Marmora Man

I'm in the "money isn't everything" camp. I missed the first UK Olympics as I wasn't born, I'll miss the third UK Olympics as I'll be dead - this is my only chance to watch the Olympics in UK. I've planned my tickets purchases, I think we'll see the opening and closing ceremony fireworks from One Tree Hill and the Overground to Dalson is open from HOP. I'm ready. The possibility of earning maybe ?5,000 (less tax) and missing this one off opportunity doesn't excite me at all.

To enforce a no fly zone we would need planes (of which there are now very few) and, more importantly, a suitable base within range but free from interference - that's best provided by an aircraft carrier - which we have just dispensed with. So no matter what we should do - we can't. The current degree of instability is a very good reason for maintaing appropriate armed forces, ours have just been emasculated by the Treasury.

Maybe naive, but many people stood by and watched as the last government inflated the cost of valuable public services, using money borrowed from the future (ie us today and our children) without improving either their efficiency and effectiveness. I'm with Loz - Unison is after protecting jobs not services.

The pain and suffering caused by the ancestors of the current monarchy is minimal when compared to the pain and suffering caused by political / religious zealots in the last 100 years alone. The current system of a friendly figure head with no political power and a parliament that is, gradually, cleaning up its act seems infinitely preferable to most other arrangements across the world. As to their alleged parasitic nature - they have their own inherited wealth and are thus no better / worse than many other wealthy Britons, the hypothetical 18p a day is the cost of the Civil List paid from the Exchequer in return for the Exchequer receiving the proceeds from the Crown Estate - a system that has been in place for (I think) over two centuries and which works massively in favour of the Exchequer and thus the country and its subjects (or citizens if you prefer). Finally a desire to drown anyone in a bucket of their own urine is bizarre and suggests a need to go away, lie down and think of something peaceful - or to get back on the medication.

This is great - is it possible / practical to put a street map overlay to pinpoint streets & houses?

A thought on Big Societ: The Big Society is about far more than a political slogan - for me it's about the legion of people that run Scout Groups, Girl Guides, youth clubs, Saturday morning football clubs, boot fairs for charity, check their neighbours to see if they need assistance, clearing snow, running marathons to raise funds for local hospital, doing all this and much, much more. Surprisingly Jeremy Clarkson set out a great example in today's Sunday Times. He is part of a fund raising organisation that supports a community run open air lido in Chipping Camden. He points out that it not so much about the ?15,000 or so they raise every year - but that it brings together all sorts of people who would, otherwise, not meet or cross each others paths but that by meeting to raise the funds they become part of a community. So the schoolteacher gets to know the postman who also meets the butcher, the estate agent, the commuting businessman, and so on and on and on. A practical example (from USA) - a good friend of mine, expat Scotsman, came down with a major, life threatening, illness. He lived in a medium sized town in Louisianna. His neighbours organised a rota to ensure his wife was driven to the specialist hospital, took his children to school, cooked meals for the family and had the children to stay overnight. All pretty good - and you might congratulate yourselves that "we would do that too" - excepth this went on for 15 months. That's a community looking after its own - and is the sort of thing that should be second nature in a Big Society. BTW - my friends had only lived in that community for two / three years.

Loz, Wasn't too easy - I left Cranfield School of Management in '93, in depths of a recession, so some similarities to today. I was transiting from a military career to healthcare. I started to research healthcare about half way thru' the MBA and my final, major, dissertation was about change management in a rural healthcare trust. I used the contacts I made there ruthlessly to expand my healthcare network. Then I wangled interviews / chats with as many healthcare professionals as I could - writing / e-mailing contacts along the lines of "XX suggested I contacts you", "I would value your advice on how I might advance my career in health" and "if you could spare 30 minutes I would be most grateful". This achieved a hit rate of about 1 in 3. From these interviews and discussions I learnt the language of the sector (jargon), current hot topics to research further and where there were vacancies of the sort I was seeking. Then applied for everything going and was selected after about 7 interviews, tho' the CEO later said he had taken a chance against the majority views of the panel - but that my MBA had swayed him and them.

It's probably best to go with a package that includes a ski school. They'll then lead you by the hand. Austria is usually a good value for money option with good English speaking instructors. If you're prepared to buy my 21 yr old son a beer he can advise further - a qualified ski instructor he has just returned from a job in France. PM if interested.

David Carnell - if we expect the "authorities" to do everything because we pay them that leads to a stifling bureaucracy and evisceration of civic society, never mind Big Society. The more we do for ourselves, our neighbours and our community the more focussed, more appropriate and, probably, the higher the quality the services will be. An additional bonus would be to reduce the cost of local and national services.

If you really want to change career - JFDI!! Seeing a career counsellor is only delaying the decision, you don't need anyone else's permission. Having made the decision, you'll need to decide on the process. This will depend on your skills, experience and personal circumstances. I changed career completely at the age of 40. I had a wife, two children and a mortgage. I borrowed enough to fund a year's study for an MBA, then took a job in a totally different sector. Initially my salary was 15% less than before but quickly caught up and overook it. More importantly I was enjoying life and the new career more than the old one. Other routes might include volunteering in your target sector to gain experience before looking for a paid job, evening college to gain extra qualifications , networking like mad to see if friends and acquaintances can help. Best of luck - but most importantly, don't waste time if you're really sure.

The Big Society is about far mora than this - about the legion of people that run Scout Groups, Girl Guides, youth clubs, Saturday morning football clubs, boot fairs for charity, check their neighbours to see if they need assistance, doing all this and much, much more. A practical example (from USA) - a good friend of mine, expat Scotsman, came down with a major, life threatening, illness. He lived in a medium sized town in Louisianna. His neighbours organised a rota to ensure his wife was driven to the specialist hospital, took his children to school, cooked meals for the family and had the children to stay overnight. All pretty good - and you might congratulate yourselves that "we would do that too" - excepth this went on for 15 months. That's a community looking after its own - and is the sort of thing that should be second nature in a Big Society. BTW - my friends had only lived in that community for two / three years.

Do NOT book into a local restaurant - it will be full of people feeling a little uncomfortable, thinking they should be romantic while eating mediocre food and listening to toe curling background music. According to my sister, the chef, today is bonanza day for restaurants - they're always fully booked, punters are always prepared to pay a premium for the Valentines Meal which will be, at best, an average and uninspiring event but will result in bumper profits for restauranters. Do the anonymous card thing - even if you've been married for years. Stay at home, maybe go for walk, then cook a good meal, open a good bottle of wine and talk, watch a movie, listen to favourite tunes.

The "cuts" seek to bring the % of GDP represented by gov't spending back to levels not seen since 2006. That's hardly revolutionary or cutting a major swathe through the public sector. In absolute financial terms the spending will increase - only less fast than planned, less fast than (we hope) GDP growth and less fast than inflation. The last government did, in effect, get a significant proportion of the country "hooked" on government finance - despite having to borrow 25% of their spending. So many, many charities have become used to living off government funding - which is hardly charity work, more like a quango or disguised public sector organisation. Equally, many local authorities,. particularly those in areas of high deprivation, became used to receiving unrestricted government largesse, with few if any conditions, rather than having to spend a more restricted budget more wisely. Hangovers are always painful - and the current cuts are the hangover that follows G Brown's 10 year spending party from 2000.

nashoi, Trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible must, inevitably, mean a dilution of the current offering. If Radios 3 & 4 are diluted they are no longer Radios 3 & 4 - but something else. So we lose a radio station that attracts over 10m listeners a week to listen to a service that provides mixed speech service, offering in-depth news and current affairs and a wide range of other speech output including drama, readings, comedy, factual and magazine programmes. Radio 4 is providing, in accordance with its current remit, a service that appeals to listeners seeking intelligent programmes in many genres which inform, educate and entertain. Which bit of that service needs diluting?

Narnia - see Here

Narnia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Radio 4 Service Licence. Issued February 2011 > Radio 4 > Part l: Key characteristics of the service > 1. Remit > The remit of Radio 4 is to be a mixed speech > service, offering in-depth news and > current affairs and a wide range of other speech > output including drama, readings, > comedy, factual and magazine programmes. > The service should appeal to listeners seeking > intelligent programmes in many genres > which inform, educate and entertain. > > If this is Radio 4's remit, I don't understand how > it equates with what you have written MM. It > doesn't make any sense. That's my point - Radio 4 (and Radio 3) do what they do well. If some people choose not to listen to these stations, that's their choice. It's not as if their existence is a secret. It is not for Radio 4 / Radio 3 to change to attract a wider audience by, for example, bringing in pop music, or inane DJs - if they did that they wouldn't be Radio 4 / Radio 3.

According to the recent BBC Trust report Radios 4 & 3 should change their character and broaden their appeal so as to become more accessible to younger people, the "devolved nations", black and ethnic minorities. Surely both stations are fully accessible to anyone with access to a radio? That a different % of different types of listeners choose to tune in is not the fault of the particular stations. I only hear Radio 1 when my teenage sons hijack the kitchen radio - so I'm an underrepresented listener of Radio 1. that doesn't mean Radio 1 should change to suit me - why should Radios 3 & 4 change? Radio stations, like films, theatre, books, newspapers set out their stall, style and content. Consumers choose according to their tastes. I do not see any need for change?

I find the original post weird! "join this thread and maybe we'll be heard" - to me it sounds as if the OP feels there is some form of right to a local farmers market that East Dulwich has been denied by "them out there". Farmers Markets are commercial enterprises - if they see a realistic demand / market then one will be created. There are farmers markets in Peckham (weekly), at Dulwich College (monthly) and elsewhere. In ED we have access to good vegetables from SMBS, Pretty Traditional, The Turkish Shop and Co-op etc. We have good meat from W Rose, the van on Northcross MArket and the new butcher opposite the Plough. Moxons and the fish van provide us with good fresh fish. I cannot see what farmers market would bring that ED doesn't already have - and, probably, the farmers market arrangers have taken a similar view - hence the lack of a Goose Green farmers market.

Blimey - the bureaucratisation of marriage! Can't help I'm afraid - but when I married we spoke to a baby faced vicar, booked the church, had the banns read and then turned up with friends and got hitched.

I would add to above post that 90+% of our imports / exports travel by sea - making the naval contribution to our defence an important element. The fact that the RN is now too small to effectively protect shipping from Somali pirates is a telling one. Longer, more considered post to follow.

NIce idea - thanks - will look into this.

T&Cs allow changing names - but at a charge of ?100 per ticket.

Does anyone have any experience of Monarch Airlines? We booked a long notice flight to Spain for July and now want to cancel as plans have changed. When booking we didn't read the Terms & Conditions carefully (stupid I know) and have discovered they do not allow for any refund in the event of cancelling a booking on a scheduled flight. I had mistakenly assumed that Monarch would operate as other, non lo cost, carriers and allow cancellations with reasonable notice. I cannot see a way out of losing ?450 - but would be grateful for any guidance / advice anyone can offer. Ticket was paid with a debit card.

DC - I was thinking more of an evacuation of UK citizens to ships off shore, which is an action that has long been the task of the Royal Navy. Unfortunately I doubt there are more than 2 or 3 RN ships in the Mediterranean.

It's interesting - do societies fall / fail because of undue spending on armed forces, or having declined for other reasons do they fa to aknowledge the decline and thus spend disproportionately on armed forces? The Prime Minister has been pontificating on the situation in Egypt, yet the reality is that UK can do nothing to affect matters there or, beyond chartering a plane, support or assist UK citizens caught up in the situation out there. In previous similar breakdowns in state authority a warship or two off the coast would monitor, support, threaten as necessary and act as a safe base from which to assist Brits evacuate the area if required. Current defence levels and commitments do not permit that option.