Mazan

The thing I got fed up most with was the endless personal jibes and insults and name-calling, which you have neatly summed up. You really take the biscuit, since you have returned you have made a point of insulting anyone on here who does not entirely agree with your thinking, even to the point of insulting persons who you have no real idea about. You compound your error. At no point have I said anything derogatory about anyone on this or any other forum unless they have insulted me first. I do not make personal comments without reason. So if I accuse a nation being a load of racist b******s and that they were all no good smelly thieving louts and were just a bunch of lazy p****s, that's OK ? as no one was insulted, try telling that to a newspaper in that country. You are not insulting anyone personally. Therefore no harm is done, except in the imagination of the feeble-minded. Does anyone here take offence because Napoleon called the British a nation of shopkeepers? Of if Osama Bin Laden calls the US the great Satan? Or if Yasser Arafat says the West is 'caduc'? (Whose leaves fell first, Yasser?) You talk about clowns popping out the woodwork, therefore insulting those people you have no idea about, Go back and read what was written in another thread (about greetings cards, would you believe). I made a general comment and someone popped up and called me a bigoted racist (quite incorrectly as my comment had not been made about a race). At no time had I addressed any comment to him previously and I was insulted first. So, if someone takes public office, we are then full entitled to call him what we like, yes I suppose we can but you are just insulting someone that you simply detest, reasoning is not there it is just boring hysterical ranting. Blunket is a proven liar and an admitted thief of taxpayers' money. He has shown himself to be highly vindictive in public. His private life proves him to be obsessive, to say the least. I would say insane. I am entitled to say all that. By putting himself in the public eye he accepts that this may happen. Prescott does too. There is nothing personal about commenting on public figures. Ah but didn't you say you left the forum due to similar posts? But that was others I guess, this is Mazan and fully entitled to do so then No, you have missed the point. I dislike personal attacks. This forum (and many others) is full of them as can clearly be seen in this very thread and others. Comments on public figures, nations, ways of life or anything else bother me not one jot as they are not personal. Anyone is welcome to say here that British expats in France are racists or bigots or both. I don't care. I may bother to reply or I may not. To say that I or you or anyone else here personally is a racist or a bigot is a different thing entirely.

I'm sure with all your techno knowledge that you have contributed to this forum you are able to receive British TV in France. I certainly can. Having to watch French TV would be just too awful to contemplate. So do watch 'Have I got News for You' this evening. I never miss it. In fact it is always recorded automatically for me. I do think that it has lost some of its piquancy since Angus Deayton left though. He was witty enough to think of some very funny things to say. His replacements have often tended to be simple autocue readers. And some of them have trouble doing that due to advancing age. That can be guaranteed to put this whole sorry business into perspective, just as it did (and will probably continue to do so) with the Boris Johnson affair. Ian Hislop certainly doesn't like Blunket (or Prescott or Kilroy) very much. He doesn't like the French either. One of the funniest ever episodes contained some classic lines about the French. And did I read that wrong - were you really saying that Jeremy Clarkson isn't a bigot? No, I was saying that I would rather be called a racist bigot than be likened to Jeremy Clarkson. Wouldn't anyone?  Apparently his 'other' Jag was an official Daimler that goes with the job. Ah. I was surprised to have been told that I was completely wrong about that one.

Now ITV1 is also non-encrypted ie ALL ITV channels are free-to-air just like the Beeb. The only channels that the Sky FTV card now actually supports are Ch4 and Ch5. No. ITV1 may well become FTA at some point but it isn't yet.

When you "walked" away from the forum, I think it was about the new moderators ?  I don't like moderators and I don't like rules and regulations, that's certainly true. But it wasn't the main reason I got bored with this forum.   I thought the forum might miss you. How wrong I was, well at least from my point of view, you have shown yourself to be no more than a generalist bigot. The thing I got fed up most with was the endless personal jibes and insults and name-calling, which you have neatly summed up. Make a comment about a nation (which insults no one at all). Or make one about a public figure who, by becoming a public figure, has fully accepted that people will watch his actions and will comment on him in public. Or comment on some facet of society that doesn't work. Immediately some clown pops out of the woodwork to start making individual and personal attacks or to do a 10p/0.15€ psychological evaluation based on information gleaned from the back of a cornflakes packet. "You're this, you're that, you're the other." What is it that people can't resist about launching into personal insults? Why can't they just stay on the subject in hand instead of veering off into crude abuse? This sort of behaviour doesn't interest me at all (though I will defend myself when attacked) but others are welcome to carry on with their silly games if they will. It bores the pants off me and I'd rather do something else.

What are you ON? of course the French are a nation and not a race - you are just rambling out loud now. You are making yourself sound silly. If you are going to play the primary school teacher with me then try and get your facts straight. I pointed out the original poster's error when he said I was making racist comments about the French. You failed to do so; to the point of supporting him. My phrase that you criticised made perfect sense (at least to anyone who can read English) unlike Prescott's incoherent nonsense.

"I also can't believe that anyone hasn't heard Prescott repeatedly fail to string 10 words together and make a sentence". Well, actually you didn't do so well there yourself, did you? Easy to fall from a state of perfection. Are you having the same difficulty with that as you had with the French being a nation and not a race? You were wrong then too.

Again your lack of knowledge of the system you rail against lets you down. .... the Jags in question are not official cars, they are his own property, and he drives them himself I'll take your word for it as it makes no difference at all to him being incoherent and a thug. And anyone with two Jags is antisocial, no matter who pays for them. Of course if you have a petrol-guzzling car (as I do) then you pay extra tax, which seems to be a fair arrangement. No, you don't pay anywhere near enough. You should be made to pay so much that you have to scrap the car, to the benefit of the planet. And this should be applied as a large car ownership tax not as a petrol tax, in order not to penalise those who actually need to use fuel. I would like to see electricity costing about 10 times what it does also, above a certain level that covers reasonable use. Perhaps then people would turn lights off when not needed. Another cost that I would multiply by 10 is the cost of waste disposal. I would also tax product packaging of supermarket goods. I'm pleased to see that the Germans are moving in this direction. The French, of course, are at the tail end of Europe for such measures but they are a selfish lot with no regard for others. £10,000 a year road tax? Tell me, is the weather nice on your planet? Not bad, but it would be such a nicer planet if it wasn't so horribly polluted and crowded with noxious, noisy and pointless cars (largely driven by noxious, noisy and pointless people). Much pollution, not to mention the squandering of limited natural resources, is directly caused by those with unnecessarily large cars. There is no excuse for this and they should be stopped for the menaces that they are. I do realise that you aren't alone. You share the shame with 250 million Americans, Jeremy Clarkson and cretins in 4WD vehicles, to name only them. "Jeremy Clarkson". Now there's an insult if ever there was one. I'd rather be called a racist bigot.

Can you point me to the recorded facts that illustrate the truth of what you say? Which record are you referring to? Do you mean Hansard's? I can't believe there is anyone here who hasn't seen the videotape of Prescott repeatedly punching the chap who (gasp!) threw an egg at him in public. The man is a thug. I also can't believe that anyone hasn't heard Prescott repeatedly fail to string 10 words together and make a sentence. The man spouts incoherent and rambling nonsense at every turn. Does an incoherent man get to the place in public life that Prescott has reached (pace George W.)? I rest my case. That said, Bush is not just incoherent but also dangerous. He does manage to avoid attacking people in public though. I suppose he gets the Secret Service to do it for him later.

Why is owning two Jags such a bad thing? Can anybody tell me? There's no problem with owning Jags, though they are pointless petrol-guzzlers and if possible I would tax them and all other such wasteful cars very heavily. Say £10000 per year road tax. The problem with Prescott is that he uses two Jags and two chauffeurs all paid for by the UK taxpayer. Add to that the fact that he is an incoherent thug (this is on record) and this makes him undesirable as an MP or as anything else for that matter.

Blunkett is a vindictive and hypoctitical creep, "Two jags" Prescott is just an incoherent thug..... You have carried on the pattern in your own post, has the irony been lost on you ? I am neither vindictive, nor hypocritical nor incoherent nor a thug. All I did was give my opinion of them and most if not all of it can be backed up by recorded fact. I am entitled to give my opinion about public figures.    I don't intend to return permanently to the UK at least until I'm near death myself but the UK is where I come from and they still issue my passport. Therefore the high jinks of the man who influences the cost of my passport, how many biometric features it should contain and what sort of ID card should go with it is of interest to me. Sorry but I reckon that is a load of tosh, to put that as a reason, is to simply undermine the intelligence of this forum. "I might be back but if not I still need to keep abreast of the situation" is what you are saying, absolute rubbish, it's simply a political stance, no more. no less. Wrong again. What I said was the absolute truth. When I am too old or too ill to live alone I will go where the remnants of my family are. They owe me one and can keep an eye on me in my dotage. As the place they will be will most likely be the UK, and as my passport comes from there, I like to keep an eye on what goes on there. That's why I vote there but don't vote here. I have no intention of being here much longer and in a few years all ties will be severed and I will not be back. I have no "political stance" and it is foolish of you to suppose that you have any knowledge of me and what I do, and why. I do plan ahead though, whenever possible.

I am curious to know why Mazan thinks he will maybe return to live in the much despised U.K. when he is very old, is this because he will be too senile to notice or care about what goes on? No. I shall be going where I have a bit of family left to keep an eye on me before I die. That is most likely to be the UK. I won't be going until I am totally crippled or have something terminal, at which point I will no longer care about anything as pointless as politics.

30 years living out of the UK you stated on the forum, long time isn't, it so why the nasty pop about those two ? Because they deserve it. Blunkett is a vindictive and hypocritical creep who would ban everything, control everything, forbid everything yet at the same time abuses his position and cheats the taxpayer for whom he works. No one needs politicians like him. In the light of recent revelations about his personal life I suspect that he is also quite literally insane. We shall see. "Two-jags" Prescott is just an overweight and incoherent thug who missed his calling as a security guard.    Does it really concern you that much and if so why, after so long a period of being away ? I hope to have left France and the EU within the next few years, before it goes completely down the pan. I pity the younger generations here. In fact I never intended to be here so much of the last 10 years but life (and death) doesn't always go as one foresees. I don't intend to return permanently to the UK at least until I'm near death myself but the UK is where I come from and they still issue my passport. Therefore the high jinks of the man who influences the cost of my passport, how many biometric features it should contain and what sort of ID card should go with it is of interest to me.

The UK is well rid of this vindictive, two-faced creep. One of the nastiest ever to darken the Commons. I do hope Prescott will be next.

NetBySky. Already mentioned here the other day.

I took out a 9online sub when Tiscali threatened to put the price up to 75E. So you have two unlimited ISDN forfaits with two ISPs and have had them since Tiscali increased prices late last year? And Tiscali have made a special exception for you and don't charge you the 75E ISDN price that everyone else in the country pays? That makes you doubly unusual and I can honestly say that I know of no one else like that. Out of curiosity, which ISP do you actually use? Perhaps Tiscali don't charge you the proper ISDN rate for your forfait because you never use it? And why pay 25E to 9Online and another 25E/30E to Tiscali (with the threat of them billing you the full 75E that everyone else pays) when you can get one unlimited ISDN forfait for just 40E, some 10E less than the total 50E (or 55E or 125E) of those two? Very unusual.   Perhaps your extended leave of abscence has addled yer wotsit eh dear? My whotsit isn't so addled that I find your setup to be a very good deal, or is there more to it all?

One thing slightly worries me though, how can I be sure that I am connected to Wanadoo B/Band, and not dial up.  Although the connection icon shows 'connected at 655.2Kbps, so I suppose that must be B/Band? That's exactly how you tell.

> Why should they be called tight > because they don't send Christmas cards?  Why indeed? I didn't call them tightfisted for not sending Christmas cards. I just wondered if they don't send them because they are tightfisted. The two are totally different. > Nor are they illiterate. Ask any Frenchman. They all know about grammar and spelling and most will readily admit that as a nation they are bad at both. This isn't to say that other nations are any better, but that wasn't the point. The French used to spend a lot of time practicing handwriting but not much time learning how to spell. The end result is that many write beautiful script that is full of errors. The younger ones now tend not to learn to write well by hand so one can't read what they write at all. In that respect I have much in common with them.

>I bought a blow up santa An exploding Santa! Perfect! I'm making a list, checking it twice ....

>It was referring to your original comment and >then saying that those who found the racism >offensive had no sense of humour, There was no racism in my message and only someone with no understanding of English could think otherwise. The French are a nation, not a race. I refer you to the nearest dictionary for confirmation. > and after this outburst I don't think >I would admit to being you... Outburst? The only outbursts and insults here were the ones directed personally at me, as can clearly be seen by anyone who cares to remove their rose-tinted spectacles. >And don't bang the old 'political correctness' drum - >we all know what that means. What are you taking about?

>Ah! First the insult, then "But I was >only joking." How many times did I deal >with that when teaching 12-year olds... A shame that you fail to make it clear who and what you are talking about. That must be a teaching thing. The only insults that I see in this thread are the ones directed at me: namely "bigotted, ill-informed and racist". About as personally insulting as one could wish, and largely inaccurate to boot, as one might have expected a teacher to notice and point out. Though I don't suppose that accuracy has any place in teaching these days. Political correctness has had priority over learning and facts in the classroom for many years and this is reflected in the generally dire nature of UK and French youth today. Somehow I don't think that I would care to admit to being a teacher. And I didn't say "I was only joking" either. I wasn't.

>ill informed, racist and bigotted You seem to share the French lack of humour and inability to take criticism. As far as I know the French aren't a race apart (though they might think so) and so I really can't be accused of racism. Ill-informed? Having lived here for 30 years and kept my eyes and ears mostly open during that time, I doubt it. Bigotted? Humbug!

There seems to be some confusion here. Why are you talking about sending a slip in to cancel 9Online if you are with Tiscali? Anyway, the following applies either way: Over a year ago Tiscali sent out letters to all ISDN users of the then 25E unlimited package informing them that the package would soon be going up to 75E. At that time there were three options: 1) move to the daytime only package at 16E, 2) pay the 75E 3) cancel. The daytime package is now also no longer available for new ISDN users. If you are still using the Tiscali day and night unlimited option on ISDN and you are not paying 75E then you are a very rare and lucky bird indeed. In fact I would go as far as to say that you are probably alone in the entire country. Your circumstances certainly aren't applicable to any new subscriber anyway. I personally know dozens of Tiscali customers who were hit by this and I know of no one on ISDN who is still with them and who isn't paying 75E for the day and night package. Apart from the dozens I know personally, I also know of user groups that represent thousands of disgruntled Tiscali ISDN users, and none of them are still paying 25E either. So, do enjoy your luck but don't suggest that others will be as lucky. They won't be.

This is more complex than can be easily explained in a text message. Basically for XP and a Wanadoo USB modem you must remove Wanadoo, install the modem drivers (get the pre-configured French ones on the Sagem website) and then configure the connection from the "connect to" sub-menu in the start menu or from the internet options in IE. You only need to enter the login (fti/etc.) and password. No more.   As for Wanadoo being quick to make changes to ADSL lines: of course they are, they are owned by FT and FT make all the changes and run all the equipment in non-degrouped areas. Every other ISP has to ask FT to do things for them.

Messages like these are always a virus or a spoof or some sort of scam. Bin it. Install a decent antivirus package and a malware scanner like Ad-Aware. Keep both bang up to date.

The original question was asking what the French do and they send "best wishes" cards after the start of the new year to people they won't see personally. No Frenchman is going to shoot his British neighbour for sending him a Christmas card: he will just put it down to a surfeit of "le pudding" or the combination of marmalade and beef. (They really believe that one though they are in fact referring to mint jelly and lamb.)