Absolutely. I threw the last Dark Tower novel across the room.

I don’t think he’s a terrible writer. He doesn’t torture the English language in the way that the Dan Browns of the world do. As you say, he’s a great story teller. He has very noticeable tics that he falls back on all the time but damn if he isn’t better at keeping me turning pages than anyone else.

I agree. I get that vibe from George RR Martin’s sex scenes, but not King’s.

I was about the age of the kids in the book when I first read it. I remember thinking it was a bit weird and out of nowhere, and disliked it in the way that I disliked all sex scenes, but it didn’t squick me out as much as it does as an adult. I suppose because I knew fuck all about sex and children of that age don’t…

King does write the worst sex scenes, especially when he tries to write them from a female perspective. To be fair, most male authors are terrible at this.

I know, I live in the UK and went to school here (although in NI). My school had a prep and it was a state grammar, not a private or public school. You make a good point that private preps tend to run to age 13 though.

I don’t think simply baking a cake is “speech”. If they were asked to write a message on the cake then I would agree. There was a case in Northern Ireland where a couple refused to bake a cake with a pro-marriage equality message on it. Although I think the bakers in that case were twats, I don’t agree with the…

I don’t think simply baking a cake is “speech”. If they were asked to write a message on the cake then I would agree. There was a case in Northern Ireland where a couple refused to bake a cake with a pro-marriage equality message on it. Although I think the bakers in that case were twats, I don’t agree with the…

The windows of my childhood home used to get blown out when the customs house was bombed. Not looking forward to the return of a hard border. I wonder if they’ll crater all the unapproved border crossings this time.

Like I said, there are regional variations. That’s what “prep” meant in common parlance where I grew up in Northern Ireland, to distinguish it from bog standard primary schools like the one I went to. We’re a bit different as private schools aren’t really a thing there. You will find that the schools referenced in the…

This is generally only the Royal family (I think it’s actually part of their dress code), but short trousers are part of the uniform of the sorts of school Royals might attend. Otherwise, nah.

“Prep” usually refers to a primary school (in the UK age 4/5 - 11) which is attached to a secondary school (age 11 - 18). It also sounds posher. There are variants in different parts of the country, but there is no such thing as kindergarten in the UK.

*Gasp*

Disappointing if true. From the way I’ve seen Brian May talk about Freddie Mercury, I’d have thought he’d want to do right by him. To please the countries with “gay propaganda” bans you’d practically have to cut Mercury out of the film altogether. I don’t know how you tell that story while glossing over the fact that…

Eh? I’ve seen interviews where they talk about it quite frankly. It’s not like anyone (other than Guy Secretan) would be shocked by the revelation.

All wards and the ER would normally be classed as patient care areas. But there will probably be an exception where the patient gives their consent, so that rape and assault victims etc. have access to the police.

Since there’s already a country cover version, it’s sort of closer to her wheelhouse than this...? Also, can someone mash this up with Closer?

Actually it can harm the patient.

If she supervises him she is giving approval to the action. It is unethical to perform any procedure on a patient who cannot consent that is not in their best interests. As a medical professional, the nurse has a duty to refuse. It’s got nothing to do with anything they collect being “admissible”.

Nurses get so much abuse, so little respect and so little pay for the ridiculous amount of work they do. They’re also the first ones thrown under the bus when a hospital fucks up. I wondered briefly whether he would have done this to a doctor, but I have a sneaking suspicion he would have if they were a young woman,…