?

I left Geordieland in 1976 in search of work.(nae jobs aboot then) I am now able to consider semi-retirement and I want to come back to Whitley Bay/Cullercoats/Tynemouth.

The problem I have is that I have acquired a superb wife but she is a non-charva Essex girl. She is keen to move to Tyneside because of the cultural life (we like Classical music, the Arts and Learning in general) For myself I like a few pints of Ex or Workie Ticket and a good game of dominoes down the pub (Ship Inn Monkseaton was my local).

Will Tyneside have me back, and accept my Southern wife as well. We are cultire-vultures, but not snobs, like Thelma was in "Whatever happened to the Likely Lads" My wife is a very canny lass, but Southern through and through.

The car is petrol, 1.8 and is a beautiful vehicle to drive. What pitfalls do Passats have? It is 8 years old with 76000 on the clock and was bought frfom a reputable supplier

I am considering having a flagpole installed. I will normally fly the Union Flag, but I wish to fly the flags of England, Scotland, Ulster and Wales on their respective saints days. I can do everywhere but Wales as I was born in England of N Irish and Scots parentage, but there is not one drop of Welsh blood in my that I know of.

I ask this question seriously. I have Irish blood. The Irish are a warlike race. Irish people have fought and served in many campaigns and have particularly served with distinction in the Congo and Lebanon, as part (and often the leading part) of UN Peacekeeping forces.

So where are the the three squadrons of F16s/Typhoons, 6 PC3 Orions, 5 AWCAS or similar, and the ten frigates that you need to defend your borders? Where are the Merlin choppers to move your excellent troops.

Where are your troops?

Winner claims to be the gourmet of the world, and has been the bane of the life of chefs and restaurateurs. Blumenthal has operated a scientific method to cooking, and has the three Michelin stars. Who is the 'winner'?

Seven weeks ago, I had a total hip replacement (Exeter cemented). No complaints- the new hip works well, all the arthritic pain has gone and I can walk half a mile on one crutch.

Today I went for my post-op consultation (travelling 16 miles each way by taxi at a cost of £55).

The Consultant (a different one to the person who did the op) was running one hour late. I saw him for three minutes, he had a look at the scar, watched me walk, told me not to go back to work for 3 months and to '"be careful"

Is this all I get? My GP could have done this. I had no opportunity to ask questions.

Do any of the rest of you have experiences of this ilk to recount? I'm now having to surf the net to see what I am allowed/not allowed to do, and for how long!

I am a Gardnerian Wiccan. We tend to worship in the nude. Am I entitled to instruct a Police Officer who seeks to approach my sacred space to remove all of their clothes? Is there one law for one (minority) religion and none for other minority religions? (See attached link)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1202540/Ve...

Liberal, Labour, Conservative; UKIP have all grabbed expenses. I'm just out of hospital following a total hip replacement; I get £75 per week statutory sick pay, no mobility allowance, and I am still taxed on my occupational pension. All my post-op consultations are in Colchester which is 16 miles from my home and I have to use taxis to get there and back at £50 a trip - all because I have over £8000 in the bank.

I'm a Chef - full C&G (RN UK). Chefs and taxi Drivers tend to come from the working classes, but yet we have to have an immense knowledge of obscurities. I'll take celery, a bit of offal and some Tamarind juice and make you something special. A London Taxi Driver (Black Cabs - not minicabs) will take you from Liverpool St Station to Mayfair or some obscure back street in Kilburn with dispatch and efficiency. Any comments? London Black Cab Drivers - do us Chefs have the equivalent of "The Knowledge"?

Antony Worrall-Thompson? Gordon Ramsay? Thomas Keller? One of the Roux clan? Troisgros? Bourdain? Heston Blumenthal? Or Jock at Treo's in Harwich Essex?

I'm full C&G (UK) so I have a bit of what London taxi Drivers call "The Knowledge".

BBC 3. Grooming pre-pubescents to be glamour queens when they should be playing with their dolls\/

There is a section in YA called Ramadan which seems to be a portmanteaux for general Islamic opinions. I understood that Ramadan is a particularly sacred time for Muslims but it only happens once a year.

Has 'Ramadan' become a carry-all word under which Muslims gather to discuss Islam on e-media such as YA.?

Finally, don't be put off answering me when you see that I often support the BNP on other posts on YA. I am not anti-Islam; I am simply anti-Fundamentalism in any religion. Sensible answers will enable me to engage in deeper understanding of Islamic issues and feelings.

My partner and I went to a good quality local restaurant for Sunday lunch. I had roast beef, my partner had roast lamb.

When the meal arrived we found that the food was swamped with gravy. The gravy was not just on the meat, it had suffused into the mashed potato, the vegetables and the meat. Worse still, the gravy was beef-based, and had been poured on my partner's lamb, thus altering the taste of the meat.

I'm a chef, although no longer working in the trade, and I'd do my nut if it was restaurant policy to smother food in gravy or sauce. Yes, if the menu states "Duck in a Grand Marnier jus with spring vegetables and Pont-Neuf potatoes" (one of my signature dishes); one expects the Duck to have the jus pured over, but not the veg and especially not the Pont-Neuf!

This gravy culture results in English food being the laughing stock (pun intended) of the world. Comments please?

Given that, by the admission of Left-wing posters on this board, that they take great delight in stopping Right-Wing meetings, does the Hard Left fear opposition to their views, or do they simply deny (by fair means or foul) anyone who is not of their ilk, their right to free speech and political expression?

The UK Middle classes may be the key voters. What do the SWP offer these types?

DFDS Ferries have an indoor smoking room on their ships. Can the Railways in Britain and the Long Haul Airlines not provide the same? About 25% of us smoke. How hard is it to provide a simple partition in an aircraft; and put the smoking carriage at the end of the train so non-smokers do not have to walk through it.

When most people smoked, there were non-smoking compartments on trains in the UK! I'm old enough to remember those days.

Today, I wanted to go to the pub at lunchtime. It's a mile away, and I'm on crutches, so I decided to use a cab. I checked my wallet - no notes of a smaller denomination than £20, which, for a £3 fare, is a bit of a cheek to offer to a taxi driver. So I borrowed a crisp fiver from my food fund, put it on the kitchen table and got changed to go out.

The doorbell rang; I opened the door and there was my cab, and running down the hallway was my cat, with the five pound note in its mouth as much as to say "you'll need this"!

This is one heck of a cat!

No propaganda from this asker - lets have some clean debate.

If you frequently visit the BNP website, will you get adverts for hairclippers and foreign flags?

Britain has a tradition of free speech. This has now been eroded to the extent that, were it land, the Irish Sea would be meeting the Wash. Why can we not say what we mean, instead of dodging around and having to use euphemisms when we want to raise contentious issues?