*Bob*

I believe you're only liable to be up before a magistrate 'if it leaves a mark'. Yet another pointless piece of legislation to go in the bag with the foxhunting guff.

**anecdote** At junior school 'the taws' (a leather strap of some description) was reserved for the most serious offender. I only saw it used once, when a boy had paddled an inflatable out on the local pond to the little mounds where the ducks nested, and 'interfered with Canada Goose eggs'. So The Taws was administered to a boy of 9, in front of the entire school, in morning assembly. I'm 36, in case anyone's wondering. Unbelievable, thinking back on it. *** You see parents clobbering their kids willy-nilly for what seem like the most minor of transgressions. You have to wonder where and when they started getting it so wrong.

I don't think there's anyone who (after having been relieved of their possessions) wouldn't go to bed wishing they had THE POWER to floor the lot of 'em with, say, red lazer-beams zapping from the eyes, fists of iron pounding them through walls and a magic wand to make them go bald overnight. But the reality of the situation is that it just isn't worth it. A phone and a bit of cash? Hand it over. You've still got your life, which - ultimately - is better than one they're liable to have. Sooner or later they'll get some karma, right up the ass. I'm slightly suspicious of people who are 'good at fighting' anyway. Such skills tend to require practice.

Cassius Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Am I right in assuming that ED police station has > now closed down? Where do we now go to report > crimes? You're on it.

Lez Zeppelin?

Just to be clear, SteveT, what you're saying is that you'd prefer a safer, less fearful society - and that it can be achieved with easy access to lethal weaponry for all, and the full weight of the law behind you whenever you use it. And - just to be clear - you're using America as your example?

No, I think those that wish to should continue to enjoy the right to protest that already exists, hope that the minimum of dickheads turn-out on the day and try to improve the quality of police recruitment and training (and disciplinary procedures). The recent - massive - and entirely peaceful demos in Northern Ireland are the exception to the rule. But they they hardly made the headlines. No trouble, see?

But legitimate protests happen all the time. ALL the time. And, in the main, the majority of protesting is about push-push-push.. see what you can get away with.. keep picking away without seeming to do anything wrong. I've been on a few and specific instructions to that effect were virtually given out on the coaches en route. That's how they work. Get a reaction, make the news, make the response seem out of proportion = eh voila.. PR victory.

The right to protest seems to have been alive and well, in London especially, for as long as I can remember. Whether it's two dozen people outside the Zimb Embassy or a million against the war in Iraq (or two million, depending on which PR team you ask).. to be honest there hardly seems to be a protest-free week these days. The problem with a minority of people who join the Police to crack 'eads is mirrored by a minority of people who go on 'peaceful protests' to stir up bovver for the hell of it, scrawl graffiti for a laff, piss up statues and then go home and laugh about it. It's a sad fact, but there it is. The current police policy of containment seems to be an improvement on mounted horse and baton charging. Should a crowd of thousands with small but significant factional elements bent on just behaving like drunken toddlers be allowed to throng around the capital all will, wherever and whenever they please? I don't think so.

Spare a thought for poor Felici.. I mean Daizie. She's not allowed to engage in too much outright stirring these days and so has to hang on the coat tails of others for kicks. It must be very frustrating.

You see cocks, arseh0les, tw&ts, dicks, wallies, plonkers and knob-ends all the time. But Piers Morgan.. he's a w&nker.

Get a room, you two.

If you look closely, you can just make out..

lulwich loll will return.. you can be sure of that

HonaloochieB Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > No. 7 Me You'll have to prove it.. You can't just go around boasting without backing it up. Picture, please.

Yes, let's not rub it it. Remember - she might still be reading but won't be able to respond now (*waves*)

It's quite specific.. can we expand to lookee-likees in general? My entry: James from The Apprentice and Tommy Cooper.

wee quinnie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > *Bob* - can you not get me on the quinniecam? Why pay when I can snoop for free?

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Internet gambling knocks sh1t out of real life > gambling My brother plays a lot of poker.. he plays online too, but I don't think there's a real substitute for dragging a large pile of money over to your side of the table (or watching it go the other way)

It has a very exclusive gene pool. Though that isn't necessarily a good thing, by the looks of them.

5 Million?! Pah! Small Fry..

Today is your lucky day, Archic

You've still got Felicity to keep you company, Felicity

mockney piers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sadly I doubt this is the last we've heard, and > I'm still not totally convinced she wasn't one of > Felicity's multiple personalities. Yes.. she'll be back - sure as eggs. Like nits at an infants school.

Publicly posting someone's PMs is a great way of making yourself look like a sorry case and 'a bit of a cock'. So well done there, DD. And Mike's right.. just in case anyone is wondering what 'the infamous PM' was, I saw it, and it was hardly earth-shattering. A total non-event, in fact. I'd rather have heard the song..