Sergei Gotsmanov

Politeness is a wonderful British trait. What is not is the trend for people to report other people to 'the authorities' for trivialities and these authorities to have closed courts which then send people on re-education courses. It is intolerant and typical of the new institutionalised thinking. Four legs good two legs bad. Four legs good two legs bad.

Being offensive makes the perpetrator an arsehole whatever form that rudeness takes. The issue in this story is the fact that an elderly lady is being sent on a 'diversity course' for what is essentially a very trivial statement. Is it not something you would expect in North Korea to 're-educate' people for something that is a generational issue - an absurd overreaction. The people that take offence on behalf of others do far more damage than those that hold old fashioned attitudes. Why not send the Brighton lynch mob on a course to teach them that the lady meant no offence but when she was growing up golliwogs were simply part of a bed time story and she might feel a little sentimental about it. For that matter should vegetarians not be sent on a course to be taught that at dinner parties they cannot expect all the other guests to have to eat nut loaf just to accommodate them or maybe the councillors that seek to restrict Christmas decorations in their town so as not to offend other religions, that people have put up Xmas decorations up for several hundred years and it is not really meant to be designed to ram it down the throats of others and that they are just carrying on a tradition. All the people I know that they inadvertently patronise are very embarrassed by those that take offence on their behalf. Perhaps they should concentrate on the real bigots of which I am sorry to say they are among.

Re-education - how 1984

Acts of kindness are very uplifting. I recall on the 93 England Sri Lankan cricket tour full of Lion's lager wandering back to our hotel after a cheery evening and stumbling across a beggar asleep on the street sadly there are many in this part of the world. Aesthetically nature had not been kind to him and I had seen him about the Gore Road. We had a quick whip round and must have put a hundred pounds in Rupees under his pillow. I often wonder what he thought when he awoke.

They are not reared in battery cages and it is a problem even in relatively small numbers. The weaker chicks will get pecked too death. But this is a side show and I do not subscribe to the original poster's points re Muslims.

You do this to stop them attacking other chicks.

Clearly the expenses scandal highlights that they are motivated by money. Lets welcome in a period when MP's are motivated by a sense of duty attracting successful people who want to put something back.

Outside interests should be a positive influence on the House of Commons assuming there is no conflict of interests. The idea of 'professional' politicians is a very unpalatable one, we should be trying to discourage 'career' politicians who come in straight from University and have no experience or understanding of the outside world.

I like this; living history. Is this the original paintwork - I assume it has been repainted

Don't forget that hen they heard about the plans to surrender some young Japanese officers tried to organise a coup.

Here are some thoughts of the Moscow Ambassador. Pretty difficult times. http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/10/we-all-feel-like-that-now-and-then.html

A chap up the road (sadly he died three years ago) was captured at Singapore. He went in with 3000 and came out with 300. When somebody stole some rice the Japanese had them standing out in the scorching sun until somebody owned up to stealing the food. Eventually somebody who had not taken the rice courageously admitted to the crime came forward. In front of everybody they chopped has hand off and nailed it to a tree as a warning to others. At the end of the war, when the Japs had fled they were told to stay in their huts while they parachuted supplies in. Sadly one desperate survivor could not wait and was hit by a crate and killed - life had become so cheap that they found this very amusing; that this bloke had survived the years of hell under the Japanese only to be killed by the Allies. It cannot of affected him too much because he always drove a Subaru.

As I understood it Stalin's spies even told him that there was going to be a German invasion but he refused to believe them - he was caught totally unaware. There is also no way that the Russian army had a hope of launching an offensive based on their performance against the Fins. The Russian army was devastated by Stalin's purges of the army and that's why Hitler was nearly able to 'kick the front door in and the whole house would fall in'.

"It is not just Sondje it seems our players have been throwing matches for five years"

Nelson Mandela was a good man of biblical proportions because when released from prison it would have been far easier to have played the warrior leading 'his people' into a victorious and very bloody civil war. Instead, like we should when judging him, he looked forwards not backwards and opted to become the unifying force behind a new South Africa. To achieve a virtual bloodless transfer from black to white rule was extraordinary and something that Mandela can take the lion's share of the credit for.

No Germany went to war too soon in my opinion. If we had taken them on two years later they would have been significantly stronger. We should have gone to war earlier - appeasement failed us.

Brilliant

Consonant please carol

There are normally a few Saints flags in the crowd

I emphasise with Soldier A and can understand why he did it but we are supposed to be the good guys and episodes like this give us the chance to take the moral high ground. What message would it send to the insurgent, if having attempted to attack and kill his foe, they simply tended to his wounds and put him in a camp.

He left Chris Sutton out of the England squad because he would not play for the England B team saying that it was a gateway to the full England team. Matt then scores a hatrick and hits the bar and he ignores him. He gave Matt 45minutes against Italy and then substituted him. Unbelievable.

I would follow Steve's advice but if you get into trouble you can PM me and I can buy some through my season tickets.

I think Siegfried is referring to you in the last paragraph http://allpoetry.com/poem/8499053-Sassoons-Public-Statement-Of-Defiance-by-Siegfried_Sassoon

A great moment in our history

Gibraltar - Danny Higginbottom