But you can turn things around and use them in a different way

But you can turn things around and use them in a different way.Richard Herring, Stand-Up ComedianThe reason that it sounds ugly is because it is used as such a term of abuse It's not like saying 'you idiot'. It's vicious and hard.Natasha Walter, Feminist CommentatorYou do see it in the magazines and newspapers now, which you wouldn't have done 10 years ago. Funnily enough, you wouldn't get it in a tabloid.Clive Anderson, BroadcasterIt is still the unmentionable word in public conversation. The taboo on this word will only be broken when women start using it freely.John Sutherland, Professor of EnglishTHE SWEAR BOX91: Number of complaints recorded by ITV when ex Sex-Pistol John Lydon calls viewers "f***ing c***s" for not voting him off I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.46: Percentage of males aged 16-24 who claim swearing is a turn-off in the opposite sex. The same poll found that for females the number is 21 per cent.1979: First scripted use of c*** on British television in the ITV drama No Mama No. Producer Verity Lambert exchanged letters with the Independent Broadcasting Authority, convincing it that the word was "dramatically valid".470: Number of swear words in British film Nil by Mouth, more than any movie in history. Las Vegas-based gangster drama Casino came in second with 422.96: The percentage of viewers who still think swearing on television was offensive, in a recent ITV Teletext poll.1066: Earliest known use of c*** in a surname - a nobleman called Godwin Clawec***e.

Other names are Gunoka C***les (1219), and Bele Wydec***he (1328).100: The number of four-letter words directed at the referee by Wayne Rooney at Highbury in 2004. As a result the FA adopts a zero-tolerance policy on bad language.1960s: Language expert James McDonald notes: "In rural areas of England in the 1960s the c-word was still used as an ordinary everyday term, usually applied to the anatomy of farm animals."1400: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is published. The author uses the deliberately old-fashioned spelling "queynte" as a substitute for the c-word.1600: Shakespeare's Hamlet, performed in this year, uses a play on the c-word. When Ophelia refuses to let Hamlet lie on her lap Hamlet asks: "Did you think I meant country matters?"Tom Anderson. The Liberal Democrats have suffered from "poverty of ambition" and must raise their expectations of achieving power, Chris Huhne, one of the contenders for the party leadership, has warned.

Mr Huhne, whose odds to become leader narrowed sharply last week after the withdrawal of Mark Oaten from the race, said the Liberal Democrats have not "raised our sights high enough" and urged the party to be optimistic and "raise our ambitions" for the next election. The MP, who is seen as the outsider in the race to become leader, said he was confident the party could gain dozens of seats from Labour at the next election.But Mr Huhne warned that, following the resignation of Charles Kennedy, the leadership race could divide the party. He said that, as leader, he would act as "an honest broker" to lead a party which embraces both its left wing and free-market traditions.In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, he said that he wanted to give the membership "a choice", after being urged to stand by scores of members. He says he has gained support from both Sir Menzies Campbell, who is the front-runner, and Simon Hughes, the party's president."I am very struck by the fact people know I am an honest broker," he said.. Pressure over the use of British airports for secret CIA torture flights increased dramatically yesterday after it emerged that a Foreign Office minister misled Parliament over a meeting between the UN and UK civil servants about the issue.

The Independent on Sunday has learnt that Lord Triesman, the Foreign Office minister, misled peers when he told the House of Lords that no such meeting had ever occurred.. Only a week ago, Mark Oaten was a Liberal Democrat leadership hope, strongly tipped to take over from Charles Kennedy. By last night the ambitious MP's front bench career was over, as sordid details of his illicit liaisons with male prostitutes was splashed over the pages of a tabloid newspaper. Mr Oaten's sudden resignation yesterday as Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesman was not only a shock to those who know him but could not come at a worse time for the Liberal Democrats..

The Liberal Democrats were plunged into renewed turmoil last night after Mark Oaten, their spokesman on Home Affairs, was forced to resign after it emerged he had a liaison with a rent boy. The real costs of owning long-term savings policies (some of which were quite remarkably high, and detrimental to savers' interests) were hidden behind a veil of confusion and obfuscation that was more or less impossible to penetrate.Yet, even when the facts started to come out into the open, it seemed to have a minimal effect on the way that investors chose to behave - a trend that has also long been evident with the costs of unit trusts, OEICs and investment trusts.The recent efforts made by the FSA to improve disclosure, and the calls for a new generation of cheap and cheerful funds made in the Sandler report, have by and large had minimal effect, with stakeholder pensions a flop - and the ill-fated CAT standard has been abandoned.The latest annual survey of cost trends in the funds business, published this week by Lipper Fitzrovia, paints a helpful picture of an industry that is pulling in two different directions. What if you unwind so much you begin to unravel? What if you empty your head so efficiently that, like some faulty toilet cistern, it never fills again? No, I am very much of the opinion that you need a healthy amount of stress to keep things ticking over These people in their white pyjamas scare me The idea of serenity scares me The smoothies scare me. Hamilton Island, smack in the middle of that scattering of islands, has some nice hilltops from which you can enjoy a 360-degree panorama. The view takes in other islands in the group and the Reef, and a few yacht sails to add drama.CABLE BEACH, WESTERN AUSTRALIAThe sunset-facing shoreline of Australia's largest state has hundreds of beaches with wonderful prospects of the sinking sun; the state capital, Perth, has plenty.