Ken L

It comes as no suprise to me to discover that one government agency fails to share vital, logically linked information with another - even when both agencies are part of the same department. The "Joined up government" that was so much in the press a couple of years ago was and is nothing more than a P/R myth. Asylum applicants are given a National Indurance number so that they can claim Income Support but the home office does not allow them to work, claim any other benefits or have "recouse to public funds". Is there a system of flagging the persons Social Security record so that they can't make a claim for benefits that they're not entitled to - erm, no. How about a flag that identifies any contribution records on that National Insurance number and alerts the home office that the person is working illegally ? erm, no. Ok, how about some way of preventing them from recieving free medical treatment (or as happened recently, tens of thousands of pounds worth of top class university education) that they are not entitled to ? erm, no. Forget the immigrants. Lets look at Benefits. DWP pays the lower rate of Disability Living Allowance to people who nedd to be guided or supervised out of doors because of disabilities like blindness, epilepsy, schitzophrenia etc. logically, if someone needs to be guided or supervised most of the time that they are mobilising outdoors, they really shouldn't be behind the weel of a car. Is there a link between the mighty computers of the DWP and the grinding machinery of the DVLA ? Guess...... Should Clarke Go ? Well as a simple inheritor of a systen that doesn't work, I don't think so. If he's made any decisions to activly prevent the decemination of information or the immediate re-arrest of these people by immigration authorities on their release from criminal orisons then, yes, he should go. Rant over.

OK, so who is the suplier and why don'y they have a list of digi camera's on their site and a guide as to which would be the appropriate case to order for each model. Or am I just being obvious ?

Weired this but at this time of year, the gorse flowers smell intencely of coconut and comming in to work along tha canal towpath on the bike, I get it full force. Strangely, there can be even more flowers on the gorse latter in the year but it never smalls the same as it does in April and early May. I'm sure that I read somewhere that gorse is the only other natural thing to smell of coconut other than erm, coconut.

Of course, Frank only stayed thin with the help of his personal trainer. Charlie, I think his name was......

Go for the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and the rest of there serise. The idea about telephone numbers is in the first book but the whole thing is glorious in it's completely idiotic logic. Neither the TV serise northe film did the books any justice at all.

In India I met a guy who was kinda odd. He was italian with curly hair, a big mustoush, a bigger nose, a silly little waistcoat and a tendancy to sing humerous songs at breakneck speed in italian that nobody could understand. To picture him, think Sid the sexist with a big hook-nose walking into a high wind. Almost everyone seemed to think he was the spit of druggie cartoon character but of course, I can't remember the name of either the character or the cartoon. Any ideas ?

If there is a fish-in, it will be easy to flag the meeting point and then everyone would see both a map and a satalite photo so that they could see the landmarks.

Just take the cheeks and chuck the rest away. It's so tasty you'll want it again and again but you need three or four doulbe figure fish per serving.

Shhh. We shunted all the carpies off to the session carp fishing forum. The coarse forum is better for it and they happily spend the whole day chatting about the relative merits of the Fox and Nash branded bivie sinks.

I think I'll just have to try it on the pike and if there are no problems, I'be taking a bunch of lure bodies and hook rigs with me on my next trip. BoozleBear, Have you tried surf poppers when you're bass fishing with bait in daylight ? Very popular in the southern hemisphere.

Read Douglas Adams ! Your entire life is governed by telephone numbers....

http://www.powerpro.com/press/news/details...RESS_NEWS_ID=23

This is a bit of a shocker. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4936786.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4664884.stm

Ho Hum, Looks like "way back" goes all the way to medical research into treatments for mental illness. (Yep, being flippant again) I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

I believe that the animal testing of Thaidamide was described as inadequate and flawed by the public enquiry into it's use. The enquiry called for more animal testing, not less. Well, it was certanly flippant and deliberatly provocative but it was also misleading in that I used the term "Maybe we should". In fact, many drug companies do just that by staggering their global release of new products so that the places where their customers are wealthy and litigous will often get the products last - just in case. Where do you draw the line though Glenn ? How about Achne treatments ? It's only vanity until some kid blows his brains out because he can't stand to look at himself in the mirror.

Animal testing is well regulated. Not just by government but by the market. It is simply to expensive to use large numbers of animals to test anything unless those tests are both necessary and justifieable. No testing on animals for household goods, cosmetics, toiletries or clothing would see companies releasing products onto the market that might improve the quality of peoples lives but give them chronic health problems in the long term: Anyone fancy bathing their baby in a new shampoo that burns their eyes out ? How about a new air freshener that causes severe allegies and asthma ? Of course, you can avoid animal testing by simply saying that what we have is good enough - and never see another improvement in any product from wall paint to mascarra OR you can test it on people - but would you have it tested on you ? Maybe all new products should be tested in the third world just to be sure. I for one will support the rational regulated use of animal testing pretty much wherever the need for it exists.

Now that you mention it, I've not seen a post from tugmistress since I got back. Did I miss something ?

Well, if the PC was in a room at the back of the house, I'd be looking at it. It's about 200m from me. What did you do there Dean ? Ooh dear. I've just switched to satalite view of where I work/where Carpie lives and it's made feel a bit weird. It's stitched together from images where the satalite has been looking from various angles and looks like the buildings (Five Ways Tower anf Aukilnick House) are almost touching.

I'm on. Carpie. I could wave at you out of the window at work.

Well, it's all well and good searching the net for bargains but sometimes you just hit a wall. This is what happened when I tried to get some nice big swimbaits from http://www.outerbanksoutfitters.com/ 1st e-mail: Hi there. I've just surfed into your site and see that you stock the Mega Bait - Charlie Sr. Lure (Catalogue # 477601470) at $9.99 inclusive of US postage. As there is no picture, can you tell me whether this is the old version with the rear hook hanging from a solid bar underneath the lure or the new version with two hook hangers and the rear hook attached to a short length of cable ? Ken The relpy: Dear Customer, Thank you for providing an opportunity to be of assistance. This is with reference to your inquiry regarding the Mega Bait Charlie Sr. Lure. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused. We request you to contact the Pace Products-Mega Bait Customer Support Tean at (714) 773-4132 to inquire about the Mega Bait Charlie Sr. Lure, as we are unable to confirm the same online. We are sure they will be able to assist you in this regard. You can also call us at 1-877-690-0004 to place the order. Please feel free to contact us for further assistance. Lynette, Customer Service Not much use so I responded with: All you had to do was look at the packet ! If you couldn't work out whether it was the old or the new version from my description, you could have sent me a picture. I thought Americans prided themselves on customer service...... A little harsh I accept but justified in the light of the responce: Dear Customer, Thank you for providing an opportunity to be of assistance. This is with reference to your inquiry regarding the Mega Bait Charlie Sr. Lure. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused. We request you to contact the Pace Products-Mega Bait Customer Support Tean at (714) 773-4132 to inquire about the Mega Bait Charlie Sr. Lure, as we are unable to confirm the same online. We are sure they will be able to assist you in this regard. You can also call us at 1-877-690-0004 to place the order. Please feel free to contact us for further assistance. Lynette, Customer Service Ever get the feeling that "Customer service" consists of a machine that recognises the name of a product and then e-mails a responce that says "P155 off and talk to the manufacturer, here's their number" ? BTW, The original version of this lure seems to have a bad reputation for having the rear hook break off - hence the redesign that I mentioned. As to how the manufacturer is suposed to know which version of a lure a retailer is selling, well, go figure....

Snagging shouldn't be an issue 'cause I'll be fishing over sand but were there any problems casting the lure without popping the ties and was the action significantly changed ?

OK, so it was a daft thread title but as I understand it, a lot af game angers rig their trebles onto wire or heavy mono and then lightly tie or wire them to the body of the lure. I can see how this sort of rig would prevent an activly jumping fish from using the body of the lure as a lever (that's why I'm considering it) but suspect that it might create it's own problems. Has anyone given it a go ? Maybe on Nasser or other nile perch venues ? I'm particularly interested to hear whether the lures can still be cast.

Tried adding myself but it wouldn't work.

Peter, have you turned to the dark side ?