Marmora Man

Is that the "Crocodile Dundee" defence? Where a mugger pulls a knife on him and says "I've got a knife". CD pulls out a machete and says "Call that a knife, mate?"

I suspect it's a little more complicated. He's probably someone that has decided that he does not wish to return to the conflict / war. This is quite rational - however, he will probably feel that he's letting his old colleagues down, he doesn't want to be so obvious as to desert so - pursuing a legal objection gives him a justification for his actions. Pacifism and conscientious objection has a long and honourable history. I fear that Joe Glenton is confusing the issue. The Seigfried Sassoon position - that troops are being killed to no good purpose and that a negotiated settlement is the best way ahead seems, perhaps, closer to the corporal's thinking. I'm sure Santerme, as an Army man can make a better argument than I.

The wild meadow areas are an attempt to entice back birds to the park - there was a notice up about this at one stage when the fencing was still surrounding the areas. Does look good tho'.

As I walked to William Rose today the shop door was open and workmen were inside - looked to be clearing out in preparation for dec oration / development.

But JoJo09 - as has been said before - "All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do noting". Louisianna is right - we must get up and stand up.

Regulation is, as usual, a recipe for restricting an individual's freedom of choice. I do not see the case for regulating death, so I have no proposals for how others might make arrangements to ensure no question of coercion or manslaughter / murder. However, if I, or my family / friends, were to choose this route I would probably ask a solicitor to witness a statement to the effect that "my life in intolerable and I wish, of my own free will, to end it all peacefully and painlessly". The solicitor might want a medical opinion but given they witness wills and offer an opinion as to the writer's state of mind perhaps not.

Assisted suicide - unequivocal YES. To counter the Matthew Parris this is not about the state regulation of death it's about deregulating the state's control of death. The simplest way forward to be to decriminalise the existing legislation that forbids assisted suicide and put nothing in its place. The individuals involved might want to make their own arrangements to ensure there was no question of coercion or manslaughter / murder but trying to legislate for all eventualities will simply result in more confusion and contradictions.

I have intervened to discourage anti social behaviour - drunks on a train surrounded by families swearing and shouting. Asked them to stop as my young family were feeling intimidated - they stopped. Was thanked by many in the carriage who did not wish to confront them. Similarly I have asked people to turn down / off noisy phones playing tinny music, people with feet on bus seats and so on. Usually the response is OK - occasionally I'm sworn at. I'm seldom supported by other passengers. The nearest to violence was when I intervened in an argument between a cyclist and car driver - the driver had opened his door into the path of the cyclist and was berating him for damaging the car. I spoke up for the cyclist and offered to be a witness. The driver threatened me with violence and promised to get "my friends from Essex" to "do me over". I was too slow to respond with "I'll ask my friends in the Royal Marines to tackle them" - in the end lots of noise, no fisticuffs and it all melted away. I believe we should all intervene at this low level of anti social behaviour as it will encourage others to do the same and discourage such behavior - it should also improve civil life. I would hope it would also encourage others to come to the support of victims of more violent behaviour, tho' this requires physical confidence that not all have. It also helps to be 6'5" and 15+ stone in such situations - more difficult for women and those of less physically intimidating build. PS: I keep and old cricket bat, a Victorian police truncheon and a sword in the house and would use them to repel possible boarders.

antijen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > http://www.antiacademies.org.uk/index.php > > Maybe the next academy will be a skyscraper with > big bold writing of the venture capitalists name > in gold. Antijen, What is your specific objection? The fact that non public money is involved or that Academies tend (they're not all perfect by any means) to improve the academic performance of the pupils they serve? The record of Local Education Authorities here in LOndon, and elsewhere, has hardly been inspiring in improving academic performance.

I think it's too early to say. The old, derelict, school was about 2/3 the size of the current steel work. Once clad and landscaped it may be a better looking building. Big is not necessarily ugly.

So Edgbaston will be, bsrring the completely impossible, a rained out draw. That leaves Headingly and the Oval - where will be the decisive match and does anyone have any tickets for the Oval I can buy??

So your argument is - mankind needs a god therefore there is a god? Seems like a circular argument to me.

There is no God Our purpose in life is, like all living organisms, to ensure the continuation of our particular life form. We are here on this planet by chance. We are (usually) thinking and intelligent beings. We should, as individuals, as families, as communities, as states and as a world, maximise the good we do and minimise the harm we do - not in response to some ancient rule book handed down to a chap with a beard but because it makes sense.

To answer Horsebox - the majority of UK's hospitals are managed and funded by the NHS - therefore NHS patients should have priority. That's the easy answer. As with all transplants - donor / receiver compatibility is a major factor in deciding who gets what. Thus if there are, say, 70 potential liver transplant patients on the critical list and a donor organ arrives but it, doesn't unfortunately, match any of the potential recipients - what to do? Some of the factors in the decision making process will be: a. The need to not waste the organ b. The need to keep the surgical team in practice - it used to be that any team had to carry out a minimum no. of these specialist procedures a year to maintain and develop expertise. c. The opportunity to "exchange" the organ with another hospital (abroad since the donor system in UK is very sophisticated and can match a donated organ to all / any on the list awaiting transplant) d. The opportunity to earn revenue for the hospital - to be used for the hospital (not paid to the surgical team). I've no doubt annaj can add a lot more background. If all healthcare were privatised then the patient's insurer would normally stump up - because of the need to match the organ for compatibility money cannot, by itself, take anyone to the top of a waiting list for a transplant.

Libertarianism would make all drugs legal. Then it becomes a matter of public health policy not a criminal matter, with campaigns to warn of the medical dangers of drug use. Legalisation and taxation would change the dynamics of the trade. Poppy farming in Afghanistan would become a legal enterprise, as would cocaine production in Columbia and other drug producing centres. This would free up a lot of resources to concentrate on more worthwhile causes such as eradicating hunger and poverty. Of course it wouldn't be that simple but that should be the point to aim at.

Job prospects. I know a lot of people networking and looking for new employment having been hit by downsizing / redundancies / loss of work. They report that most jobs advertised are in the Public and / or charity sector (check out Sunday Times appointments pages). The expectation is that the public sector jobs will start to dry up early '10 in preparation for change of government and radical reductions in the growth of public spending (and even, perhaps, cuts in current levels of spending). No sign or expectation of increase in number of private sector employment for at least another 18 months. IMO any green shoots will have to be very hardy to survive 2010.

Boris Karloff was born on ForestHill Road - there's a blue plaque above the closed Turkish restaurant.

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Today it has been reported that organic food offers no inherent benefits. BBC News - Organic Report I know this was raised, briefly, under "I read the news today" thread but felt it deserved wider discussion. For me - the report was not a surprise. If I buy organic (and I don't particularly make a habit of buying organic as a matter of course - I simply buy from good food shops where provenance and flavour is considered important) it's mainly because organic farmers tend to treat their livestock and land rather better and the resultant food has better flavour. It's not because I believe it will prevent or cure my cancer / allergy or particular disease. If money's the question and you simply need enough protein and carbohydrates to subsist - go for the cheaper, non organic, option. Views??

Sherwick, I've been following England since early 70s - not a particularly happy run, but I've enjoyed it! A couple to compare with KP. Both had consistency on their side. Trescothick? 14 centuries and 29 50s in Test Matches - tho' admittedly his record against the Aussies wasn't that great (no centuries and, I think, 7 50s in about 14 matches). Graham Gooch (Essex player, my team ? that?s better). 20 test centuries, including about 6 against the Aussies, 46 50s. First class average of 49. There's plenty of anecdotal evidence that KP plays for the glory of KP. I suggested dropping him for Lords only - he did nothing special that any other no. 3 / 4 batsmen couldn't do.

There is an additional, usually unremarked, fact. The quality and speed of response of the front line medical teams means that military men are surviving wounds that in the past would have been fatal. The downside of this positive development is that we see far more seriously injured personnel recovering and rehabilitating - and learning to cope and live with with losses of limbs and other traumatic injuries. The SSAFA appeal this morning by Martin Bell was a salutary reminder of the need for continued charitable care and support to bolster what is being done by Gov't. PLease don't confuse the MoD (a branch of Governent / Treasury) with its military personnel). I am certain that no member of the Armed FOrces would willingly seek to reduce the awards made to injured personnel - this drive is undoubtedly Treasury led.

Keef - I agree. I did propose dropping KP for the Lord's test, where frankly his offering wouldn't have been missed. I suppose we have to hope Ian Bell can come up to the mark and that Bhopara does deliver against the Aussies as he did against the W.Indies.

PS: iPhone does seem to generate love / hate - iPhone suicide

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- " the fact that it is effectively a laptop in your hand" Yes - I'm still awed by this. As a 6th former studying A level maths I got to play on Cambridge University's computer (note the singular). It took up the space of three good sized sitting rooms, its memory was measured in 10's of kilobytes and had to be programmed using punch cards and ForTran. It took three days to write a programme for it to solve simultaneous equations. 7 years later, in my first submarine, we had 6 Ferranti 16K computers linked to manage the fire control computations (that we used to do in our heads). Now for free (02 upgrade) I have at least 1000 times the computing power in my telephone! Amazing.

HAL9000 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Pierre Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > It wasn't? So it's been edited to include the > > parentheses? Why? > > It seems the Administrator changed the original > title, probably because it was felt to be > unsuitable in some way. The original title is apparent in my initial response to the OP (see top of page 1)