A great tribute to a man who - ironically - would have cared nothing for all the pomp!

You have a point, Leftie, but perhaps it is more that in those countries "feckless scrounging" is looked down upon by the people themselves - not condoned and even almost lauded as it is in some sections (not all!) of the population here.

What a great article, Michael! Thank you for showing us how we can learn from two of our European Partners. I hope that if both Borne and Munster are twinned with local authorities in this country, those links can flourish.

"In the beginning was the Word" - familiar words to many of us and with such deep significance. They tell us that God/The Source/The Great Architect of the Universe (or whichever term we choose to use for him/her/it) was present before all worlds began, is there now and will be there long after all of us reading this page have left this plane. There is a cosmic Order - It is mysterious to all of us and the more we study and learn about it, the more we find we need to know. I wish everyone here a Very Happy and Blessed Christmas-time and a Peaceful, Happy and Healthy 2012.

I see we are continuing this tasteless theme! Enough, Already!!

I think it is pushing it a little bit to call Stag and Hen "dos" "Immoral"! I find them rather pathetic - especially the "Hens" who will be a bunch of giggling, guffawing women - some of them far from their first flush of youth - invariably wearing bunny costumes or cowboy hats and with the bride-to-be got up in a veil and wearing an "L" plate (as though she is a blushing virgin!) Silly jokes involving items from Ann Summers are the order of the day and everyone ends up with extremely bad hangovers from the truly-disgusting cocktails. Incidentally, for anyone who does not know the origin of the terms "stag" and "hen" - they refer to the male and female turkey!

One of the best things about this country used to be that we prided ourselves on our moderation; our lack of extremism or fundamentalism.

How about if he joined the Green Party thinking that it was all about environmental concerns. He may have been disillusioned when he discovered how hard-left they really are! I for one would like to welcome Cllr Hardy to our Party.

Our Mr Bush sees what he wants to see. Dave - Go to SpecSavers!

I hope to be able to find room for a morsel of deliciously runny Brie! You would, I suppose, expect me to say that.

A generous response from CFi and I am sure that Stuart is right in what he says. I have known Aidan as a local Party colleague for a number of years and have never had the impression that he would subscribe to the opinions that some of his "friends" appear to hold. He has learned the hard way that perhaps now is the time for him to ditch these "friends" and make some new ones.

On a dark and cold December night, in two hospitals – at either end of one of Britain’s great cities, two men lay dying. Christopher Gillthorpe had been married to his wife Susan for over 40 years. Of course few people in the world knew that for the last 20 of those years the love of his life had not in fact been Susan. The Gillthorpes had several children and grandchildren and to all intents and purposes were a good Christian respectably-married and happy family. Jonathan Mirfield met the love of his life, David, 42 years ago. They had moved in together 40 years ago despite the bitter resistance of his family. Of course they had had to be terribly discreet – since 1967 their love was legal but would have still been misunderstood by many. They had lived monogamously – there had never been anyone else for either of them. Married partners in all but name. 16th December 2011 – Christopher and Jonathan are both about to make that final journey. The senior nurse in each hospital makes the call to the Next of Kin who then journey to the bedside to be with their family member as he takes his final breath. Susan Gillthorpe sat beside her husband and although their love as a couple had ceased to be many years ago, she took comfort in the fact that as his spouse she was with him at the last. Jonathan died alone. His brother that he had not seen for the last 20 years (the last time was at their mother’s funeral) refused to come. And that, Riita, is the case for Gay Marriage.

Angela, You are quite right. I had no intention of giving you a fuller response. Your reply here proves your narrowness of view. There are many, many unmarried couples who have been together a long time and most certainly do not intend to make love with one another "until I get fed up with you..." etc. You - frankly - insult those equally committed couples. I want no part of the narrowness and - yes - bigotry - that I have found amongst some posters here today. If that makes me a "liberal" rather than a "conservative" (note the small letters rather than capitals) then so be it.

Well, Angela. If only procreative sex is permitted then a great many of us (straight as well as gay) are clearly going to go straight to Hell.

I think the word "serve" means enslave yourself to - in other words, attach too much importance to material things. Despite the stuff about camels jumping through eyes of needles, it IS perfectly possible to have wealth and also be a genuinely spiritual person. It just depends whether that wealth is used for good or ill. No-one loves a miser.

Good result in Coombe Vale - Congratulations to the two new councillors!

"If Mr Cameron is a Christian, then how on earth can be support gay marriage, when it states very clearly in the Bible that it is a sin ?" Perhaps because he supports love over bigotry - something I would have thought would be an eminently Christian thing to do. One final thought for you - It might very well be that non-procreative forms of sex were considered to be sinful 3,000 + years ago when you had a small nomadic tribe wandering in the desert whose paramount aim was to keep themselves alive.

Two words for you, david1 - Free Will

I am Jewish and believe in God - but I don't believe God to be an Old Man sitting on a Cloud and Smiting All Who Displease him. Perhaps it is difficult to express one's belief in God adequately in words without sounding either trite or incomprehensible. I will confine it to saying that for me God is the Universal Life Force; the Source of all that Was, Is and Will Be. That is - for example - why I can subscribe to Darwin's Theory of Evolution and at the same time acknowledge that God is behind it.

Philip (and I do know which "Philip" you are and why this subject is of importance to you), if we all abided by "strict Biblical values", everyone would keep Kosher homes, no-one would wear a garment with woollen and linen fibres mixed together and we would have the death penalty for adultery in this country. It is not a case of "rejecting the awkward bits" - Did Jesus not exhort people to "Love one another?" Did he not go amongst people who were outside the bounds of that time's "decent" society, such as tax-collectors and prostitutes? As you rightly say at the end of your post - we are ALL "imperfect" and I believe that Mr Cameron rather than "shying away from the truth" as you allege is acknowledging the truth - that we need to reintroduce moral standards - even if we all at times fall short of the mark.

I like the fact that comments can be rated! Also enjoy the fact that you can "sort" comments so the oldest or the newest are at the top. Excellent. It will remain to be seen of course how much moderation has to be done!

David, I am sorry to say that we get far more of your Kipper friends calling US "traitors" or "Quislings"! You know what really sticks in my craw about the Labour victory? The fact that the new Member of Parliament is a wealthy woman who lives in a large house just off the Kings Road, Chelsea and has little inkling of the lives of her constituents, some of whon work for a pittance cleaning floors at Heathrow Airport. With Labour it is always "Do as I say...Not as I do!" Yesterday evening I had to go to a meeting and chose to take a cab as I was planning to have a couple of drinks afterwards. The driver was a delightful Albanian man. We engaged in conversation and he told me of his childhood when his family had nothing - no land outside their house, often no food for days and he had to go to school barefoot and in ragged clothes - all because his parents were not Party Members...Unsurprisingly he had no love for the Labour Party here!

LOL, Paul!!!! It might of course be the other Ed...The Spherical one.

You must have been working the same patch where I was yesterday morning, Mr or Ms Vole! I too noticed the proliferation of boats, including the one in a small marquee! And yet....as you say...These are "poor and downtrodden Labour voters"!

A disappointing result for the Conservatives on a very low turn-out. I hope that Mark Bowen will not be downhearted even though Third Time Lucky would have been wonderful for him! His work locally is well-respected. Elections on low-turnouts hinge on the GOTV. We run a good operation usually but are - frankly - often outgunned by Labour. It is clear that what happened here was similar to Hammersmith Labour Party's Pollday operation (and may have had many of the same helpers). Let's not forget that Labour is the Creature of the Unions and what happens is that the Unions send their people in droves on the day to literally frogmarch voters (many not understanding what they are doing) up the road to the Polling Station with the words "You're Labour...You Owe Us....". It is, frankly coercion but how we put a stop to it I am not quite sure. We in contrast are gentlemanly and ladylike which is to our credit but doesn't win elections in tough areas. We also lull ourselves into a false sense of security when we do not see many Labour activists about during the Campaign - Trust me! They are all on phones and they come out in droves on the day itself. We need to wise up.