Is the UK Really a police state?

Indeed. I rarely describe events here in terms of "in England", usually "The UK" unless the topic specifically relates to one of the Home Nations.

Blacksword wrote: thellama73 wrote: Personally, I think three cases of being arrested for speech is sufficient cause for alarm. It's the thin end of the wedge. Over time you'll see a lot more of this. What will change is what constitutes 'free speech' The transition will be a very slow one, so by the time we get to arresting people for having certain views, most people will be happy for those expressing those views to be arrested. Those who object to it, will be widely regarded as lunatics.

I think it is that fat end of the wedge myself. The concept of "free speech" is all new to us and the ground we have gained over the past 40 years is pretty impressive when compared to how the situation was before then. Concider also that suffrage is barely a century old and in the 19th century there was no "free speech" here unless you were a land owner.

Slartibartfast wrote: Be it resolved, we will refer to you guys as limeys.

That's cool. You could try les rosbifs if you get tired of that. 

ExittheLemming wrote: Dean wrote: It's the Gaelic form of John - just as Ivan, Juan, Jean and Sean are "John" in other languages. Mm...Those people who only have hearsay to support their claims to be my biological parents told me I.A.I.N. is the gaelic form of John?

ExittheLemming wrote: Dean wrote: It's the Gaelic form of John - just as Ivan, Juan, Jean and Sean are "John" in other languages. Mm...Those people who only have hearsay to support their claims to be my biological parents told me I.A.I.N. is the gaelic form of John?

Gaelic people - wonderful at talking, lousy at spelling.... they also manage to spell it Eion  

Well, they found out who that student was who threw that Fire Extinguisher off of the roof of 30 Millbank.  I wonder if they they used camera footage or whether people dobbed him in?

I am presuming the latter, as surely it's almost impossible to trace someone through a photograph without any previous evidence as to who it may be?

You also have to remember that the letter J was the last letter of the alphabet to be created.  Before that, the letter I was used instead.

Edited by James - November 13 2010 at 04:48

Snow Dog wrote: James wrote: You also have to remember that the letter J was the last letter of the alphabet to be created.  Before that, the latter I was used instead. There is no "J" in the Welsh alphabet.

Don't fret Jan, you'll catch-up eventually.

Snow Dog wrote: Dean wrote: Snow Dog wrote: James wrote: You also have to remember that the letter J was the last letter of the alphabet to be created.  Before that, the latter I was used instead. There is no "J" in the Welsh alphabet. Don't fret Jan, you'll catch-up eventually. It's odd isn't it when you think that "Jones" is one of the commonest Welsh surnames. The reason is ( I think) that Jones is in fact an English name and a lot of Jones' moved to Wales during the Industrial revolution and after (Coal obviuosly)

True, it's an English name - Jones = Son of John.

Hakuna Matata!