I heard the news today, oh boy..

[DaveR]

Man not allowed to sit next to child

I note that BA's policy is still in place, and that they did not admit that it is discriminatory.

If only they could extend it so when I fly I don't have to sit next to any children, accompanied or not. Including my own.

[Brendan]

Because men are all evil rapists and children must be taught to fear them along with everyone and everything else.

[david_carnell]

If only they could extend it so I didn't have to sit next to anyone when I fly.

[giggirl]

I'm loving today's Kings of Leon news. They've postponed their O2 gig this evening - because of fire on their tour bus at the O2. Couldn't make it up.

[david_carnell]

In other news....Vince Cable in BIG trouble.

Resignation by Monday I reckon.

[Mick Mac]

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> In other news....Vince Cable in BIG trouble.

>

> Resignation by Monday I reckon.

The Ego has Landed...In the mud

Poor old Vince. He believed his own hype....

[Mick Mac]

Guido is four hours into lunch but word is going round that Cable might not be long for this world. Politically that is.

He?s in a meeting with Clegg?

UPDATE: Mr Cable has just walked into Downing Street. Looking as miserable as ever.

UPDATE II: Last tango in Whitehall. Seems Cable held the rose in his lip and bit too deeply.

UPDATE III: Corks popping in Tory circles.

UPDATE IV: Seems the nuclear option bombed?

UPDATE V: Grovelling apology at the eleventh hour? It?s chaos? Guido is hearing twenty different rumours, either way Cable is deeply wounded. BBC says he won?t be waltzing away?

[katie1997]

good views of the lunar eclipse in Iceland today

[Ms_Lilith]

katie1997 Wrote:

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> good views of the lunar eclipse in Iceland today

That truly is beautiful.

[El Pibe]

Camera that photographs light moving. Coooool.

http://gizmodo.com/5867562/unbelievable-trillion-frames-per-second-camera-captures-light-in-motion

[katie1997]

Huhne has resigned, about time too.

[david_carnell]

Likewise John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy.

[Loz]

A bit torn on the Terry one - the man's an a**e, but the libertarian in me says that he is still innocent before being proved guilty.

[david_carnell]

The simple answer would be that he is unable to fulfil his duties as captain with this cloud over him rather than a suspicion that he is guilty and being treated as such.

Huhne is the same. You cannot be a Sec of State whilst fighting criminal charges.

[????]

I'm glad Huhne's gone..maybe they'll get someone in into his post (environment) who isn't so keen on burdening british businesses (especially manufacturing) with massive 'tax' in the form of expensive green energy and thus further underminding our competitiveness and actually doing bugger all for the environment other than exportiing the pollution to foreighn manufacturers who undercut us partly as a result of their far cheaper carbon energy use...still makes the usual supects comfortably smug as we get further left behind global trade. Still Evenn more amazing as many of the 'progressives' are always decrying the death of our manufacturing yet they want to add on costs with 'lovely' (read unreliable expensive) wind farm produced electricity. 'Progressives' in not really thinking things through shocker.

[david_carnell]

Quids in attack on smug Guardianistas in entirely unrelated news story shocker.

[????]

katie1997 Wrote:

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> Huhne has resigned, about time too.

Mr Carnell is not being very observant

[david_carnell]

I'm not THAT dim. You even reference Huhne so I know that's who you're talking about. Or rather using his resignation to launch yet another cliched attack on "progressives". Who are they by the way? Is there a club? And what exactly is so wrong with them? But it doesn't matter does it?

It's just a paint-by-numbers, lazy terminology you like to bandy about to attack anyone who fits the hackneyed, one-dimensional stereotype that you fixate and froth over.

Are you really interested in debating climate change? Or how to improve the competitiveness of British manufacturing? Or merely metaphorically gobbing in the general direction of "progressives"? I suspect I know the answer. But I'm not that observant.

The bitterest irony is that for as long as you've been on here you constantly bemoan being stereotyped as some raving right-winger and that any who dares break the hegemonic thought on immigration, Europe, law and order etc is branded a Daily Mail reader and the battle is a hopeless one. Yet instead of practising what you preach you're just as bad.

[Loz]

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm not THAT dim. You even reference Huhne so I

> know that's who you're talking about. Or rather

> using his resignation to launch yet another

> cliched attack on "progressives". Who are they by

> the way? Is there a club?

Yeah, quids, you should really use the correct terminology: it's 'unbathed, looney, sandal-wearing, smug leftie".

[????]

Come on David

I contribute plenty of serious stuff in the Drawing Room and elsewhere, even when an honest invitation to debate results in a pile of vitriolic, frothing at the mouth slurring (to mention no names).

I'm regularly in the economic debates, don't see you much in them but being a socialist I guess you've no interest in Economimcs ;-)

I hold impeccably liberal views on the death penalty, racism and foreighn aid to name but 3. (ooh and Foie Gras by the way)

I'm happy to have a seriuos debate on Climate Change but suspect that our views on that are ther same, it's happening and it's man made, but for the interest of our economic well being AND THE FUTURE OF OUR WELFARE STATE I'm not that keen that we export our jobs and pollution to competitor economies that couldn't give a fig. I'm also in the 'bridging' theory that we use Carbon based fuels for now (and for me Nuclear too), especially the cleaner ones combined with cleaner technology, whilst we try and develop non-carbon based ones that can actually match our demand - we are miles away from this at the moment.

We have a platform for developing efficient manufacturing, it's our modern high-tech industries (including car manufacturing) it's where all the workforce work in partnership to try and develop profits, decent working conditions and rfair pay and jobs (ie Honda in Swindon/Nissan in the NE)and not one where belligerent communist/socialist union fight outdated battles from eons ago. (a la Bob Crow and half the Public Sector ones)

[????]

PS you should also not rise to my stuff nearly as quickly a lesson that that old fella SeanMc learnt many moons ago

[Husker]

Honda's enjoyed that platform in the past, but it's doing its best to screw that up by ripping up its current industrial relations model.

[Huguenot]

*chalks one to d_c, rubs it out, swears under his breath, reconsiders, chalks one to d_c"

Aside from taking the piss, I'm quite interested in this one:

"burdening british businesses (especially manufacturing) with massive 'tax' in the form of expensive green energy and thus further underminding our competitiveness"

I'm assuming that this isn't a rant, so I'd be quite keen on knowing what this is, how it's being paid, who is paying it and how much it is?

In my pathetic existence as a small business chap, I'm aggravated by the price of energy... BUT it's a tiny fraction of my monthly overheads, for instance it wouldn't even pay for half a day of one of my employees.

So it has no impact on my competitiveness compared with, say, having a hangover ;-) If you bung it up to a 10% surcharge it still wouldn't have a greater impact than an extra 5 minutes in the shitter and a swift fag in the carpark.

[????]

I presume you're a service business and it shows - you don't think that energy is a significnt part of most manufacturing hey Huge? It's not all farting about on computers you know, making stuff takes significant energy ;-)

[Huguenot]

I think most manfacturers have already realised that the only way to print money by making stuff is to get it done by third world indentured slaves, nothing to do with a massive tax for expensive green energy.

Anyway, sorry to nag, but what is the 'massive tax for green energy'.

I've done a search and can't seem to identify it?