Magpie

The night they shared a room was on the election campaign - prior to him being foreign secretary. So could just have been a lack of available rooms in a small B&B while on campaign - details don't seem to be available. I also think that its pretty standard practice for men to share rooms when away on stag dos, golfing weekends, rugby tours etc I have also shared rooms on work awaydays, although i certainly wouldn't put up with sharing if I was actually working away from home. My understanding was that his special advisor was a bit of high flyer in terms of academic achievement, and in political greasy pole climbing. Still massively unexperienced clearly.

James - thank you for the response on the Gas mains. I think the comments back from Southern Gas are on the 4 way traffic signals by the Library cross roads - not the open hole at 306/08 Lordship Lane from which a smell of gas is pretty much constant, and which has been open for around 10 weeks. Two weekly rubbish collection is an abdication of responsibility by the council and a health risk. It is a terrible idea.

7 days? The hole has been outside my house for about 10 weeks at least. There is a constant smell of gas - although apparently there is no leak(!?!) the area appears to be being used for storage of the yellow ducting pipes, although that doesn't explain why the don't fill in. On top of that the police cones laid to allow bi-directional traffic are constantly ignored, as people simply move the cones and park anyway. Would be nice to see some traffic wardens! All this ranting is therapeutic

The whole thing is a nightmare, in addition to the smell of gas that comes out of the hole directly opposite my house, my family and I now have to put up with a pretty constant static queue of traffic pumping out fumes directly into my front garden.

Elderflower - you turned this into a discussion around class not me. Most people never think about class, apart from the chippy (middle class who think they are working class) or the self hating (the middle class who are ashamed to be middle class). It seems your main issue with the EDWI is that it doesn't appear to be a "relevant social organisation that helps poor people and binds a community together". One interpretation of this sentiment is that you believe the WI should be a means of social improvement, whereby the uneducated can learn useful skills etc This is essentially old fashioned middle class paternalism (or maternalism) and is the basis for the foundation of the WI - ie educated women running classes for the uneducated poor. You also seem to believe that any activity is pointless unless it has some worthwhile objective (eg helping the poor, allowing you to repair clothes etc). I don't know whether this attitude is common amongst women, but its not something that men tend to have a problem with. Whether its a sports club or pigeon fancying few men are are introspective about the worthyness of the activity - its done for pure enjoyment. Enjoyment is what elevates people's lives, not focus on our often painful and frustrating existances. I am not a member of the EDWI, perhaps it does focus more on frivolity than good causes, but so what - if it uplifts the lives of the women who are members, then that should be enough. Finally, if you still think its a waste of time - then fine, but its not really any of your business what people get up to.

You've been called on the supposed relevance of your previous WIs, and obviously don't like it. You then resort to insults. I am proud to be middle class, it beats hypocritical chippy whinging about relevance, and proclaiming working class hero-hood, while living in bastions of white middle class London such as Islington, Shoreditch and East Dulwich. As has been pointed out, if the EDWI disgusts you so much, start a rival faction focusing on relevant bunting with class and style.

Quick google: Islington http://n1wi.typepad.com/the_website_of_the_n1_wom/ Tells you how to apply make up as if you lived in the 1950's Shoreditch: http://shoreditchsisterswi.typepad.com/modernwomen/2010/06/june-2010-meeting-zines-bunting-and-more.html Guess what it involves bunting Seems like Islington and Shoreditch are just as Middle Class as the East Dulwich WI. Suggest Elderflower gets off her judgemental high horse.

Quick question - how do people get out of ED to get down to then Kent Coast - I usually either follow the South Circular round to A20 or A2, or cut up via blackheath to get on A2 up there. Are there any other "super routes" people can recommend to avoid South Circular?

which the majority of the UK are not in favour of Not sure this is true

Along with VETs and animal scientists, zoo-keepers.......and just about ever one that ever observes animal behaviour in cats How wonderful for them, its a shame I can't invite them round to see the "semi-dusted with earth" cat poos that used to litter my garden before I started to wee round the garden.

Quids - I was talking about human wee, rather than lions, or indeed a tigers poo

Cat owners always claim that cats bury their poo, when non-cat owners have direct evidence to the contrary in their gardens on a regular basis I am a cat person rather than a dog person by the way, but recognise the crafty nature of the feline terrors

Well I think I read about it somewhere. But its really a question of logic, and works on the same principle as that Lions Poo stuff, namely that cats keep away as they can smell that a bigger nastier animal than them has marked the garden out as their territory and hence keep away! Of course it does mean that my neighbours rarely meet my eye anymore . . . .

Hmm the age old cry of a cat owner? it is definately (half-heartedly) buried cat poo, we get fox poo as well and it smells different (and even more unpleasant) - wee seems to prevent that as well

I have found that weeing round the garden (directly or from a suitable vessel such as a bucket or plastic bottle) keeps Cats from crapping in our garden, may prevent them from fighting as well. Urine is sterile so no health issues, and doesn't seem to be too smelly, or at least not as smelly and as unpleasent as cat poo.

Elsanta strawberries are hardier, last longer, and look more like a "classic" strawberry, hence they push out other varities - taste doesn't really come into it. Its a similar situation to Apples a few years ago when the choice of english apples in supermarkets was pretty much limited to Coxes. Hopefully we will begin to see a move to more variety as we have with Apples, and places like Pretty Traditional are likely to be at the forfront of this.

Freemasons - secret society intent on ruling the world, or just a bunch of middle aged men dressing up and getting drunk? Not sure which is more likely . . . . . . .

Good link here on gender issues in teaching - there are definately still strong gender preferences to certain subjects, No idead as to whether this can be explained by nature or nurture? http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/46117?uc%20=%20force_uj

Interesting - this bit was also useful "A study of people now in their 40s has revealed that those who went to single-sex schools were more likely to study subjects not traditionally associated with their gender than those who went to co-educational schools." "The researchers found that at age 16, girls in girls? schools were more likely to gain maths and science A-levels, and boys in boys? schools more liable to gain A-levels in English and modern languages than their peers in co-educational schools."

It was my understanding that both girls and boys perform better in single sex education than in mixed, but girls still have the edge, other than in Maths and Physics

Don't worry, you won't normally get seen until your 12th week, I believe, around about the time you go for your first scan.

Both sexes tend to perform better at School in single sex environments, and given that in general boys underperform girls, it makes more sense to send a boy to a single sex school rather than a girl. Also most of the reasons cited for better performance (ie the distraction provided by the opposite sex) are really secondary school issues, rather than primary school.

I think its actually yet another example of supermarket using their excessive market power to price products below cost to drive out pubs and smaller shopkeepers. The offers on crates of Stella, for example, make drinking in the pub incredibly expensive relative to buying 24 cans from Sainsbury's. I also think that the two separate health issues relating to alcohol namely 1) Binge drinking in City centre pubs leading to violence and 2) excessive consumption in the home to the detriment of personal health, should be considered as two different problems and treated as such.

"The current economic difficulties in the UK are just as much a function of excessive public debt as they are of excessive private debt. Brought on by other things of course...like wreckless banking practise....." No - the last government was running a fiscal deficit far before the banking crisis - if they had been more financial prudent during the boom years, then there would not be the same need for spending cuts today. Around half of the current deficit is due to structural issues, nothing to do with the bank bail out or the economic downturn.

Well it depends on how long the person remains unemployed - redundancy (with a reasonable lump sum) and rapid re-employment can be financially beneficial to both the state and the employee. To some extent the decision has, in practical terms, been taken in many regions of the country where public sector employment accounts for 60 - 70% of the total - ie it is better to employ people than leave them on benefits where there are few alternatives in the private sector. However, the decision clearly has to be taken on a case by case basis - does it make sense to fire local government workers in ?13k a year in Cornwall, probably not, does it make sense to lose a few middle-management in London/South East - well it may well do so. Lets not forget that the public sector has added some 700,000 extra workers over the last 10 years or so - not all of them are teachers, nurses and police - a considerable amount are additional, and some would say, unnecessary adminstrative workers. Finally, why should the public sector be free of pain - private sector workers have experienced pay freezes, cuts and redundancies in the last 2 years - a pay freeze across the public sector seems entirely reasonable. The current economic difficulties in the UK are just as much a function of excessive public debt as they are of excessive private debt.