Yes and the pub is often next door to the Church,sort your sins out, and then go and clock up a few more.
When I was a lad in Wandsworth the morning service was timed to finish at 11:50 - leaving just enough time to shake hands with the Vicar and make it to the Rose and Crown bang on opening, whilst the married women and children went on home to get the roast ready.
Many years later living in Worthing, evensong was also timed to finish 10 minutes before opening. We got a new rector who was not aware of the protocol and reached for too long. Everyone was too polite to walk out but there was lots of shuffling of feet, coughing and looking at watches, and that was just in the choir. After the service there was a stampede to the nearby George and Dragon (ladies included) and the rector in an attempt to maintain a conversation with one of the church wardens followed us in. He learned his lesson and was prompt to finish thereafter.
Nowadays of course the CofE couldn't muster enough to fill a snug let alone a saloon bar. Services are no longer timed to coincide with the pub's opening and not that long ago, coming out of the church after the most ghastly happy-clappy service complete with a platitude-filled sermon that would not have disgraced "thought for the day", I lit a much needed fag and was promptly accused of being sinful by some dreadful harpy who it turned out was to be our next "priest in charge".
The churches are dying as fast as the pubs and for many of the same reasons.
My father would use the sermon as an opportunity for a nap then wake up and, if it was still going on, say in the loudest stage whisper he could manage: "Has he bloody finished yet?" If that didn't work, a lot of theatrical tapping of his watch, lifting it to his ear and so on would ensue. Going to church was an essential but it needed to be a brisk affair. He'd have been even happier if the priest had given out racing tips rather than sermons, frankly.
You won't hear me complain about Polish immigrants.
The issue with the Duffy of this world is that the government seriously underestimated the numbers and was not honest with people when the numbers were greater and did not take steps to prepare for the inevitable effects on infrastructure and the rest.
Didn't Germany and Austria put restrictions in place of immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries prior to 2004? Maybe we should have done that to help ease affects on infrastructure. As for Polish immigrants, well one of the best friends is Polish, and our neighbours are Polish (who are lovely).
Thank you for the numbers on Syrian middle classness. Unfortunately, "many" is a nebulous term: it could mean 20% or 90%. It would be good to get some quantitative estimations.
In the last link I posted they report that 52% said they come from middle-income backgrounds, and 2% from wealthy backgrounds.
Yes and the pub is often next door to the Church,sort your sins out, and then go and clock up a few more.
When I was a lad in Wandsworth the morning service was timed to finish at 11:50 - leaving just enough time to shake hands with the Vicar and make it to the Rose and Crown bang on opening, whilst the married women and children went on home to get the roast ready.
Many years later living in Worthing, evensong was also timed to finish 10 minutes before opening. We got a new rector who was not aware of the protocol and reached for too long. Everyone was too polite to walk out but there was lots of shuffling of feet, coughing and looking at watches, and that was just in the choir. After the service there was a stampede to the nearby George and Dragon (ladies included) and the rector in an attempt to maintain a conversation with one of the church wardens followed us in. He learned his lesson and was prompt to finish thereafter.
Nowadays of course the CofE couldn't muster enough to fill a snug let alone a saloon bar. Services are no longer timed to coincide with the pub's opening and not that long ago, coming out of the church after the most ghastly happy-clappy service complete with a platitude-filled sermon that would not have disgraced "thought for the day", I lit a much needed fag and was promptly accused of being sinful by some dreadful harpy who it turned out was to be our next "priest in charge".
The churches are dying as fast as the pubs and for many of the same reasons.
I lived in a beautiful village outside Winchester for one year, in between visits to London to score drugs. I was dating my sister's au pair and we essentially shacked up.
One of my great joys was doing a massive country walk on a Sunday morning, through the lovely Hampshire countryside, during which I would have sex in the woods or over a stile with my then GF. At the end of the walk, zipping up our clothes, we'd repair to the village pub for noonday pints, followed by a splendid, boozy roast lunch at my sister's house. She did great crackling.
That's about as close to pure happiness as you can get. I think I'm going to cry.
You won't hear me complain about Polish immigrants.
The issue with the Duffy of this world is that the government seriously underestimated the numbers and was not honest with people when the numbers were greater and did not take steps to prepare for the inevitable effects on infrastructure and the rest.
Didn't Germany and Austria put restrictions in place of immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries prior to 2004? Maybe we should have done that to help ease affects on infrastructure. As for Polish immigrants, well one of the best friends is Polish, and our neighbours are Polish (who are lovely).
What a wonderful idea! If only someone had thought of that at the time...
On pubs and bars, I like both, but we have a real dearth of decent pubs in our area. Our favourite is the Prince of Wales near Farnborough North Railway Station - as traditional a pub as you could find - but it's a 25 minute drive from where we are so we only go every other month or so.
A warm pub with good beer on a wet day is one of life's great pleasures. Especially when everyone else is working.
Why is it that no other country in the world has successfully copied the British country pub? Can't help but think of how many US rural settlements would be immeasurably better places with a proper pub. [PS even the 'Irish' pubs in towns like Philly are poor approximations, and are really just watering holes rather than community social spaces]
Ireland?
Been to a few. Pretty miserable affairs they were. Maybe it was poor selection on my part.
Yes and the pub is often next door to the Church,sort your sins out, and then go and clock up a few more.
When I was a lad in Wandsworth the morning service was timed to finish at 11:50 - leaving just enough time to shake hands with the Vicar and make it to the Rose and Crown bang on opening, whilst the married women and children went on home to get the roast ready.
Many years later living in Worthing, evensong was also timed to finish 10 minutes before opening. We got a new rector who was not aware of the protocol and reached for too long. Everyone was too polite to walk out but there was lots of shuffling of feet, coughing and looking at watches, and that was just in the choir. After the service there was a stampede to the nearby George and Dragon (ladies included) and the rector in an attempt to maintain a conversation with one of the church wardens followed us in. He learned his lesson and was prompt to finish thereafter.
Nowadays of course the CofE couldn't muster enough to fill a snug let alone a saloon bar. Services are no longer timed to coincide with the pub's opening and not that long ago, coming out of the church after the most ghastly happy-clappy service complete with a platitude-filled sermon that would not have disgraced "thought for the day", I lit a much needed fag and was promptly accused of being sinful by some dreadful harpy who it turned out was to be our next "priest in charge".
The churches are dying as fast as the pubs and for many of the same reasons.
I lived in a beautiful village outside Winchester for one year, in between visits to London to score drugs. I was dating my sister's au pair and we essentially shacked up.
One of my great joys was doing a massive country walk on a Sunday morning, through the lovely Hampshire countryside, during which I would have sex in the woods or over a stile with my then GF. At the end of the walk, zipping up our clothes, we'd repair to the village pub for noonday pints, followed by a splendid, boozy roast lunch at my sister's house. She did great crackling.
That's about as close to pure happiness as you can get. I think I'm going to cry.
Now more than ever we also need someone who will take on the war mongerers. The future of national security is not dependent on who The Sun or Daily Express decide we should next be bombing.
You are talking crap, ISIS are enemies of the British State, traitors and murderers, rapists and thugs. They deserve everything they get. They wanted to play with fire, they will get burnt. I am sick to death of lily livered lefties bleating on trying to defend the rights of these murderers. We are at war with these evil men whose sole intention is to destroy our hard won freedoms and way of life
once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more............
To be fair, the HuffPo article on Corbyn is one of the most persuasive I've seen, as to why electing him might make sense for a sensible but desperate lefty.
However it carefully and deliberately ignores Corbyn's appalling record of fellow travelling with the IRA, Hamas, Hezbollah, Chavez, Putin, Islamists, and his general and disgusting appeasement of all terrorists and tyrants (as long as they are anti-western).
And this stuff CANNOT be ignored. This stuff might destroy Labour for a generation, even if Corbyn will "enliven the policy debate". Labour are taking an incredibly big, stupid risk with the moral reputation of their own party, and the likes of "Doc" Palmer should be ashamed.
I was astonished by Nick's apparent insouciance towards Corbyn's takeover of the Labour Party. I thought Nick, throughout his political career, was a Blairite loyalist and member of 'Labour Friends of Israel'. Now he's all sweetness and light towards a far-Left agitator who hangs around with holocaust deniers and Islamist jew-hating nutters. I can't fathom the man's mentality.
I think he explained it best at the start. He said - and I hope I've remembered accurately - that since Corbyn was going to win, it would be best if he had a big mandate.
That is the same mentality which led to all those Labour MPs nominating G Brown for leader.
I can't understand the rest either. But it's been a pretty common view amongst many on the Left for some time now. They assume that because they are reasonable even these ghastly people must also be reasonable and one should try and talk nicely. It elevates politeness above political and moral judgment.
Thank you for the numbers on Syrian middle classness. Unfortunately, "many" is a nebulous term: it could mean 20% or 90%. It would be good to get some quantitative estimations.
In the last link I posted they report that 52% said they come from middle-income backgrounds, and 2% from wealthy backgrounds.
Perfect! Self-reported, of course, but as good as could be hoped for given the confusing situation.
Yes and the pub is often next door to the Church,sort your sins out, and then go and clock up a few more.
When I was a lad in Wandsworth the morning service was timed to finish at 11:50 - leaving just enough time to shake hands with the Vicar and make it to the Rose and Crown bang on opening, whilst the married women and children went on home to get the roast ready.
Many years later living in Worthing, evensong was also timed to finish 10 minutes before opening. We got a new rector who was not aware of the protocol and reached for too long. Everyone was too polite to walk out but there was lots of shuffling of feet, coughing and looking at watches, and that was just in the choir. After the service there was a stampede to the nearby George and Dragon (ladies included) and the rector in an attempt to maintain a conversation with one of the church wardens followed us in. He learned his lesson and was prompt to finish thereafter.
Nowadays of course the CofE couldn't muster enough to fill a snug let alone a saloon bar. Services are no longer timed to coincide with the pub's opening and not that long ago, coming out of the church after the most ghastly happy-clappy service complete with a platitude-filled sermon that would not have disgraced "thought for the day", I lit a much needed fag and was promptly accused of being sinful by some dreadful harpy who it turned out was to be our next "priest in charge".
The churches are dying as fast as the pubs and for many of the same reasons.
My father would use the sermon as an opportunity for a nap then wake up and, if it was still going on, say in the loudest stage whisper he could manage: "Has he bloody finished yet?" If that didn't work, a lot of theatrical tapping of his watch, lifting it to his ear and so on would ensue. Going to church was an essential but it needed to be a brisk affair. He'd have been even happier if the priest had given out racing tips rather than sermons, frankly.
Well I was brought up a Catterlick, but told my parents I was going to the evening service, and of course , instead, had a swift half in the local next to the church. Suspect I am condemned to eternal hell and whatever......
OT but on the subject of ambitious talented women.....
A few months ago I was on a plane from Nice and infront of me was Paula Radcliffe with her two young children. I discovered she was a resident of Monaco........
Today I see she's in the news "Categorically denying cheating".
When I heard it my first thought was how unpleasant of jesse Norman to trash a national treasure using parliamentary privilege followed by the difficulty of mounting a defence of 'cheating' from the tax haven of Monaco
I have to say, I watched Paula live, running her record marathon, and it was perhaps the most amazing and inspiring run I have ever seen,yes she got a bit wobbly near the end, but amazing. She is no cheat. Oh I do a bit of running myself.
Most hobbies, if you do them seriously, end up costing a small fortune. Back when I was seriously walking, I could easily have two or three grands worth of equipment on me, or on my back.
The same is true for fishermen, cyclists, runners, cooks, etc, etc.
You are not kidding, Mr. Jessop. Have you seen the price of a decent joystick? The Warthog is just under £300 on Amazon, and you cannot get a decent set of rudder pedals for much less.
Interestingly, for all the conversation about Syrians, it sounds like about half must be non-Syrian:
International aid agencies estimate that nearly 340,000 people have sought to cross EU borders since January. Two-thirds of the latest European arrivals are believed to be from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Eritrea
Yes and the pub is often next door to the Church,sort your sins out, and then go and clock up a few more.
When I was a lad in Wandsworth the morning service was timed to finish at 11:50 - leaving just enough time to shake hands with the Vicar and make it to the Rose and Crown bang on opening, whilst the married women and children went on home to get the roast ready.
Many years later living in Worthing, evensong was also timed to finish 10 minutes before opening. We got a new rector who was not aware of the protocol and reached for too long. Everyone was too polite to walk out but there was lots of shuffling of feet, coughing and looking at watches, and that was just in the choir. After the service there was a stampede to the nearby George and Dragon (ladies included) and the rector in an attempt to maintain a conversation with one of the church wardens followed us in. He learned his lesson and was prompt to finish thereafter.
Nowadays of course the CofE couldn't muster enough to fill a snug let alone a saloon bar. Services are no longer timed to coincide with the pub's opening and not that long ago, coming out of the church after the most ghastly happy-clappy service complete with a platitude-filled sermon that would not have disgraced "thought for the day", I lit a much needed fag and was promptly accused of being sinful by some dreadful harpy who it turned out was to be our next "priest in charge".
The churches are dying as fast as the pubs and for many of the same reasons.
I lived in a beautiful village outside Winchester for one year, in between visits to London to score drugs. I was dating my sister's au pair and we essentially shacked up.
One of my great joys was doing a massive country walk on a Sunday morning, through the lovely Hampshire countryside, during which I would have sex in the woods or over a stile with my then GF. At the end of the walk, zipping up our clothes, we'd repair to the village pub for noonday pints, followed by a splendid, boozy roast lunch at my sister's house. She did great crackling.
That's about as close to pure happiness as you can get. I think I'm going to cry.
You won't hear me complain about Polish immigrants.
The issue with the Duffy of this world is that the government seriously underestimated the numbers and was not honest with people when the numbers were greater and did not take steps to prepare for the inevitable effects on infrastructure and the rest.
Didn't Germany and Austria put restrictions in place of immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries prior to 2004? Maybe we should have done that to help ease affects on infrastructure. As for Polish immigrants, well one of the best friends is Polish, and our neighbours are Polish (who are lovely).
What a wonderful idea! If only someone had thought of that at the time...
On pubs and bars, I like both, but we have a real dearth of decent pubs in our area. Our favourite is the Prince of Wales near Farnborough North Railway Station - as traditional a pub as you could find - but it's a 25 minute drive from where we are so we only go every other month or so.
A 25 minute drive to go to a pub?! Is your local pub that bad?
You won't hear me complain about Polish immigrants.
The issue with the Duffy of this world is that the government seriously underestimated the numbers and was not honest with people when the numbers were greater and did not take steps to prepare for the inevitable effects on infrastructure and the rest.
Didn't Germany and Austria put restrictions in place of immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries prior to 2004? Maybe we should have done that to help ease affects on infrastructure. As for Polish immigrants, well one of the best friends is Polish, and our neighbours are Polish (who are lovely).
What a wonderful idea! If only someone had thought of that at the time...
On pubs and bars, I like both, but we have a real dearth of decent pubs in our area. Our favourite is the Prince of Wales near Farnborough North Railway Station - as traditional a pub as you could find - but it's a 25 minute drive from where we are so we only go every other month or so.
That's one of my favourites too but I'm in Fleet so it's a 5 minute train ride and a 15 minute walk. Where are you?
Part of the problem is that these groups can be very disparate and nebulous; it is possible that individual fighters are in one group one month; another the next. The fighters move between groups as the ideologies and tactical situation changes. Likewise, groups have been fighting each other in one area of Syria, at the same time they've been fighting a mutual enemy together as a joint force in another.
Perhaps it might be best to ignore the various groups' names, and just treat one and all as the same. "Assorted Violent Islamist Sh*ts"
I daresay SeanT could come up with a better name and abbreviation / acronym than that, without implicating a car-hire company.
Otherwise known as the Free Syria Army.
I thought you said the other day that the FSA barely exists nowadays?
Thank you for the numbers on Syrian middle classness. Unfortunately, "many" is a nebulous term: it could mean 20% or 90%. It would be good to get some quantitative estimations.
In the last link I posted they report that 52% said they come from middle-income backgrounds, and 2% from wealthy backgrounds.
Perfect! Self-reported, of course, but as good as could be hoped for given the confusing situation.
"... He'd have been even happier if the priest had given out racing tips rather than sermons, frankly"
Not instead of sermons but the old CofE did have a fine tradition of sporting vicars. One thinks of course of David Sheppard, who went on to become a Bishop (which just goes to show the pull Sussex CC used to have), but there were others and in many fields. The padre in our second battalion was always very lucky in his information during the flat racing season, bloody useless during the national hunt, mind..
@MTimT Agreed. I don't really see us overtaking the German economy either.
Actually there's a fair chance we will based on the demographics alone. Whether we will be richer in terms of GDP per head is another point.
RE demographics, I guess that's where we come back to all the Syrian refugees Germany are taking in - clearly, they are hoping that this serves as a solution to their declining population.
Personally I doubt it.
If they were seriously worried about depopulation they could have saved a million hard working Poles a trip to the UK.
I think the Syrian thing is they just want to feel good for once.
I think part of their policy on Syrian is about 'feeling good', and PR. Many on the Left certainly ramped up their criticism of Germany as result of how they dealt with Greece, and some Germans appeared to feel very concious of that. But they also are very concerned about their declining population. When Ursula Von Der Leyen (now Germany's Defence Minister) was the Family minister, they tried to implement a number of child-care friendly initiatives to encourage Germans to 'breed': http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/letter-from-berlin-defusing-germany-s-demographic-timebomb-a-550506.html
Germany has been trying to get Germans to breed for most of my adult life I'm afraid, the population drop has been on the cards for decades.
Why the hell didn't they welcome the Poles in then? Or the Bulgarians or Romanians? I'd much much rather have Poles than Syrians in my country.
Immigration is politically very hard in Germany as elsewhere. The Syrian influx is an opportunity because currently a decent proportion of Germans are ready to welcome them as refugees.
This is probably the reason - especially given that Germany has a complicated issue regarding Turkish immigration. And it's ironic how Eastern European immigration is talked about in this thread, given how many Brits often complain about it. Weren't Gillian Duffy's words to Gordon Brown 'where are all these Eastern Europeans coming from?' Hmmmm....
Germany is fortunate in that they always seem to get the most moderate and westernised Muslims migrating to their country. First the Turks and now the Syrians.
You won't hear me complain about Polish immigrants.
The issue with the Duffy of this world is that the government seriously underestimated the numbers and was not honest with people when the numbers were greater and did not take steps to prepare for the inevitable effects on infrastructure and the rest.
Didn't Germany and Austria put restrictions in place of immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries prior to 2004? Maybe we should have done that to help ease affects on infrastructure. As for Polish immigrants, well one of the best friends is Polish, and our neighbours are Polish (who are lovely).
What a wonderful idea! If only someone had thought of that at the time...
On pubs and bars, I like both, but we have a real dearth of decent pubs in our area. Our favourite is the Prince of Wales near Farnborough North Railway Station - as traditional a pub as you could find - but it's a 25 minute drive from where we are so we only go every other month or so.
That's one of my favourites too but I'm in Fleet so it's a 5 minute train ride and a 15 minute walk. Where are you?
Between Woking and Brookwood. I'm not actually a real ale drinker so I don't mind driving my parents there for lunch. There are a few decent pubs closer to us but none that have that proper pub feel. I suppose it comes down to having the right people running the pub and basically sticking to what the clientele are looking for.
Germany is fortunate in that they always seem to get the most moderate and westernised Muslims migrating to their country. First the Turks and now the Syrians.
How moderate are Syrians? After all, ISIS, too extreme for al-Qaeda managed to establish them as a state-like entity in the country from almost nowhere. You don't do that entirely on foreign fighters.
You won't hear me complain about Polish immigrants.
The issue with the Duffy of this world is that the government seriously underestimated the numbers and was not honest with people when the numbers were greater and did not take steps to prepare for the inevitable effects on infrastructure and the rest.
Didn't Germany and Austria put restrictions in place of immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries prior to 2004? Maybe we should have done that to help ease affects on infrastructure. As for Polish immigrants, well one of the best friends is Polish, and our neighbours are Polish (who are lovely).
What a wonderful idea! If only someone had thought of that at the time...
On pubs and bars, I like both, but we have a real dearth of decent pubs in our area. Our favourite is the Prince of Wales near Farnborough North Railway Station - as traditional a pub as you could find - but it's a 25 minute drive from where we are so we only go every other month or so.
That's one of my favourites too but I'm in Fleet so it's a 5 minute train ride and a 15 minute walk. Where are you?
Between Woking and Brookwood. I'm not actually a real ale drinker so I don't mind driving my parents there for lunch. There are a few decent pubs closer to us but none that have that proper pub feel. I suppose it comes down to having the right people running the pub and basically sticking to what the clientele are looking for.
I quite like the White Hart in Hook, but not sure what beers they serve these days. Also close to the station.
Part of the problem is that these groups can be very disparate and nebulous; it is possible that individual fighters are in one group one month; another the next. The fighters move between groups as the ideologies and tactical situation changes. Likewise, groups have been fighting each other in one area of Syria, at the same time they've been fighting a mutual enemy together as a joint force in another.
Perhaps it might be best to ignore the various groups' names, and just treat one and all as the same. "Assorted Violent Islamist Sh*ts"
I daresay SeanT could come up with a better name and abbreviation / acronym than that, without implicating a car-hire company.
Otherwise known as the Free Syria Army.
I thought you said the other day that the FSA barely exists nowadays?
Still, nice smear.
Yes, I shouldn't be unfair, those brave FSA fighters have big hearts really. Shame they're not their own hearts, and they eat them.
You won't hear me complain about Polish immigrants.
The issue with the Duffy of this world is that the government seriously underestimated the numbers and was not honest with people when the numbers were greater and did not take steps to prepare for the inevitable effects on infrastructure and the rest.
Didn't Germany and Austria put restrictions in place of immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries prior to 2004? Maybe we should have done that to help ease affects on infrastructure. As for Polish immigrants, well one of the best friends is Polish, and our neighbours are Polish (who are lovely).
What a wonderful idea! If only someone had thought of that at the time...
On pubs and bars, I like both, but we have a real dearth of decent pubs in our area. Our favourite is the Prince of Wales near Farnborough North Railway Station - as traditional a pub as you could find - but it's a 25 minute drive from where we are so we only go every other month or so.
That's one of my favourites too but I'm in Fleet so it's a 5 minute train ride and a 15 minute walk. Where are you?
Between Woking and Brookwood. I'm not actually a real ale drinker so I don't mind driving my parents there for lunch. There are a few decent pubs closer to us but none that have that proper pub feel. I suppose it comes down to having the right people running the pub and basically sticking to what the clientele are looking for.
That's a long way to go to not drink the beer! But it is a good boozer, unusually it is independently owned, so the landlord gets to do what he wants.
OT but on the subject of ambitious talented women.....
A few months ago I was on a plane from Nice and infront of me was Paula Radcliffe with her two young children. I discovered she was a resident of Monaco........
Today I see she's in the news "Categorically denying cheating".
When I heard it my first thought was how unpleasant of jesse Norman to trash a national treasure using parliamentary privilege followed by the difficulty of mounting a defence of 'cheating' from the tax haven of Monaco
I have to say, I watched Paula live, running her record marathon, and it was perhaps the most amazing and inspiring run I have ever seen,yes she got a bit wobbly near the end, but amazing. She is no cheat. Oh I do a bit of running myself.
Most hobbies, if you do them seriously, end up costing a small fortune. Back when I was seriously walking, I could easily have two or three grands worth of equipment on me, or on my back.
The same is true for fishermen, cyclists, runners, cooks, etc, etc.
You are not kidding, Mr. Jessop. Have you seen the price of a decent joystick? The Warthog is just under £300 on Amazon, and you cannot get a decent set of rudder pedals for much less.
Indeed. Add in head tracking, multiple monitors, and graphics cards to run it, and you've assembled a large mound of pennies. Which is why I haven't gone the full hog.
Yet.
Fortunately I have the lifetime expansion pass, so will only be spending a small fortune to upgrade my PC before I start exploring airless moon in my Scarab.
@MTimT Agreed. I don't really see us overtaking the German economy either.
Actually there's a fair chance we will based on the demographics alone. Whether we will be richer in terms of GDP per head is another point.
RE demographics, I guess that's where we come back to all the Syrian refugees Germany are taking in - clearly, they are hoping that this serves as a solution to their declining population.
Personally I doubt it.
If they were seriously worried about depopulation they could have saved a million hard working Poles a trip to the UK.
I think the Syrian thing is they just want to feel good for once.
I think part of their policy on Syrian is about 'feeling good', and PR. Many on the Left certainly ramped up their criticism of Germany as result of how they dealt with Greece, and some Germans appeared to feel very concious of that. But they also are very concerned about their declining population. When Ursula Von Der Leyen (now Germany's Defence Minister) was the Family minister, they tried to implement a number of child-care friendly initiatives to encourage Germans to 'breed': http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/letter-from-berlin-defusing-germany-s-demographic-timebomb-a-550506.html
Germany has been trying to get Germans to breed for most of my adult life I'm afraid, the population drop has been on the cards for decades.
Why the hell didn't they welcome the Poles in then? Or the Bulgarians or Romanians? I'd much much rather have Poles than Syrians in my country.
They sure are quick at changing the posters these days!!
Are you saying it's gone?? AAAArgh. I haven't seen it yet and they reassured me it would be there for another week at least.
I think he is making a comment on the electronic screen vs the good old fashioned billboard!
It is probably still there, I am in the area tomorrow, will check it out.
Ah. Phew.
Yes the digital "smart screens" are amazing. Apparently every big Tesco in the country (outside London) is stocking and advertising Ice Twins, and using smart screens to do it - so the sky in the pictures on the screens actually moves, as does the hair of the Twins. Cool!
I've yet to see it in real life. I'm doing a little tour tomorrow.
WH Smiths in Brentwood has big poster of Richard and Judy with your book!
Part of the problem is that these groups can be very disparate and nebulous; it is possible that individual fighters are in one group one month; another the next. The fighters move between groups as the ideologies and tactical situation changes. Likewise, groups have been fighting each other in one area of Syria, at the same time they've been fighting a mutual enemy together as a joint force in another.
Perhaps it might be best to ignore the various groups' names, and just treat one and all as the same. "Assorted Violent Islamist Sh*ts"
I daresay SeanT could come up with a better name and abbreviation / acronym than that, without implicating a car-hire company.
Otherwise known as the Free Syria Army.
I thought you said the other day that the FSA barely exists nowadays?
Still, nice smear.
Yes, I shouldn't be unfair, those brave FSA fighters have big hearts really. Shame they're not their own hearts, and they eat them.
So you admit what you wrote in your previous comment was rubbish. Good. Now if only you could admit the same for the rest of the pro-Putin sh*t you post on here then we might be getting somewhere.
The other day you claimed you were a 'historian', only to admit you're a marketer. LOL.
You won't hear me complain about Polish immigrants.
The issue with the Duffy of this world is that the government seriously underestimated the numbers and was not honest with people when the numbers were greater and did not take steps to prepare for the inevitable effects on infrastructure and the rest.
Didn't Germany and Austria put restrictions in place of immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries prior to 2004? Maybe we should have done that to help ease affects on infrastructure. As for Polish immigrants, well one of the best friends is Polish, and our neighbours are Polish (who are lovely).
What a wonderful idea! If only someone had thought of that at the time...
On pubs and bars, I like both, but we have a real dearth of decent pubs in our area. Our favourite is the Prince of Wales near Farnborough North Railway Station - as traditional a pub as you could find - but it's a 25 minute drive from where we are so we only go every other month or so.
That's one of my favourites too but I'm in Fleet so it's a 5 minute train ride and a 15 minute walk. Where are you?
Between Woking and Brookwood. I'm not actually a real ale drinker so I don't mind driving my parents there for lunch. There are a few decent pubs closer to us but none that have that proper pub feel. I suppose it comes down to having the right people running the pub and basically sticking to what the clientele are looking for.
I'm in Odiham. Great pubs here, plus we have the church and the greenery. Not to mention the cricket club too, which has won CAMRA awards.
All that SeanT describes can be done, and is still done, here.
You won't hear me complain about Polish immigrants.
The issue with the Duffy of this world is that the government seriously underestimated the numbers and was not honest with people when the numbers were greater and did not take steps to prepare for the inevitable effects on infrastructure and the rest.
Didn't Germany and Austria put restrictions in place of immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries prior to 2004? Maybe we should have done that to help ease affects on infrastructure. As for Polish immigrants, well one of the best friends is Polish, and our neighbours are Polish (who are lovely).
What a wonderful idea! If only someone had thought of that at the time...
On pubs and bars, I like both, but we have a real dearth of decent pubs in our area. Our favourite is the Prince of Wales near Farnborough North Railway Station - as traditional a pub as you could find - but it's a 25 minute drive from where we are so we only go every other month or so.
That's one of my favourites too but I'm in Fleet so it's a 5 minute train ride and a 15 minute walk. Where are you?
Between Woking and Brookwood. I'm not actually a real ale drinker so I don't mind driving my parents there for lunch. There are a few decent pubs closer to us but none that have that proper pub feel. I suppose it comes down to having the right people running the pub and basically sticking to what the clientele are looking for.
I'm in Odiham. Great pubs here, plus we have the church and the greenery. Not to mention the cricket club too, which has won CAMRA awards.
All that SeanT describes can be done, and is still done, here.
The birthplace of cricket is somewhere around there IIRC.
You won't hear me complain about Polish immigrants.
The issue with the Duffy of this world is that the government seriously underestimated the numbers and was not honest with people when the numbers were greater and did not take steps to prepare for the inevitable effects on infrastructure and the rest.
Didn't Germany and Austria put restrictions in place of immigration from Poland and other Eastern European countries prior to 2004? Maybe we should have done that to help ease affects on infrastructure. As for Polish immigrants, well one of the best friends is Polish, and our neighbours are Polish (who are lovely).
What a wonderful idea! If only someone had thought of that at the time...
On pubs and bars, I like both, but we have a real dearth of decent pubs in our area. Our favourite is the Prince of Wales near Farnborough North Railway Station - as traditional a pub as you could find - but it's a 25 minute drive from where we are so we only go every other month or so.
That's one of my favourites too but I'm in Fleet so it's a 5 minute train ride and a 15 minute walk. Where are you?
Between Woking and Brookwood. I'm not actually a real ale drinker so I don't mind driving my parents there for lunch. There are a few decent pubs closer to us but none that have that proper pub feel. I suppose it comes down to having the right people running the pub and basically sticking to what the clientele are looking for.
I'm in Odiham. Great pubs here, plus we have the church and the greenery. Not to mention the cricket club too, which has won CAMRA awards.
All that SeanT describes can be done, and is still done, here.
You can still give your sister's Au Pair a good seeing to over a stile?
Comments
On pubs and bars, I like both, but we have a real dearth of decent pubs in our area. Our favourite is the Prince of Wales near Farnborough North Railway Station - as traditional a pub as you could find - but it's a 25 minute drive from where we are so we only go every other month or so.
That is the same mentality which led to all those Labour MPs nominating G Brown for leader.
I can't understand the rest either. But it's been a pretty common view amongst many on the Left for some time now. They assume that because they are reasonable even these ghastly people must also be reasonable and one should try and talk nicely. It elevates politeness above political and moral judgment.
Love PB.
International aid agencies estimate that nearly 340,000 people have sought to cross EU borders since January. Two-thirds of the latest European arrivals are believed to be from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Eritrea
http://www.smh.com.au/world/migrant-crisis-pakistanis-others-dumping-ids-to-become-syrian-20150906-gjggcn.html
Still, nice smear.
"... He'd have been even happier if the priest had given out racing tips rather than sermons, frankly"
Not instead of sermons but the old CofE did have a fine tradition of sporting vicars. One thinks of course of David Sheppard, who went on to become a Bishop (which just goes to show the pull Sussex CC used to have), but there were others and in many fields. The padre in our second battalion was always very lucky in his information during the flat racing season, bloody useless during the national hunt, mind..
New Thread New thread
Yet.
Fortunately I have the lifetime expansion pass, so will only be spending a small fortune to upgrade my PC before I start exploring airless moon in my Scarab.
...that could play football.
The other day you claimed you were a 'historian', only to admit you're a marketer. LOL.
All that SeanT describes can be done, and is still done, here.