Sheaf Saint

Tragic case this, but I'm glad that justice has been served. I would have expected a lesser sentence for the mother though seeing as she didn't actually kill Shafilea herself and also confessed during the trial. Have to agree with Pap though, about the misplaced priorities. Could any of us even entertain the thought of murdering our own children just because they don't share our beliefs about some ancient work of fiction? I realise that devotion to a theistic religion requires the complete absence of all rational thought anyway, but to this extreme? It's really sad. I have a close friend who comes from a Muslim family, and her father refused to even look her in the eye for years after she told him that she didn't believe in Allah and rejected the strict Islamic tradition that he tried to impose on her. I just can't comprehend that thinking myself.

From an environmental point of view, yes it was. The rampant industrialisation since then has devastated countless regions that are just completely ignored by the authorities. Why do you think they have been so economically successful over the last 30 years? It's because they don't have anything like the kind of environmental regulations that other countries have. That's why so many western corporations have moved their production there, because on top of the constant supply of cheap labour with virtually no human rights, factories in rural areas are basically allowed to discharge whatever the hell they like into the rivers with no legal comeback.

Europcar fro me. Made and paid for a reservation to collect at Angouleme station in France for our holiday a couple of years ago. We arrived at the scheduled time only to find they had cancelled the reservation without notice, meaning we had to pay for extra accommodation in Angouleme until they could sort out a car for the following morning. They admitted that the cancellation was their fault and acknowledged that they should have contacted me, but trying to get a response from their complaints team so I could claim back the costs incurred as a result was an absolute nightmare. After initially registering the complaint I was told it would take up to two weeks for a response. The response I got was a pathetic fob off with some nonsense about not actually confirming the reservation in the first place, despite the acknowledgement from one of their staff about their error being at the bottom of the same email chain. So I called them up to inform them that under no circumstances was I willing to accept this, only to be told that as they had closed off the complaint case following the initial response, I had to wait another two weeks before getting a further response, and nobody would even give me the time of day over the phone. I did eventually get a reimbursement and a token amount as a 'goodwill' gesture after I emailed them to advise I had logged a complaint with their regulatory body, but if I hadn't they would blatantly have done everything they could to get out of making the payment. Absolutely hopeless company to deal with, but then I guess it's now obvious why their quote was the cheapest.

You only need to look at what has become of China since 1978 to see a prime example. The policy of economic growth at whatever cost has caused environmental destruction in huge areas of the country. Acid rain, unrecoverable pollution of lakes and rivers, desertification in areas that have been over-farmed and turned into wasteland; these are just some of the known effects, and there may be many more to come that we don't yet understand. And while many millions have seen their wealth improve as a result, there are countless millions of people in rural areas who are paying the price for it. It is the demand in the western world for cheap products that has driven this situation - every time you buy something "Made in China" you are in a very small way partly responsible for the continuation of it. It just cannot continue like this. Something has to give. It's all very well you placing supreme faith in the ingenuity of mankind to invent solutions and work more efficiently in the long run, but mankind has a rapacious greed for material goods which can't just be switched off. People will always want more and more 'stuff' and believe they have an entitlement to it, and nobody likes being told "Sorry, you can't have it." Sadly, I think it will take some kind of cataclysmic event to trigger the change in attitude that will be required to overcome this, but until that time the population will keep growing, more and more agricultural land will be required to feed everyone, the wealthy and affluent will continue to want un-necessary material goods just for the sake of it or to satisfy their own vanity, and we will keep on draining the natural resources of the planet at an unsustainable rate.

That's not actually what I said. I was referring to the arrogant belief (that would seem to have stemmed from the Old Testament, but let's not go there) that we humans are in some way special and that this planet was created solely for our benefit, allowing for us to harvest whatever resources we care to without any fear of consequence. That kind of thinking will eventually spell the downfall of civilised society IMO. I'm not sure on what criteria you are basing your assertion that the current times are the best for mankind. Life is certainly much more convenient in this age thanks to the huge advances in technology over the last half-century, but is that really a good thing or has it just made our species more lazy? I sincerely hope your belief that 2052 and 3012 will be better for all turns out to be correct, but it's fair to say they won't be if we continue on the unsustainable path that we are currently on. It has been calculated that if all 7 billion people on this planet were to live the same lifestyle as the average westerner, we would need the resources of 3.5 Earths. We've only got this one, therefore we need to learn to manage its resources far more efficiently than we currently do. This will require drastic behavioural changes that our society is not ready for, as most people are hopelessly addicted to the excesses of consumerism and will not easily give them up.

It is this very attitude that has got us to where we are currently and will ultimately be our undoing. We are the only species on this planet intelligent enough to be aware of how we affect our environment, yet we still carry on destroying it for our short term greed rather than preserving it for the long-term benefits. So as Hamilton Saint asks, what about when deforestation means the eviction of indigenous human groups? Is the western demand for cheap beef, wood and other products more important than the living environment of the tribespeople who depend on the natural resources for subsistence? I challenge you to read articles such as this one and then tell us that deforestation is OK. Species loss is always, always a bad thing. In any ecosystem, the loss of a single species, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, will have a lasting affect on all of the organisms in that system. The world is currently undergoing the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs disappeared, and by far the single biggest cause of that is the destruction of habitat as a result of human activity.

Oh don't get me started on adverts Badger. The worst one for me is those painkillers like Nurofen etc... Their adverts claim "No other painkiller works faster" - while that's technically true, no others work any slower either because the active ingredient in a £3 box of Nurofen is exactly the same as in a 31p packet from Asda. The difference is the shiny, eye-catching packaging and the flashy, expensive marketing campaign. Never ceases to amaze me how many people are fooled by it and insist the branded product is better/more effective.

Ireland, I believe. That's always been the Irish pronunciation of it as far as I am aware.

Yeah saw this today. Blackburn must be absolutely gutted. £3m for a prem striker in the hope he will get the goals to get them back up, and straight-away injured in pre-season meaning he misses the first half of the season at least.

Fonte is as good a choice as any I guess. It's always been my belief that the captain should be either CB or CM so no complaints from me.

Very impressed with Clyne so far

Oh for Christ's sake Alpine, give it a rest will you!? Verbal simply offered his own opinion on the proceedings without feeling the need to ridicule or belittle anybody else's. What exactly is so wrong with that? You really are your own worst enemy on this forum sometimes.

I take it you haven't ventured into town on a saturday night or been to a Spanish holiday resort in recent years then. If you had, you would realise that it was actually very British.

It was all going so well - why on Earth did they have to get Macca on!? They get the new generation of kids to light the flame as a symbol of inspiring the youth, then get a man who has spent the last 40 years living on past glories on stage to get the crowd to do some karaoke with him. Sooo cringeworthy!

Oh Fookin 'ell. Why do they always have to wheel him out for these state-like occasions!?

Apparently is all to with the origin of the IoC in France, which kinda makes sense.

Marina Silva - United Nations Champion of The Earth. Man that's a pretty damn good title to have on your CV isn't it!?

OK, that was some pretty impressive pyrotechnics!

Oh FFS! He isn't going to repeat it all in French now is he!?!?

Why does she always have to look so f***ing miserable in public these days?

In which case, couldn't they have got Pulp on to do Common People instead? Surely much more representative of Britain on the whole, but I guess Jarvis couldn't be trusted to behave himself on such a grand stage.

Still, could have been worse. They might have got Status f***ing Quo on to do that god-awful Winners song of theirs.

Strange choice of song to perform right before the lighting of the flame.

Some friends I know (a fair bit younger than me) started using this a lot recently. Then I was listening to the radio and the girl from Skins (where it originated) was talking about how she and the rest of the cast just made up this bullsh*t word for a laugh just to see how many people would copy them and start using it in everyday conversation. I haven't the heart to tell my mates this.

You think? What about the low-lying towns and cities that will be underwater as a result of rising sea-levels? What about the more frequent storms and flooding that will result from the warmer air over the Atlantic? What about the food shortages and subsequent price increases that will arise from loss of arable land in other parts of the globe?