please show me an organisation that claims to select on merit and actually does

so to counter this you introduce a policy to select on merit only AFTER you have been selected on the basis of your gender?

Okay, I’ve done the quantitative. Now to take issue with the qualitative.

Men: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J
Women: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J

An equal selection looks like this:

Men: A B C D E
Women: A B C D E

Why are the best male and the best female assumed to be equally meritorious? Why aren’t there two A grade women?

The assumptions inherent in this analysis are also heroic. The best male and best female seeking a position are equally good. Every highly ranked male is better than every slightly lower ranked female, etc.

You might be right. It strikes me as unlikely, but it's possible, but this simply does not address the argument that others are putting. It rather proceeds on the basis that the argument that it is possible that the sixth best man might occassionally be a more meritorious candidate than the fifth best woman is wrong. It is not stated why it is false, just that it is. This is where those arguing for “merit” over “quota” disagree with you, and you do not address their argument at all

Absolutely, exactly right.

I've sent you an email :)

It is not so much an Adele remix, but you may be interested in:

http://soundcloud.com/daft-beatles/adele-vs-the-rolling-stones-gimme-shelter-in-the-deep

flash - you've got the Auckland double pass. Can you get back to me asap with an actual name?

Hi Russell, awesome, thanks.
I've sent you an email with my details.
(can't figure out how to quote other people's posts)

And one more for good luck.
I only recently discovered this but the track is good fun

Oh, and on the Massive Attack / Horace andy subject, if you haven't already heard this, you really should:

Awesome. Reggae. Something I think I can actually comment on.

This one is absolutely fantastic. It is on the album "Children Of Jah (1977-1979) - Various Artists". any Reggae fan that doesn't have this album is denying themselves on of life's great pleasures.

And, if I'm not breaking any rules by posting more than one, that album also has:

And if you like that, you should definitely check out the remix (The Erb Remix) that features on "Select Cuts from Blood & Fire Vol.1"

That grey Manchester United away strip was so bad they only wore it a handful of times before they ditched it.
In fact, in one game they were wearing that strip (down 3-0 at half time I think) and came out for the second half in a different strip (blue and white) as the players complained that they kept losing sight of each other against the backdrop of the crowd.