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I disagree on most counts. Lara was a killing machine in all of the original games, it was simply sanitised by video game tropes and capabilities of the time. At least the first of the Tomb Raider reboots *tried* to address this aspect of her character. As for the puzzles, apart from the exploration aspect which is present and correct, I'd personally rather have the brilliant physics-based, self-enclosed tombs of the reboots than the endless "hope you don't drown" or "push this cube" nonsense of the originals.

I agree. The self-enclosed tombs are fun and the open-world stuff is well done in all three games. I'm a big fan of the reboots. Firing the bow, climbing up rock walls. All great fun.

Australia comes with a surcharge because they have to put an upside down label on so your postal service can read it.

I don't think this is an accident. They do function as a propaganda arm of the UK government for a "home" audience. It's particularly interesting that the "home" audience is England.

This becomes blatantly obvious when you watch international sporting events.

I can't speak to how badly the BBC misunderstand Scottish or Welsh issues, but I can't believe it could be worse than their understanding of Northern Ireland, especially when it comes to the NI protocol.

True! However bad the BBC's Scottish coverage is, it pales into insignificance when compared to their treatment of Northern Ireland.

I tend to listen to BBC Scotland on the radio a lot. There are a lot of issues with it, but I agree that they are generally caused by a lack of funding.

The problem I have is the "national" and international news, particularly when it covers Scottish matters. There is widespread ignorance and arrogance about devolved matters and Scottish issues. They invariably use talking heads from Westminster who repeat UK government lines without analysis or critique.

Their international coverage does the same and is uncritically supportive of UK foreign policy, in a way that their World Service coverage isn't.

I don't think this is an accident. They do function as a propaganda arm of the UK government for a "home" audience. It's particularly interesting that the "home" audience is England.

As with David Amess, someone may disagree with his personal politics, but when it comes to the military issues, Colin at least wasn't that bloodthirsty unlike many of his military compatriots. "war should be the last resort".

Maybe when he gets to Hell he'll find those weapons of mass destruction that, as part of the Bush administration, he spent years lying about.

I don't blame him entirely, and it's likely his only mistake in his career. He even acknowledged it afterwards.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2011/9/11/colin-powell-regrets-iraq-war-intelligence

It's worth also pointing out that he participated in the original cover up investigation into the My Lai massacre.

That would be great!

Perhaps a tv in the background showing Dixon knocking in a last gasp winner against the Faroe Islands?

Anybody using the name Grover who isn't a furry blue monster is guilty of muppet-ural appropriation.

Ah, but now they have Roy of the Rovers, which could only benefit from having a crossover (Rok of the Rovers?).

That's a real shame. Is there any prospect of a publisher picking it up and rereleasing it?

Tom Taylor also wrote the recent excellent Hellblazer Black Label series, where Constantine snogs the devil and is definitely bisexual.

Not a word anywhere! Seriously, though, buy the book it's amazing, just like gath used to write with teh added bonus of Darrick Robertson art.

Hasn't Constantine been bi for years (forever?)? He was certainly bi in the Spurrier run.

Interesting stuff, I don't think I've ever seen one of his films. I'll look out for them.

John Carpenter is another obvious example of a film-maker who wouldn't be out of place in the prog.

Meanwhile, the UK government's Coronavirus response is deemed the worst public health failure in history and it barely gets traction in the news cycle. I understand the coronavirus fatigue, but tens of thousands dying unnecessarily as a result of poor decisions seems kind of important.

The Cebulski thing is so utterly insane. Senior people at Marvel must have known and that's why they won't deal with it, because it would bring their position into question. "Akira Yoshida" was getting paid and must have had a contract, after all.

I am not sure about that. Does 2000ad editors know who Ken Niemand is?

There's no way they couldn't know:

Marvel Payroll: Hi, just a quick question about this Akira Yoshida guy.
Marvel Editor: Um..... yeah.
Marvel Payroll: The form says to pay C.B. Cebulski, who is a member of staff and it gives his bank details.
Marvel Editor: Yeah.... C.B. says he'll sort it out.
Marvel Payroll: Oh, that's okay. I'll ignore the fraud and theft red flags. I see no issue in risking my livelihood on your say so.

On the other hand Niemand is, as Jim quite rightly points out, simply a pseudonym for a writer looking to segment work.

Yeah, If I remember right, in the Thrillcast "Niemand" mentions that he's a writer for television and radio.

Deleted post, as I see Jim made a similar (and more helpful) post above.