While I am not British and I admit to being unfamiliar with such details of your culture I have to loudy call BULLSHIT on your retort. I have attended and hosted numerous private parties which cost more that US$100 per person when all was said and done - complete with lighting and huge Peavey stacks pumping out the jams. None of these events were intended as nor turned out to be 100+ person 'raves'. It just happens that my brother played bass in a number of bands in the 80's and 90's and still has the 'kit'. According assinine thinking such as you present here I should never be allowed to borrow/use this gear for a small private function??

Enjoying an evening on pirvate property with a small group of friends and family is 'rediculous' if you splurge a little bit on some surf and turf while listining to tunes on an excellent sound system and using *GASP* a generator???

Makes me simultaneously quite happy that my ancestors fled your oppressive state back in the late 1680's and rather fearful that such twisted thinking is become the norm across the globe.

Sadly, here in the US it is getting to be more likely that this type of gathering will be shut down because the State has declared your private property a 'wetland' and your presence there is endangering the mosquitos.

My advice to the remaining free citizens of the world: throw all the fucking parties you can now before you no longer have ANY rights.

Rediculous my hairy yellow butt...

To clarify: this has nothing to do with PAYG vs risk - it is a simple mileage tax generated by the Cult of Global Warming so more of your $ can be extracted from you and sacrificed on the alter of Gaia.

No further explanation necessary.

= : ^ \ >

..you do realize that you are calling yourself a racist with the OJ reference, right? just to clarify: YOU are assuming OJ is guilty even though he was found not guilty of a crime...

As far as the Teddy K. point - you obviously do not listen to much polictical TV/radio - Chappaquiddick comes up frequently. While it is certainly not a topic covered with sort of enthusiasm by CNN or The View it does come up so your over-broad statement that 'nobody' is calling him a murdered is just flat wrong...perhaps you hang out with the wrong crowd and therefore never hear it discussed?

so, nice try - but perhaps you should get your own prejudice under control before you call others out...just sayin'

err, as I recall MJ was never convicted of anything [http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/13/jackson.trial/ for example...], so how, exactly, was he railroaded by the justice system?? He got off BECAUSE he was a celeb [re:OJ for another such case]

I know of a guy [a friend of my brother, who is neither rich nor a celebrity in any fashon] who spent time in prison for molesting his 16 yr old step-daughter. He was eventually released after the girl confessed several years later that her alcoholic mother convinced her to make up the story so she (the mother) would end up with the house, bank acct, etc. I believe he is STILL on one or more sex offender lists and his life is ruined forever (it comes up in job interviews, etc). THAT is being railroaded by the 'justice' system.

MJ had his day in court and walked. So, if by 'railroaded' you mean that his immense wealth and fame bought off a jury then I would have to agree...otherwise, not so much...

"Well, in his defense employees should have the right to permanently remove personal data from their work stations such as emails, web surfing history, porn or whatever other private data a person might collect...reasonable level of privacy."

There is no such thing as a reasonable level of privacy for the things you list [regardless of gov/corp status]. An employee has no right to use the employer's equipment/services for personal purposes, that includes "emails, web surfing history, porn or whatever other private data a person might collect" - it should not be on the PC unless it [the PC] is yours.

I field this issue on a regular basis [desktop admin weenie for a smallish health insurance company]. We have the full backing of management to immediately delete any unathorized apps/data ["...yes, I did remotely delete iTunes and all of the music files on this PC, please address your complaints to Corporate Data Security, the Ethics and Compliance department, HR and every manager in my food chain...would you like their cell phione numbers?.."]. Despite the assumption that everyone seems to have that you have privacy at your place of employment you actually have very little [restroom with no camera/mic...thats about it]. The PC,hard disk, network, innerweb connection, email systems, telephone and every bit of airspace on the property are paid for by the employer - you have rights to pretty much none of it as an employee.