Phil Edwards's avatar

Phil Edwards

@philedwards.bsky.social

98 followers 121 following 1553 posts

The good news you cannot refuse The bad news is there is no news

Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Didn't know Stanmore was on the Tube. Huh. Feeling deprived now. It was two buses to get to the Tube from us. Horn where now?

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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In the abstract this seems like an odd attitude for me to have, considering I was a freelance journalist for several years. I guess fundamentally I don't really think of beer journalism as A Thing, as opposed to "that blogger I used to read, only now he's got a byline, good luck to him I guess".

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Write a book & I may buy it. Crowdfund for a book & I may support it. But paying for blogging is a no-no, and even paying for pieces twice as long & four times as dense as a blog post... well, I don't often want to *read* pieces twice as long & four times as dense as a blog post, put it that way.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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My answer's the same as always - I started beer blogging for fun, to express myself & to share ideas and experiences with other bloggers. I've never made a penny from it (although it has got me some free beer), and I'm happy to - indeed, prefer to - read things by people in the same position.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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So no.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Who was angry and why? My home address used to end 'Surrey', and as far as I could see that was a polite fiction - maybe ten miles further out you'd actually be *in* Surrey, but the bit where we were had been eaten by London long ago. (And ditto the whole of Middx. Just is.)

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I remember telling another student I was from somewhere close enough to London to have no character, but far enough out not to be on the Tube or any bus routes that went into the centre, and small enough that she wouldn't have heard of it[1]. She said, yeah, same here[2]. [1] Coulsdon [2] Stanmore

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I thought Sam Matterface was a Joe Dolce tribute act until I discovered ITV Sport.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I wouldn't hold your breath.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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"The party's got a problem, which is that people are stupid enough to believe the nasty things our enemies are saying"

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I was still buying LPs in 2004 (viz. cLOUDDEAD's Ten). Damned if I know why now - possibly because I was still using a PC without a CD drive. Really should rip it some time. cLOUDDEAD to now = Frankie Goes To Hollywood to cLOUDDEAD = Beatlemania to Frankie.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Relatedly (or possibly not) there was a Labour attack ad when Sunak became PM which painted RS as an uncool but minted Asian techbro; I remember @dsquareddigest.bsky.social saying it was a recognisable stereotype in fintech circles.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I remember realising that, once you'd said "long-term Labour voter, retired, bit racist, likes Mrs Brown's Boys" it wasn't too hard to find people like that and put a mic in front of them. If you said "Labour/Green, mid-30s, vegetarian, trade unionist" you could find them too - but nobody ever did.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Perhaps Emily Thornberry doesn't like her.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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As an unreconstructed Corbynite I was nodding along to most of this. (There was a strong "things could be a bit better" element to Corbynism, not to mention "remember when things used to be a bit better?".) As to whether Starmer's government will make progress on these issues, ah hae ma doots.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Completely impossible. A hung Parliament and a Labour/LD Not-A-Coalition, now, that's possible - incredibly unlikely, though.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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It's autobiography - of course there are characters coming and going! I found it episodic and bitty to begin with, but the whole "dying of starvation" thing got to me.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I would love it if they ended up with 37% of the vote, say, and “only” 49% of the seats. Can’t see it happening, tho.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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"No, no, you're not getting it," he said. "I'm not Mr Clever. I'm Mr Clever*ly*." - What's the difference? He sighed. "Mr *Clever* would just invariably be clever. No one would ever say 'he did that cleverly' - it'd be assumed." - So to be Mr *Cleverly*... "I have to be stupid, almost all the time."

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Not that Labour *won't* gerrymander the system (new Lords appointees), or keep it gerrymandered (FPTP and voter ID).

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Reposted by Phil Edwards

Rob H&ynes's avatar Rob H&ynes @robonabike.bsky.social
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When that curiously accentless US voice on Bluetooth headphones says ""power on" or "power off" it should say one with a rising intonation and the other with a falling intonation like the football scores used to be read out. "Stirling Albion 3⬆️, Hamilton Academical 2⬇️". Like that.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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My (admittedly unclear) point was that, while Shrek postdated Grace, the reinvention of Hallelujah that people associate with Shrek predated both of them.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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No, but it is at odds with giving Buckley's version historical priority over "the Shrek version" (Cale's), which actually inspired it,

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Not so. Shrek was 2001, but the version of Hallelujah they use is John Cale's cover from the compilation album I'm Your Fan, which dates back to 1991 - three years before Grace.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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#3 is an interesting one. "1940 or 1945?" I was about to muse, but then I looked again.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Why would one have any hopes whatsoever from Labour in that department? They've got a manifesto commitment to "reduce immigration", full stop.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I remember thinking - begging your pardon as a Liberal - that we'd brought a few people back to Labour during the last couple of weeks of the 2019 campaign, then looking back and reinterpreting that sympathetic-but-regretful expression: *they'd already voted*.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Agree, but I think it'll only be worth 4-5% to the Tories (and not, as I'd previously thought, 8-10%). Apart from anything else, postal voting has gone mad over the last couple of elections...

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Reposted by Phil Edwards

Zach's avatar Zach @megapolisomancy.bsky.social
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Never agreed with anyone more than with Robert Aickman when he said weird fiction “must open a door, preferably where no one had previously noticed a door to exist; and at the end, leave it open, or, possibly, ajar.” Happy birthday to him.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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25% - worth a punt if the question you're asking is "where have all the Tory voters gone?".

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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24% leaves plenty of room for people to hate her, including (or especially) former Tory voters who might be going to Farage this time. Reform UK were on 2-3% under Liz Truss, vs 15-16% now; you can see how the Tories could be thinking "if we could get a third of that 13%... half even..."

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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But I admit that these days I'm betting on "Tories May Be Smarter Than They Look" less from conviction than out of habit, and because it makes life more interesting.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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It's also a way of attacking Keir Starmer on what's emerging as his weak point - being weak/not really in charge - without going down the "people who became party leader by a less than ideal process" route.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Not sold on the artwork or the promo copy, I'm afraid, BUT it sounded great when Kermode reviewed it - and I'm always there for Olwen Fouéré (and Ian Lynch). I'll try and catch it on Apple TV (& will hopefully big it up on here afterwards, to make up for the slight negativity above).

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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It's good, but it's no Goodbye Tonsils.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I don't get this take. I mean, I think it makes her look fantastic, but it's very, very, very much Not Aimed At Me. They're not trying to make her look ugly or unattractive, just threatening - and a certain stratum of men will see her as more threatening the better she looks.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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...the British people disagreeing with their bright ideas (or) ...getting screwed over by the Conservative Party

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Then it says, almost as an afterthought, "There'll be a referendum on [all of the above], and it'll only happen if there's a majority in favour. Otherwise, as you were." In other words, they planned for absolutely everything except (depending how charitable you're feeling)...

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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One thing that I think says a lot about the Lib Dems is the amount of thought & planning that went into the whole thing. If you look at the Act that provided for a referendum on AV, it specifies everything about how the system was going to work, practically down to the size of polling stations.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I picture a lot of meetings with people basically hostile to the whole idea (not necessarily Tories) and AV emerging as the compromise solution b/c least disruptive (keeps single-member constituencies and feeds into the bar-chart mentality ("Labour can't win here, so make sure you give us vote #2").

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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"the man who ran as the unity candidate for the Labour leadership — positioning himself between the Corbynites and the right of the party — came to see that this position was impossible and that the policy of the Corbynites was irresponsible" Nice story, but not remotely what happened.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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On Arts Labs, Beckenham in particular, see "Cygnet Committee".

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I don't think he was signing on, though - Kenneth Pitt was effectively his patron, as I think was Lindsay Kemp for a while. But there was much less of a star system in music at the time (and no corporate involvement to speak of), which meant there was a lot more money around at lower levels.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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In practice very few governments approach the level of partisanship you're assuming. To govern on that basis - good stuff for our people and screw the rest of them - would be a recipe for disaster, in the form of political upheaval and social unrest.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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I think the point is that governments of whatever party are supposed to be trying to do the best for the whole country, including constituencies with MPs from other parties, so that MPs who flag up local issues to the government can expect to get a fair hearing.

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Phil Edwards's avatar Phil Edwards @philedwards.bsky.social
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Conversely, when my daughter was visiting we tried to move the cat (who wasn't pleased). She promptly went into "Oh! Oh! You kick Miette? You treat her body like the football?".

And there was me thinking that was one for @londonreview.bsky.social subscribers...

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