honez

March the 1st (on St David's Day, yay!), a boy, obviously you'll have to call him David, 7lbs 4oz Where do I collect my prize?

Ooh, beer, a spa and a threeway. Must've been one hellluva holiday CP.

Trace things with your mouse to see how accurate your memory and hand/eye coordination is.

Especially for the Pope. He won't be able to rid himself of a build up of toxic devil juice now.

According to them... Let's hope they're better with numbers than letters. Unless, of course, they use fruit in some pseudo-scientific manner to come up with the numbers. Might go well with the LHC's custard though. I also noticed they had a statement of the bleedin' obvious tuck away down at the bottom of the page too...

I wouldn't say 1-0, I'd say the cynics have clawed one back, but they're still 11,273 behind coming up to half time.

Been there, done that. Is there any significant news of interest regarding this pope's health, or are you just pulling names out of a hat?

Nope. That's a bad plan, Deathlist rules prohibits U-18's. If you're going to test things out, at least do it on the over 60's.

I believe there should be a set minimum standard of service and facilities provided by the government in any westernised society. These should come out of standard tax payers funds. These being, basic health care (non-elective surgery, emergency departments, emergency ambulance services, GP checkups, cancer screening, baby deliveries, vaccinations, etc.) Elective surgery should come out of the patients own pocket. If a patient wishes to jump the queue, then by all means allow them to do so in a private user-pays system. Basic dental should be covered. Fancy elective dental should be user pays. Public education should be government funded. Zero public funds should go into the private user-pays system. Roads, trains, public buses and other forms of public transport should be government funded not private. Water, sewerage, electricity, telephones, TV and broadband & wireless infrastructure should be government funded, but on a user pays system. Defence, police, prisons should be government funded. Libraries, galleries, performing arts, museums, etc. should also be government funded and not-for-profit. Sports facilities like running tracks, swimming pools, parks and amenities should be government funded. Sports stadiums, race tracks, etc should be privately funded and not be paid for out of taxes. So, in my humble opinion, there should be a minimum level of infrastructure and services that everyone is entitled to in a modern western society. These should be government funded from taxes collected. Anything over and above that should be user pays or privately funded. Just my two cents worth.

Ben Dover and his mate...

You are not going to like this honez but what the world now needs is a G'day Sheila Thatcher to fuck up the Australian coal mining industry offset Australia's unsustainable ways. Correct me if the stats have changed but Australia are the worst offenders for individual CO2 production, and guess what, they love coal too. A cheap local resource it may be but that cheapness comes with a hefty ethical pricetag and undoubtedly more slip slop slapping in the future. Yes Mono, I believe you're right. All the coal and steel you can eat and enough uranium just lying around on the ground here to power many a megalomaniac's world domination plans. Although, like a bad Indiana Jones movie, it's generally in places writhing in poisonous snakes, spiders and snaggletoothed crocodiles, which sort of evens things out a little. Having said that, given the amount of sunlight, crispy-bacon-making UV and whopping great hole in the ozone layer, it's ironic that we depend on coal so much when there's vast amounts of unfiltered coronal ejecta hitting us 365 days out of every 3651/4. And to put it into context Mr Miser, it'd be more like maybe a dozen populous and money-making states around NY giving it to the 38 others with a pointy and splintered stick.

Watch out for Karma, LG. Someone's likely to smack you in the mouth this weekend.

I believe this is the thread you're looking for.

The question was why is there so much venom directed against ex-PMs and in particular Mrs T. In my case it comes down to her policies fucking up most industries north of Watford. The coal and steel industries were my local ones.

What's the difference between George Michael and a microwave oven? The microwave stops when you open the door.

Blow the dust off and fire her up. Here we go again this weekend. Yay, a fresh batch of tepid custard coming right up.

Her policies were directly responsible for the shutdown and destruction of entire industries and the towns that depended on them. Mass unemployment -- we're not talking about 10% unemployment, we are talking about entire towns and large portions of industrial cities. Percentage unemployment doesn't paint the picture anywhere near as bad as it was. There were riots, mass unrest and the feeling was almost one of civil war as the north/west of the country suffered terribly from her and her party's policies. The less industrialised and seemingly more affluent south east of the country, although affected came out it much better. This is where the media was centred and always painted a much better picture than the grim, dark reality of it. I don't know if you can get hold of some DVDs to see what I am talking about -- The Boys from the Black Stuff would probably be a good start -- maybe other DL members could suggest others. The Full Monty for perhaps for a lighter take on the whole thing, but it does give a small inkling. I remember when the coal mines around my home town were closed, and the steel mill and the other heavy industries. There wasn't a family in the area that didn't have kids, mums, dad, uncles all unemployed. Generational unemployment with no alternatives. No income. No future. They were skilled workers, indentured apprentices who'd worked the industry their fathers and grandfathers had, the one their sons were working in, their brothers, their cousins. Industries that were the sole employers in their towns, and Margaret Thatcher shut them down almost overnight. There was no planning for what happened after. no retraining. No replacement industries. Just the free market. Cut their legs from under them and see who survives. What she she did to those communities -- my community -- was criminal. If something like that was done as part of an armed conflict, then there would be some form of recompense and restoration at the end. To me, she is and always will be resented for what she did to my community and others like it. When she dies, I will laugh and drink to her demise. She will be gone and I will be damn happy about it. That, Mr Miser, is why I have so much venom for the bitch.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I'm not sure of on the mortality or life expectancy of this, but it's certainly put him on my RADAR, if not for for 2010, then maybe sometime after that. News report here.

Play Stab the Zombie on the Dancefloor

By the same token that I suspect Meg Ryan would be better than average for "special cuddles"

Jesus H. Christ. Please tell me you do this on purpose. There's at least twelve mistakes in thirteen words, and arguably a couple more if you want to get really picky. How the hell do you expect to be taken seriously with that kind of signal to noise ratio? I've not said anything about the quality of your other posts in the vain hope you'd improve or piss off. Sadly, you've done neither. You can't even spell the names of the people you've picked and added in your sig.

R Fagot lookin' for luuurrve on The Love Connection. Hard to believe he had lady trouble with a jumper like that.

"In the US he was best known for writing the Chuckles Bites the Dust episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Oh, that one. Glad that's cleared up.

Yes, but I'm still reeling from the ferocity of their savaging. I was shaken to the core by their resounding logic and calls to get a life. I feel so dirty and shallow. It'll take me years to get over being beaten by those lightweight pillows. Or summat.