buctootim

Really? I've worked in the field for 20 years and have personally given away £85 million in environmental grants to organisations as diverse as the Soil Association and BASC. I have spent most days out in the field of every kind of agricultural, game and conservation terrain. Out of the two us - you come a very distant second. Your ignorance is palpable.

Depends whether you think a patchwork of sterile monocultures - areas set aside to produce one species and one species only, and eliminating any non target species is 'amazingly well managed'.

I thought we were talking about hunting and whether the countryside is well managed by those who 'understand' it .

Perhaps its you who dont understand it. Industrial production methods are being applied to sports which are presented as natural and traditional. There is nothing traditional about raising pheasants and partridge in battery cages, clearing all 'competing' wildlife from an area, releasing the game birds at densities of 1,000 per acre and then shooting them.

Shoots where birds are put down in open fields shortly before a shoot exist exactly because they dont require a gamekeeper or mixed woodland / open terrain. Its easy to have a shoot anywhere you have a field - usually close to major populations centres so people dont have the inconvenience of travelling. Even those shoots where the birds are supposedly 'traditionally' managed source the birds from intensive rearing farms, by all means not all as bad as in this video, but oftentimes not much better. Stocking densities are also ludicrously high and the birds remain unable to forage. In fact if you want to know about the practices in much of the pheasant shooting industry ask reputable landowners who are unable to compete because their land offers naturally bred birds - much fewer in number per hectare and which jink and fly too fast for clients used to easier prey. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7811779192749638927#docid=-1263012529396562074 Which feed do you give you chickens? Ill check out the content for you.

Im surprised your free range chickens have orange yolks, unless some kind of colourant is added to the feed. Free range undoctored egg yolks are normally pale, especially in winter. Some pheasant shooting absolutely is practiced like this - admittedly mostly shoots geared to novice shots who want easy and cheap sport, but Ive personally witnessed intensively reared birds being chased out of trucks and scared into labouring into the air for a hundred metres or sountil they are shot. I don't mind eating phesant, but am too lightwight to eat it well hung.

Yeah but Dune is like Hypo, success for him is just to be noticed. The actual substance of the points made, both pro and against pass him by. I know which camp Id rather be in.

Yes thats true. CO2 levels have been much higher than currently - when global average temperatures were around 23 degrees C compared with 12c today. What is now Northern Europe was so hot large cold blooded dinosaurs were able to thrive here. The dislocation of the whole of the global society and economy in a climate with daytime summer temperatures of 40 degrees c in Britain and up to 60degrees around the equator doesnt bear even thinking about. We wont get to that stage because the case for action would become overwhelming long before.

It has though. Diseases such as cholera, typhus, typhoid, bubonic plague were what kept the human population to sustainable levels for centuries. Medical advances, one of mankinds crowning achievements may ultimately be its undoing.

For me personally what I find abhorrent is people taking enjoyment in killing things. I know it isnt particualrly more cruel than battery hens or intensively reared pigs, which is why I opt for free range and eat more lamb. I probably wouldnt have banned fox hunting or hare coursing because in the greater scheme of things it makes buger all difference. Fox hunting is probably marginally less cruel than factory breeding of thousands of fat, slow moving low flying pheasants which are released from the back of a truck so that bad shots can bag a few dozen in an afternoon. It still stinks though.

I agree excessive population, atmospheric CO2 and resource depletion are inextricably linked and all present major threats to mankind. The only one we have a simple answer to is CO2. The fact that we dont have an easy answer to over population and resource exhaustion isnt a good reason for doing nothing on CO2 imo.

You're missing the point Johnny. The real concern isnt the small temperature rises to date. The real concern is that we know greenhouse gases trap heat and that those levels are higher today than they have been for 650,000years. We also know that the atmosphere was stable at 200-260ppm for millennia. 200-260ppm gives a global temperature about 20c higher than it would be without any CO2 - so what climate will we have when the full effect of the 380ppm we have today is felt? What will a world with 450ppm be like, because we are likely to get there by 2050. It takes decades for the world to warm up because the oceans are very big, very deep and very cold, but when they do it MAY BE, that it positive reinforcements kick in and it becomes too late to put the genie back in the bottle. The real significance of the modest temperature changes to date is that they are proof that what you would expect to happen with much higher CO2 levels is in fact actually starting to happen.

At risk of generalising for the whole planet - imo most men would go for a stunning, highly sexual poor woman over a pug ugly, cold millionairess. Most women would go for a rich, powerful ugly bloke over a hunk. Its just the way the world is, no point in decrying it.

what with him, or with you?

Agree with this.

I know, Dune spouting ********, its a shocker isnt it? http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2010july/

Yes and the first 11 months of 2010 were on a par with 2005 as the warmest year since records began. Obviously it been cold in western europe in December but it will still be one of the top five years I expect. .

There isnt much point putting facts in front of Dune. He isnt able to assimilate them. For the others, actual recorded temepratures and warmest years on record. http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20100121/

Liquidating the old company and setting up a new one was part of the deal with HMRC - so that the old company could be thoroughly investigated. End of the company doesnt mean end of the club.

Im taking a break from assembling two kids bikes and wondering where I should hide the bits left over.

I dont. You said "it seems odd that a professional athlete, along with others, is fit but not fit enough to train hard". I pointed out that if you go bang into training hard after a layoff you will get injuries. Seems fairly clear to me.

Dave Merrington has been coaching him.

My daughter doent go to that kind of school I'll have you know. The most exotic it gets is the little girl who is half French.

Brilliant Dune! Buy fresh Turkeys with 20% off and then freeze them, ignoring the fact that frozen turkeys are less than half the price of fresh. Have you sent this tip to Viz?

Not neccessarily. Adkins built a championship side with next to no money. Having a good eye for the up, coming and hungry is just as important as spending money on players who have earned a reputation and profile over the years but may have passed peak or lost the drive.