Heartland

Perhaps if people are abandoning their faiths there is a need for religion to be more involved in education in order to maintain these valuable traditions? Also, what is a faith school? My primary school was a CoE aided establishment. In practise, this meant we had an hour a week with the local rect...

Surely a driver should stay in the inside lane at all times, except when overtaking a slower vehicle while remaining within the speed limits. I seem to recall that in my highway code, anyway. To argue that you're always changing lane is a red herring - lane discipline and speed are only tangentally ...

Isn't this a horribly general report, though? I don't believe that any first-world democracy is fundamentally defined by a religious faith anymore (maybe Israel, but I'd question 'first-world' and 'democracy' there). Surely any society has a 'religion' of sorts. Officially atheist states such as the...

To address your points I have a good idea of how fast I'm going when I'm driving - at an appropriate speed for the conditions. I could give you a figure if you want but I'd suggest that driving at an appropriate speed is better than aiming at an arbitrary target. Clearly the thousands of miles desi...

Near where I live we have speed bumps which are designed to be narrow enough for a car to drive over without 'bumping'. It sounds pointless, but you can't clear them cleanly at much more than 20 (which is the speed limit) and get a smooth ride and less risk of damaging your suspension. Sounds like a...

I always liked 'I'm sorry you feel that way'. Make it clear that someone's bad feeling is entirely their fault. If you deliver it with enough chutzpah people think you've apologised and feel better, without me having to compromise towards people who don't necessarily deserve it. Naturally, when I'm ...

But how far does this get us in terms of autocracy versus democracy? To a very real extent, space travel, Rembrandt and the Pyramids don't have a hugely profound impact on day-to-day life, however thrilling they might be. I've no direct experience of living outside of a democratic nation, and I susp...

And, while we're on the subject, why is putting a man on the moon the most important achievement of the past 1,000 years? And, if it's so important, does it justify the dubious origins of (some of) the technology involved; equally does it justify the fact that rocket technology is mostly used to blo...

How many of the world's greatest monuments were built on the back of brutally repressive regimes (Pyramids, Great Wall of China, anything Roman just to get us started)? Who bankrolled the Renaissance? etc etc. It makes an interesting moral debate: was the gulag a worthwhile price to pay for the mus...

Mark, would you agree that there is no system of government that man cannot corrupt, pervert, and abuse? Yes probably. Democracy is not a great system. Its main advantage is that it's at least eight times better than anything else. If you believe that mediocrity for all is the best way forward. It ...

Seems to be endemic in Europe to nobody has any idea who to vote for anymore. Can't claim any expertise on Germany .... I know alarmingly little about German politics so this is a general comment. Isn't this result (and the percentage result in the UK election, and the narrowing of the philosophica...

I did? I'd put most of that down to flabby observation with a hint of 'what I did on my summer holidays'.

Whatever works, I guess ...

I'll have forgotten my answers before you post them up tomorrow.

And after the event nobody would believe it if I got any of them right.

But the cold war was never a clear cut 'good v evil' battle either. Whatever the evils of communist regimes (and there were many of them), the tranisition towards 'freedom' has been slow, painful and in some cases non-existent (see Transnistria, most of central Asia, Belarus and several aspects of R...

Genre split for classical / non-classical; a further sub-division for foreign bands (of the type which could only ever achieve success in their own country). Any hints on how to create a combined alphabetical order for different writing systems. Recordings are then filed alphabetically by artist/com...

FHM as a cultural yardstick. Defintely a more embarrassing claim than any Hollyoaks fetish.

Luckily I've no idea what any of you are talking about. My 'TV with the sound down' interludes tend to feature vintage Hollyoaks.

Twenty/20 just isn't cricket ....

Maybe the one-dayer when Essex entertain Durham. Or maybe we could introduce a cricketing round into the Badminton Horse Trials.

And it all started after I carefully explained to a Polish girl that we don't play cricket on horseback. Unfortunately she now thinks it's always this exciting. If she comes to England next summer she might want me to take her to a game, and I don't know if the County Ground in Chelmsford is going t...

Someone remind Pietersen that he still has some batting to do, even if he has got a century.

What do you reckon would keep the Aussies at bay, assuming we won't bat through the final session?

...we play with a tennis ball on tarmac (none of this dastardly spinner nonsense)... You're kidding, right? Given a tennis-ball and 22 yards (ish) of tarmac, I can turn it square. The hard bit is turning a real cricket ball off the tracks that Warne manages to get spin from. Picking Bell has been t...

Saw them on TOTP

Thought they were pretty decent. Better than the dross from 'Exciter' at any rate.

Also caught a snatch of the Arcade Fire for the first time: interesting, but not quite all I'd hoped for.

Pussycats Dolls were depressing.

Escape is not always that easy, Andy. Thank you , Tim. You've saved me a tetchy rant. I owe you a drink... :wink: If you want to go, take a gamble and go. Or stay in your comfort zone and quit moaning. Sorry if I seem unsympathetic, but really it isn't all that hard. You _can_ change your circumsta...

@ Boudicca: if you're so desperate to leave, why are you still there? It's not like Scotland is some sort of Belorussian cold-war relic where your every thought and action is scrutinised by a police state who will turn you back at the Solway or Tweed. You have the flexibility to go and live in most ...

They could if he was untested at the highest level. They certainly could after he failed at the highest level. If it helps there are some Pakistani kids down my street who play a lot of cricket in their back garden. I'd guess I could average 297 against them, providing we play with a tennis ball on ...