Ben Collier

Keen techie. Tech leader and strategic consultant. Retrocomputing enthusiast, home brewer, chorister and maker of curries.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@illiquid_ @charlierward "Cursor to take over the Kodak tower"

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@wylfcen https://t.co/qQXoJtUuoO

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@wylfcen The ecclesiastical register. Much nicer than the drawling upper class accent you hear a lot these days.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@slop_bucket @cremieuxrecueil Does this include honorary doctorates?

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@MortAuxFrousses @cremieuxrecueil Why not?

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@nic_carter Sadly the vast majority of these factors have now dissolved. British culture isn't what it was, thanks to a combination of societal change, societal decline, government policy and economic issues.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@nic_carter Confluence of factors: Anglican choristers got a brilliant musical education, exposure to rock'n'roll early and in English, grammar schools, arts schools, population density, large number of clubs, BBC arts programming, Empire hangover, language advantage.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@pheenywhits @DanNeidle "I can't afford to buy my child a crumhorn! Damn you, chancellor!"

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@nikki_plummer Striking how casually rumours are flying around (on both sides). Worth a reminder that under the Elections Act 2022, false claims about candidates can be a criminal offence, imprisonable if you can't show reasonable grounds to believe them true. Everyone needs to calm down a bit.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@supertolerant @4fHepcat Born 1978, didn't have a computer until 1989, a second hand Amstrad CPC-464. Same experience as you as regards eating patterns.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@supertolerant Spot on. Even as a middle-class family, takeaway food was something parents would sometimes, rarely, get themselves (not us!) We never went to fast food outlets. Pizza was for after a film at birthdays. We didn't even have red meat with roasts unless it was a special occasion!

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@Paul63B @GerryGreek I disagree with that. The song wasn't as catchy, and certainly didn't meet the scoring criteria in the same way. Personally I thought our performance also looked under-rehearsed, whereas Bangaranga's was remarkable. Sam Ryder's success is the exception which proves the rule here.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@offaltrades @Oran_Gotang @francesweetman There's your problem.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@offaltrades @Oran_Gotang @francesweetman We still export plenty but we've lost our cachet and automatic place of precedence, and the general quality of what we output has declined too. Artist development is gone, A&R budgets have been gutted, music in schools has been hollowed out, and the venue ecosystem has collapsed.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@offaltrades @Oran_Gotang @francesweetman In 280 chars? Sure: Rosalía, Stromae, Måneskin, Aya Nakamura, Hozier, Fontaines D.C., Aurora, Laufey, Rammstein, Tove Lo, Robyn, Christine and the Queens, Angèle, Mahmood, Kygo, Martin Garrix, and that's before we get to the Max Martin songwriting empire behind half of US/UK pop.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@offaltrades @Oran_Gotang @francesweetman We're nowhere near as culturally dominant as we used to be. Look at the percentage of UK charting songs from UK artists for example.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@offaltrades @Oran_Gotang @francesweetman It's interesting that most of your examples are dated. The time of the UK being a cultural leader in music is over. It shouldn't be, it's sad. So that argument was valid 15 years ago, it isn't now. We just have the wrong people running it for us. Sam Ryder was a freak accident.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@rcolvile The devil's in the details. The jury criteria didn't fit this song - it awards vocal performance, and ours was a sort of shouty, Blur-style. And then our staging seemed like it was under-reheared. Weirdly, for the 1st time I can remember, no apparentl support from the BBC. Odd.

[Ben Collier @bencollier]

@Jocar6562 @TgmFin Yes, they chose this song - which wasn't terribly well suited to the jury voting criteria - but then seemed to pull all support for it. No idea what happened, but leaving Sam all alone in the green room repeatedly, to the point of Denmark having to invite him to their booth? 🤨