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Foda-se

October 11, 2018 Leave a comment
Categories: Sport

Zzzzz

October 11, 2018 Leave a comment

news.sky.com/story/princess-eugenies-wedding-ultimate-guide-11464476

I looked for a ‘Yawn!’ Emoji, but this is the best I could do. 😴

Categories: General

Risen

October 10, 2018 Leave a comment

I watched the first episode of Black Earth Rising a few weeks ago, then life got in the way. But now I’m back, and I am hooked.

Not only on the series, but on its lead. Not being a C4 watcher, I knew nothing of Chewing Gum, her previous venture, but I plan to catch up once Black Earth is done.

Michaela Coel is how she’s billed. I suppose when your name is Michaela-Moses Ewuraba O Boakye-Collinson, you’re entitled to shorten it a little. Whatever, she’s a star.

Categories: General

Maze

October 10, 2018 Leave a comment

www.skysports.com/share/11521513

if anyone understands this please explain it.

Categories: Sport

Plotting the loss?

So, the Doctor is back and she’s made some changes. But Bill Potts has gone, taking with her a whole potential story line. I am a big Jodie fan so fine with her but I am wondering if this is all another perverted BBC ploy to kill off the franchise. Castrate the Doctor, switch to Sunday, no opening titles, Bradley Walsh as her companion: any one of those will upset some of the faithful; doing them all at once could signal the end of days.

Categories: General

I know

October 8, 2018 1 comment

news.sky.com/story/gary-barlow-i-had-one-incredible-hour-with-my-stillborn-baby-girl-11521211

I feel for the Barlows. When I was two years old my mother had a full term still birth. I didn’t find out until I was eight when my dad let something slip.

Back then there was no such consideration for the bereaved. There was no funeral, there was only a small sad announcement in the local paper, closing ‘stillborn’. I have no idea what became of my brother’s remains: indeed I hate to think about it. But I do know that my mother never came to terms with it. She never spoke about it to me, and she carried her grief and her anger for the remaining fifty years of her life. It’s still in me and it always will be.

She and my dad deserved an hour with their child.

Categories: Uncategorized

****

October 7, 2018 1 comment

I watch a lot (too much?) of sport on tv. I choose to knowing that professionals often react emotionally and that their words are often picked up by the effects microphones that are put out there for that purpose. Every time they pick something up that is remotely industrial they apologise for it; usually I haven’t heard it nor I suspect have many others.

Also I watch a lot of drama on tv. I am old enough to remember the night when Kenneth Tynan uttered the first ‘fuck’ on BBC, for reasons long forgotten. Today it is commonplace. Indeed, in the seven kingdoms of Westeros it is conversational. Apologies post watershed usually take the form of a warning, pre-transmission.

So here’s an idea: instead of burdening commentators with the duty of offering a clumsy ‘sorry’ for each infraction, how about sports broadcasters beginning each programme with an acknowledgement that when golfers hit a bad shot, sometimes, unless they happen to be Matt Kuchar, they swear.

Categories: Sport

Theresa

September 21, 2018 Leave a comment

‘Senator, you’re no Maggie Thatcher.’

Categories: Politics

Caring

September 20, 2018 Leave a comment

I am watching a piece on Breakfast about carers and caring. While I sympathise with the sad lady whose situation they chose to highlight, I disagree with her litany of complaints.

You’re looking after your partner, dear. You gave the impression that you believe you were forced to do it and that you resent it. Sorry, but it’s what you signed up for. It’s a privilege to look after someone you love. It can be tough, but it’s better than loneliness.

If you don’t want to do it or you can’t, there is support out there, from social services, the NHS and from charities. After your tv exposure I hope that it will seek you out.

Categories: General

Let’s leave UEFA too

September 11, 2018 Leave a comment

Football as we used to know it is dead in its boots. The people who run the modern game have no remaining shred of common sense or decency. Their entire purpose is to con as many people as possible into parting with as much of their disposable income as possible for a product that becomes increasingly devalued by each layer they add on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45483586

Categories: Sport

GOAT?

September 10, 2018 Leave a comment

The new John Lewis and Waitrose tv ad: Greatest Of All Time?

Categories: General

Opinion | I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration – The New York Times

September 6, 2018 Leave a comment

I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.
— Read on www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html

Categories: General, Politics

Been here before

September 6, 2018 Leave a comment

Another Girona/Ryanair fuck-up. Passengers queuing on a staircase waiting to board an aircraft that is unlit and has no steps deployed. In other words the crew isn’t here yet.

Categories: General

I don’t give a toss

September 5, 2018 Leave a comment

There is tragedy in the world and time is given to this?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-45419215

Categories: General

ATP

September 2, 2018 Leave a comment
Categories: General

Come on!

news.sky.com/story/roxanne-pallett-criticised-for-accusing-ryan-thomas-of-domestic-violence-on-celebrity-big-brother-11487021

Maybe we get what we deserve but … these people seem to be minimal in every respect. They are morons and any society that affords them a flicker of interest needs to take a look at itself.

Categories: General

Civil war in the sisterhood

August 31, 2018 1 comment
Categories: General

Eck

So. Alex Salmond.

It’s going to get messy. I wonder how the likes of Kerr Fraser, Russell Hillhouse or Muir Russell would have handled a similar situation in their day. More carefully, I suggest.

Categories: General, Politics

Sin of omission

August 23, 2018 3 comments

How have I gone through the last 32 years missing out on ‘Cracked Rear View Mirror’?

Categories: General

Cheers

August 23, 2018 1 comment

Thanks to the many who filled the new Spark Theatre last night. It’s a welcome addition to the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Thanks also to the inimitable Brian Taylor, and once again to George, for preventing a potential disaster.

Categories: General, Uncategorized