Walsingham

Stayed up till 2 am finishing GTA San Andreas. Man, it's a great game. Great story. Glad I picked it up again, as I loved it this time around. Quit playing half way before.

But that is PRECISELY what was said pre Falklands and pre-WW2 (afaik). "There won't be another big war and even if there was Britain won't be fighting with big battalions." It's the reason why we went into WW2 with obsolescent tanks and aircraft. We'd come to rely on the notion of the French providing the big land component, just as we rely on the Yanks now. And hyst like 1939-40 that's not wise. By which I imply no disrespect to our friends in Yankeeland. It's simple common sense. Then again, in the Falklands, had the proposed defence cuts been put through just months earlier there would have been no relief task force. We thought Uncle Sam would be bound to back us up then, given that the British Isles were the de facto 'unsinkable aircraft carrier' USS Ronald Reagan. But nope. ~ The wilier readers may wonder how this squares with my insistence that radicalism is a critical threat. Well, it is. But in the way that food is a primary concern after water. Terrorism only comes into play when the enemy aren't stomping you flat with Big War toys. The nuclear deterrent is important, but it's not something you can use as a tool of foreign policy the same way you can regular forces. I'm rambling a bit because I'm tired, but I think the central theme is sound. The world is not safer, there's no such thing as a reliable ally, and the fundamental nature of armed conflict hasn't changed. It sucks, but if we cut defence I say we are looking at far worse expenditure down the line when our weakened condition provokes aggression which a stronger force would have deterred. Discuss.

Now you put in words, I have to agree.

Monte, aren't we in danger of doing a 1930s? Re-role everyone because we're fighting colonial wars, and cut air cover and big battle kit. This is all lovely so long as the Yanks are kind enough to underwrite us, and don't do a Falklands. While I have to admit your proposals make sense if the MoD budget has to be cut, the whole point of this thread is that the sacred cow DOESN'T have to be slain, if we slay the sacred turnip of quangocracy.

Well, for God's sake get him next time. I need him to work on something, and I don't care if he turns up trussed.

C'mon, man. This camel isn't going to stay fresh forever. And trust me, you don't want a NOT fresh camel.

Sorry to hear about your grandfather, Meshugger. But as has been said, he had a bloody good innings. I hope that's some comfort. EDIT; I'm spending the afternoon working on a cunning plan for Amnesty INternational, and feeling ambivalent about my virtue. Filthy hippies.

I love the idea that CNN is left wing. Anyway, as has been said we sure as **** don't want him. I can't forgive him because it was under his editorship that the Mirror ran the obviously bogus news story about British troops urinating on prisoners in Iraq. I say obviously bogus because neither the kit nor the lorry type would realistically have been in Iraq. It later turned out to have been engineered by some wankers here in the UK. If he'd asked even one proper soldier they'd have told him it was balls, but because the weaselly funt likied the notion of cracking a story which hurt the establishment he just ran it. the pictures did the damage, and I'm sure the later facts never undid the damage. Plus, from what I understand he is just a wanker. Wasn't it Morgan who Jeremy Clarkson punched?

ROFL "rowr rowr rowr"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/0...y-king-chatshow What in the name of incendiary genitals are you thinking, America? This **** ...just words fail me. Make up your own mind.

Raithe is right to point out that this wasn't some sort of mission creep here. There was an _explosion_ of quangos in the last few years. Just mad.

You mean you don't go for the 'A-Team' getaway by driving into a mech shop and blasting back out with nitro?

Mad idea, but do you think we could have it now? I'm stumped for games to play.

The solution would be to bury the little sod in turn. That would have been a priceless moment when some other kid digs HIM up!

The Uk budget for non-elected bodies, called 'quangos' funded from the public purse stands at around 80 billion UKP. The budget for the MoD stands at around 40 bn UKP. The case against quangos seems inassailable to me. These are bodies engaged in spending government money - lots of money - without any real oversight and whose senior staff make as much if not more than the ministers who are supposed to oversee them. If they fail to do any good they are rarely held accountable, and even when they do as badly as the Financial Services Authority, they take a long time to wind up. Moreover there is no shortage of bodies engaged in apparent busywork. Such as the health agency which tells us the shocking fact that if we eat fatty food and do no exercise it is bad for our health! Never mind the quango Potato Council who are actually funding an 'eat chips week'. I need hardly go into detail on the case for the Ministry of Defence. It is vastly underfunded, and yet is being asked to make massive double figure percentage cuts. Cut quangos by 75%, raise the the MoD budget 150%, save 20 billion. Simples. I believe that this is THE hot topic in UK politics.

What the hell do the wheel modifications in San Andreas actually DO? I can tell myself that the off road wheels are tremendous, but what about the others? Incidentally, my favourite vehicle has to be the bullet with lowrider hydraulics, offroad tires, and nitro. It's wide and low so the jacks don't risk flipping, and so it turns on a dime, and accelerates instantly to insane speeds. Perfect getaway car, or just for travelling around the map.

Not at all. I was greatly shaped by a copy of Other Men's Flowers, which was a collection of poetry including Kipling and Chesterton. Mine was published in 1944, and was thereby imbued with all sorts of resonance. "...The skies I saw, the trees I saw After no eye shall see. Tonight I die the death of God The stars go out with me..."

I'm intrigued by the way the 'game' rules change things. Particularly technology. It seems to me that we have never before had the same capacity to work together. We can send comms over vast distances. We share science (mostly) and we have unprecedented opportunities to work across cultural divides thanks to shared understanding and learning of language. But at the same time all the most tremendous projects that we might embark upon are at unprecedented risk of being scuppered by feverish wankers. Our great economic endeavours can be torn to shreds by the turbulence induced by profit-crazed (if not just crazed) bastards. While our attempts to forge cross cultural harmony are constantly under attack by people like our koran burners and bomb planters. This is important, because we are not safe, but for our own hand. Pandemics, meteorites, geo/eco catastrophe. We need to sort ourselves out so we can meet such challenges. I do not believe that rolling back the clock is the way because each clock rolll back leaves us just hurtling to where we are now, and nor will people quietly accept such a roll back voluntarily. Instead I suggest the notion that there may be some architecture of technology which will support healthy collaboration without conflict.

I had one like that. The kind of girl you just have to see smile and it's like the sun came out. Bastards. EDIT: note I'm not saying WHICH one. Just in case.

Shambling mound, eh? I didn't realise you'd seen me dance...

Aha. Me being thick then. However, I would suggest for debate the notion that protecting it is rather like baking a hash cake in a student house. You are likely to put in substantial effort and see very little of the benefit yourself.

Or, assuming the contest is decided in war, it could also be the ones who got lucky. EDIT: I agree with Pope that fitttest can mean the most savage. And I think we agree that humans have made a lot of progress over the past couple of years and it should be protected. But I still insist we disagree over the whole way to treat the planet. Managing the resources available is simple mathematics. treating the planet as a treasure which will return the compliment is Gaian nonsense. And as head of the Spartan faction I demand Lady Deidre be removed from the room. Sorry. I don't know what came over me...

It'd better be amazing. I personally expect to gain a foot in height from the personal mental growth alone.

No. I had an early night, and was just about to note what a superb night's sleep I had. Not even any nightmares. How is it now?

How would you keep score? Also, if it was hooked up you might tempt friends into playing on it.