http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/tags.php?tag=wallster-o The NewsBiscuit Community en-US Sat, 25 May 2013 20:23:19 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/search.php http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14482 Sat, 29 May 2010 13:40:11 +0000 rikkor 14482@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>This reminds me of the worst excesses of the French Revolution, but, so many things do. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14479 Sat, 29 May 2010 11:48:39 +0000 Scroat 14479@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Technically the presiding officer (if that is who she was) was within her rights to ensure that each of you used the ballot paper allocated to you. It's all about having a system that is totally accountable and above board. However, having discussed this with my own in-house presiding officer, we decided that we wouldn't have bothered to raise it as you were a family group.</p> <p>She didn't want to see how you voted, just make sure the numbers tallied. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14440 Fri, 28 May 2010 22:41:24 +0000 rikkor 14440@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>In this country, the polling stations are manned (woman-ed, actually) by 85 year-old biddies who have nothing else to do. When I moved back to Boston (unwillingly) and voted in a primary, the polling woman screamed out to all and sundry that I had asked for a Republican voting slip and never stopped talking about it until I left. (Having voted Democrat since Roosevelt in 1932, she could admit no reason to vote otherwise.) You would have to explain Boston to people who are not from here. I just chalked it up to experience. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5240#post-14365 Fri, 28 May 2010 10:39:15 +0000 wallster 14365@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>hmmm... </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14353 Fri, 28 May 2010 10:23:38 +0000 Scroat 14353@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>If the woman was not the presiding officer or the poll clerk, she had no right to interfere. Having manned a polling station at the election with Mrs Scroat, we ensured that people voted in private and then put it straight into the shredder - sorry, box thingy.</p> <p>If she was a teller, she should have been doing this outside the polling station. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14349 Fri, 28 May 2010 10:07:42 +0000 andhrimnir 14349@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>both the voting slips and the counterfoils are sealed and destroyed after 12 months. They can only be opened following a high court order or an order from the house of Lords (and probably by the secret service).<br /> Reasons for opening:<br /> 1) as a check if the process was called into question (as if you would remember the "no more than 5" people you voted for if you were part of the sample!)<br /> 2) to track you down had you written something offensive or threatening<br /> 3) to flush out communists </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14348 Fri, 28 May 2010 09:57:38 +0000 MrChigleysAunt 14348@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Well, yes, but I guess it's to help stop someone voting on your behalf. You may be ok with someone in your immediate family using your voting slip - but what if somehow a complete stranger used it? I don't know, but I suspect this is a case where measures that seem reasonable to prevent fraud could potentially be used to restrict freedom. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14345 Fri, 28 May 2010 09:32:58 +0000 wallster 14345@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>I'm uncomfortable with this. It's all rather reminiscent of Big Brother (the book not the TV show; I didn't get my tits out in the polling station with an eye on a photo shoot in the June edition of Nuts magazine).</p> <p>I can't see how we could have invalidated our votes by swapping papers. We were checked out as valid voters &amp; they handed us 3 official voting slips.</p> <p>Does it really matter which one I put my X's on? Maybe I should have challenged Gestapo woman to explain her interest. </p> <p>This is the start of the slippery slope towards state control, my friends. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14324 Fri, 28 May 2010 07:45:27 +0000 MrChigleysAunt 14324@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Not sure. We never have had a truly secret vote. If someone really wanted to find out how you voted, they could - by matching you up the number on the voting slip. I've heard that the Government actually did this some time in the 60s to identify communist voters but I don't know if that's true or just an urban myth. And, if it's true, I don't know whether it was legal or illegal.<br /> I guess that, technically, by swapping ballot papers, your votes were invalid (unless, by chance you happened to end up with your own again). So I suspect that 'they' have a right to check that you are not voting on someone else's behalf.<br /> Given that your vote is never truly secret, it's a good idea to vote for governments who respect human rights. That's one of the main reasons I'm pleased that the Labour govt has gone. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=5218#post-14321 Fri, 28 May 2010 07:20:47 +0000 wallster 14321@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>We had to go and vote again yesterday for local councillors or somesuch. Me, Mrs Wallster and Wallster Jr who has recently turned 18.</p> <p>Once we'd given our names and address (we don't take the polling cards with our ID numbers, that would be too easy for them), they looked us up on their list and wrote our ID numbers on the ticket stub in their book of voting slips and handed us each the corresponding voting slip.</p> <p>Now, the anarchist in me decided that they should not be able to find out how I voted, so we all 3 swapped papers a few times to ensure they couldn't know which voting slip each of us were using.</p> <p>We then went to our respective voting booth, placed crosses against 'no more than 5 candidates'(!) folded the papers and turned to place them in the box.</p> <p>However standing before the box, and effectively blocking our way, was a large and rather scary middle aged woman who insisted we show her the numbers on the back of our voting slips so she could update her list to ensure they knew which vosting slip each of us had used.</p> <p>My anarchic streak had gone flaccid by this point and I meekly rolled over and gave her the number; which she duly noted.</p> <p>Now, did she have a right to do this? Do I have a right to keep my voting habits secret? What's the point of those little voting cubicles if none of it's private anyway?</p> <p>Anybody know whether we are actually entitled to a secret vote or am I lining myself up for a trip to the Gulag by being difficult?</p> <p>Just thought I'd ask. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4347#post-12140 Wed, 12 May 2010 08:59:53 +0000 wallster 12140@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4344#post-12137 Wed, 12 May 2010 08:42:26 +0000 wallster 12137@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>lots more soon </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4332#post-12118 Wed, 12 May 2010 07:27:55 +0000 wallster 12118@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>'Beware the Thatch-eron'.<br /> Right on. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=4160#post-11709 Mon, 10 May 2010 08:59:00 +0000 wallster 11709@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>A 17 year old boy from Surrey is in care today after a series of violent incidents culminated in a tense stand off outside a secondary school in Guildford.</p> <p>The boy, who can't be named for legal reasons, is believed to have attacked several teachers and pupils with a short stick, while shouting pseudo-latin phrases and brandishing a rustic looking 'witches' broom, stolen from a nearby garden centre earlier in the morning.</p> <p>The trouble began at 7:30am at a house in Privet Drive, Little Whinging where the boy is believed to have been forced to sleep in a dusty cupboard under the stairs and perform menial tasks around the house. Neighbours called police after the boy was heard screaming 'I've killed him, I've killed the Dark Lord'. The owner of the house, a Mr Vernon Dursley was seen trying to calm the boy, reassuring him that it was just a dream, but the boy became extremely violent when he saw the stuffed Snowy Owl that the family kept in a glass case in the hallway.</p> <p>As police arrived on the scene, the boy fled under an old transparent plastic sheet he took from the shed, while Mr Dursley and his wife were led away for questioning over allegations of false imprisonment and psychological or possibly sexual abuse of a child in their care.</p> <p>It is understood that the boy was placed with the Dursleys at a young age following further physical abuse at the hands of his natural parents whose beatings left him with poor eyesight and a ragged scar on his forehead.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the hunt for the runaway continued as reports came in from across the county of sightings and minor disturbances.</p> <p>He was finally cornered at the school in Guildford after he broke into a chemistry class and tried to take two other children hostage, insisting that they call themselves Ron &amp; Hermione and that they should all get to Kings Cross in time to catch the Hogwarts Express.</p> <p>Police negotiators eventually managed to talk the boy down from the roof of the science block where he was threatening to jump off while sitting astride the stolen broom. The 2 crying hostages were led away for counselling.</p> <p>Police and social workers are now questioning the boy in advance of a psychiatric assessment which will determine if the pressures of A level studies and pent up frustrations of his abusive home life had caused the boy to suffer long term paranoid delusions.</p> <p>Police are not yet confirming a link between today's events, and the mysterious fall of 81 year old Albert Dumble-Moore, a known associate and late night visitor to the Dursley household, from the top of a multi storey car park in Frimley last weekend. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3987#post-11333 Fri, 07 May 2010 12:03:39 +0000 Ostsee 11333@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>I cannot cope with these reality songs. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3987#post-11310 Fri, 07 May 2010 09:41:44 +0000 wallster 11310@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3705#post-10652 Tue, 04 May 2010 09:47:32 +0000 wallster 10652@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Ah, sorry old beast. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3705#post-10650 Tue, 04 May 2010 09:35:03 +0000 PluckyMunky 10650@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>No offence, Mr Ster, but I posted this, yesterday and offered my incontinent old tabby up for marriage. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3705#post-10641 Tue, 04 May 2010 09:01:02 +0000 wallster 10641@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8658327.stm">The purrfect match?</a> </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3487#post-10053 Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:45:02 +0000 Dumbnews 10053@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>gr8, but i would replace unequivocal with truthful, easier to understand </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3487#post-10029 Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:47:28 +0000 wallster 10029@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>"It shouldn't have happened, especially during an election campaign". </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3329#post-9563 Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:01:20 +0000 Dickens or Shakespeare 9563@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Police launch probe into Churchill's gesture at waiting journalists. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3329#post-9552 Tue, 27 Apr 2010 11:26:18 +0000 wallster 9552@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p><img src="http://balder.org/judea/billeder-judea/Winston-Churchill-V-Sign.jpg"> </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3108#post-8950 Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:50:47 +0000 Scroat 8950@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>LAUGHED OUT LOUD AT THIS!!! </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=3108#post-8948 Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:15:36 +0000 wallster 8948@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Last of the Election whine soon. Thank goodness. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=2136#post-6551 Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:39:18 +0000 smyke 6551@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>I think that Mary's oh-so-cheeky riposte deserves a round of applause. 'Take me up Snowdon? I should cocoa!' Five stars, you saucy minx! </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=2136#post-6548 Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:48:44 +0000 Mary Evans 6548@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Rikkor, don't be a bitch. Of the canine or other variety.<br /> Stoopy, you're a legend.<br /> Wally, you'll be a legend for a lot longer now you've kicked the weed.<br /> Now I'm going to be a paragon of good health and feed my unborn child some white wine. Mmmmm. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=2136#post-6544 Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:16:09 +0000 ramblesid 6544@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Christ Rikkor that's witty. Have you thought about changing your dog to one of those small, yappy breeds. They're nice and easy to kick. Hey!-just like you.<br /> Sorry Wallster, I came on here to say congrats and keep it up and got a bit distracted. </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=2136#post-6540 Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:48:13 +0000 rikkor 6540@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Stoopy, please start drinking and smoking again. Your writing was much funnier. Remember, all great authors were and are hideous alcoholics who smoke a lot (yes, including Shakespeare, Gerard "Not So Manley" Hopkins and Jackie Collins). </p> http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/topic.php?id=2136#post-6443 Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:33:07 +0000 jp1885 6443@http://newsbiscuit.com/forum/ <p>Wallster, you rock sir - keep it up! </p>