david_carnell

Agreed. An interesting book called "The Craftsman" outlines how those who 'make' for a living are invariably happier. 'Make' is quite a loose definition and I'd include most trades in that - builder, plumber, sparky, etc. Don't know what they would say if you asked them about whether they wished they'd done better at school and gone to uni though!

Surely micro issues would also include: access to water ceasing of illegal settlements ceasing of boundary incursion by "the wall" opening of borders access to healthcare rebuilding of infrastructure I can't forsee any long-term ceasefire being successful without commitments to some of those (and other issues). There has to be an incentive for Hamas to give up armed resistence, no?

Well when he confuses Gaza and the West Bank I guess it does rather lessen any point he's trying to make. And debate on here has been going on for as long as the forum has existed. I'm unaware of any material change on a macro-level that has resulted from it but you honestly think that means we should just say nothing about it at all? Bizarre.

I'm with Jeremy and Loz on this. University could be affordable and subsidised if it was for the few. Blair's goal of 50% was both arbitrary and daft. It devalued the system and made degrees worth much less than they once were. Many current "universities" would serve better reverting to polytechnics and teaching something useful rather than dishing out shoddy degrees in the arts (and I say this as someone who obtained a fairly unremarkable BA). Much more training could be workplace based, apprenticeships etc. Working in tourism does not require a degree level qualification when a 6 month workplace training programme could do the role quicker and cheaper. Employers need to be on-board though. I would think tax-relief would be an encouragement.

It's known as the half-life of knowledge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-life_of_knowledge Although I reckon homeopathy will stay as complete wibble for a long time yet. ;-)

I was about to post about how every 5 miles of US Interstate Highway is a mile-long straight bit to allow for aircraft to land in time of war or emergency. Then I double checked. It's utter nonsense. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/00mayjun/onemileinfive.cfm

It'll be between that and Hewitts I reckon - 'bout the same journey time. Touch wood he's never been sick yet so I don't suppose some soft fruit will do much harm. The following day might be a different story though!

Any good PYO farms less than an hour's drive away? Do toddlers enjoy this as much as I think they will? Bearing in mind mini-d_c is a fruit fiend and will consume his own bodyweight in strawberries if allowed to.

See also the 5 letter word game exercise in boredom...

Do they still do the cool window designs?

Oh come on! I ever did the MOCKERS ALERT thing to stop that happening - Moeen Ali gone. Root needs a 100 here. Although our tail has some depth.

50 for Root. A 100 partnership with Moeen. MOCKERS ALERT - this is a nice little partnership developing. Another 30 odd and the Indians will begin to worry. Fear it may be papering over the cracks though if we pulled off something remarkable here.

I think consumption of a psychotropic drug might explain quite a lot Otta....

It's not really an opinion is it? It's just a fact. The truth. Do you really believe some people have psychic powers or the ability to predict the future? Wouldn't they use their power for either a) making loads of money or b) saving the world rather than getting ?50 a pop for telling gullible types that they'll meet a tall dark stranger?

I knew I recognised you.... http://eightiesmovies.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/colorofmoney.jpg

It is a great building but it seems a cursed site. In my 7 years or so in the area I think I can count 5 different ventures there. Only one was really any good and that couldn't make ends meet. It's just in an awkward spot - neither one place nor another. I always thought it would make a great pool hall with tables in the back room and a bar out the front. It has to be a destination as the footfall is too low otherwise.

While my natural inclination is for a holiday that has a bit more....sophistication, the desire for some organised activities and child-care for mini-d_c means that for the first time we're considering a Mark Warner style holiday. Has anyone done one (surely yes)? Thoughts? Are there alternative companies doing the same thing better/cheaper? Neilson, Sunsail? I'm not that fussed about sailing, mountain-biking and the like but want good food and not to be stung for extras at the end. Mini-d_c is 2.5 now and we'd look to go out of season (probably late-Sept early-Oct) to avoid crowds (so he'd be 2.75 then), keep prices down but still get southern med sunshine and temps. We did Crete last year at this time and it was perfect but keeping a toddler occupied on holiday for a week stops it being much of a holiday for us sometimes.

God I love Jon Stewart and that show - can it be so hard to make one here? One without Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne (who is fine with music on the radio).

I also want my politicians to look a bit odd - speccy, overweight, badly-dressed etc. Frankly they should be spending their time thinking about important stuff like, oh I don't know, running the country rather than whether these glasses go with this tie. The alternative is the glamourous world of Italian politics. I'd rather not.

C'mon Otta - they're leftie, liberal, Guardian-reading, smug, metropolitan, middle-class, trade-unionist, hypocritical, anti-modernisers. ;-)

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > david_carnell Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > It's a stark message from the PM and one that > has the approval of Osborne all over it. > > I didn't notice, but the Standard has pointed out > that most of the beneficiaries of the reshuffle > have come from Osbourne's treasury area. It's > really strengthened his position. Which is a > shame, as I think May would make a rather good PM > - at least, compared to Osbourne, anyway. Oh yes, the post-2015 GE musical chairs power-play has begun in earnest. May doesn't play the game as well as Osborne but the increase in women will help her somewhat - they may gravitate towards her despite being Osborne-ites. And it's happening on the opposite bench too with teams forming ready to jump in if and when EdM loses the election. Yvette Cooper and Chuka Umuna will be the early runners but it might depend on whether a clean break from the Blair/Brown era is wanted.

I don't buy the "can do more without portfolios" stuff. This isn't a government stuffing parliament with legislation. They essentially ran out of stuff to do a year ago (at least they did in my old dept). Neither Gove nor Hague would have been too run off their feet to help with electioneering. Hague is useful in shoring up the northern, rural votes to protect from UKIP though. Gove on the other hand is going to do what? Simply be a backroom brain coming up with election strategy? He's hardly the man to send out on the street winning hearts and minds is he? Hmmmm...I think there is more to this than is being let on.

That's a bloody big IF Mick. And one that Cameron might well not be in a position to offer. If you were Osborne or May and the newly elected leader of the opposition would you bring back your biggest rival to a top job? Even if Cameron does win, and stays on as PM, why would he then sack a cabinet team that has won him an election?

Alex K Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > And one of the most articulate and aggressive > Conservatives is freed from ministerial work to > carry battle into the Labour / Liberal / UKIP > camps. I'm not sure that's true. The public dislike Gove based on opinion polling. Sending him to a role where there are no obvious media performance opportunities is a poison-pill and no mistake. He'll still have to compete with the party chair for the "Minister for the Today Programme" role when they just need to put someone up. With no high-profile portfolio to command this new role is a backwater for Gove. It's not even that powerful or needed in the current government. This isn't Major in 1996 clinging on to a majority of 6. The whips are barely needed. It's a stark message from the PM and one that has the approval of Osborne all over it. Should the Tories lose the next election, it's now down to a two-horse race between him and Teresa May.

Interestingly or not, not one of the new Dept for Education team was state school educated.