Have to agree – but you haven’t answered my question. 😉

Tempting.

Anyway, here (in NZ) I’ve always heard of VE and VJ as the labels, but lately have noticed VP creeping into use. Obviously VP is aligned to VE so the situation may be more about alignment of terminology than PC’ness.

What intrigues me more is the various commemorations taking place now (in July). What’s that all about? I know there was discussion (in Historic) about the July date and I dismissed it as of no particular interest to me as it seemed to be some UK or European political/convenience thing. Abhorrent, but not affecting me. But now we’ve also had commemorations including young Prince William doing his first solo Royal Tour and laying wreaths etc. Will we also remember in August?

Indeed – the taking of these lands was an exercise not dissimilar to Iraq’s attempted reintegration of Kuwait a few years back. The US position in this regard is disappointing. Note also the volume of existing aid, much of it provided by way of military grants.

Get a grip Alexz33, this is a reasonable discussion about the whys and wherefores of a dreadful act – attacking the person making one element of the argument adds no value at all.

IMHO we are seeing freedom fighters vs freedom fighters. There are those who feel (and in many cases are) oppressed vs those whose ideology is that all should live under the umbrella of “democratic” freedom. The fight will continue until the “oppressed” feel they have come out from under that oppression. And given both sides believe they are working to this end … well.

My thoughts and condolences to those killed and injured, their families, Londoners and the British people.

Yep – the Nigerian scams have been going for YEARS, with assorted twists. They all involve you fronting up a bit of cash in return for a huge haul. The amazing thing is that there are still people who haven’t heard of these things, and there are still people who fall for them.

Not especially new news Rob, but fair enough to note.

As you say F1 appears to be in some danger of pulling itself apart. The rival GPWC (the acronym being used for this mooted rival manufacturers series) may or may not come to pass. The real issue is the bargaining position – with the main gripe being money (as in Bernie gets too much of the revenue split) and the secondary gripe being the frequency of rule changes (effected and enforced by the FIA). The result is a power tussle between the teams, the FIA and Bernie as F1 supremo and primary contractor. What happened Sunday week ago may not have happened had there not been this antagonistic/posturing background.

Dave, I don’t think your right about the points and race duration.

Places were awarded yes, you’ll note that Trulli shows as 7th and Raikonnen 8th, reflecting their P1 and P2 qualifying positions. This will help them to some degree in qualifying for the next race. But they, and their manufacturers, scored no points. You must finish the race to score points.

And the race starts when the lights go out. Have a look at the next telecast (or your tape of this one if you still have it) and you see 70/70 or however many laps it is at the top of the screen as we wait for the lights to go out. If there’s a false start and a further parade lap is required, or if the race starts behind a safety car, then those laps count as laps of the race. But the initial formation part-lap and the (first if plural) warm-up lap do not count.

dhfan ~ I readily concede that Michelin stated that their tyres were not safe to race on. Why then did they support/agree to the chicane? A. Because reduced speed would make their tyres safe as I argue above.