RE: RED ALERT 2

Thanks geforce, nice to know I wasn’t being thick!

RE: Australia’s refugee problem

Bad treatment is a deterrent isn’t it?

Australia is perfectly within its rights to act as they are. They are also taking a brave step away from the prevailing liberal views, expecially in Europe. Fair play.

My only concern is that Aussie immigration workers seem to have caught a “bugger off back home” bug in relation to any and all people entering their country. The formalities to enter (and leave, too) when I visited Melbourne recently were verging on the farcical.

Honestly, tall blonde accountants from England are not likely asylum seekers, yet they treated me more or less like I was. It’s the first time in my life (and I’m a seasoned traveller) I have been asked to show my return air ticket when trying to enter a country. They also read my passport visa pages like a novel, taking great interest in all the stamps there. I hadn’t been to a black country in over 6 months, so there was no problem in the end!

RE: Pets

Pets are disallowed in my lease, but I’m going to buy a place in the coming months so I might look at a pet.

My parents have two cats and a dog. Both cats boss the dog around and ocassionally attack it visciously. They often saunter over to it’s fopd bowl and steal the food from under it. The dog’s a huge thing too – a sort of cross between Alsatian and Greyhound. Wierd looking! But at night they all sleep together peacefully.

Also, dogs are just as clever as cats. Remember all the stories of dogs rescuing their owners. How about sheepdogs too? Border collies are quite intelligent.

Cats just seem clever because they are more arrogant and you can’t train them. Dogs are also obsequious (arse lickers, if you’re an Aussie politician) which makes them appear dumb.

RE: BA Vs. low cost carriers!

I disagree Kabir. Ryanair and BA are directly comparable, to the extent that they fly some competing routes.

If I need to get from London to Dublin, I need to decide who I use. From a standing start in the City, I’d use Aer Lingus from LCY as a first choice, followed by BA at LGW or LHR. Maybe I’m not choosing entirely on price grounds, but I am also pretty sure the price difference isn’t as great as Ryanair would have us all believe.

RE: EUR beats USD

In recent years, research has indicated that export success isn’t entirely dependent on the strength of the currency.

In Britain, the Pound has been extrememly strong against the Euro and Dollar for years, but our exports haven’t suffered as much as you would expect.

What happened with the world’s two big currencies reaching parity had a little to do with political will and a lot to do with the over valued Dollar and comparatively under valued Euro. It’s been on the horizon for a while.

RE: Now this I gotta hear

Steady on kev.

The most dangerous religious fanatics are those who interpret the Bible (or Koran or whatever) literally. I don’t think it’s meant to be taken as gospel truth, more as an illustration of some ideas.

Besides, you’re right. The human race was originally incestuous, sort of. It depends on definition. People in Africa have the greatest amount of genetic variation, whereas us Westerners are closer to each other genetically. Genetic diversity within a race is an indication of age; the older a race, the more varied it is.

On a more general point, it is incorrect to apply our “Western” morality to any other situation; be it historic or even present day as applied to non-Western races.