ecuk268

Hope the golf went well. What I'm saying is that we all pay for commercial broadcasting through the products we buy. Theoretically, we could avoid those products which advertise on TV but, if I don't watch ITV, how would I know which products to avoid. And, to take it to a somewhat ridiculous level, if I eat in a restaurant, part of my bill may be made up of the advertising costs of the products used in the restaurant, but I can't avoid that. We pay for all types of broadcasting one way or the other. I accept that parts of the BBC would not survive if they had to rely on advertising. They take chances on the programmes that they produce.Sometimes it comes off. sometimes it doesn't. But that's the price you have to pay for creativity. I think that any government that tried to make the BBC dependant on advertising would face the wrath of middle England. Look what happened when they tried to tinker with Radio 4.

So, how's commercial broadcasting funded? If I don't watch ITV can I get my baked beans cheaper because I don't want to pay the bit that Heinz spend on TV advertising? The only way round this would be to make every channel subscription which, I presume with digital broadcasting, would be possible.

Insurance is all based on risk and, statistically, women have less accidents than men and, when they do have accidents, they tend to be less serious. It seems mad to tell insurance companies that they can't use proven statistical methods in their calculations. You can never tell what an insurance company is going to be like. When I had a bump in the car, Churchill were brilliant, everything sorted quickly with no fuss. But when I had a collapsed drain (also had my house insurance with them), they were a real pain, taking ages to process the claim, so I'm now with Swiftcover.

Radio Solent has to bid for the rights to Saints games. The commercial stations can bid if they wish. If your argument about taxpayer subsides was true, BBC would still have the rights to live football and cricket. I'm not saying that all commercially produced programmes are rubbish (I've watched all 86 episodes of The Sopranos) but there needs to be a place where more specialist and minority programmes can be shown. Most European countries have some form of TV licence (we are among the cheapest) so I think that you are in a minority where public broadcasting is concerned. You have yet to say where I can get in-depth radio news coverage apart from Radio 4.

I'm basing my judgement on your admiration of commercial broadcasting and your dismissal of more esoteric programming. I don't know if you've ever watched any TV in the USA, but if you have you'll see why the Americans admire the BBC so much. As for radio, without Radio 4, where can I get in-depth news coverage, or without Radio Solent, listen to Saints away games?

We don't all exist at your level. I left school a long time ago but I haven't stopped learning, so I can appreciate programmes that you obviously can't. The media should be about more than mindless "entertainment". BBC TV and radio are national treasures. They try to cater for all tastes, not just those that attract the most advertisers.

You'd obviously be happy with a diet of soaps and reality TV. If that's your intellectual level, thats fine. Bit some of us like to watch programs that challenge the brain a bit. I watched a fascinating programme on quantum physics a couple of weeks ago (BBC4). Didn't understand all of it but it certainly made me think. Arts and and science programmes are never going to have mass appeal and therefore will not attract advertising. Television shouldn't aim for the lowest common denominator, it should have a role in education and information and only a publicly funded service can do this.

I see that the ruling has been passed. If I wish to ensure myself against getting pregnant, will I have to pay the same premium as a woman?

They obviously didn't teach you logic. You cannot prove that wouldn't have done better at another school. You may think that it was unlikely but it cannot be proved.

You're trying to prove a negative here which isn't possible unless you can go back in time to another school.

According to my dictionary, a draw is a contest that ends in a tie.

Cracking match though, could have gone either way. Don't see many draws in 50-over games.

Good job that they didn't sign that Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Patrick Viera, they'd have been rubbish.

As old Rene Descartes said: "I think therefore I am not a Daily Mail reader".

There are strong doubts whether he was even involved. The main witness having CIA connections and receiving a $4m dollar "reward".

Considering that we spend countless millions on our Intelligence services, shouldn't they have predicted some of this? What exactly do MI6 do for their money. Of course they can't say 'cos it's secret. How convenient. It seems that every foreign event (Kuwait in the 90's, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya) takes us by surprise.

Life by Keith Richards. If you are of a certain age and grew up with the Rolling Stones, this is a very readable account of the life of KR. It's a big book (about 600 pages) and, while he freely admits to his substance abuse, he comes across as a serious blues guitarist, who's played and learnt from some of the greats. Interesting account of their early tours of the Southern US "red neck" states where they got a load of abuse from the local males who couldn't understand why their women were running after these long-haired "faggots".

Reading about them in the "i" today, they all appear to hate each others guts.

One of the most barbarous regimes in the Middle East. But of course they've got lots of oil and buy lots of weapons from us so they must be OK.

Rather odd that the main informant in that case later received a very large sum of money from the CIA. Also the two forensic "experts" were shown to be incompetent on previous cases they had worked on in Northern Ireland (where there was also pressure to secure a conviction). There was also an interesting study done by "World in Action" about the shooting of Yvonne Fletcher. Employing ballistics experts, they showed that the shots could not have come from the Embassy but from a nearby office block. It appears that the floor in question had been rented by some mysterious Americans who rapidly disappeared after the event.

I'd put Maik Taylor in there somewhere.

My nipper did that as well. Probably on the same minibus.

I remember when a Premiership club called Southampton had a game called off because the toilets were frozen (the pitch was fine).

According to the ONS, at the end of 2010 there were 2.5 million unemployed and 450k vacancies. Where are the other lazy 2 million supposed to find a job? Off course, you're assuming that the skills of the unemployed match those required by the vacancies.

As others have said, looked lazy but always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, which is a skill in itself. ISTR that after notching up 18 goals by Xmas, he seemed to lose interest when the Chairman announced that some of our top earners may have to go in the January transfer window.