Ve Haf Vays Of making You Talk, Herr Griffin
The BBC's decision to include Nick Griffin as a panelist on a recent edition of Question Time has been the subject of furious debate, both before and since his actual appearance. Right from the original announcement, I've heartily supported that decision. Firstly, because the BNP has two MEPs, and it's essential that voters have the opportunity to hear, and are able to closely scrutinise, their elected representatives' views. If, as with Nick Griffin and the BNP, those views are particularly vile, the greater our interest is in knowing precisely what they are. I also happen to believe that the most effective way to discredit the BNP's views is by openly confronting and ch

The Crotchwood Chronicles, Volume One: Chibnall's Bollocks
Previously lost between the gap in Gwen's teeth (henceforth referred to as 'the rift'), here's the first set of Torchwood reviews I did a couple of years ago, for the first series. They're mostly presented 'as is', but I've patched them up in a few places, where the toothpick I used to extract them has been a little unkind. It would be too much for anyone to bear as a single post, I think, so I've decided to break them down into three sets of four. Ish. Looking back at my thoughts on Torchwood's first series, I obviously felt that it could be divided into three roughly equal chunks of 'utter shite', 'OK', and 'surprisingly good'. So, I've decided to be

Gordon Brown, As Considered From A Tudor Perspective
A man whose profligate spending would bankrupt the rich exchequer he had inherited with hs office, he assumed power extolling ideals that he would never quite live up to. Irascible and overly suspicious, he ruled through a small group of trusted intimates. During the latter part of his reign, he was desperate to show himself to be in control, even through deteriorating health (a contributing factor to which may have been a sporting injury he'd suffered in his youth). He was, of course, Henry VIII, but you could be forgiven for thinking of Gordon Brown. We ca

No Fourth!
'Britain's future must be green', the Prime Minister told his party at the annual Labour conference yesterday. For once, he's right, and not just in the way he means. Britain's future certainly isn't Brown (beyond being in a whole heap of shit for the next decade, that is). The speech was Gordon Brown's last chance to try and reinvigorate his party, and to begin winning back an increasingly hostile media.The Sun, meanwhile, has once again proved itself (and Rupert Murdoch) to be an unprincipled turncoat, and picked a choice moment to finally

'And May My Bones Rot For Buying It!'
Six months ago, the official Doctor Who Magazine asked its readers to rank every Doctor Who story ever made (The Mighty 200!) - the biggest poll of its kind since 1998. Doctor Who fans are often said to be compulsive categorisers and compilers of lists (6700 people answered the mighty 200!'s clarion call, so perhaps there's more than a grain of truth in that), and I'm no exception. How have fans' attitudes to different 'eras' in the series' history, and to individual stories, have changed - and where might they have stayed the same? Where does 'the New Series' fit into the wider con