Pedro Martínez:Yes it is opinion as virtually everything on this board is and only history will tell whether this is the end of the US and the West as global leaders or just a setback. It is certainly a fact that China’s influence is growing and US and the West seems to have to resort to increasing desperate invasions to maintain their influence.

A fact that Britain is not as great as it once was? If you define greatness as the size of your empire then this is inevitable.

rod03801:
Rod, I was wondering whether you thought you had a conflict of interest in offering your right wing views on the politics board and that of being staff? For example if a notoriously “silly liberal” who you had argued with many times before got his posts censored, on another board could you be seen as being unbiased?

I appreciate you are not the moderator on this board but if it seems a bit like the referee playing centre forward for Right Wing United.

On the radio they said all the shops in a street got looted except Waterstones, the bookshop. Kinda figures.

The mess America and Europe are in began before Obama came to office. Blaming him for the mess makes as much sense as blaming the Conservatives in the UK or politicians who inherited the great depression in the 1930’s. If anything this rating downgrade is a condemnation of the political posturing of both parties in recent weeks, putting party politics before giving confidence to America’s creditors. Would you have confidence in lending to someone who was happy to even think about defaulting on paying you? America’s politicians got what they deserved, but unfortunately the result will affect us all, by having to pay higher interest rates.

Pedro Martínez:
yeah, and mostly funded by the good old US of A.
(Northern Ireland is not part of Britain by the way).

Justaminute:
I guess it depends where you were brought up. If I referred to someone as "she" when I was growing up and they were in the room the response would be "who's she the cat's mother". Meaning you are being rude. It isn't rude to refer the same way about soeone who is not going to over hear the conversation.

Pedro Martínez:
I fail to see the relevance. The point was that it is rude to refer to someone as "she" when that person is in the room, as if they are not there. As this "she" is presumably the lady who has died, she is not in a position to object.

Pedro Martínez:
I wouldn’t question Murdoch’s business skills over the last 30 years.

He kills a name that is a liability, reopens it under a new name and wins control of BskyB the digital broadcaster. If it comes off it has been another good day at the office for Mr Murdoch.

Tuesday: I can not see the logic in a statement that someone who does not believe in God is angry that someone they don't believe in won't sort their problems out. I would have thought it was a case of accepting responsibility for your actions because there was no higher power to rely on.

(V): Libel would be a civil offence not a criminal offence.