HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: martin.baines@uk.sun.com (Martin Baines - Sun UK - SE Manager Cambridge)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Celsius <--> Fahrenheit (was Re: Briti
Date: 7 Jan 93 13:11:51 GMT
Reply-To: martin.baines@uk.sun.com
Organization: Sun Microsystems Ltd
NNTP-Posting-Host: bottomdog.uk.sun.com

In article 8547@charon.cwi.nl, steven@cwi.nl (Steven Pemberton) writes:
>In article <1993Jan6.151444.14612@pixel.kodak.com>
>dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes:
>> If anything, Celsius is the weird scale, from the human point of view.  If
>> you want to describe the weather it means using negative numbers.
>
>At exactly the moment when negative numbers are useful! I remember in
>the old days of fahrenheit the weatherperson saying things like
>'Expect a degree or two of frost tonight', in other words: the
>temperature will be two degrees under freezing tonight.  This is just
>one of the many handy aspects of celsius.

Precisely. I consider myself "bi-metric" (hows that for a word
made up on the spot) in Celsius and Fahrenheit: i.e. I am
happy to quote/understand temperatures in both. BUT cold
temperatures just don't seem right in Farenheit: once
in the US someone came in and said "god it's cold, its
30 degrees outside", I *knew* he meant below freezing,
it just didn't *sound* cold.

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?

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
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: jac54@cas.org ()
Subject: Re: Truly English?
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 13:30:51 GMT

In article <1993Jan8.113815.16952@osf.org> dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks) writes:
>Adrian.Waterworth@newcastle.ac.uk (Adrian Waterworth) writes:
>>      Such turns of phrase have always tended to be associated with
>>and used by the monarchy (particularly the reigning monarch). Hence it
>>is often described as "the Royal 'We'".
>
>When I were a lad, I was taught that there were three circumstances when it
>was formally proper to call oneself "we".  The monarch, a newspaper editor,
>and... I forget.  Anyone know the third?
>
>The idea was that this person in some sense embodies a plurality.

	Pregnant women,

	Schizophrenics, and

	people with tape worms (I think these last two are attributed to
	one of America's great acid-tongued wits: Mencken or Twain.).

	Alec
From: Geraint.Jones@comlab.oxford.ac.uk (Geraint Jones)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: British Imperial Weights and Measures
Date: 6 Jan 93 10:07:33 GMT
Organization: Channel Light Vessel Automatic
Originator: geraint@clts1.comlab

proberts@informix.com (Paul Roberts) wrote:
(  OK, who can remember where the above "Five and ten and twenty-one: winter, 
 ) spring and summer sun" originated? Just to make it a bit easier, it was the
(  winning entry in a competition to "find a mneumonic to help people remember
 ) centigrade temperatures" as help on which Britsh TV programme?

It was Tomorrow's World, when it was Really Tomorrow's World, 
with Admiral Raymond Grand Prix Baxter and his silk cravat.
Is he still alive, does anyone know?  The last time I saw 
a picture of him was when they held a nice round-numbered
anniversary commemoration of the Dunkirk evacuation.
                                                                          /
There must have been other mnemonics in that competition;                /
does anyone remember any of the others?  				/ g
From: cabr53@ccsun.strath.ac.uk ("R.A.McPheat")
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Celsius <--> Fahrenheit (was Re: British Imperial...)
Date: 7 Jan 93 09:45:38 GMT
Organization: University of Strathclyde


In article <1993Jan6.151444.14612@pixel.kodak.com> dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones) writes:
>
>Note that scientists don't use Celsius either - they use Kelvin, whose 

Try telling that to a meteorologist

>degrees just happen to be the same size, but which is measured from Absolute
 ^^^^^^^
The unit of temperature is Kelvin, not degrees Kelvin

>Zero.  You could just as easily have Fahrenheit sized degrees on an absolute
>scale.

But to have Fahrenheit sized degrees on an absolute scale you have to know
what size a Fahrenheit degree is. One hundredth of the difference between
the temperature of freezing saline and that of someone with a slight fever
is not a good definition.

>||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com)|Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY  |

Robert McPheat.
From: Adrian.Waterworth@newcastle.ac.uk (Adrian Waterworth)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Silly Bible semi-pedantry [was: Re: Happy Christmas!]
Date: 8 Jan 93 08:46:37 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, NE1 7RU

sue@netcom.com (Sue Miller) writes:

>And remember the writing on the wall of the cave guarded by
>the Vorpal Rabbit.  It was written in Aramaic by Joseph of A.

	What are the odds on references to the Holy Hand-Grenade of
Antioch cropping up?

	Oh...

>Aaaaagh.

	Indeed.
				A.

		\----------------------------------------/
		 |  Adrian.Waterworth@newcastle.ac.uk	|
		/ ---------------------------------------\
From: smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: British Imperial Weights and Measures
Date: 8 Jan 93 10:35:44 GMT
Reply-To: P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee)
Organization: University of Bristol

In article <61.2B4C418F@lonemb.demon.co.uk> noel@lonemb.demon.co.uk (Noel Bradford) writes:
>07 Jan 93, Paul Smee writes:
>
> PS> So, 1 UK pint = 20 UK (fluid) ounces
> PS>               = 1.20095 US pints
> PS>               = 19.2152 US (fluid) ounces
>
> PS> Or, 1 UK (fluid) ounce = .96076 US (fluid) ounce.
> PS>     1 US (fluid) ounce = 1.0408 UK (fluid) ounces.
>
>Wouldn't it make more sense for these volumes to be expressed in litre's or part?
>
>ie:     1 UK pint = 0.568   l
>        i US Pint = 0.47275 l
>
>that makes the comparison nice & simple!

Well, yeah, but it doesn't answer the question which I was answering.
At the point where I popped in, we already had agreed that the UK pint
(of 20 ounces) was bigger than the US pint (of 16 ounces), and the
question was whether the ounces were the same size.  Still, if you like
metric, then:

    1 UK (fluid) ounce = .0284 litres
    1 US (fluid) ounce = .0296 litres

-- 
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: kelley@rapnet.sanders.lockheed.com (Sean Kelley)
Subject: Re: American humo(u)r (was Re: Studying Me
Organization: Lockheed Sanders, Inc., Nashua, NH
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 14:46:58 GMT

Ian Griffin - NCN Reseller SE (ian@sun.com) wrote:
: In article 1170@ttinews.tti.com, jackson@soldev.tti.com (Dick Jackson) writes:
: > Frankly, I like it here. The living is easy, and apart from the
: > nearby quasi-random machine gun bursts it is very pleasant in So. Cal.

: Do many others reading this in the USA hear gunfire from their homes?

: We do (in the San Francisco Bay Area, about 7 miles north of Berkeley)
: on at least one or two occasions a month, usually sometime between 
: midnight and dawn.  

: Is this something others have grown acclimatised to?

: Do people in England feel a greater or lesser degree of personal
: danger from, say random bombings in the High Street?

: Ian.
: ---

Back home in Kansas, the only gunfire I'd ever hear would be
when I'm freezin my *ss off in a duck blind at 4am.

Sean


--
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sean V. Kelley            INTERNET: kelley@rapnet.sanders.lockheed.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.usage.english
From: nadeau@bnr.ca (Rheal Nadeau)
Subject: Re: Back from the UK
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 20:01:25 GMT

In article <SR.93Jan12175917@zen.mp.co.umist.ac.uk> sr@mp.co.umist.ac.uk (Simon Read) writes:
>
>"Quite" is really a non-word here. It is best *never* used as it adds
>very little meaning (in this dialect of the language - before I get
>"flame grilled").

Quite right!  :-)

       The Rhealist - nadeau@bnr.ca - Speaking only for myself
From: jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk (Jeremy Henderson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: degrees-grades
Date: 11 Jan 93 16:12:29 GMT
Organization: Edinburgh University

In article <1993Jan11.110840.14227@osf.org> david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George) writes:
~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 ?

Still hundreds of years behind Oxford and Cambridge, apparently.




-- 
===Jeremy Henderson===jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk=          

This message cost the net hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
Bloody good value if you ask me.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.usage.english
From: nadeau@bnr.ca (Rheal Nadeau)
Subject: Re: Back from the UK
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 93 03:51:22 GMT

In article <1993Jan12.163526.14858@lut.ac.uk> R.J.Woolley@lut.ac.uk (Late Login Merchant) writes:
>In article <ll41omINNdhr@news.bbn.com> rnewman@bbn.com (Ron Newman) writes:
>>
>>On a recent trip to Italy, I was surprised to find public
>>rest rooms often labelled "WC", since I understand that to
>>be a strictly British usage, and "W" isn't even a letter in
>>the Italian language.
>
>It's also a colloquism in France - Le doublevaycay (to spell it phonetically)

Actually - it's usually pronounced "vayssay".

       The Rhealist - nadeau@bnr.ca - Speaking only for myself
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks)
Subject: Re: Attn: Viewers of "Jeeves and Wooster"
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 20:42:51 GMT

ewadams@netcom.com (Ernest Adams) writes:
| ...Steven Fry explaining what a "gentleman's
| personal gentleman" was. During his explanation, the sound dropped out
| for a moment on the line "...packing his <silence>," while describing
| Jeeves' duties.
| 
| Was this accident or censorship? What could Fry have possibly said in
| that line which required censorship? Does anyone else know what the line
| was?

Making sure that the young master had a reasonable supply of cigarettes
in his pocket, or "packing his fags".
-- 
David Brooks					dbrooks@osf.org
Open Software Foundation			uunet!osf.org!dbrooks
Shine out, fair sun, with all your heat!  Black winter freezes to his seat...
The boneless fish close quaking lies...the stars in icicles arise!
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: quigley@acs.ucalgary.ca (Martyn Thomas Quigley)
Subject: Re: Martini
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 04:32:41 GMT
Organization: The University of Calgary, Alberta

In article <1993Jan11.151307.2387@infodev.cam.ac.uk> gdb15@cl.cam.ac.uk writes:
>  [...]
>Another thing while I think of it: how is "vermouth" pronounced?  I
>always call it "VER-m'th" (with the accent on the first syllable),
>but the American pronunciation seems to be "ver-MOOTH" (with the
>accent on the second syllable).  

From College Days by Tom Lehrer...

	Hearts full of youth,
	Hearts full of truth,
	Six parts gin to one part vermouth.

Mart
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:18349 soc.culture.french:9481
From: tombre@loria.fr (Karl Tombre)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.french
Subject: Re: British phones in France
Date: 8 Jan 93 06:48:50 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.british
Organization: INRIA Lorraine, Nancy, France
In-reply-to: david@postman.gr.osf.org's message of 7 Jan 93 13:22:06 GMT

>>>>> "DG" == David George david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George) writes:

DG> It is illegal to connect anything other than an approved phone,
DG> and only French 'phones get approval.

No, not only French phones, as far as I know. 

--
---
Karl Tombre - INRIA Lorraine / CRIN-CNRS     --- Email: Karl.Tombre@loria.fr
Post: Batiment LORIA, BP 239, 54506 Vandoeuvre CEDEX, France --or--
      615 rue du jardin botanique, BP 101, 54602 Villers CEDEX, France
Phone: +33 83.59.20.71 --- Fax: +33 83.41.30.79  --or-- +33 83.27.83.19
From: dpl@aber.ac.uk (David Philip Langstaff)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: British Imperial Weights and Measures
Date: 5 Jan 93 13:36:37 GMT
Organization: University of Wales, Aberystwyth

In article <C0C8rD.136@brunel.ac.uk> Alan.Holmes@brunel.ac.uk (Alan J Holmes) writes:
>In article <Dec28.193108.50491@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> hugh@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Hugh Graham) writes:
>
>>"A Pint's A Pound the Whole World Round"
>
>I was under the impression that:-
>
>A pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter.
>

I thought it was:
" A Litre of water's a pint and three quarters"

-- or is that a different nmemonic altogether ?

-- 
Dave Langstaff | Janet:dpl@uk.ac.aber
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 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.usage.english
From: Tom Christiansen <tchrist@convex.COM>
Subject: england(quite) ? somewhat : very (was: Back from the UK)
Originator: tchrist@pixel.convex.com
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 14:32:33 GMT
Reply-To: tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen)
Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Colorado Springs, CO
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

From the keyboard of mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach):
:In article <1993Jan12.032713.10746@news.columbia.edu> gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener) writes:

:>>And on both sides of the Atlantic, "This book is quite good" means
:>>"This book is fairly good."
:>
:>I can't agree with that.  If someone said to me that the book they were
:>reading is "quite good," I'd take that to mean that it's very good.
:>
:It depends on the emphasis. "This book is QUITE good" means
:it's fairly good. "This book is quite GOOD" means it's very
:good. 

I have to agree with Gabe here.  I haven't ever heard "quite" to mean 
anything but "very".  That "quite good" should be less good than merely 
"good" is a bizarre notion over on this side of the pond.

--tom
-- 
    Tom Christiansen      tchrist@convex.com      convex!tchrist

Living on Earth may be expensive, but it includes an annual free trip
around the Sun.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: engel@cmu.unige.ch
Subject: HELP for Globalink address
Organization: University of Geneva, Switzerland
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 15:36:29 GMT

Dear netters,
Can somebody E-Mail me the phone and Fax Nr and addresse for the firm 
"Globalink" in UK
			Thanks in advance
			Jean-Pierre
-- 
         +----------------------+------------------------------------+
         | Jean-Pierre ENGEL    |                                    |
         | Univ. Med. Center    | Bitnet:      engel@cgecmu51.bitnet |
         | University of Geneva | Internet:    engel@cmu.unige.ch    |
         | 1, Michel-Servet     | Phone:      +4122 7025070          |
         | CH-1211 Geneva 4     | FAX:        +4122 3473334          |
         | Switzerland          | Tx:          421330 cmu ch         |
         | ~~~~~~~~~~~          |                                    |
         +----------------------+------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: hallam@zeus02.desy.de (Phill Hallam-Baker)
Subject: Re: The Liberal Party RIP. (was: Re: Silly Bible semi-pedantry [was: Re: Happy Christmas!]
Reply-To: Hallam@zeus02.desy.de
Organization: Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron, Experiment ZEUS bei HERA
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 21:14:54 GMT

In article <1993Jan11.130227.29973@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>, mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew
Huntbach) writes:

|>In article <1993Jan11.101125.26245@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew
|>Huntbach) writes:
|>>In article <C0JzHB.9GG@dscomsa.desy.de> Hallam@zeus02.desy.de writes:
|>>>Except that the Liberals started from being a party of government and
|>>>managed to self destruct with two massive splits over Ireland and
|>>>Lloyd George.
|>>
|>>Yes, but had they not, they would have remained one of the two
|>>establishment parties, with all the arrogance that involves,
|>>and I doubt I would be much interested in them.
|>>
|>In fact I think there were three splits, since the "split over
|>Lloyd George" can really refer to two separate events, the one
|>where the Liberal Party under Asquith split away from Lloyd
|>George's coalition government after World War I, and the second
|>one where Lloyd George was reconciled with and leading the
|>Liberals, but a section of the Liberal Party under Simon stayed
|>with the 1930s coalition government, under the name "National
|>Liberals".
|>
|>As late as the 1964 election, the fiction was maintained that
|>there was a separate "National Liberal" party, and a number of
|>Conservative MPs were elected as "Conservative and National
|>Liberal" in areas where it was thought the Liberal tag might
|>have some value.

Ah but it is important to consider the other side as well. The Liberal party
pretty well originated from the Tory split over the corn laws when the Peelites
split from the Conservative party, or more strictly the protectionist lobby
split away from the Conservatives forming the new Tory party. It was the radical
Tories who joined the Whigs such as Gladstone that created the Liberal party
from the old party of the aristocracy.

--

Phill Hallam-Baker
From: mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,uk.politics
Subject: Re: Back to the Liberals (was Re: Silly Bible semi-pedantry)
Date: 7 Jan 93 13:25:15 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.

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 (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.
>
>Evidence, Matthew?
>
Look at any opinion poll asking people's views on policies
which does not attach a party label to each policy.

Matthew Huntbach
From: aledm@grant.ncd.com (Aled Morris)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Record shops (LPs)
Keywords: car prices
Date: 11 Jan 93 19:11:04 GMT
Organization: Network Computing Devices, Mt. View, CA, USA

In article <C0I43v.5vL@world.std.com>, eac@world.std.com (Eric A Cottrell) writes:
|> 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.

Yes, it must cost the Japanese a fortune to convert their cars to right hand
drive ;-)

Actually, I think the price difference can be accounted for by (a) the fact
that companies such as GM Europe makes a profit, whereas in north America
they run a $1,000 loss on each car sold, (b) the higher level of standard
equipment in the UK, and (c) the ploy in the UK of subsidising heavily
discounted fleet sales at the expense of the private purchaser.

Subjectively, I think UK sold cars are of a much higher quality than in the
US too.  The Zeta engined Ford Escort sold in the UK is way, way better than
the Escort sold in the US.

As for pricing, the UK MRP on the Escort LX 16v is about #9k?  The cheapest
Escort in the US is $10k.  Thats without Air, Auto or any fancy options.
To get a comparable car to the UK one will take you closer to $15k.  Hmmm...
where's the difference?

Aled

p.s. the above numbers are rough guestimates.

aledm@ncd.com    Network Computing Devices Inc.
(415)694 4543    350 North Bernardo Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043
From: f0975893@jaguar.csc.wsu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Celsius <--> Fahrenheit
Date: 7 Jan 93 13:28:07 GMT
Article-I.D.: jaguar.1993Jan7.212807.1
Organization: Washington State University

In article <1iid5tINNqjj@early-bird.think.com>, sandee@Think.COM 
(Daan Sandee) writes:
> 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.

If I remember correctly, the British Met Office (and the BBC) used to use 
the Centrigrade scale, when they converted from Fahrenheit. Then, with a
lot of pomp and circumstance, they annouced that they were then going
to switch to the Celcius scale. They then went on to point out that it was
the same as the Centrigrade scale they had been using, just a different
name, i.e. instead of saying "it will be 10 degrees Centrigrade today",
they would now say "it will be 10 degrees Celcius". I think most people
probably did not even notice the change!!!

I thought that the Centrigrade scale had finally become obsolete. And
the main reason was that most scientific forms of measurement (units) are
named after the people that invented them, i.e. Newton, Pascal, Kelvin etc.
The Centigrade name did not comply with this, so it was dropped and
replaced with the Celcius scale. Although Celcius may have originally got 
it upside down, he did invent the scale!

Correct me if I have got it wrong or confused!!

Richard.
  _\_   Richard J Appleyard  f0975893@jaguar.csc.wsu.edu
 /   \  Washington State University  
(   ) ) Voice (509) 335-7728  Fax (509) 335-9688 
 \___/  "To err is human, but to really screw things up takes a computer!"
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: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 19:01:03 GMT

In <1993Jan10.002718.667@cc.uow.edu.au> jlloyd@cc.uow.edu.au (Jonathan Lloyd) writes:

>This actaully a load of bullshit. Jap cars sell for much lower prices 
>here in Australia, even though the import tariffs and taxes are higher 
>and we drive on the left as well. In fact a lot of Euro cars are cheaper here
>too (e.g. Peugeot 205 GTi, Golf GTi, Audi 80). This is despite extra features 
>required to meet Aussie design rules and the low volume of sales!!!!!

Good Point Mate! 

A current issue in the US is the tricks the foriegn companies can play to
reduce their taxes.
I heard stories of ham radio equipment not shipping to the U.S, but
where instead shipped to Europe because of the poor exchange rate of the U.S.
dollar (and maybe because they could get higher prices). This has lower volume
than cars.

>Yes but in a supposed single market why should the british consumer pay more?
>I suppose they protect inefficient farmers, why not protect inefficient
>carmakers? In the end they too fat and die anyway. Sooner or later 
>we'll pay for all this protectionism.

My understanding is that the EC is not completely a single market. It will be
interesting to see what the changes in the area of beer, wine, and electronics
will do to pricing.

What is needed is for the media to raise the issue and investigate it seriously.
Pull a few hundred reporters off covering the Royal Family and set them down
with paper and pencil (or computer) to do some basic research and fact finding.
It seems like the government commissions (like the Car Price one) follow the
commentary on investigating bodies made in the "Yes, Minister" and
"Yes, Prime Minister" TV series.
73 Eric eac@world.std.com