HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: barba@patty.gud.siemens.co.at (Barbara Nowak-Teufl)
Subject: Dog in House of Parliament
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 15:50:30 GMT
Organization: SIEMENS Austria Corp., A-1100 Wien, Gudrunstr. 11
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Last night I saw in Austrian tv a broadcast about the discussion and vote
for/against the Maastricht contracts.  During Mr. John Major's speech the 
tv-camera brought a panshot of the complete House of Commons. To my surprise 
I saw a big dog lying in the middle of the floor that was sleeping. 

The dictionary says this kind of dog is called 'Alsatian dog', we call it 
'Schaeferhund'. 

My question is:  why has there been a dog in the House of Parliament?
I personally have four guesses:

1.  The owner of the dog is blind and needs the dog to get save to his/her
    work at the House of Commons
2.  The dogs owner's family has (and practises) the right to bring a dog into 
    the House of Commons since generations - I don't know about the dark 
    reasons, but suppose they might be the same as keeping the crows in the 
    Tower and the apes in Gibraltar ...
3.  Everybody was allowed to bring his/her darling pet to work this day ...
4.  This dog is belonging to the House of Parliament and is a full member of 
    the House.

The lazy dog was shown several times in changed positions. This might indicate
that Mr.Major's speech was very lasting and long-winded. I was so fascinated 
by the dog and didn't watch, how many other members of the House were fallen
asleep. Can anybody help me with this question too?
--
Barbara Nowak-Teufl 		barba@patty.gud.siemens.co.at
Tel. 0043 1 222 60171 5768	SIEMENS AUSTRIA  
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:15456 soc.culture.canada:8421
From: godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov (LAURENCE GODFREY)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.canada
Subject: Re: In your school?
Date: 9 Nov 92 16:59:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: sscvx1.9NOV199210590722
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1

In article <1992Nov9.145224.18427@pixel.kodak.com>, dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones)     writes...
>LAURENCE GODFREY (godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov) wrote:
>> In article <1992Nov6.010627.19764@philmtl.philips.ca>, ray@philmtl.philips.ca (Ray Dunn)         writes...
>> > 
>> >BTW Laurence, how _do_ you manage to post via the SSC Lab on your home
>> >built PC from your London garret?
>> >-- 
>> ...             I have a modem
>> 
>> Laurence
> 
>Are you this terse with your students?  We're all agog to learn how you
>post from a US account whilst, with the other hand, feeding 10p's into
>the electric meter as the Curry's two-bar fire turns kilowatts into
>some semblance of comfort.  At a guess, I'd say you probably log in to 
>an account at your University and then telnet to the SSC systems.  Is this
>because your local account can't access netnews?  We wanna know!
> 
>--
>||Halloween Candy: the office snack    |
>||from Nov. 1st onwards............... |Puff the Magic Dragon
>||-------------------------------------|Lived by the sea
>||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com)|Who knows what's in the autumn mists
>||Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY      |In the mind of Yadallee?
I don't knmow why you want to know, but anyway.  I DECNET from a vax
at Lancaster which I access via ULCC through a modem in London.  I have
to do this because Lancaster vax doesn't seem to run usenet and I
do some work anywy on the SSC vax.

regards Laurence
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:15241 soc.culture.celtic:7207
From: gdb15@grebe.cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic
Subject: Re: Goldsmith's Coll, students
Date: 6 Nov 92 10:22:52 GMT
Reply-To: gdb15@cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry)
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK

In article <1992Nov6.084744.11619@rdg.dec.com> cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn) writes:
>
>In article <1992Nov5.031655.15287@muddcs.claremont.edu>, jharrel@domo.claremont.edu (John Harrelson) writes...
>> 
>>I'll be attending Goldsmith's Coll London ca.1/93...Is there someone on the  
>>line who can and will tell me some things re:comp.lab equipment, Brit class  
>>(course) time/structure, local features of Lewisham (good/bad/indifferent),  
>>nearest coffee, latest train, closest record shop, and cheapest food. 
>>My thanks to any with input.  

Indifferent is certainly a word that would sum up Lewisham in my
opinion.  It's not bad for shopping, with a reasonable covered
shopping centre (the Lewisham Centre) taking up one side of the main
street and the Army & Navy department store (formerly Chiesmans) on
the other.  It's also a good centre for public transport; it's
on numerous bus routes and there's a frequent train service into
London (Charing Cross).

I thought Goldsmith's College was in New Cross rather than Lewisham
anyway.  Isn't it that place opposite New Cross station, in the middle
of a one-way system?
--
Guy Barry, University of Cambridge | Phone: +44 (0)223 334757 
Computer Laboratory                | Fax: +44 (0)223 334678
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street  | JANET: Guy.Barry@uk.ac.cam.cl 
Cambridge CB2 3QG, England, UK     | Internet: Guy.Barry@cl.cam.ac.uk 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: jac54@cas.org ()
Subject: Re: Religion & Morality (was Re: Can the Prime Minster be Catholic?)
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 12:22:39 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.100732.14876@osf.org> david@postman.gr.osf.org (David George) writes:
>
>Well don't worry, salvation is at hand, send the crippled body politic to Lourds
>where they can buy holy water at a fiver a bottle.
>
>David.
>
>p.s. anyone wanna buy a few relics ?  I have boxed sets of St.Peter's fingers,
>     15 Guineas for 10.


	I'll take six.  Do you gift-wrap and send to recipients?

	Alec
From: pugh@pico.math.ucla.edu (David Pugh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: How to insult a Brit (yet again)
Date: 9 Nov 92 19:39:22 GMT
Article-I.D.: math.1992Nov9.193922.6879
Organization: UCLA Mathematics Department

In article <1992Nov9.164442.15977@unislc.uucp> pjd@unislc.uucp (Priscilla Davidson) writes:
>The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah, USA) had an interesting letter in the
>November 9 edition.
>
>A British woman living in the area wrote to take exception to a column
>that described British food as "swill." (I think that was the word.)
>She closed the letter with this:  "As we Brits would say, . . . ."
>                                         ^^^^^
>Do you think she's been living among the 'Merkuns too long?

Looks like it.

Having eaten British food for 28 years, I can honestly say it is swill.
                                                                 ^^^^^
From: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Just a quick question
Date: 9 Nov 92 10:01:35 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.

From: riaedwards@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (AUDREY EDWARDS)
>One more thing...I cannot see how your marital status affects your liability
>for poll tax.

You are legally liable to pay your wife or husband's poll tax.
If they don't pay it you can be taken to court and made to pay
it for them. This does not apply to someone with whom you are
sharing a house but not living as husband and wife. Thus the
trendy form of marriage proposal "would you like to become
liable for my poll tax?". There was widespread discussion on
this mater when the poll tax legislation was first put through.
I am surprised you are unaware of it.

Matthew Huntbach
From: livesey@solntze.wpd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Rule Britannia
Date: 6 Nov 1992 19:59:40 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: solntze.wpd.sgi.com


In article <1992Nov6.131357.25739@rdg.dec.com>, cockburn@edieng.enet.dec.com writes:
> 
> Another simple question:
> 	Did the Tories get an absolute majority of all the votes in the
> 	last General Election?
> 
> Simple answer: No. 
> 
> Does this minority of votes cast for them give them a
> mandate to govern with an absolute majority in the house of commons?

Did Kohl's party get an absolute majority of the popular vote
in the last election?   How about the election before that?

How about any German Chancellor back to Adenauer?

How about Bill Clinton?

jon.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:15374 alt.folklore.urban:27695
From: livesey@solntze.wpd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: s.c.b FAQ (was: An astonishing Guy)
Date: 8 Nov 92 06:37:50 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.british,alt.folklore.urban
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: solntze.wpd.sgi.com


In article <1992Nov7.145554.9994@vax.oxford.ac.uk>, wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
> In article <rhaller-051192131050@rhaller.cc.uoregon.edu>, rhaller@ns.uoregon.edu (Rich Haller) writes:
> > In article <Bx81st.1n0@unixhub.SLAC.Stanford.EDU>,
> > streater@unixjr.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater) wrote:
> > 
> >> lack of Bill 'O Rights, Constitution etc. Should be part of the s.c.b FAQ,
> > 
> > What s.c.b FAQ? Was I out selling the pound short when one was posted?
> 
> The one that operates on the same basis as the British Constitution: everyone's
> sure we've got one, but no-one can actually produce it.

Let's see:

	Coronation Charter of Henry I, 1101.
	Great Charter, 1215.
	Declaration that the Commons shall Initiate Money Bills 1407.
	Habeas Corpus Act, 1679.
	Bill of Rights, 1689.
	Act of Succession, 1701.
	Septennial Act, 1716.
	Reform Acts, 1832, 1867, 1884.
	Ballot Act, 1872.
	Representation of the People Act, 1918, 1969.

jon.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:15730 soc.culture.celtic:7286
From: mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.celtic
Subject: Re: Accent and Dialect, the politics there
Date: 12 Nov 92 13:37:35 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London, UK.


From: spxsjm@thor.cf.ac.uk (Mr S J Morris 92)

>However, what I find grossly objectionable is that for most of the last
>couple of hundred years the policy has not just been to stop there, but
>to take the totally unnecessary and irrelevant step of stamping out
>Welsh altogether.

Yes, but this practice disappeared some time ago, and for several 
decades it has been the other way round: a lot of effort has been put 
into promoting the Welsh language. Welsh is compulsory in all schools 
in Wales, and every encouragement is given to those schools which use
Welsh as the first language. Welsh may be used for all legal purposes
in Wales, there are Welsh radio stations, and a Welsh language TV 
station (said to be the most heavily subsidised TV station in the
world). Welsh is already promoted to the point where there is 
something of a backlash against it from some non-Welsh speakers (there
are also, of course, non-Welsh speakers who are enthusiastically 
learning the language), so it is difficult to know what else the
government could do, and rather unfair of you not to mention it.

I say this not because I particularly object, but because many of the
Celtophiles who don't know much about the reality of the situation seem
to *want* to believe that the wicked English are still doing all they
can to oppress Celtic culture, and thus might be misled by your comments
into believing it is still official policy to "stamp out Welsh".

Matthew Huntbach
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: jrichmn@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Joy Richman)
Subject: Request for more news from Ambridge
Keywords: Archers
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Distribution: uk
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 15:57:43 GMT

It is great to get tidbits about the goings on in Ambridge via the bulletin
board. I becamee an Archer's addict while doing my Ph.D. at London University.
Unfortunately since moving back to Canada, I have difficulty keeping up.
I have some friends who tape the omnibus for me once in a while but its
just not the same as living there! Besides my friends hate the archers so
I think they try to avoid taping with the volume up.
To show you how seriously addicted I am, I did write to the world service and
they said they had no intentions of putting the Archers on. They said no
one in eastern Europe, Asia, South America or anywhere else that receives the
World service would understand what was going on. I had no trouble picking up
the story etc. when I moved there and I'm sure their excuse is a feeble one.
Anyway, I'd be grateful for any more Ambridge news flashes you can provide
either personally or via the bulletin board. This is Joy Richman from the
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, signing off.
Jrichmn@ccu.umanitoba.ca
From: livesey@solntze.wpd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Why Berwick-upon-Tweed?
Date: 10 Nov 1992 04:46:10 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: solntze.wpd.sgi.com


In article <NIKOLAY.92Nov9214111@husc10.harvard.edu>, nikolay@husc10.harvard.edu writes:
> I found the following passage in George III's proclamation
> of October 30, 1776, for a general fast in connection with
> his planned suppression of the American Revolution:
> 
> 	...That a public fast and humiliation be observed
> 	throughout the part of our Kingdom of Great Britain
> 	called England, our dominion of Wales, and town of
> 	Berwick upon Tweed, upon the Friday the 13th of 
> 	December next, that so both we and out people may
> 	humble ourselves before Almighty God,.....etc.
> 
> My question is, what is so special about Berwick-upon-Tweed?
> Why is it mentioned separately?

I believe that until part-way through Victoria's reign, it
was never quite clear whether Berwick was in England or the
other place.

As a child I was told that the Crimean War was declared on
behalf of Queen Victoria including her title concerning
Berwick, but that the peace was signed without mentioning
the place, so that they still considered themselves to be
at war with Russia.

However, I have relatives on both side of the border, and
they used to say the most amazing things about one another,
so I wrote this off as yet another of these "they're all
crazy up/down there" things.

Does anyone have the true dope?   Maybe Yeltsin and John
Major can finally lay this one to rest.

jon.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,soc.culture.canada
From: dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones)
Subject: Re: In your school?
Organization: Vonnegut Tent Rentals, Inc.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 16:08:13 GMT

LAURENCE GODFREY (godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov) wrote:
> In article <dhalliwe.721084546@muskwa.ucs.ualberta.ca>, userDHAL@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA (David Halli writes...
> >Our department here has several brits that like it here (and
> >are liked). We also just hired another one away from Cambridge, who will
> >be a definite plus.
> > 
> > 
> Well he's obviously not a definite plus right now, or he wouldn't be leaving
> a prestigious place like cambridge (I assume you mean the university) for
> a god-forsaken dump in the frozen wilderness of Alberta, now would he?
> I mean, Dave, lets face it Alberta is not exactly a centre of academic
> excellence, now is it?
> 
> Laurence
> 
Hey, they've got Yadallee, haven't they?  Anywhere that has a guy like that
can't be all that bland.....

I'm sure that these disparaging comments have got Albertans crying all
the way to the ski lodge.  Measured in terms of mean distance between Wimpy
bars, Alberta will come up short compared to, say, South Neasden, which is
clearly the home turf of the Rt. Hon. Member for Little England here.  Those
of us who are not of his persuasion can see the possibilities Alberta might
offer for the open-minded.

I'm sure the accusation of academic inferiority will get the flaming it
deserves.  I can guarantee that there's much to offer paleontologists, for
instance, and if the UK can harbor high-energy physicists, then any country
can.


--
||Halloween Candy: the office snack    |
||from Nov. 1st onwards............... |Puff the Magic Dragon
||-------------------------------------|Lived by the sea
||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com)|Who knows what's in the autumn mists
||Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY      |In the mind of Yadallee?
From: chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU ("Bill Harrison (713)-743-2789")
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Crime rates in Britain compared
Date: 13 Nov 92 16:57:02 GMT
Article-I.D.: menudo.1992Nov13.165702.24125
Reply-To: chem91@Elroy.UH.EDU
Organization: University of Houston

[...]
>As a right wing loon, I'll post on it:
>
>I used to be a big second ammendment fan, but I've lost
>most of my enthusiasm for it.  The liklihood of individual
>citizen gun owners contributing to the regulation of the
>Militia is next to nill.  On the other hand, we are being
>regulated into hiding by the proliferation of hand guns
>in our drug infested cities.   <------
>
>Gerry Palo

Checking out the local crime report (usually burried somewhere at the back 
of the sports pages), it seems that by no means all murders are drug related.
I say that many (75% ?) are "domestic disputes" over nothing much at all (at
least to an outside observer).  One imagines in Britain such a spat would 
result in a black eye or two -- here it's a senseless killing... 

Bill


+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\               /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
| Bill Harrison,            \             /       "Be as radical as... |
| University of Houston, TX  >-----------<         reality itself"     |
| CHEM91@JETSON.BITNET      /             \                V. I. Lenin |
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/               \~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
From: cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Chris Cooke)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Accent and Dialect, the politics there
Date: 12 Nov 92 17:46:51 GMT
	<1992Nov10.175946.22711@gssec.bt.co.uk>
	<1992Nov11.135623.21487@sei.cmu.edu>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

In article <1992Nov11.135623.21487@sei.cmu.edu> firth@sei.cmu.edu (Robert Firth) writes:

   How many times do we have to try to get the point across?  Yes, John
   Keats spoke Cockney dialect, and Burns spoke Scots dialect.  The
   difference remains: that one is revered for the poems he wrote, and
   the other for the dialect he wrote them in.

Please stop repeating this ridiculous lie, it's getting tedious to have to
keep correcting it.  Once again, some of us do like Burns' poetry,
astonishing as it may be to you.
--
	-- Chris. 	cc@dcs.ed.ac.uk   (on Janet, cc@uk.ac.ed.dcs)

		
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: jac54@cas.org ()
Subject: Re: Just a quick question
Organization: Chemical Abstracts Service, Columbus, Ohio
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 15:06:04 GMT

In article <BxJxDw.4uA@sci.kun.nl> hugh@sci.kun.nl (Hugh Osborne) writes:
>In <1992Nov10.191649.10040@vax.oxford.ac.uk> wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>
>>In article <A.Grant.18.721245531@ucs.cam.ac.uk>, A.Grant@ucs.cam.ac.uk (Alasdair Grant) writes:
>>> In article <BxD4E7.Dtp.1@cs.cmu.edu> nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes:
>>>>It is? In what way is `fuck' euphemistic? I thought it was
>>>>straight-forward, like `fart' or `shit'.
>>>
>>> It stands for "For unnatural carnal knowledge". Like TDA and GBH.
>>Actually that would be an anacronym if it were the case, which it isn't. It's
>>derived from the Germanic word fikken
>
>related to the Dutch word "fokken", "to breed".  Hence the Dutch
>emigrant farmer who, when asked what he did, answered "I fokk sheep."

	He emigrated to Wales I presume?  (Note for Welsh subscribers:
	this goes back to a Welsh technician I used to share a
	bench with who was most careless in describing how one handled
	sheep.)

	I always thought the root of "fuck" had something to do with
	the Latin  "fec-" as in fecundity and fertility.  I'm inclined to
	go for the unlawful carnal knowledge bit as a back formation.

	No I don't have a real English dictionary available.  We do have
	an interesting Armenian chemical dictionary if anybody's interested.

	Alec.
From: gray@rz-berlin.mpg.de (Struan Gray)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Lyrics to the Ring
Date: 5 Nov 92 16:10:52 GMT
Organization: Rechenzentrum MPG Berlin

In article <1992Nov3.100808.18246@infodev.cam.ac.uk>, 
gdb15@grebe.cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry) writes:

> Could someone post the entire libretto of Wagner's "Ring" cycle (all
> four operas, please), if possible with both a literal translation and 
> a singing translation?  Thanks.

  Sorry Guy, I can only remember the bit where Elmer goes:

     Kill de Wabbit,
     Kill de Wabbit,
     Kill de Wabbit,
     Kill de Wab-bit!


Struan
From: martin.baines@uk.sun.com (Martin Baines - Sun UK - SE Manager Cambridge)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Britain doesn't have a Constitution (Re: A
Date: 6 Nov 1992 16:52:58 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Ltd
Distribution: world
Reply-To: martin.baines@uk.sun.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: bottomdog.uk.sun.com

In article lfjeeeINN91q@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM, linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Trelford Pinkerton) writes:
>From: streater@unixjr.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater)
>> There *is* an English Bill of Rights ...
>> It forms part of the written part of the Constitution.
>
>A Constitution and a Bill of Rights by definition cannot be 
>mere laws passed by the standard legislative process.
>
>As has been pointed out at greater length, a Constitution is
>an extraordinary code that sets the framework within which 
>all laws apply.
>
>Britain therefore does not have a Bill of Rights or a Constitution.
>Of course, it's another question entirely, how effectively the
>US Constitution is applied and enforced in practice.

False logic. The British Constitution may not be in one place,
but it exists. It is best thought of as a number of self
defining documents and practices. For instance, the Parliament
Acts define how parliament itself is elected and constituted.
They provide for things such as the method of election,
maximum terms and *mechanisms for changing the above*. E.g.
the acts do not allow the elected house (Commons) to
unilaterally extend its own term: it absolutely requires
the consent of the uppoer house (Lords) this is different
to all other legislation and parliament itself is bound
by it. If we wanted to pass a law that required amendments
to the parliament acts to (say) require a referendum
the new parliament would be bound by that law: in constitutional
lawyers terms the electors eligigable to vote in that
referendum would be considered as part of parliament for
that purpose.

The other part of the constitution regarding the role of
the monarch was more or less resolved by the Claim/Bill
of Rights: a precident was set that the monarch could
rule without the consent of parliament. 

Thus the details of how we change and update our constitution
may be different from the US, but it is just as real.
In the US it would be possible for the institutions
of government to reform the constitution to add/remove
basic rights without recourse to the people the only
difference in the UK is the mechanism.

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