[Watchman]

The “Tommy can’t get me in Portugal” blog

[Bones McCoy]

There's a whole discussion to be had on deprogramming cultists.
Twitter, in particular, harbours them like an unwashed toilet.

Being the type I am, I've tried ridicule, and most seem immune.

When you have the likes of "Johnny Rotten" and "That nice fellow from the Coast" trumpeting conspiracies.
It's no longer a case of looking at mugshots of Toby Young, Daniel Hannan and drawing the natural conclusion.

[Andy McDandy]

Fenton's wanker has employed the particularly annoying tactic of accusing anyone taking issue with his cut and paste diatribes, of being obsessed with him. Or falling back on either "U OK hun?", or "the Internet never forgets" like it's 1996 all over again.

Arguing online, like pigeon chess. Just say no.

[Abernathy]

The latest social attitudes survey apparently shows a marked decline in people saying they feel "proud to be British".

This has, naturally, sent the radio phone-in shows into some sort of feeding frenzy. People claiming to be "proud" of being British because of the UK's mountains, lakes, coastline and beautiful scenery. Proud because of Britain's long and damatic history. Proud, of all kinds of stuff like that.

But nobody seems to be pointing out the inherent absurdity of the concept of taking pride in what is in essence a totally random occurrence, which is to say happening to have been born in the particular territory that is the nation-state of the United Kingdom. An event in which one has no say, and no choice. Someone born in the UK could just as easily have been born in Yemen, say. Are Yemeni people to be proud of being randomly Yemeni, too ?

Sure, you can be happy to be born British, for all those reasons concerning mountains, lakes, and scenery , etc. But proud? Pride is usually something that is engendered by personal achievement. Passing exams. Climbing mountains for charity. Being the parent of a graduating son or daughter. You can't, in all reasonableness, be "proud" of a random event over which you had no choice, control, or influence.

National pride, of course, is the very worst kind of idiocy, as recently manifested in the Farage Riots.

[MisterMuncher]

I think Bill Hicks had something of a point in breaking national pride down into an emotional attachment to where your parents decided to fuck.

[Youngian]

Fenton's wanker has employed the particularly annoying tactic of accusing anyone taking issue with his cut and paste diatribes, of being obsessed with him. Or falling back on either "U OK hun?", or "the Internet never forgets" like it's 1996 all over again.

Arguing online, like pigeon chess. Just say no.

Is he living ‘rent free in your head?’ Or replies to a reasoned argument with a laughing emoji.

[satnav]

I've had a double dose of Jeremy Vine today he really is appalling as a presenter. On his Channel 5 show he had Ann Widdecombe and of course the subject under discussion was immigration. She spouted all kinds of lies and misinformation and at no point did Vine challenge her about anything she said. He then took calls from a bunch of callers who were just as extreme as Widdecombe they were all spouted stuff about all the generous benefits and free houses that immigrants allegedly get. Instead of challenging these callers Vine just nodded along with what they were saying and then towards the end of the discussion he threw in his own piece of made up nonsense when he said somebody who comes here as immigrant can expect to receive £2m of free health care during their lifetime. I'd love to know how he arrived at that particular figure.

His radio show is just as appalling. Listening to him is like listening to a talking version of the Daily Mail. During a discussion on the NHS he must have told at least 3 people that one of his friends who is a GP had now left the NHS to become a private GP. He thought that this was a major revelation but everybody he mentioned it to were completely non-plussed. One guest simply pointed out that his friend was filling a gap in the market giving quick consultations to people prepared to pay money to be seen quickly.

I really need to find a new radio channel to listen to when I'm out in the car between 12 and 2.

[Andy McDandy]

I think when he tried to define "woke" and came out with "Weeeellll, it's, you know, touchy-feely, Guardian reading, don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, bit namby-pamby, bit concerned what people think of them..." while Marina Purkiss looked on in pity, that was something of a nadir for him.

But then there's always the great exchange he had with a guy from CERN (on to explain the significance of the Higgs Boson):

JV: "But come on, you're not exactly curing cancer, are you?"

CERN Guy: "Given that we invented the MRI scanner, we're actually doing quite a bit to cure cancer."

[Bones McCoy]

I think Bill Hicks had something of a point in breaking national pride down into an emotional attachment to where your parents decided to fuck.

I must be a "back seat of a Cortina" nativist then.

[Youngian]

I really need to find a new radio channel to listen to when I'm out in the car between 12 and 2.

As I can't be arsed to upgrade to digital, I've become a regular R3 listene. Very soothing and facts about composers that I forget but fascinated by in the moment. In direct contrast to Vine's listeners, R3 audience sound like really lovely people.

[Yug]

I see Boeing are living up to their reputation

A communications satellite designed and built by embattled aerospace giant Boeing has broken up in orbit.

The satellite's operator, Intelsat, has confirmed the "total loss" of iS-33e, which has affected customers in Europe, Africa and parts of the Asia-Pacific region...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8d886l028o.amp