Well yes, they were British then ;-)

Well the good news is that you don't need to fix the drive to get your personal information back. Just write to the NSA and ask them for a copy :-)

David Miranda is a Brazillian national.

You'll have to do better than linking an inflammatory opinion from a conservative commentator to make your point, AC. Are you saying that education, roads, fire fighting services, healthcare, pensions, disability and unemployment benefits just can't be afforded anymore by wealthy nations? Or are you saying that the welfare system is inefficient because it's a government thing? What is your plan for disabled people who have no family to support them, exactly? Do you think that removing education from those that can't afford it will bring about a better society?

is he Jose Villar? http://www.upatour.com/8-ball-rankings/

What's your point? Are you suggesting that the recession in the Eurozone was caused by socialised medical protection?

Yes, all true. Perhaps though the US has a different set of social issues, or maybe the same set of social issues as the UK but with increased intensity (e.g. US gang organisation and violence is in a different league to the UK's, social inequality is greater etc.) So removing guns from the UK doesn't make much difference to the murder rate but in the US, due to the more heated social problems, removing guns would make a difference?

Woosh!

The implications of this treatment would be clearer if they identified which animals they used as guinea pigs.

That's not what he said, and by suggesting it was, you have rather proved his point about your stupidity.

You're confusing the Libyan Embassy Siege (1984) and the Iranian Embassy Siege (1980). See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yvonne_Fletcher and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_siege

I think you're confused between the Libyan Embassy Siege (1984) and the Iranian Embassy Siege (1980): The gunman was in the Libyan embassy: "Following the shooting, the embassy was surrounded by armed police for eleven days, in one of the longest police sieges in London's history. Meanwhile, Gaddafi claimed that the embassy was under attack from British forces, and Libyan soldiers surrounded the United Kingdom's embassy in Tripoli in response. The British government eventually resolved the incident by allowing the embassy staff to leave the embassy and then expelling them from the country." See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yvonne_Fletcher Whereas the Iranian Embassy was stormed by the DRFLA and retaken by UK security forces: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_siege

Firstly, the UK hasn't threatened to storm anything, and secondly, the UK has protected embassies in the past in just the way that you describe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_siege

But if we all start using "correcthorsebatterystaple" that's surely even worse?

That's true, but that's not the only way to spin it. Everybody dies and for the majority of people, the most healthcare they receive is in the final few weeks of their lives. The real burden on a socialised healthcare system (and the economy in general) is non-earning old people desiccating away decades after retirement. Bringing forward the day of their death means fewer old aged non-workers hanging on in retirement homes. So, while I suspect that you don't share my views on socialised medicine, I too think that the government has no business in telling people how to live their lives. Let them bloat (and smoke) and die early, just as long as they earn and pay tax up until they croak.