Flashman

If it floats, runs or fornicates, it's better to lease than own, so bin the current one and hire yourself a new one from Russia or the Far East (depending on your flavour choice). Most of them start out grateful for a roof over their head and indoor plumbing and you can chop her in when you get bored.

Stop quoting your real-life experience of Corbyn as an MP and clarity of how bad BR was in the old days. That's off message - it's all free jam tomorrow when Abbott's in the Home Office under Corbyn... Didn't you know Maggie wrecked the trains as well as the mines? And she made tins of Quality Street smaller.

People like the author thrive on publicity - in her case a future book she wants to push. Unfortunately, the Guardian provides them with a platform to spout their drivel.

It's almost medieval that a gang can roam the countryside, besieging towns, raping and pillaging before moving on to the next town. What has happened to this country?

Always found them helpful.

It's a house of its time and you've worked yourself up into a lather that it's awful. Personally, I think it has kerb appeal and I bet it would sell quickly if you wanted to move on. Have a look a houzz.com - lots of architects post rebuilds and the like. Alternatively, sell it and move to a style of house you like

An interesting piece from today's Times about the traveller community. "A slavery case highlights the danger of allowing a force-field of cultural sensitivity to get in the way of hard truths Dumped in filthy caravans, strung out on drugs, fed leftovers, worked like dogs. Reading how modern-day slaves were treated by the Rooney family in Lincolnshire, a question from anti-slavery campaigns centuries ago came to mind: “Am I not a man and a brother?” The case begs 21st-century questions too: how on earth could this carry on for so long? Why wasn’t it detected sooner? One answer may lie in the location of the crimes. The captives were held on traveller sites; out of the mainstream, out of sight. One abhorrent case does not taint all travellers, just as terror attacks should not taint all Muslims or paedophile priests all Catholics. But it is a reminder of how closed-off parts of the traveller community are; how behind this wall of separateness some choose to live by their own rules, and how damaging this can be. Britain is a pretty liberal country. We respect people’s freedom to live as they please, within the law. But when separateness grows to mean a scant regard for the laws and courtesies that frame life for most of us, we have a serious problem. A force-field of cultural sensitivity surrounds gypsies, Roma and travellers, at least in officialdom. Recognised as ethnic minorities, any criticism of their way of life can be labelled racist. Trevor Phillips, former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has said that for gypsies and travellers “Great Britain is still like the American Deep South for black people in the 1950s”. Phillips is a sensible man but his analogy isn’t. It suggests that the prejudice (which undoubtedly exists) is not connected to behaviour. You do not need to be a racist of the white hood-wearing tendency to groan at the prospect of a traveller encampment pitching up in your local park. Reports of antisocial behaviour and intimidation are common, as are complaints of mess when the camp moves on. In the past couple of months travellers have issued death threats to council officers who tried to move them on in Sutton Coldfield; forced a school in West Sussex into lockdown after they broke on to their property; set up camp in an Ocado warehouse in Kent, having to be forced out by the police; dumped tonnes of rubbish in Bromley; and smashed into a playing field in West Bromwich with a mechanical digger. The response of the authorities can seem painfully weak. Before going to court to get an eviction order councils must first assess the welfare needs of those on the site. Money that might have been spent on services is sucked up by legal fees. An endless game of cat and mouse is played, with councils evicting groups from one unauthorised site only for them to move to another. The authorities seem weak too on the issue of schooling for traveller children. The law states that you must ensure your child receives an education from five to 16. Yet in many traveller communities secondary education is seen as optional. According to one think tank 12,000 traveller pupils are not enrolled in secondary school. For those who do attend the truancy rate is four times the national average. Literacy rates are dire. An estimated 3 to 4 per cent of travellers go to university, compared with 43 per cent of young people nationally. And so the wall of separation and suspicion between travellers and the rest of us remains. This is the current approach: an endless cycle of evictions but otherwise turning a “culturally sensitive” blind eye when travellers don’t follow the rules. Well, it isn’t working. It is wasting money and causing distress. It is deepening the divisions between travellers and the rest of society. And it is failing the children who grow up with few qualifications and severely limited chances in life (not to mention poorer health and lower life expectancy). Central and local government need to grasp the nettle and forge a new contract with travellers. This must reconcile the desire of many to lead nomadic lives with their responsibilities as citizens. Crucially, it must offer carrot as well as stick. The first action should be a major building programme to create an adequate number of authorised traveller pitches, with proper sanitation and energy facilities. Some might balk at the investment but it is no good asking people to move on if there is nowhere to go. If local opposition makes it tough to find suitable land, the green belt should be considered. Travellers could move between these sites but in each they would be obliged to register. With proper information on where they were, local authorities could monitor everything from truancy to the paying of council tax. Those refusing to pay tax or educate their children would be pursued through normal legal routes. To ensure travellers use authorised sites, councils and police must be swifter in evicting them from illegal sites or preventing them setting up in the first place. In June Harlow council won a three-year injunction that bans travellers from setting up unauthorised camps in the town. With 320 sites protected, anyone breaching the injunction faces a fine or custodial sentence. Other councils should follow suit. If this is not workable the law should be changed to give police the power to evict anyone setting up camp on public land immediately. They have powers to move travellers on under Section 61 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 but this requires evidence of serious criminality. The bar for eviction is too high and must be brought down. There are many travellers who wish to live peaceably and lawfully while keeping alive their culture. This approach is fair to them because it recognises the desire to move around and provides the space to do so. It is fair to the settled population too, because of the principle at its heart: whatever our lifestyle we are all British citizens and must abide by the same rules and the same laws."

Such as?

https://www.unbiased.co.uk/

All this is true and when the apes take over the planet, you can come and say, "I told you so." However, in the meantime, the City and South East England generate 60% of GDP and subsidies farmers, manufacturers and cliché orators who don't understand the wealth generated by computers and sheets of paper...

Musto launched a new range of wellies at the Game Fair. Looked good quality in the advert.

Always liked the Lee Enfield .303 - empire builder. Ditto the Webley Mk IV .455 They certainly didn't like it up 'em in two world wars

The venues want to take as much money through bars, fast food, club shop, etc. The sport, whether football, cricket or rugby, is of secondary importance to the venue. In cricket's case, each venue has to pay a fortune to the ECB to host a test, hence the high ticket prices and hard sell to recoup the up-front cost. As for horse racing, it's become expensive because entering a free enclosure is akin to attending a gladiator fight: violent proles off their faces and orange fake-baked fish-wives, all comparing their assorted tattoos.

http://www.scotzine.com/2016/06/rangers-fans-top-scottish-footballs-yob-league/ There's us thinking it's about team pride - in fact it's religion. Perhaps that's England's fault as well..?

No doubt you are a chippy, ginger Sweaty who blames England for everything.

Two wrongs don't make a right - stick to defending Celtic, not rubbishing anybody else. And as for being chippy and over-sensitive - I'd look in the mirror/

Why resort to England-bashing? The original post commented about a (Scottish) football club, yet instead of reacting to that, it's necessary to vent about somebody else being as bad. Two wrongs and all that...

I watched it at the IMAX at Waterloo. Very big, very loud , worth the ticket price.

Family and friendships go out the window when it comers to money. Worst case is you will have to pay for your brother's accommodation if he can't/won't pay "rent" in some form. Tough decision, especially if you have shown some interest in helping, as it's hard to back out once expectations are raised.

Yes, I can: "Labour believes education should be free, and we will restore this principle. No one should be put off educating themselves for lack of money or through fear of debt. Labour will reintroduce maintenance grants for university students, and we will abolish university tuition fees. University tuition is free in many northern European countries, and under a Labour government it will be free here too." Glad to help.

I wonder what sort of cash-in-hand job he did to fund his lifestyle? Something for HMRC to investigate...

How sad - nobody's bitten yet. Keep casting, something will come along shortly... Addressing your point, did you attend the ground at the weekend (Slightly non-U for using "weekend" rather than Friday to Monday)? I went to West Kent on Friday and it was very civilised - mostly Club shooters, polite, no pumps or sawn-offs, no vans in the car park... Stay away at the weekend and make time during the week seems to be the solution.

Lee Enfield Rifle Association? https://www.leeenfieldrifleassociation.org.uk/

People don't value what's given to them for nothing. In the end, the same people despise you for not giving them more - look at the Corbyn/Momentum-inspired chuntering at the moment.

Our North British cousins were keen to pocket the enormous oil revenues to fund their endless spending spree... "The North Sea oil industry has cost taxpayers more than £300 million over the past financial year, becoming a drain on national finances for the first time on record, official figures show. Taxes paid by oil and gas companies fell in 2016-17 because of lower oil prices, continuing investment and cuts in tax rates, according to the figures from HM Revenue & Customs. Tax rebates issued to companies as relief on the costs of decommissioning and other expenditure outweighed the tax paid for the first time. As a result, UK government revenues from oil and gas production declined to minus £312 million in 2016-17, compared with £151 million in 2015-16, a report by HMRC shows. The decline in North Sea tax revenues has been politically explosive, since the industry was at the heart of the Scottish National Party’s economic case for independence in the 2014 referendum."