Sheaf Saint

Definitely should have got a red card yesterday. Obnoxious little ****

It's waaaaay too late for that. Christmas was hijacked by capitalism a long, long time ago. Did you know that Santa Claus was traditionally depicted as wearing a green suit until Coca-Cola came along and re-branded him for their own purposes? Christmas as it is in the 21st century is an utter abomination. The old pagan festival of Yule used to be all about celebrating the returning of the light after the winter solstice. Then it was hijacked by Christianity with some load of old tosh about an immaculate conception of the son of God (despite the fact that most historians believe that Jesus was actually born in june). Now it has been raped by corporations who see it purely as a way to make profit, and people lap it up. I would much rather go back to the old Pagan ways myself. Gather your friends and family on winter solstice and eat, drink and be merry.

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more.

well they finally caved in after I got the BVRLA involved and they are currently processing my refund payment along with a 'goodwill gesture' payment. Happy days.

Well I am surprised. That's not a typical Daily Heil article is it? Reminds me of something I came across this morning... http://newsarse.com/2010/11/04/al-qaeda-leadership-facing-vote-of-no-confidence/

Agreed. It remains to be seen just who the Republicans put up against Obama in the full elections in two years time.

Chesterfield. It's in Derbyshire and the inhabitants consider themselves as Midlanders rather than Northerners. But head 10 miles north to Sheffield and you are in no doubt that you're 'ooop north'.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/9147379.stm OK then Harry, be a man and follow through on your threat - please.

In which case I apologise unreservedly. It was a callous remark, made without any consideration for the feelings of others who may have read it, and I feel shame and remorse for any distress, pain, suffering or death which my thoughtless actions may have caused.

Absolutely, yes. Why not?

lol at the swear-filter asterisking out the C L I T of ****heroe!

Well I love living in Sheffield, and there is not a force in this universe that could make me want to live in places like Nelson, Chorley or ****heroe. I do hope this doesn't cause you any offence.

Sorry, I should add Heysham and Morecambe to that list as well.

Apart from the hardcore nutters who want independence for Kernow you mean? Hey, I'm not arguing with because I love Cornwall, and I'm not blindly defending Yorkshire either because I wasn't born here or anything. I just think you're being a bit harsh. In my experience, people from Lancashire are just as bad as Yorkshire folk for the negative traits you have described, and they have the added disadvantage of having towns like Accrington, Burnley and Blackburn, which are just as bad as anything that Yorskhire has to offer.

It's amazing how different people's experiences differ so much isn't it. I lived in Basingstoke for about a year at the end of the 90s and the impression I got from it is that it is a soul-destroying, god-awful, chav-infested, depressing concrete sh*thole. Swings and roundabouts (and where Basingstoke is concerned, mostly roundabouts) I guess.

Yeah OK, but when you consider the size of Yorkshire (South, North and West altogether) it' fekkin' huge, so it stands to reason that there are more sh*tholes because there are more towns and cities, sh*tholes or otehrwise, in Yorkshire than in any other county in the UK.

This is sadly very true. I doubt that the ultra-conservative Christian communities of the deep south could ever even contemplate such a move. If people think that the right-wing reactionaries in Britain are bad, then just take a look at some of the craziness that goes on in the States!

well I've lived in Yorkshire for 6 and a half years now, and I couldn't disagree with you more Turkish, sorry. Yes, there are a small percentage (mostly the older generation) who believe that Yorkshire is the centre of the universe, but then again there are plenty of folk down south who think that them northern types are 'a bit strange' so it balances out really. Granted, Rotherham is a chav-infested hell-hole (a workmate who lives there once asserted that if you can't pull on a night out in Rotherham then you must be gay, and having seen the local nightlife for myself, I think I would rather be!), but it's no worse than the likes of Basingstoke. On the flip-side though, there are great cities like Leeds, York and Sheffield, which although all very different, each has a unique set of characteristics which marks it out from the rest of the concrete jungles in Britain. Then you've got the North Yorkshire moors which really is an area of truly outstanding natural beauty, and there is a definite charm about the seaside towns of Whitby, Scarborough and Bridlington. Where you see self-righteousness, I see pride in their community. Yorkshire really is a little bit different from the rest of the UK; it used to have its own dialect before the nationalisation of school curricula after all. But it has so much going its favour (with the exception of the weather I admit). Some of the local breweries up here, of which there are so may, make some of the best beer you can find anywhere in the world. Now all I need to do is teach them all to say the word 'bath' properly and we're sorted ;-)

Is it really any different from criminalising someone who picks and eats a wild mushroom?

Yeah, and tobacco grows naturally on plants and doesn't need to be fermented. Marijuana grows in the wild and does not need to be prepared in any way other than drying it out, and hallucinogenic mushrooms can be eaten straight out of the ground. The point is that any new substances that are found to have mind/body altering effects are immediately banned as a knee-jerk reaction. If the effects of alcohol were discovered tomorrow rather than thousands of years ago, it would be banned - simple as that. As for tobacco, I still can't work out what the positive side of it is, but it would still be banned if discovered in this day and age, because authorities simply can't have people getting out of their heads or, god forbid, actually thinking for themselves.

True, but the example still invalidates the argument that usage would go up if all drugs were legalised (IMHO anyway).

Not necessarily true. Portugal has decriminalised recreational drugs and the number of users has in fact gone down as a result... http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

Apologies Jackanory, I must have missed the crux of your argument. I assumed that your lazy scum accusation was aimed at anybody who doesn't spend their whole careers trying to get ahead and is happy to sit back on a low(ish) wage. In my experience, although these people are honest and hard-working, they are the ones that get shat on the most in times of austerity and so they often complain, with some justification, that they are being hard done by.

For once I am in total agreement with you dune. It should be down to the individual what substances they choose to ingest, not the state; particularly completely natural ones such as marijuana and magic mushrooms. If all drugs were legalised and controlled correctly (as alcohol and tobacco are) then it would put the criminals who currently make millions from the industry out of business overnight. It could be taxed, bringing money into the exchequer, and it would be much safer as people would be buying their stuff cleanly from licensed outlets rather than from dodgy dealers who will put any old crap in with their merchandise to make up the weight. There really is no sensible, logical argument for continuing with the policy of prohibition. It doesn't work. The war on drugs has been lost, and the 'druggies' have won. Time to accept it.