Latest British Talk Posts at VideoSift.com

The Life of Python - 20 Greatest Monty Python Sketches

ant (http://british.videosift.com/member/ant) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:19:49 -0700

(0 comments - 146 views)
http://gnews.com/entertainment/The-Life-of-Python-20-Greatest-Monty-Python-Sketches-110424014489.html from http://digg.com/television/40th_Anniversary_Special_20_Greatest_Clips_of_Monty_Python ...

- ant

Does every video with a brit HAVE to be tagged British?

lampishthing (http://british.videosift.com/member/lampishthing) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:30:04 -0700

(21 comments - 257 views)
I'm looking at you House fans...

I mean, should a video of a person talking on American tv about American issues with American in-jokes who just happens to be British be tagged for this channel? I really don't think so. It was this video that set me off:

http://british.videosift.com/video/Ricky-Gervais-at-the-2009-Emmys

They don't even pronouce his name right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Travesty? What does everybody else think?

- lampishthing

Treatment of Alan Turing was "appalling" - Gordon Brown, PM

radx (http://british.videosift.com/member/radx) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:56:49 -0700

(12 comments - 368 views)
The campaign to get a government apology for the prosecution of Alan Turing for homosexuality in 1952 was successful.

The Prime Minister has released a statement on the Second World War code-breaker, Alan Turing, recognising the “appalling” way he was treated for being gay.

Alan Turing, a mathematician most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes, was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ in 1952 and sentenced to chemical castration.

Gordon Brown’s statement came in response to a petition posted on the Number 10 website which has received thousands of signatures in recent months.

Statement:

2009 has been a year of deep reflection - a chance for Britain, as a nation, to commemorate the profound debts we owe to those who came before. A unique combination of anniversaries and events have stirred in us that sense of pride and gratitude which characterise the British experience. Earlier this year I stood with Presidents Sarkozy and Obama to honour the service and the sacrifice of the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy 65 years ago. And just last week, we marked the 70 years which have passed since the British government declared its willingness to take up arms against Fascism and declared the outbreak of World War Two. So I am both pleased and proud that, thanks to a coalition of computer scientists, historians and LGBT activists, we have this year a chance to mark and celebrate another contribution to Britain’s fight against the darkness of dictatorship; that of code-breaker Alan Turing.

Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes. It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War Two could well have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely. In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ - in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence - and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison - was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own life just two years later.

Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly. Over the years millions more lived in fear of conviction.

I am proud that those days are gone and that in the last 12 years this government has done so much to make life fairer and more equal for our LGBT community. This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long overdue.

But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united, democratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once the theatre of mankind’s darkest hour. It is difficult to believe that in living memory, people could become so consumed by hate - by anti-Semitism, by homophobia, by xenophobia and other murderous prejudices - that the gas chambers and crematoria became a piece of the European landscape as surely as the galleries and universities and concert halls which had marked out the European civilisation for hundreds of years. It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present.

So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.

Source: Number 10 web site

- radx

PQUEUED MONDAY 3: British Music

paul4dirt (http://british.videosift.com/member/paul4dirt) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:49:29 -0700

(10 comments - 292 views)

People are flying in from all over europe for the already legendary siftup party on september 12th.
Sadly, quite a lot of us sifters won't be able to attend, but in honour of the party we might as well show our appreciation of british culture.
British humour is already highly regarded on the sift, and gets its fair share of votes. So on this 3rd Pqueued Monday let's focus on another thing the Brits are pretty good at: music.

Here's what to do to participate: post a link to 1 (or 2, max) pqueued vids that fit the theme, not from your own pqueue.

Previous:
PQM2: Time
PQM1

- paul4dirt

Amazing Interactive Freerun Video/Game on YouTube

radx (http://british.videosift.com/member/radx) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:22:46 -0700

(0 comments - 251 views)
Here's something new, fellas: Damien Walters and Tim "Livewire" Shieff made a freerunning sequence on YouTube that lets the viewer decide which move he/she wants to see next.

You get to follow either Damien or Tim and at certain points, you are presented with a choice of two alternative moves, each with its own video. The choice is done via annotations, annoying as they usually are.

And everything was filmed rather close-up, so you're up for a treat.

Nothing too fancy, but an interesting concept.

Tried to sift it, but failed miserably due to mandatory &iv_load_policy=3 which disabled annotations, thus rendering the concept ineffective.

Anyway, enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxK-QmM4AM8

- radx

The NHS/Socialist healthcare

dannym3141 (http://british.videosift.com/member/dannym3141) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:12:24 -0700

(13 comments - 371 views)
A nice little article i just read on yahoo news page.. Not meant to start a raging debate, not meant to be inflammatory, just a well written piece on the benefits of a system like the NHS, and the way the NHS is being used as the posterboy for the apocalypse by certain politicians in the US.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/talking_politics/article/55620/

Interesting read and some excellent points made. Hard for a brit to understand why the US are against a free and non-obligatory minimum standard of healthcare for all - it genuinely is. And having seen the recent Obama video, harder still.

This a good read to anyone from the US?

- dannym3141

UPDATED! EURO S⇧FTUP 2009 now with confirmed location!

maatc (http://maatc.videosift.com) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:12:36 -0700

(85 comments - 1359 views)
Sept 5. Update:

Confirmed Date: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 in LONDON
Confirmed Location: CANTALOUPE in the East End (off Old Street), starting from 8:00 pm

Location on Google Maps

We have five confirmed participants so far: BreaksTheEarth, gwiz665, ornthoron, haldaug and maatc

I have reserved a corner for eight people hoping some more local London sifters will show. The more the merrier!

Here is an accomodation suggestion for out of towners

Original post:
Judging from alien_concepts post about six months ago there seemed to be a few people interested in a Euro-Siftup around late August/early September.
(I counted: gwiz665, Thylan, schmawy, Ornthoron,laura, kronosposeidon, Deano, Farhad2000, evil_disco_man, deputydog, antonye and BreaksTheEarth)

Since things have cooled off over in the original thread (and it looks like a_c can not make it) I am taking over in trying to organise something.

Here is my suggestion:
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 in LONDON

Any date would work really, but this one gives everyone around six weeks to plan the trip, plus we save a lengthy discussion on what day would be best.

I will fly over from Berlin for the occasion, and I even if only three or four people can make it from the original list, it should be a blast!
(Maybe we can come up with some video project and shoot something while we are all together?)

It would also be great if some London locals could jump in and suggest a cool pub for the gargantuan siftapallooza.

So, who is in?

- maatc

Stephen Fry on copyright

radx (http://british.videosift.com/member/radx) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:40:00 -0700

(3 comments - 433 views)
Our favorite TV host apparently went all out last night at the iTunes Live event in London.

Excerpt:

After outlining the history of copyright, he [Fry] went on to say that, in the entertainment industry's pursuit of the file-sharers, he suspects "that my business - the film business, the television business, the music business - is doing the wrong thing".

He described what he called the aggressive prosecution around the world of those who illegally download. It did no good, said Fry, to label these people as criminals.

He mocked "those preposterous" commercials on DVDs telling audiences "you wouldn't steal a handbag". He said he wanted to ask whether people in his industry are "so blind... as to think that someone who bit-torrents an episode of 24 is the same as someone who steals somebody's handbag".

There was more, much more.

Pirate Bay had been unjustly pursued, and the reputation of its founders had been smeared by the music industry. He himself had resorted to BitTorrent to get hold of a TV programme; mind you, it was an episode of House, featuring his old "partner in crime" Hugh Laurie, and he had already paid to download the series.

Sure, those who downloaded on an industrial scale for profit should be prosecuted - but if the price of downloads came down to a "fair" level, most people were pretty moral and would be happy to pay. He went on to compare the music industry to "big tobacco".

Source: dot.life blog, BBC

- radx

So now the Brits are a nation of criminals too

Throbbin (http://british.videosift.com/member/Throbbin) — Sat, 16 May 2009 07:10:23 -0700

(8 comments - 244 views)
Check out this story about corruption at the highest levels of the British Government.

We always knew the Aussies were descendants of rapists and thieves, now the Brits too?

Canada perseveres as the only remaining respectable place in the Commonwealth (and Kenya).

- Throbbin

deputydog is 500 diamond - no capital letters please!

rasch187 (http://rasch187.videosift.com) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:25:15 -0700

(39 comments - 418 views)

deputydog has been a member of the sift since august 2006. it's about time this manc bastard got his silver diamond (what is a silver diamond anyway?!).

here are a few things you should know about shaun:

* his homepage/blog is one of the best sites on the internet.
* he never uses capital letters
* he's very interested in architecture (just have a look at his site)
* the videos he posts (like these) are always great and will in most cases leave you gobsmacked

so congrats, deputy! keep on finding great vids and enjoy your moment in the sun

NicoleBee made this:

- rasch187