mockney piers

Is that A Haiku? ;)

I'm not sure which direction you're coming from tarot. I think bottom line is that no religion gets much of a say so in how this country functions and develops, barring a few anachronistic episcopal votes in the upper chamber. Charlie can do or say what he wants for all the influence it will have on anyone in this country, though I am partial to talking to plants myself, but that's more of a self indulgence so I won't be nailing any theses on the door of Clarence House just yet!!!!

...or the lizards...

Not bad; give your imaginary Huguenot a quick trim at the barbers, change the cords to slacks (cords, in Singapore, are you mad?!) and accept that everyday is a hot day near the equator, and you're pretty much there!!

Why doesn't the business sell off the facility to the workers allowing them to run it as a collective and live the anarcho-syndicalist dream. I bet you the productivity rates will undergo a dramatic transformation!

It certainly lends itself to electronic voting, and the software itself would be very easy to write; but I sure as hell wouldn't want to be the one having to roll out an unhackable, fullproof, secure network to every bingo hall and primary school in the country.

"Doesn't really have a huge effect on the race but does affect the betting and odds - or in politics the number of clearly articulated policies that will be delivered by a strong and confident executive" I have to say I can't recall a time when policies have been clearly articulated like they have done in the coalition (presumably because the details have to be thrashed out in fraught meetings behind closed doors beforehand.) Labour's massive majorities never seemed to overcome their basic paranoia about not being a natural ruling party and they showed anything but confidence. They also failed to clearly articulate policies but spun spin, dipping their toes in policy waters until the Sun or Mail kicked, then quietly put those policies out to pasture or U-turned if they'd gone far enough. (and certainly enough with the mixed metaphors already Piers) Frankly I think relating the electoral system to policy creation is entirely non-sequitur. As for the betting analogy the less said the better; of course never having backed a winner (in politics or in racing) perhaps I'm not qualified to comment.

That Prince William is an awfully nice chap isn't he.

...and then there's a chorus of 'help help we're being oppressed, fredom of speech' etc. I think it's called a no-win situation for Mr Galbraith.

"Why would a toddler be behind a reversing car unsupervised in the first place" Ask that of the chap who ran over John Gotti's kid. Actually that probably won't be possible. So we get it, you don't like it; btw no parents see it as a neccessity, it is however a service offered by sainsbury's gratefully received by those of us with small children. We have enough hassles to contend with. In the spirit of consideration of others that you inspire in all of us I'll simply say gleefully add that it does exist and I suggest you get over it. I might add a naa naa naa naaaa naa whilst I'm at it.

But you really can't see small ones when manoeuvering a car. I'm desperately paranoid when driving near my nursery in the mornings and won't manoeuver above a snail's crawl. In a busy car park it's hard enough to avoid people with trollies charging down the car park!! I certainly wouldn't want to bet my child's life on other people living up to the responsibilities expected of them; not having read 5 pages of people bleating about 'i want i want'. Cue, 'but it's my RIGHT to reverse as fast as I want' ... etc ... ad nauseum.

Noo, I'm saying unification is workable, but it doesn't need to be achieved by subscribing to some bullshit ideal. I'm pretty sure people can be pragmatic about pooling resources, about free movement of labour and removal of internal barriers whilst celebrating difference and without the need to subjugate a sense of identity to some wider goal. Nationalism may have positive aspects in empire building, war fighting and industrial endeavour (which apart from the latter are of course bad things), but the negative aspects far outweigh the positive.

Oh and hear hear Loz.

Rights vs responsibilities. Sadly we live in a very selfish country. I struggle to call it a society because that implies social cohesion which comes from people caring about the greater good over and above our own selfish concerns. This wholly depressing thread only confirms for me that the balance is still very wrong, and also confirms that sturgeon's law is still very much applicable to people. For the record, I would never dream of parking in a disabled bay or a parent one without a small child in tow. I did however think that the suggestion about making it a free for all after sevenish is a very sensible one.

Not really. There's pretty practical food for thought if a European State is to compete in a multipolar world for markets and resources. The most pro European (and least successful imperial power thinking about it) of the big European powers is Spain. it's no coincidence that it has enjoyed the least success in subjagating local identities for a national project. The most successful is France* and still has the biggest issues with racism, anti-semitism and thinking the A europeman superstate will actually be a greater France (speaking French of course). But these are hurdles that need to be overcome if we are to compete/survive in the future, and maintaining a smaller sense of identity with a coexisting non-nationalistic sense of integration (call it multicultarism if you will, humanism might be a better description) seems to me a pretty good step forward in resolving some of these issues. Plus who cares if someone else said something, are not even dull truisms worth repeating if they're useful? More useful than *yawn, that's like, so 300 AD* ;-P *20th century Germany is a weird political aberration, 21st century Germany is a very different beast, err animal, err thingy

we just let ther deal expire and enjoyed the standard tracking rate at about 1.25%. It will of course go up eventually and we may consider remortgaging then, but inly once it pays to doso. Currently overpaying by about 250% and chunking off the capital while the proverbial sun is shining.

Bravo

one third of cup final tickets are corporates, so all fans lose out frankly. west ham got allocated a little over 20k tickets in total for THAT match in Cardiff.

Although it's not especially fair on the residents of this country, who make up the vast majority of the customers from whom Barclays make their money, that the taxes on those profits go to pay for the rather good welfare state that Luxembourg enjoys is it.

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Usually people do dot-posting, whereby you edit your message to be a . see | V

I favour geese, far more entertaining than a sharpened coin at the back of the head. I have flirted with pigs heads but that's like soooo 2002!!!

Does this mean I'll no longer be enjoying a pint with the match of an afternoon? Damn.

Dubrovnik. Stay down the road from the old town in the little bay of Lapad. I stayed in a little flat with a lemon tree on the balcony overlooking the bay. About a 20 minute walk to the stunning medieval walled city.

I don't manage it often enough but I love going to Champion Hill. You do have that interaction with the players and the officials, there are occasional moments of sublime football, but mostly entertaining comedy moments, some great 22 man handbags and surreal ones such as when half the pitch was occupied by a particularly scary goose and the teams played a very narrow game avoiding said goose until a brave player managed to shoo it off the pitch (competing against two kids trying to shoo it back on). You don't get that on your Monday Night Sky Sports Special!! And yeah, the New Den is not my favourite ground. It has to be the least salubrious stadium anywhere, and has all the atmosphere of a home counties out-of-town industrial park.