St Landrew

If fans would like to me PM me their best wishes to Ron, I will type them out and send them along to Ron Davies with all the correspondance I still have extant from the Give It To Ron appeal. Cheers www.giveittoron.co.uk

One of the last of the great screen actors. The salad dressing is going to stay, isn't it..? RIP.

Or if you can gets odds - Valentino Rossi to be World Champion before the Singapore Grand Prix even starts.

Yep, I've never known such people to have such opinions. Saints have either been sh!te or brilliant. The Club is rich or on the verge of administration. A player is either god-like or crap. There is no inbetween for Saints fans, yet the very thing that SFC is, is average.

Gotten..? I think you may need to watch a little less of your favourite US TV show.

For those interested in an early start, here's the times for watching the races: Sunday 28 September 125cc & 250cc races 0245-0515, BBC Red Button and BBC Sport website MotoGP race live 0545-0700, BBC ONE and BBC Sport website Think I might just record this. I'm in no mood stay up late, and then catch some sleep to watch the race in Singapore later.

I remember back in the 70's, England appointed a temporary manager in ex-Man City legend Joe Mercer, after Alf Ramsey had lost form with England. Under Mercer, England proceeded to start playing attractive football and winning games again, while the FA decided who to appoint as a successor to Ramsey. They eventually did, and England lost form again. At no time did anyone say... hey, let's keep Joe on. Now I doubt if Kinnear is going to light any fires, but it wouldn't be for the first time, if he did.

Motegi qualifying result: 1. Jorge Lorenzo (Spa) Yamaha 1min 45.543secs 2. Casey Stoner (Aus) Ducati 1:45.831 3. Nicky Hayden (US) Honda 1:45.971 4. Valentino Rossi (Ita) Yamaha 1:46.060 5. Dani Pedrosa (Spa) Honda 1:46.303 6. Loris Capirossi (Ita) Suzuki 1:46.450 7. Colin Edwards (US) Yamaha 1:46.496 8. Randy de Puniet (Fra) Honda 1:46.554 9. Shinya Nakano (Jap) Honda 1:46.616 10. James Toseland (GB) Yamaha 1:46.863 Thank you Auntie Beeb. P.S. Well done Nicky Hayden, for showing Honda that you can ride their bike fast, and that the 2006 World Championship was no fluke. Faster than teammate Pedrosa again, who gets all the attention.

Indeed, and I believe that old chestnut of a S$1000 fine, for dropping your chewing gum, litter, etc.. on the pavement, is no myth. Singapore has a few [i don't know how many - it might even be the same one in braided fashion] rivers running through it. Some of these are very shallow, and if I remember correctly, they can dry up a bit during the dry season. From my experience, what results is that during the period when the sun is shining [most of the time], they can pong a bit, if you're in that particular part of the city where they course. But being Singapore, just when you've had enough of the pong, the rain comes and washes it away. This the only blot on a perfectly civilised city. Even the weather is on Singapore's side. Mind you, that humidity is something to be experienced. I don't think I'll ever forget that. Phew..!

Blimey..! Jorge Lorenzo in pole position. Are we finally seeing a circuit that prefers a Michelin tyre..? Tbh, I doubt it. What I really suspect is that Lorenzo has ridden the rims off his M1 Yamaha to get it to top spot. If he's in that sort of mood for the race, then Rossi and Stoner might not have their private battle. Nevertheless, Rossi has to come third or better to become World Champion again. Lorenzo has been promising brilliance all season, but most of it has seen him below par due to ongoing injury. But he's made of the usual stuff motorcycle racers are composed of, and has ridden through the cracked and broken ankles, wrist and thumb injuries, and bangs to the head. Every time he's been fully fit he's done something special. And it isn't because his bike is super special either. He's one of the breed who can get on the bike and make it go faster than almost anyone else. If there are still two tyre suppliers next season, I'll bet Jorge ends up on the same manufacturer as Rossi. Same bike, same tyre. What better to beat the 2008 World Champion..?

On the few occasions I've been in Singapore it has always rained for 20 minutes twice a day, and quite hard too. I remember looking at my watch one day, and diving into a particular store, knowing that the rain was coming. It duly did. I've since felt that, even to the weather, Singapore is very scheduled and civilised.

Like that McLaren headlight sketch; nicely done. Thinking about it though, the lighting must be a bit of an issue, as Singapore is meant to be a street circuit, so there will be shadows cast. I've been in Singapore myself, and the main streets are very well lit, although I assume there will be major floodlighting added. The MotoGP riders had their night race in Qatar this year, although that was a race circuit and was almost lit up like day IMO. Here, you decide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkreqA9BRfY

The pundits have been talking about Casey Stoner giving up riding for the rest of this season, owing to a wrist injury he sustained nearly two years ago that hasn't properly healed. Looks as if Casey hadn't heard the rumours, because he posted the fastest time around the Motegi circuit on his Ducati in today's Free Practice. Rossi, on the other hand, was 7/10ths of a second back, but is within 1 point of his 8th Motorcycle World Championship, so he had a fair bit to lose if he'd fallen off and injured himself badly. We could have our World Champion on Sunday, with 3 races still to go at Phillip Island, Sepang and Valencia. Rossi tests his new 2009 YZR-M1 Yamaha at Motegi on Monday.

I'm not sure it is being completely ignored by the experts. Niki Lauda, and many other ex-racers were actually citing your very point that Hamilton had easily out braked Raikonnen, and was in fact, ahead at the corner. But was squeezed so far to the outside of the corner, that the only place to go was to cut the chicane. He wasn't cheating. He just didn't want a coming together of the cars. The forced chicane cutting gained him the lead which he would probably have had if he hadn't been squeezed off the track in the first place, but he surrendered it. Also Lauda suggested that there was no appreciable slipstreaming after the chicane - Hamilton was just the more capable driver under the conditions, and showed it by not even having to brake hard for the next corner. He didn't even accelerate hard out of it, as Raikonnen tapped his gearbox at the exit. What did happen what that Raikonnen passed Hamilton in front of a spinning car, a couple of corners later, with waved yellow flags in the background. IMO, he was rattled by Hamilton's ability to go much faster, and showed it by loosing all control just yards further up the road. But then the FIA trotted out the rule that a driver must surrender one full corner before attacking again. Well forgive me, but that one popped up like the offside rule did when Van Horse scored against Saints at OT in 2003[?], and even WGS didn't even know of the change that had happened during pre-season. That rule sparked just as much controversy too.

The number of times technology has been sold on the back of a promise of it being compatible with services or popularity far into the future is legion. There are 1000's of different TVs, radios, videos, you name it, that have fallen short, partially due to another format gaining precedence. Never, ever buy on the promise of a technology that may well still be years away, or will never fully catch on. Let other people pay the massive money and make the mistakes, and you learn from them. HD-DVD anyone..? BTW, hope you get some satisfaction against a miss-selling of the product. You'll be one of very few who will.

Hmm, I just wonder what would have happened if Raikkonnen had been overtaking Hamilton. Mind you, fat chance of that happening on a damp track.

Tsk tsk. That's another Americanism; possibly even an Antipodiism. It's that'll teach her.

Such anger..! And where was the cheating occurring..? Overtaking under waved yellow flags perhaps..? As to the decision. Biggest non-surprise ever. I'm sure Hamilton only turned up because it was the pride thing to do.

Was looking at my Henry VI DVD, with Kenneth Brannagh in the title role, sitting on its shelf last night. I'm just getting round to the mood for watching it again. Excellent cast and a super film too, which requires one's attention. No half measures here, and Brannagh is superb in it too, IMO. Made me weep during the battle scenes, when I first saw it at the cinema in 1989. Unto Southampton, aswell...!

Well, one of them Canadian now.

Now, now, we all know the Starship Enterprise orbited the Earth, during the past, several times during our era, but not on the date you mention.

As a kid I went to Summer School for a week, to do some extra work [what a swot I was back then] at Stubbington Study Centre. One day, a party of us were just coming out of the Study Centre approach road to walk to Titchfield to do some historical architectural learning, when one of those beauties came over the fence after its take-off. I shall always remember the green and white flash as it roared just overhead. As a design, the DH Sea Vixen wasn't exceptional; just good at what it was asked to do. But to this day, it remains one of my favoured 50-60's military aircraft, along with the Blackburn Buccaneer, the Gloster Javelin, and my out-n-out favourite the English Electric Lightning. Anybody noticed they're all British..?

Incredibly, I find myself agreeing with Scooby. Just for a bit. On the other hand, it may be such a long process because the route to takeover for this club seems to have put off so many potential investors like no other. It almost appears as if hurdles have been put in the way in order for certain interested others to make sure they gain their bit of profit, however small. Mind you, if that is the case, then the takeover must be relatively small beer, because if it wasn't, those investors, who want to make a sizable profit, would be queueing up to sell. I'm not holding my breath. I just hope that, what appears to be, a pretty good coach, in JP, can find a miracle.

What's this.. another no-top-flight-football-was-ever-played-before-the-invention-of-the-Premiership style thread, eh..?

Thanks guys. You've restored my faith that people still care about the core of the UK culture; the language. By the way, the school is completely wrong. To say the letter H, in the context of sounding out the alphabet, it is indeed pronounced [as DSM has shown], aitch. It isn't a matter of opinion. It is correct, and the school is incorrect. Tell them so.