Duffer

Although I have no personal interest in the recent gay marriage debates in Parliament, I was struck, in the snippets that I caught, by the fact that those speaking against the motion were talking about only God or the "yuk" factor. Rational argument came there none. Since a review of the dissenters showed that they were nearly all men past their prime it occurred to me that perhaps we should reform membership of the Commons (and the Lords for that matter) to those people who are under, say, 63 at the election. What do you think?

Currnetly I have a Blackberry, but is not compatible with my new iPad. I am therefore drawn to upgrading to an iPhone but am torn between the iPhone4S and the new iPhone5

I would appreciate objective comments on the merits of each from those with experience of them.

Calories are minute creatures who sew your clothes a mite tighter every night

The awful event in Colorado this week is just the latest in a long list of American so-called spree shootings. All of the perpetrators have been white and aged under 30 or so.

I cannot believe that in the UK it is only the lack of guns which stops this type of rampage; I am unaware of an undercurrent of such malignancy that were guns available the UK would also see these regular atrocities (we have had the odd one, like Dunblane, but that was before guns were outlawed altogether).

So, my question is this. Possession of guns is not the problem - only the means of expression, so what the hell else is going on in America that results in these atrocities?

currently 40Gb per month. If I use Skype for transatlantic calls does this impinge on my allowance, or does Skype have no effect on download limits?

An old superstition was that the colour green was unlucky. Why was it thought so? and have things improved since?

The late Gilbert Harding? Do you have a favourite story?

I came close to meeting him once, as a schoolboy, but in typical grump he moved away.

Not the guy who lived down Drury Lane (!) but the chap who came round the streets up to the late 40's with a tray of fresh muffins on his head? My Mum used to buy from him and we'd sit in front of the fire, usually in a blackout, and toast the muffins which we then coated in thick butter (sorry, margarine as butter was rationed). Anyone?

Next Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday, or pancake day. We have decided to celebrate with waffles, jam & cream instead of the traditional pancakes with sugar & lemon. Is that bad?

The latest David Attenborough documentary "Frozen Planet" is in 7 parts. Only 6 can be released in the series block to be sold abroad because episode 7 deals with climate change and man's contribution to it. The Americans will not buy that episode because they don't agree. The USA spews out 25% of the world's pollution. Isn't it about time they were man enough to acknowledge their pollution and to do something about it?

The keyboard on my wife's laptop has stopped working & she cannot remember if she accidentally triggered the malfunction by a F key, or something. Anyway, I have had a look through the various options under Control panel, and Computer, but cannot see anyway of re-activating the keyboard. Can someone help, please?

Celebrations in Libya and elsewhere entail guns being fired into the air. My guess is that blanks are not used, so what happens to the bullets? Has anyone been killed or injured by falling, gravity-powered ammunition? They must come to Earth somewhere!

Although yawning is usually involuntary, like sneezing, I wonder if either phenomenon is possible while the sufferer is asleep? Like many people, I have coughed while asleep, even being unaware until told in the morning, but I have never heard of people yawning or sneezing while asleep. What would prevent it?

Royal Mail reported today that their profits are down because the volume of mail has dropped and will lead to more redundancies. Now that they have less work will they be able to deliver the remaining mail faster? Shall we see again First Class mail delivered the next day and Second Class the day after that? Is the time coming when once again (as pre-war) mail posted in the morning is delivered within the same town later the same day?

Daily we hear reports & interviews which refer to third parties as "that". For example, "we are looking for people that saw the event." The correct usage is "who" . When did people become inanimate objects?

David Cameron has blocked the desire of the International Monetary Fund to appoint Gordon Brown as its managing director. He says that it is not the job for the man who left the UK with massive debts. Is he right?

I had a visit today from my financial adviser, the first time I have seen him out of the office. Should I be worried or not that he drives a Porsche?

We all know that duvets are graded by togs, an apparent unit of insulation. How is the unit calibrated? Is it half a tog for every 5 degrees of frost, or what?

I have a very modest shareholding in International Power. This morning has seen their share price drop by a massive 20% + Does anyone know why?

In Windows XP I used to clear out, periodically, the old temporary files by using the "search" function. However I have been asked to clear out similar files in Vista and find they are stored in the Microsoft/ Windows folder. Will I be disabling anything vital if I simply clear the "temp" folder? Perhaps some kind soul would walk me thro' the procedure for clearing temp files from Vista in order to speed up the computer. Thanks