I know that I for sure like nothing better than playing some Candy Crush and then going down the local boozer to whup some ass.

If the government don't want people smoking then ban it. I don't have time for all of this "Ooo, it's so bad, people shouldn't do it. But we won't ban it."

And leave vaping alone, it's safe and fun for all.

Yes, this is a good question.

So far the UK government is claiming that GCHQ wouldn't dream of doing anything as evil as the NSA and that everything they do is all above board and legal like.

Were evidence to materialise to the contrary it would be very embarrassing for the government, especially people like William Hague who's been assuring us that he knows exactly what goes on and we have nothing to worry about.

I'd say there's a possibility that the government, or organs of the government, are worried this evidence may exist and would like to know what it could show were it to be released.

I've followed Groklaw since the beginning, it was a brilliant site because of the dedication, insight and attention to detail brought to it by PJ and it is, needless to say, a tragedy that she is forced to take this action by the behaviour of the Government.

It's really a double tragedy because it's people like her whom we need more than ever right now. The US and other Governments are highly unlikely simply to stop this behaviour on their own, they will only do so if forced to do so by us, their citizens, and someone with the qualities and platform which PJ has could play a useful part in that ( not I think she should be forced to do this against her will and absolutely not that I'd hold anything against her if she doesn't want to do that )

I think these are two separate incidents; the detention of David and the confiscation of his stuff and the destruction of the Guardian disk drives.

I don't know what law entitles them to destroy private property like that though.

I'd guess that people pirated it because that's the easiest and most convenient way of watching it.

I know my friends have been going on and on about this series for months but so far as I know it wasn't generally released here in the UK ( maybe just on Sky or something ? )

If the entertainment companies want us to get content from them directly then they need to make it a lot more easy and convenient than it is now.

No it's not, the post is actually quite an good description of what the poster appears to have been doing and offers the poster some good advice into the bargain.

I don't think so, Didn't the British lay waste to Peking at the end of the 1800's due to a disagreement between the Chinese Emperor and themselves over whether they should kow-tow to the Emperor ?

It sounds to me like you need to get yourselves a Maggie Thatcher, she was able to sort out the corrupt mining unions here in the UK good and proper.

You seriously took 30Kg of gear for a one day hike ? WTF for you masochist.

That sounds like a pretty reasonable offer, given the success the US has had capturing Bin Laden in the years since.

I see one fault in your logic. Rewarding warlords with "peace-time hush-money" only sets precedence for other countries at conflict with the United States

Almost certainly true but nevertheless exactly what the US is already doing. You can clearly see in these documents that the local warlords are more than happy to accept "compensation" when the US accidentally slaughters there people. It's higly likely they are equally willing to accept large monetary gifts in order to not offer support the Taliban, or stop growing poppies etc etc.

The British were trying specifically to not conquer Afghanistan for a number of reasons. All they really wanted was a buffer state between India and Russia ruled by interests sympathetic to the British. Unfortunately the first attempt was commanded by an incompetant and aged buffoon who was scared of refusing ridiculous requests from their Afghan proxy to pay out bribes and keep the British troops well out of the way of Kabul in a makeshift encampment at the mercy of elements and with insufficient food.

The second attempt was much more successful and Russian plans for invasion of India scuppered for good.

Even with ID cards you still need to provide proof of address to open a bank account. One of the people who did buy one explained this on Radio 4 this morning. He used his driving licence so in fact it turns out that having an ID card did not make opening bank accounts any easier.

Yeah, ramp up that TERROR, turn the dial to PANIC !

Are you scared yet citizen ? Are you ...