I've been reading and enjoying the Slow Horses books, and one striking thing is how the presence of a gun in stories about crime and espionage is itself an unlikely event. A non-insane country's gun policy on display, like you literally couldn't tell these stories based in the US. - ThreadSky

davelevitan.bsky.social • 22 days ago

I've been reading and enjoying the Slow Horses books, and one striking thing is how the presence of a gun in stories about crime and espionage is itself an unlikely event. A non-insane country's gun policy on display, like you literally couldn't tell these stories based in the US.

Comments

absolutelynotpc.bsky.social•21 days ago

As a Brit male, I get the pleasure of a finely engineered clicky mechanism thing to fidget with, just like a fidget spinner. It’s the “Bang, you’re seriously injured or actually dead” aspect that I am absolutely uncomfortable with.

im2bz2p2day.bsky.social•22 days ago

I see that all the time on British shows.

justnews4you.bsky.social•22 days ago

Never heard of these books, any quick synopsis links to share?

obsidian-nebula.bsky.social•22 days ago

Wikipedia has a decent synopsis. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slough_House_(novel_series)
Basically a bunch of special agents who did something wrong and are now knocked down to a department that is supposed to just be pushing papers. However, these misfit agents keep finding themselves in dangerous situations.

funart1.bsky.social•22 days ago

It's such a HUGE deal for one of them to have a gun. As it should be really.

sugarcubedog.bsky.social•22 days ago

I like English detective shows and one reason is the lack of guns. They’re mostly about figuring out all the clues and I enjoy that.

wtakick.bsky.social•22 days ago

I went to London in ‘92, surprised to see their cops were not armed.

jimcamp.bsky.social•22 days ago

Great series of books and tv

staringskyward.bsky.social•22 days ago

If you want something that'll blow your mind try Life on Mars. It's on UK Netflix now. Period correct in every way.

debbielough.bsky.social•22 days ago

And the follow up, Ashes to Ashes, set in the 80s.

latinovocalist.bsky.social•22 days ago

Certainly the last 4 years of the Creepy Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., he is a known paedophile and he was not frail enough to talk about guns during the past 4 years of his Misadministration. If you watch the video of him arguing with citizens, he doesn't even know gun nomenclature.

roddy13.bsky.social•21 days ago

Sounds like projection.... besides which, why would any sane person know anything about "gun nomenclature"?

bellatv55.bsky.social•22 days ago

good books And the Series, too!

tmece.bsky.social•22 days ago

That sounds very different from the show! Lots of guns there. Most of them aren't owned by civilians though, of course.

chindaswind.bsky.social•22 days ago

Slow Horses gallop through intrigue, proving that in some places, espionage thrives best unarmed—unlike in the U.S., where ‘cloak and dagger’ often skips the dagger and goes straight to the AR-15.

emmespace.bsky.social•22 days ago

Always startled watching British procedural when they run in yelling “armed police” instead of just “police”

undotyping.bsky.social•21 days ago

He returned home from a three-day trip.
As soon as he opened the fridge he knew something was amiss. Right there, on the top shelf, his MP5 sat next to the gallon of milk he'd bought before leaving.
His kids would never leave milk untouched.
And that could only mean one thing...

quantumtessera.bsky.social•22 days ago

Wife and I are LOVING the show...

robbyackerman666.bsky.social•22 days ago

Sorry, I’m confused—I must have read this wrong.

Are you saying the Slow Horses series are based in the U.S.?

vakaastra.bsky.social•22 days ago

Check out the Sandbaggers , a bit dated but same sense of ennui and crushing overburden whilst doing IC work. More of a talkie, so very good
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a9c6MTFimTk

funhousejournal.bsky.social•22 days ago

Read an interview with John Cleese about A Fish Called Wanda and he says there's one scene where Kevin Kline just pulls a pistol out of nowhere. Cleese says people in most countries laugh at the absurdity but in the US people never understand that's a joke.

azredsoxfan65.bsky.social•22 days ago

I love the show SlowHorses

kscarr.bsky.social•22 days ago

I watched a mystery series set in England and enjoyed the lack of guns. People were murdered with shotguns, knives, dressers falling on them, being whacked on the head and pushed into a vat of beer, all kinds of imaginative methods. I like the Slow Horses too.

darkhorse9.bsky.social•22 days ago

Just reading book 3, good point, just read where River is bemoaning that the nearest gun to him (in London) is at his Grandfather's, half an hour away....

jpcclement.bsky.social•22 days ago

A masterpiece (which I believe won some Cannes awards) but, for me, a true eye-opener about the vast difference in gun culture between Europe and the US (and not a pleasant one for US citizens like me).

jpcclement.bsky.social•22 days ago

@davelevitan.bsky.social being European-born, now a US citizen, I had the same feeling and awe about a movie a decade or so ago called 'La Haine' where some French kids in a Paris suburb happen upon a gun. The whole movie is about how that gun changes their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

charlesxii.bsky.social•22 days ago

Anyone wanting the definitive spy series should try to find the original BBC adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy starring Alec Guiness. It’s a masterpiece.

peyermann.bsky.social•22 days ago

I love this book series. And the Apple TV versions are surprisingly true to the books, which isn’t usually the case.

sparklydiadem.bsky.social•22 days ago

Now I’m thinking about Michael Scott in an improv class.

lollardfish.bsky.social•22 days ago

I love that there are /specific/ guns that matter in multiple books.

lollardfish.bsky.social•22 days ago

(Also why I didn’t love book 3 or season 3 bc too much of it was big SWAT stuff with large guns. It made sense as plot, but wasn’t as interesting to me)

davelevitan.bsky.social•22 days ago

Totally, that one stood out to me as well just for the sheer violence of it, definitely less fun

3fecta.bsky.social•22 days ago

I have watched the entire series. Would it make the books more enjoyable or the series less?

davelevitan.bsky.social•22 days ago

I only watched one season of the show, before reading, but I guess it made me like the books more? I literally hear Gary Oldman in my head as I read, which I'm very much fine with. But your mileage may vary!

lollardfish.bsky.social•22 days ago

Yep

lollardfish.bsky.social•22 days ago

I don’t know the history of the books, but it felt a bit to me like the end of a trilogy. And then he got to write 7 more (or whatever) and settled back down.

msheidilee.bsky.social•22 days ago

Great book series. Working my way through them.

alarue907.bsky.social•22 days ago

That’s because there’s very few men willing to face danger with their bare hands in this country. There are a few, and they think of guns as tools, not an identity and they don’t need them to defeat their enemies.