Huguenot

I'm glad you thought hard about that richard tudor, and really got the point. ;-) I'm also impressed that you didn't stoop to personal attacks in order to address a general observation that cars and retail spaces aren't a good match.

You'd have to be an idiot not to concede that family cars speeding around Bluewater's pedestrian walkways would seriously impact on your ability to spend money there. But for some reason, richard tudor, you are only willing to consider this if you know EXACTLY what speed they are going. Excuse me for finding that demand somewhat ridiculous.

Certainly Cyprus as an offshore banking haven has been seriously undermined. However, Cyprus as a nation will be fine I suspect.

No, Quids. no. Read the headlines today. "Euro ministers urge Cyprus rethink". This is NOT an EU decision. This is a Cyprus decision. The EU does NOT agree.

Remember what I said? I'm not relentlessly pro-European. Just stop the bollocks and we'll get on fine.

As usual, you will think I'm being pro-European. But I'm not. No-one in Europe had that idea.

Well, first, no one has said that they need to give a levy. That's a Cypriot decision. So F that German shite.

You're right EP, New Nexus has suddenly found an opinion! I think you're right in your assessment NN. It's been bizarre for everyone, but now the 'free cash' when the building society became a bank has become more real.

X-post Loz

Why is that weird? Why should that be a point of protest? Money doesn't actually exist, it's a medium of exchange provided by a business institution that we all buy into. We are welcome to barter (within reason), and many places have their own medium of exchange (the Totnes Pound). So long as we pay our taxes in a freely and generally convertible medium it's not like we are prevented from choosing our own medium of exchange. Government in general is 'socialist', so where economics allows (as in the UK to a degree) the nominal value of our convertible medium is secured. The Cyprus situation isn't unpredictable - it's a tiny country that was used as an offshore tax haven for Russians. The holdings of the banks vastly outweighed the GDP of the country, so when they fucked up the country couldn't guarantee it. What's the fuck up here? Nothing to do with the EU. We should support it, as it's in our best interests to secure the medium of exchange, but only to a degree. Savers are effectively shareholders - that's why when building societies in the UK turned into banks everyone got shares - but it's quid pro quo. If anything it's taught investors to be a bit more savvy. American Tea Party politics pays a price.

I think he probably did :) But I also have suspicions that he's one of these beach generated caricatures who believes the quickest way inside a pair of panties is an unctuous compliment and a confession of undying love... "Tayl mi, deed eet hurrt wayn you fayl frahm hevern?"

What kind of material is it made of? Long term storage really might not be a solution in the damp UK climate? They can rot quite quickly. Could you offer to buy it off them secondhand? Offer 300 quid or something? Say a mate wants it so not to offend? Then dump it.

I'm not rose-tinted about the EU Quids - it's just I believe clear, logical and fair minded assessment of it's capability. The evidence that this is not taking place is in UK popular belief about the EU swinging from 70% in favour to 70% against in 6 short years, with attribution being the challenges of the Euro, and Global recession. Both of which the EU bear no culpability. This means I immediately respond when something is incorrectly attributed to the EU, or there is confusion between the EU and the single currency, or the EU and global recession, or the EU and industry malpractice as in this case. When 90% of the allegations incorrectly leveled at the EU are negative, that means 90% of mine are positive. That seems to be what it takes to balance the books. I've consistently said there are challenges with the EU, and consistently said they must be overcome in order to align for future challenges. I totally agree with you that is why Germany want the UK there.

The EU has an obligation to its taxpayers to spend the money wisely. If you pay any tax New Nexus you should be grateful that they respect their duty of care.

KK: Why are you rubbing your things and staring at me Vito? VITO: I'm thinking what you'd be like to have sex with. KK: Well, I'd prefer you to keep your sexploitation fantasies to yourself. VITO: Don't worry, I do it to everyone else too, I don't care what language you speak... :D

I don't really see what this has to do with the 'EU experiment' (a politcial agreement regarding trade and various other social agreements) so I don't really see that this has an impact on it. This is about over leveraged banks needing recapitalization. You might at a stretch argue that this will have an impact on the Euro (a common currency) but since this is about banks rather than government funds it doesn't really refer to that either.

Well I think you probably are making a value judgement based on appearance Vito. Besides which, whilst it may be human nature to assess complete strangers for sexual opportunity, telling people that you are doing so is over-sharing.

Don't all stand up comedians break down the fourth wall? Are there any that don't directly address the audience? I quite like the idea of a stand up comedian who acts as if there is no-one else in the room, performing to the voices in his/her head.... :)

The presence of a police station and neighborhood policing are entirely separate issues surely? You don't need a station to have a bobby on the beat. Aside from that my understanding is that having bobbies on the beat has no impact upon actual crime, only on the perception of security. It's a PR exercise, and an expensive one at that. The idea that the closure of the station caused criminals to target the area endows them with far too much intelligence and forward planning. Anyway, we had stabbings and shootings in ED when the station was open. Sudden bursts of crime are rarely down to increases in criminality, but usually down to spree activity from a very small number of individuals. I remember a couple of years ago that of the 1,600 crimes on the Bakerloo line in one year, something like 1,300 were committed by the same 6 teenage petty criminals. They were all mates, and fed off the thrill of sharing their escalating crimes.

It's kinda weird for me Dudley, because your arguments are so extraordinary but couched so reasonably that I find them borderline insane. This is a particular example: "Does this mean it will still be viewed by some people, under the age limit? Yes, but it is restriction at least." It's irrational. In business we call it 'circle jerking', it's not a very nice term, but it refers specifically to the idea that some people consider the 'appearances' of doing something is equivalent to doing something. So they meet, in a circle, and jerk. It's not especially consequential, as you can imagine. The fact remains , Dudley, that not only do I find your ideas ridiculous - you have bizarre Victorian phraseology ("Is pornography harmful to the young mind? It can be" WTF??? Let's all speak in meaningless cliche shall we?) but your solutions lack imagination and practicality. It's aimless suburban post hoc ergo propter hoc. 'I saw porn so I raped'. It's prattish and gormless. 25% of South African schoolgirls have AIDS, but only 4% of boys. That's not because they saw porn on the Internet. It's because society dismisses their right to self-determination. If modern society has it's problems, its not because you have controlled the visibility of naked bodies having sex. How stupid is that? In the vernacular, you've chosen a shit idea, and you're pursuing it in a shit way. TBH Dudley, you have zero right to use the law as a weapon to exact your distorted perceptions of moral upbringing. You claim that 'we as a society call the shots', but I don't agree. We don't allow the majority view in favour of the death sentence to hold sway. It's not 'democratic' - it's called 'don't let daft people make daft decisions'. I certainly think there are people who will agree with your social control approach, but not the bright ones. You don't even hang around for a conversation. You deposit your totalitarian ideology on here like a turd on a cheese sandwich, disappear for a long period, and then return to make some bland assertion of your rectitude.

:D pfffftttt!

Go on, DJKQ do one of those app things! I'd love to see it out of interest, not for niggling purposes! It would be great to see the equivalent for an urban commute also :)

Sorry, say that again... other people buy you unwanted shoes in such volumes that you anticipate having significant quantities leftover at the end? This is a new phenomena for me. I am intrigued. It may be my age, but I have never come across the concept of buying shoes for other people.

I understand that Mick Mac, the problem is that Costa Crappee will have plenty of people dedicated to the cause. There's no evidence in these situations that formless petitions work. In fact it's likely to be dismissed as the work of sentimental conservatives with goldfish memories. 'Don't worry', they will say, 'these guys will soon love a new stall just as much' However, I do know that if you run a piece of research that grades the importance of factors such as continuity, local relevance and familiarity and these score highly that they WILL be listened to. People in offices like looking at graphs, they don't like opinions. Don't whinge about it or snoot about it from the university of hard knocks, give them a graph to look at. If you couple that with a willingness for Sam to renovate his stall in keeping with the renovated building and you have a serious chance of keeping him. That's all it is. If his supporters are not willing to make this effort them all it really does is prove to the decision makers that you never really cared anyway, and that their dismissal of you as sentimentalists is well founded. So, waddayoudo? PS Why do I care? Because I love small business. I liked the parochial quirkiness of Sam's stall. He was, and I guess is, a tryer. We could all do with learning from that. He deserves your help, but more importantly in failing to help him you speak to a greater community malaise.

DJKQ are you not slightly guilty of making the assumption that a slower speed limit will reduce your journey time? Have you got a smart phone with one of those runner/skier apps that could measure your journey to Shepperton each day and see what proportion of that is made over 20mph? You may find it will make no significant difference?