Is Magna Carta overrated?

Magna Carta - Latin for Great Charter - was agreed at Runnymede in 1215 and sealed by King John after powerful barons had rebelled and captured London.

Held up as the embodiment of freedom and equality, it is revered in the US and credited with justifying the resistance to the rule of George III and influencing the Declaration of Independence.

In his inaugural address in 1941, President Franklin D Roosevelt said: "The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history... It was written in Magna Carta."

But Magna Carta's status isn't agreed upon by everyone.   Link to the BBC
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UK forces' Operational Awards honour battlefield bravery

The mottled green and brown of army fatigues are a great leveller. Line up three rows of soldiers dressed identically, and it's impossible to tell which one helped save an Afghan boy who had his leg blown off or which one narrowly escaped a bullet in the brain. Link to the BBC.
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Wonders Of The Universe

I know it's nothing to do with military or wargaming stuff, but I thought I post today about the fabulous pictures that the Royal Observatory has chosen as the winning entries in its' astronomy photography competition. Link
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Transit of Venus across the sun.

Mosquito Engine Run

Yesterday the DH Mosquito at Ardmore had her Rolls-Royce Merlin engines fired up for the first time.

Borderlands 2

Great excitement here at the Vulture household ! Borderlands 2 arrived in the post and younger Vulture is flapping up and down with excitement as the game loads up :)
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M1A1 Tank Removes Trees In Australia

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Crowd Gets Surprised During Tank Show

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HMS Ark Royal sold for scrap by Ministry of Defence

Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal is being sold for £3m for scrap metal by the Ministry of Defence to help tackle a multi-billion pound defence deficit. Link
Comment:  I just want to share with you that nothing feels good about this....  :(
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War and Peace Show

This is a good little video all about The War And Peace show.  Link
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"For the past 30 years the War and Peace show in Kent, England, has served as an exhibition of military vehicles and a forum for the re-enactment of armed conflicts witnessed in the 20th century. Join RT as we team up with a Russian delegation on the road from Moscow, period vehicles in tow, to meet other enthusiasts who share the same history and use it to turn former enemies into new allies."
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Time-Lapse of Tank Loading Into C-1

Company Of Heroes - Map Pack

Enthusiasts of the PC version of Company of Heroes game should download this huge 1.4 Gig map pack which contains over 207 working maps. Link
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'The Victory Show' - Cosby

Yesterday the family and drove across to Cosby in Leicestershire to go 'The Victory Show'. This is an event that is almost exclusively 1940s focussed and has a large reenactment/living history element to it. What a fabulous day out it proved to be. Lots and lots of armour and vehicles to wander around, a tank ride on an Aboot SPG, a 25 minute battle involving 100 guys a side with lots of explosions and smoke, and a Dakota, Hurricane and a couple of Mustangs flying around. Awesome ! 
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2012 - The Victory Show - Cosby
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Amendment to the EC Roadworthiness Package for Historic Vehicles

If you have a moment, please sign up this petition: Link
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The European Commission is proposing to outlaw the use of any modifications and non-original components to historic vehicles by introducing the following legislation; Periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers and repealing Directive 2009/40/EC".
 Many elements of this legislation make good sense, however the legislation in its current format would immediately render thousands of historic vehicles illegal because of ‘common sense enhancements’. Surely this would jeopardize jobs in this valuable industry and the multi million pound supply chain, and in many cases actually rendering safety enhancements illegal as they were not fitted by vehicles designers, possibly causing fatalities.
 The request is that Parliament consider the implications of banning modifications to historic vehicles, and suggest that the EU policy should be changed to closer reflect the sensible use of modifications in keeping with the vehicles historic design and nature ?
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Humour - Tech Support

Dear Technical Support,
18 months ago, I upgraded to Girlfriend 1.0 from Drinking Mates 4.2, which I had used for years without any trouble. However, there are apparently conflicts between these two products and the only solution was to try and run Girlfriend 1.0 with the sound turned off. To make matters worse, Girlfriend 1.0 is incompatible with several other applications, such as Lads Night Out 3.1, Football 4.5, and Playboy 6.9. Successive versions of Girlfriend proved no better. I tried a shareware program, Slapper 2.1, but it had many bugs and left a virus in my system, forcing me to shut down completely for several weeks. Eventually, I tried to run Girlfriend 1.2 and Girlfriend 1.0 at the same time, only to discover that when these two systems detected each other they caused severe damage to my hardware. I eventually upgraded to Fiancé 1.0, only to discover that this product soon had to be upgraded further to Wife 1.0. While Wife 1.0 tends to use up all my available resources, it does come bundled with FreeSexPlus and Cleanhouse2008. Shortly after this upgrade, however, I found that Wife 1.0 could be very unstable and costly to run. Any mistakes I made were automatically stored in Wife 1.0's memory and could not be deleted. They then resurfaced months later when I had forgotten about them. Wife 1.0 also has an automatic Diary, Explorer and E-mail filter, and can, without warning, launch TurboStrop and Multi-Whinge. These latter products have no Help files, and I have to try to guess what the problem is. Additional problems are that Wife 1.0 needs updating regularly, requiring ShoeShop Browser for new attachments and Hairstyle Express which needs to be reinstalled every other week. Also, when Wife 1.0 attaches itself to my Saab 93 Convertible hard drive, it often crashes. Wife 1.0 also comes with an irritating pop-up called MotherInLaw, which can't be turned off. Recently I've been tempted to install Mistress 2008, but there could be problems. A friend of mine has alerted me to the fact that if Wife 1.0 detects Mistress 2008, it tends to delete all of your Money before uninstalling itself.
Help requested please
Regards

Dear Troubled User:
This is a very common problem that men complain about. Many people upgrade from a Girlfriend application to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program. Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run everything. It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 1.2. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed. You are right that you cannot go back to Girlfriend 1.2 because Wife 1.0 is designed not to allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under 'Warnings-Alimony/Child Support.' I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application 'Yes Dear' to alleviate software augmentation. The best course of action is to enter the command C: \ APOLOGIZE. Because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway. Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Overuse of its support programs will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software.. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0. WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.
Best of luck,
Tech Support

Netherlands at War 1940

On the Battlefront web site they have quite an interesting article about the Netherlands at war which is worth a read. Link
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The Lifecyle Of A Bullet

A deadly weapon and an economic cornerstone, the impact of a bullet spreads far and wide. In this documentary BBC Defence Correspondent Caroline Wyatt takes an extraordinary journey through the defence industry as she tracks the fate of a bullet. From manufacture to gun barrel, Caroline tracks her bullet from the docks where the explosive propellant are imported, through the Cheshire factory where it is machined, to testing and out to its final destination - war. With its deep historical roots, its reliance of raw materials from all over the world and its central role in the economy this most basic of military equipment involves a huge cross-section of British society, all working for a war effort that sees millions of rounds produced every week of the year. By the time she sees the shot fired, Caroline will have met the huge variety of people employed in its creation. As she tracks the bullet's journey, Caroline will ask what would happen to our economy if peace bloomed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how people feel about making products that are designed to kill.  Link to the BBC Radio 4 programme.
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Low Fast Pass In Battlefield 2

An oldish game now, but still a good one, Battlefield 2 has still plenty of life in it by way of entertainment here in the Vulture household. Yesterday my son was seeing just how low and fast he could get to me in the F35 Lighting II that the USMC forces are equipped with. Here's a screen shot from my character stood on the turret of an M1 Tank, a fraction of a second before the jet hit him ! The jet was okay btw ! LOL.
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GMC CCKW Photo Blog

I've started a Photo Blog to record the GMC CCKWs I've photographed over the year. Link.
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Baxter Photography

Thought I'd provide a link and some publicity for a web site of an school friend of mine.  The aim of Baxter Photography is to provide vivid, high-impact photographs in our unique style, which primarily capture the intensity and beauty of Yorkshire.
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France's Ancient Alesia Dispute Rumbles On

Every French schoolchild has learned about Alesia. It was the battle in which Julius Caesar beat the Gauls under Vercingetorix, thus bringing France into the Roman world. Link
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Picture Of The Week - No 10 - V-22 Osprey

In July 2006 I attended the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford and got to see one of my favourite aircraft the V-22 Osprey.  The rotor blades are massive !
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Play By E-Mail Game - Dark Age II

Hey guys
I've had a few games of a Play By E-Mail game called Dark Age II over the last couple of years. (Link to a previous post about it).  Here's the web site. http://www.darkage2.co.uk/

I've signed up for the next game (which is free), and there are lots of free places still.  Wondered if anyone else fancies joining in it with me.  Depending on where you are on the map we could be allies, or the deadliest of enemies !  LOL    You submit your orders in once a week through a web portal. It's all pretty straight forward.
Happy to field any questions you might have.
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MoD reveals design of Royal Navy future warships

The design of the Royal Navy's latest warship has been revealed by the UK Ministry of Defence. The announcement on the Type 26 Global Combat Ship has been described by officials as a "significant milestone" in a programme which will support "thousands of UK shipbuilding jobs". Basic specification images show sleek stealth features, familiar to modern warships, making them harder to detect. The ship will be 148 metres long with a displacement of 5,400 tonnes. Link
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Comment:  Nice ship, very futuristic looking.
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Ramsey 1940 Show

This last weekend saw the family and I go to a local 1940 show at Ramsey. I've been before (Link and Link) but this year was different as we took our GMC CCKW along on both days. Boy was it hot ! After a very mixed summer here in the UK thus far, the gods blessed this weekend with the hottest weather of the year for this area. Don't get me wrong I'm all for the sun shining, but this was just too hot for comfort. I had big plans of things I wanted to on the vehicle whilst there: setting the tappets up (which needs the engine running), shaving some excess wood off the cargo body bows (the things the canvas goes over at the back) and giving it an oil change. Well none of this came to pass as it was just sooooo damn hot !! That said the public loved it and came in large huge numbers to what was a well organised and enjoyable event. I took some photos which are one the slide-show below.
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2012 - Ramsey 1940 Weekend
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Stand out vehicle for me was a Humber 'Pig' parked in the post 1940 vehicle collection.

I find myself lusting after one owning one I must confess, as I think they look just great. The reality of owning and driving could be something else though as I believe they are a 'challenging' vehicle in both areas. Looking at how little room there is around the pedals you can quite clearly see how it was awarded the nickname 'Pig' by the drivers !

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Classic Military Vehicle Magazine - Opening Shot

The Classic Military Vehicle (CMV) magazine is a long running monthly UK publication dedicated to the coverage of all historic military vehicles. At this years Duxford Military Vehicle Show on 17 Jun (Posting Link) the editor John Blackman took a shine to my GMC CCKW in its US Navy colours, and took a number of photos, one of which he used as the 'Opening Shot' (which is a two page spread) in the September edition which is out now.
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M1 Tank

Visited the Ramsey 1940 weekend (more about that on a subsequent posting) but whilst there Alex and I almost purchased a M1A1HA in 20mm scale. On getting home we went on the net to discover more about what the HA stands for (in this instance Heavy Armour), and I came across this excellent site on the M1, which is worth checking out if you are interested in tanks. Link
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Irony

Friday Humour - Perceptions of most sports reporters!!!

Here are the top nine comments made by NBC sports commentators during the 2012 Summer Olympics that they would like to take back:

1. Weightlifting commentator: "This is Gregoriava from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning during her warm up and it was amazing."

2. Dressage commentator: "This is really a lovely horse and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother."

3. Paul Hamm, Gymnast: "I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father."

4. Boxing Analyst: "Sure there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing, but none of them really that serious."

5. Softball announcer: "If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again."

6. Basketball analyst: "He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn't like it. In fact you can see it all over their faces."

7. At the rowing medal ceremony: "Ah, isn't that nice, the wife of the IOC president is hugging the cox of the British crew."

8. Soccer commentator: "Julian Dicks is everywhere. It's like they've got eleven Dicks on the field."

9. Tennis commentator: "One of the reasons Andy is playing so well is that, before the final round, his wife takes out his balls and kisses them... Oh my God, what have I just said?"
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Outpost Swarm

This is quite an entertaining little game I stumbled across tonight, slightly Aliens'ish....  Certainly worth a look :)   Link  (P.S. The music is a bit annoying)
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VJ Film from 1945: Cars, Jeeps and Youth

67 years ago this month, Richard Sullivan’s father shot this great video along Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki, Honolulu, capturing spontaneous celebrations that broke out upon first hearing news of the Japanese surrender. Click here to view the video: Link.
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State of War: Syria’s Crusader Castles and Medieval Fortresses

TIME looks at a number of Syria's most famous medieval fortresses, some of which are nearly a millennium old. Read more: Link
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Diary clues to grandfather's last days

There were 130,000 lives lost on the World War I battlefields of Gallipoli. Among them was Harry Biles, a writer and grandfather, who recorded the events of his final journey. Link to BBC.
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Mass grave in London reveals how volcano caused global catastrophe

Scientists search for the explosive source of a disaster that wiped out almost a third of Londoners in 1258. Link
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Spartacus: War of the Damned Teaser Trailer

This looks good :) The previous three seasons have been epic, this looks like it will continue in the same vein.
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Exploring the Secret Nuclear Complexes of the Manhattan Project

“It is an enduring paradox and essential human tragedy that so much selfless devotion to a cause, so much creative intellectual energy, and so many good intentions gave birth to such a monstrous reality.” These are the words of photographer Martin Miller uses to describe the Manhattan Project, the United States government program that ran from 1942 to 1945 and resulted in the world’s first nuclear weapons. Link
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Brief History of Aleppo: A Great World City Now in the Grip of War

As Syrian government forces and rebels clash in Aleppo, TIME takes a look at the history of this ancient, cosmopolitan city now locked in a state of war. Read more: Link.
Comment:  Quite interesting this, and worth a read.
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Mars Curiosity rover's 'crazy' landing system

Fingers crossed this works... Link
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Which is subsequently seems to have ! :)  Link
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Combat Service Support - What A Rubbish Company

I am getting so hacked off with this Army Surplus Store company called Combat Service Support. I ordered some gear from them back on 6 Jun. They took a good 6 weeks to deliver the order, and then half of it was incorrect ! No one answers the phone when you call, and thus far they are ignoring my E-Mails. Most unimpressed. If I don't get a response to my latest E-Mail by Wed I'm going contact my Credit Card Company and get my monies refunded. Quite simply avoid this company at all costs !
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Flat Tyre On The CCKW Truck !

Experienced my first flat tyre on the truck last week. After a trip out on the Monday it looked a bit ‘soggy’ later in the evening.
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My initial thought was that some kids must have messed with it as I had both a new tyre and inner tube fitted last November, and I’ve only done about 400 miles since then. The tyre should have had 50psi in it, but on checking there was only 20. There was no sign of a nail or any puncture marks. Rather than use a foot pump I opted to use a small 12v car compressor. Although supposedly it can pressure up to 80psi (so it says in the instructions) it was not man enough for this job, and started to smoke when it got it up to 35 psi !!! This was enough though for me to make a run to the local garage only 0.5 a mile away and fill it up properly. The following morning the tyre was down to 15 psi so something was definitely amiss and the wheel had to come off. My wheel brace is missing the (breaker) bar that should be with it (getting one made up at the moment) so a friend who also has a GMC CCKW kindly swung by and we used his to get the wheel off. Fortunately I have a 4 ton bottle jack which was able to handle lifting the front axle to get the wheel up off the ground without any problem, with a few bits of wood used to spread the load on the drive.-
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The weight of the tyre and wheel is huge and it took two of us to load it into the car to take it to a garage in Somersham who can deal with split rims.  On getting the tube out they found the puncture in the side of the tube. It wasn't clear how it had happened and it could be either:
a) a manufacturing defect with the tube, or
b) a small piece of rust off the rim
Anyway, we are now back on the road and looking forward to taking it along (weather permitting) to the Ramsey 1940 weekend on 18th & 19th Aug. Link

HMS Vanguard

An interesting web site about the life and times of the Royal Navy’s last battleship HMS Vanguard. She must have made an impressive sight when in-service. Link
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The Man Who Owned A Sherman Tank Corp

Check out this amazing article in June 1960 edition of Popular Mechanics about a guy who bought 536 Sherman Tanks ! Link
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DC SHOES: KEN BLOCK'S GYMKHANA FIVE: ULTIMATE URBAN PLAYGROUND; SAN FRANCISCO

Shot on the actual streets of San Francisco, California...
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Pluto - The Salvage Operation

This is a fascinating site talking about the salvage of the Pluto pipeline after WW2. Link.
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Cambridgeshire Steam Rally 2012

Went to the Cambridgeshire Steam Rally in Swavesey village last weekend on the Sunday. I have been before but it was many years ago, and it is now a much larger event and at a different venue. As the name suggests there is a strong Steam influence with a large number of traction engines and small stationary rotary steam engines (of astonishing variety). It had been very wet on the run up the event so it was quite interesting getting vehicles on to the site on the Friday.  Fortunately it was dry on the Saturday and Sunday and so the ground dried out enough to allow the event to proceed without it becoming a mud-bath.
Here's my son keeping the revs up on the truck prior to us setting off whilst I did some last minutes checks.
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Driving the over about 10 miles of windy back roads to the event I picked up a tailgater for a while ! LOL
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There was a large number of vintage cars in attendance along with commercial vehicles, tractors and and about half a dozen military vehicles including my own. Quite a relaxed affair with plenty to occupy the family for a few hours.
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Stand out military vehicle for me was this very tasteful Mack recovery truck
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Most interesting classic vehicle was this little BMW Bug which was in fantastic condition.
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Rare Dunkirk photos found after 70 years

Rare photos taken by a German soldier of the devastated beaches of Dunkirk after the evacuation have been found 70 years on by the family of a British war veteran. Link
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Dungeons & Dragons & Bitches

This is an interesting (and completely unPC) take on a D&D game :)
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Dungeons & Dragons & Bitches from Peter Atencio on Vimeo.
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HMS Triumph: Life on board a Royal Navy submarine

HMS Triumph is one of the Royal Navy's Trafalgar class submarines, using its stealth on counter-piracy, anti-terrorism and narcotics operations. BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale has had exclusive access to the confined space where 120 crew members serve.  Article on BBC web site:  Link
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Chinook Recovers Downed AH-64D

Some great flying here in rough conditions. Respect.
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2012 Olympic Ceremony - London

Watched the opening ceremony with the family on Friday night, and felt proud of our little country of 60 million and the fabulous show that was put on. Well done to all involved.
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Entrapment - Bill Kearns

This is very good :)
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