Here is a picture used by the BBC on the occasion of the sad death at 87 of a great British Leader of the twentieth century, Baroness Thatcher.

The Commentator Web Site Picture

Then look at a picture used on another web site, The Commentator which announced the news of the death of Lady Thatcher.

The first photograph of Lady Thatcher was apparently taken on or about the time of her last birthday, at 87 some months ago, not the most flattering image, almost certainly chosen to mimic the style of Fluck and Law’s, Spitting Image portrayal of her in the 80′s. A tacit sign of contempt by the luvvies at the not so nice BBC.

I didn’t like everything she did, but you cannot escape the fact that we were in a mess before she took over, and our stature in the World improved dramatically under her tenure.

Later, by a few hours and the photograph I referred to on the BBC has been swopped out for a more appropriate one, looks like someone recognised their bias was hanging out, and quickly covered up the evidence, well its there for all to see at the head of this blog.

Looking logically at transport you cannot escape a few facts, road transport with individual choice on timing, duration, route, speed, etc wins on every count against a train. The train departs at a pre-ordained time and arrives at (in the case of HS2) a single destination, there is no scope for a different route, stopping on route, or other manipulations on the journey. Rail = low flexibility, you can’t even accommodate different speeds for other users without building a suitable siding at pre-determined locations! (all of which have to be managed by paid personnel). The simple fact that wheels running on a pavement surface, free to move anywhere within pre-determined rules, is a million times more effective than a fixed rail.

The cost of additional passengers over and above a single passenger is a straight line cost, £x for 1, £2x for 2 and so on, whereas a car the cost of transporting up to say 4 people does not change the journey cost significantly, save for a small amount of additional fuel. There are many other advantages of personal transport use over the utility of a public system. The biggest issue is the fact most travellers prefer to make their journeys this way which has created a large number traffic congestion problems. So if we are to think logically, it is here we should expend money and brain power to derive a solution, especially as the HS2 will do nothing for the great bulk of journeys people make.

Cars and other forms of road going transport gain because they incrementally improve, this cannot be said of state monopolies or regulated services like the railway. I have a car, I maintain it, I do not require any civil servants to set a budget for my expenditure, indeed the money I might expend is largely invested in the local economy. The rolling stock, namely my car may be changed at regular intervals, much more often than railways which look at 20-30 year cycles, therefore the free market flourishes!

The biggest problem with road transport in respect of moving large volumes of traffic on the likes of the M1 is an issue of queueing causing traffic jams, it is very common to come upon a congestion only to discover after a long crawl stopping and starting, that there appears to be no reason for the congestion, the queue has simply evaporated! This is complicated by junction tailback which can also contribute to congestion.

So if we are thinking 20 years hence to the time at which HS2 becomes a reality, then we can reasonably suggest that the free market in computing will have delivered by that time a very low cost, 100% reliable failsafe automotive “chauffeur”, which you can plug and play rather like todays sat-nav systems. Then the ability to increase traffic density to one moving “crocodile”, with fail safe systems seems obvious. Plus it doesn’t cost anything, the market decides! No Government interference, we keep our independence! Voila what’s not to like!

Sorry if this seems like a rant, but I do believe that the train is a busted flush, I certainly question the notion that it is greener than a car, having travelled from Leeds to Garforth on many occasions when the passenger count was in single numbers, and to boot we have to pay for a driver and guard! So trains weighing hundreds of tons carrying no more than a dozen people are more cost effective than a car, which only travels when it is required weighing less than a tonne in the case of most small cars, is the greener choice… nonsense!

One thing that really does worry me about the route is that it will slice through the old fly line, which is probably the most direct route from Aberford to Garforth, and whilst not heavily used, it is a great facility for people to vent a certain amount of calories and enjoy the local fauna! I don’t see them including a footbridge in the scheme, nothing is shown on the plans.

There are cases for mass public transport in dense areas of population, like London, as a system like the Underground is greatly more capable of moving huge numbers of travellers, but the mechanics of inter-city transport and other out of town travels are very different. Of course our metropolitan based MP’s would see things through the tint of such a lifestyle, and I also suspect they hate the notion that we can freely transport ourselves in our personal and very private cars, over which they have limited control, save for the inexorable hike in fuel taxes.

Yet another indictment of the dreadful waste in the European Union, and we just sit around and take it! Do not forget to factor in these horror stories when if the promised referendum takes place.

If you find the revelations about the horse meat scandal alarming, you may not realise it is another example of the failings of the EU, read the very informative posts by Richard North at EU Referendum for a detailed analysis of the mess.

I wrote about the ‘orrible hewn last year following his adamant rejection of his alleged crime, well he’s finally done the right thing! What does it take with these people, are they so arrogant that they plough on regardless, believing themselves bullet proof, until the last moment before the Judge in court. Any self respecting and honest person would have cried, “game up” once his little wheeze had been uncovered. Also whereas to most losing your driving license is a very daunting prospect, his role as an MP would have seen him happily ferried about without a care in the world… we would not have seen him on a bus, oh my, not a bus, not public transport!

Anyone, and almost all drivers, realise that speed cameras are a blight on our society, the safety aspects trotted out by the usual suspects are greatly over stated. Driving at speed might be dangerous in certain situations, and I can think of many, but a moments inattention at thirty five miles per hour on a main city highway, as I did in Sheffield some years back, cost me 3 points and a fixed penalty, which partly ruined my weekend at a friends wedding! Anyhow no-one would have batted much of a raised eyebrow at the ‘orrible hewn for a simple speeding offence, but his ability to turn a minor issue into major problem, perhaps tells us more about him than had hitherto been known.

His endeavours as the not Liberal and not Democrat Environmental Minister with his damnable wind farms have left us a dreadful legacy, useless and expensive! I’ll say no more, we are well rid.

Before I had chance to see the close details of the route of the proposed High Speed Two railway, having only a layout superimposed over an ordnance map I penned the following to my readers on the Parlington History site.

Fresh from the announcement by our ludicrous Government about the way they intend to waste a further £30+ Billion (£30,000,000,000) of our hard earned money, albeit over the next many years; so we can safely assume the figure will be considerably larger, on the High Speed Railway to Leeds and Church Fenton in Yorkshire. I thought it worth while looking at the route in this “neck of the woods.” To my surprise it appears to follow the line of the M1 extension south of Junction 46 heading north and then turning to the east passing by Junction 47 then south of Lotherton Hall and across to Church Fenton.

Well to anyone who knows the area, junction 47 is the high point more or less, of the local terrain. Thus it must be intended to run in a tunnel, as the gradient would be considerable on the surface, and there is little scope for a cutting. I find it amusing because the Gascoignes’ were involved with George Hudson, the discredited railway king in the late 1830′s and 40′s where he proposed to extend the North Midland Railway north to Tadcaster, through the Parlington estate, from the line near Garforth, it never happened as we know!

Now that didn’t happen and no doubt shareholders in the venture were rightly disgruntled, but now in the age of our massive state machine, people with no brawn and no brains are set to probably do it again, whether this time it will get as far as work on the ground time will tell, but as the Viaduct in Tadcaster reminds us of the earlier folly, we may also wonder if the considerable volume of water which nearly finished off the mines in the latter part of the nineteenth century, may seriously impede the construction of a tunnel under Hook Moor!

Do let me have your thoughts, we may be able to start an action group. On a wry note with all this railway engineering, and whereas in the nineteenth century all would have been serviced from Leeds, indeed from Hunslet, the home for a new station on HS2. Today gorgeous George was admiring railway bogeys at Lucchini Group in Trafford Park, a bloody Italian Company! Oh how we have fallen.

If you are unsure of an action group, then do consider a small subscription to buy Gorgeous George and his piggy chums a copy of the works of Ludwig Von Mises or better still Friedrich von Hayek’s “Road to serfdom.” For sure that is where we are heading!

I’ve had mostly agreement from those who replied, in fact only one said that they supported HS2, so I feel that my views were worth airing. However being a member of the group undertaking Aberford VDS (Village Design Statement) I was interested to note that a fellow member raised the question of the HS2 route over the southern end of the parish. I took the opportunity to further expand on my concerns over the concept.

Firstly I am vehemently opposed to the Government spending £33Bn (£33,000,000,000) of our money, especially when by any measure the country only remains solvent as they keep printing money, which means we are all getting poorer year by year. Unless you are on index linked stuff like the MP’s pensions, could this be why they don’t give a sh*t.

Second, the benefit vs disadvantage in my view tips heavily towards disadvantage, saving theoretical journey times of 30 minutes or thereabouts,Leeds to London is a joke, albeit a sick one, especially when you factor in the improved means of communication which will be available by the time the line is built, 20 years hence.

Third, never in the history of modern government has a project come in on budget, thus we can easily expect it to go to £60Bn or more I’m sure.

Fourth, The bulk of rolling stock will be provided by the likes of Siemens, maybe the Canadian firm Bombardier may get a sniff, even the clips holding down the rails: “Pandol” market leaders since before Beeching, is now owned by the French!

Fifth, the route; I have only considered the last leg up past Garforth and on to Ulleskelf. Is it me or do they not realise that Hook Moor is one of the highest points around, knocking on 90metres above datum! Much of the line is at 40 metres. Thus the line has to take in a 2% grade as it runs up to Junction 47. Railway Engineers will tell you that an increase in grade reduces the load it can pull. There is no way the projected 200mph can be sensibly achieved through this sector. Here is a clip from Wikipedia, (I know not always accurate but I think representative)

“Gradients limit the load that a locomotive can haul, including the weight of the locomotive itself. On a 1% gradient (1 in 100) a locomotive can pull half (or less) of the load that it can pull on level track. (A heavily loaded train rolling at 20 km/hr on heavy rail may require ten times the pull on a 1% upgrade that it does on the level at that speed.) Early railways in the United Kingdom were laid out with very gentle gradients, such as 0.05% (1 in 2000), because the early locomotives (and their brakes) were so feeble.)”

Moreover, the line switches grade over Hook Moor to go down to Ulleskelf, and with these grades we are still talking of narrow cuttings in places of 7.00+metres deep. The tunnels are fairly short, more like bridges, and therefore the noise will be greater, especially as it comes out of the cutting over the top and down the other side.

A more direct route, and in my view preferable, would be to branch off slighty south of the current proposal, before the M62 in the Calder valley and take an elevated route above the wetlands (Allerton Bywater), north of Castleford, connecting with the existing main line south of Sherburn in Elmet. This has the benefit of being much lower populated and the gradients suit the final destination.

Then we have the issues of Ulleskelf and Church Fenton, hardly well connected to the road network, or does the train carry on to York at sub optimal speeds?

There are quite a lot of other things which could be thrown into the pot over this proposal, not least being that the line bisects the Junction 47 Business Park (Proposed), and looks as if it conflicts with the wind farm proposals at Hook Moor, and will ruin Barrowby Hall, and do nothing for Lotherton!

Last but not least where are the 100,000 jobs coming from, pure Neo Keynsian bullshit.

Do pass this around, I’m not being a NIMBY, just practical, if it is any good then the scheme should be floated and private funds raised to do the job. Don’t forget the dimwits in Government are endlessly telling us that the road network needs private finance, and this is where many times over the cost is collected in road taxes! Unlike the Victorian railways. On Question Time in Lancaster last night the whole audience thought the scheme a waste of scarce resources.

Sensible comments would be appreciated to bring some debate or even democracy to the topic?

The image above is a screen shot of an eBay sale for a book about the long gone Aberford Railway. Sadly, and that’s why I say “caveat emptor” in my title to this post, it is not what it seems. Here is a description from the sale:

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Aberford Railway was a privately owned light railway built in the 19th century between Garforth and Aberford by the Gascoigne family of Yorkshire to transport coal from their collieries via the Great North Road and a connection with the contemporary Leeds and Selby Railway. The railway was locally known as the Fly line. Mining in the Garforth area of West Yorkshire dates back centuries, and the Gascoignes, being major landholders in the area, had owned pits since at least the 17th century. The introduction of steam-driven pumps in the 18th century allowed deeper mines to be worked, and extended the usefulness of the Gascoignes mines. The area around Garforth and Aberford was at a disadvantage compared to other mining regions because of poor transportation, high turnpike fees, and the fact that accessing the Aire and Calder Navigation was economic because of competing interests owning land on the few miles to the canal so the sale of coal to nearby Leeds was uneconomic.

This is not the first time I have come across people utilising the Internet to produce a useless tome on some supposedly informative topic. Last year one of my readers on the Parlington History site alerted me to a similar sale only this time on Abe Books, it was titled: “Former Buildings and Structures of England, Including: Tricorn Centre, Fonthill Abbey, Pebble Mill Studios, Parlington Hall, Windsor Safari Park, North Corporation Primary School, Blakesley Hall (Northamptonshire), White Horse Tavern, Cambridge” not the most concise title! I elected to buy a copy just to discover what the book was about. It contained as I suspected a single article, exactly as found on Wikipedia, totally worthless! I contacted Abe Books about it, they informed me that they essentially were a market place…

Dear Brian,

Thank you for contacting AbeBooks about your order.

We would like to kindly explain that AbeBooks provides an online marketplace for booksellers and book buyers and the means for them to interact with each other. We therefore ask that you contact the bookseller in the first instance to resolve this issue.

The bookseller can best resolve the issue for you by offering an individual solution to this particular situation.

We strongly recommend that you contact the bookseller through your AbeBooks account as we will then have a copy of your enquiry.

To contact the bookseller once you are signed onto your account:
1. Click [View My Orders] under My Orders on your Members Menu.
2. Find the book in question and then click [Item Details].
3. Click [Ask the Bookseller a Question] to enquire.

Should a response from the bookseller not be forthcoming you may wish to initiate a refund/return. We offer detailed instructions regarding refunds and returns through the following link:

http://buyerhelp.abebooks.co.uk/2007/04/my_book_is_not_.html

If you have any problems once you have contacted the bookseller please let us know and we will be happy to assist you further.

With Kindest Regards,

K#### K#######d
AbeBooks Customer Service UK
AbeBooks.co.uk ? Passion for books.

I duly took my complaint to the Paperback Shop…

Dear Sirs,

I am letting you know that the purchase referenced above, titled “Former Buildings and Structures of England, including… ” by Hephaestus Books, is frankly a disgrace to the publishing industry, as it is no more than a lift of data from Wikipedia. I shall forthwith publish an article to this effect on my web site which is included in the title of the book; namely Parlington Hall. I shall also give details of who supplied the publication, yourselves, the article will not be published for seven days giving you time to respond to my concern. I am less than impressed by you selling these publications, as I had believed you to be a serious bookseller.

Yours faithfully

Brian Hull
author & publisher of http://www.parlington.co.uk a history of Parlington Hall

Initially the bookseller simply responded suggesting I return the book, clearly not having read my email thoroughly, so I “penned” another.

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for getting back to me, I am not bothered about returning the book, I bought it half suspecting it contained very shallow data, albeit seemingly lifted from Wikipedia. The purchase confirmed this, I was also concerned for my copyright, regarding the web site I mentioned in my earlier message: http://www.parlington.co.uk

I am more interested in seeing that readers are not ripped off by this type of publication, my attention to it was drawn by a visitor to my web site, who was thinking of purchasing the book and asked if I new of it. I suggest you drop this kind of publisher, as it is not a good advert for your company.

The book and I understand many others, are basically a scam, it may not be illegal but it is somewhat unethical, and will catch the unwary purchaser, especially where the topics are a niche subject. To conclude I shall be adding an article to my web sites concerning this inappropriate publishing company, you may like to comment before I do so, as I noted in my earlier message. I really do think from a customer relations standpoint it is better to read and understand the nature of a complaint, and not simply assume I wanted a refund.

Yours faithfully

Brian Hull

After this the matter was taken more seriously and I understand the book was scrutinized, I think it has now been removed.

Returning to this new rogue book, which is quite outrageously priced at $82 or £52, may be a more serious matter. To fill out the 136 pages claimed in the sale particulars suggests that more than the Wikipedia entry has been plagiarised, so I contacted the owner, who I have known for some years, of the LNER web site as this contains more information about the Aberford Railway than I carry on the Parlington History site. He was aware of this type of publication, and like me feels it is a very bad deception. I do not intend to allow the seller to profit from me so I will not be buying it to determine the extent of plagiarism, and I strongly recommend any readers to avoid it and its ilk.

Dear Mr Gordon,

I read with interest the following comment you made on behalf of the Government of the United States of America, in your capacity as US Assistant Secretary for European Affairs, regarding the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union:

“We have a growing relationship with the EU as an institution, which has an increasing voice in the world, and we want to see a strong British voice in that EU. That is in America’s interests. We welcome an outward-looking EU with Britain in it.”

This comes as no surprise as it reflects the thinking of other senior members of the Obama administration, who have previously opined that the United Kingdom should remain a member of the EU.

The President of the United States is considered by many to be the leader of the free world, and the United States itself considered to be a beacon of democracy. So it is profoundly disappointing to see the United States administration endorsing and encouraging something that is fundamentally undemocratic. I would like to ask you the following questions.

Would it be acceptable to you and your fellow United States citizens that over 70% of the laws and regulations they were forced to comply with across all 50 states were created by a supranational government comprising layers of complex political and judicial structures, mostly unelected and unaccountable, and made up of delegates from not only the US, but Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru?
Would it be acceptable to you, your fellow United States citizens and members of the Senate and House of Representatives that they were routinely handed diktats from the various bodies that make up the supranational government and were bound by law to implement the directives or be fined or dragged into a supranational court operating an alien form of judicial code and process? Further, that Congress was denied the ability to draft, and the President sign into law, other legislation of national interest whenever the supranational decided it was not appropriate?
Would it be acceptable to you, your fellow United States citizens and the Justices of the Supreme Court that decisions made by the bench, the highest court in your land, could be appealed to a supranational court overseas with the hearing presided over by foreign judges and if overruled the Supreme Court would have to accept that as a binding ruling?
If these scenarios do not sound very democratic or judicious to you and your fellow Americans it is because they are not. Intentionally and by design. But this is the reality of the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union and its associated bodies and institutions. UK membership of the EU has entailed a substantial loss of power from our democratically elected Parliament as it has been quietly and steadily transferred to unelected and unaccountable bodies abroad – all done without the people of the UK being asked to give their consent for it to happen.

While it may be in the geopolitical interest of the Government of the United States for the United Kingdom to remain a member of the European Union, opinion polls show this anti-democratic situation is opposed by a majority of British citizens. Membership of the EU dilutes the voice of the United Kingdom. Seats on various world bodies held by the UK have been given up so the EU can supposedly represent the competing and disparate interests of 27 countries in a wholly unsatisfactory fudge that frequently fails to serve British interests.

I am sure you will recognise the obvious contradiction in the position of the United States, on one hand calling for Syria’s regime to heed the wishes of the Syrian people, while on the other calling for the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to maintain membership of the EU, despite the wishes of the British people. I am sure you will also recognise the obvious contradiction of the United States urging countries around the world to embrace democracy, while urging the United Kingdom to maintain its place in political and judicial structures that replace representative democracy with control by unelected and unaccountable aliens who are drawn from a pool of self-selecting career politicians and civil servants.

Would such a situation be an acceptable settlement in the United States? I think we both know the answer to that is categorically ‘no’.

No one who believes in democracy – people power – would endorse and encourage a continuation of this anti-democratic situation for the United Kingdom. That is what this issue is about. So, Mr Gordon, please do not presume to meddle in our affairs and wish on us that which you would aggressively oppose for yourself.

Yours sincerely,

Autonomous Mind

Additional comments from Richard North at EU Referendum are worth reading too!

Given the mild weather over Christmas it was a good fine occasion for the Boxing Day Hunt at Parlington, the above shot was taken as the riders were passing along Parlington Lane, to the west of the Dark Arch. There were no incidents, in fact a farmer friend of mine could not recall the hunt ever having made a kill, I do recall a few years ago a fleet footed specimen tearing across the old deer park near to a small clump of chestnut trees.

Some years back I witnessed the mess left by a fox, on the inhabitants of a hen house, killing all and leaving them scattered about like abandoned puppets, I’m not even sure any were eaten, just killed by the fox. I don’t think hunts should be banned, just class jealousy I think. I suppose in time the wild life on the Serengeti will be similarly restrained, as the march of political correctness continues!

A few more photos:

Of course I expected that the story would be buried by the mainstream media, and aside from a few who have put their heads above the parapet, the majority have indeed left the story well alone, but then today I read in The Scotsman an excellent contrasting article of the likely outcry had the subject under discussion been of the matter of Scottish Independence, excerpt below:

Imagine for a moment that it was discovered, by chance, that six years ago the BBC had a high-level meeting of its executives and a group of “the best constitutional experts” to determine the policy of the BBC in reporting the ongoing debate about Scotland’s future governance Imagine that body said – unanimously – that maintaining the United Kingdom with Scotland as a member is the only model that should shape its editorial approach.

Even more unbelievable (surely) would be if the group consisted of only those who supported Scotland remaining in the union. It would (surely) be incomprehensible that the BBC would behave in such a way.

If such a meeting came to light, there would be justifiable outrage across the political spectrum. Nationalists would rightly feel that the BBC had taken a partisan political stance that would prejudice its campaigns and challenge its raison d’être, contrary to the BBC’s own charter and in conflict with the public concept that Britain enjoys an open, pluralistic and free press

A great piece by Brian Monteith. Will his insight be enough to get the thing out into the mainstream media?

Over the last nine years I have regularly received comments from the form on the Parlington History site, virtually all have been beneficial in a number of ways.

• Offering useful family history that ties in to the data I have uncovered.
• Providing new images of the old hall.
• Clarifying some of my assumptions.
• Connecting people who were related by their ancestors employment.

The list could be much longer, but I’m sure you get my drift. But then a couple of weeks back I received a message via the site which seemed to be genuine enough, below is a transcript of the message.

My dog and I have just walked from Buck and Sykes to Garforth and back. I was astonished at the sheer beauty of today. Next time Im taking a camera and an acoustic guitar for the dark arches. Really. We walked to willow farm shop and asked for directions to Garforth. I couldnt find the way under the motorway for the life of me. Apparently I missed a ‘v’ in the fence near the fishing pond on 3 passes.. Ill have to try harder next time. This website is amazing, thankyou very much for the info Ill be picking up from it. My only question is why there appear to be squares dug out on the path? I lost my footing in 2 as they were disguised with a inch or two of leaves owing to the season. A cyclist will be certainly thrown off. Hmmmm

I was pleased to receive a glowing recommendation, after all I don’t write the history of Parlington for any other reason than I feel it needs to be set out for all to see, history is a very important part of our culture. My efforts are entirely altruistic, and whilst I might get some inner glow from the proverbial “pat on the back”, that I might receive from time to time, the overarching purpose is to provide a useful insight into what was once a very significant local family, residing in a long established country mansion.

My first reaction was to reply to the enquirer and so I sent the following, with the photograph that I have put at the head of this post.

Glad you like the site, if you are doing a gig in the Dark Arch, with your guitar, that is something I would love to see! The “v” in the fence is here, see attached photo. The view is taken looking towards Garforth with the wall of the Gamekeeper’s cottage on the left. This is the route of the former railway, from the fence it is a bit tricky for a couple of hundred yards, follow the line of the stream (River Crow) until it disappears into a bank by a tree, then take the high path through the woods, after about a hundred yards or so the path drops down back to the line of the railway, and you will find the Bathingwell spring on the left. The spring was a favourite bathing spot for Colonel F R Trench-Gascoigne (1851-1938) so I believe. Anyway thereafter it’s a straight walk along the old railway track bed until you reach the outskirts of Garforth, you will then loose the route and walk out on Ash Lane, to the Aberford-Garforth road.

I don’t know anything about the holes you mention, wherabouts are they? I will alert the estate managers if you can let me know the location.

Would you like me to add you to my email updates, I send out from time to time, roughly monthly? Also do pass the word on about the site as I have been lucky in the past to get new bits of information this way.

Best wishes, and enjoy the walks, it’s a great spot!

Well imagine my horror when this came back a day or so later!

Are you kidding me? Security codes.. Whats this nonsense? Are you printing money under the dark arches?
It appears you are subject/slave to this ridiculous spy assination 007 world of the funternet.. Get over yourself before you reduce yourself to tapping away on a computer forever, I dont need remining of the contents of a message I have sent to you (of course I can find this in my sent folder). And who the hell is going to try to crash the Aberword Parlington website? Jeeez forget it. You are so up your own arse it beggars belief.

Some of my closest and dearest intimated I should respond in the firmest way telling the author of the messages what a ***** they were, and I almost took their advice, but then I reflected upon the things that had been said; the security code for example is a reference to the requirement on the site form to input some numbers to stop automated trolls from sending the form. Why make a comment on that? Then the reference to the form sending a copy of the request to the instigator of the message, surely not worthy of comment. Then as for me being up my own rear end, well what a stupid statement, and how presumptuous, if anyone was so up themselves it has to be the author of the vituperate garbage. Therefore I can only conclude that we live in a sad world where mindless morons seek to gain some pleasure at the expense of others, why… I can’t imagine, so futile, there is much to do in life, we are here for only a brief time in the geological sense, so wasting it and upsetting others for no reason is PATHETIC. Of course the individual concerned has done no physical harm, but it demonstrates the hate that some in our midst harbour. I suspect the dog alluded to in the first post might prefer not to be associated with his/her owner as I can imagine brutality may be a first call for the slightest indiscretion! The bile is obvious.