Whitey Grandad

It's all a complete Horlicks, I have never been in favour of rail privatisation, it's a silly idea. As my local MP once said: 'How can you have competition on the railways? One train can't overtake another'.

On capital punishment... somebody might like to look up the figures for the number of murders committed by convicted murderers who have been released from prison. This is a very difficult subject and one where I sit on the fence. If only 'life' meant 'life'... (Here's one:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1540632/Convicted-murderers-who-were-set-free-to-kill.html)

Poor kid.

Digital programmes are all very well but how are you going to get the players to sign your Iphone?

I haven't bought one for years. It's all my fault.

It preserves liquidity, for whatever reason.

I heard a piece about this on the radio the other day suggesting that after a while the suspect will say anything they think the interrogators want to hear, hence the WMD in Iraq.

And for an alternative... President Kinnock? President Prescott?

She does as she is told, by the people's representative.

Well, when I say 'all' it's the ones that matter: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/planning/legislation/mineralOwnership.html Oil, gas, gold, coal, silver belong to the state. That's us :-)

It's a nominal thing but it all belongs to the Crown Estate which has nothing to do with the Queen. The Crown Estate generated £210.7m (2010) for HM Treasury. It goes back to 1760 and the accession of George III, and before. For example 'The Crown' owns all the land between low and high water marks but that doesn't mean HM. I have no problem with the central monarchy, it's all the hangers-on that I object to. In theory a private citizen owns his land and everything beneath from the centre of the earth and upwards to the edge of the atmosphere but he cannot do what he likes with it. All mineral rights belong to the state and all sorts of people can do things underneath or in the air over it.

Well let's call it pre-judgment. It can be a dangerous thing.

Times have changed and expectations and priorities are different. Instead of saving for a deposit today's youngsters want everything all at once, new cars, foreign holidays, to go out on the town most nights.

You were fortunate, I'm pleased for you. I know of some who have had problems. My point about gifting related to another post.

It was 5 or 6 times salary in about 1970, in Hampshire. In London it was a lot more. There was tax relief on mortgage interest payments but rates were much higher. The population explosion has pushed prices up somewhat.

This is never straightforward especially in cases where one spouse has died some time ago. You have to be able to prove that the deceased had not used any of their tax-exempt allowance. This seven year business is also misleading. You have to make the gift seven years before you die. After that there is no sliding scale, the whole amount is taxed.

Lucky to own your own home? What does luck have to do with it? Pay your mortgage for twenty-five years and you will.

What about them? They are getting their housing paid for them.

What about those getting their housing paid for them?

There weren't learning disabilities when I was young. My grandad used to say 'put in the hard work when you're young so that you won't have to when you're older'. Life's not fair, the poor are with you always. If you don't reward hard work, thrift and enterprise then nobody will have anything. I didn't exactly ignore the part about where he got his starting capital from, I had to rush off to my nurse again and it was not strictly relevant to the point I was making. He also used £4500 of his own money and I'm sure the rest was lent at interest, but Freddie is not my example of an ideal entrepreneur, I was merely saying that if you think that success is all down to luck then you are completely mistaken. If it were then nobody would ever need to take any risks, go out on a limb, put in twice as many hours as somebody else, they could just sit around and wait for providence. As a society we need to reward enterprise else we shall not have the associated employment or tax revenues.

Millions of others were also born in the same rich country. What makes you think that intelligence is all down to luck? Some youngsters stay in and do their home work, others like to hang out behind the shed smoking. Some go to the library and borrow books, others sit around chatting. Life is what you make it.

Freddie Laker said that people used to accuse him of being lucky. He replied that everybody has opportunities in life but that very few grasp those opportunities and take the risks involved.

Of course it is. Life's not fair. Deal with it and move on.

What's all that wailing and gnashing of teeth going on in the background?