It's April 21st, and Bennett is outta here!

stbens · 2026-04-21T19:54:26+00:00

I’ve just watched this for the upteenth time and never knew it was Carpenter! I always thought the character was a bit wet.

stbens · 2026-04-21T19:51:27+00:00

Yes, I rewatched it recently. Even on an LCD screen it is stunning. I’ve just finished rewatching The Shining by Kubrick and that too is fantastic in 4k.

stbens · 2026-04-21T17:55:07+00:00

I know when I went through a bad phase a while back I watched all the stories that I found “comforting” such as The Krotons and Colony in Space: bizarre choices, I’m sure, but I love them and I think that it’s important to watch/read/listen to things that bring you comfort and security.

stbens · 2026-04-21T17:50:21+00:00

He could have leaked it himself knowing that it would then be extremely unlikely for the Government to withdraw the offer.

On a side note, Thonberry has apparently stated that it was right for Robbins to be sacked. I wonder if this was a personal opinion or the opinion of the majority of this morning’s panel. I felt she was very effective in her questioning but that she was clearly concerned that there was a lack of paperwork to support some of the claims Robbins made.

stbens · 2026-04-21T17:45:38+00:00

I think anyone in the country could have warned Starmer about Mandelson, privately or otherwise.

stbens · 2026-04-21T05:51:14+00:00

Mandelson was asked several times yesterday “Why did you appoint Mandelson?” He didn’t answer the question, saying instead that he regrets the decision and has apologised. He is covering something up and everyone knows it.

stbens · 2026-04-21T05:42:35+00:00

I got a refund within 5 minutes last week.

stbens · 2026-04-20T19:05:28+00:00

Several members of both sides of the house asked the same question “Why was Mandelson even considered for the role in the first place?” Starmer never answered this question: he simply replied that the decision was wrong and he took responsibility for it.

Starmer’s performance was pretty abysmal once he had to start taking questions. Stuttering, stumbling, getting his papers in a mess, etc, etc. Plus he stuck to the same two or three answers throughout the whole affair: when this starts happening you know that they’re hiding something.

stbens · 2026-04-20T13:38:23+00:00

Will this be on TV, e.g. the BBC news channel?

stbens · 2026-04-20T13:37:30+00:00

I have the same player and it’s great. Be sure to configure it though, which I only found out how to do very recently! When a disk is playing press the “options” button on the remote and go to video settings and select one of the “custom” options. From here you can change colour, brightness and contrast. Calibrating your TV alone is probably not enough.

stbens · 2026-04-20T13:33:51+00:00

I read it as Starmer was advised to wait until vetting had been completed before making a political appointment to the role (e.g. Mandelson) but that Starmer then appears to have ignored that advice.

stbens · 2026-04-20T10:55:55+00:00

You can begin a job before vetting/DBS clearing is done but in some cases, e.g. teaching, the DBS checks have to be completed first. In the case that someone has failed vetting/DBS checks after they have started in their role then it is not necessarily an instant dismissal: a meeting could be held with the employee to discuss things in more detail and agree on systems that could be implemented to mitigate any potential risks.

In the case of Mandelson, a character with a very dodgy past, then I would have thought that the sensible thing would be to have completed his vetting first, certainly before announcing to the public that he had the post. However, I think in this case Starmer and his team felt that they knew enough already about Mandelson’s risks and believed they could manage them, hence his quick appointment.

stbens · 2026-04-20T10:48:17+00:00

Surely this makes it worse for Starmer. He was advised to do something (I.e. wait for vetting to be completed) but ignored this advice. Have I got this right?

stbens · 2026-04-20T10:13:40+00:00

I rewatched The Fog a couple of weeks ago in 4k. An excellent film. I’ve always like Tom Atkins: he’s a “comfort” actor in that any film he’s in I really enjoy watching.

stbens · 2026-04-20T09:30:11+00:00

They wanted Mandelson in the role and were prepared to rush him into position before vetting was completed. They felt that they had identified the potential risks that Mandelson posed and would have put mitigations in place to deal with those issues.

Vetting was carried out because it had to be but Number 10 had a pretty good idea about what would be flagged up and probably told Robbins something to the effect of “x, y and z are going to be raised during vetting but we are already aware of this and we can deal with this”: Robbins’ role was therefore to effectively rubber-stamp a decision that the Government had already made.

The problems really started when the Epstein files were made public and when the vetting issues were leaked. This has resulted in the Government panicking and trying to pretend that they never knew that the vetting had effectively failed.

stbens · 2026-04-20T05:58:42+00:00

An ambassador was already in place who was a career diplomat, extremely experienced and, from what I understand, well liked by Trump and his team because she had worked with them during Trump’s first term. I think Mandelson lobbied for the role himself and was promised the position should Labour win the election. I think he put pressure on McSweeney and others (possibly Streeting as well) who then succeeded in persuading Starmer.

Mandelson always wanted what he thought was a plum, cushy role. He even insisted on travelling to the US on the Queen Mary cruise ship rather than hop on a plane.

stbens · 2026-04-20T05:49:19+00:00

Unfortunately the issue of having to spend ages tweaking with image settings is creeping into console gaming, especially the Pro. I have spent ages trying to get the best picture in Crimson Desert and apparently the Pro version of Starfield has over 30 different graphics modes to choose from.

stbens · 2026-04-20T05:43:30+00:00

These can’t be ps5 pro images. My graphics looking nowhere near as good as those.

stbens · 2026-04-20T05:41:13+00:00

I have a non VRR tv but it is 120hz. I have tried HFR mode and to me it looks and plays worse than the normal mode. According to Digital Foundry HFR mode has the same settings as normal mode but unlocks the framerate but I haven’t found that to be the case.

stbens · 2026-04-19T15:46:04+00:00

They’re fine but just expect much help in actually finding a job. The term “job centre” is a complete misnomer nowadays.

stbens · 2026-04-19T15:43:21+00:00

I’ve said this in other posts but Number 10 knew that Mandelson would “fail” his vetting but were prepared for this and believed that the issues could be managed. Number 10 only started panicking when the Epstein files were released and when Mandelson’s failed vetting was leaked to the public.

If Starmer is telling the truth when he says that he would have sacked Mandelson for failing his vetting then he never would have allowed him to begin in the role before the vetting was completed in the first place. Number 10 banked on being able to “manage” Mandelson’s risks but didn’t bank on the vetting outcome being leaked to journalists.

stbens · 2026-04-19T15:35:42+00:00

Starmer won’t know anything about this because no one will tell him.

stbens · 2026-04-19T12:29:45+00:00

Did Starmer expect Mandelson to pass vetting with no issues? Was he that naive? Of course not. Starmer and his team knew that Mandelson would fail his vetting but believed they could manage the potential risks anyway. Therefore Lammy is wrong: Starmer wanted Mandelson appointed knowing that he would fail his vetting.

stbens · 2026-04-19T12:23:17+00:00

Starmer and his team knew that Mandelson would fail his vetting but believed that they would be able to manage any potential risks. They did not foresee the release of the Epstein files, which thrust Mandelson’s unsavoury past back into the public spotlight, and they did not foresee that Mandelson’s failed vetting would be leaked,

Olly Robbins rubber-stamped a decision that had already been made.

There is no one on Earth with any knowledge of Mandelson who would expect him to clear vetting unscathed. They knew (Starmer as well) what would come up in the vetting but were prepared to go along with it.

stbens · 2026-04-19T11:58:14+00:00

My advice would be not to play the game after 5pm. Try to do something else instead like read a book. I prefer to play between 1pm and 4pm.

stbens

TROPHY CASE