Skeptics Forum.

“Emergency legislation is never an acceptable alternative to effective government planning for periods of crisis.”

Unfortunately, when dealing with democratic systems which regard anything beyond the next election as extremely long-term planning, I don't see the situation improving.

I watched about half of it, but finally found it too depressing and frustrating.

I like these compact series - my old brain finds it easier to remember plots in a shorter timeframe. Same applies to characters in books - even more so, as there isn't the visual memory prompt of seeing the characters. I find I frequently lose track of who a character is, especially if they haven't...

Agreed, although judging when to intervene must often be a difficult call for the interviewers, given the tendency of politicians to ignore awkward questions and veer straight back to the "approved line" at every opportunity.

PS I see that a lot of the Scottish parliamentary results are being achieved with around 70% voter turnout.

Anyone would think they had a different voting system which actually encouraged them to vote...

The most interesting figure in the by-election is 58% - the proportion of the electorate who couldn't be bothered to vote, despite all of the media attention on this contest. I think that's a sad reflection on our political system.

Currently three-quarters of the way through Floodlands , one of the international Walter Presents series on More4. It's set on the coast on the Dutch/Belgian border and is a murder mystery involving human trafficking, a criminal secret society, somewhat dubious members of the police forces and a her...

Matt wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 3:29 pm It might make sense if there was a bigger immune response on the second as the whole idea is that the immune system has been primed by the first jab.

I vaguely recall hearing that the after-effects tended to be less with the second jab of AZ, but more with the second jab of BioNTech.

Oh, I enjoy them. I just tell my critical faculties to take a walk while they're on...

The latest issue of "Which?" contains an article about these UV devices, explaining how they work and passing judgment on a number of such items. The conclusion: "many aren't worth buying - and some are potentially dangerous".

Yesterday lunchtime I received my first vaccine, of the AstraZeneca flavour. I didn't pay much attention to the warnings of side effects, partly because there was nothing I could do about them, partly because I have never felt any side effects from any injections. As usual, I felt fine afterwards, ...

Very nice! I've been past it, en route to Penzance, but got no closer.

Set in Bath - the second series of MacDonald and Dodds has started. There were supposed to be three episodes in the second series (like the first) but only the first two were shown, for some mysterious reason. Apparently the final episode will be shown sometime later this year. Midsomer Murders con...