Flower of Scotland

This is the National Anthem of Scotland sung by a duo called The Corries. Read the lyrics below.

What do you think of it? Do you like it?

The video is from a memorable rugby match in 1990. It was the deciding match between Scotland and England.

The arrogant English didn't think us Scots had a chance of winning. We soon showed them and they went back to their country with their tail between their legs.

When will they ever learn?!

I love the bit when the rugby players start singing the anthem to the sound of the bagpipes. I always get goosebumps.

The national flower of Scotland is the thistle. Why is an ugly person referred to as "cardo" when it actually is a beautiful flower?!

Flower of Scotland - Scotland's National Anthem

O flower of Scotland

When will we see

Your like again

That fought and died for

Your wee bit hill and glen

And stood against him

Proud Edward's army

And sent him homeward

Tae (to) think again

The hills are bare now

And autumn leaves lie thick and still

O'er (over) land that is lost now

Which those so dearly held

And stood against him

Proud Edward's army

And sent him homeward

Tae think again

Those days are passed now

And in the past they must remain

But we can still rise now

And be the nation again

And stood against him

Proud Edward's army

And sent him homeward

Tae think again

Read more about the Scots anthem here.

Letter of Complaint - Holiday Gym

Have you ever had to complain to a business about something? What was it about and did you reach a satsfactory conclusion?

Apart from my ongoing battle with British Airways, I have had to make a fresh complaint; this time to the Holiday Gym.

It is reasonably priced compared to most other gyms. I find it convenient because it is a chain, there are eight or so gyms and members can go to any one of them. My classes are also spread across the city and this means I can work out at the nearest gym straight after the lesson. It is open from early in the morning until late in the evening and it is also open on holidays.

As with most gyms, it has its peak times when it is crowded and you have to wait to use a machine.

I have been going for four years.

The trouble is that you now have to pay for the whole year all at once. When I first started I actually paid for two years in advance. I paid something like 890 Euros, in three installments, over the first three months. Two years later I paid about 400 Euros. I actually made that payment a few months in advance.

Now the annual payment has dropped to 390 Euros. The amount is automatically deducted from your bank account. This is done 45 days before your membership is due to expire. So if you don't intend to carry on going to the gym, you have to inform them well in advance. Unlike with other bills, such as the one for the mobile phone, you don't receive any letter warning you when and how much you have to pay.

One day the card that I use to enter the gym didn't let me in, so I went to the girl at reception. After looking up my details on the computer, she told me that my bank had refused to pay them.

I was short of money as always but I thought I had enough money in my account. I have two bank accounts; one where I deposit my wages and the other where I try to save money for a rainy day. I thought that the bank deducted money from "wages" account but in fact, it was the other one. And because there have been too many rainy days, there wasn't enough money to pay for the gym.

I thought it shouldn't be a problem to sort out. I would simply have to give them the details of the second account. I was astonished when they asked me to pay 475 Euros, as if I was a new member. That's a difference of 85 Euros and I would have to pay that amount every year from then on.

After speaking to a rude receptionist and getting nowhere, I asked to speak to the manageress. She promised me that she would try her best to sort the problem out. However, she came back with an answer that I didn't want to hear.

I realize that it was my mistake but I find it unfair that I have to pay such a big penalty. As a result I have found a gym close to home where I pay slightly less than the amount the Holiday Gym were asking for. Not only have they lost me as a client; a few of my friends are not going to renew their contract either.

Through sheer stupidity, they are losing much more than they would gain by making me pay more.

One of my friends has already cancelled his membership and made a complaint along with me.

Using my example or one of your own, I'd like you to write an official letter of complaint. Or alternatively, relate an occassion when you had to complain. Did you get a satisfactory outcome?

Queen celebrates diamond anniversary

Today is also the wedding anniversary Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. This is how the BBC recounts the celebration held yesterday:

The Queen and Prince Philip have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with a service which featured a reading from Prince William.

Prayers were said and the Archbishop of Canterbury asked the couple, in a blessing, to "renew in your hearts promises you made to one another".

More than 30 family members were among 2,000 people at Westminster Abbey.

Other guests included five choristers from the 1947 service, as well as 10 couples who married on the same day.

The service was also watched by Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as his predecessors John Major and Baroness Thatcher.

The Queen is the first British monarch to reach a diamond wedding anniversary.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said in his sermon that every marriage was a public event but that "some couples have to live more than others in the full light of publicity".

"We are probably more aware than ever these days of the pressures this brings," he said.

"But it also means that we can give special thanks for the very public character of the witness and the sign offered to us by this marriage and what it has meant to nation and Commonwealth over the decades."

During prayers, the congregation was asked to pray "for Her Majesty and His Royal Highness - for their life together as husband and wife".

Prince William, in his reading of 1 John 4:7-16, told the congregation to "let us love one another, because love is from God".

Dame Judi Dench read the poem Diamond Wedding - written especially for the occasion by poet laureate Andrew Motion - which speaks of "a life remote from ours because it asked each day, each action to be kept in view".

Psalm setting

There was also a procession of representatives from different religions including the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh faiths.

As was the case in 1947, a setting by EC Bairstow of Psalm 67 - God Be Merciful Unto Us And Bless Us - was sung by the abbey choir.

Other elements that were at both ceremonies included the performance, at the start of the service, of We Wait For thy Loving Kindness O God, composed for the original ceremony by then-organist Dr William McKie.

Similarly, the hymn The Lord's My Shepherd, set to the Scottish tune Crimond and chosen by the then-princess for her wedding, was sung.

At the end of the service, Prince Philip and the Queen walked back up the aisle and met 10 couples who were also married on 20 November 1947.

One of the couples, Margaret and Horace Bunn, both aged 80, from Ashington, Northumberland, said meeting the royal couple had been the "icing on the cake".

Mr Bunn told BBC News: "We had a bit of an idea we might meet the Queen but we didn't know it was going to happen.

"But, apparently, it was all planned and kept from us."

His wife added: "We were really looking forward to meeting here and she was so nice."

Maltese Visit

After the service, the royal couple met members of the public who came to Parliament Square to join the celebrations.

On the square's Jubilee Walkway walking trail, the couple unveiled a panoramic panel - created to mark their anniversary - explaining landmarks on the London landscape.

The couple's actual 60th wedding anniversary is on Tuesday when they will travel to Malta where they lived as a young married couple from 1949 to 1951, while Prince Philip was stationed there as a serving Royal Naval officer.

On Sunday, members of the Royal family attended a celebration dinner hosted by Prince Charles at Clarence House.

The 1947 wedding, according to one of the couple's friends, was a moment of "blissful brightness and happiness" after World War II.

The couple received gifts from around the world 60 years ago.

These included a thoroughbred horse, 131 pairs of nylon stockings - a rare commodity at a time of rationing and austerity - and 500 tins of pineapple.

However, BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt says Mahatma Gandhi's present caught the disapproving eye of Queen Mary, Princess Elizabeth's grandmother. She told a friend the piece of hand-spun lace was "indelicate", mistaking the tray cover for the Indian leader's loincloth.

Source: BBC News

Take a look at the BBC "On This Day" page where you can find interesting footage and articles related to events that happened on any particular day in the past. Choose a date that means something to you and look up what happened on that date. Then, in your words, recount the event and your thoughts or memories of it.

Anniversary - Death of Franco

1975: Spanish dictator Franco dies

General Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain with an authoritarian hand for 39 years, has died at the age of 82.

He had been ill for five weeks and died early this morning at La Paz hospital, Madrid. Doctors said the cause of death was heart failure aggravated by peritonitis.

Flags all around the country are at half-mast and the general's body is now lying in state at the El Pardo Palace.

Franco, also know as the Generalissimo, will be buried next week at the Valley of the Fallen mausoleum.

Forgiveness

The Prime Minister, Carlos Arias Navarro, his voice trembling with emotion, announced the death at 1000 local time on radio.

He said that on his deathbed General Franco had asked his enemies to forgive him.

"I ask pardon of all my enemies, as I pardon with all my heart all those who declared themselves my enemy, although I did not consider them to be so," the general had said.

He also asked the Spanish people to remain loyal to Prince Juan Carlos, his designated successor who will be sworn in as king tomorrow.

In a veiled warning to resist separatist movements such as the Basque nationalist group ETA, he advised the nation to "keep the lands of Spain united".

General Franco successfully led the Nationalist armies against the Loyalists during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, with support from Hitler's Germany and Italy under Mussolini.

Franco allowed Hitler to use Spain's naval bases during World War II, then declared Spain neutral in 1943 when it looked like the Allies would win.

Under Franco Spain has enjoyed stability and relative prosperity, especially after reforms introduced since 1959 that modernised administration and industry.

His regime has also been deeply reactionary, with political parties and non-government trade unions banned, and separatists and communists repressed.

World hopes for democracy

Leaders of European countries have been guarded in their reaction the dictator's death and expressed hope that the new king would introduce modern democracy to Spain.

The European Commission expressed "sympathy and friendship for the people of Spain" and condolences to General Franco's widow.

No western European nation will be sending a head of state to the funeral apart from Monaco.

But staunch supporters in South America, such as President Pinochet of Chile and Bolivia's President Banzer will attend.

In Britain, Labour backbenchers are furious that the government is sending a representative - Lord Shepherd, the Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords - to the funeral. Stanley Newens, MP for Harlow, said the decision was "an affront to those who fought and died in the Civil War in Spain in the 1930s".

Read some memories of Franco's death.

Do you remember when Franco died? What are your memories? And/or what are the memories of relatives older than you?

Chavez outburst is ringtone hit

The king of Spain's recent undiplomatic outburst at the Venezuelan president has become a ringtone hit across Spain.

An estimated 500,000 people have downloaded the insult featuring the words "Why don't you shut up?", generating a reported 1.5m euros (£1m).

King Juan Carlos won plaudits in the media back home.

King Juan Carlos asked Hugo Chavez to "shut up" at a summit in Chile last week after the president said Spain's ex-PM Jose Maria Aznar was a "fascist".

Branded mugs, t-shirts and websites featuring the row are also profitable.

In Venezuela, a group of students who oppose Mr Chavez's government have also been downloading the ringtone, a US newspaper reported.

"It's a form of protest," a 21-year-old student in Caracas told the Miami Herald. "It's something that a lot of people would like to tell the president."

Companies selling the ringtones have avoided legal problems concerning breach of the king's image rights by using an actor to voice the line.

'No crisis'

The spat began at the Ibero-American Summit in Chile's capital, Santiago, last Saturday when Mr Chavez called former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a close ally of US President George W Bush, a fascist, adding "fascists are not human. A snake is more human."

Current Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero then said: "[Former Prime Minister] Aznar was democratically elected by the Spanish people and was a legitimate representative of the Spanish people."

When Mr Chavez repeatedly tried to interrupt, the king leaned forward and said: "Why don't you shut up?".

The row escalated when Mr Chavez said the king was "imprudent" and asked if he knew in advance of the 2002 coup against him.

President Chavez later accused the king of "arrogance" but said he did not want a political crisis with Spain - only that Venezuela's head of state be respected.

Spain has said it hopes for a swift return to normal diplomatic relations.

Source: BBC News

Read some other opinions from Venezuelans and Spaniards about the incident.

Do you share any of the above opinions? What is your view about what happened?

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Source: Melonhead622 (You Tube) Key words: eric idle bright side life

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad,
Other things just make you swear and curse,
When you're chewing on life's gristle,
Don't grumble,
Give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best.

And...
Always look on the bright side of life.[whistle]
Always look on the light side of life.[whistle]

If life seems jolly rotten,
There's something you've forgotten,
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps,
Don't be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle.
That's the thing.

And...
Always look on the bright side of life.[whistle]
Always look on the right side of life,[whistle]

For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin.
Give the audience a grin.
Enjoy it.
It's your last chance, anyhow.

So,...
Always look on the bright side of death,[whistle]
Just before you draw your terminal breath.[whistle]

Life's a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life's a laugh and death's a joke it's true.
You'll see it's all a show.
Keep 'em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.

And...
Always look on the bright side of life.
Always look on the right side of life.[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life![whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life! [whistle] Repeat to fade...

Royal Cartoon Controversy

Was it lese majeste or just a good laugh? Scurrilous libel or a witty commentary on a topical issue for Spanish parents?

  A court in Spain has convicted Manel Fontdevila, cartoons editor of the popular satirical weekly magazine El Jueves, and cartoonist "Guillermo" of "damaging the prestige of the crown".

Both men received a hefty 3,000-euro (£2,100) fine.

Their offence was to have published a cartoon last July making ribald fun of the heir to the Spanish throne, and of the government's scheme to encourage women to have more babies by giving mothers a special payment for each new birth.

It was a caricature of Prince Filipe having sex with his wife, Princess Letizia, and telling her: "Do you realise that if you get pregnant, it will be the closest thing to work I've done in my life?"

'More censorship'

The cartoon is funny, but the issue raised by its banning is serious. The episode has worrying echoes of last year's frenzied and violent protests against the cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad printed in European newspapers.

Those cartoonists faced death threats, a number of people died in disturbances around the world, and the end result was a defeat for freedom of expression.

In the Spanish case, censorship of the magazine has already taken place and will not be reversed. Within hours of the cartoon's appearance Spanish judges ordered the seizure of all copies of that edition of the magazine.


This is only one of a growing number of recent cases of media censorship or self-censorship in Europe that have arisen thanks to restrictive laws or monopolistic patterns of media ownership.
Some, like the Spanish case, involve attempts to prosecute journalists for violating laws that give special protection to the most powerful and privileged figures in public life.

In Romania, a law has just been passed which exposes journalists to the risk of seven years in jail if they publish video footage taken secretly of politicians taking bribes. It follows a case in which film of a government minister accepting a secret cash payment was shown on TV, leading to his resignation.

In France, a newspaper expose written during this year's presidential election campaign, revealing that Cecilia Sarkozy - the then wife of winning candidate Nicolas Sarkozy - failed to cast her vote, was removed on orders from the newspaper's owner, a close associate of the new President.

In Turkey, the infamous Article 301 of the criminal code makes it an offence punishable by jail terms to insult the armed forces or those in positions of high office.

Criminal prosecutions

Turkish officials insist that similar laws protecting the holders of high offices of state also exist in France and other Western countries.

But a Turkish legal expert explained the difference: "It's like the laws in some American states that still ban oral sex between married couples", he said. "They exist on paper but are no longer used!"

In Turkey, hundreds of journalists have been prosecuted under Article 301 and similar laws.
Miklos Haraszti is Europe's chief enforcer of media freedom on the governments and courts of the 56 member states of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe).

He says that oppressive laws against the media, intimidation and threats of dismissal, are all being used as weapons to censor the work of journalists in Eastern and Western Europe today.

The latest evidence for that harsh verdict comes from a Survey of Media Freedom in 20 European states presented to the OSCE's Representative for Media Freedom last weekend. The study, entitled Goodbye to Freedom?, was published by the independent Association of European Journalists.

'Unusable' laws

It finds that within the past year alone, journalists in 18 out of 20 European countries - including would-be models of democracy like Germany, the Netherlands and France - have faced criminal prosecution, or been jailed for breaking various laws that impede them from reporting on matters of public interest. (The two exceptions were the Czech Republic and the UK.)

Yet each year dozens of judgements made by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg overturn the convictions of journalists on libel or secrecy charges in national courts.

So is it really time for the media in Europe to say "Goodbye to Freedom"? Miklos Haraszti says simply that European governments must not pass laws, like criminal libel for journalists, which are "unusable".

The prosecution and conviction of the cartoonists who published a funny sketch of a Spanish prince to make their viewers laugh has chipped away a bit more from the fragile pillar of media freedom in Europe.

Source: BBC News

I did think about adding the cartoon, which can easily be found on the internet, on this post but I had second thoughts. Would I be fined like the two cartoonists were?


What is your opinion on the whole controversy?

Humour

Put Downs:

If I were married to you, I'd put poison in your coffee.- - - Lady Astor (to Winston Churchill)

If you were my wife, I'd drink it.- - - Winston Churchill, in reply

Anecdotes:

Anecdote 1...


(Picasso recalls his mother's ambitions for him.)
"When I was a child, my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you become a monk, you'll end up as Pope.' Instead I became a painter and wound up as Picasso."




Anecdote 2...


In later life Picasso visited an exhibition of children's drawings. He observed, "When I was their age, I could draw like Raphael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like them."



Puns:

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off?

He's all right now.


Limericks:

A macho young swimmer named Dwyer,
Really liked playing with fire.
One night in the dark
He swam with a shark,
And his voice is now two octaves higher.


Epigram:



"I can resist everything except temptation." Oscar Wilde













Non P.C. Jokes:


Smart Irishman

An Irishman named Murphy went to his doctor after a long illness. The doctor, after a lengthy examination, sighed and looked Murphy in the eye and said, "I've some bad news for you... you have cancer and it can't be cured. I'd give you two weeks to a month." Murphy, shocked and saddened by the news, but of solid character, managed to compose himself and walk from the doctor's office into the waiting room. There he saw his son who had been waiting.

Murphy said, "Son, we Irish celebrate when things are good and celebrate when things don't go so well. In this case, things aren't so well. I have cancer and I've been given a short time to live. Let's head for the pub and have a few pints."

After three or four pints the two were feeling a little less somber. There were some laughs and more beers. They were eventually approached by some of Murphy's old friends who asked what the two were celebrating.

Murphy told them that the Irish celebrate the good and the bad... he went on to tell them that they were drinking to his impending end. He told his friends, "I've only got a few weeks to live as I have been diagnosed with AIDS." The friends gave Murphy their condolences and they had a couple more beers.

After his friends left, Murphy's son leaned over and whispered, "Dad, I thought you said that you were dying from cancer. You just told your friends that you were dying from AIDS!" Murphy said,"I am dying from cancer, son, I just don't want any of them sleeping with your mother after I'm gone."


Have you got any jokes to share? Have a look at the examples of puns, limericks, corny jokes etc - which are your favourites?

Source: itslikeasaunainhere (You Tube) Key words: Fawlty towers mention war

This is part of an episode of a classic British sitcom from the 70s.

Read more about it  here