pap

I liked this piece in the Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jul/17/manchester-united-wayne-rooney-chelsea-transfer Reckons Moyes is normally one to choose his words carefully, and is trying to provoke Rooney into bunging in a formal transfer request. Also suggests that Fergie has probably been consulted, what with Rooney being his baggage and all. United playing hardball to get the right price.

Just get rid. They probably won't work when push comes to shove anyway.

He's playing in the wrong era. His ideal move would be to a team of the past, where it is ok to smoke fags on the pitch and have a receding hairline and still be manly.

Sorry for Lounging up your thread, mucker. Tits.

C'mon now Kraks, was always going to be my main case, and I'm not sure that it's as pointless a comparison as you may suggest. It's a great example of a place that works, and it works for many of the reasons listed by other posters. The whole thing can be walked, with things to do from the Albert Dock all the way up to the Philharmonic. That's precisely the sort of common sense thing that'd get Southampton a good rep, and the exact opposite of how we actually went about things. Taxi drivers must love it there. Most people need them and they get to charge a relative fortune. I was in Sheffield last week with Juvenile Unit #1. That is another very decent looking city, and a good example of how decent planning can overcome local issues. Sheffield, for the unacquainted, is quite hilly. They've got a tram system that makes a mockery of local geographical difficulties, resulting in a city where half a million people live on top of each other and getting into the centre of town is made a priority. It's not impossible. Just requires a bit of will and a lot of cash. There are lessons to be learned from our successful city centres.

You are more than welcome to discuss other attractions, Big Bad Bob. We've been discussing drinking establishments for a bit though. Don't read too much into us not discussing other areas.

I have a good time every time I go out with my mates, Sour Mash. I had a f**king blast in Carlisle eight years ago, but that doesn't make Carlisle a brillant nightspot.

I'll have to take your word for it on Bristol, and I haven't been to Brighton in over a decade, so I've no recent knowledge there. However, I am intrigued. In what sense do they p!ss all over these Northern cities, specifically the ones I mentioned? How would you sell them to tourists?

And that is when mulletsaint quietly pulls out the lump hammer and does his work. A mild mannered man driven insane by the activities of 110_Persaint.

The others have been corrupted with power. A bit like Michael Corleone in Godfather II. They'll take Turks out into the metaphorical lake and off him. They've made that clear.

Completely agree about the bottom end of town. It really needs to be joined to Town Quay, in one continuous space. The last time I was in town I was amazed at how derelict the place has become.

As I said, my knowledge could be well out of date, so it is good to know that Rhino, Junk and possibly Lennons are open past two. There's also the benefit of them being relatively close to each other. Apart from being ever so slightly rebuffed on these three places, I still feel pretty much the same way. Never been to Junk, but been to the other two gaffs. Nothing special. Southampton lacks a decent continuous drinking area. The only thing that even comes close is the Portswood -> Bevois -> London Road crawl. Let's take a look at what the council has seen fit to approve. F**king Leisureworld, an oblong monstrosity that sits at the edge of a load of other oblong monstrosities ( out of town shopping centre in the city centre, another depressing town planning choice! ). When you talk about the handful of cities on a par with Liverpool, I'd bet that London excepted, they're all in the North. My general point was that attitudes prevalent in the South East get in the way of a good time.

My mate was officially reprimanded at Cantell for "flying through the air whilst eating a cheeseburger". Another mate of mine spent his adolescence operating under a misdemeanor system, whereupon he would be fined by his parents for any perceived transgressions. My personal favourites were "smoking on the roof" and "eating chocolate in the bath". The only SaintsWeb infraction that even comes close in terms of ridiculousness that I'm aware of is Jimmy D's infamous "stamping on people's dreams" classic, although I am keen to hear more.

So far, I've picked up Tomb Raider ( 7.49 ), Wargame Airland Battle ( pricey at 14.99 ) and Dishonored ( £5.05 or something ). Feel a little guilty for not getting Tomb Raider when it was released. It's very good.

My knowledge may be out of date, so PLEASE let me know. Where can one go after 2AM in Southampton? Would be very handy for next visit. Rhino?

Labour were never going to win the 2015 election, certainly not after the Union-savin' (capital u) no vote for Scottish Independence.

My preference would be for local politicians to contest local seats. Have to say, haven't done my homework on Twigg (as you pointed out). There's also an argument to be made that Twigg didn't really achieve anything; was elected on the wave of national sentiment directed against the Tories. Not a great example.

I'm not making the claim that Twigg isn't career, but at least he got into Parliament in a genuine contest.

Why is this thread in the Muppet Show? Surely it's worthy of serious discussion.

There's loads of stuff at play here, adriansfc. The biggest problem is that most Sotonians seem outwardly incapable of showing a good time, either on a night out or in day to day life. I don't want to single Sotonians out here; boring, frosty and reserved is a trait you'll find all over the South East. It's also not fair to say that there aren't people down there who do know how to have fun. There are, but they're far and few between and in many cases, their idea of fun is quite different to what yours might be. I've got a mate who alternates between the intellectual sci fi nerd crowd and the people he plays football with. He once reported a night out to me that pretty much describes why I don't bother. This is their fun. Apparently, he'd slapped someone with glasses the night before, thus violating the "never hit a man with glasses" rule. The reason? Well, my mate had repeatedly called this bloke Joe 90. "Joe 90" eventually takes the hump and gets uppity, before being decked. Now I happen to think my mate a bit of a d!ck for doing this, but 9/10 times, can't have seen this scenario playing out the way it did in Liverpool or Ireland, places that have got a well-observed culture of p!ss-taking without leading to violence. Southampton? Nah. Weird, but I'd often curtail my Southampton nightlife activity whenever I had a girlfriend, mistakenly believing that a night out was "only good for f*cking or fighting". I'm cured of that notion now, having experienced Liverpool and the general club scene. I'm not so sure Southampton is.

I have a mate who used to go to Cuba quite often for a bit of a Latin American booty call. She has many dormant marriage proposals from the lads she has known.

Funny. Was just mentioning the situation regarding the "parachuting in" of a candidate in Liverpool Wavertree. It'd seem that Labour is pulling the same trick with Rowenna Davis. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10547242.Labour_selects_General_Election_candidate_for_Southampton/?ref=mr All female selection. Rowenna has been in the city for a year campaigning for the job. Happy with your choice, Itcheners, or is this another case of a political party foisting an inexperienced career politician with tenuous links to the local area on the public? Most importantly, will it affect your vote?

Never finished a Tomb Raider before. This might be the first. It's an extremely good game, reminiscent of not just Tomb Raider, but a ton of other good games. Though it might sound dismissive to make the comparison, it's like a cross between Prince of Persia : Sands of Time and Metal Gear Solid. I'm at the bit where you have to rescue your mate Sam from the fire ritual. Very impressive in the visuals department; one of the best looking games to ever run on my PC.

I come into contact with shop stewards quite frequently. The vast majority of them are poor beleaguered souls who don't want the job; the very opposite of those seeking power.

I say this as a current Labour Party member. I'm not impressed with the present setup. A few days ago, "Ed Miliband" wrote to me about becoming a candidate ( he actually wrote to all members with a "do not reply" return address, so I'm nowt special, and not even eligible yet ). Anyway, this email has a "send your feedback" bit tagged on the end. My local MP is Luciana Berger. She is a close personal friend of Euan Blair's, a member of Labour Friends for Israel ( massively funded, btw ) and despite having no prior experience with Liverpool Wavertree, managed to secure the selection for said constituency. Now I don't mind Luciana as a person, but am totally against her selection here. It smacks of the same sense of entitlement that Labour allude to when they accuse the Tories of being a "born to rule" party. The contrast is made even more evident when you compare Ms Berger with Stephen Twigg, the chap who holds West Derby. Now I'm perfectly aware that you could put a red rosetta on a pig and get a Labour result in most of Merseyside, but Twigg didn't get into Parliament by winning West Derby. He took Basildon from Portillo in 1997. My overall point? Labour can distance itself from the unions all it wants, but until it sorts out the king-making in its own ranks, the problem of persistent career politicians is always going to dog them. More than anything else, the Labour Party needs real people to represent it. There's a case to be made that a union rep is far closer to the concerns of real people than career politicians fresh out of Uni.