badgerx16

Not at all, I started the day in the company of my wife and youngest son, 4 dogs, 2 cats, 4 guinea pigs, 4 tanks of fish, and 6 chickens. On my ride I made 'nodding acquaintance' with many others who had decided to take to their cycles to avoid the hype, and at Devil's Bridge, as usual, there was a friendly horde of motorbikers. I am now happily back with my family and menagerie.

Not at all, I've nothing against the Germans or the Dutch, I just don't see what right they have to Lord it over MY country.

I did enjoy it, I went on a 65 mile long bicycle ride to Kirkby Lonsdale, ate an ice cream at the Devil's Bridge, and am now off to the chip shop for tea. HTH

A few points about the 'British' Royal Family : 1) William 3rd was Dutch, and selected as the best protestant option to oppose the catholic favouring James 2nd, ( he wasn't in the line of succession ), and to support him William brought over a combined Dutch/German army - which is what he won the Battle of the Boyne with. It was effectively the last successful foreign invasion of Great Britain. 2) George 1st was German, and couldn't speak English. 3) The current lot's family name is 'Saxe-Coburg Weimar Gotha', they are a branch of the German Battenberg dynasty, and they only became the House of Windsor during WW1 to appease anti-german sentiment which was in danger of turning into an anti-monarchy movement, ( they anglicised Battenberg to Mountbatten ).

At the same time ?

And God save us from Chuck.

Or you could end up with the USofA.

green giant

Today's event was nothing more than a distraction from reality. The sick are still sick, the old are still old, the unemployed are still unemployed, and the economy is still f()cked due the the global banking crisis. In a couple of days the bunting will either be packed away or taken down to the local tip, the 'special wedding edition' magazines will be getting recycled, the worthless kitsch souvenirs will be put into boxes in attics, and normality will return.

So put the Royals in a bl00dy museum.

A mongrel mixture of mostly German, with a sprinkling of Greek and Danish, and today we have added a wannabe with a pushy mother. Mind you they are truly representative of the general populace - 3 of the Queen's 4 children are divorced, the remaining one got married to try to dodge the rumours he is gay, and Charlie's youngest isn't even his !

And FPTP is for people who are happy to have their minds made up for them.

Spoils Dune's evening out though.

pompous

I am a 'proud patriot' and staunch republican - I will not. however, bother to apologise is that happens to offend you. As for tomorrow, I am planning on a 75 mile bicycle ride to hopefully avoid all the tedium , fawning, sycophancy, and bling.

Ray

Assuming you are referring to the Labour leadership, however it was arranged, GB was the sole candidate and therefore elected unopposed. A perfect example of how AV and FPTP can produce the same result.

Female ?

Personally, I think Michael McIntyre is the least funny 'comedian' currently being inflicted upon the viewing public. I much prefer Dave Gorman, Bill Bailey, or Tim Minchin of the current lot, though the funniest thing I've seen recently was an old show by Robin Williams, particularly where he took the p!ss out of the Catholic Church.

So, under a 'perfect' PR system, is a party that gains 1.9% of the total vote entitled to 1.9% of the seats, or can we decide they are not if we, ( whoever 'WE' are ), don't approve of their policies ? In terms of the total UK vote, that is more than the SNP, the DUP, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, and the Greens,- all of whom won seats in 2010.

Are you saying that BNP supporters should not be allowed to vote ?

1) If we were having this debate in 1918, how many would be defending the existing 'tried and tested' electoral process against the enfranchisement of the 'monstrous regiment' ? 2) There is nothing in AV to prevent a mainstream party's candidate winning in the 'first round' - all they have to do is win 50% of the vote; however this is something they are currently unable to do. 3) I loved watching the Adam Boulton clip. Warsi is a liability, let's hope they keep her on as long as possible.

Like most humour, some will find it amusing, some will find it offensive, and some will not understand it. Personally I am waiting for the point in the service where the Arch Bishop starts "Will you take this woman...", at which point I expect Phil the Greek to shout out "He already has!".

If you look at the last election and divide the number of MP for each party by the number of votes cast nationally for that party you find that the Tories needed 34995 votes for each House of Commons seat, Labour needed 33345, the LDs needed 119795, and the Greens 285616. ( same source as above ).