lozzyloz

Own up! Who dropped the cyanide capsule in my . . es . . pre . . uh . . o o!?

What a superb idea. Big Union jack in the corner of the classroom next to the gold framed portrait of HRH Elizabeth II. On another wall, a map of the world, proudly displaying in red, the countries that our military currently occupy and in blue, the remnants of the British Empire that are not yet republics. At the end of every school day a rousing chorus of the national anthem followed by an orderly march down to the school gates. Within a year or two our children will become disciplined, respectful, courteous and prepared to lay down their lives if needed against the axis of evil. God save the Queen.

scor46 and Mark make some very valid points about the state of the industry and the greed of the pubco's however, in my limited experience of the industry this is only part of the story. I've seen another side. There are many successful pubs despite the margin erosion and many people who bought into the business through some romantic notion without any idea of the business acumen needed and the level of commitment required to make the business a success. It's not for the faint hearted! If you run a pub/bar you need a whole host of skills these days including good commercial judgement, management and hr skills, creativity and vision. Add to that a bit of plumbing, electrical and IT knowledge. I've seen owners throw profits down the drain by not stock taking, a lack of systems, poor or no staff training, a lack of understanding of their market and the creation of a viable offering, too much hands of management and little or no interaction with customers. Getting back to the pubcos and breweries, beware of the branded pint glass. They don't want you to know this and I've managed to win compensation from a pubco by proving a case. Many of the glasses are designed to be overfilled. This costs a medium sized pub the equivalent of approx a barrel per week but a nice little earner for the pubco. I've also seen owners borrow against future sales from the pubcos and get crucified when they go out of business because the pubco will try and recover interest plus lost barrel sales. The other scam besides the pubco is BSKYB. They charge a ridiculous amount of money for sports. *edited for spelling

I think she's gone home now - it was just a spot of rust.

MDMA and listening to Leftfield

Surely you don't mean Sunday?

B I'd be more worried about what you're going to do after you've eaten it:-S

Atila that is exactly the point. For either colour to go round shouting about being proud of their colour doesn't really achieve much positiveness. We (you and me) share a lot more in common than the difference being the colour of our skin. I am also proud of being a parent, my ethnic origin, my background, my profession, the list goes on, but I don't have to wear the T-shirt, fly the banner or shout it out from the top of the roof. What is more important IS BEING WHO YOU ARE. I grew up with Jamaican and Guyanese families and it was only when I was around 12 or 13 I realised I wasn't black! I'm actually an olive brown but it wasn't the skin colour it was the culture.

What exactly is involved in being White? Are there White things a black man can't do?

Don't they normally provide fast and slow lanes? Perhaps they should introduce a women only lane, gay lane, working class lane, er, a very wide lane, and an e-lane with the music and lights.

splash

I don't see the point of saying it either but there's nothing wrong with being black or white and being proud of it. If I walk into a pub in Highbury and proudly shout out "I'm a Chelsea fan and proud of it!" You'd have to question my motives and what do you think the reaction would be? Would they understand my proudness and pat me on the back or think "You cocky Chelsea scum" and eject me from the pub? However in same pub if I'd walked in and bought myself a pint, got talking to a few locals and after a while let it slip I'm a Chelsea fan, sure there's be some banter but also a lot more respect.

But was Bobby Seals actions a better way than Ghandi's?

Make sure you report back to the forum if you find Snorky perusing in the bib section. *bad spelling

Why should someone's colour be something to be proud of as if it's a badge? Surely it's WHO you are. Then people would be less inclined to fight because somebody says that white is better than black or whatever. I don't feel my colour is something that I need to be proud of and say "Hey, look at me". But if I'm in a situation where a group are making their colour a reason to discriminate against me I feel uncomfortable. Same applies to religion, gender, creed, sexuality and football team.

Back in 2006 we looked at 3 ED agents. Two chains one independent. They all offered a discount of the published rate and essentially a similar marketing package. However, they knew the property would sell quickly. We squeezed the local agent for a 1% exclusive deal. I did the marketing photos and we had 3 offers above the asking price within an hour on the morning it was marketed, one of which we accepted. Should add that we showed it on the web and in property mags 10 days before we opened for viewing, so that prospective buyers were chomping at the bit and anxious to get in.

My parents came to these shores at the end of the 50's and within a couple of years had met, fallen in love, married and had me (not necessarily in that order). I can still remember from my early years how landlords would slam the door on a mixed race family and going to a suburban school where if you had darker skin you were considered a wog or a paki. To complicate matters one parent was Roman Catholic the other Muslim and they sent me to a CofE school! I always found it bizarre that contrary to my experiences in the playground it was the white side of the family that were more accepting of the coloured side. How times have changed. My eldest son of Italian, Guyanese, Chinese, Indian and Iranian extraction is more likely to get picked on because he's wearing the wrong brand or logo!

tanner

Excellent.

She must be exhausted. Hope they're all well.

The facts are this place isnt special, it's a normal Italian restaurant trying to be different by buying 'fresh' and charging a wee bit more at the counter and offering a snobbed up menu to entice in those who see standard Italian's as being beneath them. However Marco, after a few complimentary Grappa's I'm sure you could win me over. Well it worked for Louisa!

Excuse ME!!! Can we please get back to the main point of this thread please? Am I a homophobe or not? Fuschia it's incredibly bad etiquette to hijack a thread unless you've got a relevant point to make.

Pick any group of people and ask them are you getting a raw deal in the UK and they'll be queuing around the block. As DC points out the content ones tend to keep stum. Even Prince Harry thinks he's hard done by and he's as far from working class as you can get. I wonder if the true subtext of this is "Do the White working class have a voice?" It seems they think they haven't yet everyone can vote for a politician, subscribe to a particular newspaper and attend like minded community groups etc. Perhaps it's because we don't talk about the WWC as a specific majority group but instead highlight the interests of specific minority groups (which could also be a subset) that they (we?) feel forgotten.

Always found this malaria website useful when travelling. I tend to use Malerone which doesn't have the side effects that makes Larium so unpleasant. I'd suggest that you don't use Homeopathic remedies but I'm sure someone will come on and argue the case for.

I don't have a major problem with people chewing gum nor chewing on biltong, tobacco or coca leaves. Each to their own. I find this more offensive.