Clarkkent
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Posts posted by Clarkkent
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[quote user="idun"] There is one thing that I do not understand and that is I have recently heard the people on the news say 'in Ukraine', whereas, I would have said, ' in the' Ukraine. I've heard it with a few other things too where the noun has a vowel as the first letter.
[/quote]From Wikipedia:
The form "the Ukraine" was once usual in English. In 1993 the Ukrainian government requested that the article be dropped, and it has become rarer.
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[quote user="woolybanana"]You mean like ' Hoddy gifted woolybanana her French mansion'? It is American, isn't it?[/quote]
An American disease - turning nouns into verbs.
Another thing that annoys me is the inability of broadcasters (and others) to use "less than" and "fewer than" correctly.
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[quote user="sweet 17"]
Oh well, since you are all now at it, I might as well split hairs:
Did you know that M., short for Monsieur, takes a fullstop but Mme, short for Madame, doesn't?[:P]
[/quote]
I remember something about this from school (the war had ended and the Kaiser had gone into exile).
A "rule" which went something like if the abbreviation ends with the same letter as the abbreviated word then there is no full stop, otherwise there should be a full stop.
It sounds like those other silly rules about never splitting infinitives and never ending sentences with prepositions.
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Can we all join in then?Q, in his tag line, wrongly imputes Peter O'Toole with rather more wit and wisdom than is his due. The line quoted should be attributed to Peter Barnes, whose play "The Ruling Class", when it was filmed, had Mr O'Toole reciting it.
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If that is so then it speaks volumes about the nature of journalism and the values of journalists.His death was not the most important event in Britain on that day.
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Which begs the question: why was his death the lead item on BBC radio and tv news reports?For such publicity being given to this worthless wretch is beyond comprehension!
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[quote user="sweet 17"]
I'd really be interested to know how children from South Africa rank on those league tables.
[/quote]South Africa did not take part in the survey. -
[quote user="Rabbie"]I welcome this change but why is GO waiting till April before bringing it in in stead of introducing it now[/quote]I suspect that it is a change which will require primary legislation to bring it into effect. The easiest way to do that will be to include it in the 2014 Finance Bill.
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No Q. This not about the superiority of one educational system over another. If anything, it is a testament to the laziness of journalists and the intellectual limitations of politicians.The PISA test measures things which are easy to measure, which, for the main part are skills. Education is more than just skill training, it is - or should be - equally concerned with developing creativity.A few weeks ago I heard a discussion in which an academic was asked about the UK's comparatively poor performance in tests such as PISA. His response was that the Asian countries, with which we are apparently inferior, are in awe of our ability to win Nobel prizes. He cited the very large number of patents lodged from British sources compared with those from the Asian countries. The Asian countries wish that they could develop educational systems which develop creativity. Their children spend so much time in class and then at the crammer that we would consider it to be child cruelty.I think that PISA should be examined in context. It is an interesting, but not hugely important, comparative excercise which provides inadequate (and ill-educated) politicians with a further set of ammunition with which to denigrate each other. PISA does little more than reinforce the managerialism attitudes (concerned with structures and targets and control) which infect the brains of politicians
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[quote user="dwmcn"]
Norman,
Bring back Maigret with Gambon. Although I'm not sure it was filmed in France.
David
PS I see where there are plans to bring it back. And it was filmed in Budapest.
[/quote]Bring back Maigret with Rupert Davies (if only that were possible!) The best Maigret of all. -
Am I the only person who thought that The Returned was beautifully produced, vacuous, plotless rubbish?But then, what would I know? I think that post-modernism is cod philosophy!
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Is there any World Heritage funding, or is there an undertaking by the recipient country that - in return for the privilege - the site will be maintained? Surely, it is the accreditation that will be lost.
It is believed that the pathogen, Ceratocystus platani, arrived in France on 6 June 1944. It was, apparently, carried by wooden ammunition boxes accompanying US troops liberating Europe. If I recall correctly, the particular variety of plane came from Spain, where it was known to thrive in high temperatures. I did hear that they may be replaced by London planes, but I don't know whether they would be any more resistant to the fungus.
The main reason Leonardo da Vinci spent his final years in France was because he had been asked by Francois I to build a canal between the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The task, however, was beyond Leonardo who couldn't find a way of filling it with water. The problem was eventually solved by Pierre Paul Riquet, a tax farmer, who virtually bankrupted himself constructing the canal.
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Well, I am mild mannered and bespectacled.
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Thank you for your erudition. I take my hat off to Idun for her (in fact) rather witty reply.
I'm afraid to say that my own attempt did fall flat. I was hoping it would be realised that the Charge of the Light Brigade and the Battle of Agincourt had both occurred on 25 October.
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[quote user="idun"]................ what a load of cobblers!
[/quote]????????????????????????????
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[quote user="woolybanana"]Charge of the Light Brigade. Stupid,, mad, heroic and a useless waste of life. Pity he didnt invent the cardigan instead! Duhhhhh[/quote]
But Wooly, you forgot, or overlooked or ignored ... 25 October is the feast of St Crispin.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
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[quote user="Pickles"]
Indeed, the clubs seem to be behind this - but they claim it's going to cost French clubs in total €44Million - which I suspect is a drop in the ocean compared to their expenditure. I also don't understand how this is supposed to cost the CLUBS, because the tax is on the receiver as far as I can see. And it's only for 2013/14 ... The clubs are very good at crying "poverty" but then pay huge transfer fees and wages.
[/quote]Insomnia brings its problems, but one benefit (!) is that I sometimes watch the international business news review at 5.30am on BBC1.
This item was discussed briefly in yesterday's programme. David Buik, a financial commentator who frequently appears on the show, said something to the effect that football players were paid net. The entire burden of the tax would fall on the club not the player.
Irrespective of the fairness of the tax, if this is really how top-level football clubs organise their affairs, then the sooner they all went bankrupt the better. Then football could re-establish itself on a rational business basis.
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John Keats, when facing death from consumption:
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charact'ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love!—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.And also, la Belle Dame sans merci - The beautiful woman who doesn't say "Thank you" (Flanders & Swann)
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What a nasty "article".
As it happens, although I know several people who buy the Daily Mail, I don't actually know of anyone who buys the Daily Express. Does anyone have any idea of the demographic profile of a DE reader? Just about the only thing I know about the DE is that it is owned by a man who made his money from pornography.
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[quote user="NormanH"]Not that France or the USA are much better...
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/oct/08/england-young-people-league-table-basic-skills-oecd
http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/boosting-skills-essential-for-tackling-joblessness-and-improving-well-being.htm
[/quote]I think that there no conflict between boosting skills and encouraging creativity. I'm all for making certain that young people can use language and numerical skills appropriately. When I worked as a lecturer in a university business school, I made it clear - by including as criteria in marking schemes - that assignments with poor spelling or grammar would fail. I had battles with students who believed that eventual employment in marketing or human resources would not require any numerical competence.
However, I heard a report on the radio recently about the relative number of patents being granted in the United Kingdom compared with Korea and other Asian countries, and Korea fared poorly in the comparison. An implication was that the educational system in Britain encouraged students to think divergently and to challenge accepted ideas, whereas the Asian model encouraged conformity.
I suspect the OECD survey measured that which is easy to measure and avoided concepts which are more complex.
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I think that he should look to another former prime minister for his inspiration: William Ewart Gladstone.
Gladstone considered it to be his mission to go into the murkier parts of London and to exhort fallen women to change their ways.
This, I feel, could actually be a true labour of love for Signor Berlusconi. After all, he probably knows most of them by name .... [6]
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[quote user="Mr Ceour de Lion II"]PaulT I take it all back. You are completely correct. I wouldn't say sicko though, but incompetent is a far more accurate word.
The real reason there is no social healthcare in America is because people do not trust their own government to run it properly. I truly think that's the bottom line. It's a joke.
[/quote]No. The real reason is that the insurance companies and medical supplies companies (such as pharmaceuticals) pay very large sums of money into politicians' campaign funds and effectively control the political agenda. "People" believe the propaganda that the compromised politicians spout.
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It is nearly sixty years since McCarthyism was discredited in the United States. What does the Daily Mail think that it will achieve by resurrecting it in Britain?
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[quote user="Cendrillon"]I haven't heard that tale Pierre ZFP.
In my experience Pineau des Charentes is a drink that is widely available and drunk in the Charentes region but elsewhere hardly seen or available at all.
[/quote]Really? It's in all the supermarkets in Agen.
HMRC Letter re Tax liability on French Holiday Home
in Other Topics
Posted
I have only just come to this thread - and it brings back the memory of such a letter about 20 years ago when I bought my French house.
I received a letter from the Inland Revenue (as it was then) which said something to the effect of "we know that you have just done something which may have implications for us". The letter did not say what but the house purchase had been the only action which could possibly qualify. I wrote back pointing out that the house purchase - if that had been the reason for the letter - was for personal use only. I heard no more.
The only thing which could have triggered the letter would have been the conversion of a large sterling sum into French francs and subsequent transmission to a bank account in France, since I purchased the house with a second mortgage on my UK property. I suspect that the bank concerned was obliged to inform HM Inland Revenue of any action that might involve sums large enough to look like money laundering.