*Bob*

I can live with shabby chic. It's 'Eames Era' that really grates.

MrBen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Babies. Everyone around here seems to have one and > I never really understood why. Well, let's see. One night, when Mummy and Daddy were very much d̶r̶u̶n̶k̶ in love, Daddy put his thingy in Mummy's front bottom and, er, now let me just think..

Ignorance is bliss, Jez

It's more what he stands for - more than the man himself - that I dislike. The triumph of competent middle-of-the-roadness, lapped-up by millions. Harmless but nondescript routines professionally packaged and delivered, like an M&S sandwich. The real problem is for every Michael Mac there are ten John Bishops on the way.

Leaving aside The Queen's Speech, MB'sB topped the TV ratings on Christmas day this year - just as it did last year. It is both inexplicably popular - and absolutely dreadful.

I'm sure we've covered Facebook before, but the criticisms of it always make me laugh. You choose the friends. You and your chosen friends drive the content. If you find squabbles, finger pointing, jealousy or narcissism; if you find it boring; whatever you think makes it crap, you only really have yourself or your friends to blame.

I suspect a fair few people on here would have been in a situation (when young, dumb and drunk) where they have done something with someone when neither were in control to some degree or other. This is not (as Chedders and his supporters probably believe) 'more or less the same thing' as three blokes scheming and convening at a hotel room to have a go on a comatose woman.

He doesn't think he's done anything wrong. You can bet your ass that an unpleasantly sizeable portion of young gentlemen on the terraces don't think he's done anything wrong either. I mean it wazzunt that bad of a rape wazzit, lads? Rightly or wrongly, him being allowed to play again at such a level is now linked to how serious - or not - his crime is perceived as being. For these reasons it's important he doesn't get what he wants - until him and a load of other people who think like him - stop thinking like they think.

Interesting definition of 'very rare' - since easterly winds account for approaching one third of all Heathrow arrivals. Enjoy nonetheless.

Robert Poste's Child Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > steveo Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > People who need ski poles to walk up Lordship > > Lane > > It is also funny > Were they Nordic walking? It burns more fat than > ordinary walking and is improves the circulation. This guy I took a picture of in Streatham a while back takes it to another level.

I think it was awarded in lieu of his burgeoning R&B career http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/61202

You'll find contradictory opinions on Kyle - damnation and otherwise - from all sorts of quarters - sometimes unexpected. There's no definitive voice. I seem to remember the same possible source who anonymously spiced-up Ronson's book has since written in the Guardian claiming the same - and was rebuffed squarely by the broadcaster. One word against another. One thing's for sure: 2000 episodes in, no-one can be in any doubt what it is. No surprises. It's a sack of shite, but people want to go on it; people want to watch it; and very often those groups overlap. They're not scraping people up off the street and thrusting them on stage. The show itself is its own recruiting officer. In this respect it's arguably more honest a product than the short-run 'higher quality' reality doc where no-one knows what'll end-up on screen - until they realise they've been stitched-up royally when it airs.

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- >Who am I to judge? The man to judge .. is Judge Rinder.

P-Time.. It doesn't matter where its made, or whether it's on terrestrial tv: it's available 'somehow' through the myriad of other delivery options - and there's never been more of it. It's a golden age, not a decline. Most households - mostly regardless of income - have access to more quality material than they can consume. But - given this swathe of qualiddy options - daytime dross still manages to pack 'em in. Why? Not because there's no choice; not because people are stupid; not because the government is forcing people to see it. They watch it because they want to. Because it's inconsequential, throwaway fluff that can be on while you wash up, or veg on the sofa, or pick your nose. Its audience understand this. The handwringers, on the other hand, take it all so desperately seriously.

PokerTime Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > High end drama on the other hand has declined. > It's expensive to make and it can no longer > attract enough viewers to get the advertising > revenue to pay for it. Even the BBC looks to make > drama it can export for rights revenue, rather > than making the ground breaking stuff it used to. > Soap drama on the other hand is again > comparatively cheap to make, and popular enough. Where have you been hiding? There has never been a greater appetite for (or turnover in production of) high end drama than there is right now. Streaming websites and disc rental joints are awash with more quality drama than any human being can consume. Globally speaking, admittedly; but what's surprising about that? - everything else is global too.

Blah Blah Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- I think people would be > better off without the Sun and Jeremy Kyle, as > both things add absolutely nothing to the quality > of life. Surely you mean both these things add nothing to quality of 'your' life, which isn't quite the same thing. Some people - quite a lot of people - enjoy them, no matter how much you wag your finger and tell them they shouldn't. DC.. david_carnell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Your logic is false too if it is simply "if people > will watch it then we must put it on". But it is really that simple. There's no 'logic' to declare false or otherwise. The reality of a commercial station is 'make something enough people want to watch within a given budget. Find an audience and retain it'.

So we should get rid of The Sun, The Mirror and cheap tv. Also inexpensive alcohol. Cigarettes. Fast food. Easyjet. Possibly shagging. We can feed them instead on a strict diet of Nordic Noir, Newsnight and home baked granary bread. It's for their own good. We know better. They are only The Dumb Proletariat.

david_carnell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > See 'Jeremy Kyle'. This format is often misunderstood by metropolitan elite such as yourself, DC. Viewers of Jeremy Kyle / Participants on Jeremy Kyle = very often the same people. It's not made for you.

I have to disagree with a lot of that. First off, nobody keeps making programmes that 'no-one really wants to watch'. Unless you think that in a realm of hundreds of channels, box sets, Netflix, blu-rays by post, PVRS, movies-on-demand.. a particular show manages to get a couple of million regular viewer.. simply by accident. Secondly, most television, particularly budget television - follows rather than leads. It rarely ever sets an agenda, it merely exploits an existing one - amplified for effect, granted, but you can't 'amplify nothing'. It's a mirror. If you concentrate on the reflection and pretend the original source is absent, you're kidding yourself. See 'rise of UKIP'.

> lighthearted cheese-related banter

I'm going to ask him if he can open a tube of Primula for me to try - first thing tomorrow morning. Will let you know how I get on.

You can try the cheeses. There is no 'please do not ask to try our cheeses as a headbutt often offends' policy. My advice is not stand at the front of a queue of twenty people on a Saturday sampling half a dozen cheeses in turn - whilst providing a detailed running commentary on the pros and cons of each.

He's a tough crowd - but that's the way I like to buy my cheese. I've got a couple of chuckles out of him over the last decade or so - tremendously satisfying Rather that then someone who wets themselves with unbridled faux excitement every time you ask for 100g of Pilgrim's Choice.

Fotunately, I only want a great selection of cheese, not a song and dance routine delivered by a cane-tapping cheshire cat. Black Friday; Halloween; Shopkeepers forcing a smile.. When will all of this imported nonsense end? Bring back Ralon.

They come into their own for a few weeks - every four years. Otherwise, they're as sad a sight as a 'british pub' in Shagaluf.