kevinjohnsonmbe

On the whole, I couldn't find much common ground with him but on this, he was the most dynamic, engaged, passionate and convincing speaker of the entire debate. BZ:thumbup:

This is where the cull logic is so obviously counter intuitive. Yes the badger has no natural predator, yes the population has expanded as a consequence (similar the deer population) The answer is not to cull the badger and make the next creature down the food chain the problem of the future - blood thirsty killer hedgehogs! How about reversing the cull logic? Reintroduce the natural balance Wild Boar, Wolf, Bear, the shooting season would be awesome! Not all anti cull supporters are 'bunny huggers', I shoot and support the hunt but I don't believe the badger cull is appropriate.

And so the circle starts again ):0)

Won't argue against any of your post Rob. But the African subcontinent will be the next oil battlefield with the Arabian peninsula commencing a gentle downturn in strategic (oil) importance in the coming decades. Look at the destruction in the Niger delta for an insight to what lays ahead.

The TB comes FROM the cattle TO the badger (wanted to add "you cretin" but thought better of it) The vaccine is for the CATTLE not the badger (see bracket above) Was it a long and industrious career in problem solving?

Weather altering technology will do the job Rob, 'the man' will be able to decide who gets the rain (the juice of life) and who gets the sunshine!

I think most, if not all, LA libraries have access to e-copy for reference only (yeah, really) You need a library card, login, access from home. You can't print or copy but you can access online when ever you need - great evening read, I have to fight the wife for the laptop!

For the love of humankind?

There is no doubt in my mind that bTB in a herd is horrendous, emotionally crippling and financially disastrous for the farmer. Just like foot & mouth, but slowly and insidiously it would be heartbreaking to see your livelihood destroyed (and not to forget the financial burden of compensation paid from central government tax revenue.) But, and it's a very big but, there is no conclusive scientific evidence that suggests a badger cull will do anything to solve the problem. On the contrary, causing the dispersal of localised sets has the potential to exacerbate the problem. Some farmers, despite the tired and often quoted 'stewards of the countryside' label have a lot to learn and practice in terms of bio security. Carting wagonloads of beast, crammed into wagons all across the country and continent, cross contamination and lack of biosec all contribute to the problem, badger proof feed troughs and vaccination could easily alleviate the problem. This cull is being driven by the NFU, is misguided and will be proved to be ineffective.

There will be a seismic shift before too much longer Rob, I'm sure of it. Not sure religion is the root cause of all man kinds problems though although it is unarguably the banner under which conflicts have been justified. Take that banner away and it will simply be replaced by another - football team, skin colour, language, you name it. But I know what you mean. Maybe there is a Bertrand Zorbrist out there waiting to solve the population problem!

There are almost 300,000 signatures on the government e-petition against the cull - mine is one of them. There is a lot of info here if you fancy a read: https://www.facebook.com/TeamBadgerCoalition It's my view that the science is inconclusive and does not justify the cull. What next... Deer, Fox, Humans??

The title of the thread may be "am I insured" but it appears the cause of the confusion is an iffy employment status. The 3 elements (employment status, tax status and insurance) are inextricably linked.

It was meant entirely "tongue in cheek" and with good humour!

And if HMRC does a forensic investigation (on your boss or you), this fairly rudimentary attempt to appear to be trading below the VAT threshold would very quickly be exposed (probably more of a problem for your boss than you.) Nothing to prevent HMRC reviewing trade forums for indications of who might be 'bending the rules', might be wise to seek private counsel on such delicate issues.

If there are any venturing out in Cornwall I'd like to join up!

Whoops, I didn't pick up the quote!! Nice one!

Nice one!

Tony and easy lift guy, get yourselves a room, there's far too much sexual tension between you! And, Boss, Sir, Mr Moderator, YOU'RE derailing the thread (which of course, as moderator/owner/dictator of the universe) you may be totally entitled to due (just don't Sarin gas us or imprison us for walking the wrong way on the wheel of expression) (careful not to mention the 'free' word when referring to expression!) Getting back on thread, what I find depressing this morning is the pap coming out of the pro-military intervention politicians such that if there's no military intervention the assumption is that we sit idly by and watch it unfold. Military intervention is a very blunt tool, and in my humble opinion, entirely inappropriate in these circumstances especially mindful of the exceptionally delicate strategic consequences. That's not to say diplomacy, statesmanship and politics are inappropriate. That's meant to be the job of government not just reverting to the fist because the former is too much effort. Do your bloody job!

It's a shambles! Having spent today watching the BBC Parliament channel live coverage it's obvious there is no public or political appetite to become engaged in this saga, sad as it may be. You're right Jim, there have been huge, outrages against human decency throughout recent history (too many to mention) that we've all watched unfold on our Tv screens (or been more closely engaged with). It seems to me, in this case, that the method of despatch has become the issue rather than the number despatched. Death is death, are we saying (as a nation) that 1000 dead by gas is somehow worse that 1m by machete? I'm confused by PM Cameron's motive. The No. 10 briefing note justifying military intervention is worthy of a Monty Python sketch (yes I have forwarded my comments to https://email.number10.gov.uk/) They couldn't even get the paragraph numbering right let alone the fictitious so-called legal justification for military intervention. Here's a thought though, after 13 years continuos war fighting operations, 3 redundancy rounds and very significant budget reductions there won't be any forces to deploy once the fire brigade strike starts because the armed forces will be using WW2 equipment, sleeping in empty warehouses and still perform better than the idle (2jobs) fire brigade that spend most of their "on-call" time playing 5a side or using the gym at their local armed forces base.

Deep!

Unfortunately Jim, you seem to be missing the bigger picture. You quote Charles Frederic Aked and refer to having spent many hours flying over these "poor people." I have a very different view having been on the ground in an advisory training team, living eating and sleeping (not in the social sense) with "these people." Yes, they are human, some are decent, honest, virtuous individuals but relax for 1 minute and you end up shot in the back. They are hard wired differently. You want an example of enduring gratitude, study Operation Market Garden then visit Arnhem on Airborne weekend. That's national gratitude for you. There'll be no thanks, no gratitude, no commemoration from these FSN's. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and potentially now Syria are fools errands which, in the immediate term, pointlessly waste priceless lives of our service men and women, and in the longer term will encourage nothing more than more "home grown" extremists and further destabilise the Middle East. This can only be a UN delivered mandate implemented by Arab state military forces. It just ain't our business as a nation state. Do you really think throwing in a wave of cruise and drone strikes will solve this? Seriously?? And what do you think Russia, China and, worse of all Iran, will do?

There's no place in this world for individual governments to impose their version of democracy/decency/acceptable behaviour (add whatever description you like) on any other government/nation state/dictatorship (add whatever description you like) That unenviable task falls to the UN. We all pay (except the US who are still massively in arrears) a disproportionate amount of GDP to fund the continuance of the UN (and the Eurovision Song Contest - which coincidentally is equally as pathetic and pointless it would seem as the UN) It's the UN's job to arbitrate/mediate/moderate unruly global behaviour, step up Harvey Moon and all your fat salaried clingons, step out of your swanky NY deli and get to work or pack it up and save us the money that provides your meal ticket. PS Haig & Cameron, you've got your own jobs to get on with supposedly running THIS country, leave Harvey Moon and his oppos to do their job and focus on something in the UK. Here endeth the rant!

Succinct, and funny!

Thank you! Looks the business!

Sounds interesting! Any chance of some details if you have a minute? How many days, cost, actions covered (or a link to website?) Many thanks