Each to their own in terms of music, but with Ed Sheeran, Adele and Sam Smith ruling the UK music scene, it does seem to be a case of the bland leading the bland.
Think I will listen to some Clash now 8)

The trade relationship with Saudi works both ways, however.
We buy their oil, they buy our defense systems.

I’ve been self employed for a few years now. I prefer it as I knew I wasn’t built to succeed in a corporate environment, as I like working on my own and have a very low tolerance for politics.
But the main reason it works for me is the fact that I’m single with no kids, so I can afford the variability of income just by cutting back on expenses when things are slow. I imagine that is a lot harder to do with dependents as they are to a certain extent “a fixed cost”.
Sorting out things like tax is easily done just by employing a decent accountant. In terms of social interaction, there are plenty of networking events you can attend, and IMO the pretty girls working in coffee shops make up for not being able to chat with Amy at the water cooler.
People like Stoner above with a very niche expertise tend to make as much if not more money being self employed, but I think the stats are that people who are self-employed generally make less money overall.

BBC must have signed a commercial deal to promote this dross.

Meetup has a wide variety of groups in London. It works well for big cities as there are lots of people looking to do cultural things like visits to the British Museum. Most of the cultural events take place on the weekends but there are a few which meet up during the week.

It’s a no from badnewz.
But I would bring back capital punishment for the really nasty stuff.

A fierce competitor on the field, a gentle giant off it. A credit to his people.
RIP Jonah.

Dear Santa, here is my xmas list for this year.

World Peace
Xbox

Thanks, Badnewz

ISIS is just one of many Islamist movements that have emerged from the politicisation of Islam by writers like Sayyid Qutb earlier in the twentieth century.
Qutb’s writing essentially imported ideas of permanent world revolution from Lenin and applied it to Islam. One of my lecturers at university once called Qutb’s writings “ecuminically unhelpful” – but he was always prone to understatement.
The point being, radical Islam is an ideology, meaning it crops up again and again until the conditions which allow it to flourish are addressed.
So the West could go in and decimate ISIS, but another radical Islamist group would quickly emerge (like a bacterial, they seem to get more lethal with each new strain).

you talk shit my friend and anyone that believes what you say or has your pathetic thoughts talk shit.

In this case unfitgeezer, I think it’s fairly obvious you are the one talking shit (twice, in one sentence!).

Suggesting the West tries to find a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict does not make one an “Islam loving idiot”.

As it happens, I’m often in Israel, and support it’s existence. But many Israelis recognise the situation can’t go on like this. I’ve also travelled in the Arab world and it doesn’t take long to pick up on the fact that Israel is a major grievance (it does not follow that most Muslims want it destroyed, they just want a different approach).

One of the stated aims of that is the destruction of Israel. So if we all stop supporting Israel, what do you think would happen next?

Israel is a nuclear power with the most sophisticated defense system around. It can protect itself.

The grievance which ISIS and other radical groups exploit is Israel. If you attempt to address that grievance, then you take away the main recruiting tool of use to radical Islamists. You can also put a wedge in between it and the wider Arab world.

As I said, radical Islamism has a core of fanatics, but like any revolutionary group, it is dependent on outside sources of support and funding. I’m not saying radical Islamism will stop being a force any time soon, but it’s a far wiser policy than continuing to bomb and invade the Middle East.

Do they look like they want to sit down and discuss compromise any time soon?

The core of the Islamist movement doesn’t, as you say they are hellbent on destruction for its own sake.

But the powers which are funding these guys, not least Saudi Arabia, would pull the plug if the West took a different line on Israel. Europe has effectively imported the Arab-Israeli conflict into its own cities.

Quite right Copa.

The political atmosphere is all too reminiscent of the aftermath of 9/11.

An article written by Peter Hitchens (I recognise he isn’t too popular on here) called for calm and consideration rather than reprisals. It’s received hundreds of downvotes.

As Yogi Berra put it, it’s deja vu all over again.

I agree the core of the Jihadist movement is motivated by an apocalyptic vision of a showdown with the West.

But the wider support which Islamists have been able to garner from the Arab world including countries like Saudi Arabia rests entirely on the West’s support for Israel. The West has imported the Arab-Israeli conflict and it is taking place by extension in the cities of Europe.

We did against the IRA. Just called them criminals and carried on as much as possible though they weren’t there.

True, although we did ultimately give them what they wanted.

If we were to use the same approach with radical Islam, we would have to forego support of Israel. If the west stopped supporting Israel, the attacks would stop. I think that is the only credible route we can take. Israel is a nuclear power and can defend itself.

Or was there just less (or no) consideration taken of civilian “collateral damage”? There’s 400,000 civilians still trapped in Raqqa.

This was the purpose of the Paris attack. It has been the purpose of all attacks on the West since 9/11.

By provoking “military intervention” in the Middle East, Islamists guarantee themselves a never-ending supply chain of muslims who have been radicalised through having innocent family and friends killed. It’s a classic tactic of escalation.

France has responded exactly how ISIS and other radical groups wanted them to respond. It’s depressing no Western leaders see this is a trap. More cynically, I’d suggest they use the fear which terrorism breeds to build their own political popularity by sending in the planes.

The West walked into a trap after 9/11 by invading Iraq and getting more involved in the middle-east. These actions have destabalised the region and radicalised more of the middle-eastern and domestic muslim population.
And in response to this attack, we will get yet more military intervention from our leaders.
But the state does win from this – it gains greater powers of control and surveillance and can use fear politically.

This is what really gripes me.
The state will use this to promote its credentials of protector of the people, meaning even more security intrusions.
But the state is responsible for this mess, not least through a series of utterly stupid foreign policy interventions.
War made the state and the state made war.

I was thinking back to the optimism of 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I doubt many then would have thought things like this would be happening 26 years later.

France and the rest of Europe are going to end up as security states after promoting open border policies for 30 years.

Nothing planned. That is all.

At an office xmas party last year. The music was up-its-own-arse house and garage for the most part, but I was over the dancefloor like a bad rash the moment the pogues slipped on the jukebox.

I read something one of them had written saying that this is the final series but they’ll leave it in a state where they could pick it up again if they really wanted to.

They said the same thing on Lorraine (!?) this morning.

I thought it peaked in comedy terms in the 5th series, but all the episodes are funny and it’s easily the best comedy series of the past 10 years IMO.

The forum should be renamed Singletrackworld Forum Featuring Binners.

It was good, especially Super Hans’ degeneration.
But I think it’s time to call it a day after this series.

Did you experience any withdrawal symptoms Binners?

Although many young Israelis can speak English, in a work context they tend to speak to their coworkers in Hebrew. Most Israeli companies will not employ someone who doesn’t speak Hebrew. More info here.
It could be different if it is a multinational company I suppose, which asks all employees to speak English. But my experience of working with Israelis is that their English isn’t that great so it would be better if you had Hebrew.
I work closely with a company in Tel Aviv and love to visit.
The cost of living relative to salaries is very high, but the economy is very impressive and I think it is only a matter of time until Tel Aviv creates something very big along the lines of a Google or Facebook.

Get well soon. In terms of your injuries, I’ve broke my jaw in numerous places and had to have extra surgery.

It’s fine now, the surgeons can fix pretty much anything so you will be able to eat properly, it may just be a question of how many ops you need.

Must have been one hell of a whack.

Done + Bump.

Unbelievable.

The dreaded one word dismissal!

Your comment about men being made to look like buffoons in the media wasn’t about economic issues, and suggests you don’t think that happens to women too?

I’ve not noticed negative portrayals of women on tv and film. But you could give some examples?

My view is that women are not to blame for the plight of men. Infact, they are suffering together, particularly the mothers of men who have committed suicide.

Very good points there Maccruisken. We live in a culture of victims vs victimisers, with British men being identified as the historical victimisers, although I think the tide is starting to turn on this.

It’s a secular version of original sin – we are responsible for our ancestors’ activities (the empire, the oppression of women, etc).

That’s why Jess Phillips MP laughed at the possibility of having a debate about mens issues in parliament. British men simply have too much “previous” as victimisers to be seen in any way as victims.

Volunteering can help put things in perspective, particularly if it involves getting out and about.
I get a good feeling after doing a litter pick or helping out at a work group that can help set me up for the week.
Actually it’s the only time when I feel at peace these days.

VickyPea
The one point I made that could be considered anti-women is “the feminisation of education”. There have been some articles on how this affects the prospects of boys but it’s too taboo to investigate in detail, here is one article

But the other points I was making were more to do with economic changes particularly the hollowing out of manufacturing jobs.

There is clearly a problem when one of our MPs, Jess Phillips, ends up laughing at the ostensible absurdity that male suicide might be worthy of parliamentary investigation.

At my local football club last week I heard that so and so’s son had “just topped himself”.
Campaigns like CALM are doing their best but in the long run the structural factors behind the stubbornly high male divorce rate need to be addressed.
These include: the hollowing out of manufacturing jobs; the feminisation of education, with “naughty” boys being considered dysfunctional and put on medication; negative portrayals of men as buffoons across the media; the list goes on really.
But talking of course is the best place to start from.

I’d go west or north, trying to get east or south (i.e. London) from Watford is a nightmare traffic-wise.

A large capacity USB memory stick so that she can backup all her coursework and e-books. Boring, but could save lots of heartache and frustration when a deadline looms and she suffers an IT mishap.

Your talking about the good old days (or even better a floppy disk).

It’s Dropbox these days.

I can see how it might make someone a more careful driver in the short-term.
But I’m sure most people fall back into old habits after a month.
You need to shock ’em. Like at my primary school, where they took us to the local police station for a “tour”, which involved being locked in a cell and shown the preserved human hand which had been chopped off in some criminal incident many moons before.
And I’ve not been back since!

A housemate’s dad used to bring up ganja, out-of-date food, and Swedish pornography on his visits.
He would also start jamming in our living room by playing the bongos. Our house parties didn’t get so busy after.

Definitely go for a drive, sometimes I would go for months on end as a student without being in a car.

This sounds like the first scene of a Jacobean Revenge Tragedy.
(They never end well).

I’ve not been on one myself, but was at a hotel where the conference room was being used for the course.
I walked in by mistake. It was the oddest collection of people – teenage racers with tattoos sitting next to grey haired grandmas.