DonnyTJS

I'm well aware of Scotland's separate legal and education systems, thank you. I was simply pointing out that there's significant shared culture when compared to the EU. FWIW, the only worthwhile measure of cultural affinity is how easy it is for a member of one culture to use a supermarket in another.

Really? It takes a fairly bizarre reading of history to suggest that the dissolution of a 300-year-old political union - a nation state with all the shared cultural and economic elements that have developed with it - is on a lesser scale than leaving an economic grouping that has only really attempted a strong political focus since the early 1990s. This doesn't mean that dissolving the UK is either impossible or undesirable, it just means that your statement is myopic.

So did I. But upon opening the thread last night, found it had been resurrected by that Debora poster: "Good evening. While waiting for a bus I overheard two people discussing bitcoin and they recommended this site … <some link or other>". Obviously a bot, so I made a post pointing this out. Woke this morning (my time) to find that both posts had been deleted (and at least one more as I had a notification that Ally B had quoted my post) … then I forgot about it as we had a bit of an earthquake, and a 6.1er tends to monopolize the concentration.

Now then … Malcolm Owen, Joe Strummer, Ian Curtis, Ari Up, Lemmy (+ Fast Eddie & Phil), Lee Brilleaux, Mick Green (The Pirates), Bert Weedon ...

That upgrade was certainly a factor. The Euros; the post-2014 hangover really kicking in; the rise of other forms of social media ...

May 2018: 5,243 ... Women, children and middle-aged statos first.

Actually, the issue there was divorce.

It doesn't make the slightest difference. Since when did symbolism depend upon genetics?

Aye, slap us down with an Express story. You were talking about their being 'descendants' - we don't need the Express to tell us that the current monarch isn't a 'direct' descendant, as in pure primogeniture. That's what the whole Act of Settlement was about.

I do think for myself, honestly. She's not 'in charge' of me. She's a constitutional monarch - same as in Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark - most of northern Europe. What's the point of having an elected apolitical head of state? It simply causes a potential democratic clash with the elected government. There's no inherent advantage in increasing layers of democracy.

… and how does having a monarch prevent anyone thinking for themselves?

In what sense are you ruled over by the queen?

Really? Yes they are.

Btw, assuming you were going to spend two or three nights in Cairo you'd want to take in the Cairo Museum, just off Tahrir Square. All the Tutankhamen tomb contents plus a mass of monumental statuary and stuff.

I know Cairo well. Was last there in 2010, just before Mubarak was overthrown, so don't know the current security situation but suspect a lone male would be absolutely fine if you're sensible (ie: don't go wandering off the beaten track - same as most any large city). The Giza pyramids are right on the outskirts of Cairo. Any halfway-decent hotel will run a bus out there for guests. If you're looking at three nights there's plenty of options for other days (Giza wouldn't take a whole day anyway). If you're just after pharaonic stuff, I'd spend a day in Sakkara (sometimes written Saqqara), site of the oldest pyramid but also many tombs that are open with wall paintings, incised hieroglyphs and the like - none of which you'd see at Giza. Again, I'd imagine that a hotel would be laying on trips out there (it's a few miles south of the city). The old medieval centre of Cairo is well worth a visit too, for the architecture, and Khan el Khalili, the main souk in the medieval centre. Accommodation - depends on budget. Plenty of five-star options, but a personal favourite is the 3-star Windsor Hotel. Great bar barely changed for sixty years or so and I'm sure they run day trips. Palin stayed there in Around the World in 80 Days (I actually appear very briefly being served a beer in a panning shot round the bar).