Be Excellent To Each Other

It's my honest view mate, just calling it as I see it, you're most welcome to differ.

YOU'RE WRONG AND STUPID AND UGLY. My god you're so ideologically blinded - he's brilliant and awesome and why can't you see it. It's because you're a bloody Tory. TORY SCUM

Like that, you mean?

Keep....going......

...Ah, just like the WoS days old chap *goes misty-eyed*

Bit of an odd opinion on Burnham, how did you come to that conclusion?

Started the enquiry into Stafford hospitals within a month on becoming Health Secretary, forced through the Hillsbrough enquiry, and is intending to leave Parliament to become Mayor of Manchester. Hardly a roll call of a sellout who doesn't want to leave!

To clarify, I'm not holding him up as any sort of beacon of things good and holy, just seems odd to bring him up when he's attempting to leave Parliament anyway.

I wasn't very keen on Andy Burnham when he was a junior minister at the Home Office. He's not really appeared on my radar since so I don't know if a front-bench shadow cabinet role or not being in office has changed him or revealed his true self.

How long you got, Curio?
The guy flip-flops more than Crocs, for me he's the very epitome of the "tell you what you want to hear". His recent leadership campaign against Corbyn was awful; he was surely exposed as a man without clue or ideology, less still the man to carry Labour forwards (whereas at least Corbyn, however swivel-eyed, has *a* ideology). The aftermath was also particularly ungratifying... considering he was the Crown Prince before the loons took hold (albeit by default only, not merit, admittedly), he's got nothing to say about Labour's disintegration? I've not heard him stick his head over the parapet even once; he's just sitting it out and playing safe, letting others take the flak and fall on their swords IMO.

R4's Dead Ringers lampooned him hilariously a few months back with their "lost my spine" sketch... you should catch it if you can, as it is bloody funny.

I find it quite funny as well, actually Particularly the Dianne Abbott bits.

I like it.

Do you not think Dead Ringers is funny, Russ? Personally I love it.

Yikes, the triumvirate of evil all like the same thing *sets TiVo to avoid*

- "Here's a pithy description of the current political situation."
- "I wonder what Frank Bruno would make of the current political situation...?"
- "Hello, I'm Frank Bruno. Know what I mean, Harry?"

I haven't once heard a Frank Bruno type thing on there. I think you're thinking of Rory Bremner.

Perhaps I'm being a tad harsh, but when impressionists have to use the impression to NAME the person they're doing an impression of it just sounds crap.

I'm thinking of Jon Culshaw.

Dead Ringers? Dead Rubbish, more like. #satire

He doesn't do that in Dead Ringers. At least not these days.

Maybe it's changed recently.

When it started back in 2000 or thereabouts, it was fresh, clever, and very very funny. Every time I listen to the new version, I smile but it always feels like everyone's just going through the motions and the magic just isn't there anymore. Still, at least it's not the Now Show.

What was the sports one where David Beckham would call up saying he was a special emoyee of the manager so could go to tbe World Cup and Mourhino (who looks a lot like me) would call when between jobs? I loved that.

I generally can't be doing with impressionists as the comedy all too often relies on the fact it sounds a bit like somebody, rather than saying anything, you know, funny.

But I have a soft spot for Morgana Wotsit's The Agency. She's ace and it tickles me. I wish she'd tickle me. As Morgana Wotsit, not Danny Dyer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07xpl94

Alistair McGowan?

Look Away Now

How will I know when I can look back? Will you PM me?

I feel the same way about music artists that have to say their name at the start of their songs, presumably because everything sounds so similar these days that you can't tell the difference without it.

Jason DeRulo and Pitbull are the primary offenders, but also that "Rockabye" song by Clean Bandit is a particularly good example of this.

Don't make a point of listening to it but Dead Ringers can be alright sometimes. Not sure why but I tend to only like hearing impressions of people that I actually like, that's the only time I really find them funny for some reason.

I like to keep half an eye on Scottish domestic politics, albeit mainly out of a sense of disbelief and a need to be entertained at regular intervals. I'm a high maintenance kinda guy.

One prominent figure on the blogosphere is an extremely clever chap called Kevin Hague; he's that rare sort who will absolutely source and re-source, analyse and calculate the basis of a claim before asserting it (you know, the kind of bloke who posts in dozens of graphs and analyses; think Doc G on steriods).

http://chokkablog.blogspot.co.uk/

Looking at Experian, I note that he holds multiple directorships and his principal company has a Grade AAAAA credit rating in the many hundreds ofthousands of pounds, he's a seriously successful, self-starter entrepreneurial type and, despite supporting Labour (albeit not Corbyn, obv.), I like the cut of his jib. A lot.

He seems to spend much of his time tirelessly disproving the seemingly endless stream of Gnat Drivel; that reeking torrent of half-truths, mis-truths and cherry-picked, quoted out of context and/or outdated propaganda - and that's just the SNP... he seems to possess super-human levels of gumption and patience, that someone such as I can only marvel at. I would've given up months ago; the principal (indeed pretty much only) riposte, from armchair-dwelling, TV remote control-toting detractors, seems to be a clarion call: 'YOON LOL' and/or 'YOUR A DOGFOOD SALESMAN' which, as rebuttals go, all in the face of such immaculately and meticulously sourced and reasoned analyses, do rather leave something to be desired. Like I said, if it were me I would be long gone by now, because there's only so much stupid I can bear.

Anyway, he did post this today, though, which struck me as particularly poignant and by no means limited to his particular sphere. It's really rather awesome.

I've just finished listening to a quite fascinating book. Matthew Syeds "Black Box Thinking". It sounds like it might be full of loads of airy-fairy management speak but it's far from it. It's how failure is what drives learning and it's filled with interesting examples from healthcare to aviation, sports and business.

But anyway the bit that struck a chord from reading that quote is that the tendency towards cognitive dissonance, which is what that quote there is essentially about, is not really associated with stupidity. Indeed it is often highly intelligent people who are far more susceptible. Although they often don't realise it their intelligence only makes them far more adept at spinning the evidence to fit with whichever of their preconceived notions they find threatened.

You should definitely check that book out, I really do think you would find it fascinating.

If you extend that to Scatman John you and I are going to throw down.

Fucking footballers too with their names on their bloody SHIRTS ffs.

Thanks Mark, I just ordered it on Amazon for £3.85 delivered!
I certainly don't think I am immune from the syndrome you describe btw, albeit it is a feature of intelligence, as opposed to slavish, bovine stupidity (even bigotry, where applicable), to question oneself and one's core beliefs and assertions constantly, and most especially in the light of newly presented arguments and/or evidence. (Ironically, it's probably the very people who do think they're immune who are precisely the ones we need to be worrying most about)

OOh, I have a signed copy of that book. I had a great chat with him.

I hope you enjoy it, I've definitely taken some things from it. Some of the cases he uses to make the various points make really interesting reading in themselves. In healthcare I can certainly recognise the various initiatives that have been designed to enact exactly the sort of cultural change that he is advocating and they are having an impact. But I can also see where they have run headlong into the age old hierarchies and the many other considerations that hamper these changes.

I imagine he's an interesting guy. Although having listened to it in audiobook format if I ever met him then his voice would be wrong.

In other brief news about the UK economy, both the FTSE100 and FTSE250 continue to steam ahead to reach dizzying new, never before achieved heights, which is obviously a great vote of confidence in UK plc. Post-Brexit unemployment is still falling too, to only ~4.7%, less than 1-in-20.

As a complete aside (and something I wasn't expecting), the number of first time buyers is now at its highest level since pre-crash 2007, and has been rising for the last 5 years!

I only know of one of his songs, but does that not start off with "I'm a Scatman" as part of the lyrics?

That doesn't count, as it's obviously supposed to be part of the song.

I object to the ones where they just state their name at the start like they're being questioned by police.

Aren't most FTSE companies profits in dollars, though, and, as the pound weakens against the dollar, they get more profits so share price rises? Or something like that i heard on R4

The average age for first-time buyers is at an all time high of 30, which somewhat fills me with dread for the Grimlet moving out.

The average deposit for first time buyers is the highest it's ever been, too - £32k. How the fuck can anyone afford that?!

Their parents release some of the equity in their houses, since their value has generally gone up by about 500% since purchase.

Almost everyone I know who has been a first time buyer has had at least some assistance of that type, especially more recently.

And it's millennials who are entitled, apparently.

Yeah, but... What the fuck are we going to do?

Smart move from an inheritance tax POV, i would have thought.

More tax avoidance, what a shame. Don't you want more hospitals and schools?

Money and property rights will become meaningless after the Great Zombie Wars of 2020 - 2032.

Yeah, if it hasn't already by then I'm planning to explain that there's no money because I had assumed that all of civilisation would have broken down so there didn't seem to be much point. I just spent it all on toy planes and whatnot.

It's the government double dipping.