Hamilton Saint

What's surprising is the number of posters who can't manage a subtle and nuanced discussion - a "yes, but" sort of debate. Too "serious" for them, apparently.

I'm just going on what was written in post #2 and #3. And if it's true what's written there, then there is something to be concerned about.

Speaking of over-reaction ...

Yes, and Papa (interesting coincidence!) comes across as being a good-hearted and compassionate fella. But Papa didn't know that the boy has been set up to do this several times before (apparently). Now that we know this, it puts a different complexion on the situation, doesn't it?

My point wasn't designed as a criticism of you.

A matter of perspective. For the spectators, yes, "good fun and a bit of a laugh". But since he has, reportedly, done this a few times, this is a parental issue; he needs to learn that this is not acceptable behaviour and should not happen again. Unfortunately, his antics seemed to have been condoned and reinforced.

Yep, sounds like Will Cope to me.

It's well-known that Bush and his crew had already decided that they wanted to get rid of Hussein (whose regime he included in the so-called "axis of evil"). The attacks on New York and The Pentagon gave them the pretext they needed. The various reasons provided (WMD, "regime change", expansion of democracy in the ME) were justifications for a decision already made.

Well ... it's obviously not a random exercise, or based merely on a subjective view. They must have used some sort of rating method.

And doesn't he keep saying "Bilakowski"?

Thanks for that! Well, that makes me another Nelson Mandela. P.S. Bizarre to see that Gordon Brown sits further to the right than Stephen Harper. Hard to believe!

I am a free man. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own.

I saw a Nikon Coolpix point-and-shoot camera last week that came in a package deal with a 4 GB memory card, rechargable lithium battery, and a soft carrying case. All for about $180 Cdn (about 90 pounds). A very good deal, I think. Presumably, you could find similar deals on your side of the pond.

Is there a graph that I missed showing the position of various well-know political figures?

If you check out the US Presidential election candidates of 2008 on the website offering this political-leaning test, it's interesting to see that Barack Obama (labelled a rabid communist by the ultra right-wing in the US) actually appears in the right-wing/authoritarian quadrant. Tells you a lot about the US. [i'm closest in political attitude there to Ralph Nader - which I'm happy to see!] Furthermore, New Labour of 2008 are firmly ensconced in the right-wing/authoritarian quadrant - worryingly close to the Conservatives. Only the Greens are in the left/libertarian quadrant.

Interesting test. I came out closest to Bungle (-6.25 left and -5.33 libertarian).

He could have been carrying a knife.

There is nothing in the rules of the competition (posted on the FL's website) that mentions away goals. "14.4 In the event of scores being level: - 14.4.1 at the end of ninety minutes’ play in all rounds apart from the Final; and 14.4.2 after the conclusion of the two legs in each Area Final, the winner shall be determined by the taking of kicks from the penalty mark in accordance with the Laws of Association Football." It seems to me, then, that the winner of the two-tie area final is based on aggregate score after the two matches.

4-5-1 or 4-4-2? If 4-4-2, who will partner Lambert?

The team is: Bart James Trotman Perry Harding Waigo Mellis Hammond Schneiderlin Lallana Lambert

I know what you mean about Ron Howard, but Frost Nixon is still worth a look!

1) You didn't read the second quote from The Toronto Star? 2) Contract bargaining, like most political situations, has always been an adversarial process. That's the way the system has evolved. Ultimately, it's a self-interested process on both sides.You're bound to get hyperbole as both side puts its position in the best light. It's primarily rhetoric and propaganda; it's unrealistic to expect it to be completely honest and rational. Meanwhile, I'm impressed by your amazing frigidity out there. It's not the sort of temperature record we'd care to emulate. Right now, it's +1 degrees C here!

I'd rather not!

From The Globe and Mail: "Take the case of Heinrich Kieber. The 43-year-old computer technician was arrested and convicted in 2002 of stealing highly classified bank records of heavy hitters who had stashed their cash inside the tax-free confines of Lichtenstein's LGT Group bank. Kieber did not go straight to jail. Instead, he collected about €5 million—and a free pass into a witness protection program—for dishing the data to German authorities, helping them figure out which of their citizens' tax records might be worth a second look. Now, other authorities are lining up, presumably with chequebooks in hand, to get a glimpse of the other 1,400 names on the list (among them, apparently, 100 Canadians)." From The Toronto Star: "Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Canada's minister of national revenue, says he has a list of more than 100 names of people who allegedly used the trading arm of the nation's top bank, the Royal Bank of Canada, to set up offshore tax havens in the European principality of Liechtenstein." That's over a hundred already - my comment based on an estimation that that'll turn out to be a couple of hundred at least (given that lots will still be hidden for a while yet).

Nurses have a "cushy" job? You really think so? I don't know about the UK, but here in Ontario nursing is a difficult job. It is very demanding physically (10 stone women having to lift and shift 20 stone men), and most wards are chronically understaffed because of continuing cutbacks. Nurses are often assaulted by their patients (bitten, punched and kicked), harangued by the patients' family members, who are upset at the lack of attention their loved ones are getting (sometimes that concern is justified - but that's the price paid for understaffing wards). I would be surprised if conditions were not quite similar in the UK.