Gringo

The fact that no one has suggested either of the above, and they form no logical extension to the arguments offered other than the one suggesting policemen should only be armed with a whistle, only continues to further weaken your argument.

I don't think it was that case Drat, as they already had Wright's DNA from an earlier crime he had commited. Correct Risso, I think the police were referring to the Sally Anne Bowman case, where the DNA only turned up following a later arrest. However the convicted person had previous convictions dating back to times when DNA technology wasn't around and so he wasn't on the database. So the bowman case would have been solved if the database contained DNA from all convicted criminals, not just those convicted since sampling started. It does not prove the case that the whole country should be sampled and added to the database, as the home office minister says they can't guarantee security of a national database.

Recession? 13 signs it’s here A US-centric article, but when the US sneezes, yadda, yadda, yadda.

If you are going to invest, stay away from the new build "bargains" and stick with the solid 30+ year old homes, near main streets. But I think you might see better prices in 18 months time. It's true the rental market should remain strong, but there is a possibility of an april shock, if many large portfolio holders sell out to take advantage of the new CGT regime - though that too may lead to some bargains to be had, with some properties already kitted out for renting and maybe with long term sitting tennants.

People buying at the peak in 88 had to wait 12 years to realise the same value in real terms. And digsby, I'm not sure anyone is being triumphalist about the decline of the housing market - it's not good for anyone apart from those who sold up and decided to rent until the market bottomed, which I don't think anyone on this this thread has admitted to. It's a bad time, but the best we're looking at is a few years of stagnation, ie prices rising with or below inflation. If you're happy in your house and you're there for the medium term, that shouldn't affect you.

Raise the prices, or raise the age to 21? Which would be more effective?

Jeremy Warner's Outlook: Scarcer mortgages spell housing gloom

I'm sure we're all aware of how organisations adjust for seasonal fluctations. Plus the rightmove index is based on asking prices, where as the halifax, nationwide and land registry indices are based on actual sale prices. It will be a couple of months before we can judge if this "bounce" feeds its way through into actual trade prices.

Who said they're impartial? I suppose in a debate about smoking you wouldn't consider any arguments put forward by ASH or cancer research as they are not impartial! They are presenting the one side of the argument that the govt don't. You could always read the document and respond to the govt's references to how coercion will be used to make people carry cards in contrast to previous govt promises.

Well now that's all cleared up, let's get back to the scaremongering HOME OFFICE'S SECRET CHANGE OF PLAN link to leaked document

Wrong - was announced and got various emails about it from BA, BAA and other airlinesIndeed they did. But seeing as that is the only thing wrong you pick out, one must assume the rest of the article is correct.

Stealth != right

Most say ID cards will fail, report finds Identity cards 'useless in fight against terrorism'

Declan MacManus - Good Year For The Roses

I said when it doesn't apply to your own valuies, so as you drink that would obviously not be the implied reference. But it's going a little bit OT so we'll leave it there if you wish

And is anyone proposing the proesuction of those people responsible for the shootings? I don't think so. They are calling for all those who suffered under a completely shitly managed war to be remembered for their suffering and what they gave up, ie their lives. If we were to be prosecuting people it would be the politicians and war mongerers who led to the face off, not those who were instructed to oversee a morally corrupt code of conduct.

It must be said that Michelsen does have a rather authoriitarian (nanny state) streak as long as it doesn't apply to his own values. I'd agree with you on that Tony

Tragedy & Mystery - CHina Crisis And now the masterful Wishful thinking. Remember skipping away from the studies, three of us lying in grass in early spring (or was it late autumn, the grass was long and wet anyway) smoking a spliff, listening to the charts, and this had got into the top 10 and I told the others to shut up and listen to the tinny radio we had, and it was peaceful, and with a bit of smoke behind you we could have saved the world, but we just enjoyed a peaceful 3 minutes floating across the grass listening to the perfect pop song. Happy daze.

Of course today's morals can be used to judge the past. Otherwise have we progressed. Some might say that colonialisation brought third world countries out of their feudal cultures. Whether or not that argument is correct, surely that is using your own current moral position to say ridiculous things such as Of course if you believe that we have no jurisdiction over the way people lived their lives in days gone, then such an argument would be a falseood.

Tragedy & Mystery - CHina Crisis

point i was trying to make is that we are allowed to forgive wwI vets for cowardice as it wasn't their fault , but German soliders who followed orders are still fair game to be persecuted 60 years later as they should have questioned those orders and taken a bullet in the back of the head rather than follow orders as they were trained to do OK it's been a long weekend, and the nuremburg trials established the idea that "I was merely following orders" was not a very good defence when you had an option. I am not aware of the ongoing persecution of foot soldiers who had no choice but to shoot at the enemy, though the proxies of the israeli state are tracking down people who were deemed to be have been leaders amongst those who committed attrocities, not the sort of people who had a gun to their backs.

I love reading your posts. Not quite sure how to take that :?

and yet when they follow orders and kill people we do blame them ..who'd be a German solider hey !!That argument is contradictory. We wouldn't blame them for disobeying orders, yet we would blame them for following orders. But you seem to see no way out of that?

Of course if you believe civilisation has progressed that argument becomes invalid, as today's morals standards should be higher than those previously heralded as the absolute. However if you, like me, believe we have regressed then I look forward to enslavery and flogging at regular intervals.