Quoth

Isn't affordability one of the elements that determines worth? It is to me, perhaps not to others? Q

If someone has to rely on handouts to rear children I think they should really be questioning whether they should have children. Sadly the handouts and benefits that go hand-in-hand with having children make this questioning irrelevant and almost turns having children into a carreer for some. Q

Suicide watch/voyeurism Tomayto/tomato Q

It is depressing how wrong government have got things and how their policies deter people from forming family units. As you say, everything is guaged in terms of how much it will cost or save and lives are geared and tweaked to find the most financially efficient way of living with little regard for anything else. Q

I only started reading this thread and rather than fight my way through all the posts I thought I would comment on this one. Absolutely spot on. Q

That is how things are going in South Africa. Needless to say there has been some opposition as different sports were played by different races. In my view sports and politics should not mix - the composition of a team should be entirely on merit, irrespective of race. Q

In South Africa some jobs are advertised as affirmative action posts which essentially means if you're a white male don't bother applying. Over there the affirmative action got taken to such an extreme that grossly unqualified people were employed in a 'figurehead position' with a qualified person doing the job in the background. This was largely due to a lack of qualified black people which, given the history, is hardly surprising. I believe affirmative action is on the decline partly due to an acceptance that it isn't doing the economy any favours and partly due to a increasing number of black graduates. However, in order to get increased numbers of high school and degree qualified people standards are being dumbed down across the board (sound familiar?). Q

Fine - but don't call it the 'Equality Bill'! Q

In fairness I don't think it is practised that often anymore other than perhaps at training establishments. It's not often that there are silver linings to a guard duty. As geezer said, show parades or a beasting or more the norm! Q

As they said in Python: Q

When a guard is being mounted the best turned out soldier is the 'stick man' and doesn't have to stand on the gate and therefore manages to get a good nights kip. I believe it is done that way to encourage a decent standard of dress. Regards, Q

I've heard that when they have a guard duty the 'stick man' is the worst turned out, not the best! Q

Heh heh...wasting your time there then! They do have quite a turn of speed. They could probably leopard crawl faster than the average Brit could run! Q

I suppose it is a more dangerous world than when you served but if the balloon had gone up in your day what would your chances of survival have been? One artillery chap I was speaking to said the strategy was to lob a couple of hundred tactical nukes at the Russians per day! Presumably the Reds would be responding in kind? With the amount of pressure on soldiers these days it must be increasingly difficult for them to do their twenty-two. I'm sure many sack it after getting sick of back-to-back tours. And I would guess that of those that do make their twenty-two not many emerge unscathed. Regards, Q Edit - Grammar suggested Reds were suicidal.

Old soldier from the BAOR days where NI GSM and LSGC were all you could expect? Not a pleasant job sitting waiting to be taken to the front to greet the Soviet enslaught I would expect. Funy how things change - the racks of medals the young blokes have these days says something about how much they get about and the tempo of opps! Regards, Q

It begs the question as to what checks and balances the banks have in place? Surely on day one they would have realised that something was up? I'm mean you'd hope that they would have realised something was up on day one! Regards, Q

A rather extreme way of combatting global warming don't you think? Q

I would say that is the crux of it - elimation of key personnel en masse rather than a particular site. Q

I don't know but it sounds a lot like Cartman's (South Park) "Authority". Or "Authoratah!" Q

Emigration queue? Q

102% Profit - I don't think you need to beat yourself up about not holding your nerve! If only all purchases were that profitable. I'm poised to jump on board but have this nagging feeling that this rally has been going on a while. Regards, Q

Good idea and worth signing. Furthermore, it is written in a fairly objective, non-confrontational style. I've seen so many petitions which are a good idea but written in such a way that there is no way I would place my name on them! Q

Hi all, I've been watching bank shares climb like mad over the past month (I think Lloyds have doubled). Is there still much mileage in this climb or do you think there is still a lot of risk investing in bank shares? Regards, Q

What about the ectoplasm? Oh won't someone think about the ectoplasm! Q

I think he also had his hands chopped off - makes it more difficult to remove the burning tyre. Q