Labour get three points closer with YouGov
June 25th, 2009
CON 38 (-2) LAB 25(+1) LD 18 (nc)
But “others” continue to impact on the numbers
The Telegraph’s YouGov poll for June is out and shows modest changes on the last survey from the firm a fortnight ago.
Labour will be pleased to have clawed back the deficit to what appears a modest 13 points. The Tories will be disappointed to be down in the 30s again while it’s no change for the Lib Dems.
The changes are modest and all within the margin of error.
There’s not really a lot else to say apart from the fact support for “other” parties continues to have a big impact on the overall figures. This is down to the continued ripples from the Euro elections at the start of the month and it could take until October before the polling gets back to normal.
Mike Smithson
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Frost
Still in line with recent YG polls. Nothing to see….
secundus
Poll news: ho hum: margin of error: as you were: solid Tory victory.
Jackson dead???!!
Wow. Poignant yet somehow inevitable, a bit like Diana. Suicide?
Poor bastard. Very talented and very f*cked up man. Pity his kids, too.
Threeth?
3 turd
4, Oh whoops…
Fiveth?
6. Oh poo. Seventh?
3 - quite.
Moderate progress in reducing the deficit from the subterranean depths, but we need to see if the ‘Others’ settle before we can tell very much. In this case perhaps the secondary finding on best PM is more interesting. Reading the “Cameron is God, Brown is hopeless” views expressed here, you wouldn’t think the response would be Cameron 38 Brown 25 and (presumably) dunno/neither 37 - GB is not popular at present, but Cameron is also no more popular than his party, which presumably means that most of the ‘others’ supporters are saying “neither”.
Farrah Fawcett must be mighty pissed off. Upstaged on her death day. Bumped by Jacko, despite all the planning!
“Poor bastard. Very talented and very f*cked up man. Pity his kids, too.”
Seconded.
I’m not sure, polling will get back to ‘normal’ for some time, (whatever normal is) some voters are getting the, ‘taste’ for protest votes. Which is why I see Nomaj being back on the agenda, and perhaps a few surprises, that we haven’t counted on.
By the way, when I was polled by ICM, apart from being asked the usual questions about voting intention and whether I think that Osborne is better than Darling etc, I was also asked a few questions about my opinion on gay relationships, civil partnerships, gay adoption etc. I can’t find any reports of the results of those questions on the ICM website or the original PB reports here. Where can I find them? Or might they be confidential for a particular client?
9 but it isnt Nick Its Cameron 35 Brown 18 Brown is desperately unpopular. you know it, I know it, everybody knows it, theres no way you can spin it any other way.
FPT
The newspapers must be scrambling right now. A proper hold the front page story for the tabloids. I wonder if it will make the Metro.
One report says overdose of sleeping pills. And will his conversion to Islam feature, or did he do a Ronnie O’Sullivan?
11 - I informally seconded. You have to third it!
Grrrr…
12. Labour would have to do more than dump Brown, they’d have to boot most of his mates from the cabinet, tear up much of their future plans (ID cards being merely a start), and actually stop bullsh*tting the public about spending. Then they might have a chance.
The question is this, with less than a year until a general election why aren’t they doing these things right now?
10. I think they’ll be in different elevators…
13 - if it was a private poll then it may not be on the ICM site.
Every helicopter in LA seems to be in the air with “live” coverage of some building or other remotely connected with Jacko.
Yep, it’s going to be Diana squared…with the added spice of the sordid paedo stories filtering out. One wonders what would have been the impact if this had happened the night the Telegraph went live with the MP’s expenses….
If Johnson did the decent thing and ditched ID cards what would we reasonably expect the influence on the polls?
Here’s a guess, I’d expect
C -2
LD -3
Lab +5
re 9. Nick - I don’t think you can conclude from the data that we have that “Cameron is..no more popular than his party”. The question was on who would make best PM not on the approval ratings for the leaders.
I’ve noticed this line slipping into discussions in recent weeks and it’s not correct. By the same token you could say that Labour is doing a third better than Brown - which would be also wrong from the published numbers.
Hopefully we will get that detail in the next day or so.
20 - I’d imagine that all the families who Jackson paid to shut up will be selling their stories soon.
Rumours of Jacko “overdose”…
I was going to come on here and say “why the hell is Plaid Cymru represented on Question Time in Newquay - could they really get no body else” but, instead, Jackson dead/dying? Bloody hell
20. I don’t think it’s quite a Diana Death, but it’s bigger than say, the younger Kennedy who died in the plane.
I put this as a Celeb Death Rating AAB. If Diana was AAA, and Jill Dando was C.
Jacko was out of the news too much recently, and the death lacks the drama of Diana’s (midnight! in a car! in Paris! with a driver on charlie!), plus he wasn’t a royal.
But he was a major major pop star, albeit faded. Indeed this death feels similar to Elvis’s.
May God take him to the Neverland in the Sky.
23 Please just Stop.It.Now.
There is tasteless and then there is you.
25- They did that a few weeks ago too when they were in another English town. I suspect the BBC secretly want Wales to conquer England!
26- I thought he was just drunk?
26 Disagree 100% Jackson = global 40 yr phenomenon
It will be different from Diana but MEGA story.
27. I defend tim’s right to be tasteless, cause I am just as bad. And FFS it’s not like Wacko is anyone we knew. And we all respect the lad for Thriller.
Go, Jacko. Moonwalk into Eternity.
Police laying roadblocks outside the hospital….
Strange that SKY and BBC reporting he is dead but CNN isn’t?
20 I don’t think it will be anywhere near as big as Diana.
I don’t think my mind and body are recording the memory of where I am right now, in the funny way in the funny way it has done for others.
This doesn’t really come as a shock in the way that Elvis, John Smith, Diana, Queen Mum et al all did.
partybets.com will give you 5/1 that Jacko will not perform any concerts between July 09 & Feb 2010.
Does finding that out make me a bad person?
Jacko now “in a coma”? WTF?
Jacko fan on Sky
“I hope he pulls through”
If he pulls off a resurrection then that’s easily the biggest comeback of all time
29. There are persistent rumours that cocaine was found in more than one body at the scene of Diana’s death. Yes. But I have absolutely no proof - these are just rumours. Possibly vile slurs.
30. You may be right, he was huge. This could be Diana again. It may depend on the manner of his death - a sad heart attack, not quite so shocking.
Suicide? Wow.
How reliable is this TMZ website, which is where the Jacko-is-dead story appears to be coming from?
35- No, it makes you a lucky bastard!
35 No that’s a great spot!
34. Spot the tragic political anorak.
You remember where you were when you heard of the death of…. John Smith???
lol. Some tedious Labour fatso who finally keeled over for the 17th time after too many scotch pies. Yeah. Princess Diana times fifty. The world trembled.
39 Very according to anecdotal sources
39 - I’d say TMZ is completely unreliable but, if it’s all true, it’ll become the website to follow.
Whatever the situation, it’s really rather sad
39. My mrs says it is a gossip site with a history of getting things wrong.
31 Defend all you want, its still a loathsome thing to say.
38 - Four people in the car.
The one wearing a seat belt survived.
42 Yeah. The death of Father Ted, on the other hand… Time stood still that day.
39 - TMZ is either 100% true or complete and utter balls. The fact that they have at least confirmed that he’s in hospital veers me towards the former.
A poll with changes well within the margin of error.
As You Were.
Problem for the Tories is there is nothing to get traction on at the moment.
There is just this huge void where bread and butter politics is at the moment, so DC is unable to grab a good headline or two with broken societies or education.
His speech today about civil liberties bodes very well for the future though.
As for Michael Jackson, I really couldn’t give a siht to be honest.
38- I remember my brother waking me up by phone that Sunday morning telling me Diana was dead. I was bloody annoyed that he woke me up with such trivial news and went promptly back to sleep. That was the most memorable thing for me about poor Di’s death.
Bizarre how people behave when people die who do not mean anything to them. At least Jacko is talented.
38 - I bet Elton John is kicking himself about blowing his Norma Jean/Candle in the Wind song on Diana now. Could have made much more money.
43 I was driving from a business meeting in Chatham to home in Burgess Hill and listening to LBC - Richard Littlejohn’s phone-in was totally derailed.
Do I get a PB anorak?
42 - I remember where I was when John Smith died. I was a budding cartoonist and wrote a ‘joke’ strip about him suddenly dying the day before he suddenly died
Bit of an odd day that
CNN with “multiple sources” “familair with his condition” saying he is in a coma.
This could run and run
46 - Give your sanctimony a rest, save it for the children who were paid off.
47- And as he was a bodyguard he souldn’t have been wearing it!
The death of minor Carry On Star Arthur Mullard had more impact than the death of… John Smith.
Hilarious.
57- Bah, why the hell has the edit function been taken away!
Re Jackson’s reported death,
According to KATV “Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Steve Ruda said paramedics responded to a 911 call at Jackson’s home around 12:26 p.m. He was not breathing when they arrived
Update: OK! Magazine confirms that Michael Jackson is dead, that it is not a rumour, and that the hospital is on lockdown.
51- Tyson, snap, that’s exactly what happenned to me
39.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Showbiz-News/Michael-Jackson-Dies-Of-Heart-Attack-After-Being-Rushed-To-Hospital-According-To-TMZ/Article/200906415319936?lpos=Showbiz_News_Top_Stories_Header_0&lid=ARTICLE_15319936_Michael_Jackson_Dies_Of_Heart_Attack_After_Being_Rushed_To_Hospital%2C_According_To_TMZ
“Steve Hargrave, Sky’s entertainment correspondent, said: “TMZ is a website which goes out of its way to get there first but many of their stories over the years have turned out to be true - particularly with stories from LA.”
52. He briefly revived it for Mother Teresa…
“Sandles in the Bin”
42. Maybe John Smith’s a bit parochial - I was doing my finals, Scotland at teh time.
If the rumours that Jacko converted to Islam are true, then the funeral will take place very soon, which can only quell the scope for media coverage.
LA Times and CBS now reporting Jacko is dead.
What happened to the coma, CNN??
56
Sorry Tim, do forgive me, I just can’t get it out of my head that your comments are always odious and in very bad taste. So far I have always been correct.
On the subject of “Where were you when you heard…”, the most shocking death I remember in the world of politics was when Mike Carr, MP for Bootle, died suddenly in 1990 after being an MP for only two months. I was only about half-awake when the news came on the radio at 7am, but I jumped out of bed in astonishment and was shocked for the rest of the day.
61- Chris- we have enough to contend with in our lives rather than worry too much about people who mean nothing to us. Bereavement is tough enough
61 I was part of the team in charge of the Beeb’s broadcast links that morning and was sat in the bath when the news of Diana’s death broke.
At first I assumed it was the Queen Mum [we had a plan], then realised who it was [we didn't] - didn’t sleep for 3 days trying to match the international media requirements for broadcast links.
It was a mammoth logistical effort. Jackson will be immense for the main USA media.
If this is true about Michael Jackson then it’s incredibly sad. Yes he was a strange person but there is no denying the fact that at his peak he was a complete genius. He set new standards for choreography and for music videos. In a way he reminded me of George Best, incredible talent but with terrible demons. Perhaps that is the proce that you must pay to have talent of that degree.
I was working in Oxford when Smith died. I knew he wouldn’t make it from the first reports, and brought a transistor radio into work. At the official announcement at 11am I broadcast it over the company mainframe system (pre-PCs.)
Brought the entire company to a halt for the rest of the morning. LOL
Interesting that a lot of lefties I worked with thought it was bad news politically for Labour….
I know it’s bad form to boast about your own rapier wit, but I recall getting up for school one morning to be told by my mum that Diana had died in a car crash. “I guess that’s why they called her Squidgy,” I said.
67- John- that was such a shocking event that I do not remember it at all.
Who was Mike Carr from Bootle?
OT watching question time, crikey what a bunch of old windbags the welsh are. Whinge, whine, complain, a collective slap is on order.
71- it would have been if horse face Becket had won the leadership!
66. MTF, I know tim can be a tedious git, but since OGH banned him from mentioning Latvia he has returned to being more varied and amusing, at least for the moment.
Maybe cut him a tiny bit of slack, or just ignore him?
Of course if he goes back to Bullingdon/Waffen SS/Eton we can all duff him up, good and proper.
67. Yes, that was a gutter. He was an old boy of my school. Aged just 43 (my age now), there seemed to be medical maladministration in his case…
72 she died on sunday, did your parents shelter from the news for a day?
If a creepy old guy who was almost convicted for paedophilia gets more news coverage than events in Iran, which may determine the future of the Middle East, have had, you know there’s no hope for us. We’ll be pathetic, celebrity-obsessed losers who deserve to be taken over by the Chinese.
Damn my first thought was to try and think of a joke..
I still any havent thought of any
If anyone does please share so I can impress the office in the morning
74 They’re not in Wales, they’re in Newquay. If you listen carefully you hear the seagulls.
67. lol. Is this a joke??
Brilliantly insane, either way. Mike Carr from Bootle!!
67 - Two Bootle MPs died that year.
Allan Roberts too.
76 Amusing on other subjects sometimes, but to smear someone who is still warm is just off the scale.
Jackson is probably a good example of what can happen when greedy parents push their children on a stage to make them rich.
I’m really not sure what is true of all those stories, but to me he never seemed dangerous. Just a man who never managed to grow up.
I think we’re becoming used to watching people die live on television in a way that makes us very similar to the crowds in Rome. Go lions. It’s just a freak!
80 - Is it a black swan or a white swan event?
83 Bootle is brutal…
I can remember one morning when I was 6 years old, sitting having my breakfast and the radio announcing that John Lennon had been shot dead. Of course I had absolutely no idea who John Lennon was!!
81. Oops, of course, i presumed that the only reason they had that silly low grade welsh assembly woman on was because it was her constituency.
78. Oh. Maybe not for school then. The point is I was getting up.
84. I don’t think it’s a smear to say Jackson had an unhealthy interest in the kiddies, is it? Isn’t this basically true?
It’s arguably tasteless to bring up a recently dead person’s worst faults within thirty seconds of their conking out, but it’s not a smear.
We should restrict the useful word smear to what it truly means, otherwise it will become useless.
There endeth the sermon.
I remember the grown-ups all sat around and being very sad that Robert Kennedy had been killed.
I wonder if Gordon Brown will go to Jacko’s funeral. And Berlusconi. Could be quite an event!
66 To be blunt my thoughts are more in line with tim’s than any feeling of sorrow, He is/was a damaged individual who damaged others. He had a great talent, some great songs, those provided pleasure to millions but as a person?
91 - “There endeth the sermon”
Amen.
And before it all went weird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF0o-W5uu8o&feature=related
Never heard of Michael Jackson. How large was his majority?
74 - Cornish and Welsh accents easily confused?
BBC confirms he is dead… The last ten years of his life have seemed like one long train crash.
I think that the way people reacted to the death of Princess Diana may have varied according to their own timetable. If someone did this:
(a) go to sleep in the evening
(b) wake up in the morning
(c) hear the news that she has died
then they might have been able to accept it without being too shocked… but what happened to me was this:
(a) heard on the radio reports of the accident, with no information about how badly Diana was injured
(b) went downstairs to watch news on the TV
(c) wait for details
(d) report that she has been seen outide the car, walking about, possibly with a broken arm
(e) thought that she would be OK
(f) decided to wait for confirmation of details
(g) report of broken arm was not confirmed
(h) waited
(i) news eventually that she had died
The news that Princess Diana had been involved in an accident, and had died as a result, was for me spread out over five hours and with lots of twists and false rumours mixed in with it. I think it would have been easier for someone who heard it all in one go.
I remember being shocked and bewildered that day, and that I was bursting into tears at random intervals. In contrast, my uncle (who was visiting us at the time) was very practical and didn’t understand why there was so much fuss about it all day long. I think that even if he had been shocked or upset, he didn’t understand why the news wasn’t just being reported briefly in the usual way.
90- rulko- this site is populated by autistic types who never let anyone get away with even the slightest slip!
Wonder what Brillo and co will make of this!
From the first sketchy reports of Diana I suspected she was dead, and phoned my sister in London to stay up. “It’ll be just like Kennedy” I said, “they won’t confirm anything until the family and the power circles are notified.”
I’d also “predicted” her death exactly a fortnight previously…
98. In my pathetic defence i thought the assembly woman was there as it was her constituency, and the variation in accents wasnt that great. Can you distinguish between a Northumbrian accent and a Cumbrian one?
Why else would a member of an assembly in the principality of wales be present on a QT in Cornwall? They might as well have had a councillor from Doncaster on for the relevance.
Man “This Week” is already out of date!
97 - teehee!
100- john- I do not mean to be too harsh, but it is pretty sad that people burst into tears about people they never met. Get a life comrade.
103- “I’d also “predicted” her death exactly a fortnight previously…”
Errr, what?!!!!
108- exactly!
I remember hearing Dianas death, thinking ‘huh’ and promptly watching Spaceballs. Fabulous movie.
97. when are they going to call the by election for a new world weirdo…
Was there really a 4′3″ speaker called Wee Titch McGee?
I’m not sure the death of a famous, or infamous, person can shock us the way it once did, 9/11 raised the bar for shocking news to an awful level.
108 - I’ve got a terrible feeling that Rod is going to tell us which Tolkein characters were behind it.
72. Mike Carr became Labour MP for Bootle in a by-election in May 1990, and then died of a heart attack two months later at the age of 43. (It meant that there was a second by-election in Bootle in November 1990, which was the first time since 1920 that there were two by-elections in the same constituency in the same calendar year)). I think that in the world of Labour politics in Merseyside, he was active in helping to root out Militant.
To be fair, my shock at his death was mostly merely due to the fact that he had only very recently become an MP in a by-election, and not inherently because of who he was as a person otherwise.
When Elvis died I was 10 and was watching a John Wayne movie, not exactly very poignant.
Blimey R5 reporting that Jackson’s best seller sold more than Bing’s White Christmas.
How young you all are. I can remember where I was when the BBC Home Service announced the death of George VI. It felt like the end of the world but it wasn’t.
But Plato is obviously right: if Jackson’s death is confirmed, it will be an absolutely mega story, especially in America. It should also should take the Dave’n'Gordo show out of the headlines here for a bit, a reprieve for which I suspect both gentlemen will be profoundly grateful.
100. Interesting. My Diana Death Experience was quite distinct, though not unlike yours - in a way!
I was doing heroin with a friend in his small Bayswater flat. We were up chasing the dragon all night (as you do) and watching pointless night time TV (as you do, on heroin).
Then the news came in that she had been injured. Then badly injured. Then really badly injured. Every time we were about to go to bed the news got worse. So I was one of the few people - like you - who followed it through the whole night (on heroin).
By 6am she was confirmed dead and we walked out into a warm sunny morning to go and buy the first papers, and see if there were any reports.
I realised quite soon what a huge impact this was gonna have when we walked into the Asian all night shop to find the pakistani newsagent in tears.
From there we walked to Kensington Gardens, not far, and we saw the very first flowers being laid, at about 8am - the flowers that would become that huge road of petals.
I remember thinking at the time: this is our Kennedy, this is the moment you always remember, that marks your generation, and indeed it was big. And global.
But then came 9/11, which just dwarfed everything.
117- As said before, I hope people don’t forget Iran though all of this
83. The former MP for Bootle, Simon Mahon, was like one of the family. When he retired, he moved two doors away from us. Shirley Williams (our Crosby MP) lived on the other side (we were her landlords.) My dad was shortlisted for Bootle in 1978, but lost out to Allan Roberts…
115 - The previous MP was interesting.
How Allan Roberts, a gay Manc got selected in Bootle in the 80s punctures the “local links” modern meme in a big way.
112 - was he not the Speaker in Canada - somehow that springs to mind?
121 - 70’s
113 9/11 did have me in tears - the horror of first hearing the radio reports in the car before I got home from Heathrow (have just flown in) and then watching coverage of people leaping to their deaths & knowing others were dying in their thousands as the towers collapsed.
Came to say how almost pleasant QT was but obviously seen the sad news about Jacko. His life and image was so vivid and fantastic that it almost seems fitting for a dramatic exit; whatever his personal demons, on stage he was unsurpassed. If the reports are true, I’d expect less emotion than for Diana, MJ has always seemed that bit creepier, but in a generation’s time, I suspect his achievements will roll off the tongue more easily than hers will.
118. I listened up all night following the twist and turns of Dianas death, on Talk Sport Radio, hosted by possibly one of the best radio broadcasters of the last decade, the now deceased, Mike Dicken, this was possibly his most accomplished piece of work (which i believe he won some kind of award for), and it was somewhat slightly ironic that he himself died in a car crash, a couple of years ago.
Twitter update from Jim Knight, who’s just been on QT:
jimknightmp is shocked at Jackson news. Drank toast with QT panel. Can’t say what Kelvin said
Some kind of heartfelt & gracious tribute, I assume.
re 72 she died on a Sunday
When 9/11 broke, I was driving back to the office from a meeting and suddenly the phone went bananas.
I got into reception where the TVs were on and we were all stood like Gormley statues. Lots of us ended up holding hands - really weird - as the Towers came down.
Never forget it. The other was the 2 mins silence for 7/7 - all the cars on the M25 slowed down and then just pulled over or stopped mid lane.
For some reason Russel Harty’s death sticks in my mind.
And of course the death of the giant John Peel.
103. In the late 1980s or early 1990s, when the Duchess of York was going through a time of repeated and prolonged bad tabloid media coverage, I commented to my family that they would immediately change their tune and become respectful and sanctimonious if she were to die, suddenly, in (for example) a car crash - I emphasised that it was a hypothetical genuine accident, and not an arranged plot or conspiracy by anyone.
re 100 that day I was getting half-drowned at Ironbridge regatta - weather abysmal, thunderstorms torrential, and I’ve never felt so relieved to get knocked out at a regatta.
67. 72. et al.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Carr_(Labour_politician)
129. In my town, as i imagine in other towns as well across the country, when they had a a 2 min silence for 9/11, the whole town came to a complete and utter stand still, no traffic noise or anything.
The newspaper published a picture of the town centre during the silence, while a photo in its essence is a static picture, it somehow was able to pick up the sheer scale of the silence.
108. A fortnight previously was my birthday, and my sister hosted a dinner party for me and about a dozen friends in London. That weekend the Dodi story hit the papers. We were all transfixed by the story and its explosive implications. I have 12 witnesses to my saying.
“Mark my words, this woman is in trouble. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she were to meet with a convenient accident.”
Straight Up.
I was over in Europe, and had been for 4 months in 1997. When in England I had been shocked at how much the media was down on Diana and Dodi, and anti the Royals generally.
I flew home to Augusta, and went to bed that night, but due to the time change couldn’t sleep. so put on the BBC on the short wave radio I kept by the bed. The first sentence I heard was “Following her marriage to Prince Charles…..” and I thought this sounded like an obituary. It was.
I remember getting up at 4am on the day of the funeral and going to an English pub to watch the funeral, and being interviewed by the local TV station.
I was doing fine, sniffled a bit when I saw the ‘Mummy’ floral arrangement on top of the coffin, and lost it completely (like everybody else) when Elton sang “Goodbye England’s Rose”.
I queued up at Best Buy to get 3 copies of Elton’s single, one for my wife, my daughter and myself.
It was a couple of years later at a concert in Atlanta (I was there) when he sang Candle in the Wind again - even he barely made it through.
Hundreds of fans have already been queing outside the o2 arena for jackson refunds..they r being told to BEAT IT!
128. I was working that day at a local ESSO, and we got loads of second editions of the papers, after the originals had being delivered, even the local newspaper that doesnt print on a sunday got an edition out.
It’s sad such a talented man spent, for whatever (sub)conscious reasons, so many years destroying his career in general and his face in particular.
130 - Russell Harty was my English teacher at boarding school. When I left school and went to work in London I would call his office and they would make sure I always had a ticket to the taping of ‘Russell Harty Plus’ or ‘Eleven Plus’ at London Weekend Television. He was always good to me - I used to get to go to the parties after the programme.
I also knew Richard Whiteley.
Rod
There would have been nothing that the political establsihment would have liked more than for Diana to marry a Muslim.
It would have been the perfect example of how progressive and multicultural this country was.
Then again I suppose you think it was the ‘Smeagols’ who got her.
130. Liverpool played at Millwall the night of John Peel’s death and the DJ at The Den played Teenage Kicks which was pretty cool.
Big one that I recall every few weeks is the death of Ian Gow MP.
He was blown up by the IRA in the drive of his house just a couple of miles from me.
I’ll never forget that his home was called ‘The Dog House’.
The local station has a plaque saying he opened it - never get on the train without glancing at it.
http://www.newsplayer.com/conservative-mp-ian-gow-murdered-by-ira-video
I don’t mean to trivialize Michael Jackson’s death but how long will it be before we get the first alleged sightings of him a la Elvis?
144. Given Jackson’s recent financial problems and the fondness some have for seeing a conspiracy, then the first sightings have probably already occurred.
142 - His Funeral was in Bury St Edmonds.A good frined of mine lives in the town and said the town was overflowing with his musical heroes.
He and his wife ended up in the countries smallest boozer with Jack White and Robert Plant
Any death is sad news, but I don’t feel any point of contact with Michael Jackson, so I can’t comment.
My thoughts are more with SBS and his family, as he is one of PB’s “own”.
Disraeli
Wise words.
I don’t wish to appear unduly callous, but to be honest, I was much more upset by the death of my pet cat (a few months later) than I was about the death of Princess Diana.
After Diana’s death an ad agency made its pitch to me in a limo for a campaign we were planning (they were rare then) and we were driven around London, stopped outside Kensington Palace to see the flowers. A few days later I was in Atlanta and hosts took us to see a smaller but similar shrine to her, flowers piled up - was odd to see that in a southern US city but showed it was a global story.
147 - quite, my thoughts as well.
149. Cats are family. Some people don’t get that fact about pets, but I totally understand what you say.
114 I have to say I find the Tolkien criticism on this site fascinating. Was Gollum Jewish (no, IMHO)? Were the hobbits gay (yes, IMHO)?
152 That’s it. One does grieve for the death of a pet.
Re Princess Diana.
Can’t remeber who it was who wrote that for a week British people who were not part of the consensus knew how it felt to live in a land where dissent in public had to be whispered.
Re 9/11 - It still sickens me that John Terry is seen fit to be an England Captain.
149 Not callous at all - I was shocked at her death but had no feelings for her until watching the funeral procession, it was stunning and both me and my hubby blubbed.
If I watch The Queen film, it comes flooding back as just so sad.
GLW, Sean Fear. Agreed.
“I don’t wish to appear unduly callous, but to be honest, I was much more upset by the death of my pet cat (a few months later) than I was about the death of Princess Diana.”
Not callous at all Sean but sensible - your cat would have been a major and much loved part of your life. In comparison what was Diana to you?
I do suspect that the effect Diana’s death had is much exagerated. I remember the TV programs about it and the only people who seemed concerned were the silliest sorts of women, gay men and people who were personally trying to benefit from it all.
147: I agree. I feel sorry for Michael Jackson’s kids tho
I mentioned a few weeks ago - to much derision on here - that my experience of the Euro elections was that older voters in particular were most exercised by the expenses scandal and they were a) most likely to vote and b) most likely to vote Tory.
My conclusion was that as a result (and the Tories are in the eye of the expenses storm) the Tories will not recover after the Euros to the levels of earlier this year. Things will settle down with the Tories in the 36-40 bracket, Labour in the 26-30 and the Lib Dems 17-20.
Yougov - the most pro-Tory pollster - suggests this theory might just be right.
The question for the Tories is less than 40% enough?
152 - Why not keep chickens?
Cats and dogs don’t really taste like chicken.
Living in Japan in the late 90s, every time I turned on the TV it seemed another major actor or director had died — not only the great Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, but also Juzo Itami (popular, crusading director), Keisuke Kinoshita (director of Japan’s 1st ever colour film) and Shintaro Katsu (the original ‘Zatoichi’).
I was in Japan when the last one of the actors who played ‘The Seven Samurai’ passed away. That merited quite a few column inches there.
Stanley Kubrick’s death really shocked me at the time too.
155 John Terry?
147 as Marcia says, my thoughts as well.
a) “One Day in Your Life” is my all-time favorite Jacko song - RIP Jacko…
b) Someone (Sean?) mentioned Arthur Mullard - his daughter looked after my younger brother after school for a while.
c) Wales & Cornwall? I understand that before the Conquest, Cornwall was called “West Wales” by some.
d) One bemusing thing about Princess Di’s death that I can clearly remember is that they had to reschedule the first episode of “Full Circle with Michael Palin” that evening - was looking forward to that!
158 - I have lost two dogs, both German Shepherds, and Yes, it is losing a family member - because you are!
I cried, grieved, and so did my family. I imagine cats are much the same.
I didn’t cry at 9/11 but it was profoundly shocking.
Agree with 147, but for those of us in our late 30’s, Michael Jackson and Madonna have been around for all our adult life, so it is sad to see one go. I’m just not looking forward to all those TV programs and blanket media coverage.
161 - Tim. If wit were shit you would be constipated.
People who open their hearts to animals as part of their family grieve for them much as a human relative.
On the sunday they reported Diana Spencer’s death, I was annoyed at how there was nothing on TV. It was the same on every channel.
I remember it was a very sad day for blond women. Blond women from all over the country were coming out to praise Princess Blond Diana of the Blond hairs.
They even compared her to Mother Teresa.
When Mother Teresa died, they completely ignored it.
169 Thank you.
Which hobbits are meant to be gay?
IIRC Sam, Pippin and Merry are get married afterwards while Frodo sails off with the Elves and Gandalf.
The homsexuality if it exists is repressed.
163 - John Terry, Frank Lampard, Jodie Morris and Eidur Gudjohnsen, were thrown out of a Heathrow hotel for drunkenly stripping and vomiting in front of grieving Americans the day after 9/11.
169 - People who open their hearts to animals as part of their family grieve for them much as a human relative.
As much?
Sorry, I can’t bring myself to think along those lines.
re Michael Jackson. Can you imagine what the eulogies, the ‘in memoriam’ programs, and - heaven help us - the funeral are going to be like? Particularly here in the US?
To die at 50 is a tragedy, but in Michael’s case more so because of how much he missed in his growing up.
It’s very sad, and to have Farrah Fawcett die on the same day due to anal cancer.
Two lives ended early.
Wasn’t Diana’s death a kind of conduit for all the tears people never cried about other stuff - a chance for collective catharsis, for those that wanted to let it all go?
I imagine some people will react to his death in this way, but not as many people because, unfortunately, his image can’t be cleaned up as easily as Diana’s.
The picture I have in my mind is the mask and sun glasses, but maybe it’ll be different for others.
I’m incredibly sad that Michael Jackson has died.
Not because I care about him much one way or another, but because the protestors in Iran depend to a small but important extent on having widespread media coverage around the world.
173- Jesus, that must have been buried with all the other news that week!!!
174 - Tim that’s OK.
Just don’t knock those who do.
Why do famous people often die in twos eg Diana and Mother Theresa, now Jackson and Farah Fawcett and many other examples?
It seems to be a sad but frequent happening.
179 - I don’t.
I have to admit I don’t think I could ever be rich enough to think that I had money to spare for a Donkey Sanctuary as I’d given the Malaria Charity enough, but I guess it takes all sorts.
180. Random distribution.
“Sorry, I can’t bring myself to think along those lines.”
I understand that cutting-and-pasting smears off of Draper’s database 24/7 might foster boarderline-sociopathic tendencies. Certainly a lack of empathy.
Ever thought of getting out/drunk/laid a bit more?
171 - Plato, you’re welcome.
Elvis, John Lennon, Diana, MJ. Anybody who wants to get out of the headlines or put out some dirty laundry just received a Get Out of Jail Free card.
160. Dan
“The question for the Tories is less than 40% enough?”
Judging by the elections of this month the Conservative voters are still very committed in the swing areas, ie where it matters, but in safe Conservative areas there’s more protest votes. The underlying factor is a great determination to get rid of Labour but much less actual enthusiasm for a Cosnervative government.
With Labour though their vote is only holding up, and sometimes actually increasing, in their strongholds while in many of the battlegrounds they have collpased.
We could be looking at the opposite of what happened in 1992 when the Conservatives did worse than UNS suggested. In 2010 Labour will do worse than UNS suggests and the other parties better.
LA Coroner confirms he’s dead
186 - Thats correct in the main.
Much of Labours vote is on strike and will remain so while Brown is leader.
The valuable finding from todays poll is the figure who believe public Spending must be cut and politicians must be honest about where they will cut.
181 - I can only speak for myself and my GSDs. it involves opening your heart, being vulnerable, loving unconditionally, and giving of yourself to a pet who asks only your spare affection, your spare time, a shelter and food.
In return he / she gives you unconditional love, loyalty, affection - everything.
It is one hell of a deal. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.
Seems like the first editions of the newspapers didn’t pick the MJ story up in time…
http://page.politicshome.com/uk/friday_26_june.html
129.”When 9/11 broke, I was driving back to the office from a meeting and suddenly the phone went bananas.”
Was in the kitchen listening to 5 Live while making a cuppa, heard a report of a plane crashing into the Twin Towers, rushed through to tell my sister who was staying with us to stick Skynews on. Most shocking moment was watching what I thought was the first footage of the first plane crashing into it, and commenting at the size of the plane(I had assumed it would be a light aircraft or something). When I saw the the plane turning into the flight path of the tower, I knew it was terrorists. Jaw dropping horror, made much worse when I realised that one tower was already on fire, and that I was actually watching the second plane crashing into the other tower live. Horrible, horrible moment. Felt sick.
180. I remember Reggie Bosanquet and Eric Morecambe died the same day in 1984, as did two Tory MPs the same year (Maurice Macmillan and Sir Hugh Fraser). Benny Hill and Frankie Howerd in 1992.
Can’t think of may other notable examples, but since famous people die every day of the week, we shouldn’t be surprised really.
Oh, I forgot one. JFK, CS Lewis and Aldous Huxley all died the same day in 1963…
It’s amazing… just a few hours ago, I was wondering here on PB when physical fights would break out in the New York senate. Now Dems in the U.S. House of Representatives are getting into fisticuffs with each other!
“After the House floor had largely cleared following a series of votes, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) split apart from a heated conversation and began yelling at one another.
“You’re out of line,” Waters shot while walking down toward the well.
“You’re out of line,” Obey shot back before turning and walking away.
But then Obey stopped, turned back toward Waters, and shouted: “I’m not going to approve that earmark!”
Obey turned away, but Waters went to go huddle with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. She could be over heard telling them: “He touched me first.””
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/obey-waters-in-noisy-floor-fight-2009-06-25.html
This must have been quite a sight. If you know who these two are, Obey looks like Santa Claus and Waters has the countenance of a junkyard dog.
189 - I’m not knocking it.
bt I’m in a very lucky position.
I am in the planets wealthiest 2%, and if I’m going to give money to a charity, I’d rather give it to one that prevents peoples children dying rather than donkeys.
191.Should have added that I had a friend flying back from New York that day, she had been there the day before.
193- I’m afraid tomorrow is bury bad news day!
At the moment MORI is the most favourable tory pollster, not Yougov.
194- I accept that you’re not.
I’m not exactly poor myself, but personal wealth is not a factor - it’s whether you can open your heart or not.
What do donkeys have to do with this?
196 -
Gordon Brown - Whats going on. I’m going on.
David Cameron - I’d like to introduce you to my Cabinet.
188. Tim
“Much of Labours vote is on strike and will remain so while Brown is leader.”
It’s not just Brown its the entire Labour leadership. Working class support wont return to the Labour party until they start to act as a party that cares about the working class and not the party that sucks up to the rich.
Changing Brown for Harman or Johnson or Milipede wont make any difference. A Cruddas/Field partnership might but that’s not going to happen this side of an electoral disaster.
198 - These are troubled times for charities and we are finding it hard to dig deep for handicapped people, children and the elderly. But one thing seems immune to recession - donkeys. Tim Dowling visits the sanctuary in Devon which looks after 75% of the donkeys in Britain, and wonders why we send them £13m a year
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/feb/18/animalrights.fundraising
In case this gets lost in the wash…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/5639688/Government-suffers-embarrassing-Commons-defeat.html
Just slightly on the Jacko story, and I see the smearbot can’t help himself on that front either,
Government defeat on committees
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8119550.stm
Actually only one defeat (East Midlands, never mind NPMP, stop you get yourself in trouble) and a number of wins. However, no debate on the timings and location of the sessions, some will be held during the Tory and Lib Dem conference season (not during Labour’s one shock horror). I thought party politics was suspended during conferences, oh no wait Gordo did his PR with the troops during the Tory one didn’t he. Absolutely shameless.
203 (correctly) Just slightly OFF the Jacko story…
147.”Any death is sad news, but I don’t feel any point of contact with Michael Jackson, so I can’t comment.
My thoughts are more with SBS and his family, as he is one of PB’s “own”.”
Disraeli, my thoughts exactly.
Also,
“One Government proposal, for the East Midlands Grand Committee to meet in Nottingham on September 9, was defeated by 104 votes to 98.”
Nice to see our elected officials hard at it! 200(ish) of them, where were the other 450 troughers?
200 - I think we have now reached a point at which a party which appeals solely to the ‘working class’ is to all intents and purposes unelectable.
Promising people other people’s money - taking money from those who have earned it and giving it to those who have not - is no longer a vote winner.
Government spending, or ‘investment’ to use Brown’s dishonest phrase, is merely spending money extracted from taxpayers by taxation.
200 - There are a number of factors and you point to one or more of them, but with an leader who cannot articulate any of them does great damage on the ground in the party.
Johnson would put 5-6 points on in the polls.
188. Tim
“The valuable finding from todays poll is the figure who believe public Spending must be cut and politicians must be honest about where they will cut.”
Most people accept this and I suspect swing voters especially so.
Brown though will never accept that public spending needs to be reduced as that would be effectively admitting that he has made mistakes with the economy. And Brown as we all know is incapable of admitting a mistake or accepting blame.
The Conservatives need to be more specific about their plans though. Whenever Cameron has shown courage and honesty things have gone well for him. Time to be bold again for him. Though possibly better tactically to leave it until the autumn.
208 - Well at least Postman Pat could find a valid use for that £8k envelope stuffing machine then!
Jeez, before Jacko died, the front pages were looking horrific for Auntie,
http://page.politicshome.com/uk/friday_26_june.html
I assume the late editions will be changed.
186 - that’s a fair point and I tend to agree particularly given the effort all parties are now putting into the ground war.
But if the Tories aren’t winning a plurality (or close to one) of most demographics who vote - which less than 40% suggests then the gound war is the main driver of the contest - not the national picture and that means tow things:
1. Incumbent Labour MPs can survive based on their record and campaign.
2. The Lib Dem Tory battle is essentially even (like 2005).
What exactly has Johnson done that makes him so suitable to be Prime Minister?
Did I miss something, or is it that he can relate to others, and is not G Brown?
From Guardian,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/25/education-reform-labour-ed-balls
“They will give schools more freedom and establish new networks of school-to-school support to help drive up standards in what will be described as a “new era of localism”.”
With this government, I will believe it when I see.
“Ed Balls, the schools secretary, has masterminded the plan, which could save the government up to £100m a year on its contract with the private company Capita, which delivers the national strategies. It forms part of an efficiency drive to slim down government bureaucracy.”
HOW MUCH!
“Instead, money will be redirected to schools to spend on forging networks with neighbouring schools and buying in their own advisers to help them drive up teaching standards and exam results”
So another army of local bureaucrats / consultants / paper pushers instead! One way of keeping down unemployment I suppose!
194.”bt I’m in a very lucky position.
I am in the planets wealthiest 2%”
That just makes your obnoxious behaviour on this site even worse!
RodCrosby@135: “Mark my words, this woman is in trouble. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she were to meet with a convenient accident.”…
Admit it, you figured that out based on the results of the Uxbridge by-election, didn’t you?
213 - The foresight to put in place systems to enable his team to rapidly deploy promotional material like no other minister?
215 - with his emphasis on donkeys I suppose it just makes it easier to make an ass of himself.
Yes, I know, cheap shot. It’s still over 90 here and I’m on my third scotch: that’s my excuse
217 Good grief - are they that organised?!
213 - OK. You got me on that.
I am so easily manipulated. Woe is me. sigh….pout pout….
Tim B
The ‘respectable’ working class have basically the same aims as the middle class. This government though regards them as less important than the underclass. Betraying traditional core voters has been disassterous for Labour.
“Promising people other people’s money - taking money from those who have earned it and giving it to those who have not - is no longer a vote winner.”
The working class don’t want to be given other people’s money. They want to be allowed to keep more of their own earnings and don’t see why it should be given instead to the layabout chavs in the next street. Immigration and crime are also big issues for them.
Tim
“Johnson would put 5-6 points on in the polls.”
For about a month and then people would see he is just a hollow shell. Like Milliband what has he actually achieved in government? The only thing he’s famous for (apart from saying he’s not up to being PM) is to completely surrender of public sector pensions. Not the sort of man who’s capable of reducing government spending or making tough decisions in general.
I always thought that John Denham was far more impressive than Johnson but he doesn’t seem to be talked about anymore.
219 - Well I reckon buying one of these on expenses probably helps a fair bit!
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f172/hdnt/envelopestuffer.jpg
215 - Thanks Christina.
I shall take your lesson, get a good nights sleep and come back reformed as marshmallows, magnolia wallpaper and fluffy kittens.
218.”It’s still over 90 here and I’m on my third scotch: that’s my excuse”
Tim, where are you? I am in Deeside, Scotland. And at nearly midnight it was still almost light outside, I can never get over evenings like this up here.
Off topic….
I received my UK passport this week, from the British Embassy in Washington DC.
It took almost 8 weeks, the process is contracted out to a US company and if I wish to call to check the progress of my passport app, it’s about $2 a minute. Including UPS both ways the total fee is about $235.
My US passport cost $75 and arrived in 10 days.
My last UK passport renewal I went to the Consulate in Atlanta and 24 hours later voila!
But now it’s contracted out, takes longer and the cost has tripled.
Is this another Brown money saving Prudence scheme?
224 - I’m in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, GA USA. I’m an ex-pat Yorkshireman.
My wife is from Glasgow.
just to be sure, that’s Glasgow, Scotland
192. Since the beginning of 1993, I have kept a list of all the famous people who have died, whom I consider to be famous enough to be listed. It’s very subjective because I don’t include loads of people I’ve not heard of, or some people who were only slightly famous. Subject to the proviso that some dates may be inaccurate by a day or so, due to reporting delays, my Death List contains the following people dying on the same day:
1993
Jan 6: Rudolf Nureyev, Dizzy Gillespie
Jan 16: Sammy Kahn, Florence Desmond, Ben Warris
Feb 28: Lillian Gish, Ruby Keeler
Apr 24: Oliver Tambo, Lalith Athulathmudali
May 1: Ranasinghe Premadasa, Pierre Beregovoy
July 31: King Baudouin of Belgium, Count Edward Raczynski
Oct 31: Federico Fellini, River Phoenix
Nov 9: Angus Maude, Leon Theremin
1994
Jan 5: Brian Johnston, Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Jan 13: Johan Joergen-Holst, Michael Aldridge
Mar 24: Donald Swann, Luis Donaldo Colosio
Dec 27: Peter May, Zail Singh
1995
Feb 2: Donald Pleasance, Fred Perry
Nov 4: Yitzhak Rabin, Marti Caine
1996:
Apr 21: Christopher Robin Milne, Dzhokar Dudayev
1997:
Jan 20: Paul Tsongas, Clyde Tombaugh, Martin Redmond
Apr 23: Dennis Compton, Baroness Seear
Aug 31: Dodi Al Fayed, Princess Diana
Sep 5: Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Gyorgy Solti
1998:
Jan 2: Frank Muir, Helen Wills Moody
Mar 27: Joan Lester, Joan Maynard
May 3: Justin Fashanu, Kevin Lloyd
July 22: Alan Shepherd, Michael Dennison
1999:
Apr 3: Lionel Bart, Andrew Gardner
July 1: Willie Whitelaw, Joshua Nkomo
Aug 9: Helen Rollason, Roger Stott
2000:
Jan 19: Bettino Craxi, Hedy Lamarr
Feb 23: Stanley Matthews, Ernest Lough
2001:
Apr 11: Harry Secombe, Nyree Dawn Porter
May 12: Douglas Adams, Perry Como, Rudi Narayan
June 1: King and Queen Birendra and Aisharya of Nepal
June 28: Jack Lemmon, Joan Simms
2002:
Jan 12: Moss Evans, Cyrus Vance
Feb 22: Jonas Savimbi, Chuck Jones
Nov 17: George Gardiner, Abba Eban
2003:
Jan 12: Maurice Gibb, Leopoldo Galtieri
Jan 26: George Younger, Hugh Trevor-Roper
June 26: Denis Thatcher, Strom Thurmond
Sep 20: Lord Williams of Mostyn, Lord Blake
2004:
Oct 20: Lynda Lee Potter, Frank Chapple
2005:
Nov 25: George Best, Pat Morita
2006:
Sep 10: King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga, Frank Middlemass
2007:
July 30: Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni, Phil Drabble
Aug 14: John Biffen, Brooke Astor
Sep 10: Jane Wyman, Anita Roddick
2008:
Jan 10: Sir John Harvey-Jones, Sir Edmund Hillary
Mar 8: Carol barnes, Leon Greenman
Mar 18: Anthony Minghella, Arthur C. Clarke
July 4: Charles Wheeler, Jesse Helms
Aug 13: John MacDougall, Sandy Allen
Aug 19: Levy Mwanawasa, Leo Abse
2009:
Jan 12: David Vine, Bill Stone
Jan 14: Patrick McGoohan, Ricardo Montalban
June 1: Danny La Rue, Millvina Dean
June 25: Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson
Outside LA hospital like a scene from “Dawn of the Dead”.
The freaks turn out for the king of the freaks…
JohnLoony - please don’t take this the wrong way, but you need to get out more, or at the very least, a hobby
JohnLoony - is Millvina Dean a Titanic survivor?
well, obviously not any longer
226.Tim, last time the other half and I escaped for a break without the kids, we headed further North and explored the West coast. Next on the list is Yorkshire, huge fan of the James Herriot books. Really keen to explore it properly.
328 - John Looney, that’s an impressive list… or is it another of your poems?
231. Yes - she was the last survivor of the Titanic. She was 10 weeks old when it sank and 97 when she died.
I guessed that the list of the dead was a John Looney post before I saw who had made it
Oh, incidentally, Farrah Fawcett filled the last line of the latest page of my Death List. I need to find a new piece of paper to start with Michael Jackson. I ran out of lined paper a while ago and I’m not sure if I’ve got any somewhere.
Mr Loony - I am impressed.
A bravura performance.
225 - The answer is yes, out-sourcing,
http://news.migrationwatch.org.uk/2007/11/visa-outsourcin.html
I remember when all those Pakistani “students” got arrested a few months ago, there were questions in the HoC about how they got their visas, and it was revealed all the processing was out-sourced (to Saudi I think) and they never had to meet a British official (as used to be the case).
228 Can’t decide the most bizarre pairing:
Ytzhak Rabin & Marti Caine probably, though Betino Carxi and Heddy Lamarr must come close
Tim B - it’s 12c in Glasgow, and I wish I was on my 3rd Scotch!
Michael Jackson
So Farewell, then,
Michael Jackson.
You outbid Paul MacCartney in
Buying song rights, and now
You have outbid Farrah Fawcett in
Tomorrow’s headlines.
242 - A kind of genius
Thirsk is where Skeldale House is, and Harrogate is where James and Helen used to go on their day off (called Brawton in the books). The Reniston is one of the posh hotels in Harrogate (renamed). They used to go to Bettys for afternoon tea.
I used to live near Harrogate when I was back in the UK for a few years.
I have an abiding and undying love for the Yorkshire Dales.
241 - it’s still hot here, get a straw and imagine you’re sharing my scotch and tepid water…
241 - talking of Brown’s Britain, I get a 1.75 liter bottle of Ballantine’s for less than $20, or about 14 pounds.
- just thought you’d like to know.
Am I a stinker?
Tim B, thought you might appreciate a GSD in the air?
http://tinyurl.com/lvg85l
228. There’s also the famous Adams/Jefferson deaths on 4th July, 1826 - the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Shakespeare/Cervantes - 23rd April 1616, although I think this was under different calendars, so not actually the same day.
Prokofiev/Stalin - 5th March 1953, although Stalin may have been dead for over a day, just to make sure.
Any more?
245 - pass on the straw and water thanks. Just looking at accomodation for trip to Marco island in August.. the heat will have to wait till then.
244.”I have an abiding and undying love for the Yorkshire Dales.”
Tim, its somewhere that I have always wanted to go and visit. Was out for a drive and exploring some hidden gems in my area this week. The other half reckoned that the farming area’s could almost be the Yorkshire dales, only with bigger hills, and a very large mountain range in the background..
247 - that’s great!
If he has a dump or a leak in flight, what parameters exist for ameliorating his environmental impact?
No, I got used to Scotch being cheaper everywhere else a long time ago. At least the £ isn’t too bad against the $ , though still a good bit less than last time we were over.
Now, why am I not suprised Uri Geller is the current MJ expert on the Beeb.
249 - Ah yes, Florida. You’ll enjoy it!
It’s about 5 hours south of me.
250 - I went to boarding school there and my parents lived in the Yorkshire Dales. It is a wonderful place. Every time I come back to visit England I make a point of spending some time there.
There is nowhere else like it.
Enjoy!!!!!
248 Not the same day but in the same week as Solti, Mother T and Princess D was Jeffrey Bernard. The day of PDs funeral I went to a BBQ at friends. As I approached their flat I could see a shrine of photograph and lit candles in their window. It seemed incongruous that it should be to the People’s Divorcee and sure enough, true to the bibulous nature of my hosts, the picture was of Jeffrey B.
253.Ah, Florida, we did the parental pilgrimage there a few years ago when the kids were tall enough to get on the theme park rides. They loved it, everyone was really friendly, but not my idea of a holiday. Might go back one day to explore the other bits. The Kennedy Space Centre was the stand out trip though, wonderful.
255. Jeffrey Bernard might have been unwell, but I prefer Spike Milligan’s epitaph:
“I told you I was ill!”
Oddly enough, though I am a space buff, I’ve never been to the Kennedy Space Center. Even though I’ve seen several Shuttle launches from living in the south and watching the morning sky.
That’s what you get from being from near Blackpool, I guess.
257 Didn’t I read somewhere that the Church authorities wouldn’t allow it on his grave stone, so he had it in Irish and they disn’t realise
256 - I guess it’s time for the MJ jokes.
A sign at the entrance to the Neverland Theme Park said “You have to be this high to ride Michael”.
Alternatively it was thought that Boyz II Men was a delivery service for Michael.
I apologize unreservedly.
259. Probably apocryphal, but I like it. Spike would approve…
Sláinte
261 Just looked it up (well only on Wikipedia) and it seems to be true - even a picture of said gravestone
261. No true, actually…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/3742443.stm
263 etc - you find the strangest sites on the interweb:
http://www.glenister.info/milligangrave.htm
258.I highly recommend it. That visit to America made us appreciate the NHS though, a GP call out for one of the kids resulted in a $250 bill! But when we bumped into one of his school friends and family at Seaworld(as you inevitable do), we discovered that his friend outdid him with an overnight stay in a Florida hospital which resulted in a $5000 bill!
I’ll tell you my NHS horror story some other time.
I shall goto the Kennedy Space Center….
261.”Sláinte” ?? Rod have you gone native on us?
My great grandfather was a Gaelic speaker from Ireland, he married my Skye born Gaelic speaking great grandmother, they communicated in the language throughout their marriage.
265 - Now you see why the US spends twice what the UK does on health care yet millions dont receive any care. The US health care system is a disaster.
Goodnight all - time to relax and see what has happened in the US this evening
I liked Richard Harris’s last line. Carried out of the Savoy on a stretcher, he managed to croak to horrified diners:
“It was the food, the food!”
I met him, as you do, in the “jacks” in the legendary Liverpool dock-road pub, The Atlantic in 1998. I bellowed at him in my best brogue:
“YOU’RE…NOT…HAVING…MY…FIELD!”
He was quite tickled, and bought me a double scotch…
268.IJ, I don’t need convincing on that score. That is why I am pleased that Cameron has ring fenced the NHS, we will have to keep investing just to stand still right now. And its even more important during this recession. I have got my gripes with the NHS, but they could be dealt with within a reasonable budget.
Having that GP whip out his credit card machine was an eye opener I can tell you, we were insured! And my son’s friends family had a real fight with the hospital, they wanted to get them to settle the bill there and then. They pointed out that having bothered to get the correct health insurance, they were bu**ered if they would do that!
But the fact that was the culture really hit home.
269.Night tim(damn right, not the other one!)
And its nite all from me too.
267. My great-great grandmother, Honora O’Malley, born on Achill Island, never spoke a word of English, although she lived in Liverpool for 50 years until her death in 1903…
Here’s a picture of her.
http://www.titanictown.plus.com/folks/Honora O’Malley (1840-1903).jpg
It’s on a piece of tin, the cheapest possible photo. She was probably only about 40 at the time it was taken. She had 12 children, only 3 of whom survived to adulthood. [Life expectancy in Liverpool Scotland Ward, "the Irish Quarter", was computed at 17.8 years...]
272.
photo
http://tinyurl.com/nfcsf9
272.Rod, my great grandmother was disowned by her Free Church family because she married an Irish Catholic, they never spoke to her again.
Oddly enough, despite the poverty, most of the children in my lot survived to adulthood. In fact one side of the family sent four sons to the front line in WW1, and they all survived and returned home safely, the fifth, a son in law got away with a minor gunshot injury.
Putin is making a habit of this sort of thing
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/5636797/Vladimir-Putin-humiliates-Russian-supermarket-chiefs-over-expensive-sausages.html
249. The Gregorian calendar wasn’t adopted in England until 1752, so it is the same date. The only doubtfulism is that 23rd April is the date on which he was baptised, and is presumed to be his birthday, but may not have been exactly if he was already 1 or 2 days old.
Oh, J.F.Kennedy and Aldous Huxley (22 Nov 1963).
277. But the Gregorian calendar was adopted in Spain in 1582 (iirc) meaning dates were 10 days out of kilter between the two calendars. in 1616.