macrosan

I think it's a piece of kiddology Incidentally, I have discovered a new lever for air passengers. I took a BMI flight from London to Tel Aviv last week which was the worst flight I've had for maybe 30 years, most notably because of the tiny seats. My knees were pressed hard against the seat in front, and even in the aisle seat I had to sit with my arms pressed to my sides. When I checked in for the return flight, I told the the guy at the desk that I wanted a seat in one of the rows wih extra legroom. He said they were all full. I told him that if, when I boarded the plane, I fo

Well they have a really good under-21 netball team, I hear Good for the Aussies

Whom were they playing ?

This was a thoroughly enjoyable series, as good as the 2005 one. Pietersen's absence may actually have turned out to be a positive, and Flintoff was simply not the factor that the media had suggested. All of that bodes good for the future of the England team. Broad has blossomed, Swann has been superb, Trott has shown terrific talent, but most of all I believe that Strauss has been the man who made the difference. His batting has been magnificent, but his captaincy has been, in my view, almost faultless. I think he's there to stay for a long time.

I don't think so. The maiden Trott was born in South Africa - not an Aussie. It's a good Test, and in keeping with the whole series. Evenly matched sides, interesting and varied cricket. Any more Test series like this could sound the death knell for 20/20

Any time between 7.28 and 7.31 is good for me.

Just to repeat, they're both fine for me.

I can't do 28 Sept or 2 Oct, but fine for the other two.

Well it might have the opposite effect .... I'll come subject to date.

Quite so. Very good for the Aussies especially.

Is this an audience of achat ?

Stone, you know excessive use of drugs will kill you, don't you?

Shoe laces. And yes, aniseed.

Lemon sherbet and a liquorice stick - not the ones that came together (the liquorice was ghastly) but bought spearately, and with a real (solid) stick of liquorice. Absolutely the best. Anyone ever have "spanish stick" ? It was a wooden twig from some bush or other, very fibrous, and you could suck a penny stick for hours (it had a richly sweet taste). And locus beans ? I think these were from the carob tree. A faint hint of liquorice, and very crunchy.

By the strangest coincidence, I had my last lunh in NYC at this place. I had walked to Redhead in the hope that I would leave the city on a culinary high, and also avoid the necessity of eating on the plane home, but of course Redhead was closed for lunch Walking back to my hotel, I noticed Lanza's and foolishly assumed from the general look of the place that the food would be OK. "Execrable" might be a little strong to describe my meal, and Wilf's mouse didn't put in an appearance, but it was altogether pretty awful. I should have stuck with my first thought on finding Redhead closed

You call him Sobers, but he would never return the compliment

And if this incredible strategy fails ? I guess you can say - the sky's the limit. I was somewhat obtuse with that glib answer. Because of this unprecedented action, the Fed must be very careful of the outcome with respect to inflation. By printing and releasing $1 trillion into the economy, the value of the dollar will suffer (as is shown by the recent spike in commodities, especially oil). Obviously, if this works, spending will increase. And as that happens, the Fed must slowly, but consistently, pull money out of circulation. If the Fed misses its mark, inflation will soa

If your premise is correct, then you are also correct insofar as his "empire" is a reflection of his skills. I'm not convinced that any of his restaurants is anywhere near as good as his early two, and I certainly don't measure his success by gross stars. Nevertheless, one could validly argue that he has been financially successful, and I would suggest therefore that if anything he has not so much scaled up his skills as changed his role and function. I think his empire could indeed collapse this year, in which case I suggest I would be right. But if he survives this year, then clear

And if this incredible strategy fails ?

I think this is about right for Ramsay. Based on my experience of his restaurants, both before and after he stopped appearing in them, and my perception of his abilities through his various TV programmes, I'd summarise him as being (or having once been) a great chef and an excellent man-manager. He's not a good entrepreneur, a very bad financial manager, and I suspect a very bad negotiator. He's also not a financial whiz. He's a classic example of an artisan whose worth lies in his own hands and presence, but who cannot scale those skills up to create a successful organisation. So he's s

But just stating which particular piece of history is repeating itself is per se a prediction. If you say it all repeats you will be right significantly more often then you are wrong. (I don't mean the totality of history - I just mean the business cycle) But there isn't just one "business cycle" --- there are many different varieties. And picking the one you think is going to repeat next is a prediction, is it not ? For example, Anthony, what is the current business cycle you think we're in ? We all know it's a "recession" but is it the same as the 2001 one, or the 1990-

Not to worry, they'll find a new way to measure GDP which produces a smaller decline ... maybe just a measly 2.3% or so But just stating which particular piece of history is repeating itself is per se a prediction.

First of all, I can't sell the house for half of what you (over)paid for it. In fact, I can't sell the house at any price. Secondly, if I kick you out of the house then as a taxpayer I have to pay for you to be housed somewhere else (well, in Britain I have to do that because we try to take care of our people) and the cost of housing you is greater than the cost of leaving you where you live right now. Thirdly. helping you to stay in a house you can't afford does indeed help "anybody". It helps me as a taxpayer because the "burden" of subsidising your present accommodation is cheape

Fundamentally flawed logic, Paul. You bought a house you couldn't afford two years ago. But now, the price of that house has halved, so if you could cancel the original purchase and re-buy it at today's price, you possibly could afford it. And to help that process even further, much lower interest rates reduce the payments against your mortgage, so you almost certainly can afford it. So the solution is to allow, and even encourage, the drop in house prices, and give mortagees additional time to repay where necessary. Effectively both our governments are doing part of that by bu

Items 1, 2 and 4 above are exactly what I would have said about Triplets