Geoff T

Maybe if we had a fairer electoral system, with proportional representation, people would feel that their vote had some chance of making a difference. Under the present system the real outcome of elections is decided by a handful of marginals and the whims of the floating voter. OK, my tongue was in my cheek when I suggested an examination, but it does concern me that many who do vote do so largely because some external factor - and here I'd include the partisan press alongside class loyalty - propels them unthinkingly in that direction. I'd be very worried, for instance, if we were to have a refendum on the European Constitution or the Euro when so many people remain ignorant of the issues involved. I'm reminded of the words of Winston Churchill, who said that democracy was a bad system, but all the alternatives were worse. I can't help thinking that our present first past the post system is a major contributory factor in voter apathy. If you give people a system in which they feel that their vote really does count, they'll be more inclined to use it. I'm no great political animal, and a member of no party, but faced with a party of the right and another hardly less to the right, I know where my vote is going. G PS. - Citroens? What do you take me for, a sandal-wearing, crystal-hugging, nut cutlet-munching, woolly hat-wearing, wooshy liberal?

If anyone's going to Wakefield on Sunday, see you there. I know Andy will be there. Geoff

Personally I'd introduce an examination which people had to pass before they were elligible to vote. That might help alleviate the downside of uninversal franchise, which is that stupid people get the chance to vote on issues they don't understand or don't give a toss about. Some people (of all political persuasions) would vote for a dead cat if it had the right colour rosette. Things are going to be interesting this time. Labour's Achilles heel has always been a low turn-out, which generally reflects apathy on the part of working class Labour voters. This time, however, I evisage a big dent in the middle class labour vote because of, inter alia, Iraq and top-up fees. Moreover, these middle class liberal types are likely to defect to the Lib Dems. I also imagine that the war is going to take its toll of the working class Muslim vote. At least we won't have a Conservative government (sorry to all you right-wing youngsters, but some of us lived through Thatcherism). Howard is jumping opportunistically on every bandwagon that comes along and anyone with half a brain is beginning to notice that their policies are changing from one day to the next. My MP (Ann Coffey) is an unreconstructed Blairite who toes the party line like an automaton. Much more fun to see what happens next door in Cheadle, where Patsy Calton for the Lib Dems is defending a majority of 33 after seeing off the sitting Tory in 2001. A Labour vote there is wasted, so let's hope they all vote tactically for Patsy. Geoff No to the illegal invasion of Iraq No to top-up fees Free care for the elderly You get where I'm coming from...?

I look forward to the next pope being Jane Pauline - now that would be a sign the church was committed to change Geoff

...in which case you wouldn't get very far if you were looking for Saxe-Coburg Gotha G (And on University Challenge the other evening, neither team could spell "cemetery". O tempora, O mores!)

There's nothing unusual about the "tails" (reverse) being the wrong way up compared to the "heads" (obverse). This is known as reverse die axis and was the norm until well into the late 19th century. It reflects the way the coins were struck. Modern coins use what is called parallel die axis. Geoff

And precisely which do you count as rubbish? G

Hi Peter, Sorry not to get back on this one earlier. Clive is very knowledgable; a bit intimidating for the newcomer, perhaps, but I suspect someone who's willing to share his knowledge one he realises you're on the same wavelength. The shop is quite small with not a lot on display, but if you express an interest trays of tempting things will appear for you to look over. Definitely worth a visit. There's also a small shop selling coins and stamps not far from Clive's (he's on Benedict St.) in a little courtyard behind St. John Maddermarket and another near the top of Elm Hill. Geoff

Ma non, il tuo inglese e buonissimo! Yes, when the Pope died I immediately thought "sede vacante coins", but they're probably going to be difficult to get hold of. Last time I was in Rome (2002) I didn't see any Vatican euros at all, so if you see any "sede vacante" coins, please snap one up for me! Mille grazie - Geoff

If you really do have an 1819 sovereign then you're sitting on a small fortune - which, I'm afraid to say, suggests that what you have is a fake. Any chance of a picture? Geoff

The 1841 half crown is one of the key dates in the post-1816 series, and rarer than the elusive 1905. The mintage was very low - 42,768 - so even if you found one it wouldn't come cheap. You're looking at a minimum of around £250 for fine and well over £2,000 for uncirculated. As a half-crown man I'd dearly like to have one myself, but you see the problem! Geoff

Only the last of these is a £5 coin. The rest are decimal crowns with a face value of 25p. G

Doh - I'm talking out of my backside here. It was Newfoundland which was a latecomer to the Federation.

I'm back after trips to East Anglia to sing in Norwich cathedral (and spend money in Clive Dennett's shop) followed by a conference on Hertfordshire. Geoff

No Chris, you're right! The Scottish monarchs were always known as Rex or Regina Scotorum - King or Queen of Scots, The Canadian Federation wasn't established until 1867 and even then Nova Scotia wasn't absorbed into the Federation until the mid 20th-century, being regarded until then as a separate dominion it's own right. Canada is full of people with Scottish ancestry. I have a friend coming over from Toronto later this month, and he's half Scottish as his mother emigrated from Scotland in the 60s. Geoff

Check out the reponse to the question sent to the seller. S/he's a fraud alright. Mercifully nobody bid on the item. G

Wearing my academic musician's hat I second what Don Camillo's Godson says. For our stundents to make legal copies we have to have valid licences from the MCPA and ERA. Making copies at home for whatever purpose is illegal in the UK. Geoff

Hej Berg, I have to have a good knowledge of languages for my job as an academic music librarian. As it happens where I work we have one of the largest collections of Scandinavian material in the UK. About 15 years ago I started to write liner notes for a Danish CD company through a contact here. I write in English, but I decided it would be helpful to learn some Danish, at least to be able to read it, and I discovered that it was a very easy language, at least for an English speaker who has good German. From there it became simple to be able to read Norwegian and, to a slightly lesser extent, Swedish. Speaking those languages is quite another matter. In Danish especially there is a big difference between what you see and what you hear, just like in English, and it makes you realise how difficult spoken English must be for a non-native speaker. Having said that, I've never met a Scandinavian whose spoken English wasn't extremely good. Med vanlig halsning - Geoff (sorry, no dots!)

I thought they were the British wheelchair Olympic shove-ha'penny team...

...more specifically half crowns and commemorative medals, although I can always be seduced by a nice florin and of late I've been known to linger over farthings - but you can't have everything. Geoff

Hej Berg, I was able to make sense of a fair amount of it - I don't speak Swedish but I've some experience of other Scandinavian languages and the linguistic leap isn't that big. It looks good so far. Not quite sure about the yoghurt - a whipped mixture of coins and "sedlar"? Sedlar's not in my dictionary, so can you explain please. Tack! Geoff

Happy Birthday Oli! Remember, you can smoke and have sex in front of your parents on other days as well, not just this one. You can also get married with their consent, but did you know that you've been able to drink legally at home since the age of 5? Think of all those missed opportunities. BTW - don't want to spoil things, but you're no longer immune from being publicly named if you rob a bank, murder your granny, rape your teacher and so forth. G

This one's always turning up! It's a medal to commemorate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. It shows the Queen with the next three generations of the royal family - the heirs who became Edward VII, George V and Edward VIII. There are several designs. Spink did a handsome one with the heirs surrounding the portrait of the Queen and an obverse by Brock. It tends to be in white metal. There's also a fairly common bronze one with the four heads all facing left. I've not come across one in gold, although their may have been gilded bronze ones. Geoff

Heaven forbid! Spellcheckers actually encourage poor spelling by not being able to spot things like homonyms. Four eggs ample, this sentence wood knot bee scene as knot being spelt rite, sew yew wood get thee impression that awl the words had they're write spelling. Try copying that into a word document and yule sea what eye mien. Jeaf

That's because there was hardly any about to be given. The banks used to weed out the pre-1947 stuff, which is why you never saw it in change. George VI Cu-Ni (especially the ubiquitous 1948s) was about the earliest you got. As I've said before, all the kiddywinks on here who imagined we went round with pockets full of Victorian etc. silver are just hopelessly unreconstructed romanticists. Geoff