nounours

I had no idea ............That you have to agree and cowtow to old posters to enjoy and  remain on this Forum.  I am sure you find Bugbears posts interesting Ebaynut,but  you don't live in France do you? I will avoid his posts as they have little interest to the French resident,  and get on building my summer house by the beach in the Vendée[:P].

Glad you have better things to do Gary, do I take it you don't love me any more, you said you did once[:$]

[quote user="Russethouse"][quote user="nounours"] The Politics show wasn't on last night.  Do you mean "This Week" ?  If so its on far too late  us in France. Pity I missed it that well known political commentator Fearn Britton was on it.[blink]  By the way RH, what did Diane Abbot say Gordon should do, just to keep the balance here. [/quote]  Fern Britton was on the show and was asked about her exchanges with TB post the interview where he said he would have gone into Iraq on another pretext, if not WMD, her reaction was the same as mine - what was the point of David Kelly losing his life then ? Micheal Portillo's comment more or less closed the show, so I'm afraid Diane Abbot didn't get the chance to respond....in fact I thought she was fairly quiet last night, unusually.... [/quote]  The truth about how and why David Kelly died may come out, but for now to suggest it was anything other than a suicide brought about by depression can only be speculation. One thing that is being addressed by the enquiry is how Iraq was supposed to recoover from the invasion, one thing I would have asked Tony Blair was did he know Bush was going to order the destruction of the power and water supply facilities?  The question none of us can answer is, is Iraq and its people and the state of Israel, better off now than it would have been if Saddam had been allowed to remain in power? 

Gary,  my friend, you now look very foolish, wouldn't it be better if you just went and sailed your boat or got the bike out today? Jay is right, this has nothing to do with France but as you and Weedon say its posted in the right place and "allowed".  The subject of "other topics" is one created a long time back against the opposition of many, to boost postings and satisfy those who had nothing better to do but post irrelevant rubbish about Romanian trampolinists and dancers and save phone calls to mates in France. The non French postings soon became the majority and saw many excellent and informed posters like Miki, Dick Smith, Teamed up leave and many others who still post on here, just to post the odd entry in gardening or healthcare.  As predicted this topic has now become the place to be bitter and twisted about a country most no longer live in but retain a wish to control the lives of those who continue to do so.   Sometime ago it was suggested that a certain poster might like to post more about the inequalities and items of concern in the land he has a physical presence in, but that was met with bluster about how integrated he was, I know more about France than you do etc, but since then nothing about issues in France has been seen.[:(]  There are English forums in the UK you can love or hate the Daily Mail/Mirror etc  and most immigrant countries have their ex pat sites, but again they are all filled with the sam "sort of did you see" posts copied either directly from the various UK media or slanted to meet the political requirements of the poster.  When this Forum stuck to France and French topics it was the best, it led the way in things like healthcare, tax, employment, setting up businesses but now its rarely used and genuine posters are just driven away by so called funnymen.  Just look at the ferrets thread, 5 posts before Coops gave a sensible answer. Why did the daft posts stay, perhaps because the mods found it more important to post about what's happening in the UK than encourage new posters like that person to use this Forum to find out things and perhaps help others who live here [:(].  

Sorry Bugbear put away the spade, nobody believes a word.  If you don't want to be pulled up then don't post innaccuracies, simple really.[:D] 

[quote user="Bugbear"]that UK MP's are actually given medals just for visiting Iraq. What an insult to those out there actually fighting and, in some cases dying.[:@][:@] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/7006304/MPs-criticised-for-accepting-Mickey-Mouse-medals.html http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/notompmedals/ [/quote] Apart from quoting old news that has been going round ex-pat sites and inciting the same degree of moral outrage from people who have never seen a bullet let alone come within 100 yards of one, did you actually read the article before posting your inaccurate and misleading opening line?   If you did, please tell us how many MPs have got a medal for "just visiting Iraq"??[8-)] Its also been discussed on here before, surprised you missed it as its about the UK.[:-))]  See here http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/2/1992354/ShowPost.aspx#1992354 where another poster who also could not be bothered to read the article first tried some gutter press type spin on it and failed, just as you have. These MPs,  8 of them of the 220 in the scheme, have been supporting troops in war zones for a minimum of 10 years spending at least 22 days a year doing it, so that is a minimum of 220 days spent in a war zone and 200 days more than Prince Harry!!  At least these MPs support the troops on the ground.  It is an unofficial medal and not a  medal that is awarded to service personnel.  Its called the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme Medal.  Its made of silver and is attached to a crimson, gold and green ribbon representing the colours of the Lords, the Queen and the Commons. I got a silver medal once for winning division 3 of our sunday football league, you going to start a petition against the award of medals for that as well[blink].

[quote user="Quillan"] PM's Question 10th Feb 2010 Q4.    [316560] Mr. Douglas Carswell (Harwich) (Con): Britain wisely stayed out of the euro. There is now a strong possibility that Greece will default on her debts—something that is not our immediate problem. Will the Prime Minister confirm that, at a time when our national debt is rising fast, there is no question of UK taxpayers’ money being used to bail out Greece, in any circumstances or in any way? The Prime Minister: Greece should stick by the commitments that it has made to the European Union and the world. As the House knows, at the G20 conference in London in April we put in place arrangements that could help countries if they were in difficulty. These arrangements are still in place and have been used by some countries. It is up to the euro area to decide what it wants to do in relation to euro area countries, but there is international support available if Greece wishes it. Sorry forgot to add the source. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmtoday/cmdebate/02.htm#hddr_1 [/quote] Thank you Quillan for finding that.  Not exactly the words or interpretation of the OP is it?  It also endorses my post above about the Tories and their masters in the UK press just waiting to pounce if the UK gives Greece a cent.

The Politics show wasn't on last night.  Do you mean "This Week" ?  If so its on far too late  us in France. Pity I missed it that well known political commentator Fearn Britton was on it.[blink]  By the way RH, what did Diane Abbot say Gordon should do, just to keep the balance here.

[quote user="Bugbear"] It's all academic anyway, as he'll be gone in a couple of months. . [/quote] You sure you are " on message" Gary?  The Tories are just waiting for Brown to mention aid for Greece to try another ploy to undermine him and stop their disastrous decline in the Polls.  I'm not sure Brown will go, but if it does, lets hope its because voters decide on the politics and not what people like Rupert Murdoch decide they should vote.  Being an avid user of Facebook,  I am heartened to see how many young people can see through the hate and deceit of the failing papers like the Express and the Mail and make their own decisions, but if Brown does go lets hope he isn't replaced by dithering Dave[:D]

[quote user="Chancer"]Well I, and I am sure most rational minded people, could see the credit crunch coming for years, pity I kept schtuum as I could have won a Nobel prize by all accounts![/quote]   Errrr if you could see it coming how come your alter ego put all your money in an Icelandic bank?

Oh you mean. "UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown stressed that "the discussions at the moment are within the euro area", when asked if UK taxpayers' money would be part of any EU aid." So what exactly is wrong with that statement?  Surely you are not advocating that the UK should get involved in these discussions are you?  If they had done so then the right wing press were ready with their "UK taxpayers to fund Greek spending folly" headlines.   The euro crisis was so bad yesterday, given that Greece has not asked for or received a cent, it  plunged the euro by a whole 1 cent against the dollar and it rose aginst the £[8-)]

[quote user="Bugbear"]Gorgons smug comments yesterday on the current finance problems in Europe with Greece. "Well, it's a 'eurozone' problem, isn't it" [/quote] Can you quote your source for this comment?  The only comment I have seen or heard anything like it was attributed to a smug Tory MEP telling us clever they were keeping out of the eurozone.

[quote user="Jay"]Last time I spoke French to the guy at the tunnel he knew exactly where I come from as I have a habit of saying "bonjour pet". [/quote] You ask them to fart????[:'(]

[quote user="AnOther"][quote user="nounours"]You need to contact Orange for a new LiveBox driver if you change from XP to either Vista and Windows 7[/quote]A Livebox does not need drivers for any operating system, it simply connects via ethernet or wireless and you access it on the default IP address 192.168.1.1 If you are thinking of the CD which accompanys it then you do not need this at all and all it does is scatter completely uneccessary crud all over your hard drive so there is no point or need to get an OS specific one from Orange. [/quote] That may be true if you have an inbuilt wifi adaptor but I had to use the Orange CD to get the wireless dongle to "talk" to the Livebox.  As if I can see from other posts on this topic you don't  use a LiveBox how do you know it works the way you describe for TV and telephone use?  Yes the Orange disk add all sorts of extras like child protection and "launcher" but you can remove these without any harm after you have got the installation working OK.

You need to contact Orange for a new LiveBox driver if you change from XP to either Vista and Windows 7.   If your French is OK just phone up the service number, or pop into any FT shop or go on the orange website where you can order one, they are free and despatched promptly.

Try eBay France, look at item 400101552009 for a start 57€  each.  Fitting is not hard, just take note of how you take the old ones out.

Outside France try the French Embassy.  In France start at the Mairie

Mr Wiggy, if you had read the thread(s) the main area of concern for most of us was not about those on an E form or in receipt of a UK OA pension, the concern was about those who were not!!  Your post suggested that you were in receipt of a letter without being in receipt of either and may have heralded the start of the letters to the E Form dependents, but it wasn't.[:$]

Congratulations on posting an article in French about France on this Forum.  It makes a lovely change to see what is happening in the place we or at least, some of us live and not have selected extracts from the UK media posted to satisfy the political obsessions of the posters.  More please Norman[:D]  Although please do not do a Pomhorn or you will have to be killed.[;-)]

[quote user="ebaynut"] [quote user="nounours"]Anyone know when the last Catholic copper was jailed?  I really don't see what his religeon or original nationality has to do with this, does anyone else?[8-)][/quote] I don't think anyone has suggested it has. The fact is that a person in his senior position within the Met, should have been above what he has engaged in.   BTW Nounours, why have you changed your user name and re joined the forum ????? [/quote] Changed my name from what? This is the name I also use on the only other Forum I look at, which others like SD,  Coops and Ernie or Another also use. Back to the thread, I agree with Hoddy that  the man has certainly used his race and his religeon to further his career and deflect criticism and attention, but the point is that in this case he is a senior Met Police  officer who has tried to use his position as a senior Police Officer to pervert the course of justice, not that a senior Iranian born   Muslim London police officer  etc etc.

Anyone know when the last Catholic copper was jailed?  I really don't see what his religeon or original nationality has to do with this, does anyone else?[8-)]

So if you don't get a pension or any form of disability aid from the UK, have you asked yourself why you have received it?   The issue for pensioners is quite straight straight forward but originally the position of dependents on an E121 was not clear, it is now, they will also get letters in due course[:D]

Last time I looked Latvia was in the EU, so why do you need a customs declaration? 

Certainly agree with your last paragraph Mr Q[:)]  I am not blaming Thatcher for anything (did I really write that???) It is a fact that the lax system of expenses started when she was in office and has obviously been carried on by succesive Parliaments all trying to kid us that MPs don't get paid much. The problem is that if UK MPs pay is cut in real terms and those who represent constituencies away from the capital are disadvantaged to the point where it becomes that you can only be an MP if you can afford to be one, ie going back to the landowner and rich MPs of previous centuries, those in the UK might not get a proper representation or the best people in the job.

[quote user="Weedon"]Spare a thought for our heroic MP's.  The brave ones who visit our soldiers in Afghanistan receive a medal for just turning up there for a photo shoot, soldiers have to serve a 6 month duty there to get a medal.[/quote] That is not true,  If you had bothered to look for the source and read it  rather than replicating inaccurate gossip from ex- pat forums you would know that MPs or ministers who just visit a war zone do not get a medal. What this is referring to is special scheme called the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme (AFPS).  A number of MPs have received the medals at ceremonies as a reward for 10 years' or more membership of the AFPS  which allows politicians to spend around 22 days a year with the military to show support.  You'll be telling us Cameron wants gay black people  from Uganda to be given political assylum next[Www].   Bet that bit of news caused the Kent and Sussex A&E department to call in extra staff for a major emergency after hundreds in the area choked on their cornflakes[:D]