For anyone who was a fan of the two Ripley films, based on the character and stories of the Patricia Highsmith novels, this Netflix series is going to be a must. I'm three episodes in and can confirm that Andrew Scott is bringing his own twist to the notorious antihero, leaning perhaps more toward t...

I'm second show in now and as I hoped, it's finding its groove a bit. The young female protagonist is a bit squeaky clean for my taste (even though I accept she's fresh out of the vault and is supposed to be), but I dare say I'll get used to her. I do like the way that they are including little nods...

Now on the domestic front....... The ownership of Thames Water have run up massive debt for the privatised utility company, borrowing money to the tune of billions of pounds, which instead of investing in the future needs of the company, in terms of infrastructure maintenance and development, they s...

The drone attacks, while making a good display for the Iranian domestic audience, seems to have been more designed as theatre than a serious strike. Iran has some serious ballistic missile capabilities that do not appear to have been used. These highly accurate and extremely powerful weapons would e...

Saw the first episode and enjoyed it. As Av says, seems like a pretty basic Fallout story, with good replication of the vault interiors, and in particular the exit station (yellow handrails and all). I'm liking the way the Brotherhood is presented; I didn't join that faction in the game, so don't kn...

I saw an international relations commentator the other day, remarking on the Israeli response to the Ayatollah's threatened response to the Damascus strike. He said that it ran essentially as follows - that any direct attack from Iran on Israeli territory would demand an appropriate response. The wo...

Another indicator of Ericsson's mastery of his art is the way he has managed to change tack, but retain the same 'feel' between Gardens and the second book, Deadhouse Gates . Somewhere else you guys said that the author was capable of maintaining the quality of the first offering, and boy did Gates ...

Ha! Found you at last! :lol: Yes - one hell of a start to a series. It's unforgiving and pitches you in like a mewling babe into the fray. The book is like a jigsaw, thrown up into the air with all the pieces flying at random - which then upon landing, suddenly fall into the completed whole. A very ...

Mmmm...... That's a tricky one Orlion. Remember that the moment this war is over it's not just Netanyahu's political career that's over - he's also likely to be headed to prison on corruption charges. He's dependent not only on a continuation of hostilities but also on an escalation. The attack on t...

Joe Biden says that he is committed to defending Israel should Iran retaliate for the killing of one of their senior revolutionary guard members in the Damascus strike. Russia in turn, would be almost forced to step in, in support of Iran, and then you have all the conditions met for a full scale co...

Amen to that Orlion. Or as Orwell put it, if you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever. I become increasingly convinced by the day that our globalist leaders are prepared to see all the world at war, for no purpose other than to protect the Western/American...

Hey SB! I'm two books in. Found ' Gardens' to be quite confusing at first, but a really useful list of Dramatis Personae helped a bunch (and the glossary type section at the back). Not going to spoiler anything here, so I won't get into story commentary, but overall, by the end of the first book I w...

Indeed - away to the Malazan designated threads for me, with the (generally ;) ) high level endorsements ringing in my ears. :D Hey Peter, join me in the Erickson thread! First run for me as well :) Just completed Deadhouse Gates SoulBiter! Only just found your post don't seem to get email notifica...

I can't believe that a paper as usually sensible as the Financial Times can seriously believe what is written in its small lower left 'white' article, on this morning's front page. That many see David Cameron's return to front line politics (he is currently in Washington lecturing the US Congress th...

I'm going to start with a few quotes from our Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, who has published a joint article with his French counterpart, Staphane Sejourne, calling for the US to release the aid package for Ukraine currently blocked in Congress by Republican opposition, and issued prior to his ...

Rishi Sunak says that, "Aid must flood into Gaza." The Americans are opening 'aid corridors' from Cyprus to the Strip and we are sending naval vessels ( :?: ) to assist in the operation. Everyone and his mother is going to do so much for the beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza that it will se...

:lol: HaHaHa! Unless you hadn't noticed Av, I'm quite into walls of text! ;) But seriously, a very informative post with lots to think about. It's difficult for the uninformed to come to judgements on these things, not least because of the serious quantity of conflicting information 'out there', whe...

Hey Av! I seem to have managed it. I've downloaded an app called File Viewer that seems to work. Oddly it can't seem to be recognised from my 'downloads' page (ie on my machine 'My Files' icon), but when I open the app itself, the pages are there (except for the first four pages of the thread, which...

:lol: And here's me thinking I was the only cynic on the Watch Av! Forgive my obtuseness, but are you going so far back as the transition from white rule to some kind of nominal democracy in S.A. when you refer to regime change? I hadn't marked you as old enough to have been around for that momentou...

:lol: You've assuming a level of understanding that is alas, far beyond my knowledge or understanding Av, but I'll tell you what I can. There's a little horizontal bar above most of the pages I access (if not all of them). On this bar, which has 'kevinswatch.com/phpBB3/etc, etc, etc', on it, to the ...