jayseven

Yes to both. Because he knows where he himself is.

I am suddenly very afraid at the prospect of having a seminar with students three years younger than me tomorrow. Like, scared enough to be thinking about what I'm going to wear. Good thing I've actually forgotten everything, bad thing is I have a habit of talking when I'm nervous. Then work, to face my 'helpful' colleagues and to tell the to stop fucking my chances up a few days too late. Then pub for a committee meeting for my jugglesock, which will no doubt make us realise we have a shitload of work to do to get sorted. Then a mate's invited me to see him perform his poetry thing at some place. ALL THE WHILE THERE WILL BE A CIDER FESTIVAL ON. A pint before work might be on the cards. I feel so shit. I need more than hugs. I think I need some casual sex, it's that bad. *calls Dan*

Why the fuck didn't you have massive amounts of respect for me in the first place, is all I'm wondering. INFRACTION ISSUED.

Ramar; i liked that :P I really, really need to just get back into the emogrungecorewhatever stuff again. Really do love it.

I've not sent my PM in because, honestly, this is teh most confused and clueless I've ever been in a mafia game. You totally need to know about pokemon.

You'll have to do better than that if you want to fuck with me, molly!

You aren;t supposed to use any words at all in the picture round, surely? Also rummy you should mix up the order next time just to keep things a little different. CUBEEEOTCH! Take it off vibrate. You sick perv.

Well this is where you have to understand that as a democracy we, the majority, don't want to see more of our taxes doing just that, because we, the majority, believe the money is better spent in other ways. By offering education, training and work trials then there's at least a chance a percentage of the layabouts will end up co-existing within society, therefore contributing and paying their own taxes. Your method does nothing but drain our society, further reducing any such spare resources that could go towards the military as you intend. A better solution, that I'm surprised you didn't mention, would be forced enscription. Do the jail time then for community service go and serve in the armed forces. Maybe do what our grandfathers did, and what many european countries still do, and have it so all youths have a compulsory year or two of community services. That would not only show them discipline but also provide a cost-effective release of fiscal pressure on the benefits (and jail) side of things, as well as busying the youth so they cannot commit crime/laze about all day. Interestingly, I just looked at a few costs and such; Each inmate costs over £32,000 a year to keep at Her Majesty's pleasure (yes, that's a scottish prison system, but it's not going to differ hugely!), 3 years ago there were 77,640 people in prison, which is approx. £2,484,480,000 a year. However, there are reportedly 6 million on benefits, costing £17,000,000 a year. Now at first glance you'd think that means prisons are cheaper -- but if you sent all those on benefits to prison it would cost £192 billion! Even if you only sent 1 in 12 to prison, then the combined cost of benefits and jail would double for the government (and therefore, us!). So you're effectively saying you'd be willing to pay more than double teh tax you are currently paying for something that does nothing to solve the problem. The current benefits system offers work trials, seminars and volunteering. By removing this system you also remove the chance that an individual may one day learn to exist within society, and therefore paying their own taxes. Just sending them to jail... well it solves nothing! At all! It's also completely disregarding legitimate circumstantual reasons for... well, anything. Even chavs were born innocent. They aren't pre-programmed to be dicks. Don't you see that? Don't you see how, with the right intervention at the right time, they could turn out to be just like me or, god forbid, you? (that last bit is definitely a joke :P) Basically, Danny, I can't really argue with you when your argument is generalising everything. You need to prove that jails are "cutsy", and try and substantiate the elements to your argument otherwise you're never going to get me to retract anything at all, and your general arguing style will just end up making people annoyed at the way you debate rather than what you say.

So you got bored because you kept losing? :P I'd disagree. I've been in the top league for three or four seasons straight now, and each one has been different. This season I've beaten the top dogs, so's ell, so's rez. Oddy's team has been the only one that was ever paramount. And in your league surely it's totally different? There's about 5 teams all fairly even! You can still survive in teh middle league this season - with survival comes strengthening your team, raising your average team skill.

No, it's our fault. As for long-term benefits claimers - I wish I could find a citation - but there are various obstacles that prevent people from doing this (back to work seminars, CV workshops, whatever), as well as 'back to work' schemes which people can be forced onto, and if they fail to attend then they are not awarded their dole money. I don't really think your argument is all that great because you're just generalising, not really sure yourself of any number, just that somewhere there are surely people who behave in this way. Rich, fulfilled life doesn't just mean lots of money. We expect to have the top-tier lifestyle in the world, we think we're the best nation on the planet, and we can't be arsed to even learn a second language effectively. The working class only exist because of industrialism, which also spurred on colonialism - twinned together made britain the greatest empire the world has ever seen. We still feel like we deserve a comfortable life. People living off benefits always feel hard-done by, feel like they are somehow owed a certain standard of life. I personally think that such a class of people can't be changed just by removing their benefits (crime would surely rise?), but through better education and information. Education. Provide them with the means to help themselves. How do you think they should help themselves? Jail time just means the tax payer pays more to look after these individuals. Jail does not solve anything. No amount of money given, no amount of protection would save all lives. People would still die, and in my eyes those people's lives are wasted by the pure existence of a war. I really don't think you can ever dissuade me on that. I think the money we spend on military is money that could be better spent elsewhere - and if it was, then none of these lads you speak of would've ever died. Again, what's your solution? Raise taxes, or cut investment in which sector? This isn't a well argued post because I think our debate is becoming more and more vague.

It just makes you silly for not setting it more often. You'd have probably the strongest side in the division if you managed it for 15 mins a week!

Good idea. Not in 'til 4pm tomorrow. But then, got uni at 9am. I'm going to return to the 'ignoring' her routine. See if she initiates some form of communication. How is cider pansy when it's pretty much always stronger than beer! :P Oh yeah - yesterday I dropped my phone, then it overheated while i was calling someone... and now it's started up fine and there are an extra 40 pictures that I thought I lost on it still. This randomness might mean it will work with my pc cable, and I can upload again, woot!

Vid of people getting punched in the face

Odwinsday! I will pay tribute by being right all day long. Awesome Have a good day, OLD MAN! Mwahaha!

Up before my alarm, and feeling alright. Was talking to hot-girl-from-work on facebook chat. I've decided that she's not interested. She doesn't instigate conversation and she isn't sending out any signals at all. My colleagues apparently made her snap the other day, getting her angry and shouting and stuff. My colleagues aren't helping. Not got a lot to do today. Finish work at 3.45. What to do? __ I've forgotten what that stress was like. I've been able to get a good night's sleep for ages, just not having to worry about the future like that. Yet tomorrow I start uni again... Eenuh you've always seemed on top of your work even if it does stress you out. Just remember how quick college has been up til now! It'll all be over soon. Wes; hate it when they give you next to no time to do a project, let alone when the modules are ignorant of the work you have to do for other modules at the same time. No chance of any extensions? Dyson; HA. Now you know how I feel, except the Touch for you was literally Rent for me.

I agree, the current conflict never had an outright goal that could reasonably be ensured. It's all too hazy and ridiculous. I don't like how you say 'so flawed' simply because she is being payed to stay at home with her kid. There's an element of melodrama to your arguments, and that's why I find it hard to sympathise with your opinion, let alone immediately agree with you. This 'record number of people' coincides with the recent recession; this is 'officially' the worst year to graduate for something like 70+ years, and it's not uncommon for students to sign on after uni as an interim act. I did this, for about 2 months. In the end, the job centre got me my job. I wanted a job, I got one. People who don't want jobs will have a poorer quality life, so that's their punishment for being lazy. I don't mind eastern europeans coming here to work at all. My brother in law is eastern european and he often worked 18-hour days with no days off just to make ends meet. He would've been better off on benefits but he understood the cultural eyes upon him, and chose instead to create a living hell for himself. That we are willing to sit on our arses goes beyond the government - there's a sense of 'pride' - a sense of some sort of entitlement to success that we brits have. We think we deserve a rich fulfilled life regardless of how much we work. This needs to be adressed on many levels, and it's far too harsh to focus that blame on the current government considering this pride stems from hundreds of years ago. So what sort of help do you think would benefit the 'poor' then? It's all well and good saying they get too many benefits (even though I still argue the country would be much worse off, and much more crime-ridden if we did things a certain different way) without contributing towards progressive thinking. No matter what you say, a serious investment is needed in sustaining their lives, in improving their lives.ETC. GETTING LATE. As I say, it's all well and good saying what is wrong, but what are the alternatives? Council flats are worthless. The areas are more crime ridden (chavs tend to commit more crime on other chavs than us poncy folk) and farther away from teh good schools (and vice-versa). If you really think they're alright then you can easily claim a council flat. That's the joy of it all - if you're jealous of a chav's life then it's readily available to you. If they're jealous of your life then... well it don't come as easy Better argument tomorrow, i promise.

I agree that there are inefficiencies and wastes. But... National debt is not a new thing. The entire planet is 'borrowing' all this invisible money. It's why we're having this recession at the moment. Why does it not bother me? Because any andevery government in power would be, or is, in debt, and because it's the fault of capitalism, not one party or another.

The falklands were ok for you, then? I don't really think you can ever say any war goes easy, or that any government makes all the right decisions. Simply by going to war you're signing the death certificates for any number of individuals. No amount of spin changes the figures. They're still true. Crime is down. Chavs have always existed in some form or other. *shrugs* How recently did your step-sister have a baby? Surely any encouragement for a mother to stay at home with the child is a positive thing? The family unit is a crucial element to a perfect society, so why not? Conversely, if labour weren't supporting new mothers enough, you might be here saying "my step-sister has just had a baby and already she is forced back into work because the government aren't supporting her enough." It's not easy to say. As for an incentive to go back to work; there's more to life than money. Friends in the workplace, the feeling of earning ones way, heck even getting away from teh bawling little ball of baby! Similariy, you say you're not getting paid enough? Then get a different job! That's just the way it is. As for 'well looked after' -- council flats aren't pretty places. Children aren't cheap, that's just the way it is, too. I'd honestly say I'd rather live in a society where the poorer 'scum' are helped out. Charity is more than just-deserves, it's about increasing the average quality of life; offering these children born into these situations a chance to get out of it. Chavs are going to have babies, just like anyone else. I'd not like to be in a world where we turn a blind eye and just let them brew in filth when we can give them a chance. Of course, nothing is simple, and there are holes in this argument -- but the ethos remains. The grass is greener on the other side, life is unfair, you can never make everyone happy, and we'll complain about the next government just as much as this one. You look at the list and admit 'defeat' on some points, but that's clearly not enough to change your mind. You speak about opinions based on facts, but are unwilling to let your will be changed. You are selective about what you think is important, and therefore the best government for you simply does not and cannot exist. By dismissing everything a government has done, you're not losing the right to your opinion, just lowering its worth to anyone who cares to listen - and no matter how much we disagree, you ought to remember that I am at least listening.

Felt hugely at home living with shorty and nami. For those two years that place was definitely more home than my brighton house (where my bedroom was painted pink and all my possessions whittled down to a bookcase in the corridor), but brighton city, especially that lil' place called Hove Lagoon, is where the heart is. I think. It's a great place to grow up and be young in, but I do wonder how it'd feel as a grown up. Plus, up north I've made a lot of solid friends that will forever remain in the wrong end of the country, and I suppose I never really feel more at home than with people I feel totally comfortable with. Back south, every trip home is a non-stop tour of a checklist of "people I have to see while I'm here" taht can feel forced and sometimes anticlimatic. Future plan; home is where the soulmate says it is. *shrugs*

Let's not debate about who's wasting their time the most, eh? http://www.elthamlabour.org.uk/whats_the_labour_government_ever_done_for_us Yes, it's a labour website so they're going to be picky with which facts they want to present, but honestly it's quite an impressive list of things (which you won't read). What I'm most unhappy with (besides the war-o) is the reduction of civil liberties. How about you?

Can I buy it next payday? 28th october! I will be richer then

So long as you remember that it's just your opinion and not fact, then nobody gives a crap.

Moogle dissapeared but might be up for it this time, right? Who else did we have before? Why aren't we seeing more people from teh football thread playing? I really thought it'd be right up their aisle.

Will all the 'episodes' be free?

I was upset like a stoic, remember?