… prepare to be upset…

Is it roasting time yet?
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Memories of R4 show with Satan, Scumspawn and some unsavoury humans sent below – Old Harry’s Game?

What a fantastic episode that would make…

It’s the right time of year for effigies on bonfires, too 😆

I thought this was about stamping on a dead Baroness?

Everyone’s getting impatient waiting for the match to start 😈

But it still doesn’t alter the fact she has the right to.

Surely having a ‘right’ must in some way infer the ability to exercise it?

An example, to point out the absurdity – and distaste of this argument…

Would it be appropriate for someone from a black, asian, or any other ethnic background, to be called a f*king *@37#[insert whatever demeaning racial slur] in their workplace?

After all, they have the right not to be subjected to racial discrimination in the workplace – but perhaps they work for one of the public bodies previouslly assessedas being institutionally racist.

But they’ve got the right, so its ok, yes?

… or is it the reality that important?

As my earlier post, from EHRC..

in the 21st century we face a fresh challenge – the danger of a society divided by the barriers of inequality and injustice.

For some, the gateways to opportunity appear permanently closed, no matter how hard they try; whilst others seems to have been issued with an ‘access all areas’ pass at birth. Recession, demographic change and new technology all threaten to deepen the fault lines between insiders and outsiders.

Not my opinion – quote from Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission

Please someone explain to me why any one person in the UK has less rights to move somewhere, send their children to a particular school or have treatment in a hospital.

Yes, but that’s a bit academic, as right ? ability 🙄

Shipbuilding is another industry that had been in decline for many years before Thatcher.

Very, very true – and the unions had a lot to answer for.

My point though, is that ship building (as a “top of the head” example) is still a profitable enterprise for our unionised, EU member neighbours.

We (sorry for the collective we – Thatcher) really shouldn’t have gone for the scorched earth / slash and burn approach to British manufacturing industry

Surely we DO all have access to the same educational and health resources? We have free education for all until 16, a national health service, free dental treatment for children and quite widespread access to most social services for no fee or for very little (although that last bit might just feel the effects of today’s cuts).

In principle, yes. In practice ??

Well we wouldn’t have needed this

= http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/news/2010/october/commission-launches-landmark-report-how-fair-is-britain/%5DHow Fair Is Britain?

landmark report released today by the Commission paints a picture of a largely tolerant and open-minded society, in which some equality gaps have closed over the past generation.

But ‘How fair Is Britain?’, the most comprehensive compilation of evidence on discrimination and disadvantage ever compiled in Britain, also shows that other long-standing inequalities remain undiminished; and that new social and economic fault-lines are emerging as Britain becomes older and more ethnically and religiously diverse. The Review also identifies recession, public service reform, management of migration and technological change as major risk factors in progress towards a fairer society.

‘How fair is Britain?’ draws on a range of major datasets and surveys, as well as the Commission’s own research reports, to build a portrait of Britain in 2010. The 700-page report provides the independent evidence and benchmarks for reviewing the state of social justice.

And it identifies five critical ‘gateways to opportunity’ which the Commission says can make the difference between success and failure in life: Health and Well-being: Education and Inclusion; Work and Wealth; Safety and Security; and Autonomy and Voice

Most damningly, in the context of this thread…

in the 21st century we face a fresh challenge – the danger of a society divided by the barriers of inequality and injustice. For some, the gateways to opportunity appear permanently closed, no matter how hard they try; whilst others seems to have been issued with an ‘access all areas’ pass at birth. Recession, demographic change and new technology all threaten to deepen the fault lines between insiders and outsiders.

I understand surf-mat’s constant challenging those that cry “unfair” – but the inequality of opportunity makes that a very caustic bait.

I’ve always worked hard to get where I have got to, often at the expense of quality of life… but it took a lot of trying to get that first “opportunity”, and for many that just doesn’t happen.

My 8 year old did the Wall a few weekends ago 😆

Rio, your right – mining is a dirty, unglamorous, dangerous job.

However, it has always paid better than working in a factory or on the checkouts. That’s why blokes in Chile continued to go down the San Jose mine despite being fully aware of the poor condition of the mine.

…and in communities where there aren’t a whole deal of shiny money choices, the dirty money looks pretty good.

Debating Thatcher’s legacy will always be clouded and polarised by the Miner’s Strike – which is both understandable and unfortunate. She did plenty of harm (almost) everywhere else, but that tends to be forgotten compared to the magnitude of what happened to pit villages.

Coal, steel, shipbuilding, manufaturing, rail – all these things and more needed reformation, and to do that required unions to be engaged or disempowered.

Unfortunately making it a unions / workers / management / Government issue obscures the facts that investment for a new generation of commerce (not just banking) was desperately needed, but was not delivered.

Good example in the news recently – Cunard’s new QE. Not built on Clydeside or Belfast.

Surprisingly, not built in Korea, China or Poland for cheap delivery either…

No, built in Italy.
WTF Don’t get me wrong, the Italians are fantastic designers and engineers and have a long tradition of shipbuilding – but they are still ship building… We gave up on anything that didn’t fit Thatcher’s economic model.

Ships are still needed, can still be built profitably in Germany, France and Italy – all countries tied by the same EU “red tape” that we moan about, all countries with a unionised workforce, but countries that have retained, encourgaed and invested in their manufacturing base – AND CONTINUE TO PROFIT FROM IT.

OK, the IRA couldn’t continue their preferred activities of bombing and maiming innocent people due to the americans realising sometime around 11/12 sept 2001 that terrorism wasn’t as glamorous as they had thought.

WTF

Don’t let facts get in the way, ehh???

The Good Friday Agreement was signed more than 3 years before 9/11

It’s so “of the moment” to hate her – many do without knowing any/many facts about the good things that happened under her “rule.”

Oh well – usual sheep mentality rules as usual.

Really? Aren’t you getting on for 20 yrs behind the times? Even for those who still harbour that burning hatred, it was kindled 25-30 years ago

A bit of googling turns up the Russian/Chinese SS-N-22 anti-ship missile:

speed: Mach 2.5-4
flight time: 25-35 seconds
cruise altitude: 15 feet above sea
evasion: violent end manoeuvres
payload: 320 kg

They make ACs and other large warships a bit redundant. The Chinese are reckoned to have about 100 of these. If it kicks off over Taiwan, the yanks can kiss goodbye to their entire battle group IMO.

This and the subsequent arguments demonstrates the needs for a balanced military – or a very much smaller military.

The SS-N-22 is only as good as it’s own launch platforms, which are as vulnerable as any other. The range of the SS-N-22 is quoted as 220-240km, which is gives a pretty good stand-off, but in a naval chess game to commit and loose these assets would consierably weaken the attacking force.

Why do you think its called a battle group? The carrier might be deploying the strike capability (or rescue, or humanitarian, or defence, etc) available through its aircraft, but the frigates, destroyers and submarines are vital for mutual defence of that group…

Ordering 2 new carriers also preserves the need for much of the rest of the Navy.

And why 2? Well sooner or later one will need to pop in to the garage for a service – and that’s not a 2 day turnaround

I used to detest the woman – still detest her memory and legacy… but as others have said, that was the Thatch of 10 Downing St., not the senile old woman of today.

Cant say I’d be bothered to “celebrate” her passing any more. A younger, less mature, darker, self always planned to get p!ssed to celebrate her descent to hell (and i’m an atheist 😉 ) – but today I wouldn’t give her the credit.

I read an article on the BBC website the other day that neatly summed up Thatcher’s premiership, although ironically, it was about USA today. But the American author’s outsider’s insight into our deeply polarised views on Thatch’s Government was clearer than our own clouded worship / hate views…

linky to BBC

When I returned in the mid-1980s for what has turned out to be forever, I saw that my old friends’ attitudes had metastasized.

Decline had been managed – badly. The culture wasn’t so great and more than half the country seemed to be excluded from the government’s concerns. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s loyalty question, “Is he one of us?” had been applied across the country.

Actually, Margaret Thatcher was a very pragmatic politician, but she cultivated that Iron Lady public persona – the one that said those who aren’t with us, are agin’ us.

Thatcher’s approach foreshadowed the Bush Administration’s approach to governance from 9/11 onwards. The effect in both the US and Britain was the same – a sense among almost half the population that the country was no longer theirs.

If you take away a person’s sense of being part of the team they are bound to think of the time when they were part of it as being better. The team is no longer what it was. Without them it is in decline

Labour were always keen to point out that all the “war fighting” costs came from the Treasury, not the MoD budget – which covers the standing costs of personnel, eqpt, bases etc…

Also remember these are not like the armoured warships of WW2 and look at USS Cole to see what an explosive laden speedboat can do to modern thin hulls.

Hence the concerns over Exocet / Invincible during the Falklands…

The Americans won’t cancel F35 in favour of more F22’s as they are totally different; the F22 is air-air only, the F35 is primarily a strike aircraft. The Americans may cancel it in favour of more F/A-18’s and drones.

Presumably the F22 hasn’t got any carrier capability?

When it’s a baby RN “carrier”

Proper aircraft carier on the left. One of ours on the right….

Liam Fox seemed to be bending the truth on R4 this morning as well – talking about previous gaps in not having aircraft to fly from our carriers “after Buccaneer” was retired in the 70s…

Wrong way around – more a case of not having any carriers for our aircraft to fly off

The FAA’s Buccaneers and Phantoms were retired when the previous Ark Royal was decommisioned in 1978, and they lost any steam catapault flight decks to fly off. (hence Argentinians starting to get more strident in territorial ambitions…)

The current carriers were actually conceived as “through deck cruisers” (mainly for helicopter operations) in the late 1960s / early 1970s – calling them aircraft cariers was one of the early examples of “spin”… 🙄

The gap in fast jet operability has little to do with the retirement of the current ships (Illustious / Ark Royal) or commisioning of the two new carriers, and more to do with the scrapping of the Harrier force. Whether the old boats soldiered on or the new boats were ordered sooner, no Harriers = no jets…. until arrival of the JSF. This relates as much to the previous Government getting rid of the RNs Sea Harriers and general ongoing reduction in Air strength

Given the late delivery of most defence projects, and time taken for the shakedown of complex new military kit, the first of the new carriers would probably take until 2019 to get built, complete sea trials and commissioning etc. So just in time to take on the first JSF squadrons.

Ehhh??

and noticably lighter up front…..

the key point most often overlooked by diesel afficionados…

Edited to add this would obviously not be true if tyres purely worked on friction. If that were the case wider tyres would not offer any more grip than narrow tyres

Lost me there on the physics / mechanics 😯

Tempted by the flash / flare combo – just not too sure about splashing money on a new light at the moment… 🙁

95kg / 208lbs

Ahhh, thats better 😀

For Grumm: Which shotgun is better? Purdey or Holland & Holland?

No contest – Holland & Holland 😉

Always liked these… (original Dart 18)

Lovely looking boats, simple, easy to sail – I’d still be tempted to pick up a second hand one….

Yep, I can see the embeds on the phone…

Are most people on here on the large side?

Veritable giant, yes….

i’ll take a closer look at the embed code…

Marvellous, thanks

Just see the background thread colour – very frustrating…

Work – XP Pro SP3, IE6
Home laptop – Vista, latest SP, IE8
home desktop – XP Pro, SP3, IE8

Bet this doesn’t need a re-map… 😆

YouTube blocked by work/school/dads firewall I would guess.

Nope – not this. Can view YouTube at work and at home – either directly or as embeds in other forums.

It is only the STW embeds that do not work. 👿

Not specific to any one system / IE version either. Laptop, home PC and work laptop all run different versions of Windows / IE

Nobody got the answer??

fed up with blank grey spaces under vid posts…. 👿

more info here[/url]

and here

Not France!!

What’s on the piste map and what’s on the ground are too much divorced from reality – routes marked blue that hadn’t been pisted and were more like blacks. Not good for beginner / intermediate confidence.

Italy, on the other hand is fab. Well groomed runs, big lunches and laid back skiing.

Would particularly recommend Cervinia for the intermediate end and Pila for beginner to intermediate.

Cervinia is high, and in January might be cold, exposed and windy.

Pila has a lot of runs in the trees, so isn’t as exposed – well worth a look.

Haven’t done much running since at college – but Brooks were about the only ones that I got on with (didn’t give me bad back ache).

They then seemed to drop from view. Maybe the local shops near me stopped stocking them?

My wife chipped hers – slapped the flipping door with the seat belt buckle half way out….

IGMC

I’ve done this in the past – and it works ok. You do need to check the frame and can material to make sure that you don’t a disimilar metal reaction. ie steel can / steel frame, ally can / ally frame.