Your Letters
16:10 UK time, Tuesday, 28 November 2006
Re While I feel that cultural arbitration is a good idea for allowing cultural groups to sort out problems within their own community, and alleviating our already strained courts, I also believe we must be careful not to allow the British judicial system to be undermined by religious courts. Both parties MUST agree for the arbitration and this must never be changed or we will have a situation that faced where the victim's family did not get the verdict they wanted in the Pakistan courts and pushed an acquitted man through an Islamic court in order to secure a death sentence. British law must remain the highest and ultimate law of the land.
Tim, Oswestry
Apparently the is leaning back at 135 degrees. Since no one in my office has a protractor, does anyone have any tips on how I can check that I'm sitting at the correct angle?
Jonathan, Bury St Edmunds, UK
It鈥檚 not just the call charges on the TV quiz shows that the , but some of the apparently simple questions. Perhaps other Monitor readers will enjoy pondering the following example which I saw one night on TV:
The number of legs on 11 lions and one rhino.
The number of vowels in the word 鈥渒inetic鈥.
The number of wheels on two taxis and a bicycle.
99 minus 19, multiplied by three.
Add the numbers.
After several hours of incorrect answers, they revealed (without explanation) the correct answer as 8,327. It took me nearly two hours to work out how they got that answer. Enjoy!
Jerry, London
Pedantry alert: Stoo of Lancashire (Monday letters) means "uninterested", not "disinterested". Disinterested means to be impartial. Warning to any non-pedants who try to out-pedant me: even if the dictionary now allows 鈥渄isinterested鈥 in the sense of 鈥渘ot interested鈥 I don't care, because it's wrong, plain and simple.
Daniel Hayes, St Albans, UK
Now that we know Sarah (Monday letters) likes burgers and pipettes bovine faecal matter (professionally, one hopes), millions of male Monitor readers are desperate to know: Sarah, are you married?
Curt Carpenter, Dallas, Texas
Re: . I like the sentence "His employers became suspicious and investigated the matter." That investigation can't have taken long.
Robin, Edinburgh
I lost a (nearly new) glove on the underground today; can anyone suggest a use for the other one?
Vicky Stiles, Prague, Czech Republic
Women spend one tenth of their life in the shops ()? Surely only if shop assistants are taken into account. I know no one who shops for two and a half hours every single day of their lives.
Carol, Portugal
Now that Britney has dumped "K-Fed", does that make him a Fed-Ex?
(sorry, I'll get my coat...)
Tim Gerrish, Helston, Cornwall
Steve from Nantwich (Monday letters), you are not the only one who counts the 10 things picture every week. I put forward the term 鈥淎ddingten's syndrome鈥 for our problem.
Mal Walker, Adelaide, Australia
Counting the objects in a picture is simply to check they are tenable.
Simon Rooke, Nottingham
I don't know why I count the 10 objects - perhaps the answer is in the X files.
Kip, Norwich, UK
I'm getting a bit worried about Paper Monitor鈥檚 mental health. His/her usual cynical drive seems to be sagging somewhat, and there seem to be some problems with concentration. There has been a very negative, self-deprecating and depressed edge to the past few days? Is it the weather? Is it the fact that PM never gets a holiday? Or is it the stress caused by gender-confusion? Maybe we should all club together to buy some aromatherapy goodies and a "sound of the whales" CD for Christmas.
Robin, Edinburgh
Paper Monitor, how hard is this Frank and Buster game? Am I getting too old to play games like this now? Can we have a CAdults or BADults site where we can play Old Maid instead?
Tony Doyle
I sense a cover-up. Did Paper Monitor forget to pick the papers up on the way into work this morning?
Elaine, Newcastle
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