Goodbye, Mr Bond.With the heaviest of hearts, we must share the awful news that our father, Sir Roger Moore, passed away today. We are all devastated. pic.twitter.com/6dhiA6dnVg— Sir Roger Moore (@sirrogermoore) May 23, 2017
Tuesday 23 May 2017
Roger Moore: 1927-2017
Viewpoint: Manchester Concert Explosion.
My first thoughts in this situation, are the same this time as they always are, they are with the families and friends of the victims. There are no words right now, that will soothe their pain, or ease them through what will be one of the hardest, toughest times they will ever go through.
My second thought is the same one I have every time somebody uses one of the T words in this kind of situation. The T words being terror, terrorist and terrorism. Whether the crime fits the definition of terrorism or not, I will not used the T words to describe it. This was a crime, an act of premeditated murder. Even describing it that way is emotive enough. The fact that the perpetrator committed suicide in the act, just means that it saves the expense of a trial and the ongoing cost of keeping him in prison. Rather than face human justice, the perpetrator convicted himself in the highest court of all, and all he did in the process was to allow the gods and goddesses to send him into his eternal damnation much sooner than originally planned.
My last thought here is simply this. Carry on as normal today. Don't let this or any other criminal act of this magnitude change who you are or what you do.
My second thought is the same one I have every time somebody uses one of the T words in this kind of situation. The T words being terror, terrorist and terrorism. Whether the crime fits the definition of terrorism or not, I will not used the T words to describe it. This was a crime, an act of premeditated murder. Even describing it that way is emotive enough. The fact that the perpetrator committed suicide in the act, just means that it saves the expense of a trial and the ongoing cost of keeping him in prison. Rather than face human justice, the perpetrator convicted himself in the highest court of all, and all he did in the process was to allow the gods and goddesses to send him into his eternal damnation much sooner than originally planned.
My last thought here is simply this. Carry on as normal today. Don't let this or any other criminal act of this magnitude change who you are or what you do.
Thursday 18 May 2017
Viewpoint: The clock is ticking on Donald Trump.
We are getting ever closer, inch by inch, foot by foot, yard by yard, to a moment like this one...
...and believe me, there will be whooping and hollering around the world when he does go down.
The announcement that a special counsel has been appointed to investigate the reported meddling in the US Presidential Election by Russia and whether Trump campaign associates or the campaign itself, collaborated with the meddling, has invariably thrown a spanner into the barely functional works of this White House.
We've heard a report that apparently Donald Trump went into his White House accomodations earlier on today, and apart from food and drink requests has not emerged since. If he has any sense at all, which is unlikely, he'd head for Moscow on the first flight he could charter, and leave everybody else behind and go into hiding. Unfortunately, he's too much of an egomaniac and spotlight hog to want to go into hiding for very long.
The strangeness here, is although in the history of the USA, there have 15 people impeached at the federal level, the two presidents impeached, were both acquitted in the Senate, and both were Democrats. Andrew Johnson in 1868, and Bill Clinton in 1999. Richard Nixon was never actually impeached. Articles of impeachment had been agreed by the House Judiciary Committee, but Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.
Whatever happens now, we are in territory that is reminiscent of Watergate, but also way greater than a bungled break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic Party. The words "high treason" are being used in intelligence circles right now, and those words are not used lightly, or even at all. But they are being used now. This is a situation that may have to call for a completely new response, including possibly an election re-run, or a brand new election. Nothing at this stage should be ruled out or in, Everything is still on the table.
The only real question remaining is whether Trump's self-preservation instincts will overtake his grossly inflated ego, and make him head for the hills. I'm not sure his ego will allow him to see how deep the quicksand is, or even that he is sinking in it. And if that is the case, his whole administration might just go down with him.
...and believe me, there will be whooping and hollering around the world when he does go down.
The announcement that a special counsel has been appointed to investigate the reported meddling in the US Presidential Election by Russia and whether Trump campaign associates or the campaign itself, collaborated with the meddling, has invariably thrown a spanner into the barely functional works of this White House.
We've heard a report that apparently Donald Trump went into his White House accomodations earlier on today, and apart from food and drink requests has not emerged since. If he has any sense at all, which is unlikely, he'd head for Moscow on the first flight he could charter, and leave everybody else behind and go into hiding. Unfortunately, he's too much of an egomaniac and spotlight hog to want to go into hiding for very long.
The strangeness here, is although in the history of the USA, there have 15 people impeached at the federal level, the two presidents impeached, were both acquitted in the Senate, and both were Democrats. Andrew Johnson in 1868, and Bill Clinton in 1999. Richard Nixon was never actually impeached. Articles of impeachment had been agreed by the House Judiciary Committee, but Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.
Whatever happens now, we are in territory that is reminiscent of Watergate, but also way greater than a bungled break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic Party. The words "high treason" are being used in intelligence circles right now, and those words are not used lightly, or even at all. But they are being used now. This is a situation that may have to call for a completely new response, including possibly an election re-run, or a brand new election. Nothing at this stage should be ruled out or in, Everything is still on the table.
The only real question remaining is whether Trump's self-preservation instincts will overtake his grossly inflated ego, and make him head for the hills. I'm not sure his ego will allow him to see how deep the quicksand is, or even that he is sinking in it. And if that is the case, his whole administration might just go down with him.
Sunday 14 May 2017
Viewpoint: Eurovision Song Contest needs a change
So, at this year's Eurovision Song Contest, the UK's entry placed 15th, scoring 111 points. Not as bad as I feared, but also not as good as I expected.
Half the juries gave the UK points, ranging from the 1 point awarded by Austria, Greece and Norway, to the 10 points awarded by Slovenia and the 12 points awarded by Australia.
4 countries awarded points in the televoting. 3 of those countries were not countries that had juries awarding points. Only Australia awarded points in both the jury stage and the televoting stage, but the televoting only brought 3 points, compared to 12 points from the jury. The rest of the points came from Spain (1), Ireland (4) and Malta (4).
99 points from the juries, just 12 points from the televoting.
Now obviously politics, in the form of Brexit, played its part with the public in Europe, but considering the juries rated us so highly, putting us in 10th place overall in terms of jury scores, it makes the televoting look worse. The televoters had us in 20th place, hence why we ended up with mid table mediocrity at 15th.
However, at almost 4 hours long just for the final, the Eurovision Song Contest is proving to be a difficult sell now, especially as in Kiev, where the event was taking place, it was almost 2am when the show finished. The fact that the show starts at 8pm UK time, means its 9pm in most of Western Europe, ecxept Portugal and Ireland, and 10pm in most of Eastren Europe. It's getting too long and unweildly to be just one show.
And indeed it isn't. You have two semi-finals, one on Tuesday, one on Thursday, and it's been that way since 2004. And in my view, the semi finals are not serving the contest well.
First off, you have the big 5, who get automatic byes straight through to the final. The Big 5 are the biggest monetary contributors to the EBU. The year's host nation also automatically qualifies, and then from however many countries beyond those 6 have submitted entries, they are split into 2 pools, and have to go through a semi final each to qualify. The top 10 from each semi-final get through to the final, leaving you with 26 finalists.
Each semi final though goes on for about 2.5 hours, with somewhere between 15 and 20 songs per semi. It makes the total investment over the whole week about 9 hours. And again, in a place like Kiev, it's past midnight when the shows end.
There has to be a better way to do this, and perhaps there is.
Get rid of the semi-finals, and have all countries competing in a new Eurovision Weekend. It starts on Saturday night with the entries, performing for the juries and the audience. This process is going to be long, but during a Eurovision party, it's really the songs that matter, that's the main thing that brings people together, the music. So, let the music take centre stage, start the event earlier, 7pm UK or 7.30pm UK rather than 8pm, and everyone can have their Eurovision party and enjoy the music.
The juries would then meet up on Sunday morning to award the points for each country, and from after the performers have finished on stage, the lines could then open for televoting. Then, like the X Factor and Britain's Got Talent do, have a Sunday night results programme, where the country representatives can announce the jury points, and their countries televoting points, and then we end up with a winner. So for instance, if one country was awarded 12 points from each of the other 41 country juries, and 12 points from each of the other 41 countries televoting, their final score would be 984 points.
Currently, the juries watch their own performance, untelevised, on Friday night, and they finalise their scores before the live broadcast ever happens. Where as televoters get mere minutes to make up their mind and cast their own vote. Leaving the lines open all through the night, into Sunday and right up until the beginning of the results show, would leave much more time to get the votes in, and you can still have some performances to start the show off well, before the results get announced.
Whilst Saturday night's programme is still likely to be about 4 hours, the new Sunday night programme would be only half that at most, and the combined length is less than the current 9 hour time investment that we are currently asked for.
Half the juries gave the UK points, ranging from the 1 point awarded by Austria, Greece and Norway, to the 10 points awarded by Slovenia and the 12 points awarded by Australia.
4 countries awarded points in the televoting. 3 of those countries were not countries that had juries awarding points. Only Australia awarded points in both the jury stage and the televoting stage, but the televoting only brought 3 points, compared to 12 points from the jury. The rest of the points came from Spain (1), Ireland (4) and Malta (4).
99 points from the juries, just 12 points from the televoting.
Now obviously politics, in the form of Brexit, played its part with the public in Europe, but considering the juries rated us so highly, putting us in 10th place overall in terms of jury scores, it makes the televoting look worse. The televoters had us in 20th place, hence why we ended up with mid table mediocrity at 15th.
However, at almost 4 hours long just for the final, the Eurovision Song Contest is proving to be a difficult sell now, especially as in Kiev, where the event was taking place, it was almost 2am when the show finished. The fact that the show starts at 8pm UK time, means its 9pm in most of Western Europe, ecxept Portugal and Ireland, and 10pm in most of Eastren Europe. It's getting too long and unweildly to be just one show.
And indeed it isn't. You have two semi-finals, one on Tuesday, one on Thursday, and it's been that way since 2004. And in my view, the semi finals are not serving the contest well.
First off, you have the big 5, who get automatic byes straight through to the final. The Big 5 are the biggest monetary contributors to the EBU. The year's host nation also automatically qualifies, and then from however many countries beyond those 6 have submitted entries, they are split into 2 pools, and have to go through a semi final each to qualify. The top 10 from each semi-final get through to the final, leaving you with 26 finalists.
Each semi final though goes on for about 2.5 hours, with somewhere between 15 and 20 songs per semi. It makes the total investment over the whole week about 9 hours. And again, in a place like Kiev, it's past midnight when the shows end.
There has to be a better way to do this, and perhaps there is.
Get rid of the semi-finals, and have all countries competing in a new Eurovision Weekend. It starts on Saturday night with the entries, performing for the juries and the audience. This process is going to be long, but during a Eurovision party, it's really the songs that matter, that's the main thing that brings people together, the music. So, let the music take centre stage, start the event earlier, 7pm UK or 7.30pm UK rather than 8pm, and everyone can have their Eurovision party and enjoy the music.
The juries would then meet up on Sunday morning to award the points for each country, and from after the performers have finished on stage, the lines could then open for televoting. Then, like the X Factor and Britain's Got Talent do, have a Sunday night results programme, where the country representatives can announce the jury points, and their countries televoting points, and then we end up with a winner. So for instance, if one country was awarded 12 points from each of the other 41 country juries, and 12 points from each of the other 41 countries televoting, their final score would be 984 points.
Currently, the juries watch their own performance, untelevised, on Friday night, and they finalise their scores before the live broadcast ever happens. Where as televoters get mere minutes to make up their mind and cast their own vote. Leaving the lines open all through the night, into Sunday and right up until the beginning of the results show, would leave much more time to get the votes in, and you can still have some performances to start the show off well, before the results get announced.
Whilst Saturday night's programme is still likely to be about 4 hours, the new Sunday night programme would be only half that at most, and the combined length is less than the current 9 hour time investment that we are currently asked for.
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