Chippy Minton

If you're uncomfortable and/or it is not convenient, don't go. Your friends will understand (and if they don't, it is not worth worrying about), but after all it is their day and it is an invitation - you're not compelled to attend. A few years ago, my now sister-in-law got married. Not that we would have wanted to, but there was no chance we could dodge this - I was an usher, Mrs Minton was a bridesmaid and the kids (the youngest of which was only seven months) were bridesmaids. It was a great wedding and we had a great time, but frankly if we'd had the option, we would have welcomed the break if we could have left the youngest - I missed almost all of the photos, we both missed various courses of the meal, we both missed the speeches, we both missed the first dance and we had to leave early. If you can, leave baby at home!

Not sure if they would just do a wig or whether you'd need to hire the whole outfit, but this business is based out of someone's house on Lordship Lane and it Rocks (naff pun intended :-$) http://www.enchantedcastle.co.uk/#/home/4520598289 My 70s Slade outfit was brilliant!

My kids think the swimming instructors are great, but they do hate the rule that says that have to wear a swimming hat. They also love running round the big open reception area - that is a very child-friendly space.

Agreed about the strikers - West Ham have loads of striking options. BFS's tactics lost them that game, playing a defender in defence and a very odd half time substitution (was Noble actually injured?).

C'mon URRZZZZ!

Kenny Dalglish has sent a message of soldarity to the tanker drivers. After buying Andy Carroll, Stuart Downing and Jordan Henderson he's grateful he's no longer responsible for the biggest panic buying in history.

A friend of mine who lives in Spain reckons that if you have worked there for a year and then lose your job, the amount you then get for unemployment benefit is calculated based on the salary that you were on. I can't remember the exact figure he told me, but is was something really high - 75% may be?? No idea if this is true or not BTW!

You need to be really quick - the repeat goes out on 10.10pm this Sunday.

Or Beckenham Spa - great pools if you don't mind a 20min drive.

I had a Peugeot that was an automatic that developed quite a serious fault - when you accelerated and then took your foot off, the car continued to accelerate on its own!

I'm looking forward to this tonight, although the frequency of the ad breaks on Sky Atlantic drives me nuts! With the recent Broadwalk Empire series I found it best to record it on the Skybox and watch it later so you can fast forward all the ads or even pause it and watch it half an hour later so you can do the same thing. With regard to copying to a dvd, this is perfectly legal, in fact, Sky tell you how to do it themselves - http://www.sky.com/helpcentre/tv/sky-plus-hd/recording/recording-with-sky-plus-hd/copying-recordings-to-vhs-tape-or-to-a-dvd/

Talking of Private Eye and people saying "I told you so," I doubt anyone in the NHS will want to be whistleblowing now the Bill is law!

I agree EP. It can't be long now before Lansley goes surely? Although, having said that the government completely ignored the information commissioner's ruling to publish the risk register and this leaked version is only a draft. I can't imagine the latest FOI request regarding the financial links to be treated any differently so may be he can hang on now that the Bill is law and the spotlight on him is less bright?

Now that the Bill is law, someone has been brave enough to leak the risk register (or at least a draft) at last. It's no real surprise that it's pretty damning given the government's continual refusal to publish it, but it shows the private sector could ?add costs to the overall system;? implementation begins before adequate planning; a disjointed system with NHS moving faster than other areas; ?Financial control is lost? due to restructuring; ?more failures? such as bankruptcies and cuts to services; low staff morale; a system designed ?without taking into account ? patient view;? ?emergencies are less well managed/mitigated;? and ?costs of the future system cannot be controlled.?

I hear tonight there's going to be a Freedom of Information request to ask how many cabinet members have associations with health care companies. No doubt there won't be a quick answer, but it should allow people to see just how strong that hum is!

http://www.freewebs.com/calitorial/Don__t_feed_the_Troll.jpg

I'd generally agree with that Quids. Eric Pickles used to be in the Socialist Workers' Party when he was younger!

Err...I agree. That's the point, I don't read the Guardian either.

Tee hee...that's so funny because I read the Mail's website all the time for exactly the same reason!

Blimey, two pictures of David Icke posted on here in the last 10 days. New Nexus must be having more of an influence than I thought.

I don't think City fans have come out of the woodwork at all - I still find them pretty rare in London in comparison to Utd fans. The worst I found for coming out of the woodwork were Chelsea fans when Abramovich brought the club. Suddenly the world and his dog were Chelsea fans. I also partly blame Tim Lovejoy for this as well ;-)

Why are you even conversing with the proles in the first place? They aren't even fit to look you in the eye let alone accuse you of anything!

The BBC have got a very user friendly calculator to work out how you'll actually be affected http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17442946

Yeah, you're right their demographics are higher, but the Sun/Mirror Guardian/Times represent pretty opposing editorial bias all of which criticise the pensioners tax allowance.

According to the Newspaper Marketing Agency 35 million people read a national newspaper every week. The demographics of The Sun, Guardian and Independent show over half of their readership are below the age of 45. The Mirror and the Times show that over 40% of their readership are below 45. This doesn't even include online readership figures which I would suspect have a younger readership. All the papers focus on the pensioners tax allowance, representing both sides of the political arguments.