Special K

I was Joseph 4 years on the trot in the primary school nativity :cool: There was a over enthusiastic teacher there who was mad keen on drama and used to get us under 11's to put on productions of Shakespeare. My interpretation of Orsino was a tour de force and i was the toast of the school gym converted theatre* i can tell you. * rickety wooden stage in the middle of the gym floor.

Modern medicine is so pre-occupied with keeping us alive, it ignores the wishes of the individual, using quasi religious arguments to back up what they say. Like some of the above posters have experienced, i watched an elderly relative die due to cancer. He was a smashing old boy and was quite happy to go out without any fuss, but the treatment was almost insisted upon and kept him alive longer than he may well have wanted. He certainly seemed to suffer more in the last months and for him it appeared to prolong the agony of life when he had come to terms with his imminent death. I think he felt a bit cheated in a way because he was not in control of the last thing he could possibly control.

TBF Germany must be pony this time of year for them to come over here and sell gassy beer and crappy sweets to the cackers who occupy the city centre during the day. And it's disappointing to see people lapping it up; it's only ****e lager, dogmeat sausages (made up of lips and assholes), putrid sugar "confectionary" and poxy garden tools. I wonder if there is an English Market in Germany anywhere, selling fish and chips, franklin mint plates and cheap cider, where all the krauts* swoon about saying it's great to have a traditional english christmas market, blah, blah, * term used in a jovial way and not at all racist or germanophobe or whatever.

But "that's life". Who is to say you wont go bankrupt/loose your job and not be able to pay the poor old builder his 5% retention? Will you hold the retention fund in a seperate account as a fiduciary interest? I very much doubt it. I don't know how the current economic situation is affecting the numbers of builders that do smaller domestic works. From anecdotal evidence i have heard, there are still plenty of jobs out there, in fact more so because less people are moving house and are choosing to extend / do up their current properties. Certainly larger contractors and subcontractors/suppliers are finding life tough at the moment, but the domestic market is still just about ok i think. Personally I don't believe in retention, certainly not on small domestic jobs. If you are going to stop a builder 5% of his money for 12 months, the chances are he is more liable to go bankrupt, so he'll only add 5% up front to finance it. He won't be able to keep 5% on his suppliers and his labour costs. I think that providing you have copies of his insurances and an understanding that defects are attended to, then it should be ok. And a clear understanding of what a defect is is also handy. Shrinkage cracks, settlement cracks and failures due to lack of maintenance are not defects and should be budgeted for by an enlightened client. (This is not saying that your defect wasn't a genuine one of course )

If you are going to extend the walls up, i wouldn't rely on an Architect to assess the structural capability of the existing foundations, walls and floors; get a structural engineer involved. Architects are ok at budgets, but as BTF says, a decent sole trader QS will be able to give more accurate figures. Contrary to popular belief, not all builders will charge over the odds for variations. However, what you ask them to price for is dependant upon a) the quality of information b) defined ideas of what you want and c) realistic expectations of what can go wrong. There is a contract form for domestic works issued by the JCT under the new suite of contracts, i may have a copy if you need one, should you employ a builder / contractor and wish to use it. Don't bother with retention, it's a wind up for small builders and you only end up paying more for the works as a result, but don't pay any money up front. Builders will have monthly accounts (at least) with their suppliers, so pay at regular intervals after the work is done. IF you want to go down the road of employing all the trades individually yourself, you'll need a fair idea of the interface of trades in order to make sure everything goes smoothly and a word of advice; if you have to send them away, don't expect them to come back to your site at the drop of a hat, they'll probably have other jobs on. And i think MB was right in what he said, but only in relation to the temporary trades market, not permanent workers.

We have one now. Since '97 New Labour has had a policy on immigration* that Maggie would have been proud of. It also put the country at war on a lie and lied to the people of this country about the reasons for it. It has also chosen to effectively re-nationalise part of the banking industry and is happy for the police to arrest and detain public servants who are trying to go about their job. I'd say these are examples of an extremist Government. IMHO the old left / right political argument is dead. All mainstream politics is now middle of the road with extreme elements dressed up as mainstream to make them more palatable. Any Governement will use a DNA database, but for what purpose, we don't know. Personally i'd be more worried about commercial enterprises using it for their own gain and ones detriment. * i don't mean migrant workers, but immigration.

The State of Fear has really reached you hasn't it. Maybe it clouds the judgement, i don't know, but just because DNA and/or fingerprints are on a database doesn't mean you'll be "treated as a criminal at all times.". IMHO there are genuine ethical reasons against the introduction of a full DNA database, but melodramatic fear is not one of them.

What a great name; Plaxico.

Still makes me laugh, everytime i see a picture of it.

??: why?

When at 6th form i worked in Sainsburys on a saturday and remember seeing a bloke wallop his kid (looked about 7 or so) twice, very hard, whilst they were queuing up with the trolley. It was clear he was only taking out his frustration on the poor lad. The nipper was distraught. Everyone looked around and straight away a woman in the next queue started remonstrating with him. Initially he looked embarrased but quickly changed tack and told her where to go. I was shelf stacking in an aisle close to where this was happening and went over to see the fuss. When i got there i had to hold another bloke back from laruping the father and a few of us were called in to try and stop the possible ensuing commotion. We escorted the father and his poor son from the shop to his car as there were a few threats from other shoppers. When we got to his car, me and another fella accidentally rammed the trolley into the customer and equally accidentally grabbed his knackers, smacked him in the guts and told him not to be such a nasty ****. I hope that poor nipper didn't suffer anymore at the hands of his cowardly bastard father. So yeah, i think the majority of people are sensible enough to weigh up a situation. If it looks like a nipper needs help, then i'd ask them if there was anything i could do. I think we all have a moral obligation to helping nippers if they are in trouble, irrespective of if they are ours or not.

Ah well, there is some good news. I'm on a promise tonight.

Because the less local waste that goes into landfill sites, the more imported waste they can "sell" to councils that have restricted facilities, hence, increased revenue they would not have had. If that is due to the diligence of the local community with decreased waste collection, then yeah, there should be a rebate.

Absolutely right. We have needed foreign labour to fill the vacancies that aren't filled by Brits because years of uber liberalism has created an burgeoning underclass that considers itself to be exempt from self-responsibility; from educating themselves to providing for themselves and even worse, this translates to their offspring. Examples given on that recent Prescott programme "I'm not working class because i don't work!" etc etc. It's ironic that the Labour Party, born out of the need for social justice for a committed working class and all the ethics of prudence and reponsibility that go with it, should accelerate the creation of a system that promotes the selfish, the workshy and the profligate. The real problem is not migrant workers but the increasing numbers within our indiginous society that are unwilling to work.

A mate lived in Chadderton, just outside Oldham. I went up a couple of times for a few nights out and found it to be an bit of a dump, although you are far more likely to fire your lean mix up some local bird than you would down here.

Hmmm. Good point. Amazing what a bit of airbrushing can do. Oh well. And Robsk, you know you would, even if it was a hate ****, just to pump her full of some do-right juice to make her see the error of her ways.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2008/09/24/presenters_feature.shtml I would, although i wouldn't send her out for a saturday night takeaway.

Thursday - Flew to Sarajevo to stay with a mate who works out there. Landed at lunchtime, looked around the old town, chilled outside a cafe watching the quality local clacker (soooo much better than back here), went up to the mountains around the town for some spectacular views, grub, booze, turkish bong, bed. Friday - Drove to Jablonica lake - superb scenery, went onto Blagaj and then to Mostar bridge and the old town. Back to Sarajevo after dark, fabulous food then a night on the raging lash until 3am. Saturday - Up early, museums, cepavpi, Basarsicja, Jahorina for some mountain air (no snow atm though). more quality grub and a few quiet brews. Sunday - flew back to blighty. Terrific place to go. City of contrasts with the mix of religions and ethnicity, the still obvious war damage and new development, the poor and the wealthy. Humbling and inspiring at the same time. Very friendly people. All round top weekend - 10/10.

Lolage!

9 & 10 are alright to practice on.

Can i ask how you would know? I may well be in a better position to make a rational judgement. Just because it may not agree with your liberal sentiments, doesn't make it wrong.

My post did not confirm any opinion i have, but commented on your post. You mention above that "certain" people waive their human rights when they kill others. Does this mean the guy who actually pulls the trigger or the one who tells the guy to pull the trigger? My opinions on capital punishment? Tough one. Rationally, i can't think of a good enough reason that would justify bringing it back. But the vigilante in me says "yeah", cos i know that (for instance) if my nearest and dearest were (say) murdered i would want the bastard responsible hung from the highest gallows. It's one i haven't squared off yet, tbh.

No. Your point was not that you do not agree with "certain aspects of the human rights act" but that you think there are certain people to whom any human rights should not apply.

Don't agree. If someone is shouting that Gordon Brown is a paedo, kiddy fiddling nonce, there are some people out there who would be offended or distressed by that. If they complained to the Police then the perp can be nicked. That is the point i am making, but you've already conceded that they could be nicked already. What a waste of my three posts today.........

If you were shouting claims such as these you can be nicked for a breach of the peace, especially if someone complained.