Walsingham

Back on the subject, I think it is interesting that we find it difficult to know how to react in abuse cases involving women. There was another case in the UK recently of a gang of abusers that included a woman. The judge was far more forgiving of her than the others. In a way that was unjustifiable in my opinion. This links to another observation in criminology that I'm awre of (and thus may be very outdated) which is that juries tend to view women as "mad rather than bad". This tends to land them softer sentences.

That's really interesting about Hendrix. I'm thinking I completely misunderstood him.

I hope Eddo will not be offended that I have pre-empted his own decision to alter the title to better suit the boundaries of good taste. I am sure I am merely speeding the process rather than going against his wishes.

Almost every single United States war was about oil. This is not a new concept. Even the Civil War was about the oil manufacturing in the south. Lincolin just used the premise of 'Civil Liberties For All' to bolster support for attacking the south. After our initial attack on Iraq, I knew we were going for the oil refineries. Iraq holds 20% of the oil supplies for the world. We should have seized them sooner. Alan Greenspan Rules! Granada was about oil?

I applaud your instincts. However, if you must attempt to draw fire, surely it would make more sense to abuse him at a distance he is likely to shoot you over than point blank? Besides how cool would it sound if it said on the news that you saved the day by hurling nuts and shrieking "Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes! Raaaagh!" While the gunman ran after you blazing inefectively away with his overcompensation .44 magnum.

Elvis? Jimi Hendrix as your PTI? Somehow I can see that. It's terrifying. "Squad! See that mountain? You will chop it down with the edge of your hand! NOW!"

Indeed. Not directly relevant, but a neat film about underground mine fires.

Don't use such reasoning, please... It's a) certain not to be always true b) actually good to know war only from film c) probable that not many people having survived a war are able to express that in music. Anyway, I'm glad that you have had success in what you wanted Would you accept songs about sex written by virgins? I appreciate the good wishes, tho!

Ya gotta love rock songs about war written by people whose only knowledge of war comes from watching Hollywood movies. Anyway, nuts to alla youse. I passed with flying colours! Thanks for all your support (or otherwise, Gorgo). I have to tell you that it's worth doing if only for the experience, especially you young chaps. ..Oh I nearly forgot. Physical Training Instructors are neither born, nor excreted, they are condensed balls of misery.

Right. I'll check that when I get back.

Right I'm off. I'll see you the other side of pain.

Arming the campus police isn't the whole solution. Universities need a comprehensive plan for handling emergencies, including mustering points, and information channels. Mustering opints can be screened and guarded by police, and information is crucial to keeping people informed and calm.

To give some idea (the TA are actually sent on deployment, not just sitting at home these days): http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7005126.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7006505.stm Let me get this straight. There's been another shooting, and the reaction of the authorities has been to do PRECISELY the same as they did at Virginia Tech. It makes me sick to see how academic institutions simply refuse to act responsibly towards their students. I said last time that there should have been a national, even international, review of how large campuses cope with crises.

*Walsingham kindly leans across with a napkin*

Indeed, we had evolved a system of soldiering that created the finest mass-produced soldiers in the world. Unfortunately this permitted our leadeers to get away with a system that only thought a man fit for command if he was about 70 years old, plagued by gout, flatulence and terminal timidity.Lord Elhpinstone, the man who lost us the first Afghan war, _after we'd won it_ is a good example. A.E. Houseman Last Poems (XXXVIII) "Oh stay at home, my lad, and plough The land and not the sea, And leave the soldiers at their drill, And all about the idle hill Shepherd your sheep with me. Oh stay with company and mirth And daylight and the air; Too full already is the grave Of fellows that were good and brave And died because they were."

Umm... it was a bit intentional. It was written for the Boer war in South Africa in the 1890's, not Sudan. It may have been abused decades later, but I thought it illustrated the mindset of Victorian England quite well (that and Cricket). The Boer war is also sad, marking as it did the incomparable generalship of Redvers Buller. The only general I can think of who actually punished his reconnaissance troops for bringing him news of an impending ambush, and then walking into it.

Gorth, I'm sure it wasn't your intention, but the spirit in that poem may have worked in the Sudan, but abused by a lackwitted doctrine it comprehensively minced an entire generation. Very saddening.

And your opinion is based on...? In my experience running vigorously away from stuff a good poem is just the ticket. it keeps the mind occupied and out of the body's way.

Waht Forget penknives. Every boy should have his own personal staff.

Then I suggest you are not as lazy as you make out.

I have a person scanning for such weirdness. This struck me as too weird.

Don't let's get too long or too pastoral, chaps. I've only got a couple of days to remember them. So far i like best Disabled, and Over the Hils and Far Away. You may think the first of these rather perverse, but I am hoping the prospect of losing my limbs will spur the use of them.

Bowie Song by Flight of the Conchords I like the Robot song. "The humans are dead!" "I think that they're dead." "The humans are deee-ad, It had to be done So we could have fu-un." "Affirmative. I poked one. It was dead."

A lot of humour comes from the unexpected. This can be surreal or the concealed truth. In this case, if you set aside the many layers of thought underpinning Sheikh Yassin getting assassinated you have to admit it's a real Hollywood concept. What makes it funny is that we know we'd laugh about it in a film, while we are far more ambivalent in real life. Discovery, guilt, surprise, wonderment. Comedy.