“Ratified”? Its an NHS advice leaflet, not an international treaty. I mean, I presume it doesn’t actually have any legal effect..

I recognised those light blue spines from the thumbnail! "Thomson Original" pirated albums sold in the Gulf before they started paying attention to copyright. It was 30 years ago but ISTR something like 7 dirhams each or 13 for 100Dh. Less than a quid. Probably shouldn't be sold in the UK, mind..

deeply disappointed that they did not include a reference to the size of their poppy

"Pencil-necked Council desk jockeys forbid retired doctor from being a little teapot, stating that while a handle is acceptable the spout gesture could be considered homophobic".

Plot twist! The phone rings from MI6 and the lady picks it up: "Bond."

Maybe they should transmit the raw footage of Mr M W's earlier interview. I'd be willing to bet there was plenty of stuff in there that couldn't be broadcast because it couldn't be corroborated or due to legal concerns. But if Trump doesn't *want* the BBC to follow good journalistic practice..

Do some surveys. Offer to give him 100,000 quid for every 1% of the British population which polls in favour of giving him money from the licence fee, but if less than 10% are in favour he has to pay the cost of the exercise and the BBC's legal fees.

"Elves, sort of" is a very good.. handwave for That Whole Awkward Piet Situation.

It's the fear of being seen as That Guy which makes me always type with my elbows right up against my sides when I'm in a public place.

Are they too special to use the trackpad or something? Bet it's a 16" Macbook rather than a 14" one as well..

I need to remember the core face about discussion of the BBC among the public of which I am part: everyone is a critic and everyone has strong opinions about what the BBC should be and say and do, but very few of us have the kind of in-depth knowledge to *really* understand what goes on.

He's only 43, how much smoothing does his neck even need?

that wasn't what I was saying, but you do you.

I've always figured it wasn't malice but simple cloth-eared obliviousness on the part of Lucas and the extremely white nature of the Hollywood machine meaning nobody was there to say "er, hang on a moment".

Sure, but transformer stations, power lines, feed points and the associated high voltage infrastructure are not. Putting the wires up is the simple part. :)

The position to avoid is one where governments will use "it isn't electrified" as an excuse to declare small lines as no longer economic to operate and close them rather than having to help pay for electrification. There are a lot of small branch lines here which would be at risk if that happened.

The main lines are certainly ~all electrified with maybe a couple of less-trafficked stretches still acting as holdouts. A lot of single-track branch lines aren't including the one that runs past our house, but on that one they're experimenting with battery and hydrogen drive railbuses.