Yes, I completely agree Viper. The thing is that depending upon who it is, affects the degree to which we care about their opinion of us. For instance I care far more what my boss thinks, compared to say an aquaintance whom I may only see a couple of times a year.

But when does caring become worry? and is it sometimes healthy to worry? I guess that all depends upon the individual and circumstances, however one thing is for sure excessive or continuous worry is very bad for anyone.

Steve.

PS. Phantom II, I’m glad you met your Saudi it’s the first step to understanding his people and culture.

Phantom II; When you say “One more thing I’m baffled by is when I pointed out that I didn’t care what anyone else thought of me or how they perceived me…….how is that a bad thing? I wouldn’t expect anyone on here to care about how I felt about them or perceived them?” You show a true lack of understanding of how humans interact.

What others think of us is critical to our spiritual (and often physical) well being. Put at its simplest, do you care about what your boss thinks of you or your parents? Do you want people to respect you? (This one is critical if you want to get on in this world) or how about the stunning blonde sat at the bar? Do you want friends to support you in times of crisis? If the answer to any of these is yes, then in your own words you do ‘care what anyone else thought of me.’ So to venner your life with this attitude that you don’t care, deludes you into not fully understanding your place in society, which in the long run must have a negative effect on your life.

Piece of advice; because even if you don’t believe it, no one on here wishes you anything but a long prosperous and peaceful life. Believe what you have reason to believe not what you want to believe.

Steve..

Dhfan, there were some experimental versions of the Wellington (Mk V?), which had a hight altitude preasure cabin.

Steve

Spitfire Pilot, the tax problem is two fold;

Firstly every time a plumber/electrician/mechanic asks for cash in hand do you think the money goes through his books and he pays tax on it? About a year ago I heard on the radio a report of how many billions of self assesment tax was being written off as uncollectable – us PAYE people end up having to pick up this tax shortfall either through higher proportion of total taxation (VAT, inheritence etc) or through degraded services.

Also with globalisation huge amounts of tax that foriegn companies should pay in this country is whisked out of the UK in ‘management charges,’ before the inland revenue get a look in (I dare say UK companies do this overseas too), this is an increasing problem.

So tax revenues fall, as more people and more companies are ‘Tax Efficient,’ of course us little guys on PAYE have no options for ‘Tax Efficiency.’

Then there’s the question of what government does with the money they do get, but don’t get me started………………

Steve

Question Joey; how do you tell if a student is wearing a Swastika because of Hindu beliefs or Nazi sympathies? and given that many would argue that Hinduism is derived from the orignal Aryan religion, and that Nazism seeks to re-establish an ‘Aryan super race,’ are the two not interwined?

Steve.

Phantom II;

You say you ‘would never attack an innocent person,’ well has it ever occurred to you that when you join the military, you become legally obliged to obey ALL lawful orders. What happens if you are given ‘lawful’ orders to attack or kill innocent people?

As for saying that your ‘dislike for Arabic Muslims would never affect the way I do my job,’ do you really believe this? I don’t think many people would be so niave about themselves as to make this claim. Of course it will effect your behaviour towards them, certainly in subtle ways, perhaps as simple as not holding doors open for them that you would have for you comrades, or never initiating conversation with them. Perhaps in worse ways……

By the way do you know any Arabs or Muslims? I suspect not.

And as for your question does your dislike of them make you an evil person, I think not; but then it all depends upon how you define evil. But that’s a subject for a different time.

Steve.

Turbina; It’s called politics; and I’d expect that in a number of those countries, one of the reasons they won’t make Afghan deployments is that they can’t afford to give their troops enough ‘world class,’ equipment in order to afford their soldiers the high level of protection they deserve. Unlike the UK where our government seem to hold our troop’s lives in cheap regard.

There will of course be a myriad of other reasons; such as it would not be acceptable to the countries electorate, unaffordability and lack of suitable troops. The last two of which are both both starting to effect the UK armed forces.

Steve.

So Phantom II, lets do a little mental experiment.

Ten years from today, you are flying an F16 on an airstrike and you drop two thousand pounders on an undefended village where you are told ‘enemy’ leaders are gathering, only problem is you’ve just bombed a wedding (intelligence got it wrong again! They’ve already made this exact mistake once in Afghanistan). Shortly afterwards your engine catches fire and you eject and almost at once you are captured.

Your captors then try you by tribal custom and torture you to death over 72 hours for cold bloodidly murdering inocent people (ie the wedding guests).

Should I give a damn or not?

Steve.