Brett-Butler

Northern Ireland had its highest number of cases today at 921. Not since March, highest since the outbreak began. Really hope we don't enter lockdown again, but it is becoming increasingly likely.

Re-upping this thread in anticipation of a potential by-election for Westminster. If it happens I don't think the election itself will happen until next year, unless there are changes to the regulations between now and then. There was a local by-election yesterday in the Northern Isles of Scotland. Will probably take a while for these to be counted as it's off in the Orkneys and most of the ballots were postal ones.

I've been watching quite a bit of anime over the past few months, including Dorohedoro , about a man with a lizard head who's on a mission to find the sorcerer who cursed him, the 3rd season of Aggretsuko (just as good as the first 2, with one episode going darker than I ever expected), and the end of the 2nd season of Fruits Basket (there's going to be 1 more season to tie all the loose ends up). Also been going back over some classic series. Finally got around to watching K-On!, which is a great music-based slice-of-life, Yuki Yuna Is a Hero, a magical girl series that it's better to go into knowing as little about it as possible, and Gurren Lagan, which was Studio Trigger before Studio Trigger existed. For a good double bill of anime to alternate between, check out BNA: Brand New Animal & BEASTARS. The former is from Studio Trigger, set in a world where a half-human half animal species called Beastmen live alongside humans in their own city. A tanuki Beastman moves to the city after previously being a human to understand what caused her change. It's more Little Witch Academia than Kill La Kill, and it's great as look as you don't try to read too much in to it. BEASTARS is also set in a world of humanoid animals, with a slightly more mature edge, where the main character is a wolf who begins to fall in love with a rabbit, despite his bestial urges trying to compel him to kill her. Also enjoyed the first half of The Great Pretender, a series about con artists who only target the worst of the worst (extra points for its closing song being the Freddie Mercury song of the same name), and I did enjoy Rent-A-Girlfriend - not a classic, but enjoyable enough. The best of last season by a mile has to be Deca-Dense. I won't tell you anything about it apart from the fact it has a steam-punk setting, but once you're a few episodes in you'll understand why.

Didn't watch the debate, but given that Joe Biden remained conscious for the whole thing, then I believe that means that he won.

Is Everton also responsible for "Hocus Pocus" by Focus being at #4? It is a jolly decent song.

Leicester MP Claudia Webbe, who took over the seat from Keith Vaz in 2019, has been charged with harassing a woman. She's now had the whip withdrawn.

The Labour poll could be a rogue one so will need to see if it is in line with any future polls, although Labour have been trending upwards for the last few months. Whilst it's a fools errand to speculate at this stage, I do think that there will be a General Election sooner than the 2024 mandated in the Fixed Term Parliament Act - I do think there will be some fissures in the Tories between now and then that could cause them to lose their majority and take things back to the general public, there have been a few rumblings in the party the past few months.

Any sign of Van Morrison? Hopefully not.

I'll take 3.

Each to their own, but someone's personal heroine is... Marie Antoinette?

So much Battenberg. I had tears of joy during the whole segment. The chocolate orange one was particularly appealing.

I spat out my tea laughing at this one - @1308360395841703939

I wonder if they'll also be introducing fines for people who don't wear masks correctly whilst indoors. Yes, your mask may be on your face, but if your hooter is sticking out it kind of invalidates the point of the face covering.

Ah that's just as well. I've just read what the first cake they'll be making this series and, without spoilers, it's one I've been waiting for for some time.

The Coronavirus rules have been extended to all on Northern Ireland now, which doesn't really change much for me as I was already in one of the postcodes affected by last week's ruling, which basically means I can visit my parents at home but no-one else, and shops etc are still open as usual. I hope it doesn't become a full lockdown here, I'm not sure a lot of people would take it well.

Went to see this during the week. The plot's all over the place and there's a few things that don't really work, but it was absolutely hilarious and ridiculous. "The thing" had me in stitches.

I’d like to see them do the Golden Shot again. I enjoyed it from the Gameshow Marathon quite a while back. And I guess it would be too much to see them try to bring back my favourite underrated gameshow, Russian Roulette, but a guy can dream.

Around the corner from where chocolate’s made.

One of them is called Lottie. I'm presuming it's not our Lottie.

Indeed, but I don't think the public will accept another full lockdown, as necessary as it may be. If it does come into effect, I could see large-scale organized civil disobedience beginning to bubble up.

Shamefully (given my interest in the subject) I would've gone for John Major as I knew he was chancellor & assumed he'd done the other two at some point under Thatcher, although Callaghan would've been my 2nd guess. Must try harder.

That is some cosmic stuff. The £500k question was a politics one (he's a politics teacher), and the million pound question was on a subject he taught 8 years ago.

The logic is that it would be the only way to ensure that Boris' re-jigged Withdrawal Agreement gets through the House of Lords - The Salisbury Convention is the convention that the House of Lords won't oppose any second or third readings of bills that are in a government's election manifesto. As Johnson is looking to change the Brexit deal to something not promised in the Tories' manifesto, it is likely to be shot down in the Lords. Therefore a new General Election with a new commitment in the Tory manifesto in line with what Johnson wants would be able to sail through without issue. Of course this is based on mere speculation that this is what Johnson is intending to do, but I think the meeting will be a little more dull.

I hope so. It was released on Wednesday on Spotify so thought it might have got a full day of Thursday to get into the chart today. Is it getting much playlist love (if at all)?

No sign of the new Gorillaz? A pity, as it's my favourite from them for a long time.