Huguenot

Have you got Starwalk on an iPad? If not it's worth getting just for that.

Sure thing on the voice for the poor, I don't doubt that, and of course I provoke you ;-) - I'm just not sure your proposals solve it. Worse (from my point of view, not yours), I believe accommodation along with subsistence provision must become the role of centralised economic planning - although I give a 50 year window for that, not the next 5 years. I just think that some of your views are too short term - a landlord who can't afford to reduce his rent is forced to sell or accommodate the loss. The aggrandisement of this buy-to-let individual as the new robber baron is weak. Just kill the tax breaks as I've always insisted. I'm not sure that the redistribution of workforce is essentially wrong. Yes it's bad to families and communities, but I think we killed this bird in 1991. ED isn't a community where everyone knows their neighbour. I retain my belief in universal healthcare, although I believe there is too much abdication to the 'authorities' on this. For the record, I don't believe in austerity. I think it's now the time to move. I think quantitative easing could have been bumped through SME and driven employment. If you're printing money, give it to someone. I don't believe in the 'rich gap', it can be killed through inflation without even blinking. I believe in allowing the median level being a satisfying lifestyle. We still need aspiration and competition. Egalitarianism is bunkum, it demotivates. Equal opportunity is my mantra, I don't really give a shit about qualification so long as the person can get the fundamentals. Jobs? Yes! Through workfare. I don't believe in job seekers allowance.

Didn't know that - terrific.

Aspirin... I need aspirin...

Well I'm always impressed by the energy of your opinions, but I can never quite make out a viable proposed alternative. DJKQ seems to think the solution to social housing is to increase housing benefits and provide more social housing whilst capping private rent and creating jobs out of thin air. The first two seem nonsensical, rent caps have a mixed outcome (sometimes good and sometimes bad), and the final point is simply one side of an increasingly polarised debate about austerity or investment that has no basis in provable fact - only hypothesis. Creating jobs is a very successful strategy in Singapore, where government funds companies to expand their worker base and drive productivity. They don't pay welfare, they pay salaries. In the UK I'm sure DJKQ would be the first to see this as an insult to the unemployed, christen it 'workfare' and stamp the boots of revolution! My suspiscion is that DJKQ as at heart a profound believer in centralised soviet-style politics and social management - a system that only ever impresses in philosophical debates, and never fails to disappoint in practice. At least 50% of Burbage's comment was a rant against administration and bureaucracy in general, with no proposed solution. Not difficult to 'get it right' in that context ;-)

Just burnt my tongue on cauliflower cheese. Bet you didn't know you could get cauliflower cheese in Singapore did you? Bet you don't know who the biggest producer of cauliflower is either? ;-)

Duplicate posts are about trying to dominate the forum to promote whatever particular subject you happen to think is important to you at the expense of of other people. I can't really believe that anybody would think it was somehow an act of generosity to spam the forum? The bizarre reality is that when other people spam the forum they'd be the first to jump on it, but if they do it themselves it's somehow righteous. Imagine what the forum would look like if everyone started repeating themselves all over it? Ridiculous sense of self righteousness from tarafitness.

Hahahahaha

I wouldn't want to do anything serious to your face UDT, apart from it sounding like an unnecessary, strenuous and illegal physical escalation, I just like teasing you.

As I said before, that's not high self esteem, that's autofellation. ;-)

Well if it were an option I've got a loft that needs help emptying and a couple of other odd jobs - but I'm in Singapore so it won't help ;-) I'm sure people will have some stuff they could do with a hand on.

Good for you Ade The challenge with 'public' charity requests is that there are so many it's difficult to tell the difference between the real thing, and some of the less 'robust' requests. If you wanted to really do Lifebeat a favour you should ask them to register with a resource such as 'JustGiving' who can do some of the background checking of the charity, and ensure that the cash is directed to the right people at the right time - it also takes the pressure off you being a bailiff/security guard! You can then set up your own personal contributions page to show your own commitment. Finally if I were you I'd try and 'do' something to earn the donation, rather than just ask for it ;-) Best of luck.

What happened? Has he disappeared?

Are Esquire editorialising now? Or was it a particular author?

I was on Crawthew Grove, and when we renovated the house we went from single to double and the impact was amazing. No aircraft noise. No street noise, just glorious rural peace ;-)

Your choice of dates impacts your choice of destinations because of the monsoon periods. Travelling in November/December the east side of SEA is pretty wet, whereas the west side is drier. This means the the gulf of Thailand can be a pretty miserable experience for diving/snorkelling at that time. You'll need to be booking Krabi and those islands instead. Heaviest rain is almost exactly the period you've described. Having said that, I love the rain. So if you don't mind it you'll be fine wherever, although getting around jungle temples such as Angkor Wat can be a bit sticky!

If you posted the same thing twice in separate sections then you've answered your own question. Duplicate threads are removed.

Take potshots at Daily Mail reading neighbours from the bathroom window.

I think the clue is in the really old boiler in your bedroom - this makes me think it's rust in the tank. If it is, it's not a health risk, but may benefit from a plumber doing a flush. Why do you think it would not affect the kitchen? Have you got two boilers? Either way, it's a job for a plumber not Thames Water ;-)

The cold water in your kitchen is probably coming direct from the mains. It sounds like the hot water everywhere and the cold water in your bathroom are coming from a header tank probably in the loft. It seems a distinct possibility that this is where the contamination is happening, particularly if the cover is dislodged. It's also a possibility if it's suddenly happened that some creature may have gone to meet their maker in it. You shouldn't drink it under any circumstances - and someone with a strong stomach should probably go up in the loft and take a look.

Wings. It had wings.

NYT: "David P. Barash, psychology professor at the University of Washington, writes that, for many, sports spectatorship taps a primordial human instinct for belonging, much as militaristic nationalism does. It indulges ?the illusion of being part of something larger than ourselves and thus nurtured, understood, accepted, enlarged, empowered, gratified, protected.? "In the wave-generating arena crowd, Barash adds, ?one becomes part of a great beckoning, grunting, yet smoothly functioning, and, presumably, security-generating Beast. And for those involved, it apparently feels good to be thus devoured whole and to live in its belly.? Damn but it feels good though! :D

I like Ziploc bags.

:) What's the London law on burning elm? Froggies won't mind, apart from the fact that they don't have the same authentic smell of burning sheep.

Didn't this end up in a Carpenters' song?