HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: martin.baines@uk.sun.com (Martin Baines - Sun UK - SE Manager Cambridge)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Record shops (LPs)
Date: 8 Jan 1993 13:53:55 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Ltd
Distribution: world
Reply-To: martin.baines@uk.sun.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: bottomdog.uk.sun.com

In article 1iig30INN3c2@morrow.stanford.edu, mossop@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Antony Mossop) writes:
[deleted earlier thread]
>>>Maybe a decent set of prices in the UK is just what we need to get the
>>>economy moving again.
>>
>>Great idea! Now what government services shall we cut to
>>make up for the loss in duty and VAT revenue?....
>>
>>Martin
>
>How about the service to people with high incomes that let them pay
>less tax so that revenue had to be made from the pushed up VAT?

Well we could start by removing the subsidy from central taxes
to local government. At the last budget that put 2.5% on VAT
to reduce poll tax for those individuals who didn't like
having to pay for local services. The other subsidies from Central
to local government account for between 2% and 5% on VAT (depends
on whether you consider paying for Education and the Police
to be central government's job, or local governemnt's), that
gets us to about 10% VAT. Next abolish the NHS, there goes the
rest of VAT and a bit of direct tax. Voil we have US tax levels.

Did I hear you say politically unacceptable? Surely not.

Or we could put up Direct Taxes to replace VAT: takes us
to average Direct Tax rates (including Income Tax, personal
National Insurance and Employers NI contribution) of over
50%. Next we remove all duties on imports (sod the E.C
and GATT), that takes us out Direct Taxes well over 50%:
but we have got US level indirect taxes.

Did I hear you say politically unacceptable? Surely not. 

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: yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (Dave Shariff Yadallee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,uk.politics
Subject: Re: Back to the Liberals (was Re: Silly Bible semi-pedantry)
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 93 05:54:14 MST
Organization: Edmonton Remote Systems #3, Edmonton, AB, Canada

hallam@zeus02.desy.de (Phill Hallam-Baker) writes:

- In article <1993Jan7.132515.933@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>, mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew
- Huntbach) writes:
-
- |>In article <1993Jan7.111443.18649@infodev.cam.ac.uk> gdb15@cl.cam.ac.uk
- |>writes:
- |>>In article <1993Jan7.103545.27019@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthe
- |>Huntbach) writes:
- |>>
- |>>>Most people don't sit down, analyse the policy of each
- |>>>political party, and vote accordingly. If this were the case,
- |>>>the Liberals would win every time.
- |>>
- |>>Evidence, Matthew?
- |>>
- |>Look at any opinion poll asking people's views on policies
- |>which does not attach a party label to each policy.
-
- Problem with this approach is that most people realize that they are entirely
- unfit to run the country. It follows that they should chose the party whose
- policies they most disagree with.
-
- --
-
- Phill Hallam-Baker

 Counter argument: If the 2 'big' parties manage to turn off enough voters, a
'third' party could make it.   Seems to me it is a problem of perception and
'information'.

Dave Shariff Yadallee (B. Sc. (Econ/Math) (U of Alberta 1990) )
 (yadallee@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca, userLIBE@mts.ucs.ualberta.ca)
God Save the Queen, God Bless us All! Remember! Jesus Saves!!
Birthdate: 29 Jan 1969, Redhill, Surrey, England, UK
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George)
Subject: Re: degrees-grades
Organization: OSF RI Grenoble
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 11:08:40 GMT

In article <C0oo4p.3o3@newcastle.ac.uk>, Trevor.Kirby@newcastle.ac.uk (Trevor Kirby) writes:
|> 
|> In article <A.Grant.33.726616422@ucs.cam.ac.uk>, A.Grant@ucs.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant) writes:
|> 
|> >But it's common knowledge that external examiners at ex-polys admit to
|> >giving firsts for work that would only get an upper second at their own
|> >universities.
|> 
|> apparently it's only common knowledge at Cambridge.
|> 
|>  Trev

Thin end of the wedge, Trev.  Before you know it those jumped up Polytechnical
Colleges will be booting out the external examiners and selling M.A.s to
graddies and then where will we be ?

David.
From: ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Silly Bible semi-pedantry [was: Re: Happy Christmas!]
Date: 8 Jan 93 03:53:51 GMT
Organization: Not Philips.

In refd article, mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:
>Most people don't sit down, analyse the policy of each
>political party, and vote accordingly. If this were the case,
>the Liberals would win every time.

Even if this were true, and there's no evidence one way or another, the
liberals _lose_ every time.  With the best will in the world (and even some
approval of their policies) I can't interpret this as effective political
strategy.

>In fact, given the bias of
>British politics towards the two party system

But the Liberals are _part_ of that system, if they haven't found a way to
break through and obtain significant power, don't blame the system, blame
their strategies.  Many groups achieve power by fighting from within one of
the two parties for example.

> (the Conservatives are funded by big
>business, Labour is funded by the Trade Unions, the Liberals
>are funded by jumble sales - I am not joking here)

I know, but it _is_ a joke.
-- 
Ray Dunn at home        |  Beaconsfield, Quebec  |  Phone: (514) 630 3749
ray@philmtl.philips.ca  |  ray@cam.org           |  uunet!sobeco!philmtl!ray
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: jac54@cas.org ()
Subject: Re: degrees-grades
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 16:54:33 GMT

In article <C0p247.KIn@newcastle.ac.uk> Trevor.Kirby@newcastle.ac.uk (Trevor Kirby) writes:
>
>In article <1993Jan11.110840.14227@osf.org>, david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George) writes:
>>
>>Thin end of the wedge, Trev.  Before you know it those jumped up Polytechnical
>>Colleges will be booting out the external examiners and selling M.A.s to
>>graddies and then where will we be ?
>>
>>David.
>
>All working for the KGB. ?
>
	Too late, it doesn't exist anymore.

	Alec
From: pete@minster.york.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: --Body Shop & Wind vs. CO2
Date: 8 Jan 93 10:48:31 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of York, England

Matthew Huntbach (mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk) wrote:
> In article <1472200003@igc.apc.org> tgray@igc.apc.org (Tom Gray) writes:
> >The Body Shop, a tremendously successful cosmetics firm based in
> >the United Kingdom that has made environmental consciousness a
> >centerpiece of its business philosophy, 

Ahhh, the Body Shop. Most fun in the week before Christmas when it's full of
unfortunate men (myself included) attempting to buy presents for vaguely
ecologically-conscious women and wondering how a few bottles of coloured
water and a bar of soap can weigh in at about thirty quid...

Pete
--
*Peter Fenelon -- Research Associate -- Software Safety Assessment Procedures*
Dept. of Computer Science, University of York, York, Y01 5DD (+44/0)904 433388
EMAIL: pete@minster.york.ac.uk `There's no room for enigmas in built up areas'
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 23:14:08 CST
From: <U60001@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Help needed !!!!!!!

same for me. please!
From: smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: British Imperial Weights and Measures
Date: 4 Jan 93 09:51:27 GMT
Reply-To: P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Organization: University of Bristol

In article <C0Auxx.ELt@world.std.com> eac@world.std.com (Eric A Cottrell) writes:
>This has been a source of discussion at work. I calculated taken the U.S. and
>Imperial Gallon that a British Pint is only about 3.6 U.S. ounces more than
>a U.S. Pint and that a British Ounce is slightly smaller than a U.S. ounce.
>Is This True? If not, can someone tell me how many.

The two ounces are in fact not quite the same size.  To ~6 sig figures,
a UK gallon is 1.20095 US gallons (or, a US gallon is .832674 UK
gallon).  Since both contain 4 quarts or 8 pints, the same relations
hold for the respective quarts and pints.

So, 1 UK pint = 20 UK (fluid) ounces
              = 1.20095 US pints
	      = 19.2152 US (fluid) ounces

Or, 1 UK (fluid) ounce = .96076 US (fluid) ounce.
    1 US (fluid) ounce = 1.0408 UK (fluid) ounces.

The UK mnemonic phrase is 'A pint of pure water weighs a pound and a
quarter'.  If both that and the US 'pint's a pound...' are true, they
must be measuring at different standard temperatures.

-- 
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
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: A.Grant@ucs.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant)
Subject: Re: degrees-grades
Organization: University of Cambridge
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 21:53:42 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.115936.19464@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:
>Degree classes are supposed to be standard over the country, so
>you'd expect a top-ranked place like Cambridge to award
>proportionately more firsts, while lower ranked places like the
>ex-polytechnics would aard fewer.

But it's common knowledge that external examiners at ex-polys admit to
giving firsts for work that would only get an upper second at their own
universities. Not that the subjects offered at ex-polys have much relation
to those at major universities anyway.
From: sandee@Think.COM (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Celsius <--> Fahrenheit (was Re: Briti
Date: 7 Jan 1993 23:08:45 GMT
Organization: TMC
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: tremor.quake.think.com

In article <1iha6nINNrh@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM>, martin.baines@uk.sun.com (Martin Baines - Sun UK - SE Manager Cambridge) writes:
|> ObUL: The *original* Celius scale marked on Celsius's
|> themometer number the "wrong" way i.e. boiling = 0,
|> freezing = 100. It wasn't until the fact that there
|> was an obvious absolute zero was established that
|> the scale was reversed. Anyone with a better knowledge
|> of the real facts want to cmment on the verasity of
|> this statement?

Approximately correct, as far as I know. Anders Celsius did define his
scale upside down, so to speak, but I can't confirm that the introduction
of the more familiar right-way-up scale was because of, or even at the
time of, the discovery of the physical concept of absolute zero. Note
that it *did* cause the definition of the Kelvin scale, and to invert an
existing Celsius scale would be redundant.
Purists will insist that the scale now in common usage in enlightened
countries should be called Centigrade, and the name Celsius should be
reserved for Anders's original version.

Daan Sandee                                           sandee@think.com
Thinking Machines Corporation
1010 El Camino Real, Suite 310
Menlo Park, CA 94025                                  (415) 329-9300
From: hbonney@io.Tymnet.COM (Hugh Bonney)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Q: Last song played on Radio Luxemburg ?
Date: 4 Jan 93 21:15:47 GMT
Organization: BT North America (Tymnet)

In article <1993Jan4.145128.1@aud2.aud.auc.dk> i6finn@aud2.aud.auc.dk 
writes:
 >It was a sad day when Radio Luxemburg closed down on December 30
 >1992. I listened to the last show which was aired on the old
 >208-frequency ...

  Is this the Radio Luxemburg of the Luxemburg Effect (cross modulation
  in the ionosphere)? If so, it the station must have had a long history
  and have a place in the history of technology.

  H.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: eac@world.std.com (Eric A Cottrell)
Subject: Re: Record shops (LPs)
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 20:40:42 GMT

In <1ic3f3INNetp@grapevine.EBay.Sun.COM> martin.baines@uk.sun.com (Martin Baines - Sun UK - SE Manager Cambridge) writes:

>In article 22637@rdg.dec.com, cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn) writes:


>Exactly the same as the duty you pay at the petrol pumps. I.e. it
>is illegal to sell petrol without charging duty. If you brought
>petrol in yourself from (say) the USA (assuming the airline didn't
>have a heart attack) you would be charged the duty on entry at customs.
>If you don't declare it it's illegal. Taking out the costs of duty
>and VAT petrol in the UK is about the same price as the US. The
>government pockets the difference.

Hello All,
Well Gasoline here in Massachusetts is running about 1.15 US dollars per US
Gallon, but we also pay Federal and State tax of about 0.31 US dollars on it.
Remember that there is also a difference between the U.S and U.K. gallon.
 
I seem to remember a commission reporting that cars are higher priced in
the UK due to driving on the left. I can understand this in cars, but not
in other goods.
 
There were also comments on R. Scotland last summer that tourist to Scotland
were complaining of the high prices. I find that prices are high all over,
but the highest are in London. I never stay in London and use the rail service
instead. Prices tend to be better the further from tourist areas you are. This
fits into my plans since I visit the UK to experience local culture, not 
other tourists.
 
I have the feeling that CD are high in the US as well. In the early days of
CD there was a backlog to get material in the format due to only a few
companies being able to make CDs. I even considered starting a CD company.
Now there are alot of makers. Folk artists are recording in cassette and
CD format mainly because CD are cheaper than LP records.
 
There may be a factor of perceived quality. A distributor of independent
CD labels claimed that he tried to sell CDs at 8 US dollars or so apiece and
they did not sell very well. He attributted it to customers thinking they
were inferior to other CDs. They sold better at the higher price. It might
also be that CD buyers are used to paying a certain price range for a
CD.
 
I not a marketing expert, but companies are in the business of making money.
They will sell items at the highest price the customer is willing to pay.
It will be interesting to see if the changes to the tariffs in the EC will
lower prices.
 
73 Eric eac@world.std.com

Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: garrod@dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu (David Garrod)
Subject: Traffic flow in G.B.
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 03:23:09 GMT


A recent post claimed that traffic flow engineering was far
superior in the U.K.!!
You must be joking.  It must be the only country in the world
to have stop lights (traffic signals) on traffic circles
(round-a-bouts).  Go to Norwich or Liverpool, for two specific
examples thereof!

.
From: ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Truly English?
Date: 9 Jan 93 01:57:06 GMT
Organization: Not Philips.

In refd article, mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:
>However, the use
>of plural forms for the first person singular can be a feature
>of working class speech, and I would guess it was really
>another case of an emotional Mrs.T slipping into her native
>Lincolnshire.

Really?  Can you give us some examples of this, particularly other
Lincolnshire examples?
-- 
Ray Dunn at home        |  Beaconsfield, Quebec  |  Phone: (514) 630 3749
ray@philmtl.philips.ca  |  ray@cam.org           |  uunet!sobeco!philmtl!ray
From: clg151@vaxa.strath.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re:truly English?
Date: 11 Jan 93 14:22:50 GMT
Organization: Strathclyde University VAX Cluster

Only the royal family use such plurals because they are so inbred they 
daren't risk getting it wrong.

`We are not amused' What kind of mad old cow comes out with garbage like
that?  Prime Minister Thatcher, apparently. I don't know why they use `we'
because they've barely got a single brain between them to constitute one 
intelligent person.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:18486 soc.culture.french:9568
From: berne@nova3.stanford.edu (Jean-Francois Berne)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.french
Subject: Re: British phones in France
Date: 11 Jan 1993 18:55:17 GMT
Organization: Stanford University
NNTP-Posting-Host: nova3.stanford.edu

In article <1993Jan7.132206.14719@osf.org> david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George) writes:
>In article <29959@castle.ed.ac.uk>, jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk (Jeremy Henderson) writes:
>|> Does anyone know if a British phone will work in France. If not, are
>|> adaptors available, or will I have to buy a new one?
>
>Yes they will.  Although a 'friend' of mine had trouble getting the bell
>to work on his Pansonic due to faulty line installation by French Telecom.

Sure. Those nasty french are soooo underdevelopped.

>He had to rewire the line back to the junction box.  It is illegal to connect
>anything other than an approved phone, and only French 'phones get approval.  

Bullshit.

>The Fine is 400 Francs and Telecom have, as Richard Stilgoe might sing "a
>statutory right of entry to your home".  Still that's cheaper than Germany
>were fines can run to 1000DM and the Bundespost will refuse to reconnect you.
>You can usually 'discuss' the fine over a glass or two of Pastis.

Do you mean that german civil servants are easy to corrupt? Sie haben mir eine
ganz andere Eindrueck gemacht. However, if you try that little game in France
you'll be adviced to a short stay in an asylum or a jail.

>The 'approved' answerphone from Matra looks something like the thing at the
>start of Mission Impossible.  Handsets are usually disfunctional.  However you
>won't want to ever use your phone 'coz the charges are a rip-off.

Actually, the lowest international rates on the european market today.

>Adaptors are only available for American style plugs.
>
>So what about all this approval business ?  Well there are only 3 or 4 exchange
>manufacturers in the world (Siemens-Plessey, Alcatel, AT&T...) and all
>exchanges are compatible.  Therefore any 'phone approved for one system must
>be safe to use on another.  Yet another case where the European consumer is
>getting stuffed.
>
>David.

Say, has anybody in England thought of inventing the fabulous mixing faucet?
I am tired everytime I travel to UK to find in my bathroom one faucet for cold
water and one faucet for hot water. Even in good hotels.
--
-- 
Es gibt zwei Arten von Narren. Der eine sagt: "Dies ist alt und deshalb gut."
Und der andere sagt: "Dies ist neu und deshalb besser."
                                                         Unknown Origin
From: evans@ece.arizona.edu (Glen Evans)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Oil Tanker
Date: 8 Jan 93 18:21:01 GMT
Reply-To: evans@ece.arizona.edu (Glen Evans)
Distribution: world,local
Organization: University of Arizona Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering


What's the latest?
From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: "Market Pricing"
Date: 7 Jan 93 16:26:05 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <1993Jan6.031209.1@vxdesy.desy.de>, godfrey@vxdesy.desy.de writes:
> I don't understand what there is to complain about - a sensible person
> just exploits the system and orders everything from the US and Far East
> (by phone and credit card) and continues to do so until the prices in the
> UK become more reasonable.  Sometimes customs charge VAT and duty - it's
> not much anyway - sometimes they don't.  Some US companies won't send to
> addresses outside the US, so you just give them a friend's address and
> s/he sends the stuff on.

Are you paying, Laurence? Can I give you a list of all the CDs I want but can't
afford to buy anywhere in the world and have you spend an hour or so on
transatlantic phone calls and persuade my bank to give me a credit card whch
you'll then pay off for me? Can you find me a friend in the US? Not having
spent several years working in North America I'm rather short on US friends.

Actually, any sensible person can work out that the saving on buying CDs abroad 
is negligible when you take into account postage, insurance, the ones that get
away and staff discount at a shop which sells CDs. Not to mention the fact that
all the decent CDs produced nowadays are British and sell for ridiculous
amounts in the states.
-- 

Stephen Wilcox             |   For Sale: Posts in British Government. Suit
wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk    |   outgoing American. Highest bids accepted.
From: skaamjm@ucl.ac.uk (Matthew Moore)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: What should I do with my red/green/blue/white wires?
Date: 7 Jan 93 18:50:04 GMT
Organization: Bloomsbury Computing Consortium

joe@erix.ericsson.se (Joe Armstrong) writes:


>I recently purchased a Tandy ET-3000 cordless telephone 
>this was supplied with a standard BT jack for use in the UK.

>When dissected this has red/green/blue/white wires,
>my plug here in Sweden has red/yellow/black/white wires. Various random
>permutations of the wires cannot persuade the phone to work. :-(

>Could somebody tell me what to do with my wires? (serious responses only!)

>Failing that does anybody know what the  red/green/blue/white wires are for?

>	Joe

>(e-mail reply please I don't often read this group)

i) if its a cordless phone what do you need wires for?
ii) you might do better posting to a group/conference with something
    'modem' in the title
iii) if you post here with a question you should read the answers here too.
iv) try plugging into points 2,3,5 (out of the six), at both ends, ignoring
    colours.