Edward Trunk

Well, as UK governments have tried, or are trying, to get rid of habeas corpus and trial by jury, I can't see this bit of Magna Carta bothering them very much.

1st Man: Mein Hund hat keine Näse. 2nd Man: Wie riecht er?  1st Man: Schrecklich!

The temperature in summer in LR can get uncomfortably hot, and it can be a*sefreezingly cold in winter. Que voulez-vous?

I think Pommier is right. All the friends I know who have become grandparents have embraced their new status - particularly the new grandmother. They are empty nesters, and they are usually retired. It gives them a role and a purpose.

Does anyone suppose that by now Lady Sybil has got an Easter Rising out of her Fenian chauffeur?

"My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with: an honest day's work for an honest day's pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time; support the police. Margaret Thatcher 1981" I find this unbelievable. Mrs Thatcher married a millionaire; she could afford to preach frugality to others. What really takes my breath away is the fact that she presided over an unsustainable credit boom - "the Lawson boom" - whose collapse caused the recession of the early 90's. It was her deregulation of the markets in the 80s - the "Big Bang" - which has led us directly to where we are today. Russethouse has a short memory.

Let me see. Gordon Brown's government had to borrow vast sums to recapitalise the banks (at their urgent request). They had got themselves into this state by improvident lending, motivated by vast greed. The present government refuses to force reform on the banks, and refuses to do anything about the gross disparities in income between the highest and lowest paid. Meanwhile, ordinary people are seeing their public services slashed, and their spending power eroded by an inflation rate of 5%. Many of them are losing their jobs, and are seeing their homes repossessed. The British people, who ought to be stringing up bankers on lamp-posts, are instead striking for one day. For this they are called greedy, irresponsible, feckless, etc etc, by those who claim to know the views of the "silent majority." Where is Oliver Cromwell when you need him? He would have sorted the bankers out.

After being condemned for not wearing the Daily Mail-approved coat to Remembrance Day, I remember Michael Foot saying that the best way to honour the war dead was to work hard to prevent more wars. If only a few of our recent Prime Ministers had listened to him.

Horrifying article in the "Guardian" today about the spread of bedbugs. They are easily imported into your house, they are resistant to most insecticides, they breed prolifically, feed off you voraciously, and the only effective way to get rid of them is to burn your house down.

"There are far too many NIMBYs around willing to spoil other people's pleasures just to achieve their own aims, some laudable, some less so........" NIMBYs would object to bullfights in their own backyard, but willing to allow them in other people's backyards. I think people opposed to tormenting animals for "sport" would object to bullfights anywhere.

You can use a notaire anywhere, and both you and the vendor can use the same notaire - he(or she) doesn't act for you, he's a state functionary. You can have a "clause suspensive" inserted in the contract, obliging the vendor to reserve the house for you until x date, and obliging you to keep your offer in place until the same date. (Both of you have to agree to this.)It is not obligatory to pay a deposit, but I expect the vendor will ask for one.

Spot-on article by Peter Oborne in todays "Telegraph" http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100100708/the-moral-decay-of-our-society-is-as-bad-at-the-top-as-the-bottom/

Maybe the government will now stop making war on Aghans and Libyans - who so far have not looted a single shop in Tottenham - and concentrate on problems nearer to home.

There's no point in arguing with Judith, who thinks that illegal immigrants deserve to be shot, but for the saner members of the forum these are the facts: De Menezes happened to be sharing the same address (a block of flats) which had been found in the wallet of one of the dead bombers the previous day. He was followed from this address across London, on and off two buses, he attempted to board the tube at Brixton but it was closed so he was forced to go on to Stockwell. At any time he could have detonated his non-existent bomb. He was not stopped or challenged at any point. He was falsely identified as a terrorist on the flimsiest of evidence, and it was on the basis of this evidence that Cressida Dick authorised his killing. Members of the public are entitled to be panicky and irrational. Senior police officers are not.

1. After the shooting the Met. lied repeatedly; about what De Menezes was wearing (they said he was wearing a bulky jacket which could have concealed a bomb(he wasn't), they said he vaulted over the ticket barrier (he didn't) - I can't remember the other lies. 2. It wasn't a trial, it was an inquest. No-one, from the inept intelligence officers to the hapless Cressida Dick, was ever charged with anything. Quillan's opinion that if you are an illegal immigrant it hardly matters if the police shoot you dead, is an interesting new take on the law. I have long felt that the Metropolitan police is a force out of control; recent news events seem to have proved me right. The inquiry came up with the predictable conclusion: mistakes were made, lessons have been learned, but no-one was really to blame. The Chilcot report into the Iraq war will say exactly the same thing. You read it here first.

Cressida Dick has been made head of the Met's anti-terrorism operations. Anyone with relatives in London who are Brazilian electricians should advise them to leave.

To buy a pack of aspirins in Britain you have to have a certificate from five archbishops, and then undergo the Spanish Inquisition. I hope you're not suggesting the same procedure be adopted for selling potatoes.

The actor who played Dr McCoy in "Star Trek" was called DeForest Kelly. Where did that come from? What is the diminutive? What did his mother shout when she wanted him to come in for dinner? Deffy?

An easier way is to give the mayor a bigger bung than your neighbour did.

I think the datum point for sea level in France is at Port-Vendres, near the Spanish border.

My mother-in-law was at death's door. I was all night trying to pull her through.

Here in the Yookay it has been the driest spring and early summmer since the last one. Corn withers on the stalk, the bleached bones of cattle line the roadsides, infants suck at arid teats and motorists are stopped at gunpoint while thieves make off with the water in their radiators. And that's just in Purley. May God help us.

If you ever take your car to Barcelona you can experience all of these scams, and several dozen more, within ten minutes of arriving in the city.

You can have just as good a time at 80 as you can at 20. It's just not the same kind of good time.

A sceptic tank survey? I find that hard to believe.