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the string of this thread (that looks very odd when typed and may be an oxymoron or indeed sum up the paradox of the whole Santa question) has nicely, as usual, spread along many and different pathways, however, I believe that Pratchett could have solved the matter, but as he is no longer available in this multiverse, I had to consider other means. Two of my old school friends now hold chairs in very prestigious universities, so I thought I would ask them. One was recently appointed a fellow of the royal society, so I thought that would be a good place to start. When I posed the difficulties in trying to plumb the depths of the belly button/toe fluff problem and explaining the theories put forward on this very site he looked somewhat blank, (or maybe he just blankly at me) but then again his field is bio chemistry and obviously the multiverse concept was beyond him, so I will forgive his ignorance. The Santa thing did trigger some recognition, so his cognitive powers have not yet descended into a sea of port at high table, and he may have the answer to part of it regarding the consumption of offerings laid out for Santa. Apparently this matter was resolved by Pythagoras and we have overlooked the answer beneath our noses!! he explained it is quite simple -- Pi=pastry over meat (savoury or otherwise) and all pies follow this rule so we do not need a definition for the 'mince pie' as it has been there all along, otherwise it would be a quiche!! On the NCC meeting question -- he suspects there is no answer within this universe to council meetings, as they seem to be 'otherworldy' and suspects the answer is to ship them all off to another universe where apparently they live already (I think this was originally postulated in the Hitchhikers Guide and applied to telephone hygienists and certain others. he will raise the subject within the Royal Society, but suspects that the greatest minds in the universe will never be able to fathom council meetings - and suspects an alien conspiracy as College meetings and others seem to go the same way.

Pilgrim, There are many words I could use to describe council meetings however for the sake of council understanding them the expression being used currently has too many syllables to be universally understood by all members! In fact at some council meetings……..higher up ones that is…… you might have to wake members up to ask them if they understood! (I wish everyone HAD to attend council meetings and see the performance of the people they are electing! Pity Pratchett is gone would have made an excellent source for his type of humour!)

Of course she does! Strictly speaking it's part of the "rep" system, so you are actually voting on the reputation of the poster. At least that's where the lasting result is delivered. Don't worry though, because it's (allegedly) a lot harder for the Corbynistas to rig the electoral system - though do watch out for those 99% statistically improbable postal votes for the opposition that are plonked on the table just when the relative piles seem to indicate you are home and dry!

Well to the left happiness is subverting the system, so completely frustrating the original intentions, and devaluing it to the point it has no real meaning any longer. http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/627734/Fiddle-Donald-Trump-Petition-UK-Government Personally I hope that Trump wins; not because I particularly like him, but just to see how slimy Cameron and May react when they have to face up to the consequences of their cynical popularism! There are going on for half a million votes on the petition, and in the main those people - being honourable people who believe in true democracy - will only have voted once. The faux triumphalism is echoed in the claims of the Corbynistas as to the number of votes for their "dear leader". Really easy for unscrupulous activists to take over a party that has a £3 membership fee (thank you Mr Blair), and where its opponents are quite prepared to pay a few £3 one-off "donations" just to help screw you up and make you unelectable! "Ease of use is no indication of quality or long-term serviceability", as they say in consumerist circles.

No you press the AMOUNT of stars you want to give the topic..........you can press the second star and it gives a 2 star rating. Take a pic of the symbols maggie unless its.........

For what it's worth I read the link, and have a couple of comments on it; the first is relative to this discussion, in that the link isn't. It's a rambling story - told in a rather glib fashion, about ISIS, the persecution of Christians in the MIddle East (wow, that's new...) and so on, while we are talking about the UK, the Muslim population here and how that will affect our futuire, the future of this country. Unless you believe ISIS is about to start destroying churches and such in the UK and taking over, then the article is a world away from being relevant to us. My second comment is from a professional point of view, as an Editor and Copywriter; the article is horrible, and as an eloquent writer Canny Lass can rest assured she was better off not reading it. I'm about to draft a mail to the editor at the magazine in question offering my services as a sub-ed, as those they have are clearly not doing their job, or they don't have any. The article is 5000words long, often incoherent, and uses journalistic methods that are meant to 'tug at the heartstrings' but instead leave you wondering whether the characters are fictional. It's clunky and far too long - I could lop a couple of thousands of needless words off and still make the same point - ans I venture few people will bother reading to the end as a result. And I thought the NYT would have high standards.

malcolm -- did you pick that up as a reult of tending council meetings???