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aproposofwhat

Listed below are comments made by aproposofwhat between Thursday, 30th October 2008 and Monday, 24th November 2008.

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End of Thatcher's tax incentives 6:18pm on 24 Nov 2008 I have just had the horrible experience of hearing Vince Cable speak, and agreeing with him.

Income tax cuts, putting the money directly in consumers' pockets, would stimulate spending far more effectively than this bugger's muddle of VAT cuts and duty increases that Darling must have come up with over a liquid lunch.

Most retailers won't pass on the savings - they'll take it as a nice increase in margins and no benefit to the economy as a whole will accrue.

Why do we have such a fool as Chancellor?
Grammar test - your turn 02:57am on 19 Nov 2008 Yes, there are grammatical errors throughout the conversation, but it is just that - a conversation, not written English.

We tend to be less precise in spoken conversation than written discourse, because there is less time to think about what is being said than there would be when writing on the same subject.

Cliches and ungrammatical constructs are regularly used as a form of 'shorthand' (or should that be 'shorttongue'?) simply because there is insufficient time to consider carefully what one is saying.

I could pick the conversation apart and manage to find the 20 or so errors that some other respondents see, but it is a fact that spoken English is less grammatical than the written language.

Perhaps some of the written English on this site could be used as a more representative example?
Off-limits 01:02am on 16 Nov 2008 @MarcusAureliusII - I don't particualrly want to come to your house, but it's a bit rich for you to complain about NPR and PBS 'subsidising' the BBC when the US government subsidises the war criminals in Tel-Aviv to the tune of 3 billion dollars a year, and protects them from the entirely justifiable censure of the UN Security Council by vetoing any resolution critical of these state terrorists. It's not just 3 billion dollars, either - subsidised military aid for Israel adds another 7 billion per year. The only president in living memory to stand up to these thugs (George Bush I) was subsequently voted out in favour of Billy Clintstone - coincidence?

One can only hope that Barack Obama has more sense than every President since Truman, and treats Israel fairly - fair in this context meaning sanctions and ostracism until the Israelis behave in a civilised manner.
Off-limits 2:41pm on 15 Nov 2008 The issue is not whether you like Hamas or not - they were democratically elected by the Palestinians, and the subsequent disengagement by Europe and the US has contributed greatly to the deterioration of the situation in Gaza.

Collective punishment, as the Israelis are currently carrying out by restricting fuel supplies and stopping aid convoys, is a war crime - surely someone in Europe or the US should be calling for sanctions against Israel at the very least (and we know they've got WMD, so why not go the whole hog and invade? No - wait - that hasn't helped the Iraqi people much, has it?).

Sure, some elements of Hamas have been firing rockets into Israel, but then again Israel has been carrying out extrajudicial assasinations of Hamas leaders using helicopter-fired missiles for years, and these have been mostly lauded by the West.

Support for Israel should never be unconditional - that leads to the Israeli leadership believing that they no longer have to live up to civilised norms, and can carry on smiting in their inimitable Old Testament fashion.
Off-limits 2:03pm on 14 Nov 2008 Keeping the reporters away from war crimes (collective punishment, in this case - refusing to allow aid convoys in to aid a starving population) is understandable, I suppose - what I fail to understand is the international community's failure to condemn these crimes while whining on about a democratically elected Hamas being 'terrorists'.

60 years ago, the terrorists were from Irgun and the Stern gang - now their descendants perpetrate war crimes with impunity.
Will HBOS stay independent? 5:19pm on 09 Nov 2008 #95 - see my post #43 above.

Every time I mention the M-word in a comment, it is moderated out of existence as 'potentially defamatory'.

That's why I've taken to making cryptic remarks about certain political figures and the obviously squeaky-clean company they keep.

Your comment obviously hasn't reached the ears of MiniTrue yet, otherwise it would be in the memory hole.

Bri.
Will HBOS stay independent? 8:52pm on 08 Nov 2008 Darling expects reaction in pulling accountancy strings - keen actor!

Need I say more - there are 5.4 billion reasons why the Lloyds merger need to go through, and the above sentence spells it out.

There's an agenda behind this, and a man who loves Brazilians knows what it is, even if it isn't clear to the rest of us.
Election 2008 - Live 05:40am on 05 Nov 2008 Two very gracious speeches - I almost believe there is hope, but wait to see.

Go USA!
HBOS: Recession Bites 10:38am on 03 Nov 2008 Bankslickerminusther:

You missed point 4 - ensuring that certain loans made by HBOS are given favourable restructuring, as per certain taverna discussions.

Cryptic? Yes.

Don't ever reveal a person, as slips kan accumulate :o)
Happy Halloween 8:46pm on 30 Oct 2008 Did anyone else immediately have a vision of the crows from 'Dumbo' when the photo of the two cattle egrets and the crow came on?

Fantastic picture - loved it and the otter shots.

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