HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dj@ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones)
Subject: Re: Any minority candidates?
Organization: :noitazinagrO
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 92 18:02:56 GMT

In article <1992Apr16.121236.1506@newcastle.ac.uk> w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk writes:
>mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:
>
>>Wrong again - I checked and actually Ashok Kumar lost
>>Langbargh. However Ealing Southall (probably the constituency
>>with the highest proportion of Asian voters - over 40%) was won
>>by an Asian for Labour.
>
>The seat of Langbaurgh was won at a bye-election so the fact that it was
>lost again at the following election is not too surprising.  The same 
>thing happened to the SNP in Glasgow.
>
>  On the radio it mentioned that Kumar was the only non-white MP who 
>represented an area which did not contain a significant ethnic minority.
>
They weren't just kidding.  The area is classic suburb carved from
farmland, though it may include working class areas like Grove Hill
on the northern fringe.  Last I knew, most of the minority population
lived closer to the centre of town.  I raised an eyebrow when I read
that Kumar held it: and then raised a glass to celebrate tolerance
in my hometown.....


-- 
||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com)    ||-------------------------------|
||Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY 14653-7300|-------------------------------|
|| If Unix is a computer system            ||-------------------------------|
|| then a pile of bricks is a house        ||-------------------------------|
From: dpl@aber.ac.uk (David Philip Langstaff)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: News from Ambridge
Date: 15 Apr 92 15:05:05 GMT
Organization: University of Wales, Aberystwyth

In article <7554@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> colin@cs.uq.oz.au writes:
>In <1992Apr14.182913.5449@vax.oxford.ac.uk> wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>
>>In article <7535@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au>, colin@cs.uq.oz.au (Colin Millerchip) writes:
>>Jennifer Aldridge has been having an affair with Roger Travers-Macy, her first
>>husband. ...
>
>This was happening when I left the UK, and back then everyone knew about
>it: has no-one accused her of being a trollop? (which, of course she
>is!):-)
>
Well, Debbie has confronted her about it a couple of times and recieved
a blank denial for her troubles. I thought the confrontation was done very
well, with Debbie saying something like, "I know your having an affair,
Brian knows you're having an affair, Kate probably knows you're having
an affair and even little Alice knows in some babyish way."

Brian has tackled her about it in a round about sort of way a few times
as well, Jennifer complained about being left out of Brain & Debbie's plans
for the riding course and Brian replied with "Well, you should have thought
of that before getting involved with outside interests". He's also noticed
the number of times the phone rings and the caller hangs up as soon as
Brian answers.

pip pip

-- 
Dave Langstaff | Janet:dpl@uk.ac.aber.cs | Disclaimer: All my own work. 
Any views expressed are those of the author alone. | Phone:(0970)622838 
After-life, After-shave, don't hold with any of it, bleugh! - Sir Henry
From: skywalker@DINO.QCI.BIOCH.BCM.TMC.EDU (Timothy B. Reynolds)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Great Britain as a malfunctioning democracy)
Date: 14 Apr 1992 14:00:12 GMT
Organization: X-Ray Crystallography / Howard Hughes Medical Institute

How can you say that the UK is a failing democracy when you
have a 80% !!!! turnout for the vote ????

Look at our country (US), 30% of the voters turnout in a pres. election.
Thats 30% of the reg. voters and only 30% of the population is registered.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure the totals....

Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: johnf@apollo.hp.com (John Francis)
Subject: Bread (was Re: Gas stoves)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 19:11:05 GMT

mfriley@wpi.WPI.EDU (Margaret F Riley) writes:
>
>Oh, I just remembered something too.   Most American flour is bleached
>and bromated (whatever that is).   King Arthur Flour from Vermont is
>neither bleached nor bromated.  In addition to the sugar, this may have
>some affect.
>
Absolutely.  Use their (high-gluten) bread flour, no sugar (except possibly
1/8 teaspoon to start the yeast), a good pinch of salt (about 1/4 teaspoon)
and you might end up with bread closer to a British loaf.  Bear in mind that
you are not feeding the yeast as much sugar, so proving time will be longer.
(You might want to think about doubling the amount of yeast you use).

P.S.  A Kenwood Chef works really well as a kneader - Lechmere sells them!
From: matthew@ntl02.decnet.nokia.fi (Matthew Faupel)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Election stats (1/5) Seats and votes
Date: 13 Apr 92 23:01:47 GMT
Organization: Nokia Telecommunications, Cambridge, UK

This should satisfy anyone's thirst for statistics (if not drown them)...


The overall results of the 1992 general election.
Source: The Guardian 11 Apr 92 (UK), The Independent 11 Apr 92 (NI)

Party    Seats    Gains    Losses          Votes
Con        336       10        44     14,729,890
Lab        271       44         5     11,905,487
LibDem      20        4         6      6,241,332
PC           4        1         0        154,439
SNP          3        0         1        629,552
SDP          0        0         3         30,751
Green        0        0         0        156,006
Natural Law  0        0         0         62,764
Other        0        0         0        270,792
---------------------------------
UUP          9        0         0        271,049
SDLP         4        1         0        184,445
DUP          3        0         0        103,039
UPUP         1        0         0         19,305
Sinn Fein    0        0         1         78,291
Alliance     0        0         0         68,665

--
---* 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 *---
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: preece@sbpexe.enet.dec.com (Ian Preece)
Subject: Re: Sponge bag
Reply-To: preece@sbpexe.enet.dec.com
Organization: Digital Equipment Corp.
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 17:01:51 GMT


In article <1992Apr13.155752.2014@microsoft.com>, frankm@microsoft.com
(Frank R.A.J. Maloney) writes:

>
>In my favorite novels, Forster, Sayer, Wodehouse, et al., I
>run into references to sponge bags. What are or were they?
>


An item of luggage, usually waterproof, or at least water-resistant, in which
travellers pack their soap, flannel (facecloth!), toothbrush,
razor, and other toilet requisites...plus, of course, 
their sponge !

easy, really ..;-)


Ian
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ObDisclaimer:

       "I wouldn't *work* for a company that held opinions like mine."      

Ian Preece,                                         Digital Equipment, UK. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:6088 soc.culture.usa:2890
From: cmorris@Ingres.COM (Colin Morris)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.usa
Subject: Re: Why should Libya hand over the PanAm bombers?
Date: 10 Apr 92 16:18:31 GMT
Reply-To: cmorris@Ingres.COM (Colin Morris)
Organization: Ask Computer Systems Inc., Ingres Division, Alameda CA 94501

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.
>
New World Order:- tunnel at the end of the light...

--
Colin Morris       Ingres, an ASK company       cmorris@ws2s.ingres.com

"Clive Thomas' decision was the watershed when we realised that
 referees were crazy egotists and mad people" -- 6:06
From: nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Gas stoves
Date: 10 Apr 92 15:50:41 GMT
	<NICKH.92Apr9143654@VOILA.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU>
	<1992Apr9.210347.7255@ssd.kodak.com>
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Originator: nickh@VOILA.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU

In article <1992Apr9.210347.7255@ssd.kodak.com> dj@ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes:

   [sugar in bread]

   Does molasses count as sugar?  I'm rather fond of the recipes in the
   Tassajara breadbook, and they all call for molasses or some equivalent.
   I thought it was necessary to feed the yeast.

Yes, molasses counts as sugar. And no, it's not necessary to feed the
yeast.

Nick Haines nickh@cs.cmu.edu
From: traub@rtf.bt.co.uk (Michael Traub)
Newsgroups: uk.politics,soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Simple message
Date: 7 Apr 92 12:06:25 GMT
Organization: BT Customer Systems, Brighton, UK

In article <1992Apr7.090129.6702@maths.nott.ac.uk> anw@maths.nott.ac.uk (Dr A. N. Walker) writes:
>In article <1992Apr6.071030.29606@rtf.bt.co.uk>, traub@rtf.bt.co.uk
>(Michael Traub) writes:
>
>>This is an invalid assumption. If person B earns ten times as much as
>>person A do you seriously think person B will consume ten times as much???
>
>	Easily.  [Assuming that you aren't talking only about quantity of
>food.]  If my income were multiplied by a factor of 10, I'm sure that I
>would spend *more* than 10 times as much on holidays, cars, hi-fi and video
>equipment, restaurant meals, ....  In addition, I would employ at least 10
>times as many maids, gardeners*, ....  Come to think of it, this would be
>such a boost to the economy that I wouldn't mind trying the experiment.
>
I didn't ask if it was *possible*, I asked if it was probable. While you
insist you would employ ten times as many maids and gardeners I don't
believe you. 

>	I'm also pretty sure that I spend at least 10 times as much on
>these things as the vast majority of people whose income is only 1/10
>as much as mine.  For a more reasonable factor, substitute 2 or 3 for
>10 in the above -- the conclusions still hold.
>
No  way!  You have got this so wrong it is unbelievable! Most people do not
conusme  an  amount  proportional  to  their incomes, especially not in VAT
rated  goods.  I may consume three times the amount I consumed as a student
but my income is now *thirty* times what it was as a student!

>>Person B will probably be spending the extra money on a mortgage, something
>>which has no VAT levied on it.
>
>	He or she may well be spending a lot more on a mortgage, but only
>the interest on 30K is tax-free, so the chances are that person B is
>paying more than 10 times as much tax on this spending.  [You're right
>in that it isn't actually VAT, of course.]
>
In case you hadn't realised you don't pay *any* tax on a mortgage.

>------
>* This point is not meant to be flippant.  We *do* employ a cleaning
>lady for a short time each week, and gardeners for a short time each
>few weeks.  If we were wealthy, and had a much larger house and garden,
>these times would certainly expand to match.  Conversely, in hard times,
>we would have to do it ourselves, and cleaning ladies and gardeners
>would presumably find employment much harder to come by.
>

Would  your  house be ten times as large? Would you have 30 bedrooms rather
than  3?  No?  Then  why  would you employ ten times as many maids? And why
are  you  continually  talking about items which are in most cases not even
VAT rated?

Can  you  actually  provide any examples showing that a person on ten times
the income of another person pays ten times the amount of VAT? If not then
you should agree that VAT is an unfair tax.



-- 
Michael Traub
BT Customer Systems, Brighton Systems Centre. traub@rtf.bt.co.uk
From: bralick@oberon.cs.psu.edu (Will Bralick)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Great Britain as a malfunctioning democracy
Date: 17 Apr 92 13:17:35 GMT
Organization: Self-similar

In article <1992Apr16.211141.11197@husc3.harvard.edu> koumis@husc4.harvard.edu (Anthony Koumis) writes:
| 
| ANother reason for the electoral system besides the big state vs.
| small state rivalries and worries was the fear by people like
| Alexander Hamilton of the masses.  The electoral system and the extreme
| hardness of amending the constitution were built in to make
| sure that there were no big overnight changes and that the country
| was protected from the great unwashed.

Read Federalist # 68 by Hamilton -- remember, one A. Hitler was quite 
popular in Germany before WWII.  The electors really shouldn't be bound 
by the popular choice of the people they represent; elected representatives 
shouldn't vote with (opinion) polls, either.

Regards,

--
Will                          \ Society cannot exist unless a controlling power
       bralick@cs.psu.edu      \ upon will and appetite be placed somewhere,
                                \ and the less of it there is within, the more
with disclaimer; use disclaimer; \ there must be without.   --   Edmund Burke
From: livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Democracy?????
Date: 14 Apr 92 05:05:20 GMT
Organization: sgi

In article <2093@nlsun1.oracle.nl>, mlemmerm@nl.oracle.com (Mick Lemmerman Publisher) writes:
|> The tories have an overall majority of 21 seats - seemingly large.

Where "seemingly" includes Neil Kinnock.   Ten to twenty is what
he's been quoted as saying would be a workable majority.

For Labour, that is.

jon.
From: jim@cs.strath.ac.uk (Jim Reid)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: The Decline of Britain (was Re: Great Britain as a malfunctioning democracy)
Date: 16 Apr 92 17:00:18 GMT
	<1992Apr15.090252@axion.bt.co.uk>
	<1992Apr15.212054.18977@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Strathclyde Univ., Glasgow, Scotland.
In-reply-to: rna@leland.Stanford.EDU's message of 15 Apr 92 21:20:54 GMT

In article <1992Apr15.212054.18977@leland.Stanford.EDU> rna@leland.Stanford.EDU (Robert Ashcroft) writes:

   Electricity privatisation was another good idea run amok.  Having a common
   carrier grid with competitive suppliers to that grid is a great way of
   driving prices down.

But not a good way of ensuring stable long-term energy sources. The
electricity companies are burning imported coal and precious gas
because it's cheaper than British coal. The result will be our coal
industry will be wiped out and will cost the country a fortune to
revive it once North Sea gas is used up and the foreign coal becomes
unavailable or too expensive. In some cases, the geology will mean
that coal reserves will be lost forever once the mine closes.
[Incidentally, this drive to produce cheaper electricity is not to
benefit the consumer - a cosy cartel will see that there's a nice
guaranteed profit margin. Furthermore, there is no incentive to invest
in more environmentally friendly generating schemes such as CHP and
district heating (more thermally efficient) or in renewable supplies
like hydro or tidal power stations.]

   As for sewage and water, would you rather have government put its capital
   in these things (which the market will happily supply with capital) or
   in education and things which the market will NOT supply with capital?

This is a bit like asking "is it true you have stopped beating your
wife?".

"The market" will happily supply capital to any venture which can show
a high enough return on that investment. In the case of the water
companies, this is a foregone conclusion because they are de facto
monopolies. [You can't choose who you buy your water supply from or
what you pay for it.] This is the sort of venture "markets" just love:
a captive customer base with nowhere else to go. [As an aside, lots of
the water companies hope to make loadsamoney from property deals by
selling land which was (deliberately?) undervalued when they were
privatised.] The result is that water prices are far higher than they
need to be to pay back the loans offered by "the market".

No doubt "the market" would invest in education or public transport if
they could demonstrate a return on that investment.

IMHO, public services like utilities, health, public transport and
education are too important to be left to market forces. This causes
short term profit taking - another "British disease" which has been
conveniently forgotten even though it still thrives - to take priority
over the long-term interests of the public.

		Jim
From: traub@rtf.bt.co.uk (Michael Traub)
Newsgroups: uk.politics,soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Simple message
Date: 9 Apr 92 07:50:13 GMT
Organization: BT Customer Systems, Brighton, UK

In article <1992Apr8.181241.7526@maths.nott.ac.uk> anw@maths.nott.ac.uk (Dr A. N. Walker) writes:
>In article <1992Apr8.080132.8373@rtf.bt.co.uk> traub@rtf.bt.co.uk(Michael Traub) writes:
>>From your own examples I can see no mention of A spending thity times
>>as much as B on VAT rated goods. Wanna try again?
>
>	Computers, restaurant meals, payments to travel agents aren't
>VAT rated?  I'm unfamiliar with the details of the "tax" on wine and
>on cars, but I'm certain that there are such costs, whether of not
>they are called VAT.
>
He has *thirty* times as many computers? *Thirty* times as many cars?
I admit he may have thirty times as many meals in a restaurant. However
in case your maths is that poor, there is a lot more VAT revenue made on
a computer or a car than on a meal in a restaurant.

>>Try telling the truth?
>
>	I don't recall ever being called a liar in public before.  As an
>academic, my reputation is quite important to me.  Do you really want a
>civilised debate, or do we degenerate into slanging?
>
Whatever you prefer, just don't lie to make a point, or do you insist
that your friend has thirty cars?

>>>	       How much do you think your expenditure on luxury goods would
>>>decline *now* if your income were slashed by 97%?
>>>
>>It wouldn't change at all. I have all the luxury goods I require already
>>(and I bought most of them while I was a student).
>
>	In that case, you are still spending thirty times as much as you
>would if on the smaller income.

Sorry, want to take that more slowly?

> But I would be surprised if you currently
>buy negligible quantities of VAT-rated goods, and even more surprised if
>you wouldn't reconsider your household expenditure in the light of a cut
>in income.
>
I  claim  the  VAT  back  on  the  majority  of VAT-rated goods I currently
purchase,  and  I  actually  don't  remember  saying  that I buy negligible
quantities  of  VAT-rated  goods  in  the  first  place. While my household
expenditure  would  drop  slightly  if  I  was  unemployed it would drop on
*non* VAT-rated items.



-- 
Michael Traub
BT Customer Systems, Brighton Systems Centre. traub@rtf.bt.co.uk
From: bruce@tcom.stc.co.uk (Bruce Munro)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Election Fraud by the Conservatives
Date: 13 Apr 92 16:14:13 GMT
Organization: BNR Europe, New Southgate, London.

In article <NICKH.92Apr10161517@VOILA.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU> nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes:
>As far as I know, no poll tax collectors use the electoral roll to
>gather names and addresses. Several people I know were on the
>electoral roll in Cambridge for more than a year, with a (deliberate)
>typo in their name there (so they could identify that source of the
>information) but were never found by the poll tax people.

The opposite of my experience. My third initial was transcribed wrongly
from my electoral register form (K instead of C). This was a couple of
years before the Poll Tax. Surprise, surprise! When the Poll Tax bills
dropped onto the mat they contained the same incorrect initial.

-- 
Bruce Munro.  <bruce@tcom.stc.co.uk> || ...!mcsun!ukc!stc!bruce
BNR Europe Ltd, Oakleigh Rd South, London N11 1HB. 
Phone : +44 81 945 2174 or +44 81 945 4000 x2174
"There are no strangers, only friends we don't recognise" - Hank Wangford
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic
From: holohan@mark.enet.dec.com (Mark Holohan)
Subject: Re: Update on the Caraher shooting
Reply-To: holohan@mark.enet.dec.com (Mark Holohan)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 12:37:10 GMT


In article <1992Apr9.200743.8265@retix.com>, darragh@retix.com (Darragh Stokes) writes:
|>In article <1992Apr9.123937.6164@e2big.mko.dec.com> holohan@mark.enet.dec.com (Mark Holohan) writes:
|>>
|>>
|>>                          Caraher Shootings Update
|>>                          by Sandy Carlson (Belfast)
|>
|>As a regular reader who finds Mark Holohan's posting usually to be based on
|>historical inaccuracies etc.,  I feel that I have to commend him on a very 
|>rational article.  Give the facts ( trying to minimise the emotion ) and 
|>the facts will speak for themselves.
  
Darragh, if you find inaccuracies, point them out.  Making a blanket statement
that my posts are usually based on historical inaccuracies serves no purpose
other than to taint all of my articles.  I pain-stakingly quote my references 
in 99% of them.  


                           Mark
--
*******************************************************************************

  Mark Holohan, DEC, USA        "Character is what you are in the dark" - BB
  holohan@epik.enet.dec.com
  
  The opinions expressed are not necessarily the opinions of 
  Digital Equipment Corporation.

*******************************************************************************