Verbal

Still no answer. Come on, at least make an effort...if you can.

How pleasing to see you sucking a lemon on this one. Your brothers-in-skin are going down.

With deaths and bombings in Istanbul. You're welcome. Now back to your brilliant logic...No answer? I thought not.

And self-confessed racist scumbag. What else was he ever going to say?

Haven't you rather skipped past the actual point I was making about the idiocy of your original post? As for Turkey, British tourists have been killed in the WEST of the country, and many people in Istanbul itself (as well as severe damage to the British consulate and an HSBC building), in the last ten years of skirmishes between the turkish military and Kurdish militants.

Pathetic. Truly pathetic.

None of which will mean the end of the euro.

You're right!!

I'm under the flightpath right now, just by Hammersmith Bridge. What should I be looking for?

Finally!

'Advice' from someone who was recently enthusiastically recommending the dumbest share buy of all, in HMV, should be taken with the tiniest pinch of salt. Besides, how on earth do you come to the conclusions (a) that the Euro is in freefall; and (b) that it's going to be too expensive to holiday in countries whose currency it is? So a bit of practical advice, based on experience: I travelled to Argentina during the time when its currency was pegged to the US$ (stunningly expensive), and again when the country defaulted on its international debts and decoupled from the dollar (stunningly cheap). During the latter, my colleagues and I ate in the finest steak house in BA, and our bill was so large that the manager gave us a free bottle of champagne. The bill for six was equivalent to £16. On that basis, Greece would be a good bet for a great and cost-effective holiday, rather than the warzones that Turkey and Egypt have become.

Watched him at freezing Craven Cottage last night. He did a lovely impression of Bennett on his debut. Still, he can only get better...

Germany is not printing Marks. This was a rumour started by a rabid advisor to Bush Junior. Germany did stockpile Marks at unification in 1989/90 but has not done so since. As long as Germany (which has just announced record low unemployment figures) and France continue to support the currency, it will survive, and will probably strengthen in the long run as the flaky bits from southern europe are peeled away by default.

I know. It's ruined my day.

Cameron will be the FOURTH Conservative leader to fail to lead the Party to an overall majority - joining the hardly stellar line-up of John Major (failed 1997), William Hague (failed 2001), Iain Duncan Smith (failed 2003), and Michael Howard (failed 2005).

True. Still, I guess they have to make hay while it lasts. It's remarkable that the Tories have not won an overall majority in Parliament since 1992 - almost twenty years ago! And even then, their overall majority of 20 or so had been whittled down to just one in 1996 after a series of defections. The chances of this happening now, in an increasingly fractious coalition, are far higher, so expect the Tories to resume their long-term existence in the political wilderness quite soon. Maybe it will eventually be a Happy, Tory-free 2012 after all.

Cost at point of sale + subsidy.

Indeed - the staggering fares cover 69% of the cost per mile on rail journeys in Britain. Contrast this with road users in the UK, who pay a mere 21% of the true per-mile cost of their journey.

If you were a turkey you'd vote for Christmas. Odd.

No, you're all wrong. This is a massive story. As the Echo says: '...one person sustained a minor inquiry.'

The vicar was lying.

Satchmo knows best.

Both for the same reason: the Reagan administration wouldn't allow it. Whatever the truth, the sinking of the Belgrano had to be justified as an attack on a Falklands-bound aggressor to satisfy the Americans. The order handed down to Thatcher was that not a shot should be fired on the Argentine mainland. And it wasn't (a botched SAS operation against a Super Etendard airstrip notwithstanding).

Beliefs, the alleged magical qualities of historical figures and sacred texts are far from the most important aspects of organised religion. Far more important than belief in a deity are rituals. It's ritual that binds religious communities - including the many who have no idea how to articulate a defence of their beliefs, or even 'understand' (such a loaded word) the basis of their beliefs. Those with religious convictions tend not to spend any serious time wondering whether or not deities do or do not exist, or whether there is a means to 'prove' such existence. But they DO spend a great deal of time enacting rituals. Which is a long way of saying that debates about the existence or otherwise of deities are inherently unresolvable, and really quite irrelevant. And, dare I say it, it leads to some sympathy for Sergei's argument.

As iPads, Kindles and smartphones cut old formats and technologies to pieces, beautifully made watches, made with the precision and art of fine jewellery, continue to be extremely popular. More than that, the best of them are more collectible than ever: the value of the most prestigious names in watchmaking has soared in the last ten years or so, making watch collectors also some of the smartest investors. One of the best books out there on watch collecting is written by an old friend of mine, Gene Stone. Here it is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Watch-Gene-Stone/dp/0810930935/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324995431&sr=1-1 I’m aiming for mid-table respectability: mine’s a vintage (circa 1966) Omega Constellation automatic chronometer, a piece of lovely simplicity that works as well today as the day it was made.