Tag Archives: Hollywood

Diary Blog, 12 January 2025

Afternoon music

Talking point

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14266893/I-study-collapse-empires-heres-wokeism-downfall-America.html

The rise of ‘woke‘ thought and digital currencies are among the warning signs that Western civilization could be about to collapse, said investor and expert Doug Casey.

Casey’s book ‘Crisis Investing’ topped the New York Times nonfiction chart, focusing on the looming crisis facing Western civilization.

In subsequent books and podcast interviews, the veteran speculator has focused on signs that he sees as warnings, based on his study of historical events such as the fall of Ancient Rome.

The rise of ‘woke‘ thought and digital currencies are among the warning signs that Western civilization could be about to collapse, said investor and expert Doug Casey.

He told DailyMail.com that there are now seven clear signs that he believes show that Western civilization is facing an end.

[Daily Mail]

Worth looking at.

There is one factor which dominates in the UK, which is the fact that “nothing works properly any more“. I started noting it on the blog years ago, and noticed (after a couple of years) some msm outlets saying the same.

Part of the decline in services and standards is, of course, caused by the migration invasion, meaning both the strain put on all services and facilities by the extra numbers and the nature (i.e. poor quality) of those entering the UK.

Then there is the decline in real education (not meaningless “degree” diplomas handed out like confetti).

The repression on free speech is another major factor.

The box-ticking culture in administration as well, combined with the “Common Purpose” and allied cancers.

When Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP took power, they were initially voted for, in 1932, by 33% of the people, which grew to 44% in 1933, yet the NSDAP vote had been only 2.6% in 1928. Quite an upsurge in only 4-5 years.

The reasons given for the upsurge in support for the NSDAP have been examined by many. The Great Depression in the USA, which spread around the world, was of course key.

The Jewish influence too, but that, after all, had existed for a long time in Germany, and had been especially prevalent after the defeat of 1918. The NSDAP had spoken against it for over a decade without, at first, having gained much traction.

There were other factors as well, but I think that what clinched Hitler’s triumph was the perception that things generally, in all areas, were not working properly.

The same was obviously true in the Russian Empire in 1917, after at least two lost wars, and with the ruling cliques of the Empire mired in corruption and scandal. Russia as a state was not working for the people in any way whatsoever.

Reverting to the UK in 2024, not so dramatic, true, but there has been a slow-motion train crash going on for the past ~25 years. It becomes hard to ignore the fact that the UK, in many ways, is now ceasing to work properly.

Government must, above all else, function.

Deadhead MPs and ministers, repression on free speech, official policies seemingly designed not to work (mass immigration, migration invasion, energy, foreign policy, NHS, social security etc), and the fact that ordinary everyday life becomes a tangled mess by reason of the pointless hoops that have to be jumped through: you name it— NHS appointments, and medical care in general; parking a car; getting through to anyone who can help with any given problem, whether at commercial enterprises, in local government, central government, or wherever.

The UK’s voters are tiring of the existing mess, and may be inclined to clutch at the Reform UK straw, in the short-to-medium term, but later, after 2029, may support a truly radical social-national alternative, which may exist by then.

If not, then “le deluge“… It will then be a matter of taking to the lifeboats.

There emerges an uneasy feeling that our present world system is not going to be around for much longer, the way things are internationally.

See also:

Tweets seen

Daria Platonova Dugina — A Theory of Europe: A View of the New Right.

In a world increasingly levelled by homogenisation, Daria Platonova Dugina retrieves the vibrancy of European culture by delving into the intellectual renaissance of the French New Right.

Exploring the pioneering work of figures like Alain de Benoist and Guillaume Faye, Dugina traces their groundbreaking and provocative reimagining of identity, tradition, and belonging, where the spirit of ideas transcends the conventional boundaries of Left and Right.

Through a “Gramscianism from the Right” approach, she analyses how the New Right’s critique of universalist ideologies and its visions of civilisational revival present a cultural counter-hegemony that values rootedness and organic community over the globalist paradigm.

In this unique collection of lectures, essays, and interviews, Dugina highlights the complex intersections of New Right thought with currents like National Bolshevism and Eurasianism, investigating the philosophical and geopolitical frontlines of the fracturing world order.

Dugina takes readers on a far-reaching journey beyond the standard ideological spectrum, inviting a deeper understanding of identity politics in the contemporary age.

Here, philosophy meets praxis, inspiring those searching for alternatives in today’s monotone world to revisit the foundations and peaks of Europe’s intellectual heritage.

Order it now: https://amazon.com/dp/1915755948 https://arktos.com/product/a-theory-of-europe/…

Daria ‘Platonova’ Dugina (1992–2022) was a Russian philosopher, political analyst, journalist, and artist. Dugina studied philosophy at Moscow State University and Bordeaux Montaigne University, specialising in Plato and Neoplatonism. The daughter of Alexander Dugin, she was an active member of the International Eurasian Movement and collaborated with the French New Right. Her life was tragically cut short by a car bomb on the night of 20 August 2022.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darya_Dugina

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Dugin

Not that I think highly of everything Dugin himself says or writes. His views are sometimes risibly simplistic, even puerile. Certainly not always, but sometimes, especially when it comes down to concrete realities and facts.

More tweets seen

I rarely if ever repost anything by the above tweeter (the ex-wife of a former Conservative-Party MP), but (with the exception of “stable inheritance“) this has to be right. “Rachel from Accounts and Customer Relations” is a joke, a bad joke, a very unpleasant Labour Friends of Israel joke.

That AIPAC purchased the seats of about 90% or more of our current congress.

JFK famously wanted them registered as a foreign agent right before he was shot and thus they changed their name and never registered.

Why are we letting a foreign lobby buy off our congress?

That Israel was obviously the state sponsor of Jefrey Epstein, whose handler was Ehud Barak, ex head of Israeli military intelligence, his funding was Les Wexner one of the worlds richest Zionist ‘philanthropists’ and he was accused by ex Mossad assets of being Mossad.

Not to mention the Maxwell connection. (They had blackmail on Clinton, and many, many more.) He who holds the blackmail holds the leash- just ask J. Edgar Hoover.

That Israel is the only nation who has a defacto sanctioned, yet actually secret and unsanctioned nuclear program. A program that they stole from the United States- look into the Apollo affair, NUMEC, the Dimona nuclear facility.

That jews, muslims, and christians lived side by side in peace in Palestine before the Rothschilds purchased the country from Britain during WW1 (see the Balfour declaration) and began their colonial program.

That the groups that founded Israel, Lehi, Irgun, and Hagannah, were declared terrorist organizations by Israel itself because their tactics were so deplorable (bombing British and Palestinian civilians) yet these three ‘paramilitary’ groups rebranded to form the IDF and their leadership became the leadership of Israel for the following thirty plus years.

That Israel is a foreign nation halfway across the world that has no business receiving my tax dollars. Why are we sending them billions of dollars of our tax money while our country burns, is overrun by illegal immigration, etc?

We are told Israel is our ‘greatest ally’ so why would they have had a massive spy network targeting US government agencies leading up to sep 11, 2001 – see the Israeli art students DEA report for copious evidence of Israeli surveillance all across the continental US.

This is an official government report that cites hundreds of incidents of observed Israeli surveillance teams documented by US government agents all across the continental US. And we still have received 0 answers why there were numerous fake Israeli moving companies positioned all across the eastern seaboard leading into September 11, 2001 and we have multiple eye witness reports, as well as hard photographic evidence that they knew the attacks were coming at least a day before they did and that they were positioned at a vantage point to photograph the attack up to a half hour before the first plane hit. Never got any answers- but you can read the official FBI reports about the incident. I’ve broken them down live on X before.

That’s just a small list of some of the best documented reasons why I, as an American, dont want Israel receiving any of my tax dollars. And I didn’t even mention my obvious objections to the collective punishment, mass surveillance, forced starvation, bombing of refugee camps, brutal murdering of women and children that’s been going on in Gaza and the West Bank for years, decades- which you can watch in graphic detail right here on X.

And that’s not to mention that somehow we let congress pass laws outlawing ‘antisemitic’ speech, despite our own first amendment. And we have anti-boycott legislation in multiple states, despite the fact that it’s perfectly legal to boycott American companies… just not Israeli ones.

Every content creator knows the fastest way to get demonetized, banned, and slandered is to be critical of Israel. I figured you would have realized this too after what they did to you and tried to do to X last year.”

[Ian Carroll, replying to a tweet by Elon Musk]

More tweets

See also:

Disappearing England

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14262595/newbuild-homes-greenbelt-council-Lord-Rings-St-Albans.html

Fuming locals have raged at a council planning to build thousands of homes on green belt surrounding one of England’s oldest market towns.

St Albans Council sent its proposal to use land including 800 hectares of green belt to build 15,000 homes by 2041 to Labour’s Planning Inspectorate at the end of 2024.

Homeowners in the area slammed the ‘diabolical’ plan by developers who ‘don’t give a s***’ to destroy the countryside and said the extra homes would put local services under unbearable strain.”

[Daily Mail]

Very sad. Mainly caused by mass immigration. That, and profiteering by both farmers (selling land— look at the report; ONE FIELD sold for £38M!) and housebuilding companies.

As for housebuilders building tracts of housing and then refusing to adhere to agreements guaranteeing services (roads, parks, shops etc), if they do that, their precious “developments” should be blown up by the State, then rewilded; the companies should also be fined, very heavily. The directors should then be put to hard labour.

I used to spend occasional weekends at Sopwell House, which is walking distance from St. Albans. That was back in the early/mid 1990s, 30 years ago (incredible, to me).

Britain is slowly (?) becoming a multikulti slum where nothing works, and from where every English/white person wants to escape, either to the relatively few areas of the country unaffected by the spreading floods of ghastly ugly new housing —and immigration—, or overseas. Somewhere. Anywhere.

There are even TV shows called Escape to...

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Africa should be under European rule.

Birmingham. Zoo.

If Britain had a real government, the police would shoot them down in the street.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Davies_(politician).

Late music

Diary Blog, 9 January 2025, including the latest on the extraordinary legal case Wilson v. Mendelsohn, Newbon (deceased), and Cantor.

Afternoon music

Talking point


He has a point, nicht wahr?

Tweets seen

…and there were relatively few Pakistanis even in the UK at that time.

One cannot help but think that California, especially the southern and central coastal parts, is a massive catastrophe waiting to happen, as portrayed in so many of the Hollywood films. Earthquake, fire, tsunami, race war, alien invasion etc. You name it.

More tweets seen

See also:

Retribution—Get down there where you wanted to send me, you unclean spirit!

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As predicted on this blog.

Labour hated, “Conservatives” (under a silly and useless Nigerian woman carpetbagger) despised, LibDems a dustbin for uncertain votes, or a non-choice. Result— Reform UK, though underwhelming, as a straw at which to clutch, and at the same time a serious protest vote.

According to Electoral Calculus, that, at a General Election, would make Reform UK the official Opposition: Labour 269 Commons seats, Reform 149, Conservatives 101, LibDems 73, Greens 6. https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/userpoll.html.

The most likely outcome there would of course be a Lab/LibDem coalition, or maybe a Lab minority govt. with LibDem support. If either of those, then there might be a LibDem demand for proportional representation, to replace the current ridiculous First-Past-The-Post voting system.

Incidentally, such a voting result would also mean that about 143 Labour MPs would be culled, and another 20 Con Party MPs would also lose their seats.

Also incidentally, if that result were to be changed in only one small aspect, Reform UK going up from 25% to 26% (with all other vote shares unchanged), the end result would be Lab 259, Reform 173, Con 87, LibDems 73, Green 6. That would be existentially disastrous for the Con Party

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Looking hopeful…

Why is Britain going bankrupt and what might this mean? Let’s take a look.

First it is worth noting, Labour et al might calm the markets in the short-term but what markets are telling us is that there is a festering problem – even if this goes away in the coming weeks it will keep coming back.

There are short-term and long-term trends driving the bankruptcy; a few of the long-term trends are poor resource allocation in the public sector, aging population and low growth; short-term trends are basically COVID-19 spending and spending on energy price guarantees due to Ukraine war – also BoE’s enormous losses from QE aren’t helping.

Britain can always print money to finance its debt but the problem is that foreign debt sales keep sterling propped up which, in turn, keeps UK living standards propped up at an artificial level; if sterling were allowed fall to close the large trade deficit and Britons were forced to live within their means, living standards would be lower – probably significantly lower.

If/when the bankruptcy takes place there are basically two paths that it can take: either the government impose harsh austerity, likely by handing the reins to the OBR and the Treasury, or the country is put into receivership and the keys are handed to the IMF.

There is some talk that the IMF option is like what happened in 1976 – yes and no; in 1976 UK government debt was below 50% of GDP and while the country’s trade deficit was large it had only opened two years beforehand; today government debt is well over 100% of GDP and the trade deficit is not only enormous but has been enormous for 20 years (!).

Britain lives beyond its means by managing capital via the City of London; rather than producing goods to export the country tries to attract capital inflows sustain higher levels of consumption than the economy would naturally allow – but a serious crisis will change all this making the situation very different to 1976.

In 1976 the UK was really just trying to stabilise sterling amidst some troublesome worldwide inflationary pressures while today the country needs to be treated like the typical patient that the IMF gets its hands on.

Nor would such an austerity program even look like, say, Ireland after 2011 which was aimed at bringing down wage costs and making the country competitive again – this meant that the country went through a few years of pain and recession but then emerged with their living standards intact and started growing once more.

Rather any austerity program that is applied by Britain – whether by the IMF or by OBR-Treasury, or some combination of the three – would look more like what happened to Greece after 2011: a managed, permanent decline in living standards.

Is there a silver lining? There would be, if all the above led to a real social-national government and “a revaluation of all values“…

Talking point

More tweets seen

That tweeter is easily brainwashed, it seems. Never saw his tweets previously. They seem pretty silly, pretty unthinking.

Ah, just noticed that the tweeter works for Private Eye. What a co-incidence…

System drones Ian Hislop and Andrew Marr attack Elon Musk. There is an agenda here, as in “the public should trust the System mass media“.

Hislop, together with his totally unfunny pseudo-satire Have I Got News For You cabal, is to our society what the supposedly funny, supposedly satirical, Krokodil magazine was to Soviet society. Meaning— approved “satire” by approved “satirists” attacking “safe” targets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krokodil.

(cf. Paul Merton. Again, unfunny and pointless). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Merton.

Hislop has made a good thing for himself (and his bank balance) out of attacking “the right” targets. The same or similar might be said of Marr. Look at how they think, or want the public to think, that the mainstream media can be trusted. It could be called stupid to think like that, but Hislop knows exactly what he is doing.

As for Marr, a disgraceful System-approved journalist. His views? See below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Marr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Hislop.

Marr and Hislop might be characterized by the cartoon below:

Late tweets

Out with him. First boat out.

I wonder what the UK figure is?

Late music

Diary Blog, 21 December 2022, with thoughts about foreign students at the Bar of England, about Jeremy Clarkson and “Dr.” Louise Raw, and about the continuing Ukraine situation

Afternoon music

On this day a year ago

Interesting vlog

A few comments.

There have always been a certain, and in fact fairly high, number of foreign students qualifying at the Bar in London. Many go back to their own home countries to practise law. Some become leaders of those countries, one such leader having been Lee Kuan Yew, who “invented” Singapore as we know it today: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew. Others too became not only national leaders but also founders of states: Gandhi was called to the Bar in London, as was Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_Jinnah.

In Malaysia, it is a tradition that those who can, go to London to study law, and they have a particular affection for Lincoln’s Inn (my old Inn, at which though, thanks to the Jew-Zionist lobby, I am now effectively persona non grata).

Lincoln’s Inn is, even today, the Inn of Court to which most if not all Malaysian students apply, by reason of the fact that the first Prime Minister of Malaysia was a member: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunku_Abdul_Rahman.

Many of the Chinese names read out in that vlog are probably from Singapore, Hong Kong, or Malaysia, where the legal system is a derivation from the English.

Having said that, it is disturbing that there are so few English names. It may be, in part, because most of the English students pass the exams and then are Called to the Bar in the Trinity Term (Summer), rather than the Michaelmas Term (Autumn).

I have to admit that, while I saw some very low-quality black and brown barristers when I was practising at the Bar in the early/mid 1990s and then again in 2002-2008, I also saw some pretty rock-bottom English ones.

I do agree with the vlogger, though, that all barristers who are practising in chambers in England should be English or (real) British.

Incidentally, for those readers of the blog unaware as to why I am now no longer a barrister, please read the following: https://ianrobertmillard.org/2017/07/09/the-slide-of-the-english-bar-and-uk-society-continues-and-accelerates/.

Twitter

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11559991/Twitter-colluded-Pentagon-run-network-fake-accounts-world.html

Tweets seen

Most of the push for censorship and repression comes from the Jew-Zionist lobby.

I favour the “free at point of use” principle of the NHS, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the NHS is just not fulfilling its proper role. It is no answer just to say that more money is needed. More money may well be needed, but the whole thing has become a bureaucratic mess which is delivering poorer and poorer outcomes.

The “panicdemic” and, overall, all the nonsense which the NHS espoused (the facemask nonsense being just one) has broken something in the connection of the people with the NHS.

Hollywood is another Augean Stables, which should be cleansed, no matter what.

I did not know anything much about Sean Penn until today, when I read a bit about him. Needs a good kicking. Horrible bastard, it seems. I was also unaware, until today, that he is a half-Jew.

Ukraine

The war would have ended some time ago without the huge arms shipments (and transfers of cash) from USA, UK etc to the Kiev regime.

The items referrred to are those that Americans call “potbellied stoves”.

The Russian side is probably looking now at a stable front during the cold weather, assuming that it becomes really cold, with renewed advances in summer 2023.

While the strategic view is superficially not good for the Russian side (most of Ukraine as a whole remaining controlled by the Kiev regime, and most of eastern Ukraine too), the fact is that Ukraine is on life support. The electrical power system is being reduced to rubble, industry is almost at a standstill, something like 10%-20% of the population has fled, and both the armed forces and civilians are being kept going by the vast influx of aid from Western states, NGOs, and private charity.

Russia continues to control most of the coastal areas of the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, as well as Crimea, and most of the Donbass region.

As blogged some time ago, Russia needs to cut the Gordian Knot of this bogged-down attritional battle/war in the southeast of Ukraine. It has started by applying “oblique warfare”, mainly by reducing the electrical power system throughout the whole of Ukraine, but that alone will not achieve a breakthrough. Kiev remains the main target. Somehow, Kiev has to be taken, something which would have been not too difficult 8 or 9 months ago, but is far harder to accomplish today.

The alternative is a peace treaty, or at least a ceasefire, but the Kiev-regime side will not agree one without a withdrawal of all Russian forces, as well as delivering the (almost all Russian) population of Crimea into the hands of the Ukrainian/Kiev side. Impossible.

There may be an escalation in 2023 by the Russian side, something on a large scale.

More tweets seen

As the above tweets imply, it will be interesting to see how many “socially progressive” (in their own little minds) mugs send money to “Dr” Louise Raw in order, supposedly, to sue msm loudmouth Jeremy Clarkson and others.

Actually, I have just clicked the GoFundMe link posted by “Dr” Raw: in less than a day, she has raised nearly £6,000 of her £15,000 goal, from no less than —at time of writing— 125 utter mugs.

As the first tweeter, Barbara Rich, above, tweets, it is hard to see what could be the cause of action. Clarkson’s comments in the Sun “newspaper”, impolite though they were, do not amount to defamation (if I recall them aright), but are “mere vulgar insult”— not actionable. As to those remarks being “hate speech“, well that is not, in itself, actionable, and is also very much “in the eye of the beholder“, so to speak:

There is no cause of action here recognized by law, and not even (moving to the criminal realm) incitement. It is very doubtful that anyone would really be incited to chuck poo at Meghan Mulatta or to drag her through the streets (even were she in the UK, and even if she had no bodyguard force to protect her).

Most British people do at least distrust the Mulatta, and also despise both her and the “Harry Formerly Known As Prince”, but Clarkson’s remarks not only do not but could not amount to incitement of any kind.

As to lack of an identifiable claimant (“plaintiff”, as was)— that too. “Dr” Raw has no locus standi; who does? Only the Mulatta herself, were she foolish enough to get involved in “Dr” Raw’s hopeless idea.

I see that the GoFundMe says that “Although the legal route is expensive, I have received a lot of support already and have a team of lawyers who have agreed to review the case.

Note “review the case“.

Of course. It is an easy few thousand pounds for any barrister or solicitor (perhaps a cynical one) who can see that there is no chance, but who will provide an erudite and beautifully-printed Opinion or Advice saying (with much citing of case precedents, statutes, and obiter dicta) that the claimant (if there is any claimant as such) has no case.

When I was a practising barrister, I not infrequently had to (try to) save potential claimants from themselves by formally/informally telling them that they would be wasting their money. Sometimes they listened, sometimes they did not (would not). Sometimes people simply insist on going to law.

Once, about 28 years ago, I was asked to advise on whether a matter, already considered more than once by the Court of Appeal, the High Court, and (originally) an arbitrator, might go to what is now the Supreme Court of the UK (since 2009: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_Kingdom; https://www.supremecourt.uk/about/history.html), but which was then still called the House of Lords (Judicial Committee). The brief was (literally) heavy, and the fee more than acceptable.

I found that there was no possibility of being able to take the matter to the House of Lords, and spent a couple of days writing a detailed Advice to that effect. That resulted in the potential claimant (already declared a “vexatious litigant” by the Court of Appeal) storming into my London chambers, storming past the Clerk and others, and demanding that I explain (again) why he could not take his —in any event, hopeless— case to the House of Lords. A colleague who was there was so concerned (that I might be assaulted by this large, heavily-bearded, and very angry, man) that he volunteered to help me elucidate the issues to the furious would-be litigant (who, after 20 minutes or so, stormed out and off).

There were several similar though less incipiently-violent incidents with other clients unable to accept reality. I expect that many barristers have had similar experiences.

Incidentally, the reason I call Louise Raw (who has more than once tweeted very silly things about me) “Dr“, in quotation marks, is that (as I have already blogged about in the past), in England, it has always been accepted that the title “Doctor” should not be used as a title by people who have simply had a doctorate, such as a Ph.D, granted to them after having spent a year on some course or other, and (presumably) written a thesis.

The title “Dr” should, as a general rule, only be used by bona fide academics, bona fide scientists attached to recognized institutes, persons in holy orders, or by medical doctors (in fact, medical doctors often do not actually have a doctorate— the “Dr.” is simply a courtesy title in their case).

There is no law about all that, it is simply custom; it is considered infra dig in England to use the title, usually. In Germany etc, no such custom exists. Thus Joseph Goebbels was “Dr. Goebbels” because he had a doctorate in Philology from Heidelberg [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels].

I have no idea from what university “Dr” Raw got her doctorate, which was apparently based around her thesis about the strike, in 1888, by women employees at the Bryant & May match factory in East London. “Dr” Raw has always been rather reticent about where she studied (though I have no reason to doubt that she has a “doctorate”).

Likewise, I have no reason to suppose that “Dr” Raw intends to keep for her own use the monies raised by her GoFundMe appeal. It does occur to me, though, that the appeal raises her (?) faded political profile on Twitter. Perhaps that is her motivation, or part of it.

I might add that some MPs and others, meaning some (other) odd types seen on Twitter, also misuse the “Doctor” title.

Late tweets seen

Hard to believe that the editor of a major trade publication could be so unaware.

Christmas University Challenge

As on previous occasions, I have to say that I scored far better than the teams of alumni (Durham and York) this evening, all or almost all of whom were possessed of professorial status (if not knowledge— at least outside their narrow, mostly scientific, specialisms).

A few tweets make the point:

Very true. Tends to be, or so I was once told, the place for people who wanted to go to Oxford or Cambridge but were rejected. I once, in the late 1980s, met an entirely ridiculous man at a dinner party in Blackheath. I was at the Inns of Court School of Law at the time, belatedly; he was a barrister, possibly already QC. No doubt competent in the law, but otherwise a complete idiot. Durham graduate. Later, he was not only QC but also a Recorder in England and, I believe, a civil/commercial judge in Hong Kong, among other things. I believe from what my then girlfriend told me that his family were prominent in the (English) Civil War. Is that typical of Durham University? I do not know.

I see from Twitter that I am not alone in finding the teams on Christmas University Challenge egregiously ignorant. This evening, one team did not know the (old-style calendar) month of the Bolsheviks’ 1917 Revolution (i.e. October Revolution); they, or the other team, also not only missed the Second Symphony of Shostakovitch but (one of them) thought that Tchaikovsky had written it! In 1927!

Another fairly easy question that seemed to puzzle the teams was the name of a famous “female Anglo-Iraqi architect” (Zaha Hadid, now deceased). I mean, how many can there be? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaha_Hadid.

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