suewhistle

Bloomin' 'eck, I didn't realise my post was than fin-de-siecle! Still, that's what I like about this thread: you can make cultural references and people pick up on them instead of saying 'yerwhat?'

Let me dive in, it'll be the Pinot Noir speaking... As somebody said above, it's a supply side problem, as much as anything. Now, those of you who say the government can't do much: well, they already are. Planning controls (I agree with them), the fact that BTL investors can offset their costs (interest mainly) against tax, lack of a land/property tax so that people can hoard it and there is no cost to them to do so. I can't remember the latest figures but the ownership of land is so highly concentrated in the UK, and this perpetuates wealth, whether people work or not. The lack of any controls on foreign fugitive (and "black") money, and the lack of any tax on such foreign domiciled people who leave their properties unoccupied, ready for the next revolution in their own countries. Next surge of investment from the Ukraine, perhaps? I've returned to the UK after living abroad, back to the same house, and as a result my views are coloured by that. Does everybody need/want/deserve (!) a garden. If you are renting a house should you be repairing motorbikes and dropping piston-heads on the tiles in the kitchen and using the worktop as a workbench? [Chr**t, the least of it!] Doesn't renting a house come with responsibilities? Should the b****rd really be breeding.. OK, you get the picture..:-) Bitter jokes aside, my continental experience showed me that flats can be a perfectly acceptable mode of living, although they have to be designed a bit better than the average British one, so: more than one aspect, decent sound insulation, decent balconies, parking under the building, storage rooms in the cellars. The latter are so, so useful: winter/summer tyres, wine, tools, bicycles, out of season items all tucked away. So there are a whole host of things that can be done and changed, and this idea that government is powerless is one for those that think being shat upon is normal and acceptable. Mind you, we've experienced it for years, it's just that the current lot are more obtuse, complacent, doctrinaire, unempathic, self-interested and plain stupid than the previous 20 year's worth..

As I genuinely have a PO post code - (even if out in the salubrious countryside) I suppose I should do the survey... Incidentally, I see it'll soon be 1914, and then all over by Christmas, I presume?..

b****r off! :-)

Not a bad fantasy as fantasies go.. I'm going to change our scorers to Cork and Shaw...

Apparently Carroll, can trap a ball further than I can pass it! Still useful not to have him playing though, given WH's style: like athletic pub football, one awkward cuss who bullies the opposition with his size or is very fast, with the ability to actually control a ball occasionally confusing everybody.

Well, they certainly won't object to the current redevelopment then, will they?

Don't do it, goatboy! He'll only satyrize you...

ˈ/pɔərtsməθ/ ? I think that should be /ˈpɔərtsməf/

Was Alpine on the match day thread? /whistles innocently/

Is it safe to comment yet? A bit peed off as I went to the same pub as the last Sunderland away game with the same disappointment that we didn't perform well, so I went on to another pub in the village to console myself and didn't bother to log on afterwards. But without bothering to read them it looks like there has been 11 pages of meltdown, and I can guess the content of many posts. That team could have won, but we do seem to get caught by long range shots. Pity Lambert looked so out of sorts and until later on there didn't seem to be much urgency about our game. Anyway, I'm over it now, and looking on the bright side, good to see another academy debutant.

Indeed: a getleman and the sort of player you'll only see once in a Preston Guild.

I'll bear that in mind! The whole route was more interesting than the A6 to Paris: came across from Mont Blanc/Nantua/B-en-B/Macon etc. Then it was "oh look, vineyards" and little villages called Pouilly and Sancerre and the like.. :-) A lot cheaper in tolls and petrol too. Somebody above has been casting aspersions on your opinions, but I'm sure you recommended Lovren!

Went past there Monday as I came back cross-country from the Alps (it's the one Nevers way I presume!), and I could even hear kids training in the ground by my motel further up the Loire, but you don't get the impression it's a football country. Silly impression, I know, but maybe it's the spread-out nature of the country and population, plus the various sport alternatives available. No doubt in the banlieus it's a bit different.

More stringent financial rules 'n all, as I understand...

I've played on the Farlington pitches; a bit prone to Be waterlogged. Actually, come to think of it, the same applies to Bartons Road: used to kickabout there when was a public park. So they should feel right at home in the mud..

I've read most of it and still confused.. Anyway, not long to wait before I get to see the mighty Magpies* play at FP, and I look forward to the return at York Road and a good excuse to visit me mum.. *[Maidenhead United]

Ta! Facts! Obviously interesting game but which game(s)...

What's happening ffs? Stuck up a mountain with only old mobile phone, reading this thread and not having a clue. Come on, more updates...

Hero to villain [© Rallyboy] in the space of a match...

Smug git!;-)

sod

I think they're talking about scraping the rent together for the Uni of Portsmouth ground they're using.

FA cup final this year? ;-)

This thread still has the capacity to make me chuckle, and even more negatively snig ger, although the stupid swear checker doesn't allow it. But GM's post hasn't been doubted and greeted with much surprise: all the questions were for elucidation. I think that says a lot about the situation, don't you think?