nashoi

Let me guess HAL9000, your real name wouldn't be Baldrick, by any chance?

Unlike Radios 1 and 2, Radios 3 and 4 have limited or no competition so given how they are funded I don't think it's unreasonable to expect them to try and appeal to as wide an audience as possible. This is particularly the case for Radio 4, whose total lack of commercial competition, I assume indicates that type of talk radio doesn't make for a viable business. I see no real reason why the BBC needs 1 or 2 at all.

But without military research we wouldn't have this forum, for that alone surely it's worth it. Defence spending was over 30% of GDP in the Soviet Union, which did collapse, and despite record levels of spending is still only 4% in the States and even less in the UK, which won't. Our ageing population, healthcare, environment all pose much bigger problems than defence spending surely? There's no reason why the government shouldn't have to keep justifying its spending though, particularly given the breathtaking inefficiency of MOD procurement. After the last cuts were announced the press claimed the number of troops we could maintain on a prolonged overseas mission would drop from 8000 to 6000. Is this true? Iraq and Afghanistan have both suffered from insufficient troops and equipment which has lead to British troops being somewhat ignominiously replaced by Americans at one point or another. The last wholly successful mission by the army, I am aware of, was Operation Barras in Sierra Leone. This was carried out by Special Forces with Para support and American logistical support. Is this a more likely future for the British armed forces? Afterall, when those spending cuts were announced the only thing the Clinton seemed concerned about were any potential cuts to our nuclear deterrent and Special Forces commitments. I suppose put as simply as possible, where infantry, heavy armour or major capital projects (eg aircraft carriers) are concerned do you pass a critical point due to cutbacks where you will never have enough, so is there any point having any at all? These are just points just picked up from the usual press and probably all cobblers, so I am curious what those of you with more specialist knowledge will make of the subject, when you've finished ruminating that is;-). An entirely suitable subject for debate though imho.

When friends of mine recently moved to a late victorian house in Byfleet, hanging in the hall they found a photograph of the men who had built the place, posing outside the front door. On the back was a list of everyone who had lived there, the dates they'd moved in and out and what the house had cost.

Well if you're looking for a three bed terrace outside ED you could go more central. Too much inner city grime for my liking and the presence of an M&S AND a Waitrose does seem to have very, very slightly pushed up the price Inner city - 3 bed terrace

Varanasi is a fantastic place for a photographer to visit, absolutely full of atmosphere. You can also catch an overnight train to Agra from there. The hassle you experience varies tremendously across India, and I remember Varanasi as being one of the easier cities. Louisiana is quite right about the 'yes men', there is just the slightest pause by the waiter/hotel staff/shopkeeper when you ask for something he hasn't got before he says yes and then moments later you hear the sound of a moped being fired up out back. The only problem I had was that I had failed to pack for the weather in that part of India. Our trip had started on the beaches of Goa, but when we got to Varanasi it was freezing very thick fog. Great for the atmosphere but bloody cold.

I can't see this making much difference, stats have always been available to those that are interested and are regularly quoted on here. Peoples varying attitude to crime seems largely unconnected to figures.

Unless you confuse the two and end up with ball bearing cupcakes and chocolate chips in your washing machine. Let's hope your multitasking is up to scratch.

These trees will be felled and sold, then replanted, with the new owners claiming generous public subsidies, so where's the advantage to the taxpayer? Even if all of the rest of your post is accurate MM I'm not sure I see the point.

I agree Egypt is the one to watch, murderous kleptocrats could just be replaced by murderous theocrats. Hamas is apparently very popular amongst the working class youths on the backstreets of Cairo. If Mubarak is overthrown it has to be a worry that they, or anybody like them, get into power. It wouldn't exactly be the first time a popular rebellion has been co-opted by islamists. Egypt relies on tourism and US aid, the first speech mentioning Israel or nukes (strictly for civilian purposes you understand) and all that goes and the already very small economy disappears down the khazi faster than a sociopath's turds. Bolivia seems a strange comparison. Morales changed the constitution to benefit indigenous people, but that's not a problem anywhere in the North African countries mentioned. Meanwhile the Bolivian economy is a basketcase and GDP per capita is lower than Tunisisa, Algeria and Egypt. Perhaps they should look slightly closer to home for inspiration on how to lift a country out of poverty. Botswana might be a good place to start. Steady economic growth since independence, which has seen GDP rise from about $70 per head to about $14500, achieved largely due to good governance (presidents actually leave when they're supposed to), respect for the rule of law, relatively low corruption and a liberal free economy, strangely no marxist revolutionaries though. I mean, who could have guessed, that might actually work.

Yes factored into the purchase price will be a prediction of future value, only in comparing the two will you get the true cost of the house. ED is presumably considered a better bet than surrounding areas.

You are normally given 5 minutes 'set down' time, unfortunately this does not normally apply where loading/unloading restrictions apply, regardless of whether you consider your husband to be heavy goods or not.

Until someone who actually knows what they're talking about answers you, have you tried deleting your browser cache files?

If a first time post like this one by 'Betsy Vickers' doesn't twitch your troll antenna D_C then maybe its you who needs to sharpen up your scepticism.

The cooked food theory stems from our having the smallest stomach to body mass ratio and largest brain to body mass ratio. Cooked food is partially processed so requires less energy to digest and allows more energy to be devoted to our enlarged brains. Presumably the truth is a combimation of all available theories.

One difference is we have the ability to make an informed choice.

mockney piers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sorry I sounded a bit harsh. > > Bombing on though, I have two issues with your > assertions. > > 1) 'smash and grab'? the treasury is far far > poorer for another expensive war, that's the > problem with modern weapons, they cost a lot. > 2) what was saddam threatening to get hold of? The > US might have been trying to install a client > state in case of 'losing' Saudi arabia the way > they did Iran, but saddam was in no way shape or > form a threat. > To get a chunk of the worlds supply he'd have to > conquer Iran, and, well, he tried that one and > several million dead and eight years later, he won > the war, but won nothing from it. 1) Yes the treasury is poorer, but a number of contractors are much richer, this wasn't somekind of twisted keynesianism, just making chums in the newly expanded military industrial complex rich. 2) Having been thwarted by Iran he then turned his attention to Kuwait. Successively invading two of your neighbours, starting within months of taking power, is evidence enough for me of somewhat megalomaniac expansionist ambitions. Just curious, as I'm quite inexperienced in this whole internet forum business, but is their a Godwin's type law for using the phrase 'military industrial complex'?

I wasn't trying to infer there was anything sophisticated in their thinking. Simply the extreme right performing an opportunistic smash and grab on the treasury, nothing new or clever there. Nor am I claiming that was the their main motivation, which was stopping Saddam geting control of such a large chunk of the worlds energy supply.

Surely one good reason for examining the specific reasons for going to war, is to see how they may have contributed to the balls up they made of the aftermath. Even though I think the overthrow of Saddam Hussein was necessary and justified given the circumstances in 2003 (and no I'm not talking WMDs), doing the right thing for the wrong reasons could well have contributed significantly to the problems Iraq has since faced. Rumsfield and Cheney are committed idealogues fighting a religious war, only their religion is about economic liberalism as much as Jesus. It was these two, who after meeting Laffer in the early 70's, started promoting his curve theory to justify tax cuts. In the run up to the invasion Rumsfield privatised huge chunks of the American military machine then spent $1trn on the war most of which never left the states, simply passing from the public purse into the private one. This attitude contributed to far too few troops being used, far too many private contractors and the disastrous split between the defence and state departments.

I hope by the time the time forum's loaded you haven't forgotten what it was you were going to do here.

Not cheap, but particularly anywhere you do a lot of reading try www.ecozone.com/p_BioBulb.html which I think you can buy in the eco shop on lordship lane.

Many years ago I visited the Newington Library at the top of Walworth Rd. Disappointed with what I thought was a poor selection of fiction I asked one of the elderly librarians whether there was a bigger library in Southwark I could use. She thought for a moment then said "Well some people say Dulwich Library is bigger." Then quickly added, to reassure me, "But that's only because it's got more books."

A signal booster won't help, it's height you need.

If you believe your currency is undervalued though the easiest way to correct it is with rising interest rates

Parking restrictions?