Quote of the day:
"The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled,
public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome will become bankrupt.
people must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance."
Roman Emperor Cicero, 55BC
So evidently, we've learned bugger all over the past 2069 years.

I was watching a TV program a few weeks ago where the TV interviewer was asking members of the British Public if they believed in Climate Change.
One chap replied, YES I believe in climate change.
He went on, my favourite part of England is the Lake District, with it's mountains and valleys and the beautiful lakes all carved out by the glaciers millions of years ago.
He asked the question, where are the glaciers now? he answered his own question - they melted, when global warming commenced about half a million years ago.
He asked again, have the glaciers returned and again he answered his own question - NO! so, he said, we are still in the grips of global warming that commenced half a million years ago.
How right he is.
So global warming is hardly a new phenomena is it, maybe the English glaciers will return when we slide into the next ice age

Well done Willhiem, good thing you had a decent camera, couldn't do much myself with my little Panasonic point and shoot.
See, you guys in America are lucky, you can carry the means to defend yourselves. In England only the bad guys carry knives and guns the good guys have cameras, but we have to be careful and always remember, it's the bad guys 'human right' to kick the shit out of good guys including geriatrics like me.

Hi Spindrift,
I think the sniper may be ok, he was at least half a mile away when he shot the Muslim gentleman terrorist. It's if you are closer to the enemy than half a mile that you risk being charged with murder and consequently be imprisoned, booted out of the military, lose your pension and have your loved ones booted out of your military accommodation as happened last year to a royal marine who was only a couple of feet away from the muslim gentleman terrorist when he shot him dead.
As a royal marine he should have known that he contravened the terrorist gentleman's human rights.

Re:The Brittish Marine who has been convicted of murder.
I do hope he gets a minimal sentence for his actions.
One has to remember though, as we read in the media, the afghan fighter had been hit several times by 30 calibre rounds from an Apache helicopter, to me, it was miracle he was still alive but certainly, his fighting days were over. His weapons should have been taken from him and he left where he was for his mates to rescue him. He was no longer a threat.
The incident was video recorded and later the film was down loaded onto the marines personal laptop, WHY??
To the ordinary man in the street, it looks like the marine wanted to brag to his mates in the pub back in the UK and display his trophy.
The video was discovered on the lap top by members of the brittish Military Police. who must have brought it to the attention of the civilian police.
To recap, I am only stating what we the brittish public read in our press.
Even enemy ' scumbags ' should be shown some respect when they are on the brink of death.
All those present at the shooting were well aware they were breaking the rules of prisoner treatment as declared by the Genever Convention.

Will someone please enlighten me, I am not a millitary man.
If chemical weapons are being used in syria in residential areas of a city, why is it that in the UK tv footage we have only seen pictures of fit young men as casualties. Why doesn't these chemicals also affect the elderly, women, children and animals. I always thought gas was indiscriminate.

WW2 Many thanks cowleystames. I often wonder, in the dog fights, especially during the battle of Brittain, just how many collisions there were and how many young guys lost their lives by collisions.
Re the Readham collision, I wonder who ' Bill ' is who recently has come to the UK and the little village of Readham, to pay his respects to his brother and bomber crews
who lost their lives in the crash.

Whilst cycling through one my local villages in south Norfolk UK ( Readham )
I noticed a fresh wreath had been layed at the war memorial which is in memory to the crews of 549 and 550 bomb squadron both B17 which collided over Readham marshes on 21st February 1944.
Presumably they were returning to RAF Great Ashfield near Bury St Edmunds and home to USAF heavy bombers.
The wreath was dedicated to ' memory to my dear brother and crews of the two B17,s which collided over Readham marshes21st February 1944, from Bill - USA.
Does anyone have any information of the events leading to the collision.

We only trade we have with the middle east is oil.Providing the arabs are supplying us with the vital oil, we do not need to be involved in the bitter dispute between the various religious tribes of Muslims but mainly Shiites and Sunnis. while they are fighting amongst themselves they are leaving everyone alone.
If it was possible the British prime minister and his foreign secretary would have British troops in Syria today, the only thing that stops him is the fact he needs the backing, technology and manpower of the USA.
Thank god they couldn't pressurize President Obama into backing Britain and France into a Vietnam type war in Syria.

London Terrorist attack. We Brit's must remember that on 9.11 2001 muslim fundamentalists and Al Quader declared war not just on the USA but on all western christian societies. Time to deport all known muslim millitants and including all those preachers of hate starting with Abu Quatada.As an old age pensioner, I detest the thought that I pay tax from my pension to support these scumbags and their families on benefits.

I.m sorry to hear about the casualties caused by these devices - but
Is it chickens come home to roost?
When the IRA were bombing the crap out of British cities killing innocent men, women and babies we read in the media that most of the IRA funds to purchase bombs, explosives and guns were donated by the Irish American population including Boston.

Sorry re Jesus, I should have said, read St Luke chapter 22 verses 39 - 51

I wonder, if Jesus was alive today would he carry a gun for self defence. In jesus's day there were no guns, the sword was the weapon of self defence. Did Jesus carry a sword? who knows but his followers did. When Jesus was was betrayed on the Mount of Olives his deciples asked him if they should protect him (Jesus) with their swords but Jesus refused the offer but one if his disciples did draw his sword and cut off an Ear of a servant of the high priest.
This desciple was so skilled with a sword, that he could cut off an ear, a fraction of an inch either way and he would have sliced into the skull face and jaw or would have sliced into the guys neck and shoulder. What a skilled swordsman.
Read St Luke chapters 39 - 51. Were all of Jesus's disciples skilled swordsmen.
Jesus obviously knew that at least one of his disciples carried a sword, A sword not being something which one can hide in your back pocket.
Was Jesus also a skilled swordsman?? who knows.

Hi TheeGambler, The gold situation is amazing. I wonder how our Gordon Brown managed to get our gold reserves back to sell.
Just a pity that instead of settling our UK national debt with the revenue from the gold sale.

Thank's for putting me in the picture regarding U.S. politics, I didn't realise your politics were as corrupt as ours are in the UK.

Can any one explain to me, why, as most developed countries have gold reserves to bale them out in times of austerity, why can't they sell some to raise money to reduce the national debt?
When our Mr Gordon Brown was our prime minister he sold off millions of pounds worth of UK gold reserves in order to get more money to squander but he didn't sell all of it.
Why can't the current government sell off some to reduce our national debt.
Why can't the USA sell off some of it's vast gold reserves to reduce it's national debt?
As I understand it the USA has a vast amount of gold reserves in Fort Knox, like about 4.500 metric tons of it.