StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I look much younger than I am - I'm in my late twenties but people generally think I'm in my late teens if they don't know me. Normally I find it funny - went on a date with a girl not too long ago who was complaining about how 'you young people always have so much energy' before I pointed out I was...

Tax avoidance - the arrangement of one's financial affairs to minimize tax liability within the law. Tax evasion - illegally escaping paying the tax you are legally obliged to pay. It's quite true that tax avoidance is part of British culture, I'm fairly sure it's integral to the culture of every fi...

Zaune wrote: Huh. I've never seen it offered anywhere in the UK; either the banks charge too much of a surcharge, or it makes it too easy to prove they're screwing their drivers out of minimum wage and/or cheating on their taxes.

For what it's worth substantial minority of London black cabs seem to take cards.

The prosecution seem to be going for a murder charge, which doesn't seem right to me. I assume Korea doesn't have the death penalty for manslaughter and I can't see how you could make a charge that he deliberately killed the passengers, as opposed to causing their deaths through gross negligence. A ...

I imagine in the event that Scotland does swap Westminster Arseholery for Holyrood Arseholery that there will be a fair chance of boundary reforms going ahead in the the remainder of the UK to maintain equality for Labour. Or the Tories are power for the rest of the eternity. Please don't leave us ...

Themightytom wrote:Couldn't Korra just energy bend Zaheer to make him less of a threat? SHOULDN'T she do that even?

Aang nearly lost in his energy bending fight with Firelord Ozai. Korra is far less spiritual and isn't back by all the past avatars, she's almost certainly lose if she tried that.

Is there such a thing as jury selection in British or other European courts? No-one in my family in the UK has ever been called up so I have no idea how it works. In general I don't think European courts have juries (although I understand some use professional jurors). The British courts do use jur...

What are the big obstacles that slow such construction down? Off the top of my head, I imagine one problem is trying to figure out how to dig safely through areas that are heavily built up, in which case you're going to encounter all sorts of poorly documented underground structures and infrastruct...

If this spreads to a city with an international airport, we're pretty much fucked, aren't we? My understanding is that in a place with functioning public information systems, people who will be desperate to get their relatives into hospital rather than trying to 'rescue' them and a proper sewerage ...

It is always surprising to first time visitors that you can walk from Westminster Bridge to Trafalgar Square and on to Buckingham Palace in about ten minutes, if that. That would be quite surprising to most Londoners too since it's about 1.5 miles. But I'm nitpicking, it's totally walkable with ple...

The British Museum is a world class history museum and like all of London's top museums is free to enter (although as a UK taxpayer I would appreciate you making the recommended donation :P ). If it's a sunny day the Southbank is lovely to walk along, from Tower Bridge (the famous drawbridge, often ...

Thanks for posting the review, I haven't read it, but it sounds interesting enough that I've ordered the first book.

As a genuine legal cockroach who also possesses a certain degree of mathematical ability, I've worked on automation projects in law. It's quite interesting stuff and anyone that thinks it isn't going to eventually wipe out a big chunk of the work for the lower end and middle of the market has their ...

The media frenzy's mostly because this is the first time in something like 150 years that a national-level election has been won by a party other than the Tories, Labour or the Liberal(-Democrat)s. That said, based on historical president such as the SDP in 1983 and the Liberal Democrats in 2010, U...

The main political big name there is David Steel and he's certainly still alive. For a very broad definition of 'big name' maybe; I'd be surprised if anyone younger than my parents had ever even heard of him. Ha sure, but he was as big a name as Nick Clegg in his time. I'm not sure the article real...

Siege wrote:I wonder if those big names are also conveniently dead. That makes you wonder about the timing, really.

The main political big name there is David Steel and he's certainly still alive.

Nah - people shop at waitrose to signal their social class. If the oiks are invading, it dilutes that signal. People shop at supermarkets for all kinds of reasons. Where my parents live Waitrose is the only supermarket of any size within walking distance. Where I live now I shop at Waitrose about 3...

Thanks for the responses guys. Much appreciated. I was vaguely aware of the possibility of freighters, but hadn't properly thought about it. That looks most viable in the circumstances.

I know someone who, for various reasons, refuses to fly but wants to visit New York in March (from the UK). I was wondering if anyone knew of realistic alternatives to flying? I've looked at Cunard's transatlantic cruises but they are surprisingly infrequent and non-existent in March. Anyone have an...

Congratulations on your well-deserved win Broomstick. I've often heard that good lawyers will do what they can to avoid court hearings. Court hearings are *expensive* and there's always an element of risk to them. Obviously it depends on how complex the case is, but for anything even vaguely complic...

Anecdotal evidence here but I agree and see what most have said, don't have any positive stories of home schooling. Have family that are close to hardcore Christians and have daughters that they control every aspect of their lives (literally supervise every activity they do). This summer the oldest...

Ginger is clearly not equivalent in offense to the n-word in the UK. Ginger Spice aside, you can call someone ginger without it being anything more than a descriptive term like red-head. The issue is people bullying others for being ginger not the actual word. I suppose it's very similar to black or...

It doesn't, not consciously. It's just that people are dimly aware that being ginger means you're not "ethnically British" and are therefore fair game for all the verbal and physical abuse they feel like throwing around along with the French, the Germans, the Italians and... well, pretty ...

FYI, in the US calling redheads "gingers" is just a funny reference to an episode of South Park. In the UK, "ginger" is a vile racial slur, especially against the Irish. I suspect Wicked Pilot and our british members might not have known that. I've never heard of ginger being a ...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant ... adrid.html

I cannot recommend this place enough for tapas.