There are private hospitals to cater for that. Its my view that the NHS should not do that - else it is little more than a publicly subsidised service for the wealthy.

Common mechanism appears to be that a company just effectively re-presents the DD effectively reinstating it. Been happening for years. One cheeky bar-steward at 3 told me they would after I told them I was cancelling the DD when they repeatedly failed to cancel my contract with them after the first year - which originally alerted me to it. http://www.theguardian.com/money/2006/may/16/consumernews.consumeraffairs Beware, some banks apparently claim they don't/can't do this and imply its all your fault for giving out your details. ALWAYS recharge through the DD mandate if it occurs and complain in writing.

I also cold turkey'd the habit a long time ago with cost being a major driver and any health issues being decidedly an 'also ran'.

In many regards government health warning simply can't do enough - take smoking. I believe parental example is lacking - or should that be that BAD parental example is rife?

I'd be very interested to hear folks experiences of using Hypnosis to stop smoking

Simply cancelling DD's do not prevent companies from taking money from your account. You can instruct the bank to block companies from your account which should prevent it, but as well as preventing any money being DD'd from you account by them for any reasons (so beware if you have a legitimate DD with them as well) also prevents them refunding into your account. I've done this with 3 and npower.

Interesting that the care industry is now throwing 'care will become unaffordable and we won't be able to employ as many people if we pay the carers the living wage' into the hat.

Thats why he wants the UK/EU referendum earlier rather than later to get it all behind them ready for a few sweeteners in the pre-election budget to convince the gullible that the Tories should be voted back in just in case Labour do manage to manage to sort themselves out enough to be electable. He'll have enough on his plate dealing with my brethren looking for another once in a lifetime (once very Parliament until resoundingly rejected by the Scottish people) Scot independence vote.

Thats a good point. So many (myself included) write Corbyn off as they believe the far left CANNOT be elected probably mainly due to believing that benefits costs would spiral out of control and similar, also that there woiuld be so much opposition to those sort of policies (without clear understanding of how it was funded) that there would be a completely tied up and unworkable government (now theres a thought) Maybe, just maybe, Corbyn could re-vitalise the political scene and enough peoples interest and FAITH in it.

YPG (US government backed Kurds fighting ISIL) report they have again been shelled by Turks in addition to Turkey bombing the PKK Kurds (who are considered a terrorist group by the US). Update The yanks 'officially' aka publicly request that the Turks do not target/attack the YPG Kurds. The Turks claim they haven't and are only 'targeting' terrorist organisations (eg ISIS and PPK Kurds) and are 'investigating' reports that they have shelled the YPG Kurds. Additionally, the Yanks are now publicly supporting the 'buffer zone' that the Turkish have been pressing for for years.

I think Chernobyl should convince otherwise even if nothing else does. I see and can find absolutely NO facts whatsoever supporting the position presented in that video. There is lots of innuendo and obtuse illogic. That there are now better ways to build reactors than there were 20 years ago, and that politics and economics have always defined how, when and whether nuclear reactors are built is pretty much unquestionable, yet even that isn't presented in any way realistically. It's conspiracy nut stuff which actually clouds not clears the realities of the situation. That is my honest opinion which to me it is supported by all real-world facts, knowledge and events. Let me end with a question: Given 3 mile island and Chernobyl, would you want a garden shed nuclear reactor, hacked together from a nuclear artillery shell and the remains of a still at the bottom of your garden, or even in the same county as you and your family? ... Even if it could give out enough energy to do more than boil a kettle as a reactor, despite the shell being able to destroy a reasonably sized Town?

They are airing what the watching public want. Sadly more a comment on the state of the nation than the TV stations that are catering for what that nations wants to watch.

It may also be that if the screen was physically damaged it could be very reasonably argued that other damage was there as a result of that initial damage event which was not immediately apparent until screws/mounts are undone. Plastic does become brittle when exposed to heat etc which will only become apparent when moved as in part disassemble to assess the scope of the damage.

Ok then perhaps investigate the issue with subcritical masses going super-critical as can happen, hence the safety precautions and immense cost with something that might otherwise be considered only a relatively mild health hazard (in significant but far lesser shielding). (Let alone ensuring that nobody could just nick some in passing)

The Kurds have never considered themselves to be 'Turkish' (or Iraqi or Syrian) so it stretches even the already strange meaning of 'civil war. The Americans are looking unusually 'coy' in their briefings on the issue. I think the Turks have completely out-played the Americans. (Play being another one of those strange terms) A very dangerous and precarious set of circumstances has now become even more so. The Turks are experts at this sort of thing (balancing difficult and dangerous situations) and 'punch way above their weight'. Like the Israelis, they can run rings around the Americans - who need Turkey far more than Turkey needs America nowadays.

Incredibly good summation you found there Ford. Thank You.

I understand, I did the same on many occasions (as you might realise) and almost exclusively came out disappointing once examined. But it was something I had to prove to myself. If you really want real mysteries which cast questions on current scientific mainstream beliefs, then look up The great Wall http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf067/sf067a08.htm M.J. Geller, codiscoverer of the Great Wall with J.P. Huchra, remarked: "My view is that there is something fundamentally wrong in our approach to understanding such large-scale structure -- some key piece of the puzzle that we're missing." or the issue that our understanding of Gravity despite enabling us to get to pluto cannot explain why Galaxies spin as they do without flying apart. Good Hunting

The Kurdish 'issue' is like a microcosm of the entire region, particularly when considered alongside the Turks. Its worth looking up and forming your own opinions if you are interested in the driving forces behind some of the issues in the region. UK and American special forces/spooks have been working with Turkey (quite rightly politically as they are our ally) in rounding up Turk/Kurdish separatists in Turkey as Turkey starts air strikes. Terrorists to Turkey, Heroes to Kurds. I can only assume that reports of Kurdish forces being a major front line ground force in the war against ISIS has been sold just to get Turkey involved, as they will likely be well peeved now. As I said - Oh what a tangled web we weave.

Observation of what though? That is what you need to ask yourself. Don't forget that there were nuclear artillery where the nuclear shells were shielded enough for them to be carted around in wombat sized vehicles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W48 Like cooling pools - which? Power stations and reactors have a number. Bubbling steaming pits full of super-hot cooling rods really belong in James Bond movies (and are very enjoyable there) LOL Wombat vehicles, not the marsupial,

Its good that your problems with a team member were addressed to your satisfaction, and well done you for having the mettle to raise them, but I find it rather sad that the issues appear to have continued for others. Hopefully the more public format will go even further in addressing the issues making it better for all, which was my intent. Absolutely. Well said.

and from the wiki link you give : "The demon core was a 6.2-kilogram (14 lb), 3.5-inch-diameter (89 mm) subcritical mass of plutonium which went briefly super-critical in two separate accidents at the Los Alamos laboratory in 1945 and 1946. Each incident resulted in the acute radiation poisoning and subsequent death of a scientist. After these incidents the spherical plutonium pit was referred to as the "demon core." They died. there is also the consideration that if this guy is right, then it would lead to pretty much all of high energy physics and most of chemistry being wrong. They work far to well for that to be likely. Although we clearly don't know all there is to know, and there are some real discrepancies in our understanding (the great walls and the structure of Galaxies for starters) I don't think we could possibly be as far wrong currently as would be needed for this guy to be right.

TURKEY MAKES AIRSTRIKES IN SYRIA Well, what the Americans have been pressing for has happened. NATO Turkey has long resisted this for many reasons, not the least of which was that the 'coalition' was arming Kurds, albeit with nothing significant weapons wise despite the Kurds regularly being touted as 'the front line' to ISIS. Of particular interest is that the Turks have not just bombed ISIS forces, they have also bombed Kurdish forces. Oh what a tangled web we weave.

I'm no nuclear physicist (just like most tennis players) but I think Hiroshima Nagasaki and the issues with depleted uranium shells used in Iraq answer any doubts quite adequately for me. and if they didn't, then Chernobyl certainly would. Now I am completely in favour of nuclear energy as the only real option available for our growing energy needs, even if I have no faith in the commercial and political rather than best scientific decision processes in how, let alone whether nuclear energy is or is not used. Sadly, I also don't think spreading nuclear waste on our toast in the morning would resolve the disposal issue effectively despite the claims in the video.

I had hoped this was going to be a sensible discussion about the use of nuclear power. That hope seems forlorn with that video as the starting point. Its like starting a discussion on the future of the royal family with a david icke rant claiming they are shape shifting alien lizards! and thats relevant because david ickes ramblings and this video are promoted on the same sort of sites In the words of a famous nuclear physicist - 'You cannot be serious'

NO NO, Don't Go Cast of those old threads and stay with us for some lively uninhibited debate (but always with a modicum of decency of course) in the BARE garden. (and I've got some beer hidden down in the woods today)