HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov (LAURENCE GODFREY)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Scroungers?
Date: 15 Oct 92 19:28:00 GMT
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1

In article <2948@nlsun1.oracle.nl>, mlemmerm@oracle.nl (Mick Lemmerman Publis writes...
>Can't remember the name of the Tory who said it was time
>to get rid of the "something for nothing" society  (Mr
>Richard Cranium?). Anyhow, is he planning to abolish 
>inheritance?

Some hope!  This is, of course, a usual Tory tactic - with their recent
abyssmal record the best they can do is appeal to the lowest human
instincts in an attempt to shift the blame on to those who can't fight
back.  Obviously it's all the fault of the scroungers that they're
unemployed, that they're being thrown out of their housing, that they
can barely afford to eat and that their homes and families are breaking
up.  Wow, with the amount they'll recover by stamping out all scrounging
for a year, they might be able to afford to finance one more day of Lamont
using national reserves in a failed attempt to prop up the over-valued
pounds.  No, sorry, only about 1/10 of a day.

The only solution is a violent uprising against the government.  Spill
some blood and teach the Tories a lesson!

Laurence

* Disclaimer: nothing in the above should be interpreted as seditious
From: david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George)
Subject: Re: Privatisation snippets
Organization: OSF RI Grenoble
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 10:54:48 GMT

In article <1bik3eINNsmm@fido.asd.sgi.com>, livesey@solntze.wpd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey) writes:
|> In article <1992Oct15.012818.1733@morrow.stanford.edu>, mossop@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Antony Mossop) writes:
|> >
|> > Large banks, insurance companies etc.. have a very good idea how much
|> > say a large telecommunications monopoly in a country like the UK is
|> > worth. They employ large numbers of people to make them large sums of
|> > money on exactly this kind of information.
|> 
|> No.   Large banks, insurance companies etc. *say* that they can
|> do this kind of thing and come up with a price.   But they lie.

In fact if you look at the way large banks, insurance companies, pension
funds and unit trust work you would conclude that they no bugger all about
how to make money on the stock market.

What they do know is that if you give them 100 quid, and they keep 5 quid and
put the rest in shares under your name, they've just made 5 quid and you're
left with some dodgy asset, that is: a share certificate, which may or
may not be worth what you just paid for it.

Getting back to the Great B.T. rip-off.  You could argue that a 100%
shareholding in a badly run public monopoly is worth a damn sight less to the
country than a 49% shareholding in an appreciating asset.  Plus you've
just made a few billion for the country be flogging half of it.

What you might question is whether selling half of a company such as BT in one
go is a good idea, bearing in mind the difficulty in establishing a price in
the shares.  Then again you might find that people are a bit leery of buying
shares where the govt. still has 95% control.

What might have been a good idea, if the government was committed to
establishing general share ownership, was to offer shares at a knock down price
as long as you keep them for a period of 5 years.  This is a technique favoured
in Germany however I suspect it is largely used to prevent hostile takeover
bids by restricting the amount of shares in a company which can be traded.

David.
From: rjchapma@cen.ex.ac.uk (R.J.Chapman)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Oxford 1969
Date: 8 Oct 92 09:47:31 GMT
Organization: Computer Unit. - University of Exeter. UK

In article <STEINLY.92Oct7191746@topaz.ucsc.edu> steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes:

>   This is a bit out of line for s.c.b but I'm too cheap
>   to call my Oxonian acquiantances...
>
>	   Recently it has been alleged the Bill
>   Clinton is unfit for the (US) presidency 'cause he
>   didn't take classes/exams during his second year
>   at Oxford [sic]. Now, figuring him as a PPE type
>   with a sort of bachelors degree already under the
>   belt, I started wondering just what exams he would
>   be expected to take?
>	   As a BA he's not gonna want anotherone,
>   and doesn't Oxford have a 7 term residency requirement?
>   Were there any masters courses then examinable, clearly
>   Oxford doesn't have the infantile American obsession with
>   multiple exams concurrent with the course? There were none
>   of currently popular "diploma" courses available? MPhil
>   is by thesis and he's not going to get a DPhil in two years,
>   so did he have anything better to do than to sit in on seminars
>   and chat over beer? Is there a better way to learn?
>	   Is there any possibility that the Great American Public
>   can comprehend the absence of GPAs and and biweekly in-class quizzes?

If I remember right from my time at Oxford (1981-1984), there were
quite a few American post-grads around doing BA degrees. They
had "senior status" which meant they did just the 2nd and 3rd years
of their degrees. This meant in practice only one exam viz. the
"Second Public Examination", instead of the two which the rest of
us did in our three years!

--
Robin J. Chapman                 *
Department of Mathematics        *
University of Exeter, UK         *
R.J.Chapman@cen.exeter.ac.uk     *
-- 
Robin J. Chapman                 *
Department of Mathematics        *
University of Exeter, UK         *
R.J.Chapman@cen.exeter.ac.uk     *
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Saturday, 10 Oct 1992 17:47:19 CDT
From: <U21729@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Lau-"runt"

There is a very outspoken chap lingering in different newsgroups, one Sir
Laurence Godfrey.  Is he a Knight in Great Britain?  The way he has been
slandering other cultures indicates that he must be someone important.  Can
any of you British people out there answer this question?  What do you think
of Sir Lau-runt's views?  Does he criticize the Superior United Kingdom?
Your views and comments would be greatly appreciated.

                                           Signed,

                                           "A Dumb American Undergrad"
                                             -- Laurence Godfrey, Ph-Dork
                                                10/10/92
Date:    Sat, 10 Oct 1992 5:53:13 -0500 (CDT)
From:    GODFREY@SSCVX1.SSC.GOV
Message-Id: <921010055313.2341514b@SSCVX1.SSC.GOV>
To:      <U21729@uicvm.uic.edu>
X-Vmsmail-To: SMTP%"<U21729@uicvm.uic.edu>"



What crap you American undergraduates talk.  Everyone has a right to express
views, negative or positive, about another culture and the newsgroup for
that culture is the appropriate place to do it.
From: cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Edinburgh
Date: 8 Oct 92 14:34:00 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

In article <BvrCJx.oA@acsu.buffalo.edu> v064myby@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Christophe J Quaranta) writes:

	   Can anyone tell me how you're supposed to pronounce Edinburgh?
   Every Scot I talk to seems to say Edinboro!  I assume they're not referring
   to Pennsylvania.

Almost right, it's Edinburruh.  A burgh is a Scottish borough and pronounced
the same way.
--
	-- Chris. 	cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk   (on Janet, cc@uk.ac.ed.dcs)
From: godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov (LAURENCE GODFREY)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Information needed
Date: 12 Oct 92 00:13:00 GMT
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1

In article <Bvz6B0.4qz@nic.umass.edu>, s1006420@titan.ucc.umass.edu (If you want writes...
>Hello,
> 
>I am doing a project concerning existing men's groups or organizations
>that deal with violence against women - such as one here in the
>States called 'Men Against Violence Against Women'. Can anyone inform
>me of any such groups in the u.k.? (address or contact info appreciated)
> 
>Thank you,
> 
>Vera B.
> 
> 
> 
> 

no
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: hugh@sci.kun.nl (Hugh Osborne)
Subject: Re: Privatisation snippets
Organization: University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 09:31:23 GMT

In <1bbnqaINN96v@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM> martin.baines@uk.sun.com (Martin Baines - Sun UK - SE Manager Cambridge) writes:

>In article 26721@castle.ed.ac.uk, fofp@castle.ed.ac.uk (M Holmes) writes:
>Actually I totally agree with what you say here: I was using the
>term "Government" in much the way I would use the term "Company"
>to mean the Board acting on behalf of the shareholders.

>In my view the situation is  like (say) BP floating
>off a subsidiary: I own shares in BP and expect them to
>get a good price when they sell off the sunsidiary. I then
>have the right to buy new shares in the subsidiary.

>I don't see any difference in this from the "Government"
>selling share in (say) BT. But then I guess I am not
>a socialist.....

Fair enough, if the proceeds of selling off the "shares" in BT are
fairly distrbuted amongst the "shareholders".  Now define the
distribution of the "shares" amongst the "shareholders" before
privatisation. The simplest is of course "one person, one share", or
"one `phone, one share", though you could argue for distribution
according to past income (more taxes paid = larger investment in BT).

I don't see how you can justify a system (for distributing the benefits
of privatisation) based on future income, which is the effect tax cuts
have.

--
Hugh Osborne             |            Dept. of Informatics
                       --+--          University of Nijmegen
                        /|\           The Netherlands
_______________________/___\_________ +31-(0)80-65.25.99
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: jackotto@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Jack Otto)
Subject: Re: REQ: Address of ESSEX University - No more replies needed.
Organization: Victoria University of Wellington
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 09:51:36 GMT

In article <Bw1An9.Ky0@comp.vuw.ac.nz> jackotto@kauri.vuw.ac.nz (Jack Otto) writes:
>I am seeking the postal address of the UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX.  In

Replies were prompt, thanks.

Jack.    --- Jack.Otto@vuw.ac.nz
From: proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re:  World News in the US
Date: 9 Oct 92 22:34:01 GMT
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.

In article <Bvv2Lx.385@news.fai.com> pault@ossi.com (Paul Taylor) writes:
>
>Personally I find KALW much better for international news than
>KQED. KALW includes  Canadian , BBC, Native American, European, and Indian
>programming.
>

Absolutely..... I was thinking of proposing the following slogans to KALW:

 "KALW: the thinking man's KQED"

or 

 "Radio that keeps you stuck in your car in the parking lot" 

But I suspect they won't use either.

Paul
From: nick@cs.hw.ac.uk (Nick Taylor)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Southwell (was Re: Edinburgh)
Date: 14 Oct 92 10:54:00 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computing & Electrical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland

In article <1992Oct12.135053.29629@maths.nott.ac.uk> anw@maths.nott.ac.uk (Dr A. N. Walker) writes:

>	Can't answer for Shrewsbury, but everyone I know [including, if not
>natives, at least residents] pronounces Southwell "Suthle" ["uth" as in
>"other"].  I've *never* heard it pronounced "Southall".  Or were you
>thinking of some other Southwell than the commuter town near Nottingham
>["Nottingum", not "Narding Ham"]?

Yep, I was thinking of the place near Nott'num. I have a problem with phonetic
spelling here. It didn't occur to me that anybody would pronounce the south in
southall as anything other than suth. Sorry - my mistake. You say you know
some residents who pronounce it suthle. This surprises me. I'd be interested
to know if the natives are now using "suthle".

Nick.
From: gray@rz-berlin.mpg.de (Struan Gray)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Stroud
Date: 15 Oct 92 17:29:58 GMT
Organization: Rechenzentrum MPG Berlin

Alan Carter commits sacrilige:

[Someone asks if Stroud has really gone to the dogs]
 
> Yup. The big stone houses in Painswick are very impressive, but the
> place has always had more Morris Minor pickups per acre than anywhere
> else in the country,

  Is this supposed to be a criticism?


> it's on the road west to Mid Wales from most bits of England, 

  Better and better.


> and it's got pretty countryside.

  You're really trying to tempt me aren't you.


> Have you never taken a look in The Pelican in the middle of Stroud?

  There you have me.  What's wrong?  Does it only serve decent beer and
good food?  Inquiring minds want to know.  Lets face it, any town that
can offer hundreds of Moggies, close proximity to Wales, and nice environs
would need a pretty dreadful pub to put me off.  No I don't have long
hair, fifteen children or smell of Patuli.

Struan
From: martin.baines@uk.sun.com (Martin Baines - Sun UK - SE Manager Cambridge)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Free Trade (was Re: Currency Problems)
Date: 8 Oct 92 15:39:07 GMT
Reply-To: martin.baines@uk.sun.com
Organization: Sun Microsystems Ltd
NNTP-Posting-Host: bottomdog.uk.sun.com

In article 23893@osf.org, sp@osf.org (Simon Patience) writes:
>In article <1992Oct7.151845.9329@vax.oxford.ac.uk>, wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>> Certainly. Virginia is in the USA. To get coal from Virginia to the UK involves
>> burning fuel of whatever type it is that heavy container ships use for a week
>> or two. To then get by lorry from Liverpool (say) to the power station involves
>> 1000 or so lorries on a journey of an hour (at least). Not only do they
>
>Why do you have to use lorries? What's wrong with rail? I believe they
>normally run rails to the major ports.

Why bother with either? Just ship the coal direct to coastal power stations,
or tranship it to barges for onward delivery by water.

The cost per tonne (energy or money) of shipment by water of bulk
goods such coal is a lot less than for either rail or road. In fact this
is the way most of the imported coal already gets to power stations:
either directly to stations on the cost (e.g. Kingsnorth) or
via barge to power stations in the north east via the Trent and
associated waterways. The argument about the bogeyman road
transport is just a red herring.

Martin

---
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You might say that, but I couldn't possibly comment"

Martin Baines, Sales Support Manager,
Sun Microsystems Ltd, 306 Science Park, Cambridge, CB4 4WG, UK
Phone: +44 223 420421                 Fax: +44 223 420257
JANET:     Martin.Baines@uk.co.sun    Other UK:  Martin.Baines@sun.co.uk
Internet:  Martin.Baines@UK.sun.com
X.400:     g=martin s=baines prmd=sunir admd=mci c=us
From: rk@hls.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Clew or Clue ?
Date: 11 Oct 92 22:09:14 GMT

Hi,

Recently I got into an argument with someone about the use of certain
X mechanisms in the newsgroup "comp.windows.x.intrinsics". In this debate
I used the word "clew" which is spelled by americans as "clue".

A  patronising american has followed up on this with me on email and has
suggested that I use "correct" English word, namely "clue".

I used to read Enid Blyton during my childhood and and am sure Georgina, 
Ju, Dick and Anne used to discuss clews and not clues. Am I wrong in
assuming that "clew" is a synonym to the word "clue" ?

Can anyone help ?

Thanx,

---
S Ramakrishnan, Hughes LAN Systems Inc., Mountain View, Ca
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: streater@unixjr.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater)
Subject: Re: Service (or lack thereof)
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 07:10:29 GMT

In article <1992Oct9.064515.19536@osf.org> sp@osf.org (Simon Patience) writes:
>In article <1992Oct9.002430.1222@netcom.com>, sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller) writes:
>> 
>> He says he'd just rather stay in California.  Not very many
>> encounters with smokers around here. 
>

I think it would be more accurate for Sue to have said that one does not
*knowingly* have many encounters with smokers in this neck of the woods. For
the most part, they have the good manners not to inflict us with the side
effects of their habit (smoke, ash, dog-ends). I don't really care if someone
smokes, as long as I don't have to deal with the side effects.

>
>That's sad.
>

Why?

Tin.
From: jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk (Jeremy Henderson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Driving in UK.
Date: 9 Oct 92 09:54:13 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <1992Oct8.183036.5681@software.org> antonson@software.org (Todd S. Antonson) writes:
~Hi,
~
~I am going to England for a week in November and plan to get a
~rental car.  Does anybody know if I need to get an international
~drivers license 

No.



-- 
===Jeremy Henderson===jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk=          Vommen
                                             Bladmagen
                                   Loepmagen
                        Naetmagen
From: spinoza@next07wor.wam.umd.edu (Yon Bonnie Laird of Cairn Robbing)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Cities with 7 hills (was Responding to the Nick and Jon challenge
Date: 15 Oct 92 15:43:03 GMT

In article <1bi86qINN8gb@iskut.ucs.ubc.ca> amcb@unixg.ubc.ca (Adam McBain)  
writes:
> <stuff deleted>
> 
> Dave Shariff Yadallee writes:
> 
> Rome is the only city that I know of that has 7 hills.
> 
> Others reply:
> 
> >>Tallahassee, FL, is also built on seven hills.  And it is much more
> >>unpleasant than Rome.
> 
> >>> Edinburgh also has seven hills and is  much more pleasant than Rome.
> 
> >>>>Cincinnatti is built on seven hills, and is IMHO quite pleasant. 
> 
> How many hills has Manchester got then?
> Couldn't they put in a bid for Centre of the AntiChrist's Empire 2000  
AD?

Sorry, College Park has a lock on that already. Attend  
registration/drop/add/waitlist sometime. You'll understand.

regards
jeff
From: cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Privatisation snippets
Date: 9 Oct 92 11:39:24 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

In article <1992Oct8.111649.6689@bristol.ac.uk> smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee) writes:

   A few interesting (well, I thought they were) privatisation anecdotes:

   Scottish water -- being discussed.  

A recent opinion poll in Scotland said that 7% were in favour and 89% against
the privatisation of the water supply - presumably large numbers of Tories
are totally against the rumoured government policy on this one.
--
	-- Chris. 	cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk   (on Janet, cc@uk.ac.ed.dcs)
From: sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Clew or Clue ?
Date: 11 Oct 92 22:37:46 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)

In article <1992Oct11.140914.680@hls.com> rk@hls.com writes:
>Hi,
>
>Recently I got into an argument with someone about the use of certain
>X mechanisms in the newsgroup "comp.windows.x.intrinsics". In this debate
>I used the word "clew" which is spelled by americans as "clue".
>
>A  patronising american has followed up on this with me on email and has
>suggested that I use "correct" English word, namely "clue".
>
>I used to read Enid Blyton during my childhood and and am sure Georgina, 
>Ju, Dick and Anne used to discuss clews and not clues. Am I wrong in
>assuming that "clew" is a synonym to the word "clue" ?
>
>Can anyone help ?
>
>Thanx,

No, you are not wrong.  Your correspondent should get hold of a
dictionary.  Clew and clue are synonymous, and clew is in fact
the older spelling.  It has ever been the case that those who
send spelling flames have no clew.

Welx.
From: cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Free Trade (was Re: Currency Problems)\
Date: 8 Oct 92 15:10:01 GMT
	<1992Oct6.073300.23993@osf.org> <1992Oct7.151845.9329@vax.oxford.ac.uk>
	<1992Oct8.094857.23893@osf.org>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

In article <1992Oct8.094857.23893@osf.org> sp@osf.org (Simon Patience) writes:

   Why do you have to use lorries? What's wrong with rail? I believe they
   normally run rails to the major ports.

The Tories are wrong with rail.  Everyone has to use lorries these days.
--
	-- Chris. 	cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk   (on Janet, cc@uk.ac.ed.dcs)
From: gillian@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Gillian Ritchie; PhD)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Edinburgh
Date: 8 Oct 92 13:44:29 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London

In <henk.718532012@dutepp17> h.jonkers@et.tudelft.nl (Henk Jonkers) writes:

>cbas38@vaxa.strath.ac.uk writes:


>To me, the Scottish pronunciation sounds more like "Enbruh".

>>now a little tester:: try these names of Scottish towns,

>>1. Strathave
> 
>I thought this was spelled Strathavon

Do you mean Strathaven (a small town in Lanarkshire) ?


>By the way, something different, what's the correct pronunciation of
>the name "John Menzies"?

John Mingis.

What about the surname Dalziel?  That one always used to confuse me!

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gill Ritchie
HCI Group, Dept. of Computer Science,
Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London,
Mile End Road, London, UK
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:14204 alt.politics.british:287 soc.culture.celtic:6833
From: ag129@cus.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.politics.british,soc.culture.celtic
Subject: Re: Is there any need for that struggle(Re: Irish Rejects Associated (IRA))
Date: 15 Oct 92 19:07:58 GMT
Organization: U of Cambridge, England

In article <SEANR.92Oct15095055@spock.retix.com> seanr@spock.retix.com (Sean MacRoibeaird) writes:
>long been a point of discussion in Ireland.  To say that  it is forced
>down one's  throat  is bullshit.   It  is a compulsory  subject, as is
>English  and Mathematics, and  is taught  in  exactly the same manner.

Is it still true that doing a, say, physics exam in Irish gets automatically
10% more marks than doing it in English?  I read a book by Frank Delaney
which said this, maybe it has stopped now.  I imagine while it lasted it
must have had bad effects on the school life and subsequent careers of many
immigrants to Ireland, for whom English might already have been a foreign
language.

By the way, what language is used to study the work of Burke, Wilde, 
Shaw, Yeats, Joyce, and Beckett in Ireland?  Can one (if one wants) do
"Finnegans Wake" in translation?
From: godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov (LAURENCE GODFREY)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Does being Tory mean you're Thick
Date: 13 Oct 92 16:18:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: sscvx1.13OCT199210180785
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1

It used to be the case that Tory voters were thought either to be motivated by
greed or lack of compassion.  Now that almost no-one is doing better under
the Tories, and hasn't been since around 1990, the fact that they were 
re-elected and still enjoy considerable support even during the worsening
economic disaster that they single-handedly created, suggests that support
for the Tory party might be based on a more fundamental character defect.

At teh recent Labour party conference, someone (sorry I've forgotten who) said
"being Tory means never having to say you're sorry".  I can't improve on that,
but I suggest that being Tory simply means that you're thick.  Anyone who can
be persuaded by the recent bullshit from the government must be intellectually
challenged.

My hope if that if this notion gains a wider acceptance, some people might
be discouraged from supporting them, leaving only a solid body of Sun readers,
with an aggregate IQ of no more than a few hundred.

Laurence
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british