Sheaf Saint

What you have to take into account is that Iran is a very insular country, and as such they don't have anything like the kind of ethnic diversity we have in the UK. Their nationalism is forced upon them in a way, so it is not surprising at all that a good percentage of Iranians have particular views about other cultures including our own, especially when we've got an unelected moron desperately clinging on to power in this country daring to criticise the Iranian electoral system and publically condemning Ahmedinejad. He still has a lot of support - whether the election was rigged or not.

So you think it is OK for 650,000 civilians to be killed just so that the population of a few countries thousands of miles away don't have to pay too much for petrol? And anyway, I don't believe that was the case - quite the opposite in fact. Iraq has the worlds second or third (can't quite remember which) largest supply of oil, and the OPEC cartel didn't like the idea that so much oil was in the hands of somebody who was not part of their price-fixing racket, and could easily undercut them throughout the world by offering that oil at a much lower price. So far from keeping the price of oil down, I believe that it was more about keeping the price of oil artificially high by taking it out of Saddam's control, and thereby securing the continued obscene profits of the western oil companies.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001442_pf.html I don't doubt for a second that most Iraqis didn't want to be part of the war. If truth be told, they probably never wanted to join the army but were forced to against their will.

I once appeared on Meridian News (or it might have even still been TVS then!) day before the end of the football season being asked by Andy Steggal what I thought of Saints' chances of staying up (we got a 3-3 at West Ham and stayed up if I remember rightly - about 1994???) And I met and had my photo taken with Johnny Herbert.

Because the british public deserve to know the truth of why we were dragged into an illegal war on extremely suspicious pretenses. We have a right to know exactly what our politicians' motives were. A private enquiry will just ensure that they can make sure that certain information remains concealed forever, and that no-one will ever know just how suspect the information was. And does anybody actually believe that David Kelly killed himself? A public inquiry might get to the bottom of that as well, but no, the govt has just made sure that their own worthless hides will be protected by a private, politically-driven inquiry; as opposed to a public, independent one. I don't know why I should expect anything else really. It just saddens me that certain people are never going to be held accountable for their questionable actions which, so far, have resulted in the deaths of 650,000 Iraqis.

I'm sorry you seem to be a little confused. This is The Lounge. HTH.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8100432.stm No public inquiry into the Iraq war. Now who'd have thought that eh?

I caught some of it on ITV2. GLC looked like they tore it up as usual, and I enjoyed what I saw of The Pixies. Can't say there was anything else that grabbed me. Looking forward to seeing Basement Jaxx at the Big Chill. Not a massive fan of their music but I saw them at Homelands a few years back and they know how to put on a good show.

How weird. As much as I enjoy watching their races, it's so obvious that they are staged.

Apparently Suggs has told his band mates that they are not allowed to celebrate christmas any more..... It's Madness gone politically correct.

Planetary collisions hmmm? I've been reading about the ancient sumerian texts recently and according to the translation, they claimed (in 3000BC) that the Earth was created when Nibiru (the mythical 12th planet with a vast eliptical 3,600 year orbit) collided with a planet called Tiamat that used to exist between Mars and Jupiter. According to their inscriptions, Tiamat was split into two, with one half eventually forming the earth and the other half disintegrated and formed the asteroid belt which now sits neatly between Mars and Jupiter. Now this may sound extremely far-fetched, but there is plenty of astronomical evidence which actually supports this claim. And to dismiss it completely would be foolish because it is clear that the ancient Sumerians had a knowledge of the solar system way in advance of what would we in modern times would expect, and even our own modern science would appear to only just be catching up with them. It's well worth reading about.

I know from the Glastonbury thread that a fair few people on here are going. But what other festivals do people have lined up? Personally, I will be going to Beatherder and The Big Chill Both looking like they will be great fun.

I think you are making something out of nothing Alpine. I know from first hand experience how painfully slow lawyers operate. De-listing a PLC and transferring it to private ownership doesn't happen overnight. Patience my young apprentice, patience.

What was I saying earlier about Lotus returning?... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8084475.stm :cool:

I think it was only morons and jealous people that ever did use them in the same sentence to be honest St Landrew. I always knew he had the potential to win a title with a good enough car due to his smooth driving style and the fact that he hardly ever, even in his earlier days, ever makes a mistake. He hasn't made a single one so far this season.

Very interesting reading (which I haven't actually read all the way through but I will) I find it fascinating that many ancient cultures and civilisations clearly had/have a much greater understanding of the universe than we in modern times seem capable of giving them credit for. For instance, the ancient Maya clearly had an understanding of astronomy that was centuries in advance of western science at the time (as evidenced by their knowledge of the 26,000 year cycle which is the basis of the mayan calendar). There is also evidence to suggest that the ancient egyptians built the pyramids in such a fashion as to reflect certain astronomical alignments. Western civilisation has an arrogant belief that we are the most advanced culture that has ever existed. There is an awful lot of historical, archaeological andf paeleontological evidence to suggest that this is actually not the case.

How do you know he was being racist though? It could so easily have been taken completely out of context.

Indeed he did. I used to see him walking his little yap dog around riverside park quite often when I lived round that way. I remember queing behind him in the newsagents at the triangle once and he seemed a very quiet and unassuming fellow - very different from his stage/screen persona. May you rest well Danny.

And the current qualifying format would need to be changed as well, it would have to be 21-28 out first, then 11-20 and then a top-ten shootout like it is now. They would probably have to extend the times of the first two sessions to account for the extra traffic on the track.

And Lotus, and Tyrell, and Brabham. What happened to Lola in '97? I remember them entering and pulling out before qualifying. Were they so slow that they decided not to bother?

China have historically been North Korea's closest ally, but even their relationship has always been, how shall we say - a little frosty. While I am concerned about the goings on (and the fact that Pyongyang have today declared that they are no longer bound by the terms of the 1953 ceasefire with South Korea is particularly alarming as it seems they could be preparing to attack) I do find it incredibly hypocritical for all of the world's nuclear-armed states (UK included) to be dicatating to North Korea that they must not develop nukes. I know that the USA considers them part of the 'axis of evil' and that they are generally regarded as a rogue state throughtout the world, but why shouldn't they be allowed to develop their own nuclear technology?

I've just logged on for the first time since yesterday lunchtime. Can anybody tell me if there is actually any useful information in these 394 posts? Or is it just the usual pedantry, insults and sarcasm?

This a photo I took of the 3 bridges while I was there

So it's win/win then