We should be encouraging foreign students to come here and spend their money in our university towns and cities, not penalising them for doing it.

"Wasn't quite ready" implies it just needs more work, whereas I don't think it's going to get meaningfully better than it is. It's hamstrung by its inability to comprehend its own output, and that's not a couple of updates away, that's a whole new technology.

I still can't hear the M25 mentioned without thinking of Harry Enfield's character repeatedly saying "You don't wanna go on the M25" and the other bloke saying "I didn't go on the M25!"

A deep dive into a previous Matt Le Blanc series that was pulled mid run might actually be interesting. TV101 was yanked because it dared to suggest abortion might not be evil.

Very much that. Also hearing new perspectives. The Arthurian stuff - just listening to some talks from people who had come at it from a completely different way was eye opening, even if I did feel the urge to correct some of their geography ...

A thing I have found lovely, now being old, is coming back to things I knew a lot about 30 years ago and finding that other people have been *discovering* new things since.
The earliest sources for King Arthur for example. A whole new reference now exists that wasn't there before. It enriches it all

The people issuing would need to be vaccinated against confident people who went to a fee paying school talking in ways that won them the Debating Society Cup.

It's a tough gig.

A key problem would be that those who know most about built in systemic failure in licencing systems would be so weary from real life they would be outshouted by people just flinging licences about.

Manics are the same. First album, all the liner notes are quotes. And that’s years before you can do a web search for quotes.
(I think it was Smash Hits not NME but really not sure and it’s not the point. 30 in an era when pop late starters didn’t really happen is quite incredible.)

I love that they are of that smart, working class, “provincial” milieu. Just hurl references in.

I also love that Tennant (not sure on Lowe) was 30 when he had first hit.

It’s nothing special - clearly just a quickly done filler for Saturday morning TV and a few video channel slots - but it has a “lost world” feel now. Really adds to it all.

If you haven’t, find the video to West End Girls. It is just a walk around London but 40 (!) years on that in of itself is fascinating.

It was ludicrously on point