All posts by thom morris

Nightmare in Silver

by The TV Thoms Thursday, May 9 2013

This weekend's episode of Doctor Who features the Cybermen.

It's written by Neil Gaiman, responsible for The Doctor's Wife a few years ago, where the TARDIS became a woman and the Doctor got all weepy about it. I cried a bit too, so what?

Hedgewick’s World of Wonders, where it's set, was once the greatest theme park in the universe - though it looks like Margate's Dreamland at the moment.

It’s now the dilapidated home of a showman, a chess-playing dwarf and an army platoon led by a woman from EastEnders. 

That's the premise. The scenario if you prefer. 

When the Doctor, Clara, and annoying children and terrible actors Artie and Angie arrive, the last thing they expect is the Cybermen and a boring story. 

Though if they'd seen the poster for this episode, they'd have known (it's got Cybermen on it, see below).

I wish I was heaping praise on it, but it's not great. It's not terrible of course, just not "wow, I need to go to the toilet, that was so good".

Perhaps that's because of the brilliance of Gaiman's previous episode and my expectations being higher than the sun. 

The Doctor spends most of his time playing chess. The Cybermen, supposedly frightening this time round, are as scary as a moth in the window.

And not even a cybernetic moth with lasers and that. 

Chess, by the way, was a plot device in one of Sylvester McCoy's old episodes from the 1980s. That made about as much sense then as it does now.

I think chess is meant to show the Doctor is clever, a plot point as yet unexplored in 50 years. 

In other news: Another ridiculous idea in the classic series rears its shiny head again - though we do see all 11 Doctors, which is nice - especially as we're told we won't during the anniversary episode. 

I'm sorry I sound so down on it actually. I don't want to, but it felt a bit flat.

Maybe I'm being mean because I accidentally cooked my steak in a frying pan that still had Fairy liquid in it last night. 

It looks nice though - the episode, not my steak. The Cybermen redesign is snazzy, like a striped blazer, and they are quite cunning and can move fast. 

There's just not enough Cyber action going on. That's the problem. There's lots of Matt Smith talking to himself about how clever he is though. 

Everyone's favourite Ewok Warwick Davies stars, but doesn't have much to sink his teeth into as he did when he was a leprechaun. 

Nightmare in Silver is on BBC One on Saturday (May 11) at 7pm. 

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Categories: TV

What shoe size am I

by The TV Thoms Wednesday, August 15 2012

COPING without the Olympics has been difficult.

Monday was depressing. I awoke with an ennui that consumed my face. I had a coffee, smoked a cigarette and sighed.

I stared out into the garden and wondered what life was like before the Olympics.

Who was I? What did I do? What shoe size am I?

By the end of Monday I had an airbed on the living room floor and I was curled in a ball.

The One Show was back on and so was EastEnders. The red button just told me I could look at the weather. I’d forgotten we still lived in a world where Kim Kardashian’s arse was important.

By Tuesday, acceptance had crept in. I knew who I was and what shoes to buy. A trip to Asda to buy some microwave burgers made things better.

So I was extremely grateful to see the Great British Bake Off was back on BBC2 and suddenly everything was normal again. 

Despite no cutaway featuring a squirrel’s testicles, the show was exactly the same as last year. Apart from the contestants and the cakes they were making, obviously.

There was also the long-awaited return of Mary Berry and her "soggy bottom" catchphrase. It's really one of the highlights.

I have already fallen in love with contestant Cathryn who I want to win the whole thing and be star baker every week and my wife.

Next week is all about “bread” which is only the second time bread has excited me - the first being the discovery of a thicker pre-sliced bread, one up from the “toasty” variety. I recommend bacon, lettuce and tomato in bread such as this.

Straight after Great British Bake Off I saw a man in a dress and wig drinking in a bar.

I wondered if it was Sean Bean for several minutes before agreeing with myself that it was indeed ol’ Sharpe himself, dressed as a woman and wearing a wig on BBC1.

“Accused” told the story of Sean Bean - known as both Simon and Tracie - who preferred life as a woman.

Some bloke called Tony, who had a wife called Karen, fancied Sean Tracie Bean and then had some sex with Sean Tracie Bean before Tony’s wife Karen found out and Tony couldn’t handle telling her the truth.

Not really wishing her to know about all the sex with Sean Tracie Bean, Tony killed Karen. Fair play mate, I mean, what else ya gonna do eh?

He put Karen in the boot of his car, picked Sean Tracie Bean up, said they'd go and have magical sex in a rainbow forest, drove to a river and then admitted to Sean Tracie Bean that he’d killed Karen and needed a bit of help dumping the body.

Poor Sean Tracie Simon Bean, I thought. That's a passioner killer right there.

Fortunately I still had a microwave burger which was the only thing to do after 60 minutes of feeling tense because bloody Tony wouldn't tell the police Sean Tracie Bean had nothing to do with it. He really was a shit.

There's another one next week about Tina, a mother-of-three, who works at a juvenile detention centre.

I fear Mary Berry's catchphrase will be ripe throughout.

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Categories: TV

Fat

by The TV Thoms Wednesday, May 9 2012

I FEEL sorry for women.

Fat women especially, because the clothing labels they buy have such stupid names.

In New Look, the plus-size clothing is called “Inspire”.

A condescending, “well done chub-a-lub, butterballs - your chunky frame can still aspire to be fashionable in a plump, bulging, bulky way” kind-of-name.

And it’s separate from the other clothing too. Skinny people this way. Fat people? You’re in the corner over there. No more than two at a time please, it’s a small area of the shop.

Which I suppose is a good thing as the sight of a thin and slender girl trying a size 8 dress on might drive an ‘inspired’ fatty to doughnuts and pies.

A terrible spiral of self-loathing and depression would follow.

The only cure would be a Zinger meal from KFC to blot out the pain. And two double cheeseburgers from McDonalds.

I mean, you might as well call these clothing lines “immense” or “flourishing”. 

In Debenhams they call it “Gorgeous”.

A bit demeaning as well I reckon – the connotation, again, being “hey, don’t worry wobbly whale! Just get your thundering thighs towards our spacious shirts or distended dresses with copious amounts of fabric for your dumpy frame.”

Curvissa. This is an online shop for “real women” who fall into the “plus-size category”.

Emphasis being on the word “curves” in the name – alluding, presumably, to breasts. Boobs. Fun bags. Puppies. Baps. Bazoomas. Whatever.

But in reality, aren’t they just saying “hey, hide the chicken wing arms and floppy bits by the hips with these!”

Maybe I’m looking at this in too much detail. Maybe these words really do make larger women think more positively about their size.

I have a similar experience trying to find men’s clothing. But I don’t feel 'empowered' or 'happy' or 'free'. And I'm lucky, the Daily Mail concentrates on women in bikinis and women on new diets. The men don't really get a look in so I can pretend all men look like me.

If you go into Topshop or River Island or H&M (where clothes are generally quite nice) I can never find anything that fits. Waist sizes seem to stop at 32”, shirts are too tight around the chest, and shoes stop at size 10.

Maybe I’ve fallen out of the demographic – that being tiny, small-footed, and skinny men aged between 14 and 21.

Or maybe I’m just a massive portly, pot-bellied, jelly-belly lardy, destined to shop at Jacamo, the online shop that offers a big choice of big men's, big brand, big clothing, at great big value prices.

I look in the mirror these days, a bloated 27-year-old man, and see Jonny Vegas bouncing around in a t-shirt the size of a tent saying everything will be ok. I weep into a KitKat. I feel body-conscious.

A trip down the stairs becomes a nightmare. People press themselves against the wall to let me go past. We used to dance and I’d say “I’ll go that way” and we’d laugh. But not anymore. There’s no room.

Men’s plus size clothing has names to appease my sense of shame. “High and Mighty”; “Big and Tall”; “Big Fish” – all names that make me want to stand up proud and be seen by everyone. "Hello! I am high, mighty, tall - a big fish!"

And then I want to eat a Zinger meal from KFC to blot out the pain. And two double cheeseburgers from McDonalds.

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Have you got £2

by The TV Thoms Wednesday, April 18 2012

HAVE you ever been stopped by someone asking for money?

Have they made up a long and elaborate story to convince you that handing over money to this person is the single most important thing of your life?

It happened to me today. A woman with a pram stopped off to discuss jerry cans with me. Painfully out of date, she said: “Have you got a jerry can?”

It was clear the last time she had watched the news was about two weeks ago when everyone wanted a jerry can. They were the must-have item. Like an iPad3. Or a flat with a tiled hallway.

Standing in the high street, no visible jerry can to hand, I replied “no”.

She went on to discuss how she needed one but was unable to locate the elusive plastic container. Like an iPad3. Or a flat with a tiled hallway.

As time went on I became bored as she discussed her desires. I stared off into the distance, thinking of all manner of things: squirrels crossing the roads dangerously; whether a steamer might be the answer to solving creases in difficult-to-iron clothing.

I’d recently seen one at the Ideal Home Show and was impressed at its ability to remove creases with a blast of steam. It would make ironing fun, not a chore.

Snapping back to reality I then heard: “Have you got £2?”

I thought about it and realised, yes, I did have £2. It was in my wallet, which was in my pocket, which was located on the inside of my coat. The coat I was wearing. I did indeed have £2. "I have £2" I thought, and celebrated it.

“No,” I said, sadly, looking to the floor feeling sad that I didn’t have any cash on me. I wondered whether I might win a Bafta for my performance. If only it were being filmed.

“It’s just that I’ve got £7.50 but need another £2. I don’t come from round here so I don’t know where I can get a jerry can; I just come down to look at a flat you see,” she said. As though I could connect my life to that of a woman wanting a jerry can.

Interested in her life story, I proffered the suggestion of going to Wilkinsons, a place where they might stock jerry cans. And hopefully at a reasonable price. What world are we living in when a woman with a pram can’t get a jerry can for less than £7.50?

But she’d already tried there, she said. It was no use. Was there a baby in that pram, I wondered to myself.

Running away, I returned to the office where I work and recounted the story. Much to my surprise, two others had encountered the mysterious jerry can woman (I’m going to call her Jerry) the day before.

Who was she? What was she after? Why did she always only ever want £2? Why did she have sunglasses on her head when the weather of late had been so inclement? The questions were stacking up like a pile of old dishes covered in the remnants of beans on toast.

Back in my day it used to be “have you got 20p?” I clearly remember in 2001, I was asked by a man with a beard and a smell whether I had 70p. Clearly the world was changing. When 20p would once have sufficed, 70p had taken its place. It was an eye-opener.

But now in 2012 it’s risen. To £2. A huge sum of money for anyone in my position. Why, for £2 I could buy two lottery tickets. Or if I wanted to, I could go to the £1 shop and buy two sandwiches. I also noticed they have Transformers on DVD in there for just £1. This means I could have two copies.

Transformers is about a girl played by Megan Fox.

There's a scene where she falls off a bike and she’s not wearing many clothes, but she's okay.

She gets up to all kinds of adventures including at one point bending over a car and being a bit sweaty.

At the end Megan Fox and some robots are all okay.

The film stars Megan Fox and is rated 12.

Smoking

by The TV Thoms Friday, April 13 2012

EVERYONE knows smoking is bad for you. If you smoke, you’re a right twat.

As a smoker, the odd roll-up here and there - mainly there - I have fallen foul of the new government regime when it comes to purchasing tobacco.

It’s now a confusing, disorientating and daunting process - especially if you’re brand new to smoking (which brand should I go for? What’s the cheapest? Will this girl think I’m cool with Camels?)

Even if you’re a yellow-fingered dab-hand at it, your brand might be out of stock. Then you have to remember all the other ones that might be in stock.

The queues build as you light-headedly list off cigarette brands, asking how much they are. Children overhear and suddenly fancy a Mayfair. You cough up some phlegm and get your tissues out to get rid of it. Eventually you'll remember a packet you liked.

Coughing as I went into WH Smiths this afternoon I thought buying a 12.5g box of Amber Leaf would be easy - unlike walking up the stairs where I need to have regular rests due to getting out of breath.

The lady behind the counter was wisely unaccustomed with cigarettes and wasn’t sure what 12.5g of Amber Leaf looked like. Was it in a box, a packet? She checked her name badge for confirmation of who she was.

Surreptitiously peering through the magical shutters of necrosis - that now obscure cigarettes to the easily-swayed thick-headed general public - she looked. And looked, and looked and looked.

“Sorry, I don’t know your name,” she said to the bottle-blonde girl next to her, missing her name badge, “do we have any Amber Leaf? 12.5g.”

Joining in the hunt, she too looked. And looked and looked. “Don’t think we do Amber Leaf,” she offered, glumly, like a woman who thought she’d won the lottery but discovered she just had wind.

“No, sorry,” she said, turning to me, clearly delighted that she might save my life and lungs.

“Can I have a look at what you’ve got then?” I said, feeling feint.

“No, that’s not allowed. New rules. You can have a look at this price list.”

Browsing the extensive list I could see 12.5g of Amber Leaf. The Holy Grail. But they didn’t have it in stock. Though by this point, my faith in my server was waning. Had she really looked hard enough? Could I trust a woman who couldn’t spot a name on a name badge?

“Have you got 25g of Amber Leaf?” I asked, doubling my original request and increasing my chances of a coronary or not getting pregnant, as the pictures on cigarettes remind me.

She once more peered into the unknown, desperate to be rid of my hollow, toxic face.

“We’ve got a box of Amber Leaf,” she said, grasping at it and secretly showing me it under the counter like a terrorist browsing bombs.

“Yes, that’s 12.5g of Amber Leaf,” I said, furious at her lack of reading-prowess.
“It says so on the top. 12.5g. See?”

Unaware of the intricacies of measurements and cognition, she made me pay and I was on my way - namely to a bench to have a sit down as I’d been standing up for some five minutes or more.

With the government planning on introducing plain packaging for cigarettes, I can only see things getting worse.

Soon, teenagers will not be able to gaze upon the magical colours of cigarette packaging – exciting black and gold boxes or blue and silver with go faster stripes on them. Things that desperately make people want to start smoking.

I know I started when I saw a blue Mayfair packet and became immediately aroused.

Soon, all that will be left are the exciting day-glo colour of alcopops and the allure of cans of Stella, just sitting on the shelves, desperate for you to drink them. At least they won’t kill you and leave the NHS with no money.

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Queues and why I hate Tower

by The TV Thoms Thursday, April 5 2012

QUEUES. They’re everywhere. Like a kitten in a washing machine on a rinse cycle, they’re deplorable.

The reason for all the queues is the witless questions. The endless, incessant interrogation and the stupid list of stupid questions shop workers have been ordered they must ask.

Is that large? Would you like help with your packing? Do you have a card? Are you on our mailing list? Are you interested in receiving our newsletter? Do you want cashback? Would you like this Dairy Milk for £1? Do you like smells?

KFC is one of the worst offenders.

The perplexing prattle comes thick and fast: “Large? Tower burger? Beans, gravy, coleslaw? Large? Two hot chicken wings, 99p? Large? Tower? Five hot chicken wings £2? No? Eat in? Take out?”

You’ve never been in Waterstone’s and had one of them say: “Would you like this book in large print? I see you’re buying a biography, would you like this autobiography?”

As a human being with a brain, you have made a choice of what it is you want.

The electrical stimulus alerting your consciousness of what you’re doing (i.e. buying something) is whizzing around your head like a hamster with a nut.

You have no doubt weighed up the pros and cons of the optional extras that are available. You’ve come to a decision. After all, you’ve had time to consider whether you want that chewing gum or a Wispa whilst standing in the queue.

So why make life difficult? I don’t want choice. Why add to the misery of forking out cash for something? I’m miserable already, I don’t want to converse with you about a bloody store card.

And then you end up with old ladies going "oh yes, I've got one of those... hold on... it's in here somewhere... yes... I've definitely got one... hold on... hold on..."

I dread buying anything in Boots because I know someone will ask if I have their “Advantage Card”.

Once I’m over this horrific hurdle - and watching my Boots Meal Deal go into a bag that’s way too small for my triple sandwich, drink and yoghurt/oatflakes dessert - the dread quickly rears its head again. She’s going to say “would you like one?”

I don’t look like the sort of man that frequents Boots. Nor am I a man on enough money to regularly partake in the Boots Meal Deal. This is a treat. Don’t rub my nose in it.

Even in Iceland, where all they sell are frozen prawn rings and party food, they have the “Bonus Card”.

I’ve only ever bought milk from Iceland as it’s round the corner from our office.

“Have you got a Bonus card? Would you like one?” the lady of a certain age behind the till asks each and every visit.

I nod negatively and sadly as though I wish I did have one.

Actually, I did once have the work Bonus Card with me. For doing so I received a scratch card, the one bonus of having a Bonus Card as far as I can ascertain.

My prize was 50p off a frozen prawn ring.

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Pasties - your right to know

by The TV Thoms Wednesday, March 28 2012

DAVID Cameron has admitted to eating a pasty - but Number 10 has refused to reveal any further details regarding his proclivity for pie-eating.

The revelation came following Chancellor George Osborne’s admission that he was “unable to recall” the last time he had purchased a pasty.

Mr Cameron was quick to quell whispers that he too did not enjoy the palatable-pastry pickings, claiming to be a “keen pasty-eater”.

To prove it he showed a picture of his pasty cellar.

Mr Cameron, who wore a blue suit and a keen smile, went on to tell reporters this morning that he recently bought “a large one” from the West Cornwall Pasty Company's outlet at Leeds station.

“I love a hot pasty,” Mr Cameron added, keen to plug his pasty point.

Shares in the West Cornwall Pasty Company have since fallen sharply, with consumers and investors keen not to align themselves with Mr Cameron’s pasty passion.

Missing the point, Labour leader Ed Miliband held a press conference outside Greggs in Redditch, where he and Shadow Pasty Minister Ed Balls bought eight sausage rolls.

He told reporters: "There is a serious point here,” and ate a sausage roll.

There were shouts of  “do you know what a pasty is Mr Miliband?” to which he proudly held up his sausage roll and took another bite.

Shares in Greggs have since fallen sharply, with consumers and investors keen not to align themselves with Mr Miliband or Balls.

Since then, concerns about the "complexity" of the pie tax and the sun-cloud ratio to heat on the streets have been raised.

In simple, plebby terms, temperatures outside the confines of a shop counter dictate whether VAT is added to a pasty.

“A lukewarm pasty from Greggs is not VAT-able because the ambient temperature outside is the reference point,” said some Labour politician, adding: “It is an extraordinarily complex situation.”

The MET office later confirmed that it was able to measure temperatures ensuring VAT added to pies would be done correctly.

Sales of thermometers rose sharply with consumers keen to measure temperature to ensure they were being charged the correct price.

But what does this latest pie tax mean to the people of Kent?

Isn’t it time that all district and county officials revealed whether or not elected representatives of us - the people - have ever eaten a pasty?

I for one would be extremely keen on finding this information out and everyone has the right to know whether KCC leader Paul Carter knows what a pasty is and whether he has eaten one.

I would also urge Number 10 to release a full list of all pasties eaten by Mr Cameron, his cabinet and MPs across the country. Including the Lords and especially John Prescott.

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Pouring my curves into a sick bag

by The TV Thoms Friday, February 10 2012

CELEBRITIES. Look, look, look, Kim Kardashian is pouring her curves into a dress.

Look, look, look, Kelly Brook is pouring her curves into a dress.

Look, look, look someone else better than you is having a better life than you. Mark Wright is eating a sandwich in red chinos. You’re rubbish and don’t have enough money for chinos. Kill yourself.

Celebrity culture is a massive business and a massive pain up the backside pipe. It takes the inane, makes it acceptable and makes you depressed. Natasha Giggs is wearing geek-chic glasses.

There's magazines in their hundreds, solely devoted to what they're doing, what they're wearing, what they're eating. Who they're having sex with, who they're not having sex with, whether they push their cuticles down.

Lindsay Lohan looks older than 25 with her pale skin. But she’s probably having more sex than you and her cuticles are perfect. Shut up podgy fingers, it’s true.

One of those pushing celebrities into every conceivable orifice of the nation's consciousness, like some disgusting sandwich paste, is Max Clifford.

That well-known celebrity-loving, grey-haired bloke who takes up the cause of those in need of a career boost. Frankie Sanford is wearing a patterned scarf. Buy one you idiot, you look drab and dull and will never find a husband.

So it was with much shock that when Mr Clifford, who looks a bit like a badger with a sun tan, appeared before the Leveson inquiry into press standards on Thursday, he told the committee that it was unhealthy that celebrities have such an influence over young people. Natalie Cassidy has had a haircut. She’s a great mum. You’re terrible and your hair looks drab.

Anyway, it's sad, he said, because so many celebrities are famous when they clearly have "no talent at all," adding that celebrity culture is "much to do about very little".

Max’s clients included:

Stacey Solomon: Fast-talking, incomprehensible girl from Essex who wants you to buy frozen chicken from Iceland in case your family comes round and wants some chicken for dinner. Let’s have a party, I’ve got mini quiches.

Lauren Goodger: Sometimes fat, sometimes thin. A girl from Essex whose main skill is being mundane and sometimes fat and sometimes thin. Talking about being fat or thin openly and honestly in magazines and on chat shows.

Kerry Katona: See Lauren Goodger but add a public battle with drugs to the mix (add Stacey Solomon to Kerry when *she* was the mum who went to Iceland). Numerous reality shows where she talks about battling drugs, her weight, her depression. Blah, blah, blaaaahhhhhhhh. Let's have a party, I've got tiny frozen cakes.

Rebecca Loos: Tossed off a pig and wore a bra for photographers. Sometimes cries about David Beckham in magazines and on television. Appears on "top 100" programmes saying words like: "Yeah, I mean 2011, who can forget it? It was like, a year."

Imogen Thomas: Was on Big Brother, got her jugs out for the boys, had an affair with Ryan Giggs and is now pictured frequently doing some kind of fitness thing or not wearing clothes. Sometimes she talks about her fears of going bald through stress.

So what have we learnt?

Tossing off a pig, having an affair, giving birth, being fat, doing drugs, being thin, smiling at mini quiches and selling frozen chicken is the future of popular culture. Anyone with an ounce of talent can go swivel, while those who can't even solve Iggle Piggle's "10-piece puzzle conundrum" take over the world.

Their every waking action, reaction and stupid comments and lives are beamed into our eyeballs, slowly melting our brains into a mush that looks like a pile of peas covered in the contents of a dog foul bin.

Now go and sit in a chair and think about what you've done.

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Categories: Celebrities | TV

Happy New Year

by The TV Thoms Thursday, January 5 2012

Earthlings, please attend carefully for the following message is of great importance.

As supreme leader of this county you call “Kent”, I wish you a new year and happy Easter. Klomdifsalvo!

Looking back on 2011 from my palace in this town you call “MadeStone”, I say to you that yes, it’s been demanding and tough - particularly when Cllr Exotron of Nubos VIII attempted to oust me.

Fortunately I have special powers, which is why I am the supreme leader and can drive a car.

I know all of you reading this are uncertain. Is the Euro going to fold? Will a bread that lasts longer than five days be invented? Do we need an economic hub? Will I have a job this time next week? All I am certain about is that I will still have my job. For I am supreme leader. Ommmmm.

But let’s look back at the challenges I faced, and how I overcame them.

There was the perceived failure in delivering certain services. Nonsense I said. And it was so. We had sandwiches to celebrate.

There was a financial challenge because the government of your Earth decided not to give me as much cash as last year. Using an electrical prod and a battle station capable of wiping out the entire universe, I was able to restructure staffing numbers saving cash, for you, the people of “Kent”. We had sandwiches.

There are, of course, still enormous challenges ahead. My enemies, the evil Classocks of Nubon Five still wish to take over my kingdom, but I will not allow it. Restructure, restructure.

With my ambitious delivery programme and generic competency framework for 2012, the momentum of successes will not stop. Soon I will have a database of underpinning skills and attitudes that will allow me to take full control of the weather and bus passes.

Finally, what of my new year’s resolution? Well, it’s to do with the local press of Nubon Five. Those pesky broadcasters and writers seek to undermine my supreme power, something which threatens hard-working dinner persons.

Did you see that story about me restructuring staffing levels to create a battle force to take on the evil Classocks of Nubon Five? Nonsense. It was a non-qualification training day.

My frustration and fist-slamming-on-desks is that, despite the reality of supreme control and the ultimate destruction of the evil Classocks of Nubon Five, this constant sniping about my robes and alternative views on gritting roads, impacts on morale.

If these “journalists” are not careful it will have a knock-on effect for front-line service delivery of libraries and painting road lines.

If these changes are not forthcoming within the next 24 hours I will be issuing all front-line troops the straight bat of Kelxon 4. Then we will have sandwiches and laugh heartily.

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

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Doctor Who vs The Women of Doom

by The TV Thoms Thursday, December 29 2011

I’ve just read a blog by a man who won the Orwell Prize for political blogging and has now written a review of this year’s Doctor Who.

The Daily Telegraph’s Graeme Archer said the only person who enjoyed the Christmas Day episode was Labour’s bloody “women are cool” deputy leader Harriet Harman, as the story was pro-Labour in its plotting – indeed it was “politically predictable”.

He was also extremely worried that little boys watching it might have got the message: “men are weak and women are strong”.

This could lead to some kind of weird reverse timey-wimey malfunction where women have jobs or are managers or have careers. Bloody women.

Or, more worryingly, those boys might grow up and not get jobs or be managers or have careers, because of a terrible inferiority complex brought about by Doctor Who needing the help of a bloody woman to save the world.

Yes, Mr Archer says we have a culture that “bends over backwards to transmit a message about the supposed inadequacy of men”.

He goes on to say: “When one of the most-watched children's television characters becomes a cipher for Harmanism, then I object.”

What a load of old cock and balls and cock. (Just because men’s unmentionables are slang for ‘rubbish’, it doesn’t mean we’re rubbish, kids. Men are cool.).

Anyway, Harriet Harman says really boring things like “Listen plebby peasant, the unilateral embolism of this socio-economic field of working group, climate change, quango-misdiagnosis, is extremely worrying in a period of economic uncertainty when everyone up and down the country is sitting around a table carrying out discussions that are ongoing and binge drinking.”

No one wants to listen to that. Especially men. Yawn. We’re down the pub and watching football and making executive decisions about stuff.

The Doctor (a man) says exciting things like “Quick, there’s a rip in the space-time vortex and the Daleks, Cybermen, Zygons, The Master and the Quarks, are all coming through and will destroy the entire world and universe. There’s not only going to be an explosion but an implosion all at the same time. Lucky I’ve got my Sonic Screwdriver.”

And then a spaceship explodes or something.

Call me politically naïve, but when a mum loses her two kids on an alien planet that they’ve travelled to through a Christmas present under a magic spinning tree, in a mansion that dispenses lemonade through a tap, and she's faced with acid rain killing her and her family before she wears a special crown given to her by a living tree, that looks like a king, that then ciphers the spirits of trees - that are alive and can talk - into her head so they won’t die... before she then pilots a spaceship through the time vortex to get back home where, fortunately, her husband, who had died over the English Channel a few weeks’ beforehand, spots the spaceship and follows it, landing safely, and more importantly alive, back on Earth – well, I just don’t get how that’s very Labour Party.

The only part of Doctor Who that resembles the Labour Party is that Cybermen have a speaking voice extremely similar to Ed Miliband.

And anyway, women have been portrayed as inadequate for decades. Doctor Who shows this more than anything – in the 1960s his female friends were called “assistants”, they didn’t understand words or colours, they were told to make coffee for the chaps and often fell over, spraining their ankles, and then crying about it.

They couldn’t drive cars or write with a pen, and they never had husbands because they were so useless at everything. Yeah, some of them thought they were hip and cool and could do stuff like walking without the aid of linking arms with a man, but they weren’t, they couldn’t. They were women. Bloody women.

But I of course fear for little boys now who might think women are better than them. Don’t worry boys, men are cool. We’re the best. Go men!

Harriet Harman was once quoted as saying: “Would I go back in time? Not as a woman. All those unwanted pregnancies and women having to defer to men? No thanks.”

See boys? Even Harriet Harman (a bloody woman) wants to be a man. Go men!

Let’s re-brand everything to make things assuredly male though. Just in case.

Spice Girls can become Spice Persons;
Brown-eyed Girl needs to become “Brown-eyed Cleaner Where’s My Dinner?”;
Girl Guides needs to be “Not the Boy Scouts”;
And Secret Diary of a Call Girl needs to become “Secret Diary of a Woman Who’s Got the Right Idea, Yeah, That’s a Job, Now Where’s My Dinner?”

And if you see a woman out and about today, ask her why she isn’t at home. And does she have a husband? If she’s ugly or wears trousers she probably doesn’t. These ugly, trouser-wearing women need to be working the fields, getting potatoes for my dinner.

And if she’s good-looking, and wearing a skirt she’s probably got too much confidence. Probably thinks she’s funny and intelligent too. Can walk and use a pen. Stupid woman. Give her a slap and ask her whether she’s made my dinner.

Anyway, whatever political party you belong to, you’re rubbish and I hate you because I’ve always had a problem with figures in power. Like Hitler and men who were in the Bullingdon Club. I think it’s probably a working-class thing.

And Doctor Who was pretty drab and dull this year, so I imagine Harriet “I was Solicitor General” Harman enjoyed it.  

The TV Thoms

Hello, Im Thom and you're very welcome. Sometimes this might be about television, and at other times it isn't. That's the excitement of reading.
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