Mine's out of sight over the horizon and I have no idea which way it went from there.

"Brave"

Not comfortable with that assertion, even as an Aussie.

Yeah, I went to that show with high expectations but they seemed to be just going through the motions. The first time I saw them they looked like they were trying hard to impress, which they did.

I saw them - sort of - on that tour. I was too late for Something For Kate and underwhelmed by Powderfinger. The sound was pretty bad but they still seemed to be off their game compared to the previous time I saw them.

I think maybe it's turned out that "smashing Tories" only meant winning elections, not actually implementing anti-Tory policy.

As ever, we're stuck with our two major parties - the Bastard Party and the Coward Party - and, consequently, no major policy differences.

I've heard that said about him, many a time.

Baz heard you mention his name
Don't talk any louder

It's the wrong ...

A fine technical achievement but dragged way down by a soap opera script so bad that AI would disown it.

Someone left the old batteries in too long.

So, we live in a world where the appropriate centre-left response to their most vocal opposition being racist cunts is to be racist cunts.

Permission to cry, sir?

Lip fillers with frozen faces.

It's OK, that's what neighbours are for.

Not just Kegseth and the admiral, everyone further down the chain is guilty too. *These* are the illegal orders that should be disobeyed.

He certainly drops you straight into the setting with no preparation, but I hope you find it worth persevering with.

I'm re-reading my way through Gibson right now, and I find it's OK as long as I think and absorb and occasionally flick back a page or two.

It's been a lotta years since I read it, but I think I coped OK with the infodump. Brunner was a neglected genius - have you read The Shockwave Rider?

Perhaps more than most genres, the opening of a sci-fi novel is an infodump. Getting it right is vital, lest the author lose the reader. There are ways of doing it - including slow and subtle, or a lot but not quite too much up front - I suspect it's something most authors take a lot of time over.

I have some concern over the Paulaby beast and whether the word "pegging" may be used in connection with their connection.