silverfox

katie1997 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Dear Silverfox > > I have suspicions that my husband is becoming > bored with our wedding crockery and could be > harbouring a secret desire for more 'exotic' > styles instead. What can I do to regain his > enthusiasm before its too late? Dear Katie1997, all relationships go through a bad patch and the secret to success is give and take. Your love for eachother is far stronger than the trivial matter of crockery. It's a question of understanding. Perhaps it's a case that the spout on your Crown Derby teapot reminds him how lacking he is in the wedding tackle department. Have you considered knitting a tea cosy to help to disguise the phallic qualities of the spout to spare his blushes? Then again, why not get yourself a well-endowed lover and serve up Christmas dinner for the ungrateful wretch's family in dog bowls?

Narnia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Dear Silverfox > > I am feeling left out of it.I've been omitted from > the England World Cup squad and I don't have a > fish fetish. What should I do? > > Depressed in ED Dear Narnia, I'm afraid there are times when, with the best will in the world, nothing can be done. You are undoubtedly a hopeless case and should give serious thought to ending it all by sending the usual stamped SAE for my Swiss Clinic brochure. On the other hand you could always change your name back to Declan.

brum Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Dear Silverfox > > I have been contacted by someone who claims he can > advise me on personal issues. I am reluctant to > engage his services because I have concerns over > confidentiality and also if this person is > suitably qualified. Should I consult him about my > fish fetish? Dear (name withheld for confidentiality reasons), I would be very wary of responding to self-proclaimed 'Agony Aunt'/life coaches/personal development advisers offering to give you advice. They could be some sort of wierdo, or worse, an Arsenal supporter. And as for qualifications, well, who can say. However, if you'd like to send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Ask Silverfox, C/O The EDF Forum, I'll send you the recipe for my secret formula of sardine and pilchard mousse which you can smear over your body. It attracts prepubescent shaving types like flies (oh, and flies as well).

HAL9000 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Dear Silverfox, > > A member of our local forum appears to have > developed delusions of grandeur. Should we humour > him or try to get him to increase his medications? Dear Hal9000, I know all my advice should be fair and given after careful reflection. However, if there's one thing I can't stand it's a member of a local forum who has developed delusions of grandeur. Tar 'n' feather the blighter and sit him outside the Co-Op with a "That'll learn yer" sign hung around his neck.

Dear EDF Forum, For a while now I've been in relective mood. I've got to the stage where after years of take, take, take, out of my way I'm coming through etc, it's time to give something back. And where better to start than this community-spirited forum. What I propose is to offer my services with a regular feature called Ask Silverfox - a sort of 'Dear Deidre' on testosterone. The aim is to offer guidance, support and no-nonsense advice to all, regardless of race, creed or colour, who are trying to find their way in this confusing and fast-changing world. No subjects would be off limits and the whole gamut of human desires, fears and experience would be addressed. Examples could include relationship advice: Dear Silverfox, I've been seeing this guy for two weeks now. He's quite sweet when he's not drunk and not bad in the sack. Only thing is he shaves his nether regions and armpits and looks a bit, well ..., prepubescent if you know what I mean. What do you advise? Dear xxx, bonk the living daylights out of him for one final time then dump him. So you see, the possibilites are endless and I'm sure Admin would provide administrative and secretarial support so that all questions could be replied to within an industry standard 36 hours. Now I realise many of you may be shy in coming forward so I propose Admin sets up an anonymous election poll-style vote to determine the level of support for what will undoubtedly become the most popular feature on the forum. The service could be funded by annoying pop-up advertising that makes the page go up and down so you lose track of which paragraph you're reading and lots of nerve-jangling over-loud music. What do you think?

Oh I don't know about it being too complex for you Ladymuck, you seem to have no problem getting your point across as far as I, and the Vietnamese, can see.

I thought Woofmarkthedog's Rubbish Thread ? marked a creative departure for the Lounge and seems to have anticipated the Human Street art in Willi Dorner's Bodies in Urban Spaces project which is part of the Brighton Festival. (However I question the legal status of his ? and TM marks) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/7724364/Willi-Dorners-Bodies-in-Urban-Spaces-project-takes-part-in-the-Brighton-Festival.html

Errr ... anyone brave enough to pick Ladymuck up on one or two points above?

Fair enough Magpie - nothing 'wrong' with that.

Perhaps I am guilty of 'intellectual masturbation' magpie but only in the sense that I'm trying to make the point that there is a difference between something being 'incorrect' and being 'wrong' in an absolute sense. There is also the mistake of saying something is 'wrong' in the sense of "I don't agree with it". You say, magpie, that it's patronising to refer to the cultural background by way of understanding/justifying/condoning what we perceive to be unacceptable - but then you go on to extol our 'superior' western liberal democratic model thereby overriding the customs of millions of 'less fortunate' people. There are people who slit their bottom lip and insert a wooden plate in some custom/ritual that they deem desirable. People who elongate their necks with rings in the name of beauty. People who, less commonly now, bind their feet. All these things may seem strange to us, primitive even, if that's not too supercilious a thing to say, but in what sense are they 'wrong'? Female circumcision is 'wrong' because we regard it as a barbaric practice to a defenceless child that has no place in a modern world. Unfortunately, many of the adherents of the practice do not live in our cosy modern world.

Yes, it's a difficult one. The fact that a majority of people hold a view doesn't make something 'right' and religious and cultural norms, accepted practices going back hundreds of years doesn't make something 'right'. But the obverse of that is that that something is 'wrong'. The Jewish practice of male circumcision is acceptable but the same criticism of lack of consent can be made for at least postponing the practice until the child is old enough to make up his own mind. But that begs the question, if the child is from a deeply religious family and doesn't want to upset his parents, in what sense is his decision to go ahead really made with his own free will. I'm not an anthropologist. Is the practice of female circumcision meant to make the girl a more marriable prospect in a poor, agricultural or nomadic society? - ie meant to increase her prospects of security and well-being, however foreign an idea to our values?

The short answer to your question david_carnell is yes. We should of course argue against such practices from other cultures and not be frightened to adopt a superior moral tone. In doing so we are of course expressing our views/opinions. However, as you argued on the other thread, this is not the same as claiming that such practices are 'wrong' in an objective sense. Rather that we consider them wrong by our standards/ beliefs. Now, the notion of Cultural Relativism rears its head here and while some people might like to dismiss the idea as a game, playing "let's pretend to come from another culture" - it cannot be dismissed so easily. To take your example of Female genital cutting (FGC), also controversially known as female circumcision, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), or female genital mutilation (FGM). To quote Wikipedia: "...Amnesty International estimates that over 130 million women worldwide have been affected by some form of FGM, with over 3 million girls at risk of undergoing FGM every year. FGM is mainly practiced in 28 different African countries... It is common in a band that stretches from Senegal in West Africa to Ethiopia on the East coast, as well as from Egypt in the north to Tanzania in the south; ... It is also practiced by some groups in the Arabian peninsula. The country where FGM is most prevalent is Egypt, followed by Sudan, Ethiopia, and Mali. Egypt recently passed a law banning FGM..." Note the (emotive) use of the initials FGM here by Amnesty International rather than FGC. Personally I think the practice is abhorrent and should be banned world-wide. However, many people would seem to disagree with me, including many women, due to their religious and cultural practices.

She's rich enough to have shoes?

I'm not sure you are right david_carnell and Brendan does have a good point about cultural relativism. You can huff and puff and shout from the roof tops until you're blue in the face but that doesn't make you correct. You are simply saying "in my view/opinion xx is wrong". Perhaps this is one for the drawing room.

More unfortunate than unusual, but the Times newspaper received a flood of complaints some years ago when one of its respected journalists covered a story concerning paedophilia. The story appeared with his byline - Roger Boyes.

It'll be interesting to see what position the coalition adopts if Israel bombs Iran to hamper its nuclear ambitions.

Technology glitch hits Philippine election Optical scanning machines were being used but humidity affected some... Election commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said about 300 out of 76,000 machines had problems. The elections commission extended voting for another hour to make up for delays... Perhaps no system is infallible http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23832059-technology-glitch-hits-philippine-election.do

Thanks Admin, but unfortunately that thread has been locked. Nevermind, the moment has passed and given the shenanigans currently going on an analysis of EDF voting intention and the eventual government would probably tell us very little. We could say the overwhelming preference for the Lib Dems from those who took part in the poll is reflected in the Lib Dems now being king makers but the reality now is that the resulting government will be formed after discussions between the parties which exclude the electorate (even though constitutionally this is correct).

Admin, I enjoyed the chance to participate in your election debates and poll. I was disappointed by the lack of participation by forumites to the replies from Tessa and the Libdems and noted how out of sinc the election poll was with the national polls and mood. Do you intend to do an analysis of the EDF voting vis-a-vis the election results? I realise this will not be an easy task given the ambiguity of the poll (eg, the voting was mixed given two constituencies and also different local election wards).

Eater81, it seems you have a point as there are reports of people being turned away across the country and talk of Lewisham staying open an extra half-hour. Problem appears to be people leaving it late to vote, and I'm not sure a computerised system would solve this, unless it was done over the web with appropriate safeguards.

Thanks ????, of course it was Florida. Must be suffering from Exit Poll-itis.

Appears the exit poll excludes postal votes, most of which were completed at the height of Clegg-mania

I seem to remember California had a computerised shambles some years ago and the suspicion was George Dubba shouldn't have become President

Anyone else suffering from withdrawl symptoms? Not a single Libdem leaflet through the door today and no sign of any oppressed, underpaid Poles either.

That's too drastic a cure for their asthma, northlondoner. Another reason why it's irresponsible is that it's adding to the obesity problem by strapping the little mite into their seat with nothing for them to do. The solution would be to put the parent/guardian/nanny in the seat and get the nipper to do the cycling.