OT: Here's a good idea

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If Dave is talking about TV, they generally show pictures of the victim and grieving parents - at least on the local news. So is there really a need to mention their colour in the commentary?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

And neither do we. Putting it in parenthesis makes no difference to that.

Of course the way the various schemes are funded varies. In the same way as no two democratic countries have exactly the same voting system.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

So there we have the answer to NHS funding. Cut the pay of of those working in it. You just know it makes sense.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

When a population increases, all sorts of shared services need to be expanded to meet the rerquirments. The NHS is no different.

[Huge]

Pity HMG doesn't promise to spend the European average on the NHS, in the same way they do for other things (defence?).

[Roger Hayter]

They've been doing that for the last eight years at least. In terms of cuts in pensions, increase in pension contributions, wage freezes, and the abolition of various kinds of seniority payments. And in the case of junior doctors the massive reduction in unsocial hours payments.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Well, quite. It's odd the way some things can have the money needed found, but others can't.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

But it hasn't gone far enough. These people have a vocation so should be perfectly happy working for free.

[ARW]

Such rules make me glad that I live in the UK.

[Martin]

If you want to vote you have to register in UK too.

[Vir Campestris]

How old fashioned. I thought these days they did it with a high speed camera and a jet of air.

Andy

[Peter Duncanson]

They do use a jet of air. That's how mine were tested a few days ago.

[Martin]

I can't remember when they didn;t do it with a jet of air.

[alan_m]

The opticians used a jet of air and decided that the pressure was on the high side so that's when I had the appointment with the consultant where one of the tests was measuring the pressure by physically touching the front of my eyes with a probe - this was performed twice with a month between each test. I also had a field of vision test that was a lot more comprehensive than that performed at the opticians. Verdict - nothing much to worry about.

[Max Demian]

That's not very accurate. Better to press a flat piece of glass against the eyeball and determine how much it flattens, by the size of the circle of contact. (Or is it the force required for a specific degree of flattening?) Sounds painful, but they put anaesthetic drops in your eyes, and a dye to make the effect clearer.

[Peter Duncanson]

Interesting.

[Capitol]

You can always offer to pay HMRC more of your pension!

[Andrew]

Socialists just luvv 'sharing' other peoples money.

[Andrew]

She did fly to the states but they would not allow her in, despite having a visa, because she had no arrangement for local health care in view of her condition., so they put her on a flight back, that 'conveniently' had a London stopover.

Medically she should not have been allowed to board in Lagos, but money talks over there. The yanks should not have allowed her to fly either.

The way west africans dress, (and tend to be 'larger') can disguise advanced pregnancy.

I don't think she intended to come to LOndon, (unlike the

3,000 others from West Africa who have done just that) but I strongly suspect the Phillipino lady knew exactly what she was coming here for.

[Andrew]

Fewer vehicles, and more critically fewer, or even no bad winters, when roads are coated with salt, suffer frost heave, followed by heavy rain, all while being pounded by traffic.

And I suspect that the shift to front wheel drive and much more powerful and heavier cars is the real cause.

An FWD car joining a main road accelerates as it turns, so the driven wheels are exterting a tearing effect on the road, whereas a RWD car has its driven wheels kept parallel (assuming a live axle), and the front wheels are just rolling along the road.