the day after the deadline: can the union survive brexit and other deep questions

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Googled to find out who Rory McGrath was and learnt Hat Trick sacked him, their own co-founder, in 1992, for being a useless lazy arse. So good morning all round for NickB in decades-old news

Haribo Hancock (sic), Thursday, 11 January 2018 12:47 (six years ago) link

I saw McGrath in Cambridge recently, he looked miserable and furious which is fair enough I suppose.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 11 January 2018 12:47 (six years ago) link

Well, he is an Arsenal supporter.

Dan Worsley, Thursday, 11 January 2018 12:50 (six years ago) link

His skin complexion seems to be a Terry Yorath shade of puce these days.

calzino, Thursday, 11 January 2018 12:52 (six years ago) link

Can I just shoehorn into this thread that Dominic Holland is fucking abysmal, GRJ is a fucking colossus of comedy next to that cunt.

calzino, Thursday, 11 January 2018 12:57 (six years ago) link

xp Maybe he can get some work in Rhyl as a Pontins version of Steve Bannon

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 11 January 2018 12:57 (six years ago) link

lol!

calzino, Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:01 (six years ago) link

Googled to find out who Rory McGrath was and learnt Hat Trick sacked him, their own co-founder, in 1992, for being a useless lazy arse. So good morning all round for NickB in decades-old news

so sorry sic, burning my chelmsford 123 box set rn to appease the gods of shit 90s comedy

faust apes (NickB), Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:24 (six years ago) link

Current programmes

Boomers (BBC One 2014–present)
Cheap Cheap Cheap (Channel 4 2017–present)
Derry Girls (Channel 4 2018–present)
Dinner Date (ITV 2010–2012, ITV Be 2014–present)
The Fake News Show (Channel 4 2017–present)
Have I Got News for You (BBC Two 1990–2000, BBC One 2000–present)
Room 101 (BBC Two 1994–2007, BBC One 2012–present)
Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Channel 4 1988–1998, ABC & ABC Family 1998–2007, The CW 2013–present)

the trailers for Derry Girls look mildly amusing but I think we could safely gulag these people anyway

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:39 (six years ago) link

Why do people not like Maconie?

It is not that I revere him myself. This week I heard him on radio asking listeners to text in about forgotten 1970s TV programmes and saying 'That's BRILLIANT!' about most of them, and also getting into some kind of debate about Tiswas.

So this was not poor quality. But is there something about him that people think more awful than the above?

the pinefox, Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:43 (six years ago) link

tbf that second sentence mostly answers the first.

I don't feel strongly about him nowadays, he doesn't even seem omnipresent as a lightweight faux nostalgia talking head on TV any more. in that sense, Dennis Norden is a good comparison.

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:46 (six years ago) link

Stuart Maconie: C or D?

the pinefox, Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:47 (six years ago) link

when I wrote 'this was not poor quality' I meant: this was poor quality.

the pinefox, Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:47 (six years ago) link

I guessed that!

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:47 (six years ago) link

The Maconie thread reflects a time when he was, evidently, a 'lightweight faux nostalgia talking head on TV'.

the pinefox, Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:48 (six years ago) link

I guess he vaguely represents a kind of cosy, restricted cultural incuriosity to me in the same way that Radio 6 does in general. But not even to generate actual spleen.

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:49 (six years ago) link

I partly agree. But then again he knows many, many things that I don't, inc. about music history.

I think one of his biggest flaws is an eagerness to please which, when he is presenting radio alone, comes across as very weak and sycophantic.

the pinefox, Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:54 (six years ago) link

ok but the person bringing george steiner into the story is you not me -- or do you mean i made this remark in the pub or something?

(nevertheless i am glad to be quoted saying something about steiner and maconie, if not nordern, in radical philosophy)

(i am not really a maconie hater either -- he has always been nice about me, and he helped retweet the kickstarter with some kind gloss: what he does is not really my kind of thing, and i do think he sells himself short, actually maybe less so now than 15 yrs ago: with my former-wire-ed hat on the freak zone is a bit gatekeepery, but it's worlds away from IBAOTN)

mark s, Thursday, 11 January 2018 13:59 (six years ago) link

Maconie's Freak Zone continues to be Good Content IMO

Thomas NAGL (Neil S), Thursday, 11 January 2018 14:20 (six years ago) link

My former NME editor was INCENSED to discover SM wrote fake gig reviews while she ran the live pages and says she would have sacked him if she’d only known, this saving us from Cider With Roadies etc.

kim jong deal (suzy), Thursday, 11 January 2018 14:31 (six years ago) link

I would like a number of offences by NME writers who probably did attend the gigs to be taken into consideration.

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 January 2018 14:33 (six years ago) link

so he actually wasn't at the same gig lol

But doctor, I am Camille Paglia (Bananaman Begins), Thursday, 11 January 2018 14:39 (six years ago) link

Maconie is now largely promoting ignorable pipe-and-slippers fodder for ageing indie fans and lord knows there's enough demand for that right now, but whichever editor decided to pay him to write about politics should never be allowed to commission anyone again.

Matt DC, Thursday, 11 January 2018 15:30 (six years ago) link

quick Google says he's a step-dad

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 January 2018 15:37 (six years ago) link

he actually uses the phrase "legitimate concerns" straight-faced in that NS piece

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 11 January 2018 15:42 (six years ago) link

he is the Big Chief Ispy equiv for the Ramblers now, i believe. and his new book is on the jarrow marches. so he does literally walk the walk.

and Cider with Roadies is one of the all-time great puns imo.

koogs, Thursday, 11 January 2018 15:42 (six years ago) link

Just looked on Rory McGrath's Wikipedia and noticed:

In July 2013, McGrath received a caution for assaulting two people while he was "heavily in drink" in May that year.[8][9] On 26 January 2017, McGrath was sentenced to 10 weeks in jail, suspended for 18 months, for harassment.[10]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-38756508

Chewshabadoo, Thursday, 11 January 2018 16:39 (six years ago) link

Aside from his fronting as a jolly + amiable joker on various light entertainment shows for years, who could guessed that "eyes of oblivion" McGrath would be such a wretched and dangerous man?

calzino, Thursday, 11 January 2018 18:53 (six years ago) link

so sorry sic, burning my chelmsford 123 box set rn to appease the gods of shit 90s comedy

I meant good morning as in more delightful schadenfreude for you to relish!

Haribo Hancock (sic), Thursday, 11 January 2018 19:28 (six years ago) link

it was just banter, it's not like he's got a track record of publicly oh never mind

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Friday, 12 January 2018 07:14 (six years ago) link

The last time he did something shit I put it on facebook and a friend said he had a great deal of respect for him until then. So maybe there is hope that word will eventually get out.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 12 January 2018 07:32 (six years ago) link

Also very much doubt his producer will want to defend and deflect over this one, which is what usually happens.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 12 January 2018 07:35 (six years ago) link

...and on Today this morning; a fawning interview about the crown jewels, then Nigel Farage.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 12 January 2018 08:00 (six years ago) link

BBC4 have been running a lot of "drooling over the awesomeness of the monarchy" history docs during the last week

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Friday, 12 January 2018 09:27 (six years ago) link

it's been bewilderingly retrograde and simplistic, the kind of thing you imagine being produced as cold war propaganda or something

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 12 January 2018 09:47 (six years ago) link

I suspect a lot of people at the BBC have been quite keen to move Humphrys for some time now but no editor wants to be the one shooting the favourite old dog. Wouldn't be surprised if his pay has gone up over that time either.

Matt DC, Friday, 12 January 2018 09:54 (six years ago) link

Carrie Gracie's voice on Today has been such a refreshing change - warm, human, challenging, empathetic - like everything Evan Davis is supposed to be

illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 12 January 2018 09:58 (six years ago) link

xpost

Humphries is the fifth highest paid "talent" at the BBC.

https://news.sky.com/story/bbc-talent-full-list-of-highest-earners-10953675

Heavy Messages (jed_), Friday, 12 January 2018 10:04 (six years ago) link

it's been bewilderingly retrograde and simplistic

yeah that's what's been furrowing my brow, I've never seen so many monarchist historians in one place that's not the Yesterday channel

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Friday, 12 January 2018 10:05 (six years ago) link

queen:"The crown is quite heavy, if I put my head down my neck would break".

fawning bbc arsewipes:"haw! haw! the excelsior of the season has arrived early, what an absolutely hilarious quip"

calzino, Friday, 12 January 2018 10:36 (six years ago) link

I was thinking of all the "Jane Grey vs Mary Tudor vs Elizabeth I vs Mary Queen of Scots" stuff which is just presented like a gossip show like Marx and social history never happened

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Friday, 12 January 2018 10:38 (six years ago) link

...and on Today this morning; a fawning interview about the crown jewels, then Nigel Farage.

one's a euphemism for genitalia, and the other's the crown oh never mind

pee-wee and the power men (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 12 January 2018 10:40 (six years ago) link

at least you can make a conscious decision to avoid all the ahistorical royal arselicking programs they put out, but when it's all over the news/current affairs shows there is a drastic need for radical change.

calzino, Friday, 12 January 2018 10:47 (six years ago) link

tbf I avoid the news/current affairs stuff mostly anyway

coombespair gaz prices (Noodle Vague), Friday, 12 January 2018 10:50 (six years ago) link

Hate listening is a sad habit of mine, probably should spend more time on R3 or WS.

calzino, Friday, 12 January 2018 10:55 (six years ago) link

...and on Today this morning; a fawning interview about the crown jewels, then Nigel Farage.

was the discussion about which one should be locked up in the tower of london?

faust apes (NickB), Friday, 12 January 2018 11:01 (six years ago) link

the new humphrys thing seems at odds with this: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-07-19/john-humphrys-is-not-happy-about-the-strange-pay-disparity-on-the-today-programme/

"The Radio 4 presenter admits he would consider working for less after co-host Sarah Montague failed to make it onto the BBC's published list"

koogs, Friday, 12 January 2018 12:17 (six years ago) link

No10 clarify that Boris is speaking in a political capacity, and not on behalf of the Government. Despite him being the Foreign Secretary. Keep up. https://t.co/YbyPJPXKQY

— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) January 12, 2018

Matt DC, Friday, 12 January 2018 12:26 (six years ago) link


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