Leave poor Jeremy in peace, on his beloved ice; there's absolutely nothing for him here on this thread about which to get excited. Heysoos, if every differing point of view requires a referee, we may a well close shop and go home and watch television.
Sadly, Rob, I'm off the ice and sweltering in an unusually sunny and very warm Manchester: the grass is going brown, and that's not a sight we see very often in this rain-sodden part of England. I'm beginning to think we're going to have a proper summer here, not the usual two hot days and a thunderstorm before autumn returns.
Your second sentence is quite right, however. As to the topic, I've read nothing here yet which offends against the principles I posted a few months ago.
A couple of points are worth making (as participant, in case anyone's in any doubt, not as moderator - and yes, I do feel I am able to combine the roles). The first is that the Guardian (or Grauniad, as many call it due to its recurrent misprints which sometimes extended even to its own name) is not publicly funded: it's a private enterprise and has been since it was founded in 1821 not far from where I live, as The Manchester Guardian. The second is that whether or not it can properly be described as a mouthpiece of the left, there is no doubt at all that its general political stance is very much to the left of centre.
Before anyone draws, or rather attempts to draw, any conclusions about my own political leanings, I should say that I read The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Daily Mash pretty much every day and sometimes, but only when I'm
really bored, The Independent.
Jeremy