CHAPEL END CHARLIE

HOMICIDE n. 1. The killing of one person by another, regardless of intention or legality. 2. A person who kills another person. Although this situation has (yet) to happened to me I'm pleased to say, I am forced to concede that should I ever find myself staring down the business end of a loaded gun barrel one day then yes, I would almost certainly find that to be a rather frightening experience. I might even be in urgent need of a new pair of underpants! In my defence, I think you will find that what scientists call 'fear of death' is a universal phenomenon, not only in Human Beings but in all sentient life forms ... even Canadians. I for one still have no idea what point you are attempting to get across - if you feel that somehow everyone else on here is grossly exaggerating the disproportionate scale of firearms related violence in the USA, then please explain why we are so wrong when the evidence re this matter appears to be quite conclusive. If perhaps a homicide rate that is (very nearly) 5 times what it is in the UK and France is fine with you, then a explanation as to why you place such a low value on Human life would be of interest methinks. Maybe you feel that the US Constitution is so inhumanly perfect a document that it should never be altered - if so why? Do try to formulate a comprehensible reply that is more than one sentence long ... you never know fewer emoticons and more big words might even help your cause here.

Well being a helpful type of bloke I'll have another go, but I think you have already been shown now - on numerous occasions - incontrovertible evidence that firearms related death rates in the USA grossly exceed those found in other comparable developed nations. This is a matter of fact that you obviously object to for some reason, but seemingly can't dispute in any meaningful sense. Even if we just take murder rates as a whole, without reference to cause, then the stats are quite clear I think. Study results from UNOCD (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) 2012 Global Homicide Report (rate per 100,000 inhabitants) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate#UNODC.27s_global_study USA = 4.7 Canada = 1.6 Australia - 1.1 France = 1 UK = 1 Germany = 0.8 Japan = 0.3 So the evidence shows that a US citizen is a far more likely to have his or her life cut short by the crime of murder - much of it obviously gun related - than those of other broadly comparable nations. If you can leave your (remarkably silly) line in Anglophobia back in the playground where it belongs for once, and summon up something that resembles a reasonable argument then by all means take this opportunity to do so. While the forum awaits that bombshell, I must add that your ''I NEVER BACK DOWN'' approach to debate would be rather more impressive if you actually had anything to BACK UP whatever mysterious point it is you are trying to get across here ...

My Mistoke! The record shows that my ongoing struggle with the English language has become the stuff of legend on here - indeed I can't even promise that such an embarrassing display of rank incompetence would happen again alas.

Well 'Prometheus' may not have impressed everyone, but Ridley Scott it seems is pushing ahead with plans for a squeal that starts where the first film ended - IE with (the decapitated) David and Dr Shaw seeking to find the answer to the key question of why the 'Engineers' attempted to destroy mankind after they had gone to so much trouble to created us: http://www.dayherald.com/prometheus-2-cast-plot-new-aliens-and-much-more-a-fun-package-due-to-release-in-2016/2781/2/ I'm looking forward to this film with some sense of anticipation.

Neither - just concentrate on biological and/or chemical agents and even the filthiest lounge suite should clean up nicely. Current thinking in the dry cleaning industry is that 1950's style thermonuclear dirt removal is no longer safe, necessary or indeed cost-effective.

I'm enjoying the second series of Brian Johnson's 'Cars That Rock' (Quest Thursday) just as much as the first. In this week's programme BJ was so impressed with a NASCAR style Ford Mustang developed by the legendary racer Richard Petty that he actually went and bought the horrid thing - with his own money! This reminds be a bit of the time Jeremy Clarkson fell in love with the Ford GT after road-testing it in the states, that same love of power and reckless sense of enthusiasm for daft cars is evident in both of them. If the BBC ever try resurrect 'Top Gear' then methinks they could do worse than consider Brian for the Clarkson role - he may not be as (deceptively clever) as JC was, but his love of fast cars in perfectly genuine and I dare say he'd probably be less irritating to many of the JC haters out there.

I really don't know all that much about him as yet, but Chuka Umunna is certainly articulate, good on TV and there is I think something of the young Tony Blair about him. A rising star in the Labour Party for sure - maybe even the UK's first black PM one day?

Well I can't speak for anyone else, but this fan certainly doesn't give a flying ferkin about the 'Europa League' or whatever it is called now. Frankly the (non) performance the players are putting in suggests that they don't much care either. Even the club down-playing the possibility of increasing squad size next season hardly points to a real ambition to prosper in this competition - whatever they might say in public. Spurs are welcome to the bloody thing - I hope they enjoy all those Thursdays in Serbia and losing to West Brom on the Sunday.

Years behind everyone else on here no doubt, but I've just seen Ridley Scott's sci-fi epic 'Prometheus' for the first time last night. I am in fact a (very) big admirer of the first two 'Alien' series films, however no Ripley and the generally 'so-so' reviews this latest addition to the franchise received from the critics put me off seeing it at the cinema. This was a mistake on my part because although it could never possibly rival the impact of 'Alien' and 'Aliens' had on me, it still proved to be decently entertaining anyway. Prometheus may not be a truly great film, but Ridley Scott doesn't know how to make a bad one. Unlike the first two (relativity simple) ''the monster is coming to get us'' films, 'Prometheus' has the ambition to ask some more profound questions about where mankind comes from and why we are here. This type of grand ambition is common enough I suppose, but rather less common is this film's success in avoiding the old trap of becoming overly pretentious in the answers it comes up with to those questions. Few actors I suppose would dare turn down the chance to work with Ridley Scott, so it is no surprise then to see such a great cast assembled here, led by the likes of Idris Elba, Charlize Theron and Noomi Rapace from 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'. I especially enjoyed Michael Fassbender's performance as the obligatory android crew member ''David'' - a character who merges the child-like innocence of Data from Star Trek with something far more sinister. Guy Pierce is here too - although you'd never know it under that remarkable make-up. Like all modern big budget science fiction efforts this film looks absolutely spectacular, it is beautifully shot/lit and of course the special effects are utterly flawless - but they always are now aren't they? And there in lays the root of the problem, not just with this film but with all modern Sci-Fi perhaps. The audience for films like this has seen so many spectacular high concept and visually stunning productions in recent years that it is almost impossible now for film makers to generate a 'wow factor' the like of which Ridley and James Cameron most certainly did with the first two films. Modern Sci-Fi is the victim of its own success and we are just so jaded now that a 'golden age' may be over - or is that just me? PS, it turns out that mankind is the creation of a alien species called here ''The Engineers'' - a race previously known to fans of the series as the ''The Space Jockey'' as seen in the first film. Those who are familiar with H.R. Giger's original ''Space Jockey'' concept, which was a veritable giant of a creature, may wonder why this life form has suddenly become so curiously man-sized ...

Well the people have decided and the Conservatives are back in charge again - as they have for much of my life it feels. I didn't vote for them, but I'm not all that surprised to see that they are the largest party again. I consul myself with the thought that David Cameron is far from being the worse Prime Minister I've ever seen. Non Tory voters can only hope that the PM doesn't lurch further to the right now that there is no constraining Liberal influence in Downing St. Labour I think got just what they deserved, I see little reason why our people should have trusted them with the economy and English fear of some repulsive Lab/SNP alliance alienated many voters I think - having the wrong Miliband brother in charge didn't help much either. I for one have rather more sympathy for the Lib Dems who have at least ensured that this nation has enjoyed stable governance over the last five years. The savage kicking the electorate has just administered to this party proving that no good deed ever goes unpunished ... For me more important than who happens to reside at Number Ten for the next five years, are the implications of this SNP landslide in Scotland. The Scottish people are now demonstrably anti Labour, anti Conservative, anti Westminster, and (to some extent) anti England too - what we are seeing here is a spectacular example of the 'politics of grievance' in action. As the political rift between Scotland and England widens even further, calls for another independence referendum are bound to increase you'd think. I must add that I sense a growing mood of exasperation with endless Scottish dissatisfaction growing south of the border too. Our wonderious old constitution is badly in need of fundamental reform now, reform that will satisfactorily address the infamous 'West Lothian' question once and for all and provide a equitable solution for all the peoples of these islands - or this great nation may be rent apart before very long.

The 'thing' about babies is that even the most loving and attentive of parents never quite know how they will turn out - your cynical depiction of her future as if that was preordained is mere speculation. I would hope that most reasonable Human Beings would welcome any little baby into the world and wish them well, rather than employ the mere fact of their birth as a (incredibly churlish) opportunity to attack a Royal Family they don't happen to approve of. Please explain how the attitude you have displayed on here towards baby Charlotte differs fundamentally from any other form of prejudice?

So there is no chance then of you allowing this little girl to grow up and show the world what she has to offer it, before criticizing her on the basis of what her parents are? Nope, thought not.

Yes quite right. New born babies - Humanity can certainly do without any more of them!

He's more fraud than Foucault I think. If you manufacture a appealing counter-culture persona and sprinkle your prose with sufficient pseudo intellectual phrases such as ''geopolitical'' or ''leverage'' then it's easy enough to hoodwink a youthful audience and come across (to the more credulous amongst them anyway) as a knowledgeable and thoughtful commentator on the big issues of the day - but only if they don't look beyond the superficial image presented to see the substance of what lays beneath. He has certainly acquired a audience among the young, so politicians will obviously seek to exploit that fact to bypass the mainstream media and engage with them directly. However, I see precious little of real worth here, beyond that which you might find in any 'bog standard' 6th Form debating society that is. In others words a poseur who's image and vocabulary is employed to 'paper over' the inconsistency's in his arguments. A 21st century Voltaire he ain't.

I think NP's players are doing the 'talking' on the pitch now - which is just how things should be is it not?

I'm absolutely loving the Snooker final from the Crucible. I haven't a thing against Shaun Murphy, he comes across as a down to earth and likable bloke. But methinks it would be great to see Stuart Bingham win it this year. Bingham may not have that kind of unstoppable natural talent that we so often see in the final, but he is in the form of his life and plays the game with a smile on his face. You just have to love the idea of such a classic underdog beating all these big name players and going the whole way. Good luck to him.

Paper talk from a not very good paper, but this transfer rumour is on the face of it consistent with club policy re seeking a young (Nyland is 24 years old) keeper to cover for FF. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/southamptons-transfer-molde-keeper-orjan-5626924

Yes I suppose if you were a surgeon (for example) with someones life literally 'in your hands' that would indeed be a very stressful occupation - presuming you cared a jot about the fate of your patients that is. That however has nothing to do with the question of whether managing a PL football team is a atypically responsible and pressurised position too - which it obviously is by the way. There is also the small matter of job security to be considered here - unlike surgeons football managers can't bury their mistakes! Is Nigel Pearson really a millionaire?

Eh? There is not the slightest contradiction between either of my previous posts on this tread, and your 'subtle' difference is in fact invisible.

Are you telling me that the average working person failing at their job in a factory or at some office somewhere would potentially cost their employer many £millions in lost revenue and adversely effect the lives of tens of thousands of people? This seems unlikely I think. It seems to me perfectly obvious that the job of managing of a Premier League football club is (although well rewarded of course) very clearly a far more pressurized role than that most ordinary people will ever face. Your post is a foolish one.

He's a man under a level of stress that few of us will ever encounter in our work lives - so perhaps some on here might remember the old adage about 'walking a mile in another mans shoes' before judging him. Having first become interested in football back in the era when managers such as the wonderfully entertaining and outspoken Brian Clough were in their prime, I've become more than a little bored frankly with a endless succession modern (media trained) managers who have raised the craft of saying nothing interesting in a interview to that of a art form. Thank heavens Jose Mourinho is back in the English game to liven things up every now and then. I kind of like Nigel Pearson as a manager and a man. More importantly the fighting spirit Leicester City are now showing suggests that his players respect - or is it fear - him to. I only wish that our squad back in 2005, who unlike Leicester were under the control of that perennial favorite of the football hacks Harry Redknapp, put up half the fight Pearson's are now. Good luck to him.

I see that the Scottish version of 'The Sun' newspaper has formally backed the (very left of centre) SNP in the coming General Election. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-scotland-32523804 There was a time not so very long ago when gaining the editorial support of this paper was seen as an important political objective by leaders such as Tony Blair because 'The Sun' was seen to influence opinion significantly. I think that situation has actually reversed now - IE newspapers seem more to cynically follow the opinion of their readership rather than lead it.

But his 'sword' is one of those plastic ones you might find in a toy shop. Indeed, being on the receiving end of one of these child-like Sarnia insults is a strangely inoffensive experience I find. It's akin to being bitten by a baby or scratched by a little kitten perhaps - instead of getting angry you just can't help but think how adorably cute he is.

Yes 'The Bridge' is utterly addictive once you get into it. The good news is that Series 3 is in production and expected to air on the BBC later this year. The bad news is that Kim Bodnia (Martin) has left the series alas. Once you get to the end of Series 2 you will know just how difficult it would have been to write him back into the script anyway.