bridge too far

Why - for what purpose? I love buying presents for the people I love at any time, just because I love them - not because I get caught up in some mad commercialised pressure.

I'm not a pagan either

I don't know - it was something someone else mentioned Look - I don't condone or criticise his actions and I've already said that. So don't assume I'm supporting him. I'm just trying to understand both points of view and stating that a potential backlash hadn't occurred to me. That's all.

Do you know, it never occurred to me that his family back in Ireland could suffer from a backlash if he wore a poppy on his shirt.

Most of them are to young (and thankfully untainted by materialism) to ask. The older ones know my views on the matter and are intelligent enough to understand - even my 10 year old grandson. In all honesty, I doubt the little ones notice because they get such a lot of stuff from other people anyway. However, as I'm sure I've said before, we do make a point of getting them fairly big birthday presents because, after all, their birthdays are special to them. I hadn't appreciated that Google were tax avoiders so thanks for pointing that out. I'll look for another search engine.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20288077

The £450K was a year's salary. No doubt he contributed to his pension over 23 years, as is the norm although, of course, there are some public servants who contribute nothing towards their pensions.

But originally, allegedly, when he first reported the abuse to the police, he identified his abuser from photographs the police showed him. It was the police who told him, at the time, that the person he'd identified was Lord McA. He continued to believe this until he saw a photograph of Lord McA and then realised the police had misinformed him.

It's not a question of 'will' it's a fact that I don't. I also don't shop at Tesco or bank with Barclays. It's not always possible because the corporate world is so convoluted, bu,t as far as I can, I avoid companies that conflict with my viewpoint. And I don't celebrate christmas either. As Turkish so charmingly explains, I'm not religious. However, I disagree with him when he says that I don't think Britain is a christian country. It likes to think it is, although some people are only christian when it suits them e.g. weddings, christenings, funerals. My daughter is profoundly christian and lives her life accordingly. Not all christians do.

Sandwich Saint makes some good points. Make things mandatory and you put people off. Far better to explain the past and present wars and let them come to their own opinion, which will be far more heartfelt. A fair few members of my family died / suffered during WW1 and WW2 and many more served (although my own parents were too young). But I don't need to be reminded of their sacrifice and service anymore than I need to take time out on anniversaries to think of my parents - I think of them much more often than that. I'm not doubting for one moment that many if not most of you genuinely want to respect service men and women, but sometimes people do seem to sport a poppy because they THINK they should. That's not what our forebears died for - fear of the thought police.

Not supporting his stance in any way (or disappointed either - it's freedom of choice). But - his country was neutral during World War 2 and, as others have pointed out, he would have grown up with the history of the Troubles. We'll probably never know the answer, but I wonder how many British people working abroad necessarily observe similar ceremonies in those countries - if indeed other countries have similar ceremonies.

An eloquent point of view I read the other day: The very people we honour on this day fought for the right of our citizens to have freedom of thought and action.

So I need to stop cra**ing too?

In fact, Thames Water is my supplier and will be when we move house next month. It's a new house so it will be automatically metered as is our current house. I'll just stop using water

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/10/water-companies-tax Should I deduct a percentage from my water bill?

Exactly my words to my other half when I watched it earlier. It looked ugly / like a muddy splash

Very sad for the poor bloke. Would the head of a private media organisation have faced the same vitriol I wonder.

Absolutely

I really dislike these ear 'ornaments' -gross IMO I've just remembered that a few years ago I had little rings in my long fingernails but they didn't last long cos I kept getting them caught in my keyboard lol

Not even trepanning?

2 ear piercings in each ear and that's it

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/appleton-takes-blackpool-job-1-4452251

Spanish, Greek and Italian men float my boat. Love a Mediterranean, me

Eh? [h=3]pos·it/ˈpäzit/[/h][TABLE=class: ts] [TR] [TD]Verb:[/TD] [TD][TABLE=class: ts] [TR] [TD]Assume as a fact; put forward as a basis of argument.[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [/TR] [TR=bgcolor: #ddd] [TD=colspan: 2][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Noun:[/TD] [TD][TABLE=class: ts] [TR] [TD]A statement made on the assumption that it will prove to be true.[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [/TR] [TR=bgcolor: #ddd] [TD=colspan: 2][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Synonyms:[/TD] [TD]place - set - put - pose - postulate [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

As is the woman who played the part of Mrs Fox (much fancied by Cpl Jones)