Eleventh Hour

I watched the first half hour of this and then I got fed up with it and finished a short story instead. Patrick Stewart is always watchable and he's a good actor (although the avuncular Yorkshireman act got the series re-christened the 'Eee, bah 'ecks Files' by a sarcastic reviewer), but the dialogue just grated on me. I just can't see a government advisor walking into a police investigation, taking over their evidence tent and introducing himself as 'whatever-it-was, scientist.' If I went into the local cop shop and introduced myself as 'Liz Williams, writer' they'd probably be laughing yet.

And he has a special branch bodyguard because WHO is out to get him? I'm presuming the female cop was being sarcastic when she mentioned Greenpeace. After Rainbow Warrior, it's more likely to be the other way round. I can buy that he might need protection from the animal rights brigade, whose guerilla exhumations have recently caused a fuss in the UK, but Greenpeace? And possible assassination by 'oil companies' is stretching it unless he's working in Lagos.

An old friend of mine advises the House of Lords on medical and scientific ethics. He's a philosopher of science - used to be professor at Manchester and now works more or less freelance. A lot of the people who get onto ethics committees have a philosophical, rather than a directly scientific, background, so I'm not even sure that Stewart's character, as a physicist, would be involved in these sorts of cases.

Did anyone else see it? What did you think?

Friday afternoon meme

The long one nicked from several people.

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Antiquarian occult booksellers convention

We have been invited to it, although we don't do antiquarian books (although I would love to).

Just had a warning from the organiser that they operate a 'no dolphin' policy. Damn, I suppose that means we can't take all our spare copies of 'DOLPHIN DREAMS AND HOW THEY PROVE YOUR PAST-LIFE EXISTENCE AS A PRIESTESS OF ANCIENT ATLANTIS,' then?

I am joking. But only just.