Posts by Ben Parr-Ferris

Lester

http://www.therockalltimes.co.uk/2005/08/08/lester-haines.jpg

I have no idea whether it's really you, Lester, but absent proof to the contrary I shall picture you thus forever more.

The question has already been resolved

in favour of the brontosaurus. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/vulture_central_standards/

Spycatcher

This rather sorry saga was covered by Peter Wright in his autobiography Spycatcher in the 80s. He said that the reason Crabbe had been sent in was to get information relating to the propeller design and composition which the navy had requested. It apparently wasn't the first time that they had tried to gather this information on the ship without success.

Wright also released the detail of the SIS officers using their own names in the hotel register, and said it was the Security Service (MI5) that did this when they were called in afterwards to try to hide the affair.

If it was a mine, it would have been more than just sinking a foreign cruiser; it would presumably have been assassinating a foreign head of state, as Khruschev and Bulganin were scheduled to leave on her after the talks. It seems to me a little unlikely that even a thoroughly out of control SIS would attempt this at the height of the cold war. A tracking device seems more likely, if anything was being attached.

They were British

Oscar Wilde died in 1900, 21 years before the foundation of the Irish Free State, when the whole of Ireland was still part of Britain.

Spike Milligan was born in British India (what is now Burma), and lived thereafter in England, even serving in the British army. His only connection to Ireland was his father's birth.

Of course, if you want to be really controversial, you could also point out that Ireland is part of the British Isles, geographically. Even if they don't like it.

@ Anonymous Vulture

Wrong. It isn't illegal to purchase alcohol at any age. It is an offence to sell alcohol to anyone under the age of 18 (unless with a meal, or a few other exceptions).

It's only an offence to give alcohol to a child, if that child is 5 or younger (unless for medical reasons).

If only I'd known before I was 18 ...

SFW

I notice that the Farmer's Arse in Yorkshire was NSFW, but the Scotsman's Fu(k isn't. Is this a sign of Lester's preferences?

AJ Stiles

"The absolute stupidest measuring unit ever invented has got to be the British Thermal Unit. That's enough heat to make 0.454kg. of water 5/9 of a degree C hotter, or about 0.000293kWh., and clearly was invented for purely political rather than utilitarian reasons."

That would be 1 pound of water and 1 degree fahrenheit then.

Sounds pretty straightforward to me.

Surely someone must have lived here?

http://streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=527250&y=207250&z=1&sv=527250,207250&st=4&ar=N&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf

I would be TT Duke which ain't bad I suppose.

How could we all be so stupid?

Of course, we shouldn't arrest these people because they got it wrong first time round.

You've really shown me the light - we should leave them out there until they've realised their mistake, and only after they've built a functioning explosive device and killed people should we try to find and arrest them. In the meantime, we can just sit back and pretend that no one's clever enough to be able to kill.

Frankly, I don't care if they kill a thousand or no one at all. They are using violence (whether successful or not) in furtherance of their political aims. That makes them terrorists. Sooner or later they will kill if they're left free, and the only way to stop that is to track them down now.

I have serious misgivings about the UK government's wish to curb our freedoms, but I'm not thick - these people need to be caught, and the fact that they failed first time is nothing but pure luck. It's no reason to "dismiss" them and their actions - unless you want to die that is.

.co.uk

How on earth could you persuade all those American correspondents that they are the mis-spellers if you adopt a domain that everyone sees as an American one? It might not be intended to be, but let's face facts, if it has .com at the end, the site can't spell and thinks "foreign" means another US state.

.co.uk it should stay, until they come up with .blighty anyway.