Gaz51

I have been reading this thread with interest. Some good and some not so good comments posted, a lively debate. A thing to ponder folks. We saw many Muslim people furiously demonstrating on our TV screens. Of the masses we saw I wonder how many actually saw the cartoons? How many ACTUALLY knew what they were demonstrating for? Also how many saw the demonstration as an excuse to vent anger at the non Muslim population of the country they and their Fathers decided to call home. A large majority of the elder Muslim population who settled here are genuinely peaceful. OK, they don't want to integfate with us, they never will because our culture is totally different to theirs. The problem we have is with the younger Muslim generation. The generation who were born here and know no other country. Why do some of them hate us and our country so much? That misguided prat who did himself up as a suicide bomber probably felt very sick when he woke up this morning and saw himself plastered all over the front pages of the newspapers. Did he not know that the Security Forces of this country are taking the prevention of terrorism very seriously following events in London last summer. Did he realise he could well have suffered the same fate as that poor Brazilian (illegal immigrant) who was killed last year. Did the idea ever enter his religiously washed brain that he had been clocked and marked for surveillance from now onwards. I suppose if his beliefs are so strong, he will flee to some Islamic training camp abroad to learn how to kill the infidel who resides in the west. Does that include his immediate family too? Or are they and other Muslims immune from the suicide bombers acts of terror. As stated before, he probably got a right ****ing from his father and his local Imam and is now s**tting himself. He's left himself wide open for a lashback from the far right groups. No doubt though, he'll carry on living here, unmolested, free from retaliation. I imagine if threatened he will run to the authorities he so obviously detests and demand justice from his persecutors as is his right as a British citizen! I generally think long and hard before discussing controversial subjects. I have with this topic too. I have come to the conclusion that Muslims have no love for the British people. We have seen proof of this during the two Gulf Wars. - Muslims on the streets of Britain chanting death threats to BRITISH soldiers. Muslims going abroad to learn how to kill British soldiers and anyone else who does not follow and abide by the religion of Islam. Muslims siding with Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden and the Taliban. This and previous governments have tugged their forlocks and bent over backwards for these people. They have pandered to their every whim. The threat of terrorism in this country is very real, we have seen it first hand, yet still our government and authorities do nothing! Let us consider if the idiot with the suicide bomber garb had been for real, suppose he had ran into a crowd of onlookers and caused carnage. What then? The police did a great job arresting two people armed with copies of cartoons though didn't they? Enough said!

I got mine from Westgate Anglers in Bradford for £65.00. A very versatile rod in my opinion. http://www.polesdirect.co.uk/html/rods.html

Went to the pub with a few of the lads last night, one who I haven't seen for a while got his cigs out and offered me one as he knew I was a smoker. Tempting, but I was just about to tell him I no longer smoked when two of the lads jumped in and told him I had stopped, it was like having a couple of minders with me. Woke up this morning and my clothes (which were in a pile on the floor - like you do!) absolutely stunk of smoke! It made me realise how I must have smelled like that all the time.

Haven't seen any of them Ken. I have heard Munich is supposed to be a decent film though. Think I'll wait till it's out on DVD.

I use Mailwasher Tigger. I find it a valuable tool for my e-mail as I get 95% spam on one of my e-mail accounts. With mailwasher you have the ability to delete and bounce any dodgy looking e-mails you may receive.

Sorry if I'm boring you but I have to tell EVERYONE! Some of you may remember an earlier post I did. As a follow on from that original post I have to tell all that I have now been a non smoker for 1 month It's been pretty tough the past couple of weeks but I have resisted. Worst times were when fishing and down the pub but, touch wood, I've managed to resist on both counts. I'm still getting the cravings from time to time but have been told these will eventually disappear. I hope so. Just had to share my good news with everyone.

Horrific picture Steve, you were very lucky indeed to escape without any serious injury. Glad to hear Peggy is mending nicely and that you have got everything sorted out. Congratulations on acquiring your dream car, at least some good has come of it. Drive carefuly!

Flippin 'eck Jim, I wondered what you were asking for there mate. Market Raders!!!

It's been suggested in earlier posts but I'll say the same. The NHS is crawling with Managers who have absolutely no idea about medicine or nursing. They cost the taxpayer thousands per manager to maintain, they have no core contribution to give to the Trust, they spend the majority of their time sat in meetings with other like minded suit wearing people playing God wit peoples lives and health. To them the NHS is simply a business with profit and loss They concern themselves with purely managing a profitable organisation. When a loss is visible.......cut front line staff. Disposing of just one manager would probably pay the wages of 3 nursing staff. Overpaid figure jugglers. On another note, how come they can cancel life saving treatment for patients and operations due to lack of funding, yet in an instant find millions of pounds to send to 3rd world countries?

Good advice Tog. My kids have fairly common, well known names. Ideal for mug buying!!! However, we made a bit of a mistake with our youngest. We didn't realise until she could write, but found to our horror one day when she wrote her intials on a piece of work she had done whilst in infants school. Innocently enough she pencilled her initials on the work in EXACTLY the same format as the party. NF

Go for the stream and travel lightly. It's going to be bloody cold this weekend. Discount the stillwater (it'll probably be frozen). Fishing the Thames......you'll be tempted to cart a load of tackle with you, leaving you to sit at the same spot freezing your wotsits off. Take a rod, reel, landing net and odds and ends and get yourself stalking on the stream. Good fun, because you're mobile you'll keep warm and chances are the stream will be faster moving than the Thames - the fish will be feeding.

Tis indeed a good one, I still think it'll get deleted though.

I've always kept my rod license in my wallet in the see through bit. The older ones fitted perfectly but this years tested my origami skills to get it to fit so all the info was showing. I always carry my wallet with me, so I have no fear of forgetting my license. Many people put them in rig wallets and keep them in their tackle box......yeah, good idea, but sometimes I may have a stalking session and travel very lightly. I'd be bound to forget my license!

The Latin names for our fish species are all fine and dandy! But, how the hell do you pronounce some of them? I'm quite comfortable with good old "tinca tinca" but have to say that when reading some of the names I must come across like a 4 year old learning to read!

Martin, don't discount the narrow canal that runs the length of the Colne Valley. A roving approach can pay dividends on the cut. The canal holds a fair few pike although not of any specimen size but still worthy.

They serve a purpose. Thousands upon thousands of copies of angling magazines, newspapers are sold evry week. There is a market for them otherwise they wouldn't be published. I agree, AM has gone down the pan in terms of quality of content - cartoon strips et al, but they are still sold in their thousands. I used to subscribe to AT Advanced. Took out a years subscription upon its relaunch in 2004. Come February I was bored with it. Page upon page of unadultered advertising and plugging of sponsors. At the time (not sure if the same applies now) the only tackle shown was Preston, Fox, Daiwa and Shimano as they were the sponsors of the main anglers who contributed. I know as anglers, many of us become stick in the muds, we don't like change. It makes us uncomfortable, we moan a lot because it's not how we remember it. As a race, the British have always been very reluctant to change. "Why change it when it's not broken?" Well, we didn't change our motor-cycle industry, we didn't change our car, engineering, transport and so on and so on. Look at the country now. I know an angling publication is a far cry from British Industry but it's the same but on a different scale. The main thing is you cannot please them all. Change is a good thing, it freshens something up when it becomes stale. There is also the danger of freshening up too far Too much emphasis is put on attracting youth, everything panders to their wants. Stick a comic strip in a normally informative magazine, insert features that rip the **** out of certain angling types. Stick a load of pictures of fit birds, yeah, that'll pull in the younger angler. I'm sorry but tits in fishing magazines? It just doesn't work! Change in moderation please. It's something we may not like but we will have to put up with. If change didn't work, I presume we'd still be dragging our women round by the hair and wielding a club and wearing animal skins!

I'm not being funny B1g-Dav3, but I'd feel a bit more comfortable having them referred to as 2 person bedchairs. 2 MAN bedchair!!! A bit too cosy for my liking!

Nice, I like them Elton. Especially this one.

I don't care what anybody says, they all have their noses in the trough. Prescott has become a bit of a joke, he does throw a good punch though! Remember that one he landed on that egg thrower a few years back. Class!

Snatcher, I can totally understand how you are feeling. The company I worked for was a multi national chemical manufacturer. When I joined years ago it was a well respected market leader. I was proud to work for them. Since mergers, takeovers, downsizing etc the company became a shell of it's former self. Like yours my workplace was vastly top heavy. Eventually it was announced the company would have to downsize again - effectively halving the workforce. Some volunteered, unfortunately some were pushed. In my department not one manager lost their job. It's absolutely bloody crazy the way the company is going. Me, I bailed out straight away, I'd had enough of the management pi$$ing up our backs, the stupid management speak, talking in abreviations, broken promises and generally archaic methods of management and double standards. God, do I feel better for not working there any more. I hope you get the redundancy you obviously hope for. It's no fun not enjoying the work you do.

Day 9 and still going strong! Had a few dodgy moments though. Day 7 was a bit iffy. Just had to do something to take my mind off it. I find the pc helps take my mind off smoking quite a lot, so thanks everyone. In some way you are helping! What I have noticed above all else is the fact that my clothes no longer stink!!! I continue to be encouraged by the wife and kids and congratulated on my avoiding the urge. The patches seem to be working but is it just psychological? Thanks for the encouragement everyone, I'm persevering!!!

Looks like your common or garden usual ebay rip off to me Ken. It looks very similar to many headtorches. Shakespeare market a headtorch in a rather vivid blue colour which retails for around £8. My son bought one in Wilkinsons, exactly the same but without the shakespeare logo on the headband for £2.99 !!! Ebay is a very useful tool, but do a bit of research before parting with your hard earned.

I take it the ones you are buying are in fact Arlesey bombs Spud. The sizes you mention are suitable for coarse fishing lakes and slow rivers and not really heavy enough for carp fishing. I assume the weights are 3/4oz, 5/8oz, 1/2oz, 3/8oz. You should be looking at leads of around 2oz, 2.5oz and 3oz for carp angling. Also ensure your rod has a test curve high enough to handle the weights. A good all round average carp rod with a test curve of 2.75lb should suffice.

A very goood site for fishing in Yorkshire, in fact the best I've seen. Found a link to Cellars Clough which is a big pike fishery. It sounds a hard place to fish but going by the photos displayed could be worth the work involved. Incidentally, I believe Hill Top Reservoir is closed to fishing at present due to Health & Safety issues. Apparently the pegs are deemed too dangerous to access.

Some very good and valid points highlighted there. Speaking as a purely coarse angler I know we tend to "get the layers on" in an effort to combat the cold. As a rule we generally don't enter into or onto the water. The beware of undercut banks is very valid in our case. Several times I have opted for a likely looking river swim only to find the banking to be a "bit dodgy" Let's be careful folks!