Carbomb

Rubberbandits are great. @Chris B introduced me to them.

I love those John Shuttleworth tracks. The first track of his I ever heard was this gem:

Not pikelets, rick? Those look perfect, though.

It's all been mentioned before on this thread, but David and Keith make excellent callbacks to it - the main problem is low wages. Simply put, it's not just about cost, it's about time, and at present, a lot of the convenience foods on offer are the best value in terms of being cheaper, and being less time-costly to a parent who will either have to work extra hours or hold down two jobs. When all jobs across the board finally start paying a proper living wage so that nobody has to do two jobs that take up most of their day, that's when it'll be cheaper for people to cook for themselves.

I honestly didn't know. Thanks for that; it's certainly something to look forward to.

That's what I was referring to about the Ben Elton stuff, and you're absolutely right - it can get annoying. But there's some great stuff in between, like the silly stuff that Shakespeare gets up to for ideas about his plays, Harry Enfield as his dad shitting on everything he does in a thick West Midlands accent, Liza Tarbuck with her earthy humour and heaving decolletage, Mark Heap, as mentioned above, clearly having the time of his life playing a complete and utter pantomime heel, and the character of Kit Marlowe being portrayed as a slightly toned-down variant of Lord Flasheart (which makes me wonder why, given what was already known of Marlowe at the time, they made up the character of Flasheart and didn't just cast Mayall as Marlowe). Gemma Whelan's good too, alternating between very sweet and gawky, and angry and trenchant. EDIT: I see Pat doesn't agree about Enfield. Fair enough. For me, it just came across as him doing like Heap and just taking the piss.

Sorry man, but I enjoy it. I agree it's really very Ben Elton in a lot of places, but there are some really good parts of it that help to ignore them.

Obviously, there's a general "canon" of sorts of certain Christmas songs that are played every year, without fail, to the point where it's even given rise to the cultural quirk that is Whamageddon. But I've discovered a fair few songs that I've added to my own personal Christmas playlist that I think are tremendous, and also sometimes sing at Christmas gigs. Hence, I would like to share some of them, and also like to hear what discoveries you've made - whether they're originals, or tremendous covers of classics. With that in mind: Stan Rodgers - At Last, I'm Ready For Christmas I came to love Stan Rogers' work a couple of years ago, when a friend played me some of his songs, Barrett's Privateers, The Northwest Passage and The Mary Ellen Carter. He was kind of a big deal in Canada for a while, and was even considered the unofficial "Bard of Canada" by a fair number of Canadians, to the point where The Northwest Passage was even voted as Canada's unofficial national anthem in a poll a while ago. Sadly, he was killed in his early 30s in an aeroplane fire in 1983. Anyway, he was known for his superb, unique voice, and his evocative lyrics. I only found At Last, I'm Ready For Christmas this season - honestly don't know how I missed this gem: Last Boxing Day the wife went out the “White Sales” for to see, In trunk-load lots bought half-price paper and tinsel for the tree. I packed it up for use this year in a box I marked so plain. That stuff would sure be handy now, but it’s never been seen again! [CHORUS] At last I’m ready for Christmas, I’ve even finished the tree, At last I’m ready for Christmas, like I thought I’d never be! With my feet propped up by a good hot fire and a matching inside glow; At last I’m ready for Christmas, with nearly two hours to go! We swore this year we’d start off early, no need to rush around; The intention was to start in August when the prices still were down! But it was dentist-this and new bike-that and the money melts away; So I had to wait for Christmas bonus and did it all yesterday! We must be fools, just look at that pile, you can hardly see the tree! We said this year we’d keep things simple, then did our usual spree. But it feels so good when the kids go nuts! It’s worth the toil and strain. These kids are only this young once and they’ll never be so again. Kate Rusby A singer I'd heard about, but only got round to listening to a couple of years ago as well. She's from Yorkshire, and so often cites a lot of Yorkshire traditions as influences on her work and style. Every year she does a big Christmas gig - I went to her performance at the Barbican last year, and it was fun and charming. One of the Yorkshire influences she cites is the custom of tavern carolling, where everybody sings songs in pubs to musical, usually brass band, accompaniment. These often lead to variations in well-known classics. Two of these, I've posted below, as I think they're lovely; these are amongst my favourite songs to sing at gigs in particular. Her version of Here We Come A-Wassailing is, for me, the best I've ever heard. Kate Rusby - Here We Come A-Wassailing Kate Rusby - Sweet Bells

Verily, his over-pronunseeaseeon doth invite great appreseeaseeon!

Alright, not every single one - but I didn't see that many women attacking, maybe one or two at most. And the ones I did see were white.

Was going to say - I thought Thanet was where Farage infamously ran as a candidate last time and failed to get in?

I imagine the scene was something like this.

Because I hate myself and want to have high blood pressure, I read the comments. Unsurprisingly, every single comment attacking the ad came from a white male with British-sounding names, spouting Daily Heil headlines with no sense of awareness whatsoever.

He really is. He's clearly having a whale of a time as Robert Greene, literally twirling his moustache at points. "Good dayyy..."

@Bellenda Carlisle posted a pic of a frozen vegan Christmas meal kit from Sainsbury's - it looked really nice, too.