Australis13

Yes, it seems strange to re-make the franchise at this time. All 7 novels were adapted into a highly successful film series, so it's not as though it is like The Chronicles of Narnia where no adaptation has ever completed the series.

Why not both?

Ouch, that's going to hurt. I completely understand why, but still...

His efforts were only a dismal failure if the original intention was to improve government functioning whilst lowering costs.

On the other hand, if it was to gut the government and funnel money to Musk and co, then it's been a roaring success.

Yeah, he raises a good point.

The question then becomes: how do we make the people who feel excluded (and hence want to burn everything down) feel included?

Thanks for this. Nice to see someone following the money back to actual companies.

Yeah, it took a bit of getting used to when I started following politics and everyone was referring to "liberals" as left-leaning! The Liberal/National Party (LNP or Coalition) is more libertarian than liberal.

Labor (the ALP) is centrist. The biggest left-leaning party are the Greens. There are a host of smaller parties and independents that usually get a handful of seats too.

This expert hasn't been paying attention if that headline is a true reflection of their views (I suspect it's just exaggerated for effect, though). The Trump Administration has been consistently pushing the limits with ignoring/disobeying the courts to see what they can get away with.

Thanks for the tips. I've been working on making things more explicit, but it seems that I still am not being explicit enough! It feels like being stuck between a rock and a hard place - on the one hand some interactions tell me that I have to spell things out incredibly simply and explicitly, as though I'm talking to a child, but on the other when I do that it annoys people and I get told that I'm being patronising or condescending.

I can also understand what you mean about people forming a model of one's behaviour very quickly. In a couple of the conflicts I've had, that much is very obvious and I can understand why they've automatically leapt to thinking I'm being dishonest/disingenious. Yesterday's conflict should not have taken that path, though, as these were established acquaintances and there should have been enough previous interaction to know that I don't intentionally mislead or present bad-faith arguments. Turns out that the reason I got accused of constructing a strawman is because what I thought was a blindingly obvious parallel to the issue we were discussing was viewed as completely irrelevant to the other person. I have no idea how they could not have seen the connection (the whole reason I used the parallel example was because I knew it was something they understood) and it brings me back to the issue of explaining things explicitly/simply enough without the other person then viewing me as being patronising/condescending.

The LNP has appeared to back down from MAGA-esque policies, but I don't believe they are being honest with their "change of heart". Their established behviour and lack of support for workers' rights, etc., almost guarantees that if they were to get into power, they'd eventually go back to their original policies of ending WFH, gutting the federal government, etc.

I actually really enjoy Tom Baker's final season - Meglos is really the only weak link there. I thought JNT was fine early on, but after 3-4 years it would have been time for a change (and IIRC, JNT tried to find a replacement during the Colin Baker era). Unfortunately for him (and us), there was nobody else to take over and so he just kept going (I think Moffat was in the same boat for the Capaldi era).

Re Colin Baker's outfit - yes, now that you mention it I remember reading that!

Some of the McCoy stories are fine, if very camp. I am probably in the minority in that I really don't like Ghost Light but enjoyed Dragonfire. The core concept of The Happiness Patrol could have been really good, but it was abysmally executed. In one respect it was probably a good thing that the show ended when it did, as I am aware of "the Cartmel Masterplan" and hate the concept - like Chibnall's Timeless Child nonsense, it would have just completely undermined established canon.

I don't even understand what they're talking about.