Huguenot

Haaa haaah haa

Oh come on, they were writing letters slagging off the Royal British Legion to a left of centre anti-war newspaper, quoting their service record as support for their anti-war stance. It wasn't as if they were writing a letter discussing campaign semantics to Advertising Age. It's no win argument anyway. If the RBL did a campaign slogan that said 'never again' you'd have millions of people asking why you'd undermine the sacrifice and commitment of the armed forces. It's far healthier that we should campaign on pride for those sacrifices rather than cynical denigration. If you thought these wars were questionable, you have a problem with government not the armed forces. Even that would miss the point. If you don't want wars over oil then stop using your car, turn down the heating, and dim the lights.

I think it's clear they resented their role in the armed forces, and resented the government policies that saw them in action in wars of which they didn't approve. It's resulted in bitter recriminations directed against institutions they consider to be involved. I don't think the poppy appeal would have had the slightest impact on those beliefs, all it's done is given them the opportunity to air them.

This reminds me of that West Wing episode where President Bartlett 'accidentally' leaves his microphone on so that he can communicate what he thinks about another politician whilst giving himself room to 'apologise for the gaffe'. It was magic television, and I suspect it was a similar kind of 'accident' that publically branded Netanyahu a global political pariah. Really pleased to hear it - particularly Obama's comic resignation about having to speak to him every day... Whereas Brown, of course...

I'd argue that that letter demonstrates just how effective the poppy appeal is in generating debate around the virtues and penalties of armed conflict. Had the poppy appeal never been made, it's unlikely those chaps would have ever got their opinion heard. They will also have had the opportunity to take advantage of the Royal British Legion's support.

Ha HA! Ha HAA ha HAA!! :))

On the observation that a poppy does not change people into respectable citizens, that misses the point. We're the product of millions of experiences throughout our lives, the lessons we learn, the conclusions we draw and the actions we commit to. The poppy appeal sits into the box marked 'respect and empathy for others'. Your nephew seems determined to reject the contents of this educational experience in favour of the box marked 'poorly thought out self-indulgent teenage posturing makes me feel important'. Adults should really be making the effort to gently coax him in a more responsible direction rather than indulging his ego.

BB100, it seems to me that you're now researching more information to support a rejection of the poppy appeal. It feels like a post rationalisation - almost as if you've decided to reject the poppy first, and then try and justify it afterwards. I'm wondering whether the initial objection was anti-authority (You CAN'T tell me what to do!!!), and all this stuff about not supporting the poppy appeal on behalf of the armed forces and their families came afterwards? It seems petty and trite anyway. The employees of the armed forces do not create wars or benefit from them. The get paid peanuts, suffer tremendously, and then get dumped afterwards. Punishing them further with hoity-toity teenage disrespect is just rubbish.

Oh my good heavens - cordless phones mess with your brain!!! There's quite a lot about cats to soothe you after that bombshell.

I LOVE that site - according Mike Adams, Health Ranger, the Final Solution was derived from Hitler's excessive farting. I'm also incredibly pleased to see that CANCER is curable NOW for only $19.97 Result.

I guess the market is a loose term for anyone involved in a transaction. It's basically a statement that empowers the population at the same time as abdicating responsibility for social consequences. Whilst I'm not totalitarian, I simply don't trust markets - particularly those where there are too few buyers or sellers, and potential for cartel behaviour. People in general don't have enough information or experience to come to appropriate solutions, and they don't behave rationally. We vote for people who promise things that cannot be delivered, deny obvious problems to lessen our guilt, and jump off proverbial cliffs just to be part of the gang.

No idea what you're getting cross about DaveR, I was responding to SJ's report that Jon Snow was complaining about wearing one outside of Sunday being a recent thing. SJ didn't mention anything about opprobrium being a new thing, so I didn't refer to it. I don't have to either ignore it or fail to understand it - SJ didn't mention it. As for your assertion about being able to share the sentiments about Remembrance Sunday, I agree with it. So what's your beef you silly boy? I was merely pointing out that if you go against the flow with something people feel passionately about you're going to attract attention from pointlessly angry people looking for a fight like your good self. That aside, BB100 are you now arguing that children shouldn't wear poppies because they're a weapon? I'm sure if he is as gentlemanly and sensitive as you describe, he will recognise that this is a time when he should put his own ego to one side in respect to the sensitivities and sacrifices of others. That would be the honorable thing to do, and he will be the better man for it. Not doing so seems unnecessary and petulant.

Only 'recently' must mean at least 40 years, because I used to wear one at school, and I didn't go to school on a Sunday. I can understand why the Irish wouldn't be keen on unionist links, but to dismiss the poppy appeal on this basis seems crude and inconsistent. I've got ten quid that says they don't sell their car because of the link between oil and wars in Iraq? Actually I can't understand why the Irish would wear a poppy recalling the privations from the military activities of an overseas power anyway? I don't support the Soviet armed forces after all (although I might if I lived there out of respect). Why not just not wear it and say it's because you're Irish? It's forgivable, although people might wonder why you were reaping the benefits of British society if you don't respect the sacrifices of individuals required to achieve it!! ;-)

Regarding newsreaders, we're getting lost in a bit of liberal hype here. Newsreaders are employed as agents of the broadcaster - they are effectively spokepeople. The broadcaster is within their rights to tell them to wear whatever they want them to. If the newsreader doesn't like it they can always resign. Whether you give/get flak or not (nice metaphor ;-)) depends on whether you believe that the deaths of millions of people on behalf of a nation requires national recognition. It's not within itself jingoist. If the consensus of opinion is that it is, then you can expect to get grief for breaking the taboo in the same way as you would for walking down the high street yelling swear words in people's faces.

It sounds a bit ridiculous BB100 - one school asking their pupils to honour remembrance day is not "rearing a nation of children that just obeys orders". It is also ridiculous to assume that children can always decide for themselves what is right or wrong. Sometimes adults need to know where to draw boundaries. Children also need to know when to conform to rules and regulations, and when they can act independently. If you're bringing children up to believe that their own wishes always take priority then you're failing them and failing society. It's clear that the school in question feels that respect and recognition for the sacrifices and horrors of war fall on a particular side of that boundary, and that the petty whims of children selfishly craving to be different is not sufficient reason to dismiss the suffering of the millions who died. Not everyone will agree with that, but if you disagree don't send your kids to that school. Claiming this is a campaign of indoctrination not only misses the point (what do you think education is for - playtime?), it's also, well... childish.

How do people send a link to a particular post, rather than the whole page?

Here's one you'll like Joe90: I?ve patented the sleeveless burkha for the American market. It still covers the whole face, but there?s a concession there to the right to bare arms.

Whereas this powerpoint deck on the other hand... http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/08/06/article-0-022FFD1100000578-816_468x690.jpg

There's a great place in Hoi An, not far from Danang in Vietnam. I reckon you could fly there, get a week's holiday in, buy the material and fly back again for less that the cost of gettting it in London... http://www.bugbog.com/images/galleries/vietnam-pictures/large-vietnam-photos/hoi-an-restaurant-vietnam.jpg

Only Tarot could conclude that the world will be saved by trifle. Just don't let him/her get on the subject of immigrants, that's when the nasty streak comes out...

Lanziying has similar hot tips on gas detection, including 'don't strike a match' which is somewhat at odds with the rather explosive games we used to play when we smelled 'gas' at school.

I think peter was merely trying to suggest that those without sin should cast the first stone. If you're eating kiwifruit in November you don't fall into that category, especially if you're communicating it in the bulletin board equivalent of a high pitched nasal ventilation. How many sheets of bog roll do you use when you go to the loo? I have a colleague that's sufficiently scared of his own poo that he uses so much paper you couldn't shoot a bullet through it. He also fills the bowl with paper first to avoid splashback. He attempts to justify this clearly ridiculous behaviour, much as you do, by being self-righteous.

Well Carter's only recently shifted an Xbox Elite with headset in all its satanic glossy blackness, dark and foreboding as the very night itself. So he may not have heard. http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTi2prhUKtqkrApTgacFh5bqtMvVTLkwJDm2267kEuJEhQalpuHuw Ooooh yesssss, look at the sex on that...

Just having a bit of fun SJ ;-)

"Scratch a Hippy, find a Fascist." Finally you're getting a grasp on Micklewright. He has a personality disorder, characterised by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood." These salami tactics are part of an ongoing pattern of manipulation that shows a complete disregard of the free will of others. Sociopaths are often vegetarian, it's a combination of control issues and an inability to relate to other human beings. They project their affections onto animals because it fuels their superiority, allows them to enact control fantasies, enables an unchallenged feudal hierarchy, and justifies their hatred of other people. The self-help group down the Bluebrick is part of this. The attendees, the acolytes, are enablers of a narcissistic religion of self love that would if left unchecked escalate to Koreshi proportions. He's never going to stop, and will never be satisfied because he's ill. It's ony a tragedy because when he reads this he will not seen himself reflected in the prose. Instead he sees a crusader, a sword wielding Richard I. It's frightening.