Roger Bridgman

I liked the response of the CEO of Lotus when Clarkson criticised them: "Mr Clarkson is an entertainer. We make cars." Same applies to politics.

The "don't have an extra kid if you can't afford it" brigade get awfully upset when you suggest they don't stay in their £2m house if they can't afford it, don't they?

Many well paid jobs do not require great intelligence. I have noticed, for instance, that solicitors doing routine work need a good memory but very little problem solving ability.

"An insubordinate question." How revealing.

By Nicholson?

Only appealing when polysyllabic. Moon is too ordinary.

A little Monday morning happiness.

A Government of cowards.

Rather than tackle inequality - they've gone for pensioners, disabled people and now it's people fleeing war and persecution.

They can't get away with this.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

It depends what you agree at the start. Many volunteers will accept the same conditions as paid employees, particularly if they are retired people who miss regular work.

The organisation needs what it needs. Its customers want what they want. A donation of time, however well meant, is useless if it doesn't meet these needs and wants.

No, I haven't. That's a completely different situation.

I can't understand why anyone would admire an organisation enough to give their free time to it but not enough to do exactly what the organisation needs. The gift of their time is not much of a gift if it's not what's wanted. Best to move over and make space for someone who understands this.

For Shabana Mahmood to attack some of the most cruelly treated people in the world as having won a "golden ticket" because they manage to get to and claim asylum in Britain is unforgiveable.

A new, far right, low for which I can think of no precedent, by any UK Government.

OK, yours is a different sort of volunteering, doing those jobs that can be done "as and when", probably back office rather than customer -facing. No less valuable.

That's what a good volunteer manager won't tolerate. Volunteers taking time off without agreement will find themselves replaced by others who know that work is work, whether paid or not. It isn't fair on paid staff to find that someone they rely on suddenly isn't there because it didn't suit them.

There are only a few volunteer roles, so "many hands" doesn't help. And the public, God bless 'em, don't know who's a volunteer and who isn't (nobody reads badges) but do know what level of service they want. If the work is too hard, volunteers can, unlike the paid employees, simply walk away.

No, that's best thing. Always a bit of drama. Free theatre while you travel.

It depends how many volunteers are queuing up to do the job. In a big museum, with lots of prestige attached to working there and lots of potential volunteers, anyone who disappoints the public can and should be replaced.

I think that was rather the volunteer manager's attitude.

The difference is that a volunteer can leave without financial penalty if they don't like any aspect of the job.

Most volunteers are retired. If someone volunteered while having a full time job they would be rejected.

The volunteer manager at the Science Museum, where I used to work, said that volunteers were just employees whose pay happened to be zero. If they didn't come up to the standards of the paid employees, they got fired. This seems an admirable principle.

And the flag-wavers favourite song, I Vow To Thee My Country, wouldn't have a tune.

One of your best.

It's the people. Cities have a lot of them. Makes them hard to control.

SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten.

"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA

The right can mock my teeth all it wants – it shows the Greens have struck a nerve | Zack Polanski As a politician, I expect opposition and debate. But when it centres on personal insults, not policies, something else is going on, says the leader of the Green party, Zack Polanski

Every personal attack.

Every attempt to distract or to divide.

It energises, strengthens and empowers our movement.

Lower bills. Tax billionaires. Join us.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

1. "They're taking our jobs."
2. Don't always know where they're from.
3. We'd have to buy the hotels first.

Defeatist? Moi?

I've had many job interviews, and, despite having almost no qualifications for anything, only once failed to get the job. The secret is to treat the interviewer as your friend. Everyone wants a friend.

Good coverage on Channel 4 News.