villamark

Sad news about the death of Jerry Collins and his wife. I met him a few times and he was a really nice guy without any ego. The story about him playing for Barnstaple 2nds is typical of the type of guy he was. RIP

Got to Jim thompsons house when your in bangkok, I stayed at a hotel called the lit and it was good value, was about 2 years ago. I went to an island called ko racha yai and stayed at the racha which was really good.

I think fairer taxation may be the way to go, rather than minimum wage. I'm sure someone can come up with a way to ensure the cake is sliced more fairly than it is now. Tax people 90%

No the local cornershop wants to pay high wages to his staff and as much tax as possible.

Would small business pay higher wages than minimum wage?

No indpendant trader would be able to pay the high business rates so that would be a few billion lost in taxes

Roger Lewis has come out and said the pro 12 teams will not join the break away. If you want a european competition than you need teams from across Europe. The Itailian sides have no chance of getting in the top 6 of the pro 12, not unless they pack the teams full of imports from SA and NZ.

England get 6 places, France get 6 places , Ireland get 3 places, Wales get 3 places and Scotland and Italy get 2 places. This has nothing to do with qualification; it has to all to do how the money is carved up. France and England spread it between all the teams in the league. The Celtic nations have regions so it is spread amongst fewer teams so the regions are better funded. England and France want a bigger share of the money as they think they are the big draws, the only problem is that more viewers watch games involving Munster and Leinster. The pro 12 have already said it will not join it, it is brinkmanship. You have to look at the bigger picture, if you exclude Italy and one of the Scottish teams from the top level completion how will that affect the 6 nations, surely it is better for Italian players to get some more exposure at the top level which could help the Italian national team.

Will do some running,, might see if I can squat in a week or two. Just started to feel that the training was making an impact, have lost quite a few inches off the waist with a mix of training and diet, doing the paelo.

I am gutted, was back into lifting weights, routine sorted, I have dislocated my thumb, had to have an operation to to reattach the ligamnents. Doubt I will be able to grip for 12 weeks.

If you cut the frivolous claims by charging a fee then, the people who have had their rights violated will get justice much quicker as the ET will not be back up with frivolous claims.

I would be interested to see / hear your evidence for that, especially the blackmail comment. Maybe the fact that workers rights are so eroded now is worthy of consideration and the costs impacts of any righting wrongs that typically happen when employers act illegally / immorally (or both) are worthy of debate? The way I read your comments is that only people with money should have the right to legally question these things? 1600 pounds for a full hearing is a pretty serious amount of money - especially as you are claiming it should be more. I wonder how many people can / would afford that? Wife works in HR, quite a few employees put in cliams knowing the employer will pay out rather than spend thousands of pounds winning a case at ET. it's a numbers thing, they end up doing a comprimise agreement because it is cheaper. How about the empoyee pays the employers legal fees if they lose.

People use ET as a way of blackmailing empolyers, they know it costs an employer money to get a case prepared, the ampount of time HR spend on it plus getting legal advice. Most employers give a grand or two to avoid the cost of going to ET, the only problem with this policy is thast the fee should be much higher.

Cameron is a villa fan when asked he says he is a villa fan because of his uncle who used to bring him to villa park. I would imagine he does not make a big deal of it because people jump on the "oh he is trying to be a man of the people" you might not like his politics but that does not exclude him from supporting us.

Lazy Cow is good, the Bar is quite nice as well. You could try the boot in lapworth, nice outdoor drinking area.