Depends on how this goes over the next few weeks but it is more than possible that England may have to withdraw
...Babylon 5 fans - a lost tribe of ultras slowly sinking into obscurity?...
Damn, you just made me feel a thousand years old...
Babylon 5's problem is that a lot of the cast have died, most of them far far too young.
The other problem is there's huge issues about re-releasing the original show and TV movies.
Hurrah for Pick TV for showing it.
Watching it on Pick for the first time since the original run, its shocking how quickly some of the arcs are resolved despite loads of really dull filler episodes. Still can't see what all the fuss was originally and still think its overrated. Although this rerun is beyond where I gave up originally so I guess I see it through if they show everything otherwise I might dig out the complete boxset from the garage as I'd been meaning to watch it again for years...
(NB: Not a major Trek fan, but I massively preferred DS9 and is my favourite Trek series after TOS)
It was also expected that the show would be cancelled at season 4, so they brought forward the season 5 plotline into season 4, and that's why season 5 seemed so empty.
Sigh, what could have been. I loved the 'get out of our galaxy' stuff, but with another season to build to that climax, ooh boy.
The original* plan was for most of season 4 to deal with The Shadow War, Season 5 would have dealt with the Earth Civil War.
He almost had to invent the Telepath War to fill Season 5.
*The original plan if Sinclair hadn't left was for Season 4 to conclude with The Shadow War, Season 5 would have dealt with the civil war and Sinclair realising he was Valen, and that he had Delenn had to go back in time to fight the last Shadow War.
Off topic. If the Russian state was behind the Salisbury incident, why did they make such a feck-up of it? It's got to be one of the messiest assassination attempts ever, and it hasn't even succeeded (we hope).
I just wonder whther it was a rogue element behind it, rather than the Russian state per se. (Then again, I have just finished watching McMafia back-to-back, so maybe my reasoning is a bit swayed.)
...Babylon 5 fans - a lost tribe of ultras slowly sinking into obscurity?...
Damn, you just made me feel a thousand years old...
Babylon 5's problem is that a lot of the cast have died, most of them far far too young.
The other problem is there's huge issues about re-releasing the original show and TV movies.
Hurrah for Pick TV for showing it.
Watching it on Pick for the first time since the original run, its shocking how quickly some of the arcs are resolved despite loads of really dull filler episodes. Still can't see what all the fuss was originally and still think its overrated. Although this rerun is beyond where I gave up originally so I guess I see it through if they show everything otherwise I might dig out the complete boxset from the garage as I'd been meaning to watch it again for years...
(NB: Not a major Trek fan, but I massively preferred DS9 and is my favourite Trek series after TOS)
DS9 is my favourite Trek.
In defence of Babylon 5 the way some of the arcs were wrapped up were due to outside influences such as Michael O'Hare leaving because of his mental health problems, which were only revealed after he died.
It was also expected that the show would be cancelled at season 4, so they brought forward the season 5 plotline into season 4, and that's why season 5 seemed so empty.
Explains why Claudia Christian didn't appear in season 5 except the last episode, because that episode was filmed as part of season 4 in the expectation of cancellation.
The whole arcs about why the Minbari surrendered at the Battle of the Line, and what happened to B4 were awesome.
B5 was probably the first serialised sci-fi show, they set the precedent for many other shows.
I loved B5 and think it really was groundbreaking. What might appear to be old hat now was truly cutting edge back then. Not least in terms of the planned 5 series story arc.
I also loved the nods it gave to great Science Fiction icons. Not least naming the head of Psi-Corp Bester in reference to Alfred Bester - perhaps one of the greatest and yet most underrated Science Fiction writers of all time.
Off topic. If the Russian state was behind the Salisbury incident, why did they make such a feck-up of it? It's got to be one of the messiest assassination attempts ever, and it hasn't even succeeded (we hope).
I just wonder whther it was a rogue element behind it, rather than the Russian state per se. (Then again, I have just finished watching McMafia back-to-back, so maybe my reasoning is a bit swayed.)
What a terribly disappointing show that turned out to be. The last episode was utterly ridiculous.
One of the orchestrators of last week’s protests against the Saudi crown prince’s visit to Britain has spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on social media and recently described a notorious Lebanese terrorist as a “hero”, the Telegraph can disclose.
Ahmed Almoaiad, whose human rights group was listed as an organiser of the demonstrations, said the doctrine behind Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) was created by Jews.
Workers at a charity founded by U2 singer Bono have been subjected to a 'toxic' culture of bullying and abuse.
Bosses at the ONE charity have covered up the horrific allegations for years, but a major Mail on Sunday investigation has exposed a catalogue of humiliating incidents that has now sparked a multi-million-pound lawsuit.
I've been watching DS9 for the millionth time, the reason it's better than other Treks is the character development. Nog in particular, watching his character literally grow up, from being a delinquent adolescent to being a model Starfleet officer, then growing up in the Dominion war is unlike anything else in the other Trek series. I expected Harry Kim to undergo similar character development in VOY, but he was shit. At least the Doctor got some development.
As for Discovery, what a piece of shit. It's made for people who like The Last Jedi. Idiots.
On topic: what this poll says to me is that, much though I'd like it to, opinion hasn't really changed since January. I don't think it merits the headline or a thread header tbh. Sad!
For all the fire and fury from remain supporters here and in the EU I would agree that opinion on Brexit and in the polls seems static even allowing for the poll from the GMB Union.
This poison case is becoming more serious day by day and how much real concern the population in Salisbury must have. It must be playing havoc with local business and we should all have a thought for all those caught up in this outrage.
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will join England in boycotting the World Cup if this case leads back to Russia
I live near Salisbury and plan to go shopping there next week - this isn't going to affect my plans. I don't think many people in Salisbury are too worried - the time to be worried was last Sunday, when we were all unaware. It's a bit like after a terrorist attack or an air crash... you just have to get on with your life an recognise that the chances of being impacted by something like this is very small.
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will pullout if Russia is complicit in the poisoning.
Depends on how this goes over the next few weeks but it is more than possible that England may have to withdraw
Have to?!
I did say may have to
"May decide to" I get, I hope we don't live in a state where they would be forced to withdraw.
Re other potential boycotts, I think you may be confusing the Mail and the Sun with reliable news sources. Don't forget that FIFA would ban any team boycotting this time from the 2020 competition. There isn't going to be a boycott unless the situation escalates significantly (e.g. a round of futher suspected Russian poisonings in other countries might do it, I guess).
I've been watching DS9 for the millionth time, the reason it's better than other Treks is the character development. Nog in particular, watching his character literally grow up, from being a delinquent adolescent to being a model Starfleet officer, then growing up in the Dominion war is unlike anything else in the other Trek series. I expected Harry Kim to undergo similar character development in VOY, but he was shit. At least the Doctor got some development.
As for Discovery, what a piece of shit. It's made for people who like The Last Jedi. Idiots.
There are quite a few fans of The Last Jedi on here....I believe they are the same kind of people who think Radiohead is a great live band...
Off topic. If the Russian state was behind the Salisbury incident, why did they make such a feck-up of it? It's got to be one of the messiest assassination attempts ever, and it hasn't even succeeded (we hope).
I just wonder whther it was a rogue element behind it, rather than the Russian state per se. (Then again, I have just finished watching McMafia back-to-back, so maybe my reasoning is a bit swayed.)
What a terribly disappointing show that turned out to be. The last episode was utterly ridiculous.
Agreed - was hoping for a "Night Manager" but it was not to be.
Off topic. If the Russian state was behind the Salisbury incident, why did they make such a feck-up of it? It's got to be one of the messiest assassination attempts ever, and it hasn't even succeeded (we hope).
I just wonder whther it was a rogue element behind it, rather than the Russian state per se. (Then again, I have just finished watching McMafia back-to-back, so maybe my reasoning is a bit swayed.)
What a terribly disappointing show that turned out to be. The last episode was utterly ridiculous.
Agreed - was hoping for a "Night Manager" but it was not to be.
What annoyed me most is when a show could be really good and this was one...but the last two episodes just got more and more stupid.
Taboo (the other big BBC series of the past year or so) on the other hand I quite enjoyed...
Comments
Survation's final 2017 poll was Con 41.3% Lab 40.4%. Tory lead 0.9%.
https://twitter.com/Survation/status/872586205006888961
The final GB result at GE 2017 was Con 43.4% Lab 41%.
Tory lead 2.4%.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/parliament-and-elections/elections-elections/general-election-2017-the-results-so-far/
As long as we go ahead and leave the EU, as requested, I will be perfectly happy - and the sooner the better. We can then all get on with enjoying the benefits promised to us, or alternatively enjoy stringing up those who lied to us should the said benefits fail to materialise.
Either way, what's not to like?
The only slur is of the commissioning body of they do not share the terms of reference and specification
That's the BPC rules.
https://lucidtalk.co.uk/news/241-gue-ngl-sponsored-ni-opinion-panel-tracker-poll
Whatever you do you will piss off one group or other.
Is that sustainable ? In trying to lift the poorest out of paying income tax (but not NI) the LDs and the Coalition were trying to help but Osborne at the same time pulled more people into higher rate taxation by not moving the threshold to higher rate taxation in line with wage inflation so more people moved into the 40% tax bracket.
As always, the very wealthy seem to have plenty of friends in financial journalism so we are seeing the traditional stories of how badly the rich are coping and how much tax they are paying and why we should feel sorry for them and support tax cuts for them.
I think we could learn a lot from the Swiss here. (I also think this is one of these areas where EU membership has been bad for us. The EU swamps the debate, rather than allowing us to discuss sensible things like the detection and deportation of those working illegally; a group who pays no taxes, but still gets treated when they turn up at A&E.)
i) GMB I (Good Morning Britain)
ii) GMB II (The GMB Union)
iii) The Mail on Sunday
Scotland specific polling for
iv) The Daily Record
To be employed, everyone should require ID and a National Insurance number. (And the two need to match, obviously.)
The black economy is based around people who don't pay tax, often don't have an ID, and frequently don't have a right to work.
We could, and should, start enforcing rules on this now. (The rules exist, it's just we don't enforce them.)
The other problem is there's huge issues about re-releasing the original show and TV movies.
Hurrah for Pick TV for showing it.
Which is not to say I didn't like Discovery. More than I thought i would.The acting was mostly stellar, and some of my favourite Trek parts were the darker ones, and extended arcs on DS9 relating to the war with the Dominion and a less saccharine take on the Federation. But for me Trek was always supposed to be about, well, discovery, and though it was the name of the ship there didn't seem all that much of that going on, nor does a format of a whole season devoted to a single theme lend itself to that. Things don't have to be be 'monster of the week' all the time, but Trek lends itself to that. Of course, without a fresh continuity its hard for Trek to do that, since all the races and big events are known unless they go post 24th century.
I see a move away from the pre-23/6/16 position to something more nuanced - remaining within the Customs Union certainly and while unable to be part of the Single Market itself adopting much of the SM.
I'm still unhappy with that position personally but I'm warming toward membership of the CU only because I have grave doubts that the UK on its own will be able to achieve better trading deals with the rest of the world than as part of the EU.
I'm not the biggest Trek fan ever (I've actually not seen TOS outside the movies with the cast), and I think people who dismissed the movies as not having deep enough themes or whatever were unfair (since while the best Trek 'said' deep things, a buttload of Trek was just goofy, for better or worse), but for a longer series focused on a ship, exploration and optimism, to some extent, just feel more right to me.
I had to laugh early on in Discovery when the lead was sentenced (not really a spoiler for anyone who has not seen it, it was the first or second episode) and how did the good and noble federation apparently conduct its sentencing hearings? Like a dystopia, with a dark room and judges with their faces hidden in shadow.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43360420
It has often been my experience that people who are nerdily obsessed with one thing (be it politics, sci-fi or, indeed, sports) are usually prone to nerdy obsession on other things.
Although, trek captains seem to me to be likely to be Brexit supporters. Sure, they were all into the harmony of different groups working together in harmony business, but in plenty of Trek series most of the Admirals we saw, the elite, were out of touch fools who didn't know what needed to be done and captains frequently disobeyed orders and ignored the prime directive in the interest of doing things their own way, and despite their claims of harmony one species totally dominated things.
What happened? Were liberals unsympathetic to the plight of ordinary people all along? Maybe they just absorbed the mood of the time? As John Major said Britain is a classless society, by which I think he meant that a boy from Brixton with no education could become prime minister. And then John Prescott (yes I'm serious) said we're all middle class now, by which he probably meant that many working class people could increasingly enjoy consumer goods and lifestyles that were once exclusive. It no longer seemed that necessary to pay attention to how 'the other half' were doing. And for all that was wrong with the referendum it is only really that which has put all this to the forefront.
This poison case is becoming more serious day by day and how much real concern the population in Salisbury must have. It must be playing havoc with local business and we should all have a thought for all those caught up in this outrage.
Australia, Poland and Japan have said they will join England in boycotting the World Cup if this case leads back to Russia
Another argument against mass migration is it has created a huge pool of cheap labour which has made it easier for firms to hire people rather than look at improving business processes via technology, automaton or whatever.
If there's a problem, just hire someone, there are plenty of people out there, well, especially at the cheap end of the labour market. There are skill shortages in some professional areas as we all know.
The problem will be if and when the pool of cheap labour fades - there will probably be a pike in wage inflation but also companies which have relied on labour to plug the gap in competitiveness will find their competitors who did invest in technology having a huge advantage.
Once again, public policy is dictated by short term gain rather than serious thought.
And of course there are some that like used to be the case with A-Levels, split everything into small modules and allow students to have multiple goes at them. And there are institutions who don't allow any of this.
Surely not?
In all seriousness, if they are behind it in some fashion, the tactic seems to work.
Even though this sort of thing is clearly highly targeted, I am glad to be on the other side of Salisbury Plain.
And let's not even get started on their tacit support for the secret police force, Section 31...
Access of state services can be achieved by proving residency or entitlement now. There is no need for a further bit of ID.
If the NHS, for example, operated on this basis, they would have the kind of admin systems needed to cross charge other European countries for reciprocal health treatment. At the moment most of that money is lost simply because we don't have adequate systems.
(NB: Not a major Trek fan, but I massively preferred DS9 and is my favourite Trek series after TOS)
I had a lump in my throat during the final episode when the original theme started playing.
As for boycotting the World Cup - that would be a seriously bad and pointless move. I don't think England should pull out and I certainly can't see other countries joining us if we did! ( Although I think Italy have decided not to participate)
Or maybe, boycott.
In defence of Babylon 5 the way some of the arcs were wrapped up were due to outside influences such as Michael O'Hare leaving because of his mental health problems, which were only revealed after he died.
It was also expected that the show would be cancelled at season 4, so they brought forward the season 5 plotline into season 4, and that's why season 5 seemed so empty.
Explains why Claudia Christian didn't appear in season 5 except the last episode, because that episode was filmed as part of season 4 in the expectation of cancellation.
The whole arcs about why the Minbari surrendered at the Battle of the Line, and what happened to B4 were awesome.
B5 was probably the first serialised sci-fi show, they set the precedent for many other shows.
Depends on how this goes over the next few weeks but it is more than possible that England may have to withdraw
Yeah I feel for them tbh. Been to the London Bankside one a few times after work and generally found it a cut above many other chains. And not a pineapple in site hurrah!
From the UK's point of view this is a serious discourtesy. Either be discreet or do it on your own territory.
He almost had to invent the Telepath War to fill Season 5.
*The original plan if Sinclair hadn't left was for Season 4 to conclude with The Shadow War, Season 5 would have dealt with the civil war and Sinclair realising he was Valen, and that he had Delenn had to go back in time to fight the last Shadow War.
I just wonder whther it was a rogue element behind it, rather than the Russian state per se. (Then again, I have just finished watching McMafia back-to-back, so maybe my reasoning is a bit swayed.)
I also loved the nods it gave to great Science Fiction icons. Not least naming the head of Psi-Corp Bester in reference to Alfred Bester - perhaps one of the greatest and yet most underrated Science Fiction writers of all time.
Ahmed Almoaiad, whose human rights group was listed as an organiser of the demonstrations, said the doctrine behind Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) was created by Jews.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/10/protester-pictured-corbyn-made-anti-semitic-posts-online/
Bosses at the ONE charity have covered up the horrific allegations for years, but a major Mail on Sunday investigation has exposed a catalogue of humiliating incidents that has now sparked a multi-million-pound lawsuit.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5486121/Bonos-ONE-charity-shame-South-Africa-staff-abuse-claims.html
As for Discovery, what a piece of shit. It's made for people who like The Last Jedi. Idiots.
Re other potential boycotts, I think you may be confusing the Mail and the Sun with reliable news sources. Don't forget that FIFA would ban any team boycotting this time from the 2020 competition. There isn't going to be a boycott unless the situation escalates significantly (e.g. a round of futher suspected Russian poisonings in other countries might do it, I guess).
Taboo (the other big BBC series of the past year or so) on the other hand I quite enjoyed...