The beginning and end of the choir vid reminds you these are regular fun-loving children making this amazing sound. Incredible really. x

Hats off to you Craig for keeping the forum going, and thank you. This is such a great space.

Looking forward to see where RTD takes us!

x

First episode: “Please, spare me the ridiculous dog-alien”

Fourth episode: “Where’s the dog-alien?? We need him now!”

Many apologies for being such a fairweather friend, only rocking up when there is new Dr Who to be watched.

Some of you may have clocked that it’s been a crazy couple of years. I hope you and yours have all stayed well and in good health.

And also that you’ve remained in good spirits. Apocalyptic turmoil, dread and seclusion can…[Read more]

Ooh, well-played, I did not see that coming. There was even a bit when O offered to show Graham the doctor’s files, when I thought he must he a wrong ‘un. But by the time he was chasing after the plane I’d forgotten all about that and was rooting for him. Ha ha, trust no-one 🙂

Enjoyed, enjoyed, enjoyed a l…[Read more]

@thane16 Thanks for asking, and I hope you and yours are all ok. Savon Manor is looking rather unkempt. This is partly because we haven’t looked after it in the cold weather, and partly because we barely look after it anyway.
What is more, the groundsman (aka Mr Savon) has an…[Read more]

Hilarious, and bang on. She reminds me of Kathy Bates in Misery.

And it seems she’s survived yet again. Perhaps she’s handcuffed herself to the radiator?

@janetteb

I cringe thinking about the UK’s international reputation at this point.

Although I’m a passionate Remainer, I cling steadfastly to my belief that Remainers and Leavers…[Read more]

And who now, in spite of clear evidence that the whole thing was riddled with fraud, continues to treat the marginal outcome as an…[Read more]

@mudlark and @scaryb (amazing to see you back, by the way.)

We got our turkey from a really great local butcher. It was massive and got its own oven. (We’ve got a tiny kitchen, but 50% of it is one of those “range” things with two ovens.)

Mr Savon is the chef in our house, and…[Read more]

We had a few hiccups here at the Manor. A heavy Christmas cold, a “kerthunk” in the car chassis at the exact least convenient time a chassis could possibly kerthunk, and – worst of all – giblets undetected in the turkey!

Still, a good time was had by all. The…[Read more]

I absolutely love this forum because it’s open to all while maintaining standards of civility and intellectual rigour, and a genuine sense of community.

It’s sad but no surprise that occasionally commenters…[Read more]

@pedant

Ha ha, from my perspective, Middle English is a good example of what I’m talking about because it entailed such…[Read more]

My take is this: If you put two different groups of people together, speaking different languages, the people will want and need to communicate, as you say.
So the first generation will establish a very…[Read more]

I take your point (and agree) that the similarities between myths can be explained in terms of the cross-fertilisation that you…[Read more]

I was introduced at uni to the enormous contribution that Jacob Grimm made to linguistics and philology. His work was on Indo-European languages (similarities in vocab and predictable, systematic differences in phonology.) He helped cement the hypothesis that…[Read more]

Thanks @nerys for your post. 🙂

@cathannabel I absolutely love Gide, The Vatican Cellars and The Counterfeiters being among my all-time favourite books. Haven’t read Theseus though, so that’s really fascinating thank you.

I totally see your point and agree, @mudlark,…[Read more]

@kevinwho Thank you for sharing those bittersweet and beautiful words. I really like your take on Doctor Who aswell.

Sounds like a good game, let’s play.

*dons Poirot moustache* ‘Ello mah leetuhl Ehngleesh chuhms…

No hang on, that’s Eurotrash.

I have a couple of suspects in mind, but how do we know the culprit would come…[Read more]

Welcome, @bluffme. 🙂

I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how it must feel to lose a partner or parent. I wish I knew the right words to say. Language is rubbish sometimes.

“if it seems we’ve wandered too far afield from the episode”… or maybe right to the heart of it?

Such a beautiful photo, Craig. I hope you get your dream tonight.

Hugs…[Read more]

“this propensity to civility and this use of reason in the development of an argument”

Oh come on now that’s a bit strong. Did it never occur to you that some of us on here might not be the polite, reasonable people you take us for? Maybe we’re just really, really incompetent trolls.

I come on here with every intention of trolling. It…[Read more]

I can’t believe how quickly my reservations about this series have melted.

Hanne: from the Hebrew Channah,…[Read more]

@mudlark A bit late, but I just want to add my voice to those wishing you well. Hope your nose is causing no…[Read more]

• The new music has grown on me.
•  None of the companion characters wear their heart on their sleeve à la Moffat. But t…

[Read more]

It would be outrageous even by insurance company standards to try and dispute liability for this. In the other…[Read more]

Just checking in. Straight after a big jolt, you might feel ok but the next 24 hours can really take a toll. Hope you’re still ok.

x

But I’m enjoying learning about philosophy, and I can help you out with criteria from a boring, generic teacher viewpoint for what it’s worth. So please don’t…[Read more]

Here you go. You mentioned Brisbane so I assume this is your study programme? If so I think it will be extremely helpful for future topics.

https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/subjects/humanities-and-social-sciences/philosophy-reason-2014

If you download the syllabus, you’ll find your question word-for-word under topic 6, along with…[Read more]

I’ve really enjoyed reading this discussion and finding more out for myself. I had thoughts circling about the appropriateness of rational argument and the limitations of lanugage, but they never quite crystallised into a…[Read more]

I found this article which, to my untrained eye, seems to cover the arguments and philosophers you are writing about. Although it doesn’t answer your precise question (can we establish…) the author does evaluate philosophy’s “success” if you like, in answering the God question. So I thought it might be an interesting r…[Read more]

Thinking about it, wasn’t there a convo somewhere on the Rosa thread about Thirteen’s…[Read more]

@lionheart564 @miapatrick

True story: In my 20’s I spent a couple of years living in Cameroon near the Chad border. Overwhelmingly, anybody there who wasn’t from Cameroon or Chad would either be white European/American/Canadian, or Chinese.
I am stereotypically white European in…[Read more]

Something that did occur to me but I hope it’s not true is that “ghost Grace” is actually “past Grace” nipping into the future to help Graham through the grieving process.

But that would obviously be pretty terrible if it were true.

But maybe it’s true in a way which turns out to be cooler than it sounds.

Or maybe there’s such a lot of chat lately about whether “inclusivity” equals compromise that I’ve genuinely lost the will to live.

OR… Maybe what I’m missing is the Bonkers.

I…[Read more]

There’s more to say, but right now I’m playing Trains 🙂

X

How the other half live…[Read more]

In your shoes I would definitely give some thought to the angle that “rational…[Read more]

I do really want to respond to @thane16 just to say I really appreciated your comment, and I’m really glad to know this discussion has sparked an interest for you. I’m…[Read more]

I don’t even know where I got my wrong opinions from. Sorry.

@craig Basically everything you said I agree with. (Except Scottish Independence. If that happens I’ll never see anything but a Tory majority again in my lifetime. Please think it through!) But it’s really refreshing and kind of nice to get an…[Read more]