Huguenot

Everything about this is unlikely. The post was written by a PR team, the prose is a carefully articulated emotional manipulation 'this gentle man will be manacled on arrival'. The language is unusual and deliberately provocative. A small businessman, if he claims to be that, will always know who is signing the cheques. Things don't get 'diverted'. They get bought and sold on. If that was the case he wouldn't be subject to a sting, it wouldn't be necessary. It's entirely possible Nick, that you believe what you're saying (even though it's a copy amd paste job), but you're either a sucker yourself, or you're trying to sucker this forum. None of this is very attractive. BTW, I'm not a fan of either the US or extradition, so steer clear of abuse on that level. ;-)

End of the world is nigh eh New Nexus? The water will dry up in the taps, disease will spread unchecked etcetera etcetera

At what point does a critique of Brown (much of which Brown himself would agree with) consitute a demand for "a return to the dark ages of the Tories when the streets were filthy, burglaries on the high, violent strikes, high unemployment, business collapsing, etc"? Only when you're stuggling with one brain cell being pushed around in a broken wheelbarrow masquerading as 'reason'.

I loves d_c's Freudian slip... "If anyone wants to prey, then let them do it in their own time" Prey in this spelling meaning to hunt, catch and feed upon a defenseless quarry. A reasonable metaphor for the church. ;-) I suspect that some who haven't lived in the shires may be confusing the sophistication of multicultural metropolitan politics with the conservative, white, pretentious pomp of the shires. We're talking about parts of the world that are still lost in the nostalgic glory of empire, and it wouldn't come to me as a shock to see christiam prayers being used as a weapon by the landed gentry to exclude 'unfavourables' from the community. If you don't get it, watch a few episodes of Midsomer Murders and then read this.

Try getting in touch with John at Chener Books There were a string of large houses along what is now the south side of Goose Green, so it could have been one of these. The last one (when I lived there) was subdivided in to flats and operating as a local taxi firm at the eastern corner of Oakhurst Grove and East Dulwich Road. Almost the entire east side of Oakhuest Grove is built in what was originally its back garden. However, I don't know the dates it was built, or even if it or the taxi firm are still there now. I've attached a kmz file for a Google Earth placement if that helps?

Acoording to the owner Ibi Issolah... "Some people have been shocked at me changing the name of this restaurant," he says. "But I felt I had to in order to show that the food and service have completely changed compared with the past." It explains "The importance Issolah places on wine helps to explain his choice of name for the Dulwich restaurant, Beauberry being a small village in the Charolais region of Burgundy." Hw may well have had a great career, but I did eat at Beauberry before departing to these waters, and I thought it wasn't worth returning to...

Excellent TM, just try not to have one of those squeaky bum moments where you annouce to your entourage 'that H actually had the nerve to call me a manipulative nazi, where did he get that from, the idiot??? hur hur hur' and instead of laughing with you they actually lapse into silence and look knowingly at each other...

So far as I know Sharia law has no legal standing in the UK - it tends to be used by local communities to resolve those local issues that are most influenced by local public opinion and peer pressure. It's equivalence outside the muslim community would surely be a neighborhood meeting? Sharia Councils are often used as arbitrators in disputes, and can generate a contracted agreement between individuals which is legally binding, but this is not the exception for Muslims: any two individuals in the UK can make a legally binding agreement at any time that is recognised by UK law. As we have been exposed to with the CPZ, local community feeling wields an enormous amount of influence on events despite its lack of legal standing - so from my POV there is no reason to single out Muslims on this subject. I accept the point that issues regarding prayers at work are far less influential than efforts to resolve sovereign debt crises. But that I'd argue the debt issue is transitory, whereas trying to enforce the creation of an undemocratic authoritarian power system based on medieval myth and prejudice will have a much longer lasting impact.

Gosh, what a mess that philosophy is. I hardly think that was what Lord Carey was endorsing.

Boeuf Bourguignon yeaaaahhhh... I'm not sure choc sauce and so on have quite the same cachet with men as women. Most men that I know, metrosexual or otherwise, don't seem to go oooh and aaah over the dessert menu. They don't make jokes about trying to have 2 or 3 desserts, and don't make fake guilty noises about sweet stuff. If it was a gentleman entertaining a lady then it would seem sensible to pursue a dessert based strategy, but if it's a lady entertaining a man then it may be that you're only indulging yourself ;-) When I'm dating (infrequently of course) girls always want to crap on about the desserts and it leaves me cold. I can fake it of course, and my limitless generosity means I do, but it's really boring. I'd prefer a good cognac or armagnac and some fine stinky cheeses it you wanted to make me purr (which I accept you don't), and that might also be a bit soporific. Which may be counterproductive.

I think the days are long gone when a team was picked based on talent and cooperation. Shankly and Paisley may well have left him unselected, but then so may many modern managers if they had a choice. They don't.

No secular legal system is acceptable for the church it seems. Once the church declares their willingness to operate outside the legal system of the UK, in my mind they not only show their true colours, but question their right to preferred status in our social framework. It is a joke for Eric Pickles to claim that preventing councils from enforcing christian faith in their activities is 'illiberal and intolerant'. The only illiberal and intolerant activity is that of an authoritarian and bigotted totalitarian medieval belief system to attempt to control the activities of secular government.

Definitely OverGran :)

Really RosieH, it's Valentine's Day and you need to ask what's for pud? ;-)

400+ in the crowd over here in SG, which has a very strong Liverpool bias, and I think everyone wished Evra well in his celebration. There was a lot of passionate pro-Liverpool noise before the handshakes, but when Suarez refused to proffer his hand the crowd went silent. Big clubs like Liverpool rely heavily on worldwide support, and this episode seems to have had an extremely negative effect. The club may be obliged to find a solution to this one way or another.

;-)

It seems to ba a personal trait - I can't do anything else when reading a book apart from walk. Never seem to have much trouble with it by bumping others or getting run over and such like. Conversely those who try and play iPhone games or watch videos when walking are evidently untrained. Music is generally a pain in the arse anyway.

I've no doubt that they could first mate. My point was more that these would be part of a significant portfolio of problems. Not being able or willing to spell correctly is not the definition of dyslexia. Having worked so closely with someone who genuinely suffered from dyslexia I generously get offended on his behalf when idle ingrates claim that they're dyslexic as a get out of jail free card. That definition of dyslexia was from one of the big medical associations, but I forget which.

Oh dear

Yeah, I take the point d_c but it's not the polarisation I'm looking for, I'm not absolutist on this. I don't believe that people don't want to do a great job, my experience is that they do. But I also recognise that sometimes organisations need a restructure of opinions and attitudes. The brightest and most capable ideas can be brought to ground by inertia from vested interests. In public large organisations the consequence of compromise is too often a result that benefits the least capable. I'm not prepared to concede that this requires mismanagement, more often the failure is an inability to enact change and a bodged compromise. Outfits like the NHS are just too big to have that many incompetent or self-serving managers who want to screw it. Neither do I believe that politicians are the best people to resolve it. However, I do not believe that a nation like the UK should have the biggest 'army' in the world. The NHS is that. The UK and the NHS needs to grow up. It is not an appropriate way of dealing with public health for the next 100 years, so when does it change?

I don't know d_c, but it's geuninely unlikely to have been created by people who want the NHS to fail. That's not human nature. I couldn't understand for a while why sterling and capable recruits became sullen and inert after a week in the job. It turned out that during their entry week social with the best players (that I encouraged) a couple of the long timers had informed them about how they were expected to respond to 'management' in order to meet their team obligations. It's clear that the biggest and most rewarded performers were protecting their positions, in the mistaken belief that they were untouchables. Fine. But I have a responsibility to all employees to make their careers successful, and I'm sure the brutal and public resolution was testament to who called the shots. The unions would have blocked this, and I was subject to offensive and inaccurate tribunal claims that I won. The reality is that we have good workplace laws, but we must allow capable and trustworthy management teams to do their job. Accountability allows us to achieve this, that's why the unions block it.

Re. Brendan's views on documentation, that was the same protest I had from guys at the bottom of the list. I pointed out that if they couldn't chat on the phone and jot a few notes at the same time it rather undermined their claim to literacy which was an underpinning knowledge requirement for the job. I don't imagine for one second that Brendan's lucky other half is playing the same game, but accountability is a key element of collaborative working. If it's become crazy, then fine, but I suspect it hasn't, and it's being used as a 'duck and cover' excuse by underperforming workers who are manipulating others to join the protest.

I'm not saying it's one size fits all - but if one Key Performance Indicator was 'don't pump drugs into mums that are allergic to them' it hardly needed writing down did it? Because I didn't write 'don't shit in the foyer' after 'answer calls within four rings' didn't mean that it wasn't a component of reasonable performance. Nor did the call answering dictat make shitting in the foyer a reasonable behaviour in pursuing this goal. In fact, if some prick had shat in the foyer and used the call answering goal as an excuse I'd probably have punched them in the face. Citing examples like that as a reason for not having targets is the last redoubt of an objectionable worker. It's also the kind of 'crap' (yes) that uncooperative unionised workforces come out with as a deliberate block to asking them to do their flipping job.

Given the way they defended the money (not as pay) you'd need a tax lawyer to tell then what tax exactly should be payable!

Agreed with SJ, with some passion!