Huguenot

Except that my excuse was true ;)

davidh has got form when it comes to smear campaigns against the Liberal Democrats. I can't imagine the little ball of fury inside that would ignite such vitriol. It's weird. I'm guessing that they have become the vehicle for some other unresolved frustration.

Atticus :) No! Moos moved here last year. Nice place.

Well, who woulda thunk *Bob* was an expert on LEDs! Impressive! I filed that post :)

I should add that the reason my first DVD was American History X was because when I bought my DVD player at Dixon's I needed to have something to play on it, and they only had 6 DVDs in stock. :).

That might be the penalty for fly posting.

Vinyl - Vienna (Ultravox) the only vinyl I ever bought Cassette - Reckless (Bryan Adams) the only cassette I ever bought CD - I do not want what I haven't got (Sinead O'Connor) Download - will have been some 80s throwback DVD - American History X

Well all of those could be addressed *Bob* There never has been public caning in Singapore. The death penalty for class A drugs only applies for huge quantities (for example over 1.2 kilos of heroin). The SG legal system is based upon the UK one, and has similar checks and balances to prevent abuse of it. I don't know what the penalties for fly posting are.

Average wages in China have risen around 15% a year for the last 3 years, but of course the price of tellies hasn't gone up by 50% over the same period. Prices have been largely stablised because rising salaries have been balanced with greater efficiency. This process is likely to continue, Chinese manufacturing is terribly inefficient. Almost half the Chinese economy is already services, and this is expected to rise significantly - so the creation of project managers and consultants (and programmers and entertainers) in China poses no greater medium term challenges than they do in the UK.

Well those are different issues altogether.

I understand the anxiety Burbage, but I think that maybe your worries have caused you to cherry pick the changes which inform your dismal outlook. You're right that Britain will not retain its lead on the rest of the world, but your vision sees Britain being dragged down which is illogical - it's actually the rest of the world catching up. Whilst you're right that programmers in Shenyang can do the job of workers in California, you've overlooked the fact that side by side with their success is increasing wage demands and expectations for a developed world lifestyle. So the rise of the East heralds an equivalent rise in demand, and their wage advantage is terminated. I think your scorn of the knowledge economy is misplaced - we already only spend around 5% of our income on food and on average 25% on accommodation, so around 70% is spent on entertainment and generally making our lives easier. Far from being worthless, the knowledge economy of intangible services (like entertainment) is what being human is all about. Ideas of what the world looks like in 50 years are many and varied - but everyone agrees that manufacturing will be increasingly mechanized and automated: right now the entire world supply of Worcestershire Sauce is made by only 40 people. Within that context, any nation betting its future prosperity on manufacturing looks stupid - and that includes China. The only person getting rich from manufacturing is the robot operator and the programmer: both products of the knowledge economy. People get rich by solving other people's problems - and on that basis British strategy to focus on the knowledge economy is not only rational, it's inspired. Although it's discomfiting, we need to get out of a 1950s mindset that only sees an economy in simplistic 'hardware' terms.

Well exactly Jeremy! A bizarre assertion from Alex K when huge swathes of our shared nation are plastered over for bastards with private cars!

Oral and anal sex were both illegal in Singapore until recently as an 'act of obscenity', but not any longer. It was actually a British law, so no point in wagging your finger at them ;-) Singapore is conflict averse, so it has several archaic laws on the statute book simply because tackling them would arouse strongly polarized opinion. Officially homosexuality is also a crime in technical terms, but not in practice. Charges are raised against homosexuality with the same level of frequency as they are against George Michael in the UK, in other words only if it involves particularly stupid behaviour. The government has a policy of non-interference in private behaviour, so nothing to worry about there GG. I suspect that if GG lived in Singapore, the only people that would support his war of attrition on notices would be superannuated, demented but verbose members of the knitting club. SJ, I'm not convinced that the pleasure myself and Moos get in corresponding with old chums in ED is a reflection of either the idea that Britain is somehow better than Singapore, or that a local distaste for litter can impact upon the quality of online chit chat ;-)

I get confused about the cultural vacuum surrounding 'water exports'. If you don't want to take agricultural products from Kenya (which they exchange for things like spanners and cars) what exactly do you propose they do for a living?

Vikki O never responds, because she doesn't really care ;)

You probably don't buy 8 for a quid though SJ. I think the humour is probably because most people know that you don't ask too many questions at that price point. I don't really see the religious guys getting heated up either, mainly because they all like a kickabout on a Sunday too. Religious adherence is selective. There's a certain amount of trust that this kind of thing gets exposed because the checks are good. This is a demonstration that the system works. And, waddayaknow, it's the Irish too ;) Cheap jibe, I know.

I love the idea that someone can 'make jobs'.

Correct! Every 30 mins of Scrimpers costs 10 jobs in Peterborough and a stevedore at Lowestoft.

An economy is about the exchange of goods and services. Scrimping can NEVER work - you have to spend your way out of a recession. There's quite literally NO alternative - it's just a question of how long it takes us to realize it.

Well DJKQ, I don't want to state the obvious, but everything about this proposal and the responses to it is smoke and mirrors. For starters the phrase 'fat tax' is simply wrong - a withdrawal of benefits is not a tax. Secondly you've referred to it as a penalty - again a restriction of benefits to those who qualify is not a penalty, but a change of qualification for a bonus. One could only refer to it as a tax or a penalty if one considered benefits to be an entitlement, which they are not. They are an organised and generous act of subsidy made by socially responsible high earners. Given that perspective, it's not unreasonable that a burden of responsibility lies upon the recipients not to waste such largesse, or use it irresponsibly or unwisely. In fact we all agree that our own government should be castigated and publicly humiliated if there is the slightest evidence of irresponsible behavior. So why should people receiving benefits not be also required to spend them wisely - to the extent that they don't indulge in behaviors that risk pissing away more money stupidly? I should add that I don't agree with Westminster's proposal, but not because of some fake argument about stealing from the poor or penalizing the weak (which is completely untrue) but because I don't think neighborhood doctors should be deciding the distribution of welfare payments.

The bottom 20% of earners (and non-earners) get over ?10,000 more back from the tax bucket than they pay in. The next 20% of earners get almost ?10,000 more back from the tax bucket than they pay in. The next 20% of earners get almost ?4,500 more back from the tax bucket than they pay in. So people in the top 40% are quite literally taking money that they work hard to earn every day and handing it over to the bottom 60%. They do it largely without complaint, because that's the deal and most people feel that's reasonable social generosity. So really, complaining about low earners getting a bad deal is pretty rude. The abuse dealt out by some in this bracket takes a 'sense of entitlement' to new heights. Threatening riots if the top 40% don't hand over more is equivalent to extortion by menaces.

You never really responded to any of the enquiries last time around. What kind of house are you thinking of putting a butterfly roof extension on? Surely not an ED Victorian terrace?

Tapatalk's great - but it only currently works on a few forum platforms like phpBB and vBulletin. The platform used for the East Dulwich Forum (Phorum) isn't currently included. To make it work, someone would need to develop a Phorum plug-in using the Tapatalk API. The Tapatalk team has said they don't currently have one on their to-do list. I'm not sure if Admin has the tech or the resource to build one, it would probably need to wait for the Phorum community to build one out.

I don't share your confidence - there are plenty of histories that would depict the defeat of the Japanese as an act of collaborative disruption rather than strategic leadership. Likewise, the purging of the generals who lead the Korean War against the US suggests a Mao leadership that felt threatened by the achievements of others - not one that had control.

Well I see your point ZT, and that's why I'm thinking you maybe haven't had time to read the thread? Here's m&m fairy's opening comment: I'm not pigeon holing everyone in ED but by god there is an awful lot of stuck up, pretentious people living here. Billy Connolly hit the nail on the head when he was quoted saying - "he gets on well with working-class and upper-class as both groups of people had nothing to prove to anyone; the working-class knew who they were; the upper-class had so much money they had no need to prove anything." Too many middle class snobs In ED and their gaggle of snotty obnoxious children running around trying to rule the world. KFC, McDonalds, Primark & Wetherspoons on the high street? it's just round the corner! And here is my follow up: You've confused yourself m&m fairy - if the middle classes are 'snobs' they wouldn't be shopping at Primark, eating at McD's and drinking at Wetherspoons would they? Am I right in saying you used to run Jack's cafe serving frittatas and pastrami (surely the snack du jour of the middle class snob)? Hating your customers and abusing them on social media probably won't help your business much? I hope you'll agree that besides highlighting the hypocrisy of her being willing to take the middle class pound at the same time as insulting them behind their backs, my response was the very soul of temperance.