nashoi

Just before this thread shuffles off I just wanted to make the following point loosely related to El P's comment "I guess the third argument holds water better considering that the guns are out there now. But that simply means there isn't the political will to do anything about it rather than that it can't be done and therefore gun-control is unworkable." Talking to a legal friend of mine last week he pointed out that guns are fairly easy for criminal gangs in this country to obtain, but genuine ammunition is not. This means they often use home made ammo, sometimes recycling spent cartridges, refilling with a propellant, adding a 'bullet' and then crimping it shut with pliers, all with predictably poor results. An american present claimed that ammo sales always rise when a democrat enters the Whitehouse, skyrocketing when Obama got in. This begs the question, if your opponents expect you to act and take active steps to mitigate that then isn't that an open invitation to act? I was reminded of this when I saw http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2012/08/01/should-online-ammunition-sales-be-banned, hardly seems like much of a step.

Bonk Yob Geldof and his daughters Hifi and Leaches

I agree the OC was better than expected, let's hope the empty seats and quieter streets than usual in the centre are temporary issues.

?55m? I bet even Seb Coe couldn't announce that figure and keep a straight face. Ridiculous idea.

Deliciously loopy is a very good description of resonance fm, my favourite radio station.

Firstly I ought to point out my last post was a enormous generalisation, SJ is quite right to point how disparate America can be. My point was that what is meant by rights has evolved throughout history, roughly speaking: Phase 1 eg Magna Carta, establishes habeus corpus and limits the power of the king, but largely about basic land and property rights for the aristos. Phase 2 eg Thomas Payne, the french dec and the american constitution. Though some european states were nominally democracies they were essentially still aristocratic tyrannies of one form or another and this gave rise to the need for rights that defined an individuals relationship to the state. These were absolute rights without attendant responsibilities such as the first amendment rights to free speech (which often comes up on the forum), and the right to bear arms. Phase 3 post WWII, the UNDHR and the ECHR (UK Human Rights Act). After the war rights thinking evolved to become more about defining our relationship to each other rather than just to the state. These rights are qualified not absolute, it may sound cliched to talk about rights and responsibilties already, but the responsibilties (primarily that of recognising the rights of others) are essential. Main reasons for this evolution being we are now living in countries which are genuinely more democratic and so have no need to fear the aristos quite so much and it was also an attempt to find a basis for moral authority in a secular world. Just to reiterate, America is a disparate place, obviously there are large chunks of Americian society very compatible with the 'phase 3' rights, but their constitution is not. I would be wary of anyone arguing Britain needs a written constitution as it's much easier to evolve without one. My point about the geography was just that a country big enough to still maintain the fantasy of escaping into the wilderness is always going to have a different culture to the likes of Britain and most european countries.

There's plenty of people around here with an 18th century view of rights, it's not that surprising the Americans are stuck with it given the history and geography of the place.

This thread reminds me a bit of the bright idea I had of scanning my 35mm negs. I think I managed one roll in the end.

It's Microsoft's fault, nothing to do with your phone settings and there's not much you can do about it unfortunately apart from switch to gmail. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windowslive/forum/hotmail-sync/why-is-hotmail-not-syncing-correctly-on-my-mobile/f1768cab-2818-4637-90a3-b6f00e1e4500

Fishing

How are you defining English beer, brewery location, ingredients, style? I doubt there are many that qualify on all of the above.

Yodel as owned by the Barclay brothers, now they don't have a reputation for being overly litigious, oh no, lovely blokes

As I understand it any loan over a certain amount (c?15m) will be linked to libor so anyone who financed such a loan could now have a claim against Barclays or RBS or anyone else involved, if true that seems like a pretty big teacup to me.

Damon Albarn and Ringo Starr, are the two worst I can think of.

I'll have to take your word for it Maxxi, it's years since I've read it.

I was thinking the same Loz, but I suppose they could argue most of the work he was known for was from before the coronation, he died two years later. Churchill also not on the list for similar reasons I would imagine. I would have found room for *Sir Clive Sinclair, for turning a generation of kids onto computing and JK Rowling for keeping the next generation reading. *maybe I'm still trying to justify buying a Sinclair QL though.

Radio 4 is currently running a series called The New Elizabethans. "60 profiles of men and women whose actions during the reign of Elizabeth II have had a significant impact on lives in these islands and given the age its character, for better or worse." Simon Cowell does indeed makes the list as does Barabara Windsor.

Clamping is not illegal as long as they are licensed and there are clear signs up. The police will back up the clampers in this situation. Clamping on private land - Citizens Advice

I'm confused, is the Huguenot on this thread, tireless castigator of illegal video downloads, the same Huguenot who last year posted this.

All a bit moot really isn't it as traffic to PB went up after the ban.

Just curious, but is this anything to do with Imperial's work with Naked Energy?

I'm currently reading Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain, which is pretty good.

Just ask Siri http://i.imgur.com/FyrC7.jpg

Sometimes a little pedantry can be advisable.

Cross post, yes that's my point.