It depends on how atrocious a goalkeeping jersey they're wearing.

You see two teenage (let's say 16 years old) boys - obviously a bit the worst for drink - fighting in the street. Would you break it up?

If I was alone, I'd rather call the police. If I had friends with me, yes, I would try to break up the fight.

Did you ever consciously "cancel" a friendship? And I mean speaking it out to the person involved.

No, not in so many terms. I did have my husband intervene on my behalf to tell his mother that she was no longer welcome in our home or that I didn't want anything to do with her. I didn't do it myself as he was the one for years that could have stopped all the misery she caused against me so he was the one to deal with her to end it all. I have no regrets; its a burdon now lifted off of my shoulders.

Did you grow up/go to school/work with anyone that is now famous?

Not really famous but Ian Button was in my year at school. Oh yes THAT Ian Button. He played guitar in The Thrashing Doves and now plays occasionally with Death in Vegas.

Will Hutton - journalist and fomer head of the Industrial Society went to my school a few years earlier and, even earlier than that, the Illustrator and author Quentin Blake.

Possibly John Paul Jones went there as he lived in the same town but I don't think that's ever been proved.

Same question as it's a good one:

Did you grow up/go to school/work with anyone that is now famous?

I was at college with "Reg" who used to be in the Bill.


A slightly different take on the same concept. Who is the most famous person in your mobile phone contact list?

Wayne Hemingway.

Similar one - who's the most famous person to send you a Christmas card?

Former POTUS Jimmy Carter.



Who's the most famous person who, upon receipt of a Christmas card from you, would actually know who you are?

Albert Finney.

Have you ever mistaken someone famous for someone you knew - and erroneously engaged them in conversation?

Yup.

1.

Gosh I havent seen you since college! ( That was to claire balding ).

2.

At a motorway service station. saw on old familair face, but couldnt place him but thought it would be rude not to say hello. Had a nice chat, still couldnt place him. But said hi, how were things, he was looking good, probaly bump into you again in ten years time etc etc. An hour later I realised it was Mickey Dolenz.



Has anybody ever asked for your autograph and why?

Yes, because I was a foreigner at the women's world judo competition, and the kids thought I must be a famous coach or something.

Have you ever refrained from approaching a celebrity? And why did you refrain? (Dennis Rodman or Pete Dougherty doen't count; it's just pretty obvious for different reasons...goes double for Courtney Love)

Yes I do refrain. For example I was sat in the executive lounge at heathrow opposite Robby Coltraine. I would no more talk to him than if it was an anonymous businessman. I figure he doesnt want every tom dick or harry going - cor arent you Robbie Coltraine off the telly. And he goes yes. And i go that must be great. and he must think god you even get riff raff in here!!!



is x factor e mere entertainment or a really bad thing

We don't have X Factor in Canada, Mr Tein. We have something called Canadian Idol (i.e. a vocal talent search), but I've never watched it. I probably would have been more interested in watching this sort of thing in my youth, but now those days are long gone. I'd say it's entertainment, but holds little appeal for me. I'm too busy watching Most Haunted...

Would you say that Thatcher is responsible for creating and/or worsening the North/South divide in the UK? Please give examples in your response.

P.S. There is an East/West divide in Canada, but it is more a result of physical geography as opposed to politics.

Thatcher f*ck*d everything. eg

"It is no part of our policy to direct where people shall live or where firms set up or expand. If we try to discourage development and economic growth in large parts of the South of England in the hope that it will happen in the large cities in the North, we risk losing them altogether."
Margaret Thatcher and many others in the Conservative party saw regional policy as excessive state intervention. She believed that subsidies to underdeveloped regions preserved inefficiency and overmanning and hampered their development in the long run.

Her first term saw a radical pruning of regional policy. Development certificates were abolished soon after Margaret Thatcher came to office. In 1979, office development certificates were abolished and industrial development certificates soon followed. While the government continued to provide incentives to locate in assisted areas, firms were no longer prevented from setting up or expanding in certain areas. Also abolished by Margaret Thatcher's government were economic planning councils, which had been set up by Harold Wilson's Labour government in 1964.
Less areas were made eligible for regional assistance. Before Margaret Thatcher came to office, 47% of the working population was covered by regional assistance. In 1982, only 28% was. Much of eastern Scotland, a belt stretching up the centre of northern England and southern Scotland, and most of rural Wales lost assisted-area status over this period.
Regional development grants were cut and made more difficult to receive. The regional development councils were disbanded.
In 1984, there was another redrawing of the regional policy map. Now only 15% of the working age population would be covered by regional assistance. A cost per job limit of 10,000 pounds was imposed, except in the case of smaller projects involving fewer than 200 workers. In 1988, automatic eligibility for regional development grants was ended; firms now had to prove that without grants their projects would be unable to proceed.

In 1948, 7.3 million was employed in manufacturing. The number reached 8.1 million by the 1950s and just below 8.6 million by 1966, near the peak of regional policy. It started declining after that and was 7.1 million in 1979, when Margaret Thatcher came to office. From 1979 on, manufacturing employment declined rapidly, reaching 4.4 million by 1993.
For instance, ICI, Britain's biggest industrial company, cut its UK workforce from 89,400 in 1979 to 61,800 by 1983, and further to 55,800 by 1987. GKN which was Britain's biggest manufacturing company in the 1930s, slashed the number of its UK employees between 1979 to 1983 by 70%. Lucas, which manufactures automotive and aerospace products, had nearly 70,000 UK employees in 1979, but by 1983, it had 50,000, and by 1987, it had 40,000. These examples are rather drastic cases, but there are many companies that closed entirely.
Decline of manufacturing hit the North much harder than it did the South. This is not to say that the North lost a greater number of manufacturing jobs than the South did. But the North was more reliant on manufacturing than the South, and Northern manufacturing was hit harder than Southern manufacturing.
All regions with high dependence on manufacturing suffered major losses of industrial activity and employment. Most major British manufacturing regions, such as the Northwest and Yorkshire-Humberside, were in the northern half of the UK. Not only was the percentage of workforce employed in manufacturing higher in the North, the decline of manufacturing was proportionately severe in the North than in the South. From 1979 to 1990, manufacturing employment fell on average 2.8% a year in the North but only 2.4% a year in the South. Part of this gap is attributable to the fact that multi-regional companies closed their peripheral branches first, which was exacerbated by Margaret Thatcher's reduction of regional policy.




Tell me something that thatcher did that is of long term benefit to the UK -