Comments for WoSblog - now at wosblog.podgamer.com

Comment on Bleak House by Marfar

Marfar — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:56:59 +0000

It used to be a garage with a storage room above.. Could well have been an archway many years ago…..

Comment on David Cameron's new best friend by Gary

Gary — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:39:26 +0000

To me, to call Cameron a supporter of racism for supporting a page is to do the same to the other 900,000 followers of the page. The real scandal here is that such a figure has such a large audience to whom he can spout his xenophobic drivel. It's not just the PM who should know, it's the users of Facebook.
You can't blame the PM for agreeing with a sentiment that hundreds of thousands have done so likewise, just because it started from more sinister motives. Blame him for pandering to popularism, blame him for the hypocrisy of supporting the Met with empty words and budget cuts. Here, though, is something that is more an issue for the public than for political points scoring against Cameron.
I followed that page, too, because I agreed with the sentiment. Now I know better, I do no longer. I'm sure those in power would do the same, whether we like them or not.
In the meantime, get out there and tell people the truth!

Comment on Dear Oral-B by steve

steve — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:37:05 +0000

You need to move house, thats a daft place to have a shaver plug.

Comment on David Cameron's new best friend by RevStu

RevStu — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:32:32 +0000

Yep, just spotted that. Luckily we were one step ahead again…

Comment on David Cameron's new best friend by Oz

Oz — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:31:09 +0000

Oh look, he's now protected his tweets!

Comment on David Cameron's new best friend by RevStu

RevStu — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:07:30 +0000

Not that I can see.

Comment on David Cameron's new best friend by Ross

Ross — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:05:15 +0000

Has the Facebook group been taken down?

Comment on A riots reader by RevStu

RevStu — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:01:49 +0000

For heck's sake, Cavey. TWO returns between paragraphs. You should have learned by now, I'm not tidying your posts up for you to make them halfway-readable forever.

Comment on A riots reader by RowanDT

RowanDT — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:57:10 +0000

"Are you seriously telling me that there are no parallels whatsoever between my time and the present?"

You have written this after writing five paragraphs about how children today live nothing like you lived back then. And I still don't think you see the point I'm making, because you never found yourself at the start of a huge riot when suddenly everything you ever wanted was there, helpless in front of you for the taking. Who knows what you or anyone would have done in that situation. You MIGHT have done the same as people who are currently the scum of the Earth to you.

"However, that doesn't mean that because none of us is perfect that we cannot condemn the *gross* misdeeds of others, does it?"

I'm not suggesting that you cannot condemn the riots.

(As an aside, I do wonder why everyone (mainly those in Parliament) has to charge about condemning the riots. Surely the fact that rioting is *illegal* means that it's kind of already and forever condemned, no? Isn't that the point of laws, that we're in agreement of what is and isn't acceptable in our country? It's weird.)

"As far as being angry is concerned, I'm sorry, but those images of the news these last days have really incensed me."

It's a valid and natural response. Just be mindful that anger is what starts riots.

Comment on A riots reader by Captain Caveman

Captain Caveman — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:41:52 +0000

I think I understand what you're saying Rowan, but I still have to disagree with the assertion that I (and many, many others like me) did not, even remotely, have to face the same problems as the proverbial 'youth of today'?
In my own case when I was 16, I wasn't even living at home (not through choice), went days at a time without food and had to endure working conditions/bullying etc. on the shop floor that are simply unimaginable today, and of the three apprentices at that time, one of the others was in exactly the same boat whereas the third, admittedly, was still being supported at home.
In terms of further education, there was no financial help of any kind, unlike EMA of today – in fact none full stop… these days I would have received all manner of support and benefits as a minor, not left at the mercy of highly unscrupulous landlords.
In terms of the financial backdrop, there were 3 millions unemployed in 1984 and things were dire. At school we were told to get a job – ANY job – at all costs; to return to the Sixth Form *at all* was considered a failure in some respects, even for the most bright.
As for the schools themselves, my crappy old '50s/'60s Comprehensive bears *no* resemblence to the modern schools of today, with all the lavish resources heaped upon them via BSF and all the prior initiatives. I'd never even heard of a classroom assistant and no class size was below 30, usually more like 35 or even higher still. Bullying was absolutely rife; we had tattered, umpteenth-hand books that were falling apart, which we each of us had to cover with brown parcel paper (lol) – even if it had already been done by someone else. (And these books – particularly for science//technical subjects – were hopelessly outdated).
Computers? That'll be two – yes two – CBM PETs, archaic even then… forget your BBC MIcros or indeed anything remotely relevant, even then.
Are you seriously telling me that there are no parallels whatsoever between my time and the present? That to draw any such comparison is invalid? I'm sorry, I do not agree; I think it is fairly clear that most things for young (pre-18) teenagers are actually much better now; including in opportunities terms (especially education-wise). And like I said before, kids today have vastly more *stuff* than we ever had, be that phones, computers, games consoles, fancy clothes, whatever.
I suggest also that my generation had it vastly easier than, say, the post war kids of the '50s, and certainly the War generation before them, and the Depression generation before them. And yet, no smashing stuff on streets just to get the latest gramophone, Barber jacket or whatever booze people were drinking back then…
Yes, of course people do both good and bad things, we all do, myself included – I am no saint, none of us are. However, that doesn't mean that because none of us is perfect that we cannot condemn the *gross* misdeeds of others, does it? And by so condemning, that does not render us incapable of empathy and understanding? These are not mutually exclusive.
As far as being angry is concerned, I'm sorry, but those images of the news these last days have really incensed me. I can't even begin to imagine how I would feel if it had been my business destroyed, my house burned to the ground, my loved one taken away from me…. for a pair of trainers, bottle of WKD, iPhone or fashionable item of clothing. That's just how I feel about it.