Archers thread #175: Crime, punishment and kittens. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that your current highlight is the kitten naming, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

As I am posting this on Sunday morning at a point where some omnibus listeners won't have caught up with this week's events, I've kept the title less spoilerish than I might have done. Below this point, everything broadcast to date is of course fair game, so be warned!

Of course the main interest for most us at the moment is indeed the kitten naming competition. Isn't it? No?

Oh well, since you insist ...

How do we think George is going to cope now? Whither the Grundy and Horrobin clan? Will Lilian choke on her G&T (please)? Will Kenton get septicaemia from a kitten scratch? Will Alice die of sanctimoniousness? Will Fallon spend the rest of her life with the appalling Harrison and his unfulfulled longing for a behbeh? Will Adam and Will come to blows in the Bridge Farm packing shed?

Over to you!

Sorry I'm a bit late with this and you've probably already discussed it. I've looked back over the thread a bit, but might have missed it.

I'm a long term sober alcoholic and I was really unhappy with Alice's victim impact statement. She was talking about how George's actions had affected her relationship with her daughter and how what happened had affected her own mental health.

But she was basically in blackout because of the amount she'd had to drink and the crash was caused by her actions while drunk.

So where does she get to take responsibility for her own choices? When you drink to blackout, anything could happen. You put yourself and others at risk,even if you don't drink drive. The biggest impact on her relationship with her child is that she was drinking to blackout and that made her unfit to take care of her until she was reliably sober again. That had nothing to do with George's actions.

Obviously George's actions were very wrong and he needs to take responsibility for them. But it's almost as if his actions have created a smoke screen that means Alice doesn't have to look at what she did.

Yes, smokescreen is the perfect word.

It's beginning to feel a bit like any criticism of Trump eliciting the response "Yes, but her emails!" when he was running against Hillary Clinton.

yes I totally agree and you have put it well - it seems to have allowed her to do what everyone is accusing Emma of doing!

congrats on your sobriety

Fallon acting in haste - will she repent in leisure?

No, she’ll thrive.

Though Harrison will do his best to piss on her chips.

Adam enjoying putting out the bins at the end of a shift?!? The fact it’s a novelty underlines his sense of entitlement more than anything else.

He'll be running the place by next week.

Harrison will do his best to piss on her chips

I can’t see him fulfilling any useful function at her caff myself

Harrison will do his best to piss on her chips
is that a vegan recipe?

Can't be vegan, since it involves an animal product...

And he's SUCH a hammy sounding am dram smoothie.

David Hunter in Crossroads territory

David Hunter in Crossroads territory

Oh, good spot, @Lalgarh

I was delighted when the penny dropped that Vetinari is a play on Medici. The name or the person? If the name you’ll have to explain.

*Kirsty surely doesn't need to rattle around in anything that size” why is a single person, especially if elderly, always considered to “rattle around” in something larger than a 1-bed flat? Whereas a couple with 1 child are perfectly acceptable to live in a 5-bed?

*I was delighted when the penny dropped that Vetinari is a play on Medici. The name or the person? If the name you’ll have to explain. I’ve got it. The missing link was Medici - medicine.

I’m glad Kirsty didn’t confide in Clarrie about her worries juggling a buy-to-let with a second property.

@MereDintofPandiculation ... *Kirsty surely doesn't need to rattle around in anything that size” why is a single person, especially if elderly, always considered to “rattle around” in something larger than a 1-bed flat? Whereas a couple with 1 child are perfectly acceptable to live in a 5-bed?

Well, people can do as they please, obviously. It wouldn't be my choice unless I had staff! But given that Kirsty didn't want to live in The Slaver House, I was just thinking that this would leave her with some capital for (heaven forbid!) having some fun. Come to think of it, I should perhaps get a prize for getting the words "Kirsty" and "fun" into the same sentence.

Still, it worked well when he played the oleaginous Henry Crawford in Mansfield Park.

He was a lot more normal in Clare in the Community.

I find Adam’s posh drawl excruciating.

What is Adam actually doing? He used to be an expert on soil fertility and structure with his herbals leys (never mind Chelsea being a good teacher - he taught me everything I know about soil health!) - he’s completely wasted fiddling around at Bridge Farm. And where is Brian??? I can’t believe he’s had nothing to say about George!

I hope Emma Grundy wasn’t watching the BBC news tonight. The picture it paints of life in English prisons was terrifying. I was thinking about how George would be coping, completely forgetting he might possibly be fictional!

I think there is a bit of snobbery snobbery on this thread to be honest firstly someone mentioned the Daily Mail readers then Emma must watch GBNews. Perhaps rich people watch these too. Im giving up on this thread its too clicky and people take it much too serious.

True, there is snobbery on these threads and it makes me cringe but I don't think it's cliquey - all are welcome. And it's the only thread on MN that regularly makes me laugh.

And, yes, we do take The Archers seriously but the threads would be boring if we didn't.

@BeatriceBatchelor True, there is snobbery on these threads ....

We're just channelling Lynda. <sniff>

I like the fact the archers isn’t party political because I get far too much of that elsewhere!

I really don’t think you could say what Emma reads - working class characters are more likely to be left wing surely? I hate the way this country reduces people down to a limited number of stereotypes

a psa on Asian hornets is my limit. Sick of drama writers shoving their political views down my throat - particularly when presented so simplistically

I was thinking through that episode that fallon will go and Adam (and Ian?) will take over…. Possibly really pushing the meat and dairy products in direct opposition to Fallons plans and discounts for the PTA (how long til the twins go to school?). In my head, this was driving Chelsea mad so she finally got the push to get a unit for her hairdressing….