In 1990, the original BBC series, House of Cards, aired starring the Shakespearean actor Ian Richarson in the role of Francis Urquhart.  The series was based on books by Michael Dobbs and set during the Thatcher government.  Urquhart was chief whip of the majority party who, after Thatcher resigns, is passed over for a cabinet position, plots his revenge for the snub.  The rest of the story goes pretty much like the Netflix version.  It is from that BBC series that I learned to be pragmatic and suspicious about politics and polls.  (Urguhart's pollster asks, "How do you want the poll to come out?  I can make it come out exactly as you want.")  From the BBC original, only the parties have been changed.  In the Netflix version. Francis Underwood (initials FU) is a Democrat.  In the original series, Urquhart's wife is equally ambitious, unfaithful and venal.   The marriage is one of mutual purpose.  The writers of the current...(Read Full Post)