For the info of US viewers, 'Fatty' is almost certainly John Prescott - one of the last of the old-guard left wingers and a proper political outsider made good with a disarmingly blowsy off-message wife.

Olly is essentially the embryo that will grow into either Hugh or Malcom. UK political culture is lousy with the shiny little bastards in a way that makes US politicians look like a wildly diverse bunch.
 
Basically, ‘politics’ in the UK is now a career with a very standard, rigidly defined pathway to its upper…

Olly is essentially the embryo that will grow into either Hugh or Malcom. UK political culture is lousy with the shiny little bastards in a way that makes US politicians look like a wildly diverse bunch.
 
Basically, ‘politics’ in the UK is now a career with a very standard, rigidly defined pathway to its upper…

Teller, you have clearly never seen her on 'The Day Today'. Or, indeed 'Grandma's House.' Or, clearly 'The Thick of It' in which she puts in a great performance as someone bewildered and out of her depth in a way that makes Hugh look like Margaret Thatcher.

Teller, you have clearly never seen her on 'The Day Today'. Or, indeed 'Grandma's House.' Or, clearly 'The Thick of It' in which she puts in a great performance as someone bewildered and out of her depth in a way that makes Hugh look like Margaret Thatcher.

I like to think that the Breen are just one of those wierd things you have to deal with. Nobody knows what they are, or where they come from. They just turn up whenever there's a war on locally and pick a side.

I like to think that the Breen are just one of those wierd things you have to deal with. Nobody knows what they are, or where they come from. They just turn up whenever there's a war on locally and pick a side.

I think we occasionally need to drop the 'oh, my creative integrity!' bullshit and be honest with ourselves here - the correct and red-blooded answer to 'Would you like to be paid an enormous amount of money to be filmed pretending to be a charismatic corporate villian fighting a cyborg policeman in the future?' is,…

I think we occasionally need to drop the 'oh, my creative integrity!' bullshit and be honest with ourselves here - the correct and red-blooded answer to 'Would you like to be paid an enormous amount of money to be filmed pretending to be a charismatic corporate villian fighting a cyborg policeman in the future?' is,…

Labour aren't in the coalition. Malcom could still be working for them although I suspect they couldn't afford him. Many of his ilk have wandered through the revolving doors into all kinds of hazy-but-well-paid commercial positions.

Labour aren't in the coalition. Malcom could still be working for them although I suspect they couldn't afford him. Many of his ilk have wandered through the revolving doors into all kinds of hazy-but-well-paid commercial positions.

1) Given that it clearly takes a pinhead’s worth of goo, or the blood of a single goo-enabled worm-lizard, to turn one guy into (presumably) an unstoppable-zombie-giant-facehugger-impregnating thing  (and seriously, I know aliens gonna be alien but this is just pointlessly elaborate), why did they have gallons of the…

1) Given that it clearly takes a pinhead’s worth of goo, or the blood of a single goo-enabled worm-lizard, to turn one guy into (presumably) an unstoppable-zombie-giant-facehugger-impregnating thing  (and seriously, I know aliens gonna be alien but this is just pointlessly elaborate), why did they have gallons of the…

Jerry Doyle? Hasn't he become some kind of terrible radio blowhard these days? Is that the American dream now?

Jerry Doyle? Hasn't he become some kind of terrible radio blowhard these days? Is that the American dream now?

I’m really looking forward to this. Babylon 5 occupies a lovely, paradoxical place in my nerdy heart. I will to this day, admittedly usually after returning from the pub, occasionally throw on an episode from Season 3 or 4 as comfort food.  I loved it, and love it still, despite being fully aware of its massive flaws…

I’m really looking forward to this. Babylon 5 occupies a lovely, paradoxical place in my nerdy heart. I will to this day, admittedly usually after returning from the pub, occasionally throw on an episode from Season 3 or 4 as comfort food.  I loved it, and love it still, despite being fully aware of its massive flaws…

I reckon Laurie really will be best known in the UK for Blackadder, whatever else he does. Competent yet flawed professionals are two a penny on British and American TV, and while as far as I can see (and I was never much of a fan) he inhabited this one well enough, he never made it his own in the same way as he did…

I reckon Laurie really will be best known in the UK for Blackadder, whatever else he does. Competent yet flawed professionals are two a penny on British and American TV, and while as far as I can see (and I was never much of a fan) he inhabited this one well enough, he never made it his own in the same way as he did…

SPOILERISH
 
I do hope Brienne doesn’t get any romantic subplots. I like the way the books refuse to make her the sort of ‘strong heroine’ that she could never have been in a mediaeval milieu. Most of the characters (even, to a certain extent, Catelyn) barely consider her human, let alone a plausible love interest – and…