david_carnell

Oh, rakes are the worst of the lot. They are habitually immoral often gambling and drinking away vast fortunes whilst liaising with women of ill-repute. Members of such organsiations as the Hellfire Club would probably be regarded as rakes rather than cads or bounders. The etymology is probably older too.

A tricky one Mssr ???? but I have always presumed that being dastardly with women will label one a cad whilst bounders are of more general bad stock. So: Clinton = cad Bush = bounder I think bounder might originate from Charles Dickens' Mr. Bounderby from Hard Times: "A big, loud man, with a stare, and a metallic laugh. A man made out of a coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him....A man who was always proclaiming, through that brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old poverty." A cad is more conscious of his actions and that they almost inevitably involve some form of sexual misconduct - cf James Hewitt / Princess Diana. Somewhere in there is also the possibility of the accused taking pride in his actions over a brandy in male company at a later date. A bounder is more someone who offends common sensibilities by being unaware of the alternatives.

Moos - we shall discuss this on Friday. Until then, keep schtum! Michael - cords are an excellent first step, bravo. For tweed I would recommend two options. For vintage, head to Hornets just off High St Kensington. They have a wonderful selection. See their website for more details. If you're splashing the cash a little further then you could do a lot worse than Cordings on Piccadilly. Lovely fit and a contemporary take on some classic styles. You'll be wanting brogues too without doubt. I own Loakes which have served me well but the Herring Shoes interweb emporium have other brands at reasonable prices. I look forward to another member of the East Dulwich Tweed Army joining my solitary rank.

Michael, PM me for all your satorial needs. Moos - see me after school for spreading vicious rumours!

Well not all guns are illegal but police advice is to 1) Call the police and 2) Barricade yourself in your room. As for the incident with the French students I think that was an exception rather than a rule when it comes to burglary. But I agree it was perhaps an unwise generalisation on my part. The gist of my argument remains however. The law, as it stands, gives homeowners/residents more than enough leeway to protect themselves, their loved ones and their property without resorting to Rambo-esque actions.

Fair enough reaction Antijen tbh. When I've spoken to legal-people about this previously the general feeling is that you could probably whack a burgular to incapacitate them, without provocation, and get away with it. But once they're down, if you continued laying into them, you'd be in hot water. These are laypersons terms obviously. I think this is pretty fair. Most thieves aren't hulking brutes anyway - more like emaciated smack addicts. They're unlikely to put up much of a fight. The argument is similar to that of gun/weapon contrl in general. If you make it ok to shoot people in your house, those desperate enough to still rob you will go armed to. A recipe for carnage. Not to mention weapons lying idly around normally find their way into the hands of children.

I think the nuance is all in the phrase "reasonable force". As AnnaJ says, Martin shot (with a shotgun btw, not something you want at close range) a boy in the back whilst he was escaping from Martin's house. There was no danger to Martin himself at the time. Therefore his actions were entirely inapporpriate, disproportionate and illegal. You should not be keeping weapons, such as guns, knives, bats, bows etc by your bedside in case of burgalry. It shows pre-meditation. Picking up a stray saucepan and walloping an intruder round the knees is looked upon more sympathetically by the courts. And rightly so imo.

Clarke was plumb lbw just now but it's not been given. Why aren't we using the referrals system in this match again?

For fear of affecting a betting scam I would like to announce I am not The Chair. I have never been The Chair. I was never asked to be The Chair. ....I may know who The Chair is however. What's it worth?

Sorry, BBW and LB but this is not correct. If Declan claims contribution-based Job Seekers Allowance (due to his previous employment) his savings are not taken into account. Only when this expires and moves onto income-based JSA will savings and other incomes be assessed.

I have two recommendations. As Jeremy said, mostly they are terrible tourist traps serving terrible food and making up for it with cheap drinks. The first, and in my opinion the best place, is Le Taj. It's modern and comfortable with excellent food. They even have two menus; one is traditional Bangla food of the sort you'd find in your local curry house, the second is a more authentic experience and comes highly recommended. The other recommendation is really two in one. If you love Tandoor food (i.e. grilled meats) then Tayyabs (which Jeremy also talked about) and a place called Maida are both excellent. They're both off-Brick Lane in a sort of off-Broadway sort of thing but so close you wouldn't mind. Their traditional curries aren't quite as good however. NB - both of these are non-licensed premises. Nor do they allow you to bring alcohol into the restaurant. In my mind, this is a small price to pay for great food but some people cannot have a "ruby" without pints of lager. If that's your thing then wander down Brick Lane and see which hawker gives you the best deal - it'll be hit and miss though.

No, just sparrows.

Of course stopping distances are entirely variable according to what car you own. A new Mercedes with ceramic discs will stop in a fraction of the distance of some clapped out banger that scraped through it's MOT when both are travelling at the same speed. The speed limit is the same for everyone however. And this is correct; an interesting anomoly nonetheless. I'm aesthically opposed to further street furniture, such as extra signs, bollards, flashing lights, road markings etc and decent research suggests that the removal of these "driver aids" can in fact lower the number of incidents. But given the clamour of opinion in this case, a mini roundabout would seem a sensible solution.

And what is the current plan to eradicate Japanese knotweed in the UK? Why, introduce a foreign parasite that eats aforementioned plant. And what will it eat once the knotweed is gone, or even before then? This seems absolute folly. The cane toads that now run riot across certain parts of Australia were introduced as part of a similar idea with disastrous consequences. But thanks for confirming my story Hugeunot....albeit with some minor clarifications. Much appreciated. Perhaps on this occasion it is a cliche for a reason.

Huguenot Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm afraid that your Biology teacher was having > you on about the Chinese. > > There is a fabulous piper available for hire, but > beware his credit terms are somewhat onerous. I was under the impression, perhaps misguided, that the Chinese (during the cultural revolution) were instructed to bang metal pots, pans, etc to scare off sparrows to prevent them from eating the crops. From dawn till dusk, peasants did what they were told and sparrows began to drop from the sky due to sheer exhaustion. The plan had worked. However, the sparrows (or their Chinese equivilent) also ate all the bugs and worms that lived in the fields. With no predators these wee beaties flourished and devoured crops at a rapacious rate. The harvest failed miserably and hundreds of thousands starved. The story may be apocryphal (although I think it is repeated in Wild Swans) but nonetheless is indicative of the madness inherent in Maoist political doctrine.

"Vegetable delivery box? We had t' walk t' organic greengrocers."

This is like the Monty Python 3 Yorkshiremen sketch but in reverse: "San Pelligrino? Bye eck I would have killed for sparkling mineral water when I were a lad"

Barry, This morning at Peckham Rye only one window was open. Signs placed outside said this was due to a technical fault and an engineer had been "adviced" [sic]. The queue for the machine was a three length snake whilst the queue for the desk went out of the door and half way down towards Rye Lane. Whilst I appreciate the nature of technical faults and that investment in an extra machine is a false economy in the long term due to oyster switch over, please could you consider opening the barriers and allowing customers to purchase tickets at their destinations on these rare occasions? It would make life much easier. These are not "fare dodgers" but rush hour commuters in a hurry. Could discretion not be used? Thanks.

Is this what Neighbourhood Watch meetings are like?

I agree with Piers that it tends to be female vocalists who have this effect. Thus: Candi Staton Ann Peebles Traci Chapman Holly Palmer (with thanks to Sean for the introduction) Billie Holiday Aretha Franklin But the odd fella who has given me goosebumps: Will Oldham Nick Drake Otis Redding

Strangely, there was an article in the Guardian Film & Music today deriding films that critics love but are, in actual fact, a load of cock.

After rave and fawning media reviews, took myself and the missus off to the Ritzy last night to see 35 Shots of Rum, the latest effort from French legend Claire Denis. I've never seen any of her other work so had little idea what to expect. It is two hours of my life I shall never get back. Boring, pretentious French existentialist twaddle. Epically long silences and lots of meaningful stares failed miserably to compensate for 2-D characters, little plot and unrealistic dialogue. Avoid.

I wish I could be you Mr Ben.

Video and an improved camera would be nice, MP, but also the increased capacity. I'm on a lowly 8GB model currently and close to reaching full. And I'm nowhere near to having uploaded all my music.

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