@bluesqueakpip — yes, neck and neck in the sense that the outcome is becoming increasingly unpredictable. Nice to see the Tories (rather predictably) turning on themselves in the most feral way possible. I’m currently listening to lots of old 90s bands too, so it has a nice symmetry to it.

@pedant — I believe Tory originally comes from the…[Read more]

@craig, @bluesqueakpip, @puroandson…

>sigh< and I really thought I’d found ‘the one’ this time….

@puroandson— @winston pretty much has it right.

The referendum on June 23 will determine whether the British people want to remain in the EU under the frankly cosmetic changes of the ‘deal’ Cameron has just ‘negotiated'(Bremain). Or leave the EU and either negotiate ad hoc trade and movement agreements or have associated relationship with the…[Read more]

@bluesqueakpip — I’m actually more editor-ey than reporter-ey these days but that report does make for slightly alarming reading.

I have as much faith in the DfBIS having workers’ welfare at heart as I do in a ‘British Bill of Rights’ protecting the freedoms of the average man on the street….

@bluesqueakpip—

apologies didn’t intend to go all Yaffley on yo ass…

I’ve seen supposedly safe seats have a vote collapse when people are really, really pissed off.

Indeed. As for example, just about any previously safe Labour seat you’d care to name in Scotland.

@bluesqueakpip—

I’m afraid @pedant is right here and the neoliberal has somehow become a thing in its own right — and one which strikes me as being utterly unreflected in its name — basically being a synonym for politically and culturally unfettered capitalism red in tooth and claw. (I’d actually like to know who coined it as they deserve a…[Read more]

@pedant and @bluesqueakpip—

I believe that Pip is right when she says Viner wants a more political Graun. But not that that equates to a more left wing one. The paper has been veering ever rightwards for the past decade and I expect that process to accelerate now. It’s final resting place is going to be somewhere in the territory that the…[Read more]

Just wanted to add that I watched The Hungry Earth recently which I thought was tip-top and it’s been making me feel the guilts for giving Chibbers such a kicking on this one. Hoping we can get around to a forum viewing of it soon.

@bluesqueakpip—

Yes, it’s an absolute bind for the Guardian, I think. More so, now that the Independent has died, as I think it acted as a kind of a buffer for them. Now it’s just them and an amorphous mass of rabid right-wingery in the rest of the dead-tree media. As you say, they don’t want to repeat the mistake Labour made during the indyref…[Read more]

Just another example of Peter Capaldi bringing the awesome….

@drwhoyeah — that sounds suspiciously like Image of the Fendahl to me….

@pedant, @Kharis—

RE. fantasy casting. I’m afraid you’re never going to stop it. It’s just a rampant interwebs past-time and it’s not helped by actors and their agents jumping on a bit of free publicity by insinuating that they might be in line for the part.

However, as it’s now been more or less confirmed that Steven Moffat will be in the hot…[Read more]

@nerys — RE. Netflix. I think I posted a week back an article on the RT about how Who’s presence on Netflix UK is up for renewal in April, with the speculation being that it’ll be pulled from there too. It’s all down to contracts and renewal dates but the chances are that it’ll be pulled from Canada too at the earliest opportunity. I think the…[Read more]

There should hopefully be a new news page up and running as the last one had reached the end of its tether….

@bluesqueakpip—

Because you don’t like it.

No, not really. I don’t think you can write it off as personal prejudice or dare I say it ‘angst’ — it’s not that I’m against Chibnall becoming showrunner — I’m not and am in fact looking forward to him taking the helm, seeing what he does with the show. Nor am I particularly unhappy that Moffat is le…[Read more]

@bluepipsqueak–

I personally started to get the impression that you were actively looking for faults

I hope not. Merely trying to quantify why CC’s writing always leaves me feeling a bit like Gru’s mother.

Why are the welding helmets there? They’re functional. The alternative is having a bunch of actors trying to look like scary possessed m…

[Read more]

Right >cracks knuckles<  (which is no mean feat for a fish)

Enjoyed watching this again. It’s actually been too long since I sat down and watched some Tennant-era Who. Must do a bit more of that. I’d downgraded Tennant in recent years as I think his performance sometimes pales compared to the nuance of Smith and now Capaldi but I really enjoyed…[Read more]

@winston — as someone brought up on the old FilmFair Paddingtons, I’ve been trying to perfect the ‘hard stare’ for years to frankly dismal failure….

I was very surprised at just how enjoyable the Paddington film was. I didn’t expect that much but it attained an almost Ealing-esque quality at times… and I love Sally Hawkins. She would be…[Read more]

@puroandson—

Yes, Fringe is a very mixed bag. And even our Walter is a difficult character to take — you could definitely argue that he gets off too lightly for what he did in the past. And the last couple of seasons are, well, a bit lame. But I think Anna Torv (be still my heart) did great work and I loved all the Red Universe stuff. It was…[Read more]