ecuk268

NI have their backs against the wall and will try any trick in the book the discredit their critics and try to shift attention elsewhere. At long last both Labour and Tory politicians see the chance to rid themselves of Murdoch's influence, and it's also spreading to the US where corporate wrongdoing is taken a lot more seriously than here. I was amused listening to copper Andy Hayman being grilled by the Select Committee. When asked why he didn't investigate NI more thoroughly in 2006, he said that they didn't co-operate (so he gave up?). I hope that's not how he treats all suspects in major crimes. He also saw nothing wrong in having dinner with the people he was supposed to be investigating.

If you take the trouble to read Brown's statement, he says that he's not making any allegations, but that he was upset that these details were being made public. The Sun told him that they were going to publish it and that there was not much that he could do about it. I suppose they took the fact that they had told him as "authorization". Interesting article by Lord Ashcroft sympathizing with Brown and saying that the going rate for obtaining someone's medical records is about £200.

The difference being that there's been no evidence against Baldwin.......................yet.

Lebensraum

Agreed. I always thought he was a bit of a gormless prat, but he was very good last night and fought his corner well.

IT Project Leader in a chemical plant that is on the verge of exploding.

Nutty Boris Johnson was on R4 this morning saying what a wonderful chap that Rupert Murdoch is and how much he's done for British journalism. This is the same Boris Johnson who said last year that claims of phone hacking were "codswallop" and that it was all a stunt cooked up by the Labour Party.

As DSM has said, only the Police or Local Authorities can issue parking fines. Tell them to bugger off.

Advertisers are deserting in numbers. Ford, Renault, Vauxhall, Halifax, The Co-op and Virgin so far.

To be fair to the Tories (and I don't say that very often), Blair's mob were the same. I was amazed to hear on R4 on Sunday a member of one of the Select Committees say that they didn't put Ms Brookes under too much pressure because of unspoken threats that their private lives would be delved into and any past "problems" splashed all over the tabloids.

I see that there's an emergency debate in the Commons today this issue. When it was put to a vote, no ministers voted in favour and only a handful of Tories. Surely Murdoch can't have bought all of them?

I was speaking to a girl at work who has just got married. She's lived with her bloke for a few years in a rented flat. I asked if she was looking to buy a house but she said they couldn't afford the deposit. Their honeymoon was 3 weeks in Thailand staying at a number of plush hotels. Last year they went to Bali. We didn't have a honeymoon. Much of our furniture was second-hand and it took about a year to get the carpets. But we did mange to buy our house. It's a question of priorities.

At the end of the 60's, about 9p. I suppose the average wage then was about £12-15 per week.

My granddad was head gardener on a large country estate so I went to work for him in the school holidays. Absolutely loved it. Picking fruit, cutting acres of lawn, preparing his lordships polo practice pitch. Would have loved to have stayed but the money was awful and there were few prospects.

As one of the baby boomers, I'd broadly agree. It's tougher in many ways today. When I left school in the late 60s' the only problem was which job to take. We did have to suffer horrendous interest rates which happened just after we'd bought our house, but inflation (and hence pay rises) soon caused a considerable rise in house prices. When rate came back down, the proportion of my salary going to pay the mortgage was quite a bit less. I remember my granddad telling me how, as a newly married young man in 1910, he lost his job because he argued with his employer. No dole in those days, but he did have a pig which he used to feed on turnips. With no money coming, the pig had to be killed and they lived on that and the turnips for 6 weeks until he got another job. Hard times. No NHS, housing benefit, social security, only the workhouse. You went to the doctor as a last resort because you would have to pay, hence many people put up with quite serious illnesses until it was too late. He lived till he was 90 and his daughter (my mum) got to 96 so it certainly made you tough.

The Beijing - Shanghai High-Speed railway opens today. 820 miles long, average speed of 220 mph and built in just over 3 years. Tickets from £55.

To fund the Sea Museum (£15m) and refurbish Oxford St (£800k) (both unnecessary).

The Chinese don't mess about do they? Shanghai has the worlds largest underground metro. The whole system was built in 20 years and is still expanding. We spend that long on public enquiries.

All teams prepare the pitch to maximise their strengths but, as you say, despite Charlie going on about our spinners, it was Dimi that got us off to a flying start - 2 wickets for no runs at the beginning.

Have a look at his goalscoring record - it's pretty amazing.

Got a friend who had solar panels for water heating (not electricity generation) installed about 12 years ago. He keeps detailed records and reckons it took about 10 years to recoup the cost. His fuel consumption has dropped by between 20% and 25% so he's been in profit for 2 years. With the recent and future hikes in energy costs he's in a good position.

No, they'd have been in the Daily Mail by now.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Not that bothered about Scotch Eggs but I am partial to a slice of Gala Pie (pork pie with an egg in it).

No, I'm definitely not a teacher but I am married to one. If you think that large classes of bored teenagers are a myth, I suggest you visit some schools in "difficult" areas. Mrs ecuk268 has taught infants for decades in a variety of schools. When you've got a class of 25 -30 it only takes 2 or 3 disruptive ones to ruin it for everyone. Many people think that infants are not a problem but some of the ones coming into reception classes have no social skills, have no experience of books or even of sitting still and listening for 15 minutes. The differences in the home environment can make a huge difference to the progress that children make. There's one school in Southampton that is a national leader in infant education. Where is it? ---- Shirley Warren, but it has very skilled and dedicated staff.