Walsingham

If the argument were purely financial, surely the cost could be borne on a rational basis? My undersatdning - correct me if I'm wrong - was that smokers get charged far far more than what they cost.

Another long meeting today means I'm now at the stage where my voice is barely a whisper. I sound like the bad guy in Dangermouse.

Fair point. The main source I'm relying on is the book The Nearly Men, by Mike Green. A quick wikiblast reveals that the original ATLAS rockets were radio guided from a ground station. The MINUTEMAN series were onboard guided, and they were in the 1970s. EDIT: Gorth, you fool, they're clearly valve computers. You can SEE the bloody valves when they get broken. Plus they're very simple.

It's like Hunter S. Thompson came back as ...as... I have no idea.

I'm not saying it's good exactly. But I've never seen it that colour for long.

I don't normally associate Greeks with extreme sporting! Plus not sold at all on the notion that wanting an extra pint or three is the same as statist client buying and corruption. If we're getting that tenuous I might just as well accuse you healthists of being facists EDIT: I charged off in completely the wrong direction there. Thought I'd leave it in so you can point and mock me. The problem with taking the 'it affects others' line is chiefly in where you draw the line and the inherent complexity of modern life. We're currently BOTH arguing we need to fix drug policy for the sake of others. You're saying it affects those near the consumer. I'm saying it affects those near the producer. I'm actually pretty happy to include external effects, hence my OP. I'm simply saying that we're wrecking whole nations and killing hundreds of thousands of people through prohibition. On the other hand there must be some point where we say 'actually chaps that's your problem not ours'. It woudl be awesome if we coudl generate some sort of metric for where the line should be.

If it's green and not yellow, you're really ****ed. I'd go see a doc. Nah. It goes that colour when it's old. It's white when it's being made fresh. I'm on the mend now.

Sunlight roasting in horizontally through the trees with an African intensity. Combined with cool breezes. Man, if only this weather could go on indefinitely. Slept very well, with the inevitable consequence that I had to cough up about 3 square feet of green baize which had silted up my lungal areas. Just glad I don't smoke!

I have to agree with Volo on ths one. The public impact component only seems to come out when it's "sins of the flesh" like some neo-puritan jamboree. Mountain climbers, athletes of all kinds, sexually active single people. They all have an impact on others, and impact healthcare. You want to stick your nose in there too? I'm perfectly serious. You go into an A&E on a Saturday and tell me there wouldn't be a saving by forcing people to stop playing field sports.

True. The central plot in Fallout 3 was paper thin and stuffed with 'a wizard says so'. I've been replaying it as an evilton and it makes me laugh to have this group of science people sticking fixedly to their doomed roles like music box ballerinas, as I rock covered in nuclear grenades and shreds of human skin.

I don't want to freak you out just before the weekend, Kor. So I'll just say that you should get it checked.

I actually wrote out a reply to your post. But then I took a sip of coffee and thought "**** it. If he deliberately writes in a style which is unreadable then I'm damned if I'll bother digesting it and reposting it so people can follow." Let one of the members who thinks you're cute do the translating. So far as the rejoinder goes, one key point. We can organise public policy on lines which are 1. Doomed to fail - interdicting packets of illicit material in such a large follow of licit material 2. Doomed to create unintended and disastrous consequences - corruption and growth in transporter countries 3. Doomed to have long term effects on our public policy - corruption in our own civil structures is growing, most starkly evident in the Southern US But if we do that, we had better do so clear in our public faith that the cause is worth the price. And that isn't happening, because the general pulic don't see it as a debate between maths and faith.

Forgive me but, how is a woman with three rows of teeth a bad thing?

Good thinking. Maybe I could go in the street and do a little dance. Pick up twenty bucks, easy.

I'm instantly suspicious. I'd be happier if they were recommending outsiders on the outside. I don't need a book company to tell me to read bestsellers.

*chuckles* Well, I figured someone would reject the mathematical basis, and all I can say is that poetry may be written by those who reject maths, but history is not.

Then may God spare me from charming women. Wait. He already is.

This isn't a source article for me, and it's from back in 2002. But the prices have only gone down as production has increased, and police budgets have shifted. I honestly hope you will see my line of reasoning: [my emphasis] Note that my read of this is that a 12 billion dollar drug market could be instantly interdicted by simply buying the heroin at source for 56 million. EDIT: Further datum. The majority of heroin addiction is funded by theft or vice. To get the harm done to society by the $2500 kilo you have to multiply the street price by a factor. I've often heard one should multiply that by five or ten. So, to save the public purse 2500 we inflict harm on the public of perhaps 100000000. Not including the cost of enforcement efforts which cannot possibly stop the transit in the first place.

There is no such thing as "free". The burden of every single handout in borne by the taxpayer. Now you've created a way to get high on the taxpayers dime. I don't mean to frustrate you old man. But it's a question of the maths. I agree that getting high on my money seems bad. But if providing free drugs at a cost of, say

Only tenuously connected: Rio Ferdinand's alleged bit on the side. I've not seen any action for so long that a well designed table lamp can make catch my breath. But I'd have to be single for another ten years before I'd go near that! It may be the fatigue talking, but I swear if she opened her mouth there would be three rows of teeth.

Is it just me or does that fembot have quite a lot of junk in her trunk?

Punitive taxation incentivises government to do nothing to tackle the actual behaviour beyond taxation. I wouldn't argue that they reason oevrtly in such a way, but the evidence is there. This is why i don't argue the really crappy drugs shoudl be legal and taxed. They should be free by government subsidy. This would make private dealing impossible, and really incentivise reduction in the factors which drive drug use. Would never happen, but thankfully I am not responsible for the witlessness of the middle public who would rather waste billions than give someone they despise a free high. I was going to respond to Orogun about something. Can't remember what it was. Four days now with only a couple of hours sleep. It's getting rather fun.

Simply because the state of the game is horrendously mercenary - a fact fans are not clueless about - does not mean they can't get angry about it. I am permitted to use a telephone while railing furiously at telephone companies.

Eh, he's wanted to leave for a long time, one good and dramatic way to do it and does take balls to do that kind of thing. I wonder if the English are burning him in effigy yet, their outrage over this is hilarious. Was fun to read one comment saying "Well you'd never see an English player doing this!" Anyway, today is the farewell drinks for the guy leaving, so I guess I have to go even as bloody boring as it will be. Also there's some new guy here too we're welcoming. I've nothing against your hatred of the English. But I do deplore your condoning of such spectacularly selfish and asinine behaviour. This is the reason people are up in arms. No-one gives a toss about Man City. It's a loyalty thing. And loyalty is a universal theme.

Thanks, LC. All the info I need.