pap

This Wiki entry on the age of consent across Europe is an interesting read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_Europe Spain is the lowest at 13. Incidentally, that was the age of consent in the UK until 1875. Might be geographical and cultural bias at play, but I think the age of consent is about right in the UK. I don't like the way that a 16 year old nipper can get done for statutory rape for sleeping with his (illegally) consenting 15 year old girlfriend. Other parts of the world have already enacted "Romeo & Juliet" laws. Seems a better alternative than placing nipper on the sex offenders register. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutory_rape#Romeo_and_Juliet_laws With Savile and his ilk, there's really no room to manoeveure. As you say, grown men. With Savile in particular, it increasingly looks like he used his charity work to get himself into positions of trust, enabling him to prey on young girls well into middle age. I'm with TDD on this. I think he's guilty as hell.

Boris' popularity stems from the fact that he's more celebrity than politician. Most people are very interested in celebrities and not very clued up on politicians. Thing is, he's not a great example of either. You are completely correct to point out the numerous and verifiable problems that he has had in London. Boris is probably the biggest celebrity in politics, but a minnow in the wider world of fame. Not only do people like him, but they're also prepared to dismiss any genuine criticism as smears from the Cameron camp. FWIW, I've always enjoyed watching the chap on TV, but not sure whether he's the right bloke to lead the country.

Yes. Frozen in carbonite. Nicola's favourite decoration. There will be no bargain.

I'd dispute this plentiful bounty of jobs business. There are shortages in certain sectors, but we're in the midst of a double-dip recession, youth unemployment is a massive problem and there are numerous accounts of people applying for hundreds of jobs without success. You yourself mention the influx of the Eastern Europeans, constituting more competition in the labour market for anyone seeking employment. Even the government admit that employment is stagnant; many of their schemes unveiled at conference are about removing the "red tape" for employers ( and not, most definitely not, a small step to the removal of all our employment rights with the eventual plan turning us into serfs ). I don't think welfare as practiced is the answer either, but then "Plan A", the endless churn of cyclical production and consumption to satisfy manufactured consumer lust, where the poorest can pull 40 hour shifts and still not have enough to live on, is pretty sh!t too.

Please investigate the rumours that hypo has a girlfriend. Now, if you'll excuse me I'm off to slap the kids up.

Fifty Shades of Grey started out as a piece of Twilight fan fiction. It got picked up, they changed all the characters to different names, etc, whipped out the vampiric references ( and a whole lot more! ) and said "Hallo. Here is our new sexy book". The sequels aren't based on Twilight fan-fic though. Anyway, when Twilight et al came out I remember a lot of the broadsheet papers banging on about how Twilight was a metaphor for abstinence, what with Bella liking (supernatural) boys but taking a very long time to get around to any serious play. I can see that. Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon, doesn't drink, etc. She must be thrilled that her work has inspired another to create three novels chock-full of bondage and assorted sexual deviance, getting world's knickers wet in the process. If Meyer purposefully tried to program abstinence into kids through doey-eyed cross-species relationships, that plan might have backfired a bit.

They might try, but it's actually more likely that crime, substance abuse and prostitution will go up.

derry, I suspect that you are a bit older than me, sir - which would put your parents even further back into the land of historical opportunity. It sounds as if they did a good job of providing for you, but I'd argue that your mum was probably unusually industrious for her times if she was in full-time work. The point is that bridge too far is right. Massively different times. Actually lost count of all the old fogies moaning about the youth and saying "in my day...." I talked to this weekend. I've had enough people of a certain age tell me stories about walking out of a job on a Friday and into another on Monday to start giving those accounts a bit of credence. There was a lot of work about back then. There isn't now. The influx of keen Eastern European workers is a factor, certainly - but their impact was surely in the skilled trades. A bigger problem, and one successive governments have failed to tackle, is that certain jobs have just disappeared forever. I'm not exclusively talking about the shift of manufacturing to the Far East. Even in our internal market, the massive rise of computing and communications has killed many entry-level positions. Efficiency, isn't it? It's a safe bet that humanity is going to get better at stuff, is going to refine and make things, positions and people obsolete. Barring some massive technological paradigm shift that pushes everyone into work ( think railways ), jobs shortages in the West will become more acute. We won't compete on the basis of cost and don't enjoy the technical advantage we once had over our competitors. The days of near full employment are gone, even if the Eastern Europeans do the offs. You can't really address the problem of the long-term unemployed without addressing the structural problems in our economy.

I'd give up, if I didn't think I'd become one of you afterwards (credit goes to the man depicted in the avatar)

Short. Sweet. To the point. Interestingly enough, a contributions-based welfare system is Frank Field's big idea. I'm all for it, as long as we think of some imaginative ways to clear some of the more obvious obstacles, such as child care and housing costs.

Not really. They've had to put up with southerners making unimaginative comments for years, love

It's a skill.

I actually spent a lot of time with my own grandad this weekend. I fear he may have poisoned me with his right-wing out-of-date views

I happened to be in town at the time and don't get the opportunity to see the team at St. Marys that much, but I knew that empty seats were going to be an issue for the reasons you list. I was originally planning on taking the clan down to that game - would have cost well over a ton if I'd gone, and because it's a rare thing, that's a price I would have paid. That said, its a chunk of change; enough to buy a few pairs of shoes or pay off a bit of the holiday. I remember my dad moaning his tits off because he had to pay the full £4.50 adult charge for my brother and I at an away game in the late 80s. Can't blame him; ground was a sh!thole. Ticket inflation has been mental - a big part of that is by design. Roy Keane has alluded to the gentrification of football with his infamous prawn sandwich brigade quote. He's not wrong and that hasn't come about by accident. Sky propelled the Premier League into a global brand. The Sky Sports team is justifiably credited with revolutionising football coverage, sending the profile of the EPL into the stratosphere and boosting the appeal of the game. Total windfall for the owners and a total win for the Old Bill. A ton of new customers; more into the football, less concerned with the kicking sh!te out of each other and most importantly, prepared to pay the Premier League premium in a time when there was plenty of cash about. From a budgetary perspective, a football match stands out as an financial extravagance, particularly if you're taking family along. £120+ for a family of four to go to the footy or £40 for pizza, beers and the footy on the big screen. No brainer for many people at the minute. Prices have got to come down ultimately. We've got 22K STHs so we've got 10K seats to play with week-to-week. We sold 6K of those on Saturday. If the issue is price sensitive, the club needs to sort it out. With the ridiculous margins the club commands on anything sold within a 100 metre radius of the ground, they're fools to turn away 4K potential mugs over a few up-front shekels.

I thank you, sir. Your wig estimate is a little off the mark. Actually grew ye olde barnet to annoy two baldies who lived in my digs at the time. Jeans estimate not much closer either. The stumps I jokingly refer to as legs mandate a semi-regular replacement of leg garments. I normally leave it until Adams have a sale on. Pretty sure I've annoyed my best mate too, who claims that only kids and nonces wear replica shirts to home games.

Not only that, but there were a load of mental Italians kicking around by the advertising hoardings during training. It's clear that the style police had some input ( said Italians were not wearing garments resembling an explosion in a kaleidoscope factory, for example ) but not enough. I don't recall seeing a single overpriced brand name on any of their clobber.

Lol. Gazza was very good. That photo of us clapping like seals was just after his reflex flying stop.

Quite the opposite. They want that stuff drummed into your head so you'll remember it forever. Repetition is key to doing that. Many campaigns succeed too. I still remember stuff from 30 years ago with a lot of clarity. The image of a van load of workies singing about their McCains chips looms large. Do I really still need that bolox kicking around in my head, thirty years on?

No, I shade it by about an inch.

Only all the jobs that used to exist here but don't anymore

Adverts are sh!t. Fortunately, my viewing habits have changed to the extent where I really don't have to deal with them. I watch very little TV in the traditional sense - mostly live sport - and I'll pause that at half time and do something else for fifteen minutes. Agree with Ken Tone's sentiments about the excellent BBC service, and would add that I believe the BBC keeps adverts on commercial channels at remotely bearable lengths. American TV is pretty much unwatchable because of the huge number of commercial breaks. Remember trying to watch Jaws on a US network once in a fit of jetlag. Gave up after three hours. Our schedules have been dominated by shows that appeal to the most amount of people, precisely because advertisers want to put their products in front of the most amount of people, and will pay a premium to do it. Countless excellent TV programmes have been cancelled because advertisers didn't make enough money, loads more will go this year. Perhaps worse is when advertisers get editorial oversight over the content. Fortunately, I happen to believe we're in the middle of a paradigm shift when it comes to TV. Anyone who is using a DVR is already depriving an advertiser of an audience. Well done you! In terms of scripted programmes such as series, TV is actually the worst place to attempt to watch them. Potential viewers are far better off going the DVD/streaming route. In this time of entertainment tailored to the individual, just the concept of TV broadcasting is looking a little shaky for everything except live shows.

The Fulham fans were nasty though, Whitey G. They told us our ground was too big for us!

Shouldn't be hard, Bear! Unlike many of our fellow posters, I've gone public with my identity on here. Thought it was common knowledge that I resemble a recent immigrant from The Shire who failed to stop at any barbers along the way.

We were inspired by Andrew Mitchell. We didn't want to sit near any f*cking plebs On a more serious note, it's a great view for certain stuff - such as goalmouth action behind that particular goal - but yep, straining the old mince pies in the second half. First time I've ever sat in the Northam though. Won't be the last.

I actually think a lot of that is by design, trousers. Take this 400UKP cap on housing benefit as an example. Tidings of families living in compressed squalor or being moved out of London are not a surprise. Most political commentators predicted this. Same sort of thing with this one. Shedding any lefty leanings for a second, I do think that the problem of long-term unemployed needs to be addressed. It's not sustainable, not remotely fair and I have zero time for people who boast of blagging the system. That all said, the recurring justification that you'll hear from the long term unemployed is that it doesn't pay to work. Can't really argue with that in a lot of cases either. We do need a solution, but it needs to be holistic and realistic. All very well shovelling a load of claimants back into the working world as long as the jobs are there.