*Bob*

Is this the right way for a local shopkeeper to go about facilitating a chip-and-pin credit card transaction?

I can see I was a little over-zealous, for which I'm sorry, but not without qualification. Ethnicity of a particular poster should not be a factor: however, if you use insist not only on using it as a means to accredit your posts, but also adjust it when it suits - according to whatever point you want to make - then you make it a factor. You might not (arguably) be 'wrong', but that doesn't make it feel 'right'. It feels underhand. If anyone seriously believes that people 'around these parts' are ignorant in regards to black culture, then I can only assume that you've haven't been to many other parts. A doll at a local fair, viewed (as you can see on this thread) by most people (including me) as a distasteful embarrassment should not be manipulated into a treatise on the current state of play with regards to race relations in SE22 and its environs. It's easy to storm the ranks the the 'whining, privileged middle classes' in East Dulwich over transgressions in political correctness, but whilst you hit your occasional deserving targets, this scattergun approach ultimately alienates the majority who have never been anywhere else but on your side. Can I suggest (Lady Delilah) that if someone says something you disagree with, that you take that person to task, rather than an entire demographic of the population? If overcoming racism is about breaking down a 'them and us' attitude.. you reinforcing it at every opportunity - when you have no call to do so - is counter-productive. As an aside, when I went to St Lucia and stayed with a friends granny on the island, she had a collection of 'gollies', which I was astonished to see. Her children and grand-children simply rolled their eyes about them in a 'Gran' way. I guess they weren't prepared to haul her over hot coals for them, the same way I suppose we didn't give our Gran the third degree over Sunday lunch if she used the word 'coloured'. Sometimes absolute militantcy is not called for. Anyway, I don't know why I'm bothering. This thread will degenerate, sure as eggs, into another pointlessly polarised shouty-fest, accomplishing nothing - before the day is out.

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Since we have already learned that 'dully' is a barefaced liar with a taste for trolling, I'd be inclined to await confirmation from at least one vaguely reputable source before tearing the place apart on a wild golliwog chase.

Which side are those imaginary Nigerians on?

It seems appropriate for 21st-century telly that - after over a decade of near-the-knuckle stuff - the return of Spitting Image was finally permanently kyboshed in a fallout over puppets of Ant & Dec.

Have you see The Shawshank Redepmtion? You could start by sending admin one letter every day, asking to be let back in. Then, after twenty years of secret excavation, you will make good your escape from The Lounge by crawling down a very long pipe full of piss - and emerging 'clean' on the other side - in the General Issues section (metaphorically clean - you'll still stink of piss of course, can't help that). Or if you mess it up like the old gipper in The Count of Monte Cristo - the Wanted section. Good luck anyway.

Tarot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The other night on the B.B.C an exsposure of > Nigerian workers on the Southwark council were > selling tenancies You've excelled yourself on this one, Tarot! I saw the same programme. The only mention of 'Nigerians' during the entire hour came from a non-Nigerian fraudster who was offering people the chance to acquire council houses for his own personal gain - using the justification that 'Nigerians' (aka 'the bogeyman') were taking all the council houses. I think he mentioned 'homosexuals' and 'junkies' as well - for good measure. The programme maker was then at pains to point out in no uncertain terms that the claim that immigration has a big impact on council housing is nothing short of a myth. What happened? Were you taking a dump for 59 minutes and popped your head around the door just to hear the word 'Nigerians'..? Or are you simply a complete idiot?

Excellent idea. I know a very competent bass player who could slap out a few licks every time someone comes back from the bog. Things might be a bit rubbish for the first few hours, but I bet by the time the coffees are served-up everyone will be literally shaking with uncontrollable laughter etc etc

The first sixty or seventy times that the door opens (preceded by slap bass and an explosion of canned laughter) - you just don't get it. Forget it. You aint smart enough, sunshine. Then, around the 110th-130th door opening, the corners of your mouth, ever so slowly, start to turn up. You are beginning to understand. The last time the door opens (preceded by slap bass and an explosion of canned laughter) you are quite literally writhing on the floor, overcome with mirth as urine seeps through your slacks. From that point, you become qualified to 'teach Seinfeld'.

John Inman, Louie Spence, Duncan Norvelle, Dale Winton and Pearson.

That is actually pretty cool. For a dyed-in-the-wool misery like myself, it has been thoroughly heartening to see the broad support for AV from all the usual suspects on here who I hoped would support it - but even better to discover that there is also a less vocal likeminded majority behind them. Whatever the merits of 'the 80/20 rule', It feels good to live with the eighties. Neighbours.. I salute you!

works for me

I wouldn't be too quick to gloat. Clegg is Cameron - only minus the coaching. And Cameron's got the top job, not just the joke deputy PM job. That's the really terrifying part. So you're rejoicing that one sharp-suited PR drone with no real principles was better at PR than the other one. Some victory.

It's hard to see how Clegg could have played his deputy PM hand any worse. All he had to do was - occasionally - not look like he was enjoying it so much, but alas it was seeping out of every pore for all to see. By contrast the Cons have played a near perfect hand, and must be weeing themselves with joy over the results so far.

maxxi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- possibly the only people > who could have loved it totally would have been > Frasier and Niles. Well.. and david carnell.

I don't even think Frasier is a sitcom. It's actually a psychological experiment based on The Emperor's New Clothes.

I haven't, no. Should I? Or would it be wise to see all 150 Seinfeld shows first?

Ted Max Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > When am I supposed to laugh at *Bob*? Or is a > painful wince of recognition at his rapdily > deteriorating mental state all I should hope for? Ted - stick with me for another 10,000 posts and you'll be literally crying with laughter. I promise.

That's great, Brendan. Do you have the box set? I'd love to borrow it.

I don't know what the definition of 'unemployable' is, but I'm probably quite close to it.

Is it because the comedy is just so sophisticated that it takes at least four or five hours of it before mere mortal brains manage to distill what they can into the semblance of a laugh? I suppose it must be. That's what they say anyway. And boy do they love to say it.

david_carnell Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Bob - if you didn't find Frasier funny you may > have to just give up and admit that you'd be > better off just watching Two Pints of Lager.... Believe me, it was a relief not to find Frasier funny, having seen the average Frasier fan, banging on about 'the script' and screaming with theatrical laughter at the slightly mildly risible occurrence.

I've seen a smattering of episodes, which (whilst admittedly might not be the best way to see things) simply left me feeling irritated.