- Fri, 15:00: The Uncyclopedia, by Gideon Haigh A perfectly chosen 2004 Christmas gift from my sister. One reviewer states that it is the perfect gift for “the big brother who thinks he knows everything”. Hmmmmmmmmmm. #nwbooks https://t.co/CtLmtYGnN3 https://t.co/SFGkqiq7lX https://t.co/khUiTQ6w4F
- Fri, 15:15: Christmas walk https://t.co/mnZOyxefaz
- Fri, 15:45: The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien There are 1 � good stories in the entire book (the 1 being the story of H�rin’s children, the � being Beren and L�thien). That’s not quite fair; the N�menor story is pretty dramatic. #nwbooks https://t.co/SFzLBPWYNm https://t.co/6TMy8y6fY8 https://t.co/4PGm9quNtr
- Fri, 16:30: Berlin: City of Smoke, by Jason Lutes A strong set of internal plot arcs; and the marginalised, the exploited, the Jews, the Communists, the unemployed, all have their stories illuminated if not necessarily told. #nwbooks https://t.co/3nrOrvfTKQ https://t.co/gjUG1DxbZ8 https://t.co/Fru6fbEoZ5
- Fri, 17:15: The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo, by Joe Sacco Anyone who has worked in that environment knows the essential of the fixer. Sacco captures it well: but it’s also about the effect of his observation has on Sacco himself. #nwbooks https://t.co/TKvk9Qioh3 https://t.co/mCCpaNFLiQ https://t.co/mhSQXj3qyO
- Fri, 17:33: RT @bbcdoctorwho: A very happy birthday to @GeorgiaETennant, who played the Doctor’s daughter Jenny! https://t.co/w2UpDA7qmb
- Fri, 18:00: The Oxford Book of Christmas Stories, ed. Dennis Pepper Suitable for browsing, but in particular for reading aloud at this time of year if you have people who will stop and listen. #nwbooks https://t.co/5wsdAYu86E https://t.co/7zsnqZZZoh https://t.co/6yWURS2cdO
- Sat, 09:30: Whoniversary 26 December: the departure of Susan https://t.co/ACzCthL4pE
- Sat, 10:27: RT @nmsonline: The European Commission just snuck out this infographic on the #Brexit EU-UK trade deal vs EU membership: https://t.co/eYH2h…
Whoniversary 26 December: the departure of Susan
Only one today.
broadcast anniversary
26 December 1964: broadcast of “Flashpoint”, the sixth episode of the story we now call The Dalek Invasion of Earth
Of course, she ended up in Brussels.
Christmas walk
My tweets
- Thu, 12:56: RT @carryonkeith: Congratulations to Danny Boyle for choreographing such an amazing opening ceremony for the Brexit Festival. Inspirational…
- Thu, 13:03: RT @bbcdoctorwho: A very happy birthday to John Levene, who played Sergeant Benton, one of UNIT’s finest! https://t.co/2CwtaUKE7N
- Thu, 14:37: RT @alexwilcock: On the eve of another #DoctorWho-less Day, let us remember the first Christmas special of St Russell of Davies: The New Ad…
- Thu, 14:55: Sodom and Gomorrah, by Marcel Proust Homosexuality, new technology, art and the significance of placenames. All quite fascinating. #nwbooks https://t.co/qF8OxoTHxs https://t.co/cZsTRIffIm https://t.co/x0CWQI7aPN
- Thu, 15:55: The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper Eleven-year-old Will, the seventh son of a seventh son, discovers that he bears ancient powers, and is one of the Old Ones who are trying to prevent the Dark from, er, Rising. #nwbooks https://t.co/vZZwAY8l6j https://t.co/CyEkeWNohl https://t.co/kFOTpsRrQr
- Thu, 16:01: RT @simoncoveney: Deal done on #Brexit!
- Thu, 16:05: RT @anneapplebaum: Anglo-American pluto-populists “have to convince a large proportion of the population to vote against its economic inter…
- Thu, 16:18: RT @sirgrahamwatson: A deal is better than no deal. But 2014-20 in the UK may yet be seen to be as damaging as 1917-23 in Russia. Brexit on…
- Thu, 16:24: RT @pmdfoster: Rather marked difference in tone between London and Brussels! Sombre, regretful @vonderleyen …jubilant @BorisJohnson #Brex…
- Thu, 16:25: RT @BestForBritain: Michel Barnier just said that he “regrets the United Kingdom has chosen not to participate in the Erasmus programme”.…
- Thu, 16:30: RT @pmdfoster: So @BorisJohnson says that the deal he has negotiation will “if anything” allow UK businesses to do “even more” trade with t…
- Thu, 16:45: RT @joncstone: Just a guess, but switching the unit of measurement from ‘% reduction in EU catch’ to ‘tonnes of fish we can pave a road to…
- Thu, 16:55: The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, by Stieg Larsson The heroine’s impending trial for the attempted murder of her father unlocks a conspiracy within Sweden’s intelligence services going to the top of the government. #nwbooks https://t.co/KtAmRB25Bd https://t.co/qCMt4fGNBD https://t.co/nzBfO9I5oW
- Thu, 17:11: RT @renay: What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck???? #GunNonsense https://t.co/XcrXgyhVH3
- Thu, 17:31: RT @ftbrussels: A Brexit deal is done but we still await a vision of what it was all for https://t.co/r5cfrvbeUo
- Thu, 17:32: RT @seandanaher5: Interesting that Ireland is top of the three major aims in this tweet. The belief in Brexit circles and the DUP that the…
- Thu, 17:50: RT @DavidHenigUK: In the celebration of the deal could I please ask media followers to ensure one simple message is continually repeated -…
- Thu, 17:55: The Last Man (aka No Other Man) by Alfred Noyes Almost all of humanity is destroyed by a Doomsday Weapon, and the hero spends many chapters exploring dead cities and finding the heroine (his surname is Adams; her first name is Evelyn). #nwbooks https://t.co/G5ABqEdkER
- Thu, 18:08: RT @scottxcarey: The lady who plays Dr Who comes by my work every day for coffee and just give me a £10 tip
- Thu, 21:03: RT @IanMoore3000: @nwbrux Your summary reminds of a Tharg’s Future Shock, in which a man thinks himself the only survivor of a nuclear war…
- Thu, 22:47: Thursday reading https://t.co/YQ9HvyDYvt
- Fri, 09:30: Whoniversaries 25 December https://t.co/kUDpUSSszv
- Fri, 10:44: What’s in the Brexit deal https://t.co/sZX84u13jP Good summary.
- Fri, 10:45: 15 things Vote Leave promised on Brexit — and what it got https://t.co/6TFfKQ85lV Useful reality check.
- Fri, 11:11: RT @MandyStarlight: My awesome husband has made the best Christmas present for our 8 year old son. 4 months in the planning. Hopefully he’s…
Whoniversaries 25 December
i) births and deaths
25 December 1916: birth of Edward Burnham, who played Professor Watkins in The Invasion (1968) and Professor Kettlewell in Robot (1974-75)
25 December 1984: birth of Georgia Tennant, daughter of Peter "Fifth Doctor" Davison and married to David "Tenth Doctor" Tennant; she has played Jenny, the Doctor's daughter, in The Doctor's Daughter (2008), Cassie Rice in animated story Dreamland (2009), Tanya in Big Finish audio Red Dawn (2000) and Alice in Big Finish audio City of Spires (2010), and was the producer of The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot (2013). She and her husband hosted an awfully fun online quiz one evening last week.
25 December 1988: death of Terence Dudley who directed Meglos (Fourth Doctor, 1980) and wrote Four to Doomsday (Fifth Doctor, 1982), Black Orchid (also Fifth Doctor, 1982) and The King's Demons (Fifth Doctor, 1983) not to mention K9 & Company: A Girl's Best Friend (1981).
25 December 1999: death of Peter Jeffreys who played the unnamed Pilot in The Macra Terror (1967) and Count Grendel in The Androids of Tara (1978).
25 December 2014: death of Bernard Kay, who played Carl Tyler in the story we now call The Dalek Invasion of Earth (First Doctor, 1964), Saladin in the story we now call The Crusade (First Doctor, 1965), Inspector Crossland and The Director in The Faceless Ones (Second Doctor, 1967) and Caldwell in Colony in Space (Third Doctor, 1971).
ii) broadcast anniversaries
25 December 1965: broadcast of "The Feast of Steven", seventh episode of the story we now call The Daleks' Master Plan. The Doctor and Sara get arrested at a northern English police station, but Steven busts them out; they then get embroiled on the Hollywood set of a silent movie; and the Doctor wishes "a happy Christmas to all of you at home!"
25 December 2005: broadcast of The Christmas Invasion, first full Tenth Doctor story. As the regenerated Doctor arrives in London, the Sycorax invade, but are repelled.
25 December 2005: launch of interactive game Attack of the Graske on the BBC website.
25 December 2006: broadcast of The Runaway Bride, first appearance of Catherine Tate as Donna Noble. Her wedding turns out to be a front for the release of the Racnoss; the Doctor flushes the spiders down the plughole.
25 December 2007: broadcast of Voyage of the Damned, first appearance of Bernard Cribbins as Wilfred Mott, with Kylie Minogue guest starring as Astrid Peth. Max Capricorn has persuaded the captain of the Starship Titanic to crash into Buckingham Palace, but the Doctor prevents them, at the cost of Astrid's life.
25 December 2008: broadcast of The Next Doctor. Back in 1851, the Doctor thwarts an invasion of England by Cybermen, with the help of Jackson Lake and Rosita Farisi. But here's Dervla Kirwan in charge.
25 December 2009: broadcast of The End of Time. The Master is resurrected; the Doctor returns to Earth via the Ood-Sphere and is captured by the Master in time to witness the transformation of the whole of humaity into duplicates of his arch-enemy.
25 December 2010: broadcast of A Christmas Carol. Amy Pond and Rory Williams are trapped on a crashing space liner, and the only way the Eleventh Doctor can rescue them is to save the soul of a lonely old miser. But is Kazran Sardick, the richest man in Sardicktown, beyond redemption? And what is lurking in the fogs of Christmas Eve?
25 December 2011: broadcast of The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. Christmas Eve, 1941. A mysterious Christmas gift from the Doctor leads the Arwells into a wintry, magical world. Madge must learn how to be braver than she ever thought possible… and that wishes can come true.
25 December 2012: broadcast of The Snowmen. The Eleventh Doctor has retired to Victorian England, where Strax, Jenny Flint, and Vastra assist him. He meets Clara Oswald, barmaid / governess, and they must fight the Great Intelligence as it tries to take over the world.
25 December 2013: broadcast of The Time of the Doctor. Orbiting a quiet backwater planet, the massed forces of the universe's deadliest species gather, drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out to the stars – among them, the Eleventh Doctor. Last appearance of Matt Smith, and first full appearance of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor (his eyes were visible in Day of the Doctor).
25 December 2014: broadcast of Last Christmas. Something sinister lurks in an arctic base at the North Pole, and it's beyond even the most terrible, nightmarish creatures the Doctor has faced before. Who ya gonna call? Santa Claus!
25 December 2015: broadcast of The Husbands of River Song. A surgeon is required to remove a diamond from the head of the tyrannical King Hydroflax. It became lodged there due to a ruthless act of thievery gone wrong, and River Song seeks to recover it. The Doctor sees how she acts on her own – and how many other lovers she has had. But their time is running out.
25 December 2016: broadcast of The Return of Doctor Mysterio. The Twelfth Doctor once more faces off with an alien species that wishes to conquer the planet: the Shoal of the Winter Harmony. This time, however, he has more backup than usual, and with a little twist: a real-life superhero called the Ghost.
25 December 2017: broadcast of Twice Upon a Time. As the Doctor nears regeneration, he stumbles on his original self, also refusing to change. It takes a captain, a glass avatar and a familiar face to convince the Doctors the universe still needs them. Last appearance of Peter Capaldi as the Twelfth Doctor. David Bradley guests as the First Doctor. Includes the longest sequence of any TV Who story set in Belgium. (Well, the longer of the two.)
This makes 25 December the date in the year with by far the most broadcast Whoniversaries, a total of 14 (one Old Who and thirteen New Who). I haven't worked out which date comes second.
iii) dates specified in canon
As well as those mentioned yesterday:
25 December 1883: setting of Attack of the Graske (Tenth Doctor, animated game, 2005)
Thursday reading
My last ordinary weekly roundup of the year – next week’s will be rolled into month-end and year-end reports.
Current
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake
The Anything Box, by Zenna Henderson
The Prisoner of Brenda, by [Colin] Bateman
Last books finished
All Flesh is Grass, by Una McCormack
Utopia For Realists, by Rutger Bregman
Perdido Street Station, by China Miéville
A Belgian Christmas Eve, by Alfred Noyes
Planetfall, by Emma Newman
Macrolife, by George Zebrowski
Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor Volume 1: A New Beginning, by Jody Houser, Rachael Stott, Giorgia Sposito, Enrica Eren Angiolini
Next books
Ormeshadow, by Priya Sharma
Greybeard, by Brian Aldiss
My tweets
- Wed, 12:56: Who Did J.K. Rowling Become? https://t.co/CRpUJIUS9E Good question, with a good, long answer.
- Wed, 13:20: RT @WritersFrock: @nwbrux Excellent essay. The Mary Kenny of the modern era. She’s also a terrible writer, as anyone who had to read any of…
- Wed, 16:05: “If it Hadn’t Been for the Prompt Work of the Medics”: FSB Officer Inadvertently Confesses Murder Plot to Navalny https://t.co/SS0VjwvQy1 An extraordinary comversation.
- Wed, 16:35: The Elusive Quest: Reconciliation in Northern Ireland, by Norman Porter The key to building a healthy society is reconciliation, and the only useful criterion to judge politicians is the extent to which they achieve it. #nwbooks https://t.co/c4FC2WrmtP https://t.co/fmpYgj53AV https://t.co/NlMaoEoKzL
- Wed, 17:11: RT @natsu__iw: The classic I Wanna Be The Guy has finally been remastered after over 13 years, blessed by @KayinNasaki and created by mysel…
- Wed, 17:49: Slaughterhouse 5, by Kurt Vonnegut Rereading it, I have a much deeper appreciation of Vonnegut’s savaging of the surrealism of war. But I also find his attitude to women much more annoying. #nwbooks https://t.co/jrMENkNb79 https://t.co/1EWQY2FnTQ https://t.co/wT83AQiGYW
- Wed, 18:18: June 2009 books https://t.co/AQyfJQHOVN
- Wed, 18:21: Proud to be associated with @FondacioniT Foundation Together Albania and their Nuk Je Vetem online counselling service for vulnerable young people. Your support will make a difference! https://t.co/bG0rP6ec1Z
- Wed, 19:33: Utopia for Realists, and How We Can Get There, by Rutger Bregman https://t.co/C7wE2faSqr
- Wed, 19:49: RT @gizceist: enjoying the tiny pool https://t.co/fkWJEuCmzp
- Wed, 20:48: Sensational! A cookbook published by the European Commission https://t.co/Al1uLvhnVc “Sensational!” is the title – I’m not saying it is actually sensational, though it may well be.
- Thu, 08:08: A Belgian Christmas Eve, by Alfred Noyes https://t.co/WugHv0Vxr4
- Thu, 09:30: Whoniversaries 24 December https://t.co/A1wXcvxyk7
- Thu, 10:45: Me in 2008: “I don’t think a referendum on anything positive to do with Europe could pass right now in the UK, and until the situation is resolved (preferably by the UK catching itself on about Europe, rather than by leaving) we are on borrowed time.” https://t.co/3UBW3frT6P
- Thu, 11:03: Ah, my twelve-year-old heart would have been gladdened by this! Actually my 53-year-old heart *is* gladdened. And I am not sure my twelve-year-old brain could have understood Twitter. https://t.co/HbYnwxSfD1
Whoniversaries 24 December
i) births and deaths
24 December 1925: birth of Innes Lloyd, producer of Doctor Who from The Celestial Toymaker (First Doctor, 1966) to The Enemy of the World (Second Doctor, 1967-68), who overhauled the show by getting rid of all the regular cast including the star, thus ensuring its long-term survival.
24 December 1941: birth of John Levene, who played Benton in various UNIT stories from 1968 to 1975.
ii) broadcast anniversaries
24 December 1966: broadcast of second episode of The Highlanders. Polly and Kirsty capture Ffinch; the Doctor tricks solicitor Grey; but Ben, Jamie and the Laird are trapped on the slave ship.
24 December 2006: broadcast of Combat (Torchwood), the one with the fighting Weevils which was written by Noel "Mickey Smith" Clarke.
iii) dates specified in canon
Most of the Christmas specials actually begin on the 24th:
24-25 December 1851: setting of The Next Doctor (Tenth Doctor, 2008).
24 December 1869: setting of The Unquiet Dead (Ninth Doctor, 2005).
24 December 1892: The Eleventh Doctor and Clara encounter the Great Intelligence in The Snowmen (Eleventh Doctor, 2012).
24 December 1938 and 1941: setting of The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (Eleventh Doctor, 2011).
24-25 December 1968: setting of much of the action of Mark Gatiss' 1992 novel Nightshade.
24-25 December 2006 (?): setting of The Christmas Invasion (Tenth Doctor, 2005).
24 December 2007 (?): setting of The Runaway Bride (Tenth Doctor, 2006) and the start of Turn Left (Tenth Doctor, 2008).
24-25 December 2008 (?): setting of Voyage of the Damned (Tenth Doctor, 2007).
24-26 December 2009 (?): setting of The End of Time (Tenth Doctor, 2009-10).
A Belgian Christmas Eve, by Alfred Noyes
Given that it is Christmas Eve, and I am in Belgium, the title of this short play caught my eye. (A few years ago I read the same author's The Last Man aka No Other Man.) I really should not have bothered. Written and set in occupied Belgium in 1915, it's a straight cut and paste from the author's Rada, which was set during the Balkan war of 1913, to the extent that the central character keeps her own name and the others generally sound more Balkan than Belgian. Rada is the unwilling hostess of two German soldiers, fresh from visiting atrocity on her village; it all ends badly. Here's the third speech of the play:
Tarrasch [one of the soldiers]: This is war, this is! And you can’t expect war to be all swans and shining armour. No—nor smart uniforms either. Look at the mud my friend and I have already annexed from Belgium. Brander, you know it’s a most astonishing fact; but I have remarked it several times. Those women whose eyes glitter at the sight of a spiked helmet are the first to be astonished by the realities of war. They expect the dead to jump up and kiss them and tell them it is all a game, as soon as the battle is ended. No, no, my dear; it’s only in war that one sees how small is one’s personal happiness in comparison with greater things. Isn’t it? (He fills a glass and drinks. Brander [the other soldier] lights a cigar.)
The German soldiers are improbably interested in Schopenhauer and high culture. Meanwhile the old man who lives with Rada is convinced that it is Christmas every day. There is also some tedious poetry. The whole thing is dreadfully earnest and utterly predictable. The Atheneum liked it a lot more than I did. You can get it for free from Project Gutenberg.
Utopia for Realists, and How We Can Get There, by Rutger Bregman
Second paragraph of third chapter:
The widespread interest was hardly surprising. After all, it wasn't just some shifty mafia-run gambling den opening its doors that day. Harrah's Cherokee was and still is a massive luxury casino owned and operated by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and its opening marked the end of a ten-year-long political tug of war. One tribal leader had even predicted that "gambling would be the Cherokee 's damnation,' and North Carolina's governor had tried to block the project at every turn.
Originally published in Dutch with the title Gratis geld voor iedereen (Free Money for Everyone), this is a provocative and polemical book on how to fix the problems of the world today, pre-COVID. I found it a bit of a mixed bag. I am undecided tending negative on a universal basic income, which is the biggest single idea in the book; it is interesting that, on Bregman's account, all the academic studies showing that it doesn't work have been faked and all those showing that it does have not. I did find the story of how Nixon almost got it passed by the US Congress pretty fascinating (and it also demonstrates the hurdles faced by UBI supporters in even framing the argument).
I was actually a bit disappointed by the chapter on migration, where Bregman like me is fundamentally libertarian, because I wished he had argued the point harder and with more direct reference to the misreadings of the recent migration crisis. On the other hand, I was very sympathetic to the chapter on ideas and changing the world, and in particular his scorn for what he calls "underdog socialists" who are more interested in winning the argument than winning actual votes. The same could and should be said for internet slacktivists.
A breezy and sparky read, and I'll be interested to see where he goes. You can get it here.
This was my top unread book acquired this year. Next in that pile is Goodbye to All That, by Robert Graves.
June 2009 books
This is the latest post in a series I started last year, anticipating the twentieth anniversary of my bookblogging which will fall in 2023. Every six-ish days I’ve been revisiting a month from my recent past, noting work and family developments as well as the books I read in that month. I’ve found it a pleasantly cathartic process, especially in recent circumstances. If you want to look back at previous entries, they are all tagged under bookblog nostalgia.
In June 2009, the German TV channel ZDF did a brief spot about my work at the start of the month:
The big news story was the European Parliament elections, which saw the continuing erosion of the larger parties to the benefit of the fringes, most notably in the UK where UKIP came second and the ruling Labour party came third. For me it was most memorable because I wrecked my back driving home from the results party, and had to stay in bed for a week – one of the worst bouts of ill health I have had in my life. I did manage a field trip to (North) Macedonia and Montenegro later in the month.
And I read 34 books.
Non-fiction: 9 (YTD 45)
McMafia: Seriously Organised Crime, by Misha Glenny
What It Is We Do When We Read Science Fiction, by Paul Kincaid
The Problems of Philosophy, by Bertrand Russell
Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything, or Old Bob Exposes His Ignorance
The Devil's Highway, by Luís Alberto Urrea
How To Make Good Decisions And Be Right All The Time, by Iain King
Survival in Auschwitz, by Primo Levi
About Time: The Unauthorised Guide to Doctor Who, 1970-1974, 2nd edition, by Tat Wood
The Vorkosigan Companion, edited by Lilian Stewart Carl and John Helfers
Fiction (non-sf): 6 (YTD 27)
Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
To The Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
Cities of Salt, by Abdelrahman Munif
Sunset at Blandings, by P.G. Wodehouse
The Inner Shrine [by Basil King]
The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
Scripts: 1 (YTD 20)
Edward III, possibly by William Shakespeare and others
SF (non-Who): 7 (YTD 43)
METAtropolis, by Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi and Karl Schroeder
This Immortal, by Roger Zelazny
Gods of Ireland vol II: The Enchanted Isles, by Casey Flynn
The Summer Tree, by Guy Gavriel Kay
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
Hiding under the Light, by Ruth Coleman (MS)
The Restoration Game, by Ken MacLeod (MS)
Who 2: (YTD 16)
The Last Dodo, by Jacqueline Rayner
Byzantium! by Keith Topping
Comics: 10 (YTD 16)
Schlock Mercenary: The Body Politic, by Howard Tayler
Loven-Boven: Geschiedenis der stad Leuven, by François Stas
Fables vol 11: War and Pieces, by Bill Willingham
Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, by Guy Delisle
Serenity: Better Days, by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews
Shortcomings, by Adrian Tomine
Fables vol 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers, by Bill Willingham
The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle, by Jim Butcher
Y: The Last Man: Whys and Wherefores, by Brian K. Vaughan
Girl Genius 8: Agatha Heterodyne and the Chapel of Bones, by Phil and Kaja Foglio
Total page count 9,400 (YTD 48,100)
6 (YTD 34/165) by women (Woolf, Atwood, Rayner, Foglio, Carl, Rowling)
3 (YTD 10 / 165) by PoC (Tomine, Munif, and Urrea)
As my regular reader knows, I usually list two good books and one bad for each month, but it's the season of goodwill so I will skip over the ones I didn't like and recommend four that I did. Ken MacLeod was good enough to let me read his draft of The Restoration Game, and I made a few minor suggestions, about half of which are in the final text (the longest of them is the roll call of school children on the bus). It was published a year later and you can get it here. Adrian Tomine's Shortcomings is a particularly good graphic novel; you can get it here. Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz aka If This is a Man is just essential reading; you can get it here. And the second edition of the third volume of About Time is full of fantastic stuff about the Third Doctor; you can get it here.
My tweets
- Tue, 12:13: RT @bbcdoctorwho: Merry Christmas from the Doctors! https://t.co/tcLckBBdCy
- Tue, 12:56: Sweden edges closer to NATO membership https://t.co/sAN7slQ126 European security is changing.
- Tue, 13:16: Little U’s 18th birthday! She knows exactly what is happening. https://t.co/6lLgO9brYW
- Tue, 13:58: @LothianLitvak I was just wondering whether you know if Iona Mcgregor is still around? I saw that you interviewed her a few years ago.
- Tue, 15:18: RT @megankenna: I’ve been #remote for about 7-8 years now. I lived in Brussels for much of it, yet never needed to be there. Now in Barcelo…
- Tue, 16:38: Boulevard of Broken Dreams, by Kim Deitch with Simon Deitch Rich, multi-layered narrative, saying much more about human relationships than about the comics writer’s lonely life. (Didn’t like the art, though.) #nwbooks https://t.co/sX2vVZiyVU https://t.co/mKkwktC3ta https://t.co/TrebCYP4Lw
- Tue, 17:11: Numbers Don’t Lie, by Terry Bisson Hilarious. A series of three linked Tall Tales, set first in Brooklyn, then in Huntsville, Alabama, and finally in both. #nwbooks at @strangehorizons. https://t.co/F9eXpYYH8v https://t.co/lgJKYXgmpf https://t.co/yV1I5iCKxk
- Tue, 17:46: Ald�baran 2: La Blonde, by Leo Second volume builds on the strong points of the first. Our heroes have grown up under a repressive government, and fall in with a revolutionary group. The flora and fauna are glorious. #nwbooks https://t.co/kx3WfdMwhO https://t.co/GT0WNJu3WD https://t.co/Tf0tZLpIza
- Tue, 18:25: 280 days of plague: transgressing a boundary (or not) https://t.co/ql0mCOX70w #jupiturn
- Tue, 19:41: 2010, film and book https://t.co/L51b5MrGUJ
- Tue, 20:48: Operation Red Dragon, by Thierry Robberecht, Marco Venanzi and Michel Pierret Earnest graphic novel. An MEP exposes illegal arms dealing and frees her lover from captivity by getting a resolution passed in plenary. #nwbooks https://t.co/gi3x3oqXKv https://t.co/5GDQmyCwEV https://t.co/zW7h9SuSTT
- Tue, 21:14: RT @apcoworldwide: While #COVID19 left an indelible mark on us all this year, 2021 will bring different, possibly greater, but certainly co…
- Wed, 01:08: RT @nwbrux: I’ve spent several weekends working on a presentation of twentieth-century science fiction set in the year 2021, and here is th…
- Wed, 09:30: Whoniversaries 23 December: Enemy of the World #1, Power of Kroll #1 https://t.co/UPM9d7dwmv
- Wed, 09:33: RT @defis_eu: One of the missions of DG DEFIS is to strengthen the competitiveness of the #EUDefenceIndustry, including SMEs & to stimulate…
- Wed, 10:45: RT @StevePeers: Against strong competition, Johnson’s worst appointment to the Lords yet. Consistently dishonest and ignorant about a huge…
Whoniversaries 23 December: Enemy of the World #1, Power of Kroll #1
i) broadcast anniversaries
23 December 1967: broadcast of first episode of The Enemy of the World. The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria land on a near-future Australian beach, are attacked by gunmen, rescued by Astrid in her helicopter, and discover that the sinister Salamander is the Doctor's double.
23 December 1978: broadcast of first episode of The Power of Kroll. In search of the fifth segment of the Key to Time, the Doctor and Romana land on the third moon of Delta Minor, where Romana is captured by the native Swampies and the Doctor by the protein miners.
ii) date specified in-universe
23 December 1892: The Eleventh Doctor meets Victorian barmaid Clara Oswald in London, as seen in The Snowmen (2012).
2010, film and book
2010: The Year We Make Contact won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1985
The other finalists were, in order of finishing, Ghostbusters, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the David Lynch Dune and The Last Starfighter. All were cinematic productions. I have seen all but the last of these. In general they are a rather uninspiring bunch, TBH, and I think I'd have voted for Ghostbusters. The really important question is, why on earth did The Terminator not get on the final ballot? It's top of one of the IMDB rankings for the year (admittedly beaten by Dune and Ghostbusters on the other), and surely the most memorable SF film of 1984.
In case you didn't know, 2010 is the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, seventeen years on. Apart from Douglas Rain as the Voice of HAL, there is just one visible returnee from the first film – Keir Dullea as transmogrified astronaut Dave Bowman.
There are a surprising number of returnees from previous Oscar winners. We have seen all three American astronauts before. Roy Scheider, Heywood Floyd here, was Russo in The French Connection fourteen years ago.
Bob Balaban and John Lithgow, here Dr Chandra and Dr Curnow, were respectively the student who gets a blowjob from Robert Redford in Midnight Cowboy, sixteen years ago, and Debra Winger's bank manager lover in Terms of Endearment last year.
And Dana Elcar, here Russian space expert Dimitri Moisewitch, was FBI agent Polk in The Sting twelve years ago (like Bob Balaban, appearing with Robert Redford).
Peter Hyams is no Stanley Kubrick, and although this is a gorgeous film to look at, and it got five Oscar nominations in the technical categories, there's a bit of a missing heart. We are shown the set-up with Floyd's wife and son, but no real closure; there's an intense emotional moment when a cute Russian cosmonaut finds comfort in Floyd's arms, but then they barely speak to each other again. Helen Mirren is great but underused as the Russian spaceship captain.
Because it's not so very clear what the film is about in human terms, the Cold War subplot becomes more dominant than was perhaps intended (certainly more so than in the novel); and that's also a barrier to today's viewer. In 1984 there seemed no reason to doubt that the Soviet Union would still be there in 2010, but in fact it lasted only another six years. The importance of the theme is reinforced by a mocked-up Time magazine cover with Clarke as the US president and Kubrick as the Soviet leader.
The effects are still gorgeous, as I said.
Basically it's a film that goes through the numbers of adapting Clarke's sequel novel to the screen, leaving out some of the good bits for lack of money and time.
As for the novel, the second paragraph of the third chapter is:
Even after all these years, and his endless reviews of the data radioed back from Discovery, he was not sure what had gone wrong. He could only formulate theories; the facts he needed were frozen in Hal's circuits, out there between Jupiter and Io.
There's nothing terribly wrong with the novel, but nothing terribly right about it either. Having spent the 1970s working on the three books from what was then the biggest book deal in science fiction history, Clarke came back to 2001 partly because he was interested to follow the story, but also I'm sure partly because he realised he could make a lot of money from it. There are some good bits that are not in the film – the relationships between the astronauts, and Floyd's marriage, are all given a lot more detail, the tragic story of the Chinese expedition is a well-judged interlude, and we actually get to see the alien life of the Jupiter system. But it's also clearly written not to end the story but to continue it. I rushed out and bought this when it came out, but did not do the same for the later books in the series, and I don't think I was alone in reacting that way. I love almost all of Clarke's work, partly for teenage nostalgia and partly for genuine sensawunda, but this is not at the top of my list. You can get it here.
The next Hugo winner is Back to the Future, but I have leapt ahead and will do a later winner first.
280 days of plague: transgressing a boundary (or not)
Grim, grim news from the UK as the inevitable happened and Boris Johnson was forced to revoke the silly promises he had made about Christmas. Jack Blanchard has catalogued his mis-steps well:
Preparing to do the @TimesRadio paper review at 10.30am, and working my way through Boris Johnson's back catalogue of over-promises on coronavirus. It's crazy. The PM is pathologically addicted to making big stupid promises he can't keep.
— Jack Blanchard (@Jack_Blanchard_) December 20, 2020
Meanwhile here, where our prime minister warned us over a month ago that there would be very few Christmas parties, the recent mini-surge does seem to be stabilising, thank heavens, with the reported rate of infections showing signs of a small decrease. I had expected more stringent measures to be announced last week, but in fact we got only minor tweaks, with a strong warning to implement the current regulations more thoroughly. And vaccinations will start next week, though I am not expecting our family to be anywhere near the front of the queue.
Every country has its own rules, and there has been some debate about whether or not hairdressers should be able to continue to work. Many people have longer hair than I do and it suits them fine. But it was becoming the thing that was really getting on top of me, to coin a phrase. A friend had gone to Maastricht for a haircut a couple of weekends ago, and I did some research and confirmed that this is not in fact a breach of Belgian rules, though obviously they don’t want everyone doing it and it is “discouraged”. So I was all set to plan a quick visit to Hulst, the nearest town across the Dutch border; and then last week the Netherlands announced a further lockdown, with all hairdressers closed. Likewise Germany. So that left France.
I checked also with French regulations, and there is nothing forbidding a brief visit across a land border. In most countries the quarantine requirement kicks in only if you are staying more than a day or two; that actually seems weird to me, as if the virus will wait 24 or 48 hours to infect people, but there you go. So I booked an appointment with the Salon Vincent in Quarouble and set off, 80 minutes drive there and the same back. Needless to say I did not get out of the car during either leg of the journey. I was in France for less than an hour all told. (The time stamps on my before-and-after photos are exactly 30 minutes apart.)
Back in 1954, Quarouble (population 3,000 and falling) was the location of one of France’s best documented UFO encounters (which of course is not saying much). I saw no aliens, and I encountered only the hairdresser; we both wore masks throughout and sanitised thoroughly. To my surprise, she said that she had not had much custom from Belgium, but was very busy anyway with French regulars. She also firmly corrected me when I said “nonante” instead of “quatre-vingts-dix” – and this only 4km from the border!
A couple of people were upset when I posted about this in a locked entry on Facebook, and I get that – these are stressful times, and many are in a less fortunate situation than I am. So I’m sorry that they were upset, and they are totally entitled to their judgement; but I don’t believe that I (or the hairdresser) put anyone at risk, including each other, and as far as I know I stuck to the rules.
On a much less controversial note, today is little U's 18th birthday, and she had cake and birthday presents of jigsaws and Balamory DVDs. She knows perfectly well what is going on. We can have her at home for four days at a time currently; she's been with us since Saturday, and will go back to the residential centre today, coming back home again for Christmas itself.
Weather has been cloudy for the last few evenings, but my cousin who is an actual astronomer and lives in California has been getting some great pictures of the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction:
The #Jupiturn great conjunction 2020 (public post)
Posted by Robert Minchin on Monday, 21 December 2020
After a frenzy last week, work has slowed down for the last few days before the holiday, and I’m looking forward to a complete break from Thursday. Hope you all get a restful few days as well.
My tweets
- Mon, 12:56: I’m not going to write these words very often, but here goes: I completely agree with @AmbJohnBolton on this one. https://t.co/jKMbBz0Ogm
- Mon, 15:31: RT @SebastianEPayne: Feeling very 1979 this morning https://t.co/6rdPbrNS86
- Mon, 15:56: Mr Singh Has Disappeared: A Concussed Novel, by Horst Prillinger A short novel about the narrator’s investigation of the disappearance of the head waiter of his favourite Indian restaurant. A real surreal classic. #nwbooks https://t.co/Eatnx2MyD4 https://t.co/dXKjXLpNiq https://t.co/KF3tZsoc8k
- Mon, 16:05: Christopher Eccleston opens up on returning to Doctor Who https://t.co/tV6BHhLiT9 Looking forward to this!
- Mon, 16:21: Looking for Jake and other stories, by China Mi�ville A good set of stories, mostly leaning towards horror, mostly set in contemporary London (one set in New Crobuzon). #nwbooks https://t.co/HRsZw7uU3P https://t.co/iYn2zIEelw https://t.co/3FuGyuZbwe
- Mon, 16:46: The Popinjay, by Iona McGregor McGregor’s evocation of a town pushed beyond breaking point by a religious conflict chimed with me as a teenager in Belfast, and I found it just as good today. #nwbooks https://t.co/wcuSDRwwyr https://t.co/Z9PpIrbSCQ https://t.co/MbpNgbCrxe
- Mon, 17:01: RT @greensideknits: @nwbrux Don’t know that one at all! Although as we know there is nuffin, nuffin like a Puffin…
- Mon, 17:11: Beach Music, by Pat Conroy I liked Beach Music, much more than I liked Conroy’s best-known work The Prince of Tides, but I felt it was not quite the sum of its parts. #nwbooks https://t.co/jOpwwTlloY https://t.co/gnbC6LmG4v https://t.co/nba8CFNvbc
- Mon, 17:15: RT @clanwilliam: @nwbrux I remember you telling me you’d read it when I was trying to remember what book it was (and you corrected my memor…
- Mon, 17:29: RT @clanwilliam: @nwbrux I think you’re the only person I know (apart from siblings) who’s read that book!
- Mon, 17:33: AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers, ed. @IvorWHartmann Lots of good stories here, some by writers who I had heard of, many that I hadn’t, including @TendaiHuchu. #nwbooks https://t.co/T6vIXPvLgZ https://t.co/He65gtMG9Y https://t.co/7kcJVgIBS3
- Mon, 17:58: Angels & Visitations: A Miscellany, by Neil Gaiman A lot of these pieces are journeyman work, but none the less interesting as we see @neilhimself work out a few ideas which he returned to later and better. #nwbooks https://t.co/dSOK4X8AWZ https://t.co/31cI2EZI5N https://t.co/oqWoZtQ1SN
- Mon, 18:27: Our War: Ireland and the Great War, ed. John Horne https://t.co/EkOBbncmBJ
- Mon, 19:22: This is a narcissistic thread about me and Twitter. If you go to https://t.co/j2lSwMkXuE, you can download csv files showing how well every Tweet you have ever sent has performed. So I’ve done that for my 2020 Tweets.
- Mon, 19:43: My media 2020, with added Montenegro TV video https://t.co/lYIf4Bj2te
- Mon, 19:44: Really looking forward to Upstart Crow this evening! https://t.co/uqSvum20CN
- Mon, 23:03: @LothianLitvack I was just wondering whether you know if Iona Mcgregor is still around? I saw that you interviewed her a few years ago. (Though cannot find the interview.)
- Tue, 07:56: This has been a great sequence of photos from my cousin, who is an actual astronomer. https://t.co/6u6d4aZk5u
- Tue, 09:20: RT @CrisiscenterBE: ⚠️Verbod op passagiersreizen uit het Verenigd Koninkrijk met 24 uur verlengd. Alle info https://t.co/aWL0tqh3ve
- Tue, 09:30: Whoniversaries 22 December: Time Warrior #2, Horns of Nimon #1 https://t.co/i5FwPiI2cA
- Tue, 10:45: Irish unity: going nowhere fast https://t.co/OFJNR7hA0h Well put, by @bjhbfs. I’d go further; Nationalists not only are not engaging Unionists, they are not even engaging the middle ground whose votes are crucial.
Whoniversaries 22 December: Time Warrior #2, Horns of Nimon #1
broadcast anniversaries
22 December 1973: broadcast of second episode of The Time Warrior. Sarah is rescued by Boba Fett Hal, while the Doctor is captured by Irongron and Linx.
22 December 1979: broadcast of first episode of The Horns of Nimon. The Tardis collides with a ship full of sacrifices from the planet Skonnos.
My media 2020
My biggest media hit of the year was a quick soundbite the morning after the US election, given to Bloomberg in Brussels, who explained that all of their US-based experts were still in bed. (As I probably should have been too.) It came out just in time for the Asian evening news cycle, so I found my name popping up in mentions in Chinese (both Hong Kong and Taiwan, and presumably the mainland as well), Indonesian and Vietnamese as well as the less unusual Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Greek.
My other big hit was an October interview on the future of Kosovo/Serbia relations, which I did in English but is only available in Albanian and Serbian. (Google Translate is your friend.)
Apart from that, I did an interview on Brexit for Bulgarian TV, and for a Flemish journalism student, and a piece for Montenegro television on the pandemic (back in the days before Montenegro had been seriously hit by it). Here's the last of those – voiceover in the local language, but you can hear me in the background.
Also in media news, I secured a positive ruling from the Spanish media ethics commission in June over false statements published about me in 2018 and 2019 by a Spanish news website, finding in my favour on all counts. I was told earlier this month that the commission is restarting the process to give the news website a chance to reply (a bit mysterious as to why the commission failed to reach them in the first place) but I'm still right and they're still wrong, so I'm confident in getting the same result. Will update here as and when.
Our War: Ireland and the Great War, ed. John Horne
Second paragraph of third chapter ("200,000 volunteer soldiers", by Philip Orr):
At the beginning of the twentieth century the British Army no longer held the huge proportion of Irishmen that it did in the 1830s when 40% of its men were from this island. However, close to 30,000 Irishmen were in the regular forces by 1914 and another 30,000 were reservists. Irish soldiers were stationed in locations across the empire, in units known as battalions, approximately 1,000 strong. Each battalion belonged to one of the historic regiments that recruited in Ireland, usually on a regional basis. Every regiment had its store of military traditions, going back in some cases to the seventeenth century and including participation in famous battles such as Waterloo. As well as the long history of Irish foot-soldiers, there was an officer tradition among Anglo—Irish gentry with twelve of the generals in the British Army being Irish in 1914, including Henry Wilson, from Ballinalee, Co. Longford, who was assassinated by the IRA in 1922.
A lovely book of essays on various aspects of Ireland's engagement with the first world war; I'm familiar enough with the subject from my own work (my PhD thesis was on Irish science from 1890-1930 and the effects of the war were pretty significant), but even so I learned a few things, including the fact that the British government made it illegal to buy a drink for someone else in pubs. Topics address include specifics on the roles of women and of the labour movement, and on the wider societal impact of a war whose legacy in Ireland was distinctly ambiguous. The presentation is scholarly but light enough for the general but interested reader, and it is lavishly illustrated with colour copies of documents from the time, in particular the originals of soldiers' letters home, which makes it all pretty immediate. The original cover price of £15.95 must have been way below cost for RTÉ and the RIA. I hope it was offset by a government grant; money well spent if so. You can get it here.
This was the non-fiction book that had lingered longest unread on my shelves (since I could not find the guide to megalithic Northern Ireland). Next on that list is Anne Chambers' biography of T.K. Whitaker.
My tweets
- Sun, 12:54: RT @adamparsons: Belgium is to stop flights from the UK, and suspend rail connections. Ban will initially be for 24 hours from midnight “ou…
- Sun, 12:56: Thanks to @kpfssport. https://t.co/RO7i6Y6RVn
- Sun, 14:48: A tremendous letter. https://t.co/tMeuh9rmeK
- Sun, 15:41: After London by Richard Jeffries Perhaps the first ever post-apocalyptic book, published in 1885. The descriptions of the landscape, vegetation and natural world are fantastic, but there’s really very little plot. #nwbooks https://t.co/3Mp1HBK5Oe https://t.co/H0Rpg1t3si https://t.co/sj0jTQmpU5
- Sun, 15:55: Top tweets of 2020 https://t.co/DgIafPciv4 #nwbooks #doctorwho
- Sun, 16:13: I bet he says that to all the continents. https://t.co/rkfcr9R4yE
- Sun, 16:25: Top Instagram posts of 2020 https://t.co/fw6nbYj7Cr
- Sun, 16:27: The Books of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin I strongly recommend this as a little literary project. The longest book is only a little over 300 pages, and the first four around 200. And you have probably read some already. #nwbooks https://t.co/gFhdw7M9rI https://t.co/CaKD1oRfwh https://t.co/P9HXiitbp7
- Sun, 16:55: Top Facebook posts of 2020 https://t.co/4KPAi9SQT5
- Sun, 17:07: Kings of the North, by Cecelia Holland I found it difficult to remember which feuding dynast was which (George R.R. Martin has done that much better) or indeed to care particularly which of them would win (spoiler: Knut). #nwbooks https://t.co/Lwxe6tg7Af https://t.co/kAKjpW03IK https://t.co/H1Qf1fju2k
- Sun, 17:20: Top LJ posts of 2020 https://t.co/qxFdDa5rPm
- Mon, 09:30: Whoniversaries 21 December https://t.co/xwjX1ChpEJ
- Mon, 10:45: Just in case you were inclined to feel any sympathy at all for Boris Johnson. By continually over-promising on the UK’s response to COVID-19, he has made his own bed and now he must lie in it. His foolish promises weren’t overtaken by events; they were foolish in the first place. https://t.co/KvetZTDuIW
- Mon, 11:12: RT @APCOBXLInsider: After the publication of the long-awaited #DigitalServicesAct proposal, our colleagues @MaudSacquet and @DuplanLea refl…
Whoniversaries 21 December
i) births and deaths
21 December 1915: birth of James Cairncross, who played Lemaitre/Stirling in The Reign of Terror (First Doctor, 1964) and Beta in The Krotons (Second Doctor, 1968-69). (he's also the parson in Tom Jones.)
21 December 1937: birth of Sheila Reid, who played Etta in Vengeance on Varos (Sixth Doctor, 1985) and Clara's grandmother in The Time of the Doctor (Eleventh Doctor, 2013) and Dark Water (Twelfth Doctor, 2014).
21 December 1991: death of Colin Douglas, who played security chief Donald Bruce in The Enemy of the World (Second Doctor, 1967) and lighthouse keeper Reuben in Horror of Fang Rock (Fourth Doctor, 1977).
21 December 1998: death of Roger Avon, who played Saphadin in The Crusade (First Doctor, 1965), Daxtar in The Daleks' Master Plan (First Doctor, 1965) and Wells in Daleks – Invasion Earth 2150 AD (Cushing movie, 1966)
ii) broadcast and stage anniversaries
21 December 1963: broadcast of "The Dead Planet", first episode of the story we now call The Daleks. The Doctor, Ian, Susan and Barbara land on a strange world with a petrified forest and an abandoned city. But what is it that terrifies Barbara at the end?????
21 December 1965: first performance of the stage play Curse of the Daleks, by David Whitaker and Terry Nation.
21 December 1968: broadcast of eighth episode of The Invasion. Tobias Vaughn changes sides and helps defeat the Cybermen, though he too is killed.
21 December 1988: broadcast of second episode of The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Ace is captured by the clowns; the Doctor is forced to perform for the circus.
Top LJ posts of 2020
As Livejournal continues its sad decline, it becomes paradoxically a bit easier to pick out the posts that got the most engagement over the year.
The biggest by far was my Brexit post on 31 January, which I had been brewing for three and a half years.
The second biggest was my full Hugo details post, which I was able to get done a bit more promptly thanks to being a deputy administrator this year.
Only two posts got more than five comments, my review of Titus Groan with eight:
and my review of a fascinating paper on Tolkien (which has been withdrawn from publication, unfortunately):
Some day in 2021 I will have to put in place an alternative blogging platform.
Top Facebook posts of 2020
Facebook have made it even more difficult than before to track the impact of your posts. Luckily I had already tallied the first half of the year, so it was a bit less tedious to scroll through and tally manually. And unlike Twitter, there are only three things to measure – reactions, comments and shares.
Most comments: a rather toxic debate on 'cancel culture', though I feel I owe it to my trans friends (and indeed my trans enemies) to spell out where I stand. Basically, if you are not prepared to use people's preferred pronouns, I don't really want to be friends with you.
“Cancel culture” is nothing more than the latest repackaging of the argument that the true threat to liberalism resides…
Posted by Nicholas Whyte on Monday, 13 July 2020
Most shares (only counting my own content rather than stuff I've nicked from elsewhere): my valedictory piece for UK membership. Here I clearly spoke for many far beyond my own circle of friends, and again I stand by it.
It is one thousand, three hundred and seventeen days since the Brexit referendum. And I am still angry.
There is no…
Posted by Nicholas Whyte on Friday, 31 January 2020
On a totally positive note, the most reactions to any post was my re-upping my wedding day photo, originally posted in 2017.
27 years on!
Posted by Nicholas Whyte on Friday, 2 October 2020
Top Instagram posts of 2020
Only three metrics here: likes for pictures, views of videos and comments on both.
The most comments went to the small montage for F's 21st birthday.
The most likes went to our reunion picture with B, on her birthday, after we had not seen her for three months.
And the most viewed video was of B and her not-very-secret boyfriend earlier this month.
Top tweets of 2020
The year isn't over yet, but I am guessing that I may not tweet anything very significant in its remaining eleven days.
Here are my top tweets of 2020 in all the various metrics offered by Twitter, plus where the top tweet(s) didn’t have original content from me I’ve drilled down for the top tweet in that category that does have original content, plus one that isn’t actually top in any one category but has the best aggregate score of them all.
Most permalink clicks (I had completely forgotten even posting this one):
I like this one.https://t.co/obcAJ7PaPz
— (@nwbrux) April 22, 2020
Most hashtag clicks (I rarely use hashtags; I posted this as the second last episode of this year’s Doctor Who was on air, and I guess a lot of people were surfing the conversation):
In the last 56 years and three months, not a single second of #DoctorWho on television has been set in Ireland.
Just saying.
— (@nwbrux) February 23, 2020
Second most impressions (not quite sure why this day of all days should get the attention, I have been tweeting the numbers daily since April):
Total Belgian COVID-19 cases in hospital now 4050, total in ICU 797 – both below 28 March levels (4089/867), but still above 27 March (3650/789). 525 new cases (compare 536 on 18 March, first full day of lockdown).
Moving slowly in the right direction.https://t.co/ZY0emGnTDT
— (@nwbrux) April 29, 2020
Second highest number of replies (deliberately designed to get lots of replies):
US presidential trivia: who was the only person to have been both the oldest living former Vice-President, *and* the oldest living former President, but *not* at the same time?
— (@nwbrux) June 12, 2020
Third highest retweets (highest for original content, and makes an important point about not signal boosting the worst):
Everyone, ignore the Mail on Sunday. I know it makes you angry. But channel your energy into something better. All you are doing is delivering them even more clicks that will further help their business model.
— (@nwbrux) March 29, 2020
Most app opens (a video I did many years ago sadly became relevant):
RIP – he got killed off in all three stories before even meeting the Doctor.https://t.co/l0PSU0tRzL
— (@nwbrux) November 6, 2020
Highest engagement rate and most URL clicks (surprising, I didn’t think it was that exciting a topic):
Researchers Think They Solved the Mystery of America's 'Lost Colony' https://t.co/r91875QvO8 Less dramatic than many people thought – or wanted to think?
— (@nwbrux) August 19, 2020
Most URL clicks, second highest detail expands (on an issue where I am possibly the most visible commentator out there, this was the biggest news story of the year):
Wow, the courts just quashed the recommended new constituency boundaries for Northern Ireland. Doesn't matter in practice; they were never going to be implemented. But fairly dramatic stuff in terms of how the Boundary Commission should conduct itself. https://t.co/hFcAlNddUA
— (@nwbrux) June 4, 2020
Most replies and user profile clicks (grim stuff as things started to get bad):
Quarantine strikes close to home for us. The foundation where our two girls live told us today that we cannot visit them until 3 April (at least). Of course, I know that it's for the general good. But it hurts.
Last time all five of us were together was on Christmas Day. pic.twitter.com/kdseuiKNPU
— (@nwbrux) March 13, 2020
Second most engagements, likes, media views and media engagements (played for laughs, though really, sometimes people who spend money promoting their tweets are just throwing it away):
Blocked. pic.twitter.com/QfhD9SgBIQ
— (@nwbrux) November 17, 2020
Second highest retweets (also not original content; grim laughs, if any):
— (@nwbrux) March 11, 2020
Most impressions, most retweets, most likes, most detail expands, most media views, most media engagements (sadly not my original content; more grim laughs, if any).
— (@nwbrux) November 20, 2020
Top aggregate score across all categories (though not actually top in any of them, entirely thanks to being retweeted by Georgia Tennant, the author’s daughter):
Is There Life Outside The Box? An Actor Despairs, by Peter Davison
I've read a lot of celebrity memoirs, including Doctor Who memoirs, by now, and this really is one of the most entertaining of them. #nwbookshttps://t.co/oWlmCvaeLihttps://t.co/i8D3VS1F26 pic.twitter.com/Ci4VvPXw92
— (@nwbrux) October 24, 2020
Facebook and others coming soon.
My tweets
- Sat, 12:56: RT @ChrisGiles_: Harrods and fishing – a thread For the benefit of @christopherhope who was correct on the telly today and Paul Stains -…
- Sat, 14:48: The Flaws in Europe’s Digital Markets Regulation https://t.co/TyXPBqBd2o @DirkAuer explains.
- Sat, 16:05: Trying to be better at online political debate (around Brexit, and perhaps more widely too) https://t.co/aXtMQJIjhX Wise from @JonWorth.
- Sat, 16:34: I’ve spent several weekends working on a presentation of twentieth-century science fiction set in the year 2021, and here is the fruit of my labours, a 21-minute video. https://t.co/09eAXfbFhD
- Sat, 17:09: RT @nickjbarlow: When 2021 turns out worse than this, here’s where fate was duly tempted. (Interesting thread up and down from this, and wi…
- Sat, 18:30: RT @MrBeamJockey: @nwbrux I’m here for your sarcasm. Clicking through!
- Sat, 19:16: The I.R.A., by Tim Pat Coogan 1st edition published in 1969; pre-1969 text takes up slightly more than half of book. Unfortunately 2nd half, post-1969, has several very serious flaws. #nwbooks https://t.co/qAc0u66qqX https://t.co/a3vEeLEVPI https://t.co/Xm9LfJsBby
- Sat, 19:19: Captain Future and the Space Emperor, by Edmond Hamilton It’s pretty formulaic but done with great enthusiasm. #nwbooks https://t.co/Hqu0zx6QGB https://t.co/PLsnK8oU77 https://t.co/iilRJgsAUQ
- Sat, 19:21: Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo A twist in the last chapter caught me completely by surprise (though it shouldn’t have) and left me sobbing on the train on the way home from work. #nwbooks https://t.co/39hkNLG7Wl https://t.co/g2vyaTAegN https://t.co/2lNLjgW2lH
- Sat, 19:26: How to manage expectations – Belgium’s prime minister a month ago. https://t.co/OvNxbq30VG
- Sat, 20:48: RT @peterdonaghy: Probably fair to say that the % share of over 80s among new COVID-19 cases in NI over the next 6-8 weeks is of global imp…
- Sat, 20:54: RT @nwbrux: I’ve spent several weekends working on a presentation of twentieth-century science fiction set in the year 2021, and here is th…
- Sun, 08:19: RT @robminchin: #Jupiturn tonight. I’ve been experimenting with trying to not blow out #Saturn while still seeing #Jupiter‘s moons. All fou…
- Sun, 09:30: Whoniversaries 20 December https://t.co/jHGr0mRtjd
- Sun, 09:48: I am gripped watching this! https://t.co/ZclozAId2Q
- Sun, 10:45: RT @breakaway_ian: One for the election nerds. We may not have a CNN magic wall, but we do have the Tallymen. After months of data processi…
- Sun, 11:39: Re-upping for those who may not have seen it yet. https://t.co/IKMbIosP1G
Whoniversaries 20 December
i) births and deaths
20 December 1943: birth of Jacqueline Pearce, who played Chessene in The Two Doctors (1985), Prime Miniister Sherilyn Harper in Big Finish audio The Fearmonger (2000), Admiral Mettna in the webcast Death Comes to Time (2001-02) and of course Servalan in Blake's 7.
20 December 1978: birth of Eddie Robson, author of many Big Finish audios and various short stories.
ii) broadcast anniversaries
This is the first day since 28 August (arguably 21 August) with no broadcast anniversaries, and the last such day in the calendar year.
iii) date specified in canon
20 December 1992: St Christopher's Church in Cheldon Bonniface is transported to the Moon, as recounted in Paul Cornell's 1991 novel Timewyrm: Revelation.
The world in 2021, according to science fiction
I’ve spent several weekends working on a presentation of twentieth-century science fiction set in the year 2021, and here is the fruit of my labours, a 21-minute video.
The works I found are:
Introduction
TV: Super Force (Hank’s Back), 1991
TV: The Voices, 1955
Hi-tech future
Comics: Superman 2020 (Deadly New Year 2021), 1982
Comics: Superman 2021 (Kidnappers in the Sky), 1982
Film: Johnny Mnemonic, 1995
Game: D/Generation, 1991
Manga: A.I. Revolution, 1994
Novel: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, 1968
On other worlds
TV: The Twilight Zone (On Thursday We Leave for Home), 1963
TV: The Outer Limits (The Invisible Enemy), 1964
Film: Moon Zero Two, 1969
Dystopias
Film: The Sisterhood, 1988
Game: Scorcher, 1996
Comics: Oz, 1992
Novel: The Children of Men, 1992
The End
Novel: Macrolife, 1979
This was the first time I’ve made anything this long by myself, and I must say it has drastically increased my respect for those who do this regularly, either as a hobby or for a living. If I decide to make a habit of it, I’ll invest in better software and hardware. But I’m happy enough with this for now.
My tweets
- Fri, 12:56: How a little-known Welsh politician helped gay rights in Britain https://t.co/4QdHVQgebV “Little known”? Forgotten, maybe, but I read and enjoyed one of his books. (The first, “Private Member”.) Anyway, an important story.
- Fri, 15:41: Triplanetary, by E.E. “Doc” Smith “Fish with huge, goggling eyes; fish plentifully equipped with long, arm-like tentacles; fish poised before control panels… Fish with brains, waging war!” #nwbooks https://t.co/uxoHl0VFsG https://t.co/q7ZJckaQK0 https://t.co/EZBNxpml6T
- Fri, 16:05: RT @DmitryOpines: I know the media is eager to points score who ‘won’ or ‘surrendered’ on the final outstanding issues in this negotiation.…
- Fri, 16:40: Crooked Little Heart, by Anne Lamott A rather heartwarming novel of adolescence, grief, sexual awakening, and tennis set in the Bay Area of California. Definitely enjoyed it. #nwbooks https://t.co/tV5tKMs7vX https://t.co/zYc8sR1Ag2 https://t.co/rDtosTGoBw
- Fri, 17:11: Mah-Nà Mah-Nà — an absurd earworm made popular by The Muppets https://t.co/uMVDfkOJvG The @ft reports: “From soft porn to satire, this wordless song has a long and surprising history.”
- Fri, 20:48: Former foreign minister of Kosovo: https://t.co/GL2iOlSeMO
- Fri, 22:29: Time Lord Victorious: DALEKS! by @gossjam, He Kills Me He Kills Me Not by Tracy Ann Baines https://t.co/EIKLmZsKQH
- Sat, 08:45: RT @robminchin: Tonight’s view of #Jupiturn. #Saturn (top) is a bit closer than last night to #Jupiter (bottom). All four Galilean moons ar…
- Sat, 08:48: RT @tconnellyRTE: Brexit talks: Last minute agony over fish and state aid via @RTENews https://t.co/86iXl4Xtq4
- Sat, 09:30: Whoniversaries 19 December https://t.co/ixsoiuReHX
- Sat, 10:45: Season’s Greetings from LuXembourg https://t.co/pM0TdPZ6TO I sometimes find animated greetings cards a bit of an imposition (though not of course the one YOU sent). However this is rather lovely from @Gouv_Lu @Xavier_Bettel.
Whoniversaries 19 December
i) births and deaths
19 December 1915: birth of Simon Lack, who played Kettering in The Mind of Evil (1971) and Zadek in The Androids of Tara (1978)
19 December 1942: birth of Ian Talbot, who played Travis in Doctor Who and the Silurians (Third Doctor, 1970) and Klout in The Leisure Hive (Fourth Doctor, 1980).
19 December 1961: birth of Matthew Waterhouse, who played the Fourth and Fifth Doctor companion Adric from 1980 to 1982.
15 November 1933: birth of Donald Pickering, who played prosecutor Eyesen in the story we now call The Keys of Marinus (First Doctor, 1964), Blade and his alien double in The Faceless Ones (Second Doctor, 1967), and Lakertyan leader Beyus in Time and the Rani (Seventh Doctor, 1987).
19 December 2018: death of Bill Sellars, who directed the story we now call The Celestial Toymaker (First Doctor, 1966).
ii) broadcast anniversary
19 December 1964: broadcast of "The Waking Ally", fifth episode of the story we now call The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Jenny and Barbara are betrayed by the women in the woods and captured by the Daleks; Ian manages to break into the mine but hides in the missile which is headed for the earth's core; Susan and David kiss.
