What annoyed you today?

[greypoint]

. .  unless part of the reform is cutting Scotland loose, in which case it'll be a Conservative monopoly in England.

French politics is much more fun. What is really going on between Carla Bruni's legs?

You may have Carla Bruni but we had Anne Widdecombe

[hevans]

. .  unless part of the reform is cutting Scotland loose, in which case it'll be a Conservative monopoly in England.

French politics is much more fun. What is really going on between Carla Bruni's legs?

You may have Carla Bruni but we had Anne Widdecombe

Well, the thought of what's going on between AW's legs was not something I needed just after lunch. Bleagh! (where's the vomit smiley?)

Thanks,

Hugh

[Eileen]

Oh well, time to see what a Liberal/Conservative Govt can do. I've been thinking a good deal about how badly served we sometimes are by the press and news media generally, in that the facts are often of less interest than getting a good byline. I read something in one of the broadsheets the other day where the impression made in a headline was flatly contradicted in a small box on the same page which set out the facts of the case. I assume they relied on the fact that most people wouldn't get too far beyond the headline and a few paras of text. This doesn't just apply to politics: science and health reporting is often pretty poor too. The article in the link below makes interesting reading in that context. It shows the results of a number of studies which have found that attempts to correct misleading information often serve to reinforce any prejudice caused by the initial article. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/01/bad-science-election-smears/print

This quote pretty much sums up the findings:

"All the studies found the same thing: if a dodgy fact fits with your prejudices, a correction only reinforces these. If your goal is to move opinion, this depressing finding suggests that smears work and, what's more, corrections don't challenge them much: because for people who already agree with you, it only make them agree even more."

For anyone interested in separating the wheat from the chaff and trying to make sense of the world around us, the article and the study underlying it is very interesting reading.

[picsfor]

For anyone interested in separating the wheat from the chaff 

Nearly got it Eileen.

Where reasoned and objective thinking is the concerned - the phrase is "separate the wheat from the chav's" 

[anglefire]

Not today, but last Tuesday.

I was sat in the airport in Copenhagen waiting for my return flight, and the Daily Mail was available to read.

What an absolute load to tosh! It was so bias that I think Gengis Khan looked moderate.

I have been reminded as to why I don't buy newspapers - I want facts, not opinion, which is what I thought a newspaper should be reporting.

I also get pissed off when they say (All media!) "The government is going to announce..............." Which means they haven't yet, so its not a fact. News these days is reporting what is going to happen and not what has happened.

[Graham]

Not today, but last Tuesday.

I was sat in the airport in Copenhagen waiting for my return flight, and the Daily Mail was available to read.

What an absolute load to tosh! It was so bias that I think Gengis Khan looked moderate.

I have been reminded as to why I don't buy newspapers - I want facts, not opinion, which is what I thought a newspaper should be reporting.

I also get pissed off when they say (All media!) "The government is going to announce..............." Which means they haven't yet, so its not a fact. News these days is reporting what is going to happen and not what has happened.

I've long since given up looking at newspapers (I don't think I've ever actually read one).
                         Graham.

[hevans]

Not today, but thursday (long weekend here).

Got to the boat, went to open the camera bag and realised that I had not only forgotten the CF card, and batteries, but also the camera itself. Lenses were somewhat useless without it. Shame the forum doesn't have a smiley with egg on the face. 

H.

[Oldboy]

Not today, but thursday (long weekend here).

Got to the boat, went to open the camera bag and realised that I had not only forgotten the CF card, and batteries, but also the camera itself. Lenses were somewhat useless without it. Shame the forum doesn't have a smiley with egg on the face. 

H.

Getting old are we. 

[spinner]

Excellent reminder/timing for me though. Our long weekend is this one coming, so I'm going to put my kit together now so's I'm not disappointed.   

[hevans]

Excellent reminder/timing for me though. Our long weekend is this one coming, so I'm going to put my kit together now so's I'm not disappointed.   

Just don't forget the essentials!

[spinner]

Excellent reminder/timing for me though. Our long weekend is this one coming, so I'm going to put my kit together now so's I'm not disappointed.   

Just don't forget the essentials!

The beer? Never!

[ABERS]

Democracy gone mad??

Today we have a man who polled just 23% of the total vote telling us what is going to happen to our democratic system.

This is what happens when power hungry politicians roll over and have their tummies tickled and accede to anything just to grab the reins.

How can the 77% of those who voted not to have him anywhere near the offices of power take it seriuosly.
Tail, dog and wagging come to mind!   

[spinner]

Alan, for the Paranoid among you. A brief tale of political woe. Around about the last recession, we had a Party leader elected as Premier of the Province of Ontario with less than 38% popular vote, but worse than that, he got a majority gov't and ruled for 4 yrs. A lot of people say he ruined the province with a huge deficit when done. And the really funny part was, the day after the election you couldn't find one person who admitted they'd voted for him.  Politics is a strange animal.

[hevans]

Democracy gone mad??

Today we have a man who polled just 23% of the total vote telling us what is going to happen to our democratic system.

This is what happens when power hungry politicians roll over and have their tummies tickled and accede to anything just to grab the reins.

How can the 77% of those who voted not to have him anywhere near the offices of power take it seriuosly.
Tail, dog and wagging come to mind!   

Dunno, but they seem to include a referendum on the changes, which would give the changes a democratic mandate. Unlike the last govt that changed the House of Lords to suit their own needs without asking the public at all.

H.

[jimthetrain]

This has been annoying me for a while now. My laptop decided a while ago not to boot up and display a screen with lines and blotches everywhere. After numerous attempts it finally decided to work so I took the opportunity to back up all my videos off the second hard drive which was a success. Then it wouldn't boot up again for a few days. Tried the recovery dvd and still got no joy as it wouldn't even read it. Just tried again now and it read the disc so I thought go for the full recovery and start a fresh. It read disc one and formatted 80% of the drive so I inserted disc two and this formatted the remaining 20%. Then as it was going to load the original content it through an error code up and duly shut down. As it restarted, it said that boot something or another was missing. Started again with disc one but this time tried the recovery from the hard drive. All was well until loading the original windows content and the same error code came up. Now I have a laptop that won't load windows on to it and having wiped the original drive this is now blank. Now the screen has gone all liney again. Would swapping drive two for drive one to load windows on make any difference? or should I put that six pound lump hammer to some practical use.