Huguenot

LOL. Tony I'm on the other side of the planet! ;-)

I disagree with the idea that something is offensive if someone 'takes' offence, offensive can only be used to describe the intention of the behaviour surely? Offence is something that's delivered, not taken. If you are aware that a word is considered offensive and use it nevertheless, then I agree that should be considered offensive behaviour. However, you may not simply 'take offence' at my observations because you don't agree. That's called picking a fight, and it's all a bit housing estate. For example, is Tony LS being offensive here? He's presumably read everything everyone's written, but still persists in sterotyping a group of people as tarmacking businessmen who rip people off. However, he's clearly impressed and intends no harm - it's a compliment. However, typecasting is bad form. I'm not a tw@t because I'm a public schoolboy, or because I work in advertising. I'm a tw@t because I'm a tw@t ;-)

Seconded

I once wrote a very tedious treatise on 'William Morris and the Rural Idyll'. Far from me to repeat it, but leaving the big smoke is a very deep rooted British cultural imperative. It's like Bumbalina and the suntan. Out here in SEAsia a suntan is a symbol of agricultural work and the financial penury that goes with it. It's also freakin' hot, but everyone mainly avoids the sun because it's embarassing. However in the 7 days before Bumba goes back to the UK or Canada she goes suntan crazy. It's a pathology, but rooted in the fact that in northern climes a suntan is a symbol of wealth and privelege (related to international travel in the 70s). In post-industrial revolution Britain the rural idyll became a symbol of wealth and privelege, and that underlying conviction has never left us. Moving out of London is an imperative that demonstrates to our acquaintances that we've 'made it'. It proves that we've done our time in the cotton mill and made sufficient profit to back away from the Spinning Jenny. Hence Marmora Man's exquisite (and wholly accurate) portrait of country life is neither here nor there. People will live in that kind of poo haunt in order to send a message. I have no familiarity with the factional 60% statisitic, but it stands to reason that if people are living in the sticks long enough for colleagues to become inured to the point being made, that the prodigals will have to come back to London in order to leave again. It's interesting that for agricultural economies, such as France and Ireland (*ducks*) the cities are quite the opposite. They represent a cultural nursery, where people spend time to 'add value' to their existence. Where pampered Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote an 'Ode to the West Wind', the locals thought the persistent rain was a ball-ache and talked about going to the bright lights. This thread was started by Strawbs who I seems to recall (probably incorrectly) being antipodean. I may be wrong, but it strikes me that someone from such a cultural backwater ;-) would naturally be confused by the yearning to leave London. However, you're not supposed to be thinking of your loss, you're supposed to be impressed and bask in the reflected glory.

Much as I hate to be the voice of reason ;-) Muffintop, you're heading the bunnet on this one and grinning like a loon. Antibiotics are neither big nor clever. They're chemicals designed to stop life. Usually, like a hoodie on a wet Sunday, they've only got one target and hopefully it isn't you! The fact that you don't notice the damage they're doing on the way through is just lucky. One doesn't just 'take a swig' of 'antibiotic'. You're prescribed a very specific poison based on your apparent ailment. You don't not finish the course because you'll leave one microbe alive to tell his mates how to duck the damage. You don't take a different antibiotic because that's like hitting yourself in the face to cure a broken toe. Antibiotics will be cleared (like most toxins) by the liver, which (lacking nerves) doesn't complain until it goes on strike. Then you pop your clogs. Given that your liver will also deal with the other toxins like alcohol, overloading the poor baby is about as bright as playing chicken on the motorway. Sometimes if your liver's overloaded you'll process the toxins through your skin (like pushing tomatos through a sieve), which is why after a particularly heavy night you smell of whisky no matter how much you clean your teeth. This is a placard from the union saying they can't keep up. That doesn't mean this is wrong. I've been waging an increasingly ferocious war on my liver for the best part of forty years and the mean spirited b@stard has yet to walk away. However, know your enemy!

Hi MsB. It can be a little confusing. You need some sort of connection to exchange data with the internet, and traditionally this means either a phone line, a cable line or a satellite connection. There are some experiments regarding provision over the mains electricity cables but it's not widespread. In reverse order, the satellite connection isn't like Sky Satellite reception as you need to get data going both ways, so you'd need to buy specialist equipment. 'Cable' is like old fashioned cable TV - either your street has it installed or it doesn't - and it's a separate set of cables to the phone line. If you have cable you don't need a traditional phone line. But for most people (probably including you), connection will be via a working phone line. This doesn't mean you have to pay BT for it, but it does mean you'll have to pay someone for it! You can have different providers for the phone and internet services, but for most people packages represent better value for money and simpler billing. For example, my dad uses Talktalk for the telephone line and BT for the broadband.

Judge, jury and executioner

What's the context of your disagreement Dogster? I'm assuming it's one of the following: (a) Can't tell the difference in accent (b) Think everyone who is doing 'something' (unspecified) is Ozzie © Think that everyone in the world is a figment of your imagination and you can label them as you wish without redress If (a) then there's no need to tell people they have no identity, just tell them you can't differentiate their accent. If (b) then as per your request to Bob, please tell us what that 'something' is, and we'll try and help. If © then see a psychologist as you have no friends to help you. I suspect the underlying problem is ©, but it's exacerbated by (a), and that you're pretending it's (b) because that means you can blame everyone else.

Was it a sensible question dogster? You were observing that you couldn't differentiate between a limited number of Ozzies and Kiwis based on their social behaviour - by your definition they were all Ozzies? Does this make Brits who behave the same way Ozzie too? Or South Africans, or Americans or Canadians? Are they all Ozzie? Or converseley are they all Brits? Or are they all South African? Or are you saying you can't differentiate the accent? Does that mean that all Brits are American for the Chinese and that's okay? Are you happy to be characterised and treated according to your accent or your skin colour? The nature of your question demonstrates an ugly prejudice and egocentricity that belies sense. Perhaps you're providing these people with a label that you have contrived because in your view they have no identity of their own, just the one that you (in your magnanimity) have decided to impose upon them? Is this incipient megalomania? Surely your fellow posters are sensibly avoiding a direct response for fear of exposing you to your true nature. They're protecting you? You should be both proud and ashamed by the philanthropy.

Perhaps it's a surge in under-the-counter payments?

Great point Macroban. There isn't an agreed formal definition of recession, the newspapers seem to have grabbed this simplistic 'two quarters' and politicians have followed suit because it conveniently means that recessions of up to 10 months can go un-reported. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Economies are built on public confidence, so 'recession talk' generates recessions and damages lives that would otherwise have been unaffected. A 'technical truth' isn't such a good thing if it makes the pain worse. Secondly, recession can be misunderstood. We expect recession to refer to the bad times. However, recession only refers to a shrinking economy. Businesses are often slow to react to tighter cashflow, and redundancies and smaller bonuses can be slow to show. We often suffer the worst pain from recessions 1 or 2 years after the recession has ceased to exist.

Maybe I'm misinformed DaveR, but the opening text of the Israeli proclamation of independence reads as follows: "Eretz Israel [Hebrew: The Land of Israel] was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world. "Exiled from their land, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries of their dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for their return and for the restoration in it of their national freedom. "Impelled by this historic association, Jews strove in every successive generation to to re-establish themselves in their ancient homeland.[...] Loving peace but knowing how to defend itself, they brought the blessing of progress to all inhabitants of the country. "In the year 5657 (1897), at the summons of the spiritual father of the Jewish State, Theodore Herzl, the First Zionist Congress convened and proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth in its own country." That pretty clearly suggests to me that it was the first Zionist congress who decided that having gone walkabout, the Jewish people faniced their own state, that they were having it where God said they could, and that they were up for a fight. Given that it's unreasonable for a non-Jewish local to wish to be ruled by Jewish laws, you can see how this can be interpreted as a pretty exsclusive arrangement. You might note that the date is well before any British agreements, and that they make pretty clear that it was their own idea.

I'd consider that if you 'take sides' (whichever one) in this nasty war you become part of the problem. Both factions are operating on the basis that belief in a particular supernatural being and their associated philosophy entitles you to righteously occupy your neighbour's house. This is pre-medieval bunkum. A wish to obliterate Israel is no more outrageous than the conviction that you have the right to create your own homeland in someone else's backyard. To characterise those who disagree with you as effete masturbators is a wee bit playground, and to believe that you're fighting a battle when the world is against you is to create identity through conflict. Not very healthy.

No they don't Asset. And you're a girl so how would you know?

Base 10. You know it makes sense. 454 to 425 has nothing to do with measurement stylees. You're just being ripped off. Stones, pounds and ounces are just silly, Base 12, Base 14 and Base 16...?? It's pointlessly complex. Geriatrics are just aggrieved that they spent so long gaining expertise in something that a slightly more intelligent generation waved bye-bye to. ;-) Miles? Base 1764. Stupid. Base 10. Base 10.

You're joking DaveR? You think the aggressive settler strategy is 'survival'? These guys are twisted fundamentalists. You think knife crime is a problem in London? You've got 20 year old Israelis running out of the homestead f*cking 60 year old locals in the head with hammers when all they were trying to do was grow peas with no water. The new weapon for the locals is video cameras. Video cameras. Because nobody believes them. I take it that includes you? Have a look Or don't you believe it? You think they made it up? Believe it or not, the "left-liberal-lazy romantic point of view" is yours. It's so easy being middle class and pumping money into an archaic religious war from two thousand miles away that we forget that dinner party defences here lead to psychotic nuts over there. Nobody is suggesting that everyone wants to hug Israel, but a good place to start would be Israel realising that housing-estate terrorists pumping out coke-bottle mortars is not international political strategy. Israel meets out 10:1 kill figures against the locals. For every murdered Israeli there's 10 murdered locals.

No, no, stop it, this is too funny.

Last year we used Slug pellets. Sweet Bumbalina thought we were feeding them so they wouldn't be hungry enough to eat the plants. You should have seen her face when she walked out the kitchen door to slug armageddon the next morning. Corpses everywhere and one tearful little minx wracked with guilt at the genocide she'd perpetrated.

For sure lol, but that video ain't nothing to do with being understood or accepted is it? It looks suspiciously like a brothel and squirming sexually available types? I don't want to sound like Grandad, but 'it felt so wrong, it felt so right' sounds a bit like 'no means yes' or 'do what you want and bugger the consequences'?? If you reckon that's a bright idea to coach fourteen year old's with, then I'm scratching my head. I find it rather tawdry.

Brilliant. But I think our canine friend is serious aren't you? It's a wee bit artless isn't it? You've got a development that you want to make, but a tree is blocking your grand plan, so you wrote to Bozza asking him to ban trees? Talk about escalation. Deep breaths, honey. EDOldie is supporting you because (s)he feels cutting trees is cruel (and presumably inhumane), when you want to see the things slaughtered to line your pocket with green-folding. Brings new meaning to 'barmy alliance'. EDOldie, stop it. That's silly. JRussell, you must be bored or overtired. Either way, writing letters to Bozza is not going to help you in your objective. If you have an issue with a planning restriction then find a proper reason and take it to the planning committee. Writing a letter will be a short term thrill, but in the end you'll be calling Blondie a w@nker for not writing back. You know it.

How peculiar. Do I start a thread entitled 'things that make Huguenot horny, discuss?'. Or do we know each other so well now that we share those self-indulgent moments? This probably isn't the right thread, but it does remind me of an unresolved question from the homphobic/racism thread. How do the guys who abuse people for being gay know? I mean, I don't give any overt clues to my sexuality. You wouldn't have Scooby. I remember an earlier thread where someone wanted a gay bar in ED so that gay peeps could do their thing without fear of oppression. Having pointed out that gay people are hardly oppressed in ED bars, it became clear that what was sought was more of a singles club where people can 'openly' demonstrate their indulgences. Clearly I'm old fashioned, but I'm not sure that my sexuality should be my identity. I don't french kiss in pubs. With all hugs and kisses to LP, why would we post this video? Have we all gone a bit Finbarr Saunders? Have we reached the point where running down Lordship Lane crying 'I like lacy red panties' is a valid comment on our contribution to society? We might like plum jam and blue duvets too, so why do we particularly want to shout about what makes us hot? I assume that there's a certain thrill to discussing sex, as it's breaking a social taboo. A bit like playing the 'penis' game in supermarkets (who can say the word loud enough to draw a stare whilst retaining deniability?). Is that what this video is... 'look at me I posted a sexy thing'? Hmph, call me Mr. Gradgrind, but it all seems a bit playground.

Hannah, your well meaning friend is generally not wrong with Chilli plants. You can hack them back to a stub and they'll still grow back, don't give the pruning another thought. Mockney kills plants by overwatering. Too much love and the roots rot. He doesn't really take a pleasure in murder, it's just he over-compensates for his angst when in a social environment. Make sure you've got proper drainage from the pot and give it some real verbal. Chilli plants don't like Mozart, they like aggro. Have a look at this.

Asset, fugging result. Smashing. Steph, your, you're and yore. "Your" is ownership - my or your shaped pumpkin. "You're" is an abbreviation for "you are" a very beautiful lady. The apostrophe denotes the missing letter. Similar to "it's" being short for "it is". Although that's actually a very complicated example. I already regret. "Yore" is a corruption of "year" and is mostly used to describe a very long time ago where I should clearly be living to have even posted this. However, we do have responsibilities when talking to a woman of letters. On this note for others, 'definite' not 'definate'. But try not to think of it as a spelling issue, it's how the word's created. 'De' is 'of' and 'finite' is well, the end. So when you say 'definite' you're kinda saying that's the final word on the matter. You can play games with spelling, it's very good for insults. "Stationary" means not moving, and "Stationery" means paper and pens. You could say "Jack was stationery". Some people would imagine that you meant he wasn't moving, but spelling equipped chaps would know that you're calling him a complete f@cking envelope. Cool. Yes, I know I'm a ponce.

Peas go mental don't they?

Oh piffle Zephyr, I wasn't 'having a go' and I don't think anyone else was. Just disagreeing and startled by your righteous ire. I apologise if it came across as niggling, it wasn't my intention. It's easy to say 'this is a snob tax, I'm not a snob therefore I don't deserve it', it's moving the goalposts. It's much more difficult to say 'I come from a background where large families were celebrated and now the buggers are making me pay for them'. Cars are a love-hate thing for me. I love the sense of personal freedom and self-determination they represent. All I wanted from the age of fifteen was a Triumph Spitfire (I know I know). However, I'd be a minkey if I didn't recognise that the world is choked with these steel bollockfests. Our obsession with these objects is a right royal fu@k up. There is no freedom, no self-determination, only traffic jams and frustration. We believe that these are created by poor administration, but the honest truth is that there's just too many. This forum is jammed with protestors about traffic wardens and clampers, because we think these people are stealing the dream. They're not, we just all have the same fantasy and the streets aren't big enough. Get a grip, don't b@llock the government, bin the blasted car.