pap

Cooks itself after Fukushima, apparently.

Walking Dead Season 2 is out on PC. Played and finished the first episode last night, and now have to wait for Telltale to get their Episode 2 stuff into gear before finding out what happens. I've no desire to spoil the excellent first season; I'd advise you to play it, as I've done before. Season 2 remembers your choices from the first season, and weaves them into your season 2 save, much like Mass Effect did back in the day. However, from the first episode, it looks like Telltale have already made excellent progress in improving upon their work. The game looks nicer and the direction is top-notch. Suffice to say, the level of investment you have in the characters is a large one. Puzzles aren't really very tough. These are games that want to be completed, and are more about choices than brain-teasers. Excellent stuff.

You should read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, btf. Most of it set underneath London; the British Museum abandoned train station is one of the locations they visit.

I was going to reply to this last night, but ended up spending an hour reading up on the Mexican Drug War. Fk me. The situation down there really can't be good for long-term US security. Cartels like Los Zetas and the Sinaloa hold sway over almost half of Mexico. Los Zetas started out as professional mercenaries working for another cartel (which in itself, gives an idea of the power of the cartels - able to raise private mercenary armies).

No disagreement from me, Super Michael. The whole prohibition thing is a triple whammy. Spend money trying to enforce it, many of your distributors are on benefits when they could be legitimate businessmen putting money into the system, and it's something that can be produced soup-to-nuts in the UK.

Maybe it's because they fancied making money out of distribution instead of spending money trying to shut it down. Novel idea, that It'll be interesting to see how much dosh they announce they've made.

Pot-smokers around the world are enviously looking through a haze of smoke at Colorado, USA. The state is the first in the US to regulate and allow the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes. The state has previously allowed sale for medicinal use, as documented in a hilarious South Park episode. This thing is the real deal. Critics say that the deal is the worst of all worlds, and that legal supply will just make it easier for kids to get a hold of it. That said, this marks a remarkable turnaround in policy, if even at a local level, from thirty years past. I cannot imagine weed being legal in Colorado at the height of the war on drugs era. Is this the break in Anglo-American dam when it comes to drug policy? Will Colorado be a trail-blazer for general legalisation, or the cautionary tale that lets us all know it's a f*cking terrible idea? http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-colorado-pot-cannibus-sale-20140101,0,3200885.story#axzz2pEW75zAm

French minister photographed with a load of wags performing the gesture. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/31/photo-french-minister-quenelle

Can Tristan afford the train fare north? I can set up a charity page if you really want this to happen.

I just like the fact he responded to Tris.

Well it took 13 months, was occasionally a ball-ache (just in terms of time), but I'm glad to enter 2014 with the matter resolved. As I said before, Tristan, Happy New Year. No apology will be forthcoming.

Happy New Year, Trissy-kins.

End of the year, and I'm upstairs hiding from my daughter's party. Time to reflect on the year, and in the interests of keeping it simple, let's go for marks out of ten. Professionally, pretty much in the same boat, but the business turned five this year, which is nice. Personally, one of the girls turned 18 this year, a big milestone, ms pap stormed through her return to employment with flying colours, new nieces and nephews were born (cute to boot, too) and have spent a lot of time with friends and family. Solid 8 for me.

It's laughable that given the inflammatory content I've posted over the years that you think this is a popularity contest. My purpose here, as stated numerous times before, is to offload all the crap that ms pap is tired of hearing and give a relatively honest account of myself in the process. For someone purportedly seeking an evidence based assessment of something, you've spent an awful lot of time playing the man, "Chopper" Verbal. More remote diagnosis. How sweet. As for starting threads in bad faith, you're talking your normal cock, sir. I've consistently had an interest in immigration issues, mostly on account of my own mixed heritage. I've also got an interest in the effect of Islam on society, having witnessed its effects small-scale in a family basis. Are the threads provocative? Damn right. What the f**k do you want to talk about? The price of bread rolls or things people are actually interested in? Still, I commend you on your "label bingo", Verbal. What's that we've got so far? Populist, fantasist, narcissist - a lot of -ists, and you laugh at me for allegedly affecting faux chav? I've said Old Bill for as long as I can remember and started saying defo when I moved to Scouseland. I also have to ask; on what basis do you deny me my chav status? I spent 19 years on a rough-ish council estate and 18 years in inner-city Liverpool (our Kensington is a little different from yours). I moved to the suburbs under protest and threatened to leave broken white goods in the driveway. Going on past experience, I'd wager that this is another one of those situations where you've read a situation poorly. Are you applying some syllable-to-family-background coefficient that I've been previously unaware of? Which esteemed stately home in the Flower Estates do you think I hail from? You spend most of your time on here responding to my posts. I'll be setting your agenda for next week soon. Any particular preference? Caps. The last refuge of the damned. If this is 2013's last throw of the dice, I think you've put your money on the wrong horse. John Salt throws a few travel stats your way and that's enough? Fk me, mush. Six times salary is six times salary. Average house price in Romania is 45K Euro, 80K in Bucharest. It's exactly the same deal as it is for the Polish; they can come to the UK, spend a 5 or 6 years grafting on a mid-level job and set themselves up for life back home. It's a powerful incentive; we'll know just how powerful that is within a year. The evidence will be apparent enough by then. I wonder if you'll be brave enough to come back to this thread when speculation is unnecessary and facts are on the ground. I've set a reminder to pull you up on this in a year. Let's see if your CAPITAL LETTERS help you then. x Happy new year, and congratulations on a spectacular 2013 cliffhanger.

I'd suggest that you stop filling this forum with your absolutist sh!te if you want people to stop calling you up on it. It might also benefit you to remember that you are posting on a site dedicated to Southampton FC, a football club in one of those provinicial towns you loathe so much. Do you reckon you're winning many hearts with your assertion that everyone outside your little bubble is a slow-witted dunderhead? I've no desire to give you yet another lesson in "Thread Starting 101", Verbal. You're really going to have to abandon your default position that I automatically endorse every reference I post. Does this look like a ringing endorsement? Am I saying I agree with it? Most people who experience Britain on a day to day basis, as opposed to the confines of a musty West London attic, will have recognised the strains that immigration have placed on society way before 1st January 2014. The time for moral panic has been and gone. I'd suggest that your singular existence has left you out of touch with the realities of modern Britain.

I'll +1 Trollhunter. The humans are particularly stupid, apart from the Troll Hunter himself, who I kinda liked.

I suppose that reports of a large Polish community in Southampton are completely off the mark and that the Eastern Europeans I work with in NI are just local lads putting it on. The Somalian lads up here are clearly out-dated white nippers who haven't got the minstrel memo, blacking up in ignorance. Immigration doesn't exist outside of London, after all. Thanks for the scoop, Verbal. Anyone outside London; call people whatever you want. It's all Brits trying to emulate the success of Les Dennis and Al Jolson, apparently.

We use a very small fraction of this country's landmass for the provision of residences. The issue isn't space as such (although it will be), but access to that space. The high cost of land and planning restrictions means that we don't use a lot of it. The main issue here is that we're pouring more people and cultures onto a country that doesn't have fit-for-purpose infrastructure as it is.

That's a fair enough sentiment, and I've often said "when in Rome". Still, a bit of empathy doesn't hurt.

We need more towns like yours, Turkish Flower Estates was a pretty good place integration-wise, but my experience of moving North was a bit of a culture shock. First place I lived was Everton, which was pretty much all white people. Last place I lived was Kensington, which is as mixed an area as exists in the city. Both were alright, although ms pap took the hump when she learned that none of the Polish shops had English speakers in them. I've had mixed experiences with Eastern Europeans, who've generally been fine in the workplace and a pain in the arse in any domestic context. A few years ago, just as I was about to depart to Liverpool from outside my mum's gaff, a carload of Polish nippers banged into the back of my motor and a large street brawl ensued. Generally though, there's normally one or two boys in each community that you can speak to if you have a problem. Certainly was the case over in Northern Ireland. Immigration in this country has been a mess. Factors like racially aggravated abuse and white flight helped create the voluntarily segregated communities we have today. One of the best things about growing up on the Flower Estates is that it was a decent mix, which turns out to be good preparation for not being racist. Most of it is born of ignorance, and if people spend the majority of their time in racial silos, ignorance will be in abundance. The thing that gets me is that we've done this before. We know all of the problems that come with introducing new cultures into an established host culture, so I'm amazed that we've signed up to a treaty that takes such important planning provisions out of our hands.

It sounds like you've just experienced what I call the Brixton factor; a realisation of what its like to be in a minority, experienced by any white person walking down Brixton High Street. Given the way you felt, doesn't it inspire some kind of empathy with those who are genuinely in a minority? Did for me.

Australia has control over its own sovereignty. There's the difference. Outside of EU migrants, we operate a points-based system too. No such capacity for selection under the Single Market rules.

Call me a cynic, but I'd say that there are other motives at play here than merely political ones. If they manage to implement a system which allows foreigners to pay for the NHS, the same system could be used to charge UK citizens at a later point.

I think a big problem is bang for buck, Jamie. Where else are they going to get 6x the cash? Not many places. In fact, the Mail article suggests that those who have already moved and presently residing in Spain may move to the UK.

Yo mods, can you change the title to "to be lifted", ta