Dale Smith
@dalesmithonline.com
Writer of things mostly about #DoctorWho and infrequent conversationalist. Also works with #Drupal / #PHP
https://www.dalesmithonline.com
I don't have access to DMs.
https://www.dalesmithonline.com
I don't have access to DMs.
Pinned
Dale Smith
@dalesmithonline.com
· Dec 5
Search | Dale Smith Online
dalesmithonline.com
Look, there's no way of sugar-coating this: winning an award would be lovely, and if I have to give you an #AwardsEligibility post to improve my chances, you're just going to have to live with that: dalesmithonline.com/search/tags/...
Reposted by Dale Smith
Everything reminds me of him...
January 17, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Everything reminds me of him...
I remember the tabloids joyously reporting the news of Johnson's diagnosis like it was a well-deserved death sentence. I'm surprised and delighted that he's still around to spit on the grave of Maxwell and the News of the World.
January 17, 2026 at 2:24 PM
I remember the tabloids joyously reporting the news of Johnson's diagnosis like it was a well-deserved death sentence. I'm surprised and delighted that he's still around to spit on the grave of Maxwell and the News of the World.
Or Ibiza foam party. New round on HIGNFY.
January 17, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Or Ibiza foam party. New round on HIGNFY.
We used to practice marching to it when I was in cubs - it has the same tempo and beat as a military parade. Which makes me think I wasn't the only one who never paid attention to what Holly Johnson was singing.
January 17, 2026 at 2:22 PM
We used to practice marching to it when I was in cubs - it has the same tempo and beat as a military parade. Which makes me think I wasn't the only one who never paid attention to what Holly Johnson was singing.
To me, the band name Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood still sounds like an author trying not to use "said" in the novelisation of Frankie Boyle's appearance on Bake Off.
January 17, 2026 at 2:20 PM
To me, the band name Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood still sounds like an author trying not to use "said" in the novelisation of Frankie Boyle's appearance on Bake Off.
Reposted by Dale Smith
I can't trust politicians who are anti-trans. Not because I'm "only searching for perfection" which is what centrists will be accusing me of for the rest of my life, it's because if you're not pro-trans you'll be garbage on lots of other issues too. Being anti-trans NEVER exists in a vacuum.
January 17, 2026 at 9:42 AM
I can't trust politicians who are anti-trans. Not because I'm "only searching for perfection" which is what centrists will be accusing me of for the rest of my life, it's because if you're not pro-trans you'll be garbage on lots of other issues too. Being anti-trans NEVER exists in a vacuum.
Reposted by Dale Smith
It will not surprise you to learn that Toby Youngs 'Free Speech Union' has obtained a High Court injunction banning the publication of a list of its donors open.substack.com/pub/democrac...
Who funds the Free Speech Union?
Toby Young’s outfit went to court to hide its donors. Today we reveal that funders include US anti-abortion groups, Brexit politicians and Tufton Street insiders.
open.substack.com
January 17, 2026 at 8:45 AM
It will not surprise you to learn that Toby Youngs 'Free Speech Union' has obtained a High Court injunction banning the publication of a list of its donors open.substack.com/pub/democrac...
I have just realised that as a schoolboy, my contemporaries made up a "rude" version of the lyrics of Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, which only goes to show that we had not adequately listened to the real lyrics of Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
January 17, 2026 at 2:17 PM
I have just realised that as a schoolboy, my contemporaries made up a "rude" version of the lyrics of Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, which only goes to show that we had not adequately listened to the real lyrics of Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Reposted by Dale Smith
I agree with Twll about this. The general principle of requiring re-standing may sound attractive (I’m definitely not convinced though). But operationalising it is incredibly problematic.
The hill I will die on is that defectors should not have to call a by-election while we are still in FPTP. You elect representatives not party delegates
After having his defection ambushed, Robert Jenrick could have got onto front-foot by calling a by-election. He could dramatise his claims about a democratic shift in the right. He would have a more credible case about risk > personal ambition
(I also think he would have won it pretty comfortably)
(I also think he would have won it pretty comfortably)
January 17, 2026 at 10:32 AM
I agree with Twll about this. The general principle of requiring re-standing may sound attractive (I’m definitely not convinced though). But operationalising it is incredibly problematic.
Reposted by Dale Smith
Gone from our plane one (miserable) year. We miss ya, Dave.
January 16, 2026 at 8:13 PM
Gone from our plane one (miserable) year. We miss ya, Dave.
Reposted by Dale Smith
The Granada series chose to ignore Watson's marriage altogether, cutting her out of stories she's mentioned in like TWIS, BOSC, and cutting her romance/engagement with Watson in SIGN. So they have to do weird things to get Watson to the opium den. I would have appreciated more domestic padding.
January 16, 2026 at 2:27 PM
The Granada series chose to ignore Watson's marriage altogether, cutting her out of stories she's mentioned in like TWIS, BOSC, and cutting her romance/engagement with Watson in SIGN. So they have to do weird things to get Watson to the opium den. I would have appreciated more domestic padding.
Oh! I hadn't noticed that at all in The Final Problem and the Return stories - I think I must have all the other versions still floating around in my head and just assumed I'd seen her here. The opening was so strange I thought they were going to do the whole thing without Holmes for a moment.
January 16, 2026 at 4:57 PM
Oh! I hadn't noticed that at all in The Final Problem and the Return stories - I think I must have all the other versions still floating around in my head and just assumed I'd seen her here. The opening was so strange I thought they were going to do the whole thing without Holmes for a moment.
I did quote this specific story in that book, so it counts.
January 16, 2026 at 1:14 PM
I did quote this specific story in that book, so it counts.
Reposted by Dale Smith
Reposted by Dale Smith
OPPORTUNITY Senior Writer- Arenanet - short term, onsite US
Not affiliated. Shares welcome
www.arena.net/en/careers/j...
Not affiliated. Shares welcome
www.arena.net/en/careers/j...
ArenaNet
Bringing art to life through our online worlds.
www.arena.net
January 16, 2026 at 7:07 AM
OPPORTUNITY Senior Writer- Arenanet - short term, onsite US
Not affiliated. Shares welcome
www.arena.net/en/careers/j...
Not affiliated. Shares welcome
www.arena.net/en/careers/j...
This is a story that cries out for the Moffat/Gatiss approach: keep that ground-breaking central idea, but ditch everything else around it and make a story a modern audience can enjoy without feeling ick. But Brett's Holmes series could never do that, so instead it's a rare dud.
January 16, 2026 at 7:37 AM
This is a story that cries out for the Moffat/Gatiss approach: keep that ground-breaking central idea, but ditch everything else around it and make a story a modern audience can enjoy without feeling ick. But Brett's Holmes series could never do that, so instead it's a rare dud.
It doesn't work in the format that the show has to stick to, and there's no getting around it. It's an early bit of background work for Ozzie Yue, but otherwise doesn't have much of a case for existing, and certainly doesn't manage to overcome its problematic associations.
January 16, 2026 at 7:34 AM
It doesn't work in the format that the show has to stick to, and there's no getting around it. It's an early bit of background work for Ozzie Yue, but otherwise doesn't have much of a case for existing, and certainly doesn't manage to overcome its problematic associations.
AIUI, the correct approach now is to ask FIFA if they'll give you their knock-off version of one.
January 16, 2026 at 7:32 AM
AIUI, the correct approach now is to ask FIFA if they'll give you their knock-off version of one.
The director helps too, with a couple of artsy - and loooong - bits of visual padding, as the Man's wife stumbles into the poor section of town, or when Holmes spends the night ruminating on the facts of the case and works out where he went wrong.
January 16, 2026 at 7:31 AM
The director helps too, with a couple of artsy - and loooong - bits of visual padding, as the Man's wife stumbles into the poor section of town, or when Holmes spends the night ruminating on the facts of the case and works out where he went wrong.
Watson gets practically 10 minutes on his own in the opening, the action transplanted to Baker Street so Mrs Hudson can add a few words to the run time, which suggests that in this universe Watson's marriage is already over and he's living in sin with Holmes again much earlier than in the canon.
January 16, 2026 at 7:29 AM
Watson gets practically 10 minutes on his own in the opening, the action transplanted to Baker Street so Mrs Hudson can add a few words to the run time, which suggests that in this universe Watson's marriage is already over and he's living in sin with Holmes again much earlier than in the canon.
There's no way that was going to fill an ITV hour, and even the fact that this has the second-best Holmes and third-best Watson in it - and was adapted by Alan Bloody Plater - the episode can't hide the fact that its stringing things out quite a bit.
January 16, 2026 at 7:27 AM
There's no way that was going to fill an ITV hour, and even the fact that this has the second-best Holmes and third-best Watson in it - and was adapted by Alan Bloody Plater - the episode can't hide the fact that its stringing things out quite a bit.
But because it's such a new and clever little twist, the story doesn't need to do much more than show it. Even in Doyle's original, you can sense he's padding things out with Holmes' tricksy arrival on the scene, and then he hears the problem, solves the problem and goes home, the end.
January 16, 2026 at 7:25 AM
But because it's such a new and clever little twist, the story doesn't need to do much more than show it. Even in Doyle's original, you can sense he's padding things out with Holmes' tricksy arrival on the scene, and then he hears the problem, solves the problem and goes home, the end.
But there's another reason it's survived though. It's because at it's core it has a brilliant idea, a new variation on the standard formats of detective fiction. You've heard of The Murderer is the Detective? How about The Murderer is the Victim? Astoundingly clever!
January 16, 2026 at 7:23 AM
But there's another reason it's survived though. It's because at it's core it has a brilliant idea, a new variation on the standard formats of detective fiction. You've heard of The Murderer is the Detective? How about The Murderer is the Victim? Astoundingly clever!
The story has survived though, in part because it's shielded by the rest of the canon: you can't praise Holmes and then jettison one of the original stories into the bin of history where it belongs. That would suggest you can judge things by today's standards when watching them. Heaven forfend!
January 16, 2026 at 7:17 AM
The story has survived though, in part because it's shielded by the rest of the canon: you can't praise Holmes and then jettison one of the original stories into the bin of history where it belongs. That would suggest you can judge things by today's standards when watching them. Heaven forfend!
On top of that, it popularised the myth of the professional beggar, something which is still happily killing people today. Playing to people's self-interested justification that there are people who can easily cast aside social stigma and make a fortune begging is a nasty little thing to do.
January 16, 2026 at 7:13 AM
On top of that, it popularised the myth of the professional beggar, something which is still happily killing people today. Playing to people's self-interested justification that there are people who can easily cast aside social stigma and make a fortune begging is a nasty little thing to do.