HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: andrew@DINO.QCI.BIOCH.BCM.TMC.EDU (Andrew Sharff)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: General Election - The Result
Date: 10 Apr 1992 03:24:44 GMT


Well, for all those who took great pleasure in attacking me I have the 
following pearls of wisdom:

The sky is blue, the sun rises in the East and sets in the West and the 
Conservatives have made history and won their 4th consecutive election - 
with an overall majority!

The latest count (4:15 am BST) is :-
 
Conservative - 333 seats  (cf Graham Gooch)
Labour - 272 (oh dear)
Lib Dem - 21

with 80% of the constituencies reporting - an overall majority for the 
conservatives of 8.

I wonder now how long Neil Kinnock will remain leader of the Labour party!
He undoubtedly cost them dear - they have much more talented and intelligent 
people to call on.


Newsgroups: uk.politics,soc.culture.british
From: livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey)
Subject: Re: Mortgages (was Re: Simple message)
Organization: sgi
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 21:58:57 GMT

In article <1992Apr15.101929.22310@newcastle.ac.uk>, J.W.Harley@newcastle.ac.uk (Jon Harley) writes:
|> 
|> This is mainly true. Most building societies only charge the mortgage
|> indemnity premium if you are borrowing over 70% of the purchase price.
|> But even so, most of them are *not* willing to lend you more than 95%
|> of the purchase price. Especially not to first time buyers.

Nor should they.   A borrower who has none of his own money at risk
is not a good prospect.   When someone finds a way to finance a
purchase 100% through credit, then they know that whatever happens,
they can walk away from it, and count whatever they paid in loan
repayments as a form of rent, with no cash loss to themselves.   Such
buyers may then be less likely to improve the property, since they
are more likely to consider themselves temporary occupants rather 
than owners.

jon.
From: koumis@husc4.harvard.edu (Anthony Koumis)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: leftie parties
Date: 14 Apr 92 22:07:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Apr14.180730.11093
Organization: Harvard University Science Center


Some think that Labour are washed up.  But what eer happened
to the Leftie parties that Kinnock kicked out of Labour?
Like "Labour Militant" and the other parties -- do they have
any influence????
From: steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Why should Libya hand over the PanAm bombers?
Date: 6 Apr 92 15:17:22 GMT
Article-I.D.: topaz.STEINLY.92Apr6161722
	<NICKH.92Apr2190242@VOILA.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU>
	<1992Apr3.162536.6929@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov>
	<NICKH.92Apr3121309@VOILA.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU>
Organization: Lick Observatory/UCO
In-reply-to: nickh@CS.CMU.EDU's message of 3 Apr 92 17:13:09 GMT

In article <NICKH.92Apr3121309@VOILA.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU> nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes:

   In article <1992Apr3.162536.6929@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov> bobv@spike.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Bob von Buelow) writes:
      In article <NICKH.92Apr2190242@VOILA.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU> nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes:


   As someone else pointed out, acts committed outside the US _cannot_ be
   properly tried in a US criminal court.

As yet another person pointed out, the US does claim jurisdiction
over crimes committed against US citizens abroad! I believe a number
of countries claim limited jurisdiction over people accused of
committing crimes outside the nominal jurisdiction of the country,
in particular was crimes.


   jurisdiction, the extradition.  There is no extradition treaty with
   Libya, so you _can't_ just "demand" extradition---you have to make a
   special case.

This puzzled me. I believe yet another person noted that extradition
was claimed under the Treaty of Montreal of which Libya is a
signatory, hijacking and attack on airlines appears to be treated
somewhat differently from ordinary crimes under international law.
Any net.lawyers _know_?


*  Steinn Sigurdsson   			Lick Observatory      	*
* steinly@helios.ucsc.edu		"standard disclaimer"  	*
*  I know people whose idea of fun				*
*  Is throwing stones in the river in the afternoon sun		*
*  Oh let me be as free as them					*
*  				- BB 1986			*
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
From: mfriley@wpi.WPI.EDU (Margaret F Riley)
Subject: Re: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 19:24:48 GMT

In article <1992Apr9.153100.3957@den.mmc.com> pschauer@den.mmc.com (Paul Schauer 1-1090) writes:
>In article <1992Apr8.185424.10858@husc3.harvard.edu> koumis@husc4.harvard.edu (Anthony Koumis) writes:
>>In Britain all soda seems to be referred to as "cokes". Probably because
>>they havent been inundated with all the stuff we have here like sprite,
>>7-up, root beer, cream soda, etc.etc.
>>
>>But soda, soda pop, and soft drink I think often have regional uses
>>in the US.
>
>And don't forget the even more regional "pop" as in "Give me a pop." 
>Mid-western US only?
>Paul

Nah, Pittsburgh, PA call 'em pop too.

margaret

Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.society.civil-liberty
From: albion@bnr.ca (Alan Buchanan)
Subject: Re: British Bill: of Rights? of Goods?
Originator: albion@bcrks63
Reply-To: alanbu@bnr.ca
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd, Ottawa
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 20:45:09 GMT


In article <LEE.92Apr14155309@meercat.wang.com>, lee@wang.com (Lee Story) writes:
> 
> (Richard Caley) writes:
>    I really, really, like the fact that the House of Lords could find a
>    man guilty of raping his wife dispite the fact that it is clearly not
>    illegal.
> 
> This is fine as long as the Lords cannot also prescribe a penalty for
> the non-crime.  However heinous the deed, there is good reason for
> the prohibition against ex post facto criminal law which is part of
> the US Bill of Rights.

It rather depends upon the principle in question. Under the Common Law a
judgement is made against the measure of the 'reasonable man'. There 
would be two questions that must be asked.

1. Is the Common Law applicable, in any way, to a criminal case.

2. If so, would a 'reasonable man' regard the action, under the 
   circumstances in which it occured, to be a criminal act.

Your 'good reason' may have no meaning in this system.


                              Alan
--
Alan Buchanan       Bell-Northern Research, Ltd       Ph.: (613) 763-2750
Silicon Design      P.O. Box 3511, Station C          Fax: (613) 763-3970
  Methods           Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1Y 4H7  

alanbu@bnr.ca        

        Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
                         - William Butler Yeats
From: matthew@ntl02.decnet.nokia.fi (Matthew Faupel)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Election stats (3/5) Votes by sex, age & class
Date: 13 Apr 92 23:03:56 GMT
Organization: Nokia Telecommunications, Cambridge, UK

Breakdown of voting proportions by sex, age and class.
Source: Independent on Sunday, 12 Apr 92

              Con      Lab   LibDem   Other
Men            42       37       17       5
Women          43       34       19       5
Age 18-24      36       37       21       6
Age 25-34      40       38       17       5
Age 35-54      44       34       18       4
Age 55+        45       35       17       2
AB             59       20       19       2
C1             52       24       20       5
C2             41       38       17       5
DE             29       50       17       4

--
---* Amnesiac the Wizard *------------------* matthew@uk.tele.nokia.fi *---
 Opinions expressed here are not those of my company.    | NB. ntl02 is EN
 They're not even my own; I plagiarised the lot of them! | TEE EL ZERO TWO
---* matthew@ntl02.decnet.nokia.fi *------------------* Matthew Faupel *---
From: pac9897@zeus.tamu.edu (SO MUCH FOR DEMOCRACY IN BRITAIN)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Emmigration after the Tory win on April 9th
Date: 12 Apr 92 04:59:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

I was just thinking, all of my British friends (with one or two exceptions)
who are at university were considering emmigration now that it has
become clear that our democracy no longer functions properly.
Is this the start of another brain drain?
I myself want to leave as soon as my degree is over, unless J.Major is
substantially different to his first shot at the top.

Surely this is a hollow win for the Tories if everyone who didn't vote
for them is so sick of it all that they want to leave?

So who else is for bailing out before the rats drag down the ship of state?

Philip A. Carney		On Exchange from Lancaster University,
Texas A&M University, TX	England.
		  	* BRAIN DRAIN '93 *
**********ALL VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE MY OWN, NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF**************
******TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY, LANCASTER UNIVERSITY OR THEIR ASSOCIATES**********

"The lust for power is rooted not in strength, but in weakness..." - Erich Fromm
From: Trevor.Kirby@newcastle.ac.uk (Trevor Kirby)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Gas stoves
Date: 10 Apr 92 09:14:09 GMT
Organization: Computing Laboratory, U of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU.


In article <EWADAMS.92Apr9015132@netcom.Netcom.COM>, ewadams@netcom.Netcom.COM (Ernest Adams) writes:
>
>probably still grown by Farmer Brown using methods that haven't
>changed significantly since the invention of the plowshare in the
>14th century.
>
I'll have to check on this but If I remember correctly british flour doesn't
have enough gluten to make really good bread on its own so needs either flour
improver and or other (mainly canadian I think) wheat added. Typical there is never a good cookery book round when you need one.

 Trev
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.usa
From: horne-scott@CS.YALE.EDU (Scott Horne)
Subject: Re: Why should Libya hand over the PanAm bombers?
Organization: Computer "Science" Dept, Yale University
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1992 00:48:28 GMT

In article <1992Apr7.202217.13263@cs.yale.edu> jovanovic-nick@CS.YALE.EDU (Nick Jovanovic) writes:
>
>If the New World Order keeps forming along present lines, we have some
>real carnage to look forward to because at some point the world will
>just say NO to the US and the UN.

The US *and* the UN?  I thought they were one and the same....

					--Scott

-- 
Scott Horne                               ...!{harvard,cmcl2,decvax}!yale!horne
horne@cs.Yale.edu      SnailMail:  Box 7196 Yale Station, New Haven, CT   06520
203 436-1848                Residence:  Rm 1848 Silliman College, New Haven, CT
ZANG4 HAN4 YI4 JIA1 / GONG4 JIAN4 ZHONG1HUA2!
From: gdb15@grebe.cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Farewell to Kinnock
Date: 15 Apr 92 13:30:39 GMT
Reply-To: gdb15@cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry)
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK

In article <1992Apr15.033939.10350@cc.uow.edu.au> jlloyd@cc.uow.edu.au (Jonathan Lloyd) writes:

>Unfortunately for those that don't like it, most of the people in the UK do 
>live in the SE of England. 

What?  The South East may be overcrowded, but we haven't yet got to the
state where over half the population lives there.

>But NI is not really NI at all it is an income TAX. The sooner some
>government comes clean and calls it one the better. 

I wish they would.  It would then be clear that those earning below
the NI threshold paid a higher marginal rate of tax than those earning
above it.

>The National Insurance name suggests that those who contribute most 
>will stand to gain most. The reverse is true. In fact self employed
>people who pay the biggest NI charges get almost nothing out!!!!

Self-employed people in fact pay a *lower* rate of NI than employed
people (and there's no employer's contribution either).

>NI is a heap of bullshit. Call a Tax a TAX. It (NI) should be abolished.
>In Australia we have a "Medicare Levy" which is 1.25% of your taxable 
>income. It all goes to healthcare, but they still need to take more from
>other tax sources. And soon they are plans afoot to give you tax credits for 
>taking out private health insurance. This is the kind of fairness that is
>completely lacking in the UK system.

In Britain, NI is only used to fund a limited range of social security
benefits, and virtually none of the money goes to health.  Most social
security spending, and nearly *all* health spending, comes from
general taxation.  What makes the Australian system fairer?

--
Guy Barry	Phone: +44 (0)223 334757 | University of Cambridge
		  Fax: +44 (0)223 334678 | Computer Laboratory   
	   JANET: Guy.Barry@uk.ac.cam.cl | New Museums Site, Pembroke Street
        Internet: Guy.Barry@cl.cam.ac.uk | Cambridge CB2 3QG, England, UK
From: sproven@cs.strath.ac.uk (Simon B Proven IE91)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: MAJOR WINS MAJORITY!!!
Date: 16 Apr 92 20:09:27 GMT
Organization: Comp. Sci. Dept., Strathclyde Univ., Glasgow, Scotland.

In article <1992Apr16.101932.14400@bristol.ac.uk> P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee) writes:
>
>I also believe 'society' as an entity is much worse off.  (Of
>course, according to Maggie 'society' doesn't exist, so it's hard to
>argue my beliefs here against hard-line Thatcherites.)

All she wants is the great car economy ... some society!!! :(

>-- 
>Paul Smee, Computing Service, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UD, UK
> P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk - ..!uunet!uknet!bsmail!p.smee - Tel +44 272 303132


+-- Simon "Mad@Bike" Proven ---------------------------------------------+
|- _ -  - _ -   .__o    /  <sproven@cs.strath.ac.uk> or                  |
|-  -  - _ -  _-\_<,   /   <caa650@ccsun.strath.ac.uk>                   | 
\____________(*)/'(*)_/____REAL(tm)_peeps_ride_bike_:)___________________/
From: anw@maths.nott.ac.uk (Dr A. N. Walker)
Newsgroups: uk.politics,soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Simple message
Date: 9 Apr 92 19:15:36 GMT
Reply-To: anw@maths.nott.ac.uk (Dr A. N. Walker)
Organization: Maths Dept., Nott'm Univ., UK.

In article <1992Apr9.080008.15420@rtf.bt.co.uk> traub@rtf.bt.co.uk
(Michael Traub) writes:

>This is wrong. This glibly assumes person A bought a house less than 30,000
>pounds, impossible in most of the country now.

	Well, it is certainly *possible* around Nottingham currently, and
I guess in most of the UK outside London, its commuter belt, and other
fashionable places.  But in any case, it only assumes that A currently has
a no more than 30K mortgage, which must apply to *most* people on reasonable
incomes outside London who haven't moved in the last few years.  It applies
to me, and I am on well above the UK median salary and have a perfectly
satisfactory house.

>>	 [Michael seemed to be claiming that B probably spends more than
>>90% of his disposable income on his mortgage, which doesn't seem very
>>likely to me.
>
>Nor would it seem likely to me, but then you just made that bit up.
>Please don't attribute something to me which I did not say.

	In article <1992Apr6.071030.29606@rtf.bt.co.uk>, you wrote, while
trying to prove that B, who earns 10 times as much as A, consumes and spends
little more, that:

  >Person B will probably be spending the extra money on a mortgage, something
  >which has no VAT levied on it.

Since B's "extra money" is 90% of his income, you perhaps see where your
apparent assertion comes from.  What *did* you mean?

>Just in case you really are, people on low incomes spend a far higher
>proportion of their salary on mortgages than people on higher incomes.
>This is fact, if you don't believe me check with your building society.

	Roughly 20% of my household's disposable income goes into the
maws of my bank;  I am neither on a low income nor seriously rich.  I
would suggest that anyone on a *low* income [say, <10K] who is spending
much more than that [say, >30%] on a mortgage is badly overstretched.
On the other hand, anyone who on a high income is spending much less
[say, < 10%] either has a very old mortgage, or has a source of amazingly
cheap finance, or else isn't keeping up the appearances to which most such
people would like to become accustomed.

-- 
Andy Walker, Maths Dept., Nott'm Univ., UK.
anw@maths.nott.ac.uk
From: w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,uk.politics
Subject: elect'n 92: TORY WIN MAKES TERRORISM
Date: 14 Apr 92 16:14:51 GMT
Reply-To: w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk
Organization: Chemical & Process Engineering Dept, University of Newcastle, UK.

Well the conservative victory at the General Election has led much of the 
media to write labour off as a future government.  A bit early to be doing
this.
But let's say (for the sake of discussion) the conservative party will win
the next 2 elections with similar share of the vote and with an overall 
majority of the seats.  Do the media seriously think members of fringe
extreme left-wing groups and the Scotish and Welsh extreme groups (SNLA and
Sons of Glendower) will sit back and do nothing? 

There might be a real danger of terrorism.  Those people who want the poor
to be helped might justifyably or unjustifyably come to blame the government
for street beggars, high levels of homelessness etc.  If they believe the
peaceful political process no longer a practical approach (due to single
party rule) they might feel only violence will solve the problem.

  The fact that the ruling group only has about 40% of the electorate 
supporting it can't help but make the above situation worse.

...........................................................................
From: koumis@husc4.harvard.edu (Anthony Koumis)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: dweeb?
Date: 8 Apr 92 22:51:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc3.1992Apr8.185101.10857
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

Some Brit worried about an American trying to defend his language.  So
I thought I would point out that some LInguists actually think that
American-English as spoken is closer to medieval-english than english-
english as spoken.  The idea being, I guess, that the Yankees didnt
evolves their language but the Brits did from the middles ages.

Cheers.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:6279 soc.culture.celtic:3540
From: ccmj@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Claire Jones)
Newsgroups: uk.politics,soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic
Subject: Re: Women in parliament
Keywords: April 9th and April 11th
Date: 13 Apr 92 13:28:43 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh

In article <1222@lysator.liu.se>, ceci@lysator.liu.se (Ceci Henningsson) writes:
> Someone talked about minority candidates for parliament and I got the
> impression that they were under-representated. How about women?

Yes, women are very under-represented in the House of Commons,
less than 100 out of 600+ I think.
 
> I suppose they make up at least 50% of the voters, or do some women
> refrain from voting because of their sex?
So far as I know, the differential is tiny.
 
> How many female candidates were there? 
I don't know that one.... 
> Were there any significant differences between the parties as to the
> percentage of each gender's candidates?  
I gather the Liberal Democrats had the most, probably followed by 
Labour, then the Conservatives. However a better measure of
seriousness is the number of women standing in constituencies who 
actually have a chance of winning......
 
> Does any party in Britain use a qota system for gender representation
> the way many European environment parties do?
Not so far as I know. 
> One might think that having a female prime minister for many years
> would make a country more open to women in politics. Has this
> happened? 
Not particularly--although there was an outcry when her sucessor
had no women whatsoever in his cabinet. 
 
> I heard that tory politicians had made outright racist statements
> about a coloured tory candidate, have similar things happened to
> female candidates?
Not that I know of.

The Labour party has various policies aimed at getting more women
into politics at all levels. One problem is that there are not
enough women putting themselves forward as candidates. Another is
that with First-past-the-post the tendency is to pick the least
objectional candidate (i.e. a white male).....sadly it is believed
that it is the women voters are likely to vote against a woman candidate.
Another problem is perhaps the practical one that politics requires
a lot of investment of time (especially local council positions which
are not salaried) so women with their greater responsibility for
children are further discouraged (and when the kids are grown up
they feel too old to take the first steps).

-- 
Claire
ccmj@dcs.ed.ac.uk
(I don't know why I bother with a signature really, all the information
 in it appears (more concisely) in the header right before my eyes.)
From: cbenson@bazooka.Altos.COM (Christopher Benson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Budmouth
Keywords: budmouth weymouth barnstable hardy
Date: 6 Apr 92 02:41:43 GMT
Organization: AMB Research Labs, Sunnyvale, CA


My news service chose to delete the original article
because I had already *read* it. Jack (?) asked if the
Thomas Hardy *Budmouth* realy existed.

The quick answer is NO, but Hardy generally had real
places in mind, and used algorithmic place names
from his own hinterland. I do not vouch for their
acccuracy, but the newspaper *The West Briton*
answers such questions, because it was founded by
Thomas Hardy's uncle, and TH was an emloyee.

The newspaper is not located in Wessex, but further west
in Truro, Cornwall.

Their address is
        The West Briton
        Lemon Quay
        TRURO
        Cornwall
        England, U.K.


Wessex itself will probably not be found on modern maps,
but refers to Dorset, Wiltshire and bits of Berkshire, Devon.


A quick glance at a map shows many *Something*-mouth places.

Best wishes, 
Chris (*I never saw Tess*) Benson,
....{sun|apple}!altos!bazooka!cbenson
From: apm@hpopd.pwd.hp.com (Andrew Merritt)
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 12:31:19 GMT
Subject: Re: cola wars (was Re: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard NSG-PWD, UK.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british

koumis@husc4.harvard.edu (Anthony Koumis) makes a sweeping statement:
>In Britain all soda seems to be referred to as "cokes". Probably because
>they havent been inundated with all the stuff we have here like sprite,
>7-up, root beer, cream soda, etc.etc.

We have all those and more (ginger beer, dandelion and burdock, Vimto, Irn
Bru).  The term I hear most often used to described carbonated beverages is
'fizzy drink'.  'Coke' is often used to mean any cola, regardless of brand,
but rarely if ever used to cover other 'sodas', at least round here.

Andrew
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:6646 alt.politics.british:28