chrisp65

a painting of Digbeth, by Reuben Colley

If you can be confident the 20 or so varieties of Kurd spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Armenia will only use heavy weapons against our chosen enemies, then I see no problem with empowering them. What could possibly go wrong. It's a logistical nightmare and I get the impression from 5 minutes of reading wiki pages that perhaps 'the west' hasn't properly swatted up on this, but simply gone at it all a bit white hats and black hats. Trouble is, turns out the buggers have got loads of hats.

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To attempt to make a moral judgement is wrong and unproductive but we can still make the judgement call as to whether one choice is better than another. For my benefit, what's the difference between making a moral judgement and making a judgement call? It would be the difference between saying that having unprotected sex with a heroin-using hooker is wrong because it is immoral and a judgement call as to whether you thought it was an unwise choice to make, or not. I'm still stuck. Is it the word 'moral' that's a problem? Or considering consequences beyond one's self? As in considering whether the other person is acting out of free will? I'd happily say it's very likely immoral to get with a junky prostitute, for instance if she was likely doing it out of unwilling necessity and doom laden back story.

To attempt to make a moral judgement is wrong and unproductive but we can still make the judgement call as to whether one choice is better than another. For my benefit, what's the difference between making a moral judgement and making a judgement call?

Ha ha ha - Hello Mr racial stereotype. I am nothing, if not a stereotype. We even wore knock off Harrington jackets, burgundy sta prest and monkey boots.

Are you quoting Drive In by The Beach Boys there? no, just the advert that sometimes pops up on here with a picture of a bear in a hat that says only I can prevent forest fires it feels like quite a responsibility, not least as I live in an urban area and wouldn't even see a forest fire until it was biblical I think it's just limpid trying to pressurise me into renewing the subs

Puritanical levels of abstinence work for some people though. I think you get a whole raft of advice and try and select the piece that will work with your personality. If you can genuinely be a weekend / leisure user and it doesn't adversely affect others, great, fill your boots. If you can't do that, then just stay away from it. Totally. I'd say that was the approach for all drugs, from chocolate, bread, beer to whatever. I think there's room for lots of different approaches. The AA way of doing things has worked for some and not others. But if someone is moaning it's knackering their health and their relationships, that feels like they need to stop, not tweek their use. As mentioned up above somewhere, if you have 'that' personality, try and channel it into something else, use your money to buy a bike and become a middle aged man in lycra or some such. Get sweaty some other way, but still get sweaty. When I was a kid it was aerosol, glue and lager / paracetemol that were the readily accessible naughty pursuits. Some people did it for 6 months and moved on, others stayed on that path and now look 20 years older than the rest of us. It can't be pure coincidence that the guys that got up and left have typical stressed middle aged problems. The guys that stayed on it all have health problems and less rounded life styles. A bit of a leap of cause and affect I'll grant you. But it's an honest observation. In general, those that don't let drugs or other 'vices' bugger up their weekends or their work or their family, tend to get to the age of 40 / 50 / 60 looking a lot more boringly ok than those that go to greater excess more frequently. That's not a judgement, it's an observation of my peers in my town. Might be that this place is freakishly different. Let's not get all puritanical about what advice or experience can be shared. Some people need a cuddle, some people need shouting at.

yeah that's a very good call as much as it might look like copping out or selling out, unfortunately just plain moving to somewhere 'nicer'* can be the simplest way of giving yourself and your kids a chance * nicer is not automatically and completely tied in with private and more expensive, just, nicer.

Your real complaint would be the missing 'o', though. nobody likes missing o

You do know the camera on your laptop is jammed permanently on, don't you?

where as Internet users can enjoy them all for free every day smash the cistern, brothers!

I have just awarded myself the afternoon off. el eight erz as we say down in da neighbourhood

Fixed Dissed on my ability to have real friends by a **** banker! Fair point though.

shit! I nearly bought a cravat not 40 minutes ago! Thought it was a funky paisley silk scarf, commented how short it was just as my eyes saw the sign that said it was a cravat. Hobbo's pre warn gentleman's attire, Cardiff. I was jesting yes, it's a trip out, you make your pitch for what you would like the most and then you go along with the consensus. Anything else could put an edge on the trip out that people have been looking forward to. Even 'foot golf', which now gets another 'ffs'. My only exception to that is fancy dress. I'll go along on any event, try anything. But I don't do 'cos play' or fancy dress, I will not put on frillies and sussies 'just for a laugh' to raise money down the club. 'Tis my only rule, everyone knows they are more than welcome to go there themselves, but whenever a get together turns fancy dress, I bale. I don't even just turn up vanilla, I just avoid the event.

Personally, if I had three 'friends' that wouldn't watch the cricket with the real mean (beards, farah slacks, you know the drill), I'd sack myself out of their puny feminised ghey army and recruit some proper man bloke friends. You wouldn't see DIY star Tommy Walsh or Ric Griffin off of Holby City or Paul Hollywood the cake man turning down a pint at the cricket. Have a word with yourself. 'foot golf' ffs

here's one for all the Daily Mail readers on here.... Via an overly boring back story, I regularly acquire fairly large quantities of complimentary toothpaste and toothbrush kits. They come in a posh little cardboard box and contain a half sized tube of (usually aquafresh) toothpaste, and a plain white non-branded toothbrush. I pick up enough of these to be self sufficient in toothpaste and donate a decent number to a local foodbank (yep, they don't just do beans). From several pieces of feedback I've received a number of people given a few boxes in with their emergency rations kit (loo roll and soap etc that somebody else donates along with the food) have complained that either they don't like that particular brand of toothpaste, their kid is used to 'junior' toothpaste, or best of all, the toothbrushes are a bit crap. Seriously, people so down on their luck that they are given a box of food and domestic supplies, complaining that the toothbrush is basic. whiskey? Is that that horrible stuff that Scotch people drink ? not with an 'e' in it, no it'll be the rough stuff our Irish friends knock out for the yank tourist market the Welsh actually invented, 'wisgi', just after they discovered america

whiskey?

I like the stripey ones.

it's Tony H that I feel sorry for, he just spat his coffee out all over the carpet! A couple of interesting articles on this on the radio over the last couple of days, the benefit of a gap year to get that important little extra maturity and life experience etc., but also the increased hope this year due to an expected dip in overall results, less uptake of university is expected due to nominally lower living standards and disposable income, Russel group entering clearing etc.. They were saying they were expecting a lag of about a day and then potentially students getting their first choice but without the full grade set originally required - possibly. Best of luck, not envious of that time of life at all.

(warning - this post may contain reference to apple products) I was in the Villa Store on New Street earlier and asked the sales assistant if they had a 5c cover of any description. '5c?, no, we're not really that up to date around here' Part of me wanted to give her the full Falling Down style monologue, but instead I did my Randy Lerner impression and just sort of wandered off.

I have grown and eaten my very own very first fig. I got the missus to feel my plums earlier, very nearly ready, apparently. Though she didn't think it was funny when I shouted from the end of the garden 'come here and feel my plums'. Women are weird, because that's funny all day long to normal people.

I bought a sofa off Rugeley Villa. Put my hand down the back cushion looking for loose change and boiled sweets.

I can't remember what I've already made up and I'm not trawling back through 44 pages.

all a bit blokey in here you can actually smell the funk as you enter the thread