Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Raising the school leaving age has been found to reduce teenage pregnancies.

i was going to enter until i found they didn't stop after 10 miles for a coffee and after 30 for pastis and then a while after for a nice picnic by the river .... bloody fools if you ask me :-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23475230

But Labour said the home secretary needed to look at how to measure immigration more accurately "as a matter of urgency".

Like they done when they were in power

British soldiers have returned to an area of Afghanistan for a week-long operation to clear Taliban insurgents.

Yes its a much safer country then when we first went in 10 year's ago , so we can now get our troop's back home. It will be as safe as Iraq is now.

And has Tony Blair said , it was to make the street's of the UK safe from terrorist

Vince Cable on the Andrew Marr show:

Asked about today's report from the Public Administration Select Committee, which said that migration statistics are "little better than a best guess" and probably understate migration into the UK, Mr Cable said: "We are not a totalitarian state. We don't count every single person but actually it's quite difficult being an illegal immigrant in Britain.

"You can't work, certainly legally, you can't have access to benefits. So, the idea that there's some vast, hidden army of people, is almost certainly completely wrong.

"It only really matters if you are pursuing some target. There's this sort of net immigration figure, which the Conservatives are very preoccupied by.

"It's not a government objective, make it absolutely clear.

"This idea that you are pursuing a net immigration figure is very misleading because, amongst other things, the largest number of people counted as immigrants are overseas students, who are not immigrants, they are visitors but under the United Nations classification they are regarded as immigrants, but they are good for the country.

"So obsessing about this net immigration number is not helpful."

Mr Cable said: "We are not a totalitarian state. We don't count every single person

Do you have to be a totalitarian state to do that ? I think not.

it's quite difficult being an illegal immigrant in Britain

What planet is he living on. The Lib/dem's had they chance in Government and have blown it.

I don't think some politicians live on the same planet as the rest of us aldwickk, that's part of the problem. Cable has obviously been living in outer space for quite a number of years judging from these comments.

i wonder if fred and his ilk will berate gromit for holidaying in the south of france, in at least reasonable luxury too i dare say

"it is now impossible for a landlord to make even a reasonable living from just selling beer,"

Not true anymore cynic:

What started as a small idea is now becoming a big movement with almost 30 micropubs now operating in the UK

When Martin Hillier spoke at CAMRA’s AGM in Eastbourne in 2009 about his concept of a micropub few would have been predicted that three years later 22 are now listed on the Micropub Association website, six more have opened since the list was updated, and many more are planned.

The latest to join the ranks was the Weavers in Kidderminster, which opened in June. Martyn said that he knew of up to 10 more which were in the planning stage, or due to open in the next few months - seeing the total top 40.

Martin opened, the Butcher’s Arms, Herne Hill Kent in November 2005. It was the country’s first micropub which has gone on to become the template for many others.

It all started because of the 2003 Licensing Act which made it surprisingly easy to secure an on-licence for pretty much anywhere — in an old shop, a post office, garage, in a front room of a house or as in the case of the Butchers a former florist.

His concept is simple – the space for the pub needs to be small in size, have low overheads and into the mix is thrown good conversation and draught beer.

And the Butchers is small. There is only seating for 12 people in a space about three metres square. There is no bar and the cellar is squeezed into a corridor on the way to the loo. The pub is only open five days a week, yet it sells more than 500 pints a week and is making a profit.

His Eastbourne presentation had quite an effect. Within months CAMRA member Phil Ayling from Newark had opened the Just Beer in an empty art gallery.

Also in the Eastbourne audience was Pete Morgan from Hartlepool who opened the Rat Race in a tiny taxi office at Hartlepool railway Station in November 2009.

Soon after the Marlpool in Heanor, Derbyshire opened in a former Methodist chapel pulpit.

And already this year six have opened – including a third in Herne Bay the Bouncing Barrel.

And now according to Stu Hirst, who with Martin set up a trade association for micro pub owners, many more are planned.

Information on how to set up your own micropub can be found at www.micropub.co.uk

profitable? ..... reasonable living? ..... well i guess it's a matter of degree as to how you determine that ..... certainly our small and growing local brewery (rebellion) is doing very well, and i think they actually own one proper-sized pub about 1/2 mile from the brewery site

At the end of Oct last year there were more than 1000 micro breweries in the UK.
The numbers since then have continued to increase.
London alone has 47,up from 36 in 2912 and another 11 gearing up.
Hackney alone went from 5 to 6 in the last month.
There are lot of free houses selling these beers from London and the
rest of the UK. I personally use 15 of these, spread from High Barnet
to Twickenham and Stratford. They also sell a wide variety of ciders
on hand pump and gravity.They also do not sell the majors.

an interesting fact but your point is?

"it is now impossible for a landlord to make even a reasonable living from just selling beer,"

The point is that it is not.. got it now?

don't confuse a micro-brewery with running a pub, and it's a racing certainty that the great majority of those pubs attached to micro-breweries also serve some sort of respectable food

If anyone's confused it isn't me.

And don't confuse micro breweries with micro pubs!

chuckle chuckle .... i confess i have slightly lost track of where this diversion started ...... with regard to disappearing pubs, i think 4/5 have gone from marlow in the last 18/24 months with one being re-opened and re-vamped, though i'm not sure what it's like ...... and fable has it, that in the 1950's henley had something like 180 pubs - true or false, i really do not know

There have been numerous reasons why "some" pubs have closed over the years, lazy landlords being one of them.

From Stan's link - The MICROPUB DIRECTORY

And

List of Microbreweries

stan - being a slightly cynical old fart, i have also known cases where the breweries have intentionally installed poor landlords so that the place gets more and more run down and thus unviable - then lo and behold, planning permission is submitted to turn it into expensive housing development