Our Chickens occupy Spotty's Kennel.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Hacker and Applelby Still Popular Why Yes Minister is as true as ever - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
When Jonathan Lynn and I started writing Yes, Minister back at the end of the 1970s, we had no idea whether the television audience would find it funny. We did, however, think they might be interested in a series that took them behind the scenes of government – there had never been a TV comedy series set in Whitehall.
So from the very first episode we tried to make sure that all the details were as authentic as we could make them; obviously we included lots of things that never happened, but nothing that couldn’t happen. Our hope was that even if people didn’t laugh, they would still be interested enough to switch on again next week.
This brought an unexpected benefit. We discovered that the further you delved into the realities of government, the funnier it all became. Who could invent a plot in which a schizophrenic clambered over the walls of Buckingham Palace, climbed into the Queen’s bedroom, and cadged a cigarette off her? Impossible – until Michael Fagan did exactly that in 1982.
And even when it turned out that the British television audience got the joke, we didn’t expect it to go any further. Well, possibly to Australia, New Zealand and Canada, who had similar political systems, but that was about it.
Except that it wasn’t. In the end, 80 different countries took it, some such as Holland and India translating the scripts and producing their own versions. We even found, from Peter Ustinov, that Samizdat copies were circulating rapidly (and illegally) in Soviet Russia.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Sky TV - Scotland - Who needs HD with this lineup
Sky are rumoured to be close to launching their own dedicated Scottish Channel later this month, and have previewed what they are intending to broadcastHere's a selection of the listed programmes:
Sky Wan
9am News and whair it's pishin doon
9.30am How claty is yer hoose?
This week the ladies pay a visit to a man whose wife shot the craw only three days ago to find the entire hoose under five inches of stoor and the cludgy honkin o' pish10am The Mags Hainey Show
Early mornin chat show hosted by big Mags Hainey in which neds and Sengas settle their petty differences by screaming obscenities and attacking each other with furniture for the amusement of the viewing public. This morning's episode is entitled "Whair's ma effin hoosekeepin money disappeared tae?"12.30pm News and whair it's pishin doon
1pm Neeburs
Soap opera set in the village of Kinghorn in Fife. This week Archie accuses Morag of being in league with Lucifer and has her burned at the stake2pm Film
Angels wi Manky Coupons4pm Tam the Tank Engine
Tam goes aff the rails and the Fat Controller is chuffed tae bits4.15pm Boab the Builder
Reality show where Boab is investigated by the Inland Revenue6pm News and whair it's pishin doon
7pm Doaktir Whae
In this week's episode the Scottish time traveller takes the TARDIS back tae 1966 and breks Geoff Hurst's legs wae a sonic Glesca screwdriver7.30pm Torn Faced Cockney Wankers
Eastenders wi' subtitles. In tonight's episode, Pauline gets her jotters fae the steamie while the rest o' the cast stoat aboot wi' faces the length o' Leith Walk9pm Fitba Player's Burds
Drama surrounding the players of fourth division Auchtermuchty Rovers and their off-pitch antics. This week Boaby is worried that the club is facing relegation while Moira is gettin baw deep from the Aberfeldy Academicals goalie10pm News and whair it's pishin doon
12.30am Merrit Wi Weans
Re-make of the popular American sit-com 'Married With Children.' In this week's episode, Al sits in front o' the telly scratchin his baws while Meg is still chokin on her Nat King Cole1.30am The Beechgrove Back-Green
The boys plans tae dae up a gairdin in Niddrie are scuppered when local neds eff off wi the wheelbarra2.15am Close Doon
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Face-Off With a Deadly Predator in the Antarctic
via youtube.com
Swimming with Leopard Seals in the Antarctic. Very cool
Global Warming Threatens Penguins - Photo Essays - TIME
via time.com
I always loved Penguins during my trips to the zoo as a child. Sad to see their habitats being threatened.
RIP Nien Cheng Author of Life and Death in Shanghai
via telegraph.co.uk
Such grace after some of the horrors she lived through. Her book was on everybodys shelf when I lived in Singapore in the 90s.
Women banned from wearing trousers in Paris - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
The 1800 rule stipulated than any Parisienne wishing to dress like a man "must present herself to Paris' main police station to obtain authorisation".
In 1892 it was slightly relaxed thanks to an amendment which said trousers were permitted "as long as the woman is holding the reins of a horse".
Then in 1909, the decree was further watered down when an extra clause was added to allow women in trousers on condition they were "on a bicycle or holding it by the handlebars".
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Brown to apologise to all children forced to grow up in the UK
Gordon Brown is planning an apology to those children left to be raised in the UK instead of being offered the chance of living in a far nicer country, somewhere sunny.The rest of Brown to apologise to all children forced to grow up in the UK
Under the Child Migrants Programme - which ended just 40 years ago - many children were rejected and left to face a life of dreary weather, miserable citizens and truly terrible national sports teams.
59 year old Gerry Owen is one of the unfortunate children of the fifties left behind in the UK, and he told us, “I was born in 1950, and in 1959 my application to go ‘absolutely anywhere else at all’ was rejected out of hand.”
“Since then, I’ve been subjected to a miserable existence on these Isles, consisting mainly of drizzling grey monotony interspersed with abject disappointment after stunningly predictable abject disappointment.”
“It’s all the Government’s fault, and I still blame them for not sending me somewhere much, much nicer all those years ago.”
“The irony is, I’m a borderline alcoholic who genuinely loves cricket and utterly despises football, I’d have made a brilliant Australian.
Chilling words that triggered the bloody massacre of clan MacDonald at Glencoe to go on display
I still get grief about this even now being named Campbell. I have been to Glencoe many times and it is hard to think of a starker place for such a grim event.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Why was Enid Blyton so controversial? | nourishing obscurity
Head of the BBC schools department Jean Sutcliffe said in an internal memo dated 1938: “My impression of her stories is that they might do for Children’s Hour but certainly not for Schools Dept, they haven’t much literary value.
“There is rather a lot of the Pinky-winky-Doodle-doodle Dum-dumm type of name – and lots of pixies – in the original tales.” She added that they were “competently written”.
For me, I don't remember the Golliwogs very well, but the Famous Five were pretty cool.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
With the Adelaide Christmas Pageant over time for some Christmas Lights
via funmeme.com
Ha Ha
The street over from us really get into this sort of stuff. It is still incongruous for me with hot temperatures and winter snow themes. When I lived in Singapore I always though Orchard Road looked very incongruous with their over the top decorations and 30 degrees.
Giant iceberg spotted off Australia
via telegraph.co.uk
The ice chunk, measuring some 2,300 feet long with an estimated depth of more than 1,000 feet, caused a stir when it was sighted by experts based on Australia's remote Macquarie Island.
Drought over as icebergs come to the rescue?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
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My Political Ambitions Go Nowhere
From our Scottish Correspondent, Big Rab
Bad luck on your result in the Glasgow North East by election Colin. I'm sure with a bit of effort we could have got you more than 13 votes!
Charlie Baillie - British National Party - 1,013 votes (4.92%)
William Bain - Labour - 12,231 (59.39%)
Eileen Baxendale - Liberal Democrats - 474 (2.30%)
Mev Brown - Independent - 32 (0.16%)
Colin Campbell - The Individuals Labour and Tory (Tilt) - 13 (0.06%)
Ruth Davidson - Conservatives - 1,075 (5.22%)
David Doherty - Scottish Greens - 332 (1.61%)
Mikey Hughes - Independent - 54 (0.26%)
David Kerr - SNP - 4,120 (20%)
Louise McDaid - Socialist Labour Party - 47 (0.23%)
Kevin McVey - Scottish Socialist Party - 152 (0.74%)
Tommy Sheridan - Solidarity - 794 (3.86%)
John Smeaton - Independent Backed by the Jury Team - 258 (1.25%)
Friday, November 13, 2009
Skywatch Friday
Thebarton during our heatwave this week. Temperature has been above 35 degrees all week. Three days of 39 degrees and tomorrow it hits 40 degrees. Hottest November ever.
More skies here.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Stunning Cassini Image to Knock Your Socks Off | Universe Today
Stunning Cassini Image to Knock Your Socks Off | Universe Today
Posted using ShareThis
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Contemporary Britain
via izismile.com
Contemporary Britain. These guys must be paying in their contribution to the bank bailout.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
KP blasts the Aussies out of the Ashes 2005
I can remember watching this in the middle of the night, with England all but out of Ashes contention. I had forgotten just how many chances Australia dropped. Quite incredible counter attacking innings. It was a huge anti climax when Hayden and Langer were sent in to finish the day, with no chance to win.
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Beefy to the max - Memories of Ian Botham from the 80s
via cricinfo.com
Botham's Ashes: the images and the yarns are as well-worn as the pages of a boy's first mucky book: the blind fury of those hook shots that nearly launched him off his feet, that square cut through point off Lillee, the irresistible force of his bowling action, enormously strong but still lithe. It is all as vivid as any childhood memory.
So, too, that famous picture of him in the Headingley dressing room, shirt off, the grinning man of the match raising a bottle: the king of the world. Or the more brooding shot taken the night before (145 not out overnight), about to light an atypically modest, slim cigar. He looks distant, solitary: perhaps he is reflecting on the magnitude of his achievements and what they could mean. Maybe he is just working out what his first pint will be. What a summer: 149 not out, 5 for 1, 118: the numbers need no elucidation to any cricket fan, for our memories will never fade.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Saturday, November 07, 2009
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