As I’m w*rking this evening, only time for a quick update on the televised matches.
*Or possibly the one who said they preferred the short ones.
On the telly this week
Friday 6th December
| Enisei-STM 12 – 28 Castres | 16:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Agen 3 – 73 Bordeaux Bègles | 19:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Edinburgh 31 – 20 Wasps | 19:35 | epcrugby.com |
| Bath 17 – 34 Clermont | 19:45 | BT Sport 2 |
Saturday 7th December
| Northampton 16 – 43 Leinster | 13:00 | Channel 4 / BT Sport 2 |
| Lyon 28 – 0 Treviso | 13:00 | BT Sport 3 |
| Toulon 37 – 17 London Irish | 13:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Worcester 34 – 28 Dragons | 15:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Bristol 37 – 11 Stade Français | 15:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Zebre 27 – 24 Brive | 15:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Leicester 59 – 7 Calvisano | 15:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Ulster 25 – 24 Harlequins | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
| La Rochelle 24 – 27 Glasgow | 15:15 | BT Sport 3 |
| Munster 10 – 3 Saracens | 17:30 | BT Sport 2 |
| Ospreys 19 – 40 Racing | 17:30 | BT Sport 3 |
| Bayonne 11 – 19 Scarlets | 20:00 | epcrugby.com |
| Cardiff 54 – 22 Pau | 20:00 | epcrugby.com / S4C |
Sunday 8th December
| Gloucester 26 – 17 Connacht | 13:00 | BT Sport 2 |
| Sale 20 – 22 Exeter | 15:15 | BT Sport 2 |
| Toulouse 23 – 9 Montpellier | 15:15 | BT Sport Extra |
Ovally Balls 
“The Inclosure Acts use an old or formal spelling of the word now more usually spelt “enclosure”. They cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land that was previously held in common.”
Basically it’s always the same, not Irish v English or Scottish v English, it’s Rich v Poor, always
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@ticht
You’re dead right that it’s not one nationality against the other. You introduced me to this fantastic quote by Dick Gaughan:
“The first place to be colonised in the British Empire was England”
There’s a man who knows his history.
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@OT. Sad news about Marie Fredriksson from Roxette. You don’t have to be mad keen on the music to like the singer or the band.
I for sure had one or two of their club / disco bangers on driving mixtapes.
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OT, I remember waking up one morning and cringing with embarrassment because I remembered being very drunk the night before and trying to get that point across to a group of Brighton and Hove Albion fans who were sat at the next table to me, They just kind of sat there, stony-faced.
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The Tories are absolutely smashing Labour: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50726500
It’s a long read but worth getting to the 18th paragraph to find out the scores on the doors:
88 (Eighty-eight!) % of Tory paid-for facebook ads featuring things that are untrue vs a pitiful 0% of Labour paid-for facebook ads with fibs.
A simply incredible performance from the Conservatives.
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@ticht
I had a similarish experience. I found myself in a not- entirely-sober state in a golf club* in Northern Ireland explaining in fluent French** to a group of non-French speaking Dutch speaking Belgians the origins of the Troubles.
*I can’t remember why. I have never ever played golf and never will.
**my French when sober is far from fluent
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@Flair
I studied a bit of this during my undergrad. The Gaelic-speaking people had begun to move before the Enclosure Act as a result of economics or the Scottish crown. They moved into the cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow especially, before the Act. For a while Gaelic had returned to the Lowlands as the language in the churches. Other economic migrants moved to North America. As late as the 1930s in Ontario, Church services were provided first in Gaelic, then a second service would be in English. Some scholars would describe the first plantations as having taken place in the Highlands and the Islands.
At first the language of the royal courts was Gaelic, but eventually the first Kings who spoke Scots became the rulers of Scotland. It’s around this time that the Highlands and Lowlands began to be thought of as separate. This division was amplified be the lack of written Gaelic – Gaelic began to become associated with poverty. This perception carried over to North America, and Gaelic was no longer taught in the home as English or French were seen as the key to economic success.
Interestingly, the migration patterns of the Highlander differed from the Lowlanders. Entire villages relocated from the Highlands to Canada, but the Lowland Scots tended to be single males, (not always, but often,) looking to make their fortune in Canada.
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OT/Ticht – we’ve all had these experiences. I might not have been entirely sober last night myself.
Iks – an article on the Drags would be just fine, as would the cwiz, although I think it would take me some time to process a cwiz as it involves experimenting with the polling feature.
As Yosoy responded first, I’ll give him first dibs at this week. Yos – I’ll email you at the address you’ve signed in with.
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Thanks OT and Ticht.
I was a bit more familiar with the colonisation of Ireland by the English but I did not know something similar happened in Scotland.
To a continental eye, Britain seem still more feudal than the rest of Europe. The aristocracy there is not just “a nice old tradition” but the remnant of basic inequality. Old might makes right. Right?
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This conversation has reminded to buy a book I’ve been meaning to get for ages.
In case anyone else is interested https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/dec/22/scottish-clearances-tm-devine-review-highlands
LADOAB, the Gaelic culture in Cape Breton is probably the result of entire villages/communities emigrating at the same time, I would think, it would be unlikely to be there if there were only ones and twos going at the one time.
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Ah, old Prof Tom. Mrs BB was taught by him at Strathclyde Uni.
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BB, I’ve heard him a few times on the discussion prog In Our Time on Radio 4.
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Flair – correct! The UK is still ruled by the descendants of the Normans. And the astonishing part is that large parts of the population just don’t seem to care.
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Thanks LAODAB. Very interesting.
Thaum, that so few have so much just by being born makes my French blood boil. But to be fair, the British aristos are doing an amazing PR job. They’re a living proof that one CAN lie to all the people all the time.
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@thauma
I’m fairly certain that nobody in my family could ever vote in an election until the 1918 General Election when they removed the property qualification for men over the age of 21. Which was nice for my great grandad who could finally cast his vote before he died from the infections in his wounds that he got from fighting in WW1.
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OT – outrageous!
Flair – I think it’s primarily the English (and a certain section of Northern Irish society) who are conned by the complete bastards. Me, I admire the French, who don’t put up with this shit.
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@thaum
I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. At least where I grew up there was general dislike of all things establishment and a feeling of detachment from those in power, including the media.
It actually feels a bit like being colonised…
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There’s a very good book by Brett Christophers called The New Enclosure that’s well worth reading. Brings the story up-to-dateish.
You can get it at half price for the rest of the month: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2871-the-new-enclosure
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OT, from yesterday’s Manchester Evening News: manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/they-both-idiots-election-disillusionment-17388348
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*Prays Yosoy was being serious, or that someone with a dog in the Big Cup fight takes over*
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OT – where did you grow up?
I see people in, for example, Yorkshire being bolshie and not lying down quietly, but then they go and vote for Brexit.
In my Midlands English village, it’s basically pathological. Vote for the arseholes who are stripping you of everything you might have.
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Iks – Yosoy has promised an article, but that doesn’t mean that you’re off the hook for … NEXT WEEK!
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@thaum
I grew up right where tomp linked that article. In fact my mum and dad’s house is just off camera in the hills in the distance in 2 of the photos (the one on Yorkshire St and the one at Mumps). That article sums up local views perfectly – basically very cynical about anyone in the establishment. Don’t forget in the Brexit vote the establishment were 90% (I made that number up) in favour of staying in, so the obvious thing for these people to do was vote for the opposite of what their betters were saying they needed to do. If the same people that bailed out the banks with their money and imposed austerity on them think it’s a good idea to remain then they were bloody well voting to leave.
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Holy fuck, but that’s a depressing article.
As if Spaffer fucking Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Farage and co weren’t The Establishment.
Having said that, those people do have a lot of reasons to be pissed off, starting with Thatcher, continuing through Blair and up to the present day. But dog knows voting for Spaffer and Brexit is not going to improve their lives.
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OT, the voters of Oldham were ahead of the curve when they elected nasty piece of work Phil Woolas MP a few times.
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Blair was very popular at first because he was the only one could beat the Tories when they seemed invincible despite shafting them for years.
Also – membership of the EU is not synonymous with prosperity for these people. They would say being part of the EU didn’t benefit them at all.
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Thaum, check this one out from a Guardian report on the Tory campaign:
“At the fish market, there are a few fishmongers who suggest that the seat could be turning in the Tories’ favour. One wholesaler, 39-year-old Adam Leggett, says he did not used to vote but he is now backing Johnson. He argues that “Boris seems like a normal working class guy, he’ll get my vote”.”
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OT – agreed; but are they right? Have the EU not invested in regions that Westminster has ignored? Not to mention EU law on workers’ rights and so forth that you know the Tories will destroy if they get their way. The UK has already, of course, opted out of a lot of these laws. Er, so not beyond our control.
There’s no doubt that it’s utterly shite going from a steady, well-paid job in eg mining to insecure employment in warehouses or whatever, but the Tories are really, really not going to improve that. Labour will try to bring industry and jobs to the regions, and will markedly increase social housing, a major cause of poverty. It’s a no-brainer?
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TomP – Jeebus Christ.
Hope the moron forgets to vote.
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EU brought prosperity to poor countries such as Spain or Portugal and also to the ex Soviet Union colonies. But how rich countries redistributed the extra prosperity they gain through Europe was up to them. Obviously the UK failed in this regard. Therefore the poorer even lost their safely net (unlike in France for instance). Can’t expect them to vote remain then.
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Flair – exactly. You can’t blame the EU for how Westminster distributes its funds.
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Depends if you believe Labour will do all that. People remember Corbyn and the his ilk from the 1980s when the Labour Party disappeared up its backside for years leaving these areas to rot at the hands of the Tories. If he wasn’t concerned about them then why is he concerned now?
And paradoxically since the Brexit vote the Tories have put money into industry and the regions in something called the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. I regularly speak to the ex JLR guy running the £149m earmarked for digitalising manufacturing and he’s spending it on automotive, aerospace, pharma, and the food sectors amongst others. Lots of investment going into the West Midlands, North Wales, the North East and South Yorkshire. Do while I wouldn’t vote for them, the investment is taking place.
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On the subject of feudalism kand ownership in Scotland is long overdue reform. Vast tracts of the country are owned by spawn of those who perpetrated the clearances and absentee millionaire / billionaire landlords
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What the hell is kand? Land
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OT – the 1980s? When Thatcher was in power?
I’m in the West Midlands, and all I see is unaffordable house-building.
JLR and Aston Martin, amongst others, do still offer good apprenticeships, but as far as I know, they’re funding that themselves.
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Yep the 1980s – the Labour Party stopped trying to win elections and decided internal power struggles were more morally pure.
Here’s where a load of government money is going into the West Midlands automotive industry, backed by industrial cash from Tata Motors/JLR:
https://innovateuk.blog.gov.uk/2017/07/24/the-faraday-challenge-part-of-the-industrial-strategy-challenge-fund/
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OT – you’ll forgive me for thinking that that site is all marketing bollocks and no trousers. As a couple of BTL commentators also seem to think. Tory ‘investment’ usually ends up being trousered by their donors.
As for the 1980s – well, I wasn’t living in the UK then, but it seems to me that the ‘greed is good’ mantra took hold, and that local councils were – like today – starved of funds.
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Which of the 3 projects at the bottom of this page are Tory donors?
https://www.ukri.org/innovation/industrial-strategy-challenge-fund/faraday-battery-challenge/#pagecontentid-6
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I’m always serious when it comes to space.
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OT
Looking at their directors, they don’t exactly look like a load of hippies. Sure, some of them are scientists, which is good.
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I have found this:
Letwin, Sir Oliver (West Dorset)
From 22 January 2018 until further notice, senior adviser to the Faraday Institution,
Materials Dept, Oxford University, Rex Richards Building, Oxford OX1 3RQ, a
not-for-profit body formed by a consortium of UK universities to advance research
in the UK on the development of battery technology. I expect to receive £1,000 per
month for a commitment of around 8 hours per month. I consulted ACoBA about
this appointment. (Registered 22 January 2018)
Click to access 190617.pdf
And now I’m off to bed!
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I see road traffic alerts from around my home town on FB, but this was a close call. A lorry had blown over in high winds on the A1, and then another one was blown over and it landed on top of the police car which was attending the first one.
Luckily no one was hurt
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The e-plane – a 62-year-old, six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver seaplane retrofitted with an electric motor…
Beavers at the fore;
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/11/worlds-first-fully-electric-commercial-aircraft-takes-flight-in-canada
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mmm….electric beavers
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big worry about JLR and Aston Martin is that they are both losing money at alrming rates.
If they miss this next technology window then they are sunk – yet both are what you might call Conservative images.
anyway – we can always blame those foolish Indians at Tata for steel, cars etc etc
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New Zealand go safe:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/dec/11/ian-foster-named-steve-hansens-successor-as-all-blacks-head-coach
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who’s the resident expert on outer space anyhoo?
I watched Plan 9 from Outer Space (twice), so I think I should step up to the plate here. Now, who wants to know to know about saucers and plates hanging from bits of fishing gut with crap music and a short bloke standing in for a dead Bela Lugosi? (That may have been the other film).
For anyone interested in it, George Clooney played a fairly large role in Revenge of the Killer Tomatoes (yes, Catnip indeed). Any other A-lister started out in such a terrible film?
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Probably me as I’m a big fan of Musk.
I htink Musk may actually be Ed Wood reincarnated.
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Are you on a hill, Deebee? The pictures from Memelodi and Centurion aren’t good. Anything bad happen in Jozi?
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