Aaron

Happy birthday Darren.

When the world economy collapses the mobs will be coming after your gold. Well as it happens i'm overdrawn and have zero life savings and no pension apart from a miniscule forces pension. BUT if i did have a significant sum of gold buried in the garden it would be buried alongside guns & ammo.

I'm not very good at operating a camera and controlling my face at the same time... Start: 7 Days:

Gold. Gold isn't in a bubble. Paper money is in a bubble, which is why the price of gold, in paper money, is rising. Central banks around the world are buying gold as the global ponzi economy is unravelling. The price of gold and silver has been artificially kept low for years, but it can't be held back for much longer. Everyone was telling me that gold was in a bubble a year ago when I was telling everyone to buy it at $1200-1300. It'll be back over the $2k mark again soon. Within the next 3 years I see gold over $5000 and ounce, minimum. Probably alot more. You have to go long though. If you're going to chicken out as soon as it takes a $100-200 dip then don't bother. I'm not sure about the green energy. It's been a promising industry but it's VERY expensive and once the world economy collapses completely I suspect that green energy will be bottom of everyone's list of priorities.

Although I normally stick a few quid in the box, there are people, including myself, that realy don't like the whole poppy wearing thing; for many of the same reasons I hate the use of the word 'hero' in so many similar things these days. So I can only assume that the reasoning falls into that general area - although it seems a little petty to care what symbols people wear on their sport kit. Football is a petty, girls sport anyway though

It's a commercial enterprise; they can do what they like. As if Cameron gives a toss about soldiers anyway, lol.

What are you volunteering for? Perhaps you could just solicit sponsorship. I know it's alot, but maybe a local newspaper (you know the free ones) could help you out by having a little section saying "Help HorseyNat save the whales". That might even prompt local businesses to chip in a hundred quid here and there.

Whatever helps you sleep at night

Green tea works wonders for digestion and your guts. If you've not tried it yet then perhaps it might help a little with indigestion.

Some people think he is a duck, Gaddafi duck. Only the colonel knows the secret recipe.

You need to eat a puffin.

Gaddafi was a badger? He looked as rough as a badgers backside.

Examples? Murder is unlawfully killing someone with malice aforethought. So both were murdered. I thought the seal team were ordered and it was sanctioned, therefore it was a lawful killing? (or have I misunderstodd who counts as a proper authority for legalising deaths?) It was sanctioned bythe US president. He is not a lawmaker. It also took place in a foreign, soverign, country without their permission. The 'powers' that Obama will claim to give him the legal authority are unconstitutional. The protests in Bayda and Zintan on the 16th of February were armed and were torching police stations. In response live ammunition was used. This lead to the "day of rage" on the 17th. You recall incorrectly. If you protested, armed, in this country you'd be shot dead. And remember, the point of the discussion is whether it was ok or not to treat Gaddafi inhumanely after capture. Next please.

Yeah, gotcha. Although I think the grey area regarding the flat rate would be on the side of the TDO (so not grey in reality as they must turn over alot), rather than the photographer that contributes to the TDO's revenue. I'm sure all the different tax mechanisms are just to hide how shockingly hight the net result is

Marco was one of the best bits about watching MotoGP. When I was looking for the race start time to see if i'd missed the start and needed to use iPlayer or not, and discovered that he'd died, my girlfriend burst into tears and I certainly struggled not to. So i think there's a difference between people sharing their grief together, and people offering token signs of respect. I hate the minute's silence at football matches for some earthquake, or whatever. Noone really cares; it's just a sign of respect that people feel duty bound to pay. On the otherhand I feel that all of the Simoncelli tributes honestly help people feel less sad about the whole thing. I reckon the race winner should take Simoncelli's bike bike on a victory lap with a monster wheelie down the finish straight !

Not disputing what you're saying, but do profit's matter at all when you pay VAT on turnover? If I'm contracting as an IT contractor I charge my client 20%, who charge their client 20%. They claim their 20% back, but I simply pay 14%-ish of everything I bill them to HMRC.

As far as VAT is concerned, as long as you don't turn over 150-ish k (can't remember the exact number) then you can volunteer for the flat rate VAT, which is lower than the current 20% VAT you'd charge your clients, so you'd make a small profit on it. I think for photography it's something like 11 percent. So you pay 11% of your turnover to HMRC, and charge all of your clients the usual 20%. You don't then get the opportunity to claim back VAT on materials, etc; but you get to keep the 9 percent difference in rates on your turnover.

Obligatory epic-rant link to some kid who knows what it's all about. It's at #OccupyWallStreet but it's all the same system. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCsIqLPjP4A

Reductio ad absurdum rarely leads to anything useful. The point was that we have legal frameworks and appointed judges to ensure that justice is served, and not miscarried. Propriety and adherence to protocol is what gives the legal system it's legitimate (for the purpose of this discussion) authority. It doesn't have to be political mate. I don't go in for politics because politics is built on the use of violence. It's about deciding what you feel is right and wrong, and making sure you believe it for your own reasons, and not because some authority figure says so. That's the only way you can be free; by at least knowing that you and I are being manipulated. In the context of how this discussion originally got started, I personally believe that laws, natural or constructed, must be true at all times, for all people. If I believe, as a self-evident truth, that a man owns himself, then all men must own themselves. From this if I believe in the concept of property ownership, including ones own body, as a self-evident natural law, then this natural law must apply to all men at all times. Now if from this I conclude that it is immoral to inflict pain on someone by misusing their body without their permission, other than in self defense, then it must always be immoral to do so, for everyone, at all times. Consequently I believe that, despite any previous behaviour, it must be immoral to physically abuse Gaddafi after he was captured. Questions regarding how it might negatively affect us is another aspect to consider, as we've discussed. The same must apply for more man-made laws. In order for the law to maintain legitimacy the law must be the law, at all times, for all men. As an ex soldier myself, I'm always concerned about violations of the geneva conventions, and other related treaties. If we don't respect the conventions should our serving soldiers be concerned that if captured they won't be afforded those considerations either?

Like someone already said, the cathedral just happens to be right opposite the LSE. The reason they're protesting is because the gap in wealth between rich and poor is that largest it's ever been, and is growing. They are seeing the banks and huge corporations dodging tax, engaging in reckless and often fraudulent financial practises, and recieving taxpayer funded bailouts when those (deliberately) reckless gambles fail. I personally find it encouraging for the fact that it's raising awareness, as mentioned above. But I don't actively support them, for now at least, because a large proportion of them (and the same goes for the rest of the #occupy movement around the world) don't understand why they are there, or are coopting the movement for other aims which are in my opinion a bad thing. And many of those that do understand what's going on do not understand who is their real enemy. The movement is full of people who call them selves anti-capitalist, who don't understand that what we're experiencing isn't even capitalism. At least not the Adam Smith kind of capitalism. These people need to understand that the real enemy is the government which sponsor the behaviour of the big banks and corporations. It's corporate fascism, or corporatism, that is causing suffering. Not capitalism. Then of course you have all of the real anti-capitalists, socialists, & communists, which is why I'm very reluctant to get behind the movement at this stage. Now, as far as the employment status of the protesters is concerned, most of them are young. Revolutionary periods have always been led by the younger generations because they have less to lose by protesting. They often don;t have mortgages to pay, and children to home, or spouses' welfare to consider. They also have experienced fewer years to build up an inpenetrable wall of apathy. They also have the most to lose if things continue unchanged. They are the ones who won't get a state pension when they retire. They are the ones who will find their retirement age upped to 70 years. They are the ones saving for a house deposit while central banks print billions of pounds to bail out banks, inflating those savings away. They are the first generation in history who's prospects are worse than their parents. As for actual protesting - i'm not fussed. It would be much more effective for the movement to target stock prices, or to remove their money from the system. When they realise that they have power in numbers they will cause things to happen. Hopefully by then they'll also understand who the real enemy they should be targeting is. May I ask why you don't like anarchists? (not being funny, just curious). I find the ideal of anarchy the most noble and moral or all. In fact it is the only morally pure system out there. I've no problem with people pointing out potential difficulties in implementation though. But anyway, Neil, I suspect that as far as the protesters are concerned, any impact of tourist visits to St Pauls is entirely insignificant when viewed in the context of the problems they are trying to address. I personally agree, although I suspect that a decent sized chunk of the group are socialists who want to sponge off of other people's labour. Another big chunk aren't though.

Murder is unlawfully killing someone with malice aforethought. So both were murdered. Noone said we caused any uprising. We did, however, takes sides with a rebel group that were in no danger before they decided to take up arms. In Afghanistan captured fighters are labelled insurgents and terrorists, and designated 'enemy combatants' instead of POWs, because they don't fight for their recognised government. So by that rationale, in Libya we took sides with the terrorists. Given Saddam's history and demise I wouldn't deny credence to those speculating that Gaddafi was ousted because of his designs on the all-african gold dinar. He denied responsibility for a long time. His taped admission didn't come out untill 2004, 3 or 4 years after Benazir Bhutto claimed he had already died. It's all besides the point though. He was never formally accused. His place on the FBI most wanted list, when it eventually came, never accused him of anything related to 9/11. Earlier this year a load of soldiers abseiled into an unarmed old man's home and shot him in the head. He never stood trial, and he was never even charged. That is murder. All the 9/11 crybaby talk about good vs evil is bullshit. There is no such thing as good and evil - just people doing the things they want to do. They'd have you buy into the 'evil' lie so that they can righteously maim and kill in the name of 'good'. If due process provokes " For what purpose exactly?" then can I assume that you're in favour of your local bobbys carrying guns, with authority to shoot anyone they feel, in their professional opinion, deserves it? Fascism is the merging of the state and the corporations. George Carlin hit the nail on the head when he said "when fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jackboots. It will be Nike sneakers and smiley shirts. Smiley-smiley.". You can distinguish by using your brain. If what you're being told doesn't add up then it's probably a lie. If you don't want to spend more than 5 minutes investigating something then fine, but then you should hold this in consideration when deciding with how much conviction you argue an opinion. As an aside, does it not strike you as curious that we live in a country where the state uses it's monopoly on violence in order to force it's citizens to subscribe to supposedly private media corporation? Bearing in mind that access to a television and/or laptop, etc, in todays society is more of a fundamental necessity (as if it matters anyway). Wrong. That's how you can tell something's not worth listening to. That's why I try to watch as little BBC or Sky news as possible; because if you pay attention you'll notice that anyone expressing opinions outside of the status quo are ridiculed, or even bullied. That coupled with the fact that their 'news' programs contain almost no newsworthy content. The BBC is like chicken nuggets. I'm open to changing my mind. Anyone who isn't isn't worth talking to. But the last few years of paying attention have me fairly convinced so far. Just look at all the chatter on the beeb about the eurozone right now. They're talking about all that bullshit so seriously, as if they know what they are talkign about, or even worse they do and are just lieing. It's a complete fraud. Listen to it and then try to convince me that the BBC is something to take seriously. I think you might have had a change of heart by then.

The government is running about trying to keep the ponzi rolling as long as it can. It cares not about your welfare or the welfare of Libyans. If it did then it would be doing something in Bahrain, and wouldn't be selling weaponry and teargas to Saudi Arabia (one of the worst human rights violaters going). When the economy is suffering and people are getting angry, governments go to war. Every time. War is enormously profitable, at taxpayer's expense. So it's not a seperate issue when considering the war. It isn't quite a seperate issue when considering the human rights and legal treatment of diposed leaders and prisoners of war either. As time goes on we're getting more and more used to waging wars of ever decreasing legality. And we're getting more and more used to the dilution of individual rights. Now we capture 'enemy combatants' instead of POWs so that the Geneva convention does not apply to them. We pick sides in civil wars when we can get away with blaming one side for being brutal, and claim it's to save lives. We murder individuals instead of taking them prisoner to stand trial (NATO's airstrike on Gadaffis convoy before he was killed, bin-laden, etc). We engage in extraterritorial assassinations & murders in soverign foreign countries whether that be via special forces or drones, killing civillian and (official) target alike. We kill and cause suffering to millions of people through sanctions which hit the innocent and vulnerable the most, goading them to turn against their leaders as we'd like them to. We kill and cause suffering by bombing water mains in Libya, and then by bombing the pipe factory that could produce the pipes to fix the water supply. Millions suffer and our fascist corporate media machine hides it from us (just watch some RT, AL-Jazeera, PressTV to see what Sky/BBC omit from the news). The more 'normal' it becomes to behave like this the less conniving the machinations of the state need to be to pull it off. All of this is funded in deficit, and what many people don't realise is that when your government is borrowing money from the chinese, they aren't selling bonds. They aren't selling magic digits on a computer screen either. They are selling you, and they are selling your children. Every day we are despised across the world more and more, and your own government is knowingly making that happen using your own money; impoverishing us and indebting our unborn. In a year's time, when Libya is looking more like Sommalia, people will wonder what happened and and they'll look towards us. Huh?

Bedford was good because all the run-offs were grass. I chickened out on one turn and aimed for the grass. Didn't need it in the end.

I woke up on Sunday with a little buzzing feeling from the day before. Then I watched the MotoGP and felt sick ever since .

Snetterton is just down the road from me, so I intend to get there next year.