Walsingham

Slight aside. I thought I'd point out that in terms of both depth and balance this thread is better than the BBC coverage.

I noticed that too. I wonder where he got to. it seems logical to assume he's having good fun.

Pft, hope is a weakness. You're a real "I've been half eaten by a polar bear," Kind of guy, aren't you?

That, dear boy, is because I'm just so damn pretty.

I had a mischievous thought regarding good news yesterday. The UK is witnessing its lowest ever rates of crime in a bunch of areas. I don't necessarily believe the stats for any specific one. But the streets are certainly safer than they were 80-100 years ago. And we also have record numbers of people living here not born in the UK, or born to foreign nationals. I think there might be a cheeky trend afoot.

Don't give up on drinking yet, you're still not at rock bottom. Will you STOP trying to reform my drinking fer chrissakes? I have a two can rule most nights, don't have many of those, and only get hungover drunk at the weekend. I'm practically teetotal. Don't make me quote Chesterton at you, baby.

Touche.

I can agree from direct experience via a friendly acquaintance that the perceived desire to change gender can arise from a false notion of the 'problem' to be solved. In this case the individual had been raped and was trying (IMO) to make it less distressing by leaving their entire sexual history behind. But like Gorgon I don't see an atmosphere of extreme orthodoxy as helpful. Surely if anything it merely contributes to the fetishising of trans/gender roles?

If I may follow your trend of casual calming down, i would remark that it's not so weird as you suggest. How often do voters elect a party by some considerable margin, then instantly you notice no ****er voted for them, if queried? This is particularly true of the Conservatives in the UK. I would also observe that democracy is not sacrosanct if you consider, for example, Obama. He got voted in. But plenty of vitriol is poured on him.

I remember my father shooting rats with a .22, using a stew-bone tied to a stake as bait. The bastards were so big they didn't give a ****. Kept right on eating.

No you are right. On the road to a destination is not the same as being there but it is better to turn back before you are too far along. Plus in this instance there is a point of no return (gun control) after which there is no turning back without bloodshed. Or even then. Well, yeah, but ghastly as Newcastle is there's no reason not to go there for fear of ending up in the North Sea. You and I agree that bureaucracies have a ratchet tendency to acquire powers and never give them up. Where you and I differ is in your notion that bureaucracies should never have ANY powers for fear of them one day getting too many. My view is that one simply needs to smack the ratchet mechanism with a spanner. A spanner made of democratic endeavour. And low carbon steel. I don't know if you have already, but you might enjoy - as I currently am - histories of the Royal Navy and British Army. You'll find a lot of the same arguments we talk about here cropping up. And throughout Britain's history you can see the reasons for us having a permanent military force, the sincere fears it conjures up, and the bloody awful messes we've got into by virtue of trying to knacker it.

Strange morning. Awoke at a friend's house, with a hangover, and have spent the morning being utterly confused and terrified by their kids. Also, I note that children are far FAR too loud.

What like this? EDIT: Loving it.

I can't get hard because a gay couple moved down the street. A slow lateral move, or more of a shimmy?

Ah nuts. Now I'm choking up.

I've got the song 'Blurred Lines' stuck in my head. I was hoping for suggestions for good Saturday music with a similar bouncy feel to it.

It was necessary, what was Tommy doing when you shot the Coyote? Well, he was growling at the front door downstairs when they first started yapping around the grill. I was by the loft window upstairs. I had it open but I was back in the room about 1 meter from the window so they wouldn't see me. I watched them for about 5 minutes until a really big one came out and started pushing the others around. I figured he was my guy. Once I shot I think tommy went from growling to barking. I'm not sure. My ears are still ringing from firing from inside a small room! Its quite an amazing story, I live in a big city so something like that happening just sounds surreal. Yet this is a reality that you have do deal with. Really interesting when you think of the different lives we live yet we are similar in many ways I could tell similar stories from cities. Except instead of a coyote it was a drunk and stoned guy in his forties, shouting about his ****. And in the Uk we aren't allowed to ping people like that with a .22

No apology needed. Thanks for adding some factual meat to the potatoes.

Yes. We have the same problem. I really don't think naming bills stuff like The Patriot Act is helpful. The Human Rights Act is just as unhelpful. Repealing either one makes you sound like a total funthead. Yet they are both deeply flawed.

I knew about that incident. I feel a bit conflicted about the gesture. I think it sent the wrong message at the time. About being black as something which wasn't American. Although I guess race relations were so bad at that time it was understandable. I'd have issues with someone who comes in wearing a rainbow flag rather than their countries, for example. But being open and saying who and what you are on a public platform. I have no problem with that.

I'm not sure if this is a criticism of you or me, GD. But to my ears it sounds like you're freaking out simply because a trend is heading in one direction. If I walk from London to Newcastle I'm walking North. But if you wait for me at the North Pole you'll be waiting a long time.

Walsie is correct Drowsy, its for the best that you accept this. You'll be a much less angry person when you realize that these "damn movements for equality" are not only the right thing to do but are also inexorable Well, I wouldn't say they were inexorable. That's half the problem. I would say the logic was ineluctable. But it seems pretty clear that we're not meshing here. DE's main beef is that he thinks it's wrong that the EU/US get to make demands like this. IIRC that's because he feels personally pressured. We could debate human rights all day and it wouldn't connect.

[british Army joke from the 1950s] Was it wearing white? [/british Army joke from the 1950s]

Finished my shift. I took off my boots and just accidentally dropped a malteser into it. I think I'm going to leave it in there so I get a shock on Monday.

I agree with Hiro. This was precisely my point about going the 'upskirt' route of wikileaks. Because this went outside the system, the system legitimately closed ranks. No-one could condone breaking the law when no laws had (correct me here) had been broken. Handing this to the right senator and they'd have used it to tear the Executive a new bum hole, because they'd have looked good doing it. I think there may be one or two Congressmen who aren't keen on Obama. Instead the Public got told, made a squawking noise, rose in a cloud, and have now settled again.