pap

Ooh, topical.

On that note, don't do drugs, kids. Mate of mine dropped two e's in public and got pube lice.

That's the impression I'm getting. Is that what you think? His arrest provokes all kinds of questions, especially if found guilty. Is this another example of Cameron's poor judge of character? Why aren't the security services successfully vetting someone in frequent contact with the PM? Was the re-release of the 2009 NCCL story politically motivated?

I admire Wilkinson's reported single- mindedness. Rumour has it that Wilko only has an iPod Shuffle, with one song on it, Tina Turner's Simply the best, which he plays all the time on repeat. No-one will go on long car trips with him.

Real Verbal on holiday or something? Are you his word count challenged relief?

Light entertainers, soap actors and former DJs. The vast majority of them got off; Stuart Hall is only in jail because he plead guilty. These people are chaff, noise-makers to placate the public and perpetuate the idea that it's a 70s problem.

No-one is making that argument apart from you, as a counter-argument to one you think you've seen. The thread opener talks of light entertainers being the tip of the iceberg when it comes to paedophilia within the establishment. Quite how you've equated that with "there are more paedophiles per capita in the establishment" is an investigation for you to conduct, I feel. It would actually be interesting to see some demographics on registered sex offenders, to see which social groups they come from. My expectation is that the opposite of your argument would be true; that you'd probably have a greater proportion coming from the general populace, even if you weighted the proportions of each social class accordingly. As you yourself have said, Savile was able to use his clout to escape charges, enjoying considerable protection from the authorities. Where did Savile's clout come from? Was he just a double-hard bastard from Yorkshire who put the fear of God into all he met, or did his power come from the complicity he was able to extract from the state? His interview with Theroux should be taken more at face value, especially the part where he claims he'll take them all down. Paedophiles on council estates eventually get found out, caught, tried and are then monitored for the rest of their lives. Sarah's law allows parents to find out where they live. Paedophiles within the establishment are rarely even charged, let alone brought to justice. The revelations normally surface after death, there is much shrugging of shoulders, and there really shouldn't be. Icke named Heath while he was alive. Heath never sued, largely on legal advice that he wouldn't win. McAlpine was named in Scallywag in the late '90s. He didn't sue at the time either. He was able to extract damages from Bercow and the BBC after the Steven Messham incident, but I dare say one damaged individual is easier to flip than two investigative journalists. The BBC's entire case rested on Messham's identification of McAlpine; it fell the moment he did. So get over this notion that people are saying that there are more paedophiles in the establishment, that they are perhaps somehow inclined toward it. No-one is arguing that. However, people in a position of power can escape scrutiny for much longer, and as a consequence, can cause much more damage over their lifetimes.

Wow. Crimea's de facto authorities have declared Crimea to be Russian. Ratification awaits, but here's the scary bit. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/06/ukraine-crisis-crimea-part-of-russia-local-parliament-declares

Protected by the police and the BBC, metaphorically in bed with royalty and put up for a KBE five times by Thatcher? Possibly.

Shame for him; no-one wants to see a player of his talent out. Good for Lallana, though.

I'm sure Savile's victims are 100% in agreement with you. Veering away from the sarcasm, this was a man who was never caught during his lifetime. You can argue that his being in the public eye, his profile and the money he had was a factor in him escaping justice.

Liverpool? No, I'm alright for now. See me in ten years when I've consumed more alcohol.

Newsflash, but someone in government has a fair chance of being able to pull the levers of government, getting fairer the more important the person. Someone with a lot of cash can escape charges by paying someone off. I see you've bought the "it was all light entertainers and DJs" fiction hook, line and sinker.

Is the reaction to your input on this thread going as well as you'd hoped, Lord D? Still nowt to say about Cameron's deputy chief of staff being arrested?

These performances show how important it is going to be to keep these players over the summer. I've often said that perception is important when signing players. Better to be seen as a top half side with a shout at Europe than a relegation side, etc, etc. Lallana has been in stunning form this season. Big performances at the World Cup from Saints players will raise the profile of the club. On Shaw; if the left back spot is a three horse race between him, Cole and Baines; Cole has been humanely destroyed after falling on the first fence. He wasn't terrible, but Shaw's performance outclassed him. Took a few minutes to get comfy (think he got nutmegged early on) but everything seemed to go for him after that. A really impressive performance from the pair of them and a massive step toward going to Brazil. Hodgson can't and won't ignore Lallana. Think Shaw might be there too, especially if he produces another stint like that in an England shirt.

I don't know. Phil's well connected. I'm sure he has a pal who could lend me a helicopter. We'd sweep over terra Austria looking for Alpine Saint armed with a Prozac-dart rifle. That said, if we're going to go to all that trouble, liquid MDMA might be more amusing. What's the story Phil? Do you know someone with an available chopper who ain't too choosy about where it's waved? I'm sure the Glasto crowd can arrange the rest.

That was awesome stuff from our boys. Both made a strong claim for spots on that plane. I've just got into sh!t with the scousers for shouting"Yes! Great assist, Ads!". Shaw looked a natural.

Channel 4 news and the Guardian are both covering a hacked conversation between Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and Catherine Ashton, an EU foreign policy chief - suggesting that the snipers that fired on the crowd were hired by Maidan leaders. http://www.channel4.com/news/ukraine-catherine-ashton-phone-shoot-maidan-bugged-leaked http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/05/ukraine-bugged-call-catherine-ashton-urmas-paet The obligatory Comrade papski RT link:- http://rt.com/news/estonia-confirm-leaked-tape-970/ Estonian Minister has confirmed authenticity of the recording, below. The links have shorter versions of the video which cut to the chase.

Watched the penultimate episode of True Detective. It finishes its eight episode run, and from what I understand, this will be the end of the present story. Next year, True Detective will be a different case with different leads. If they can maintain the quality of this first season, I've no problem with that. I've never really seen a show hit the ground running as effortlessly as this seemed to. Some excellent performances to enjoy from minute one and the narrative structure is genius, allowing the writers to shift time and give the mystery to you in a piecemeal and disjointed fashion. I have no idea what happens next week. Though it's fairly clear who has done what, as a self-contained season, all bets are off in terms of the fate of our characters. I predict shock.

I turn 39 this month, and apart from a bit of sport, I don't watch broadcast TV. Everything else is online, be it news, scripted telly. I don't watch "event TV" like talent shows and I've no interest in soap operas. It's weird, because I can remember the days when we only had three channels (although C4 launched when I was seven). TV used to have a real communal aspect back then; there was a good chance that your mate at school had seen what you had. That really disappeared with satellite TV; broadcast looks threatened as a medium now streaming video has matured. The likes of Netflix and Amazon are doing their own shows, people are crowd sourcing funding for things like the Veronica Mars movie. There's a growing grass-roots industry facilitated through stuff like YouTube. Funding models are undergoing a revolution, and while we may never see a crowd-sourced revival of Firefly (mwah), the days of throwing a show up as some structural conceit for advertising revenue might be coming to an end. That's probably a good thing. While I'll lament the loss of BBC3, it's been a very long time since I've watched a show on the broadcast channel.

This is true but also over-states my ability. I am augmented to the extent where I could be one of those horses that "can add up" and still win. My victories are about as legitimate as trying to pass a pony off as Pascal.

The other thing to remember is that people are moving away from broadcast.

Had some good shows. How Not To Live Your Life The Revolution Will Be Televised I really liked Cyderdelic.

The Harman stuff isn't even new. Telegraph article from 2009 which backs you up on your claims that it's politically motivated. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/4949555/Harriet-Harman-under-attack-over-bid-to-water-down-child-pornography-law.html I can understand those links being downplayed during the Labour government, but the Conservatives have had four years of government to go after Harman. They chose now.

Why they cast a guy who resembles Morgan Freeman and gave his character a phonetically identical surname as his older lookalike is beyond me. Probs my 3rd fave character in the Wire though.