Brendan

ruffers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If France Australia and New Zealand (for instance) > are so great why are there thousands of them over > here....? I think you are seriously underestimating the amount of you living in France, Australia and New Zealand. Just go visit any one of these places. Trust me, they piss all over England even though they?re full of poms.

Marmora Man Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What Tories do believe in, and have generally > always believed in, is balanced spending, smaller > government, lower taxes and greater self > sufficiency. The government isn't the answer to > all ills - in many cases it is the problem. Which is all very well and good but you can?t then not also believe in empowering people and giving them the opportunity to be self sufficient. But those ideals are curiously lacking from tory dogma and policy. .

brum Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The Green Man also represents new growth and > re-birth, of regeneration. It symbolises strength > and security. All-in-all, a great name for a pub! And sweet corn. Don?t forget sweet corn.

We?ve had a libertarian ideal before. It led to tribalism, feudalism, peasants, gentry monarchy, classy stratification, revolutions and the eventual emergence of representative government. It?s called history. The only way libertarianism could work now would be in a society where everybody was equally placed to benefit from it. But speak to libertarians about allowing people equality and they screech injustice.

I?m actually starting to worry that if the Liberals start getting some power they are going to just become devious and corrupt to the level of the rest and I?m going to have to withdraw my support. And whether my support has always been more because of my own tendency to support the underdog or just be down right subversive rather than one based on political ideology. Oh I?m so confused. I don?t like it when people start agreeing with me on things. Freaks me out man.

Or we could get one of our intrepid party leaders to add to their election manifesto that if elected they will have the NHS make cigarettes good for you again. Along with immediately repealing Sod?s Law.

How about in the summertime we let people smoke inside and make the beer garden non-smoking?

There is such a place as Beckenham. I drove through it the other day, I wouldn't tell a lie guv. It has a roundabout, a cinema with the most uncomfortable seats ever made in the history seats and not much else to recommend it.

I bet the cogs in the heads of lots of clever people who work for insurance companies have been whirring non-stop for the last coupe of days.

He sells cars. It?s part of his business. The section of pavement in front of his shop is his. I don?t think there is anything to stop him from putting a car up for sale on it. Not sure whether he can have them on the road though.

Huguenot, the movers broke my garden seat (I believe people who want to sound posh call them arbors)* will you send me 160 quid please? *The seats not the movers. People who want to sound posh call them removals.** **The movers no the seats.

And upon reflection it must be bloody tricky getting by on ?50 a year, leave alone less.

It may be a joke but it is worryingly close to most tory?s attitude towards anyone who earns less than ?50 a year.

Have you tried not eating for 2 days before hand, then getting drunk? It may work.

But I?m sure you know that. I don?t like the smell of smoke around me much either, especially when I?m eating. This is all of course up until my 4th or 5th pint when they suddenly become a fantastic idea even if it means standing outside in the snow.

Have you tried absolutely drowning them in olive oil before you cook them?

On a more practical note if you are out for a drink in the sunshine and don?t want to be bothered by too much smoke the Plough and the Herne have the biggest gardens in the area where you are most likely to get a spot away from the smelly buggers.

Arguably if one could trust people not to drive like arseholes you wouldn?t need a speed limit and if someone wanted to welly it up the M1 once in a while when the conditions were reasonable and safe it wouldn?t be a problem.

Yeah but cars are far more interesting than politics.

Have you considered taking up cigarettes?

The Lid Dems* have good ideas but don?t have enough supporters therefore I won?t support them. If that is a valid argument in most people?s wee ?eads then they bloody well deserve whatever crap devious government they end up with. *In this instance but it could be any reasonable voice otherwise sidelined by money and power taking advantage of a weakness in the status quo to make itself heard.

Jeremy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Not just on a personal level, but on a fundamental > level - I don't agree with that level of govt > interference in industry. It is also a dangerous > game to play with a large wedge of the country's > income. That?s a sticky point. There is a difference between heavy handed state control of industry (we really aren't going the way of Soviet Russia despite what anyone tries to say) and industry obeying the laws that are there to protect society from dangerous behaviour. This shit bleated out by the financial sector about ?government interference? trying to stop it behaving irresponsibly is like someone who has been caught doing 200mph down the motorway sitting in the dock and arguing that the government is interfering in his life, his car can do 200mph and so he should be allowed to do so.

I suppose you'd have to ask one of them about that. I do know from speaking to older generations that people from British colonies always got a bit peeved when they came to Britain and got treated like foreigners because they saw themselves as very much part of Britain not some far flung foreign country.

Well he's older than me and that's old as is auld enough I say.

Old Nick* certainly wins out on that one. *Should I call him Old Nick or would it be more appropriate for DC? He?s a politician and his name?s Nick he?s going to be called Old Nick.