I think there was some speculation about a follow-on series to Blackadder Goes Forth. It would be about a dirty punk band. Baldrick would have become Bald Rick. I don’t know anything about it other than that.
Tony Robinson. He now presents an archaeology series on Channel 4 called Time Team. He is fairly prominent in the Labour Party and was recently elected to its National Executive Committee.
-
As far as “special forces” teams go among militaries throughout the world, I always hear that the British SAS is the world’s best. Now (I’m assuming you’re a civilian), so as a civilian who lives in this very nation of elite soldiers, what do you think? How do you think they compare to America’s Navy Seals?
-
Do you think the US is uptight about sex? Take for instance the whole Monica Lewinky and Bill Clinton scandal. This was jammed down our throats, practically everyday, for almost a year. Any little snippet of news that leaked out would make the front page of every newspaper across the country. As an outsider, how did you feel about this situation we were in?
-
Do you find it difficult to grasp the concept of our standard system of measurement? For instance, when someone tells you their weight in pounds, is it hard for you to convert that weight over to grams? Because, I, for one, have a difficult time with the metric system.
Is there consensus yet on who killed the princes in the Tower?
And what’s this “dole” thing all about?
And “Keeping Up Appearances” – do women like Hyacinth Bucket exist? I can’t think of an American counterpart – maybe because the US is supposed to be a “classless” society.
And while we’re on the subject – are Daisy and Onslow on the dole? I suspect Rose has a source of income (coff coff) but she surely doesn’t earn enough to support Daisy, Onslow and Daddy too.
vandal:
(1) I think that the SAS are possibly better than the SEALs, for a few reasons. Firstly, the SAS have more experience - from the Iranian embassy siege to Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the Gulf War and Yugoslavia. Secondly, the SAS are fewer in number than the SEALs and treated almost reverently; whatever they want, they get, no expense spared. Thirdly (and I have no proof of this) SAS training is traditionally seen as second only to that of the Spetsnaz in it’s difficulty. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the SAS are trained in a much wider range of missions - from combat sabotage to reconnaissance to siege-breaking and so on. That said, I doubt there’d be many survivors from any encounter between SAS and SEALs.
(2) Yes, very. Personally I couldn’t see what the fuss was about Clinton; the “affair” sheds no light on his abilities to govern. The question of him lying is more of a concern, but I’m amazed that much of the US public seemed determine to end his career thanks to a non-work-related lie. Reading the Alan Clark Diaries, a fantastic book about British politics, I find it hard to believe that any politician doesn’t lie.
Having said that, Britain is uptight too, compared to most of continental Europe, and the British media are very hypocritical. They use sex to sell while at the same time bemoaning the amount of sex in the media (i.e. their rivals).
(3) Nope. There’s a bit of a generation gap in the UK. I was born and raised after decimalisation of currency and the move towards metric measurements. Grams and kilos make far more sense to me than pounds and ounces. I cannot grasp pre-decimalisation currency to save my life. Older relatives of mine, though, struggle with the metric system just as much.
AuntiePam:
(1) “The dole” is just slang for unemployment benefit. You queue up in the dole office for your dole money; therefore, you’re “on the dole”. FWIW I tried to register for unemployment benefit last year, and it’s actually very difficult (you have to now prove you’re actively seeking work) and quite a tiny amount of money per week.
(2) Yes, mostly in Surrey (one of the “Home Counties” of Southern England, and one traditionally associated with rich commuters and families with posh aspirations). I hate that show, though.
(3) Possibly - I try to avoid it when it’s on.
Unemploymet Benefit was replaced in 1995 by something called Jobseeker’s Allowance. The difference is that to claim UB, you had to show that you were available for, and actively seeking, work; to claim JSA, you have to enter into a “jobseeker’s agreement”. That is, you have to agree with the Employment Service exactly what you will do to find work, how many jobs you will apply for each week, and so on.
I still don’t think it’s as draconian as the US welfare system, though. For example, JSA is not used as a tool to meet social policy objectives in the same way that TANF is (e.g. single-parent pregnancies).
On the other point, I agree with matt, other than on vandal’s point 3: We still use Imperial units quite a lot here: distances are usually expressed in miles, clothes sizes in inches, beer and milk in pints. The differences in people’s weights is that we express them in stones (=16 lbs) and pounds but Americns only use pounds.
Sorry to be pedantic but a stone is 14 pounds, not 16.
The whole (and some say only) joke about Hyacinth Bucket is that she is an uptight social climber who struggles to leave here roots as evidenced by her ‘trailer trash’ relatives who seem relaxed about there status in life or at least have accepted their lot in life.
Media ownership in the UK - Just 8 men control 95% of nationwide media in this country.
Naturally no politician can afford to alienate such a small, powerful group and policy is tailored accordingly.
The irony I find is that The Scum is bought by the lower levels if I might say so, to the tune of up to 4mill copies daily from a pop of 56mill, yet this publication only has the interests of the right wing of politics as its agenda.
Headlines about sour Krauts and Froggy bashing are its staple but underneath all this ‘fun’ the important issues of European integration or improvements to education are dealt with in a trivial and nationalistic way.
The class system here is pervasive and subtle, for instance people will assess each other on the basis of their employment and will not socialise ,or be extremely patronising, with those of a ‘lower’ social level.
Medical staff will provide better service to middle class(legal proffesionals,architects,upper management types) who are more likely to express dissatisfaction, than the blue collar types.
There is even social division in car registration plates where the newer your vehicle is the higher esteem you hold yourself in.The ultimate snobbery of this is the individual registration plates that can and do sell for over £10000, yes really!
ruadh, You are of course correct. It goes to show how ignorant I am of the mechanics of the Imperial system, having been taught the metric system in school.
casdave, IIRC you said some time ago that you were in the Royal Navy during the Falklands War. What did you think of the Sun’s coverage (esp. the Belgrano headline)?
David B / Gaudere - if you’re culling threads, might as well move this one too; I don’t think it’s going to turn into a debate anytime soon.
Ta.
In answer to your query about the sinking of the General Belgrano.
The headline was extremely distasteful to those of us in the Royal Navy as we were expecting retaliatory action.
Any of us in any Navy Knows what ‘the ship’ means to us, it is our home and our protector.We depend on her, we serve her, maintain her, paint clean polish her.She is part of our life in a way that a car can never be.We belong to her. To lose her is to lose everything, your clothes, your work and the crew will be split up amongst other ships.
Sinking an enemy ship is not a matter for cheers and backslapping it is a tragedy for both the winners and losers.
We took on survivors from HMS Antelope and HMS Coventry we also rescued downed Argentine pilots with their smashed knees(design flaw in the ejector system).
All of us knew we could be hit next and would need rescue, and then I see headlines by a bunch of non-com leeches living under the description ‘journalist’ slapping each other on the back. Guess you can work out how I feel.
I don’t know if you saw some of the tricks employed by the scumsucker toss-wipes that pass for Sun journalists but one did come to light when the widow of an army officer complained about a quote that they printed which she never made. Turns out that the head arsehole in charge of the London office simply went round some of the female staff and asked how they would feel if they lost their husband in a war.
Pity they never spoke to the real thing.
Sadly, that doesn’t surprise me at all. I recently read a very good book about the history of The Sun. I’ll see if I can dig up the title somewhere.
What ship did you serve on, casdave?
Sorry, another question: did you find that servicemen and women have different political views to the usual right-wing-Sun-reading stereotype?
I lived for many years just outside Aldershot, and the stereotype seemed to hold water for most of the paras around. When I was at university, though, I read that servicemen and women who’ve seen action often become more left-wing in their views (e.g. the apparent popularity of communist ideas with ex-soldiers after World War I).
Can you shed any light on this?
I STRONGLY disagree!
( Just kidding, of course. )
I envy you.
With regard to the Sun/Belgrano incident, even I as a kid (I think I was 10) was quite stunned by the "GOTCHA!’ headline coupled with the fact that the same story related that, IIRC, about 375 Argentines perished. Just to clarify, typically the scum was passed round at school, I didn’t read it regularly…
I was on HMS Ambuscade.
We got away late and had to catch the rest of the task force.
Things were well under way by the time we arrived and we were ordered to go into Falklands sound to carry out shore bombardment, however we had used up too much fuel and we could not take any more on as the sea was too rough.
Fuel acts as ballast and on many ships seawater is drawn in to replace what has been used thus maintaining stability but on the Ambuscade we didn’t have this so we were bouncing around like a cork.
Instead HMS Antelope went into the sound and was destroyed.
Royal Navy personnel are fairly gung-ho but then the average age on most warships is around 23.
They are largely drawn from areas of the country with high unemployment rates so there are quite a few left-wingers mixed in.
I wouldn’t say that we were the ultra-patriots that the media portrayed us, maybe it would be more accurate to say we were ultra-confident since we knew we were the best.
Civilian attitudes from the men of our age seemed to be hostile and it wasn’t uncommon for a single sailor to be waylaid by a bunch of them. Our answer was to turn out all the bases around and kick the crap out of those cowards.
It was an interesting moment,apparently, when a nightclub DJ in Plymouth played a request dedicated to HMS Sheffield which was hit early on - the song ?
Dave Clark 5’s Bits and pieces
[Moderator Hat: ON]
Since mattk, the person who started this thread, has indicated that this doesn’t look like a Great Debate, and I am inclined to agree, I’m moving it to MPSIMS.
David B, SDMB Great Debates Moderator
[Moderator Hat: Handed Off to Euty & Unc]
-
Do you really call the apartments there, flats?
-
Is it true that just recently, British police officers were now allowed to carry a firearm?
-
Have you taken a ride on that English Channel subway yet? (is it even open?)
-
Does watching professional American Basketball peak any interest in you? Did you watch the finals this year?
Who was the Prince Consort before he caught the Queen’s eye?
Edinburough is NOT a Principality.
what a typo! 
Vandal, yes apartments are called “flats” in Britain, and in Ireland. (There are flats in San Francisco, too, but they are distinct from apartments.)
Prince Philip was born Prince of Greece.