Loz

Back to the Lib Dems point... one thing Clegg is achieving is giving the Lib Dems the experience of government and this should not be underestimated nor undervalued. One of the things always thrown at the Lib Dems was they they were not serious government material. Now they are - even if you disagree with their policies - showing that they can govern. And whilst things may look bad at the polls, the public have an amazingly short memory (just look at Labour). If the LibDems are back on the cross benches come the next election (most likely, as the Tories will probably get a working majority next time around), then they will be well placed come the following election. Though almost certainly with a new leader - I can't see Clegg fighting even the next election. He is now too easy a target.

Minus the likeability factor.

Oh, the best team won, no doubt. That's not so much magnanimous, but realistic. England were very good and very professional and we were a shambles. In a funny way, having lost the Ashes, I'm glad we lost them so badly rather than lost them by a narrow margin. A good Ashes series thumping may shake things up in Australian cricket. I?ve always thought that England?s previous habit of getting smashed around for four tests and then winning the final dead rubber held them back from making the hard decisions ? the tour ended on a high and everyone in charge thought the corner had been turn only to see the same thing happen next time around. Had we (dream on) won this last test then a final 2-2 scoreline would have meant that Australia would persevere with this lot, which would have been bad (and still, sadly, a danger). Hopefully there will be big changes from Shield level and up now. It?s needed ? the Shield has been looking more and more like county cricket of late with too much dead wood clogging up the new blood coming through. All is not lost, we have the young talent but it just needs somebody to be brave enough to ring the changes, take the short term hit and we?ll be back a lot stronger in a couple of years. As for England, they are a good team. I don't think they are quite as good as the Saffers, but I reckon they are number 2 in the world now, whatever the rankings say. A really good set of bowlers, but a small question mark on the depth of batting skills. There's not a good pool of available batsmen of test ability - there's Morgan and maybe Rob Key and ... that's about it. None of the recent tryouts in the shorter forms or England A seem to look test standard. And who will replace Colly? They are actually quite big shoes to fill - solid batsman, useful 5th bowler and excellent fielder.

Yeah, lets drive the bankers out. I mean, its not like it's a key industry in the UK economy or anything...

Odyssey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hear Hear KillaQueen! They sold off their true > values (assuming they had any in the first place). So you mean the sold off your 'true values' then. Clegg is an Orange Book LibDem. Not a Labour type wearing a new colour. Granted he dug a huge hole for himself over the student fees fiasco, but that was more a lesson is not signing stupid pledges. Personally I'd have cut university places to save money, but that doesn't seem to be allowed up for discussion.

You'd think the Beeb would be modern enough to ask for a mother or father with a young baby. Let's not mess with those stereotypes, eh...

(Poking my head above the parapet on probably the worst possible day...) You can't say the Aussies don't learn anything from the Poms - since you've exhausted the SA supply we've started on the Pakistani-born to bolster our team. Mind you, he's only the 8th test player ever not to be born in Oz. That's the same as the current statutory minimum for an England squad!

Diana. The very definition of overrated.

Now there is one guy that is going to have a happy new year!

Jeremy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Throw out Co-op. Get Waitrose in instead. That would be an ideal solution.

In that case I am officially an 'It'. And no, there are no silent letters in front of that.

philpot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A decent taxidermist would be nice, nothing worse > than poorly stuff pet of loved one. And of course > an Ann Summers - to clad my large collection of > once animate companions. Isn't that doubling up? I mean, it's having two places in ED where you can get your pet beaver stuffed...

Jeremy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > waynetta Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Wish I knew what it was about? > > Something about his hatred of stardom, apparently. Ironic that it made him very famous then.

They should have had a discovery of a secret swingers club. Oh, hang on - that's East Dulwich.

dbboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > VAT will rise by 2.5% fron 17.5% to 20%, i.e. > ?2.50 extra for every ?100 spent. As others have sort of pointed out, after VAT it's about ?2.13 for every ?100 spent.

He came around last summer and, at the time, I was disappointed I didn't take up the offer as the front hedge was rather overgrown and taking over the footpath. I had (dream on) intended to clean it up myself. Now I suspect I conveniently avoided being conned. Then, last month, the council hacked it back to footpath level and took all the clippings away. Result! (Ta, Southwark.)

14 and lying in bed listening to the radio late at night (as I was in Oz).

4. We can really take the piss by saying rude things about various world leaders. You know, things we've we've always wanted to say, but 'diplomacy' meant we weren't allowed to. What a wheeze! Let's start by calling Kim Jong-il 'Flabby'. Ha ha. And Berlesconi "feckless, vain, and ineffective". Oh, what laughs!

Brendan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Dear Mr Diplotician. > > Hi my name is Public, Joe Public. How are you? I > am fine. > > If there is any information regarding > international diplomacy, internal affairs and/or > the X Factor which you think I should not be privy > to I will remind you that you run this @#$%& > country on my behalf and I expect you to do so > with the same level of integrity and > accountability and adhering to the same moral > principles as I do in the conduct my day-to-day > business. As my representative you will go about > your work openly, honestly and in good faith and I > will be the one to decide what I need to know, > thank you very much you condescending prick. Blimey Brendon, even I agree that some things in government have to be held in secret. Openness is good and governments abuse the secrecy system, but some things are classified for very good reasons. There are some things you do not need to know and widespread knowledge would be dangerous. Unfortunately you, as Mr Joe Public, are not the person to make that distinction. What Wikileaks has shown is that an awful lot of classified material is junk. Oh, and UK 'Independent Enquiries' are anything but.

Keef Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The timing of this arrest warrent hq a total joke, > and it stinks to high heaven. I do however think > that this bloke is a monumental cock. Totally > agree that transparency is important in many > things, but anyone who thinks Joe public should > know EVERYTHING that is going on, is a bit of an > idiot quite frankly. Harsh. It's worth reading this piece to be published in tommorrow's Australian in which Assange explains his motives.

Double entendre alert! Wrongest use of that misused smiley ever! :))

Not fair. We lose Katich, England lose Broad. England win on both counts.

More suspicious: apparently Sweden has a looser extradition agreement with the US, so once Assange is in Swedish custody... (I find the notion that Sweden has a worse extradition agreement than Britain surprising, given how bad and unbalanced the US/UK one is.)

Mick Mac Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > zeban Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > > > > Fair tax collection is the price for a > civilised > > society and it's utterly scandalous that Labour > > didn't implement change when they could have. > > Actually labour did more than any previous > government to reduce the benefits and attractions > of tax avoidance schemes. That's true, but on the other hand they vastly increased the number of tax regulations which inadvertently created a whole new set of loopholes. Simplifying that would make a big difference in what accountants can get away with.

zeban Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Loz- I'm a 'she', god knows why you presumed I was > male. Sorry, Zeban - more of a thoughtless use of a pronoun than any concious decision on my part.