Huguenot

Nah, I don't think that's the issue DF, I think they've done that but the database isn't working. I'd do a 301 redirect and see what happens first.

Couldn't resist it?

Bees

80p a year from the taxpayer. Dead Cool that! Loads of people in Ripon paid for it with lottery tickets when they were buying their copy of the Daily Mail and cursing the black kids 'round the corner. Even Better.

I always thought Mike P was the real Spook.

It's worth highlighting that we had similar threads in the past throwing blame on any manner of culprits, and it turned out it was all the Texaco garage from the previous 9 months. The fact that they cashed them on a particular date was irrelevant. Everybody was saying 'last week this' or that. Nowt to do with it.

I think you've missed the point or history of the National Trust by a country mile titch juicy. I think your view is based on entirely misinformed preconceptions. Firstly rich people don't own the houses. The later Victorian era had many national movements to great egalitarianism - we benefit from these beliefs today with universal suffrage, healthcare and education. One of these strategies was to tax the land owning aristocracy out of existence. The tool for this was what is now known as inheritance tax - by imposing thumping death duties on estates that lead to the break up of aristocratic fortunes and the redistribution of their assets to others. The initial impact of this was the mass destruction of our artistic and cultural heritage as unpaid tax obligations forced houses and their contents to collapse into ruin, and paintings and furniture were left to rot. The National Trust was an independent charity that stepped into the breach to acquire these houses and works of art on behalf of the nation. Just being 'rich people's houses' is insufficient for National Trust acquisition - your average footballer's red brick mansion in Alderley Edge is not going to fall into this bracket. The fact that art once belonged to rich people does not make it devoid of value - this is weird. Art was the preserve of the wealthy because they had to be sufficiently flush to pay for its creation and maintenance. It's a matter of considerable pride that the British people are so intelligent to set up institutions like the National Trust and make such use of it. Their paid up membership, incidentally, has risen from 2m to 3.7m people in the last 20 years - over 6% of the population.

You may well think that's a silly example, but I kinda think that anyone who sees short term populism and TV viewing figures as a reflection of national priorities is presenting a silly example. It's particularly silly because it's wrong simply on its own terms: The National Trust looks after 17 million paying visitors and over 50 million non-paying visitors to its sites every year. That's a damn sight more that than the tickets to the Olympics. As for all the class war rhetoric, it's a bit student politics isn't it? All this bolshevik dogma about erasing bits of our history that don't support whatever current philosophical fad we're supporting. I enjoy the Limpets, but to imagine that 2 weeks of brouhaha is more important than our national cultural heritage is losing the plot. I'm not recommending that we don't support sports or that we don't have the Limpets - far from it. I'm just unimpressed by somebody suggesting that it is a better use of investment than preserving our history.

Thankfully those who must be obeyed are wiser than to make it a binary choice between preserving thousands of years of our nation's cultural heritage for our children, and the short term thrill of a fleeting moment of sporting success. Put it this way - you probably can't even say where the 1952 Olympics was held, let alone whether the UK won and medals, wherease the National Trust has provided us with a rich and inspiring record of our history that makes us who we are today. Thank heavens that somebody thinks for the long term!

*double take* Would you prefer our stately homes were shut down?

I understand that the only two sports where amateurism is a requirement are boxing and wrestling. Apparently these two were kept seperate because it was thought that the kind of hopeless mismatches that sometimes occur in the Olympics could result in death or serious injury. This wasn't applied to other martial arts because the belt system was though to provide an adequate steer on capability.

Yeah, seems a bit harsh on the Northern Irish to appear be left out in the cold. It seems to stem from the fact that the Olympics use the ISO standard three letter codes for countries - in our case GBR. GBNI would be four letters and so wouldn't be used, and GBI would undoubtedly result in senseless carnage.

DJKQ's wit aside, the 'Great' in Great Britain (Brittania Major) refers to the fact that it is the larger landmass in Britain - the smaller one being Brittany in north west France, rather than the grandiose self flattery some people think it to be. Likewise the 'United' in United Kingdom refers to the Act of Union in 1707, rather than whether or not we agree with each other. Hence we remain the United Kingdon and Great Britain.

I think the athletes chose to call themselves Team GB, I was under the impression they're pretty proud of it, and I thought the me me me culture was buried alongside a Thatcher fifth term? Not sure it's all about the medal table, but to be sure the whole team performs better in a collective. It's not Mao or Marx, it's Redgrave. Hey Carter, wouldn't want to be on your side ;-)

Not really a fan of teenagers 'backing down' after they've been abusive as an excuse. Appreciate that girls may think differently. Girls do that often. Confuse an apology with a good head flushing down the toilet. ;-)

I appreciate that, but we're talking cross purposes. The individual vaccines are effective. The rate of mutation and the vast variety of bugs on call means that the effectiveness against one strain is immaterial. This one is absolute bollocks.

Got a really annoying bit of sticky out fingernail on my thumb. It'll be an hour or so before I can get some clippers.

Visit it often to air it. Look out for moths in clothes.

MM Whilst I agree with the principals of your argument if flu vaccines worked, they don't. Everybody involved must know this.

Was that what happened? No mention in the press? Maybe Omert??

Or how about the shelf life of anti-virals is 5 years, need to use it or burn it? Might have bought loads a few years ago. Dunno - agree it seems a load of old bollards though.

There's no doubt in my mind that many of the rates have been fixed, I'm full of joy to see a potential come-uppance in the offing. This one isn't going to be enough though - it needs the US or Germany to get involved.

Surely it's just a political or financial palliative? Everyone thinks the Tories are cutting disproportionately, so they roll out an apparently expensive white elephant that probably simply resolved an outstanding contractual dispute at low cost. There may have been a contract signed recently that promised ?xxx expenditure over Y years in return for a supplier discount. Austerity hit, targets were missed, and now we have a a make-good. Either way, not worth bothering about it. I don't see why it should need to be anything more than that?

We don't have free speech and the UK and never have, and long may that reign. However, not sure that this is a proportionate or appropriate response - and I'm not well enough versed in UK law to know if that requirement is enshrined within it. It's certainly trotted out regularly enough for it to appear to be a foundation tenet of policing. Still, I don't know how much of it is true either, and it doesn't hurt to put the willies up gobshite arrogant teenagers.

What's the difference between a drainage ditch and a river? Human intervention? If a natural river is diverted, does it then become ditch? Could the Neckinger be both ditch and river?