DB7

A good piece on France on CH4 news. Strikes and outrage over a DNA database makes it sound like a home from home.

Steve Crook

It's no good, I've had enough. I'm leaving England!

Well, I'm going to my Mum's in the wilds of Welsh west Wales for a week. Far from any mobile phone coverage areas, far from any internet connections, just me communing with nature

Steve

DB7

You be careful, and if you hear Duelling Banjos from a Welsh male voice choir... Run!

(and remember not to ask for directions)

David Brent

What was shaping as a good week in British sport has again fallen flat.
The football, the rugby, F1 - defeat, defeat, defeat.

How long do the best sports fans in the world have to suffer before a British team/sportsperson shocks the world and actually wins something worthwhile?
(Britain still has the world conker champion).

It's enough to make droves of sports loving Brits leave the UK.

Dave.

batman

We are pretty good at synchronised swimming (so I have been told).

Bats.

"Boom boom a baby .... Banham Zoo .... Banana pants! Hahahaha"

Moor Larkin

I say old chap. It's not the winning, it's the taking part..........

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
Then! - You'll be a Brit, and play the game!

[code]http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487363@N02/sets/72157606700675506/code]

Marky B

Sounds like bliss to me,Steve. Enjoy yourself.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

penfold

Just so long as he has his clothes back on before he arrives at Aberystwyth for a Blimp screening we're attending....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

BristolUK

This is the kind of news item that makes people think the country is going to the dogs.

Jail for ex-soldier who urinated on dying disabled woman


Martin Wainwright
Saturday October 27, 2007
The Guardian


A drunken former soldier who urinated on a disabled neighbour as she lay dying after a fall in the street was jailed for three years yesterday and told that he and his friends had shamed a town. Anthony Anderson, 27, and a group of friends who filmed the humiliation of Christine Lakinski on a mobile phone, have been cold-shouldered in Hartlepool and turned away from shops and neighbours' homes.
They were castigated by a judge and police at a brief court hearing which was told that their "almost unbelievable" behaviour had turned the lesson of the Good Samaritan on its head. Ms Lakinski, a 50-year-old bent by a spine deformity and bullied for most of her life, had also been covered in shaving foam and kicked to "make her wake up".

During the episode in July, which lasted almost half an hour, none of the group called an ambulance to help Ms Lakinski, who had collapsed while carrying shopping home and hit her head. Only 20 minutes later, when Anderson, the phone-filmer Simon Whitehead and several others had dressed to go out to a nightclub, was a 999 call finally made. Paramedics were unable to revive Ms Lakinski, but the call enabled police to trace one of the group, Scott Clement, which led to Anderson's arrest at a local club within hours.
He admitted outraging public decency and apologised through his barrister at Teesside crown court for actions which he said he still could not explain.

The court heard that Ms Lakinski lived opposite a house in Raby Road which Anderson shared with another man, who had been smoking cannabis and drinking heavily with him all afternoon. Anderson went out in shorts with a towel round his waist when he saw Ms Lakinski slumped on the pavement.

Sue Jacobs, prosecuting, said Anderson first kicked the helpless woman and when she groaned but failed to move or open her eyes, fetched a bowl of water and threw it over her. "Apparently urged on by the fact that Scott Clement and Simon Whitehead found this amusing, you then stated that you were going to urinate on her. Simon Whitehead cleared space on his mobile and recorded Anderson urinating all over Christine's body." One of the group shouted: 'This is YouTube material.'"

Judge Peter Fox, the recorder of Middlesbrough, told Anderson he had plumbed the depths of degradation and brought shame on the people of Hartlepool. He said: "This court can do nothing to repair what you did, only pass a sentence that is right in all the circumstances - three years imprisonment."

Anderson, unemployed after brief army service, has previous convictions for illegally importing cigarettes, obstructing a police officer and driving offences.

samkydd

Why didn't the arresting officers just beat the animal and his pals to death and dump the bodies on the street to deter others, and film it on their 'phones and put it on You Tube? No one would mind! Nah, not in this country, I bet the police were awfully polite and gave them cups of tea and cigarettes during questioning!

Jail seems to do nothing to deter this type of criminal behaviour these days, and as the jails are overcrowded anyway, why not put them in secure mental hospitals because they're obviously not at all normal. They would then have fewer rights as mental patients and could be detained for longer periods with no parole! Now that would be a deterant! Also why can't You Tube be prosecuted or closed down for allowing such images to be shown on their service? It seems to be what drives people on to commit such acts of cruelty!

Can you imagine lying injured in the street and a neighbour and his pals, not only humiliate you, torment you and piss on you but they don't even call an ambulance until it's too late!

I am boycotting You Tube, and I hope others would feel strongly enough to do the same! If they don't feel responsible for the content on their site then they should not be allowed to operate.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

iswoboda

To Fareham_Bee - My brother travelled through France about 20 yrs ago. Said it was the only country he felt unwelcome in on his world travels. Said they didn't like foreigners and had an arrogance he couldn't understand. Hope things have changed and wish you all the very best. I'm Australia and I just love the look of England/Europe in general. Cottages, country lanes, rambling hedges etc... but I guess the cities is where the work is. Life's a B... isn't it? I commend you for your courage to change what you can. Cheers.

David Brent

The French have always been like that. That is why they have such a bad reputation amongst travellers. Beats me what they have to feel arrogant about.

I hope everyone in the UK has battened down and that the forecast storm surge for today will not be as bad as predicted.
Keep your heads down and your spirits up.

Dave.

Moor Larkin

I notice our latest Grand Prix prodigy is leaving in drives, rather than droves....

Apparently I've been intruding into his privacy....... Gee, sorry Lewis.......

Didn't occur to him to try the Scottish Highlands then?........ Oh, no....... that didn't work for David C. either did it. Switzerland and Monaco must be much bigger than they look on the map, dontcha think?

penfold

And how is Patrick McGoohan these days?? You can't really criticise Lewis for doing what your Pat did 35 years ago.....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Moor Larkin

Very well I hope.....

Now if Lewis had said, I'm leaving because it's outrageous that the government is going to take all my money and make me pay twice for emptying my bins.... then I'd have cheered him to the rafters for speaking up! As it is, I'll have to carry on paying the taxes.......