Bit of a mixed bag.

reduce duplicative work

Never a bad thing.

and operative costs

Red flag when you’re not also talking about the efficiency and quality of the work being done.

strengthen digital sovereignty and security

I don’t think anyone’s going to argue with that.

That’s the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.

Well, it’s not just the portrait.

Two of many good questions.

I assume this is primarily for the GTA commuter rail where that’s less(?) of an issue.

But in any case, the VIA rolling stock is pretty old, AFAIK.

Long-term commitment is definitely a concern, especially if/when there’s a change in government.

I also think they’ll eventually run into a housing supply issue - at some point, they’ll run out of buildings to rehabilitate and have to rely on new builds.

So what did you think about the parts of the article which described what they are doing to address those very challenges?

Anti-immigrant rhetoric is a pretty mainstream position nationwide at this point.

The ood plotlines went nowhere, highlighting this was maybe not the best story in which to bring up the whole slave race plotline

Yeah, it really seems like they wanted the Beast to have a creepy army, and have minimal thought to the greater implications of this “basic slave race” - something they work to remedy in the future, but it’s a very…Ood choice.

Maybe not as strong as the introductory episode, but I still like this one a lot, albeit for only one real reason.

The stuff on the Santuary Base is decent, but perfunctory. Rose and the crew work to disrupt the Ood and make their escape. Rose gets to be a leader, heroic sacrifices are made, Zack gets to learn some self-respect. It’s all fine - good, even, elevated by the same strong performances we got last week. I think the direction betrays the fact that Toby is still possessed, which is unfortunate, because Will Thorp is still quite good. I’m not sure what to make of Danny’s(?) flatulence - is that supposed to be some sulphuric betrayal of Toby’s true self?

The Doctor’s final confrontation with the Beast is also…fine. David Tennant does as good a job as he possibly can - it’s fun to watch him second-guessing the situation and essentially playing chess with himself, but at the end of the day he’s still playing against nothing. It’s the same basic setup that Matt Smith later gets in “The Rings of Akhaten,” but that episode does it better. The Beast looks pretty good, but suffers a lot from the general low-resolutionness of the episode. It’d be great to see a remaster.

But the Doctor and Ida, standing on the edge of the abyss? That’s solid gold. The Doctor standing on the edge of the Pit, waxing philosophical about the compulsion to go down, is all I really think about when I think of this episode. 10/10, no notes.

The gravity globe is such a weird little thing - I guess it’s called that because of the way it hangs in the air? Pretty risky when you’re in a planet orbiting a black hole, that’s also projecting some kind of gravity funnel into deep space.

Even weirder is the fact that it’s recurring - the Anglican Marines use one in Matt Smith’s Weeping Angels two-parter.

also implying there’s no way Rose can get back to the other universe where Mickey and Pete are.

I like this thought - it had never occurred to me before.

What’s that you say? You were underwhelmed by last week’s bland TV lady as a villain? Can I interest you in the actual, Biblical Satan?

I don’t think I quite knew what to make of this episode when I first saw it - it’s so unlike anything else we’ve seen in the new series. But hot damn, do I ever love it now.

There’s a base! And it’s under siege! Groundbreaking! The Doctor’s quip about these bases being built out of kits is another bit that I definitely didn’t appreciate at the time, but it’s pretty funny. I think the Doctor/Rose relationship is in its ideal state here. Low-key flirty in a way that feels pretty real, without being maudlin (though it walks up to that line as they discuss what they’ll do if they ever escape Sanctuary Base 6).

The episode handles the base crew very well - they’re necessarily sketched out quickly, but they all seem like living, breathing people, and I really felt it when poor Toby and Scooti met their fates. Will Thorp deserves particular credit for making Toby seem like a sympathetic character, and then flipping to seeming incredibly threatening once he’s been taken over by the Beast.

Pretty nice spacesuits. I wonder if we’ll ever see them again.

I’m sure there’s loads that can be said about this episode, but I dunno. It’s great. Bring on the next one. I’ll be waiting here with an inverted self-extrapolating reflex of 6 to the power of 6 every 6 seconds.

Every one commits treason who, in Canada,

(a) uses force or violence for the purpose of overthrowing the government of Canada or a province;

(b) without lawful authority, communicates or makes available to an agent of a state other than Canada, military or scientific information or any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document of a military or scientific character that he knows or ought to know may be used by that state for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or defence of Canada;

© conspires with any person to commit high treason or to do anything mentioned in paragraph (a);

(d) forms an intention to do anything that is high treason or that is mentioned in paragraph (a) and manifests that intention by an overt act; or

(e) conspires with any person to do anything mentioned in paragraph (b) or forms an intention to do anything mentioned in paragraph (b) and manifests that intention by an overt act.

CBC:

The Criminal Code defines treason primarily as the use of force to overthrow the government or sharing with another state information that may be used for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or defence of Canada.

Seems pretty much the same?

This is another episode where the pair of Doctor and Rose feel to have jumped around a bit. After last episode’s downer ending they’re all upbeat again. This has happened a few times this series.

Yeah, I know I’ve been banging on about this all season, but it really seems the like episodic sequence is all out of whack.

This is a pretty average episode, and I don’t have a good sense for what people think of it in general, but I’ve always been fond of it for one reason: the domestic approach.

Eddie Connolly is an absolute cartoon character, but he’s a type of stock character that I like a lot. A petty tyrant in his own home, clearly a product of older times that are coming to an end, likely having experienced a fair amount of wartime trauma, who ultimately gets his comeuppance. Jamie Foreman’s performance is a little over-the-top, but in a way, that makes it work even better for me. He’s got so much impotent bluster, it really paints a picture. To a lesser extent, this expands out to the overall setting - this is a society in transition, and there’s a palpable tug-of-war between the old and the new that I find compelling.

The core plot with the Wire? Adequate. It does what it needs to do, and not much more. Maureen Lipman plays the character well, and the notion that the Wire was “executed” by their own people is interesting, but there’s not a lot to chew on.

Mark Gatiss seems to have a really good grasp of who the Tenth Doctor and Rose are - their dialogue, both together and separately, has a lot of energy. A fun random bit that I’m not sure I noticed before: when the Doctor is cornered by the police and does the bit about wrapping your hand around your elbow, the goon in the background tries it while Detective Inspector Bishop is trying to act intimidating.

Using an historic television signal to transmit to the masses is a good idea. Maybe the Doctor should keep that one in mind.

Often themselves. The focus of the article is overwhelmingly on children who were injured in without the involvement of another vehicle.

AFAIK, Rogers still has the brand. It just won’t be on CBC.

I remember starting Fringe when it debuted, but it didn’t grab my attention and I dropped it pretty quickly. I know its reputation is quite good - I should give it another go sometime.

Martialer Law