Huguenot

Ooooh, scratch your eyes out! :))

Poor old silverfox, the flames of his witch-hunting torch doused in a raging torrent of reasonable behaviour.

Tip - Razors is a moron. Estos rios son buenos para la pesca de la truce Or something. ;-) And inadequates like Razors can sit at home wondering why they've got no mates.

That's a slight misunderstanding I think Saffron - the fraudlent activity would be to claim to be actively looking for work, when in fact she had chosen not to. She would have to sign a statement saying she was actively looking - and that is where the deception would be.

"Surely the gold bubble is the biggest ever? At least people can live in ....flats. They have a rental yield." This is more estate agent trolling isn't it? If people get out of gold now, will they "get in on the upswing"? Perhaps they can get it on buy-to-let and fraudulently borrow 500k that they can't afford from rip-off bankers and get this "rental yield" of which you speak by fleecing first time buyers? Perhaps they should all rush out and speak to their "Sol"

They have no sense of humour either. *sighs*

Did you know that every time vegetarians take a breath they're breathing at least two molecules of the last breath a porker took in an abbatoir? How must that feel when they won't even eat food that has been touched by a utensil that once touched meat? *shakes head sorrowfully*

Correct ;-)

Goose fat ;-)

More like Fingers Dingle

Is Homeland any good? It starts here on Saturday - wondering whether it's appointment viewing.

I think this is marvellous. What they're effectively doing is passing back the CPA (cost per acquisition) that a marketing department expects to spend to find a new customer, and passes it directly back to the customer. This is the cash that would normally go to a website or TV etc. in advertising expenditure. The discount deals are budgeted separately so you can still attract that too. The question is what their 'deal' is. If they really have 1.9 million customers, then they're bringing in 10m GBP a year in subs fees which ain't bad, but I'll be betting they're generating more elsewhere. I think I'll be building me one of these for SE Asia. ;-)

Early editions of any of these (if you do get an early one maybe try and get a beautiful wooden box to keep it in - maybe walnut): 1. Don Quixote Miguel De Cervantes The story of the gentle knight and his servant Sancho Panza has entranced readers for centuries. 2. Pilgrim's Progress John Bunyan The one with the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair. 3. Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe The first English novel. 4. Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift A wonderful satire that still works for all ages, despite the savagery of Swift's vision. 5. Tom Jones Henry Fielding The adventures of a high-spirited orphan boy: an unbeatable plot and a lot of sex ending in a blissful marriage. 6. Clarissa Samuel Richardson One of the longest novels in the English language, but unputdownable. 7. Tristram Shandy Laurence Sterne One of the first bestsellers, dismissed by Dr Johnson as too fashionable for its own good. 8. Dangerous Liaisons Pierre Choderlos De Laclos An epistolary novel and a handbook for seducers: foppish, French, and ferocious. 9. Emma Jane Austen Near impossible choice between this and Pride and Prejudice. But Emma never fails to fascinate and annoy. 10. Frankenstein Mary Shelley Inspired by spending too much time with Shelley and Byron. 11. Nightmare Abbey Thomas Love Peacock A classic miniature: a brilliant satire on the Romantic novel. 12. The Black Sheep Honore De Balzac Two rivals fight for the love of a femme fatale. Wrongly overlooked. 13. The Charterhouse of Parma Stendhal Penetrating and compelling chronicle of life in an Italian court in post-Napoleonic France. 14. The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas A revenge thriller also set in France after Bonaparte: a masterpiece of adventure writing. 15. Sybil Benjamin Disraeli Apart from Churchill, no other British political figure shows literary genius. 16. David Copperfield Charles Dickens This highly autobiographical novel is the one its author liked best. 17. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff have passed into the language. Impossible to ignore. 18. Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte Obsessive emotional grip and haunting narrative. 19. Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray The improving tale of Becky Sharp. 20. The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne A classic investigation of the American mind. 21. Moby-Dick Herman Melville 'Call me Ishmael' is one of the most famous opening sentences of any novel. 22. Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert You could summarise this as a story of adultery in provincial France, and miss the point entirely. 23. The Woman in White Wilkie Collins Gripping mystery novel of concealed identity, abduction, fraud and mental cruelty. 24. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland Lewis Carroll A story written for the nine-year-old daughter of an Oxford don that still baffles most kids. 25. Little Women Louisa M. Alcott Victorian bestseller about a New England family of girls. 26. The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope A majestic assault on the corruption of late Victorian England. 27. Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy The supreme novel of the married woman's passion for a younger man. 28. Daniel Deronda George Eliot A passion and an exotic grandeur that is strange and unsettling. 29. The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky Mystical tragedy by the author of Crime and Punishment. 30. The Portrait of a Lady Henry James The story of Isabel Archer shows James at his witty and polished best.

How about some sort of Victoriana first edition family cookbook?

So is it a discount, or is a fee for signing on?

Except that for someone who hasn't got a house dulwichgirl2 you seem remarkably au fait with loft conversions, planning permission and property legalese on another thread. You're so familiar with conveyancers you even call them 'sol's. And of course you're keen on 'getting the upswing'. ;-)

There are many undoubtedly generous souls such as yourself ibilly, who uphold your conviction that community spirit is about indulging the pecadillos of local characters. There are others who believe that community spirit would best be demonstrated by having the generosity not to shove your shite taste in music down other people's throats and then whinging like teenager when you can't ambush somebody else's local community event to do so. I can see and understand both points of view - but only one of them involves not forcing yourself on other people. I presume your own perspective stems from the conviction that you want to stick it to people you dont like? ;-)

I think if you could spend a few more valuable moments telling us how clever and superior you are UDT, that would really help Alan Medic in his task? (tu)

It's amazing how many people think that a good community, like a good family, is about forcing other people to listen to your shite taste in music at top volume, and then being righteous about it and complaining you're hard done by ;-)

hey giggirl - quite interested in your 'free money' recommendation for Quidco. They seem, predictably, to have mixed reviews about paying up on their promises. Do you use it yourself? Have you been paid on time? How much free money are you making?

It's a great idea but.... have you considered the tax implications? On a small scale where it's just about a couple of people helping each other out it's probably not worth HMRC pursuing, but on a 'village' scale they may not be so lenient. Technically barter (swapping) amounts to evasion of income tax, corporation tax or VAT and could possibly also amount to fraud. Make it visible on a local forum and the evidence is right in front of them! Secondly there's practicality: it may be difficult to identify two indviduals who have corresponding items. It may require three, four or more individuals operating in a network to ensure that everyone gets what they want. Comparative value then becomes difficult to ascertain, so it usually involves the creation of a 'value' score for each product that then becomes a currency in its own right. You'd need some sort of monetary authority to oversee that to ensure transparency and accountability. Where this was achieved in Totnes, the Totnes pound was freely changeable with sterling at a 1:1 value - and since neither customers nor businesses were obliged to accept it, it became a timely and effective marketing gimmick that promoted local business, rather than one that leveraged it. I'd probably just stick to occasional friendly swaps to avoid the pitfalls and possible legal issues that an 'organised' arrangement would entail.

Malumbu, I don't think that anyone's said that fuel truck drivers are too highly paid and they've got to give up advantageous terms and conditions. Only you said that, in order to fabricate an attack against which you can righteously defend. I do think that these apparently lethal risks that these martyrs run everyday are ludicrously overblown and sound a bit pathetic coming from the mouths of grown men. Sure it's dangerous, so are a lot of things. Incidentally I'll bet over the last 5 years there have probably been around 5,000 workplace accidents involving photocopiers, and 0 involving fuel trucks ;-) What I've said is that the proposed disadvantages they are claiming are insufficient to justify holding the nation to ransom. Their motive isn't around health and safety, it's about perks and salaries.

Mothers inclined to linger over Fettucine.

Things to feel good about! :))

So you mean you're not directly involved in the project? Is this just hearsay? I'm not sure we should be responding to unsubstantiated rants overheard in the pub? It sounds more like a bitch, a smear, a libel, than a legitimate complaint? If it's true, the charity commission would be extremely pleased to hear about a charity who was spending 90% of the funds in adminstration. I've got ten quid that says it wouldn't be a charity for much longer.