SeanF

England, at least, was much richer, per head, in 1450, than in 1340, and the Black Death played a big part in that. The shortage of labour stimulated the demise of villeinage, and landlords had to find new ways of making money, with far fewer labourers. What they hit upon was rearing sheep. Exports of wool became a massive source of revenue to the Engish aristocracy and merchants. Overall productivity soared. That century was probably the most rapid period of economic growth in England's history, prior to the Industrial Revolution. Essentially, a popuation of less than one half its level in 1340 was actually producing more, overall, by the end of that period than at the start. That's how England financed the war. And, there were periods (1346-60) (1415-1430) where the war was highly lucrative for English participants. I know much less about France, but while the marches between English France and French France, were appallingly devastated, much of France was untouched by war, and the country had a huge population. It was only in the early 19th century that Russia overtook France, in terms of population.

Personally, I’d rather see Andrew inhabit a federal Supermax. But, I mostly share your views on Harry and Meghan.

It sounds to me as if Bernard Cornwell already did the job better than Dan Jenkins. His five novels set in The Hundred Years War don’t spare any details of the horrors inflicted upon civilians. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writing The White Company, in 1890, is pretty explicit about the atrocities committed by the English Army (at a time when most boys’ writers would have glossed over them.) In the ASOIAF universe, both Prince Daeron and Robb Stark are viewed as models of chivalry, in-universe. But, being chivalrous did not prevent the former slaughtering the people of Bitterbridge, and the latter hanging young peasant women, and conducting his chevauchee in the West.

Oh, and there used to be a solicitors’ firm in Luton called The First Law. I can’t imagine that either that of The Gentleman Barristas is a coincidence. I still can’t decide whether Fray Bentos/Frey Pies is a coincidence or not.

I was amused to walk down Piccadilly yesterday and see a coffee shop called “The Gentleman Barristas.”

Gilly is essentially just a prize for Sam. She’s universally viewed as a whore, slut, abomination. The best she can hope for is some menial job at Horn Hill, surrounded by people who despise her.

“Dany is the Great Satan” was popular among a faction on this site up to 2015, and with Crackship Rose from 2019-21, but such claims are rare now.

Tell me about it. The hair-splitting distinctions about good slavers and bad ones, and how Dany doesn’t bother to attempt to distinguish them; between tokar -wearers (innocent) and slavers (guilty); how only a tiny faction are responsible for the savagery of Slavers Bay, but Dany kills them “at random.” Then, the arguments of “I don’t support slavery, but …”. (Ignore everything before the “but”). Pity the poor Boltons/Freys/Aerys/Tywin is something else. The author makes no attempt to hide the fact that these people (like the slavers) are not flawed but somewhat decent people. They are total monsters. It is indeed, a while since we had a thread on Catelyn the Monster, the Evil Stepmother.

The dialogue between two beauteous women will be like: “I zink zis piphole bra will zuit you, ja.” ”und, zis crotchless panty reely zuits you, mein liebchen.”

Compared to Ser Gregor, Aerys, Tywin, the Boltons, the Bloody Mummers et al, chivalry is good for women. The problem is, hardly anyone practises it.

Women are too pure-minded to enjoy such filth.

The problem won’t lie with fAegon. It will lie with Jon Connington, and the Sands, and their quest for vengeance.

Oh yes, he was quite good.

Lesbian porn is almost 100% geared towards straight men (so friends tell me).

Indeed. Fantasising about inter-racial sex in a region founded on slavery is full of squick. The most popular searches in the UK and Australia, incidentally, are for lesbian porn.

I remember reading an article about the favourite types of searches per US State on Pornhub. Inter-racial porn was most popular in the Deep South. I was puzzled that it was not incestuous porn. A colleague explained that porn is about fantasy, not humdrum reality.

Incest is Wincest, as well as being Normal for Norfolk.

From his POV, Dany would need Astapor to process the slaves she would capture in her campaigns. Suppose, for the sake of argument, she captured 100,000 slaves. What could she do with them? Well, Astapor has the money to purchase them, the barracks to house them, the guards and overseers to control them, the trainers to break them into accepting their status as slaves, and the contacts to resell them. Even if they thought a buyer might turn the unsullied on them, they’d dismiss the idea. Why would a buyer forgo the chance to make much more money by trading with them?

Napoleon delighted in telling all and sundry that Emma Hamilton and Maria Carolina were lovers, which also featured in English and French cartoons.

The talent pool really ran dry among the Bourbons after the death of Carlos III. With the Hapsburgs, it was Joseph II who was the last competent ruler. That would not necessarily matter if you had a competent chief minister, but after Metternich, the Austrians never did. You see it too with the Hohenzollerns. Their last talented ruler was Frederick the Great, followed by a number of capable ministers, culminating with Bismarck. But, there was no one after Bismarck.

There was a big element of spite, and overkill. Tywin’s actions worked in the short term. But in the longer term, he sowed the wind and his family will reap the whirlwind.

Theories:- Sansa is the daughter of LF and Cat. Jon is the son of either Brandon Stark and Lyanna or Ned and Lyanna. Dany is the daughter of Rhaegar and Rhaella. Tyrion and Penny will have dwarf children, together, resulting in a new race of dwarves in Essos. Takes:- The Ghiscari slavers are in the right, and the Sons of the Harpy are freedom fighters. Robb ought to have proved he was impartial by executing his mother for freeing Jaime. Tywin’s massacres were simply realpolitik.

Cersei's and Tyrion's direct body counts are quite small. Indirectly, they head up a murderous regime that inflicts misery upon hundreds of thousands, even if the bulk of the killing is done by their father and his soldiers.

The Villeneuve illustration for the interior of Casterly Rock resembles the Institute of Civil Engineers in London. They could use that interior, or that of Freemasons’ Hall. There are some beautiful castles in France and Eastern Europe that could have been used for Highgarden.

It's not clear if that dispute was ever settled. Looking at pictures online, the rubbish collectors have posted pictures of Gandalf and hobbits collecting rubbish, so they're bang to rights. I see there's a Lord of the Bins board game, however. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/359915/lord-bins