-
Self Identification
I recently read these three tweets by Helen Lewis, and it helped clarify for me the difference between those against self-ID and the rest of us. The second tweet is the key one here, because it assumes that those in favour of self-ID believe the act of saying a thing causes it to be true, […]
-
Some thoughts on The Burning Wheel
Recently my Tuesday night Role-playing group played a nine-episode campaign of Luke Crane’s Fantasy RPG system The Burning Wheel. The current edition is Burning Wheel Gold. It’s safe to say the experience was divisive. We started with (I think) 6 or 7 players, and in the end-game had two. But that end-game… wow. It’s a […]
-
The Simulation Interrogation
I recently finished a spec for The Big Bang Theory. I know that writing specs for currently-airing shows is considered a bit passé these days but I a) needed a spec of a particular US comedy to put into the Nickelodeon Writing Program, and this was my favourite of the ones on offer and b) […]
-
The Wheel of Karma
Some years ago, I had a minor entanglement with Alex Dally McFarlane and the notable hatemonger known as Requires Hate (also known as Winterfox, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, and too many other aliases to mention here), where they bullied a friend of mine off of Twitter and very nearly out of fandom altogether for the crime of Not Being […]
-
The Politics of Cowards
You might not know about the bill that’s going before Parliament next week to force telecoms companies and ISPs to retain data so that the security services can look through it at a later date. This is because it’s being rushed through as emergency legislation. The leaders of all three parties are claiming that there’s […]
-
About Piers
Hullo, and welcome to Piers Beckley’s website. Piers is a full member of The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, was shortlisted for the BBC Drama Writers Academy 2007, and was a delegate on the TAPS Continuing Drama course (the equivalent scheme for ITV) in 2008. You can watch his short film, Fatal, online as a […]
-
Giant Happy Crab Returns
Been a bit quiet around here recently, hasn’t it? Ahem. Really must try and do something about that. Pretend I have mysterious and exciting news that I can’t tell you about yet. That’s what writers generally do when they return to their blogs after a long absence, yes? (I don’t. OR IS THIS A CUNNING […]
-
On giving 110%
Some people (possibly the same as those that argue that Doctor Who isn’t Doctor Who’s Name or that “they” isn’t a perfectly good singular pronoun that’s been in use for centuries) have occasionally been known to argue that it’s not possible to give 110%. Of course it is. Let’s take a look at George Osborne, […]
-
When come back, do not bring pie.
So m’learned colleague Natt has blogged about the recent fracas in the Commons Select Committee. For those who missed it, here’s what happened: Rupert and James Murdoch were answering to a Commons Select Committee about what was known by them about phone hacking at the News of the World, and the possibility of a cover […]