Gloucester Saint

That goes for the fans as well. They’ll wait until we are 7 points adrift of safety in the Champ next year or the year after to protest and make noise when the horse has bolted and run away over a whole range of hills.

@trousers well done for putting some heat on House and Blackmore. Too friendly with the owners by half. Keith got loads of stick on S4E for going on the pre season in Sweden but at least he wasn’t being paid for it unless those two stooges.

Gao and Semmens hollowed us out and let Ralph down, but they were tidy and until Ings went they actually did at least focus on the spine a bit more. The Livramento deal killed the club because a generation of morons invited another group of morons to buy the club, all of whom thought that every single transfer would involve buying an ECL cast off for a medium fee and selling big. All SR had to do in summer 2022 was buy 3-4 higher quality players - Keeper/CB/MC/Striker through the spine. The back patting over the VVD, Ings and Lavia fees received astonished me because you knew they were spaff it up the wall on loads of crap.

It is but as @Midfield_General said, it was very, very, likely to happen. The planning should have been for Ross to be a David Connolly cameo role as was the case in 11/12. Instead, pushed him too hard over a week and inevitably his body broke. Lack of football expertise and experience yet again, sort out the keeper, CBs, and striker (I accept Jandar and Charles helped the middle). And failed yet again. Better hope McCarthy doesn’t get injured as well, then a poor season could turn into Luton Mk2.

What a sad pair, every single post is about politics. The inverse of Owen Jones and that equal bunch of knobs on the other side. Human parrots, assuming they are actually people and not bots.

@Saint86 I’ll respond to your well considered post here to save space. Firstly, congratulations on where you’ve got to and sounds like things are going really well. I’ve mentored colleagues through degree apprenticeships (didn’t exist in the 1990s sadly) and they are excellent. They are in some ways more effective than traditional apprenticeships which a lot of SMEs struggle with in respect of the volume and complexity of paperwork for quality assurance involved. What my post was expressing is frustration that one form of skills/education is pitted against another (Labour did at their conference as well, let alone Reform…) and as you say there’s ample room for all types of qualifications. The tutors on your degree courses need to take a look at that feedback though for a STEM course.

This is the crux of it and their business model simply doesn’t work any more than Mike Ashley’s did at Newcastle.

Gloucestershire and England quick Syd Lawrence as well.

it gets worse this afternoon. She’s going to announce a cut of 10,000 university places and double the value of the apprentice levy borough in under May. The levy most medium-large firms already struggle to spend. And the reason they struggle to spend it as David Willetts said is that our economy in the 1980s pivoted to being more a service economy. That means we no longer have the scale of manufacturing base say Germany does to sustain the good old days of apprenticeships boomers get misty eyed about (and my parents and their generation progressed from). Moreover, the 10000 places will come out of former Polys where a decent % of spin-out companies come from. And when she refers to having done an apprenticeship - she didn’t. BSc from Sussex and Masters from Birkbeck. Do as I say not say as I do. Halfron used to bang on about apprenticeships as well, graduate from Exeter. The only recent cabinet minister with one was Gillian Keegan from AC Delco so she could speak with some of authority on the subject.

Reform pissing it up the wall again

Bit trickier than gluten or milk. Peanut is another dangerous one though.

Apart from that, he’s brilliant then. I’d play Damion Thorn up there - gives you a 6 out of 10 performance every time.

I dunno though, South Devon, which is 98% white Uk/N European, where my folks live is definitely not shouting loudly about the merits of immigration. Quite the opposite - the shopping centres have Reform stands and their NextDoor app is full of Duckhunter and Soggy type characters arguing, x100 the amount happening on here. The one up here is completely different outlook with places like Gloucester and Cheltenham a lot more diverse than Devon and only an hour from Bristol/Birmingham.

People see what they want to see for their narrative. Did he visit any of the local community centres? Any of the faith establishments? The pubs and clubs? Meeting and engaging with people is how you find out what the level of cohesion really is or isn’t. Handsworth had a violent history in the 1980s and added to the bin strike (Unite is a disgrace as well as their City Council) it’s easy to resort to stereotypes. But I’d rather take the word of a recent and effective Conservative Mayor for that region who knows the area inside out than a failed and corrupt former Minister who spends his time making videos of fare evaders, getting in the way of the BTP.

Rat population hardly needed adding to with his visit.

It’s ignorant as much as racist but goes to prove that Bob Jenryck should never be anywhere near power, let alone the stench of corruption around him over the years. Wouldn’t be surprised if he jumped ship to Reform once Badenoch is ousted. Then he can help them tank like he did the Tories. Compare the maturity here with Andy Street’s comments, having been Mayor of the region and having actually lived there for decades https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy85zlpwne6o

MND remains a chronically underfunded topic for research. Needs to be an all-sector push on fundraising and the agencies need to take it more seriously. New drug available in the EU, not in UK yet but trials and has delayed symptoms slightly and increased life expectancy by a year or so. Nowhere near more effective treatments let alone cures though.

Baz always looks like an outfield player in goal from the days of one or two subs allowed when the main keeper has been injured/sent off.

The ‘Streets not safe’ line Reform have also been pushing with huge (and inevitably dodgy) funding on Facebook. Splitting the Reform vote with a change of leader is probably the best they can hope for. I’d be getting Street elected however they can as an MP and getting him as leader, fresh face without the tarnish of the post-Brexit disaster.

Either Alfie House or Adam Blackmore referred to Downs on social media as a ‘project’. I prefer the project from the US Derby purchased for £2m less who is also ahead of Damian Downs in the US national squad.

Other sports using the Americanism ‘Three Peat’ instead of hat-trick https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cpqlvg1pjy4o What’s wrong with hat-trick? Is it a banned phrase now? Mind you, love to use either in association with a Saints player doing three of anything! Unless it’s own goals.

In Private Eye, just to show what a buffoon Badenoch is, she’s been directing her followers to Turning Point UK’s website. Which amongst other activities last month featured TPUK members accusing Southampton motorists without evidence of taking down their ‘fucking flags’ and being a ‘fucking cunt’. TPUK went one better down the M27, thinking they were gatecrashing Corbyn launching his new party. Corbyn was nowhere near Portsmouth but TPUK did manage to find a mob of ex-EDL and BNP boneheads who chanted ‘Corbyn’s a wanker’ through a PA system. Not only was Corbyn nor his new party not there but Hampshire Police dispersed them as they frightened disabled kids having a dance meeting in the community centre upstairs. TPUK thanked Kemi for being the only elected party leader who reached out to them.

At times - she had the benefit of North Sea oil and 1983-88 she did have strong growth. Unfortunately unlike Norway and their Sovereign Fund, the UK spaffed it up the wall on a credit boom which led to a nasty overheating and recession which lasted until the mid-90s as Clarke got things back on an even keel.

Chris Mason twisting the knife on BBC. Their 1922 Committee have got to act by the spring of next year unless Reform implodes by then (it won’t yet) as Badenoch trying to take them on directly and out-Reform him is stupid. They need a centre right pro business leader like Street if they can find him a seat, attack Farage on that as it’s his Achilles Heel and hold Reeves to better account.

Be careful what you wish for though, disappointing as Starmer has been domestically. Look at Milei in Argentina, lauded by Farage as Thatcher on steroids, the man ‘with the chainsaw and funny hairstyle - that’s leadership’ and expressed a wish to buy Argentinian bonds, Milei is the template’ said Kemi. Trump loves him. Good job really, as the US last week had to pledge a ‘large and forceful bailout’ (Private Eye) with the Peso down 75% since Milei’s election less than 2 years ago. We have a lot of issues ourselves but not on this scale and Farage’s judgement hasn’t improved on the economy clearly.