pap

To clarify my position completely; I have no problem saying "we're not paying for new kids". I do have a problem with the government saying "ah, you already have a load of kids. We're going to stop paying for them", mostly because of the problems it'll create now and in the future for kids with jobless parents. Why should kids that are here now be additionally punished? I've said before that cutting benefits doesn't necessarily lead to every parent going out and getting a job. Many will stay in place and find means of dubious legality to survive.

That's my brother. I'm the hippy to the left.

As a format, the X-Factor is pretty clever. Let the public think they're getting a say, but ultimately let the judges direct the show. It is so f*cking painfully transparent though. I'm not allowed to watch it anymore due to several "deconstruction commentaries" I've made in the past. "Yeah, the background slow song that builds up to a rising crescendo. This loser will cry a little bit but get his fourth yes when the 'inspirational' part of the song kicks in". 100% accurate, yey 100% kicked out of the living room by my youngest daughter whenever I'm good enough to offer this essential service. Where's the justice?

Swings and roundabouts. Yes, it's crap that we're not selling the ground out. That said, I got my MOTD2 debut last night, precisely because of the empty seats.

Yes. There is zero point in getting wound up at any of the behaviour on the X-Factor. Be annoyed that it exists, that so many people love it and that the saccharine sh!te peddled within ends up in the charts. And then weep.

I know you're not asking me, but not sure how Nige could have played it differently if the players are knackered. Both Chaplow and Guly did alright when they came on too.

Politically, this is quite the spicy meatball. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214315/Jobless-big-families-lose-benefits-Osborne-vows-slash-10bn-welfare-bill.html?ito=feeds-newsxml The Conservative position is that jobless parents should have to weigh up the decision that the employed have to make? Can I afford a(nother) child? As of yet, there are no concrete indications as to the implementation, but the Daily Mail reports that those with larger families may lose benefits normally ascribed on a per child basis. I could accept this as a go-forward measure. Let parents know future kids won't be covered. Would stop quite a few kids being born for cynical reasons, such as getting further up the housing priority list. My concern is that it'll be implemented horribly. The coalition hasn't done much well. The end to universal child benefit has thrown up some weird anomalies. Ironically enough, it's the traditional one bread-winner family that is hardest hit. This superficially wonderful notion of capping housing benefit at 400ukp a week is also starting to bite. There has been a 44% increase in families on housing benefit staying in bed and breakfasts. The poor are being moved out of London. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/sep/17/homeless-families-bed-and-breakfast As a long-term strategy, this could actually be a useful piece of social engineering. On current form, I can't see the coalition implementing anything but short-term slash and burn, with potentially devastating social consequences. Have at it.

Shame. At 2-0, I think it have gone on to be a big win. Gutted.

Even in the second half, we weren't playing deep the whole time. Plenty of periods of play when we were either passing the ball well or pinging the ball into their box again and again (Chaplow teeing Yoshida up repeatedly toward the end of the game). Credit to Fulham for stepping their game up second half, but they got a lot of unnecessary assistance from us. Still feel we were better team throughout, just that periods of ascendance were more equally distributed in second half.

Has anyone* considered the possibility that the real Nigel Adkins is under house arrest and that the persona we see is a Cortese-controlled simulation, loaded with a cache of cliches for semi-autonomous operation? The real Adkins might never play Guly. He might have been shaking his fist at Sky Sports, furious at the damage the Guly** substitution will have on his good name. * apart from those who post in Sci-Fi fans thread. ** Guly played well today, imo.

I was five metres away from both and livid. I admire the honest tweetage afterwards, but Hooiveld has been a liability at times this season. Your comment about not knowing when he is or isn't needed is bang on. Tbh, I did not know the shot was going wide. Even sol other options - such as leave it to Gazza or just throw your body at it. Has not learned that sticking a leg out near the goalmouth is a stupid thing to do? Amazing how things change. People were on Fonte's back a while ago. Immense today. Built like a brick sh!thouse too. Looks super fit.

Indeed. Schwarzer is what's commonly known in the trade as a diver. Not a bad effort for a goalie. Is he the first goalie to belong to the Actor's Guild, or is he performing a fresh interpretation of previous "goalie falling down like a sack of sh!t" efforts?

I've taken a look at my knee and it's complete lack of jerk. I appreciate the perceived substitution mistakes, even agree with that. Cannot deny the large learning curve for Nigel this year. This team is not yet the finished article in terms of depth. A lot of room for improvement. I'd say no, largely because I think Nige deserves the chance and because I like the way we play under him. Cannot leave that unqualified though. I was really disappointed with the capitulation of the Championship title last year. Blackpool games were awful. Pompey way closer than it should have been.

Anyone who thinks we didn't play well today is off the mark, imo. Sure, individual problems (Jos!) happened but there were points when the team were purring. Anyone remember the series of passes that prompted the oles? My brother, who occasionally claims to be a Villa fan, was full of praise during the first half. We played well, just stupid bloody mistakes. The shame of it is they were easily correctable. Was Jos' own goal even going in?

Aye. That's true. However, you can't really make that statement without saying what grown men are supposed to do in that situation.

Frustrating game. Tons of opportunities to win it. Fulham seemed incapable of defending at corners. Jos has got to stop scoring goals for other teams. Maya looked a bit dodgy at times. Very predictable at the end. Still, will take the end result as I think we were lucky not to concede a pen through Yoshida.

I have to say, was initially fooled by Alan Carr. Thought he was alright on the Friday Night Project. His plebs vs celebs train wreck of a show put paid to that.

This is getting darker by the day. Peel's account of not asking for ID provides an insight into the mindset at the time. I'd be interested in how much Liz Kershaw is going to spill. It is pretty clear she is in a position to name names.

Chapel End Charlie - as I remarked before, I do feel that you've taken a very modern approach on the Hippocratic Oath, which I don't ever believe covered abortion. With that plinth out of the structure of the debate, I feel it's important that we begin to approach the bigger point; when does a person become a person? Does it start at the point of conception? And if so, what's really so special about that? What do you say to someone who has just banged one off into a sock? Has he just murdered hundreds of millions of potential life forms? What about miscarraiges? These too would break the life starts at conception argument. Qualifying this as much as humanly possible, it could be argued that the only difference between a miscarraige and an abortion is the level of consciousness it takes place. In a miscarraige, the body makes the decision. The baby and/or environment are either good enough or they're not. At some point, the body will make that determination. In an abortion, a human makes the decision. There may well be cases of women using abortion as a belated contraception, but in my genuine experience, I know quite a few women who have had abortions. It was a big deal for all of them. I would robustly challenge the notion that abortion is some kind of alternative to contraception. I can't say that there are no people who feel this way, but I can say that this attitude certainly hasn't been present in the people I've met who have been brave enough to share their experiences with me. Normally,it's something that stays with them forever, something that keeps them up at night. This notion that much of it is down to a lifestyle choice is accurate to a point, but often, that lifestyle choice is a toss-up between being able to support yourself or living off the state in perpetuity. These girls can't win. Damned if they become a state-sponsored single mum, damned if they make the choice that their finances dictate. I do wonder how some of us all-knowing men would cope in similar circumstances.

A full on remake would be epic. Mini-series format would suit it well. Get me Spielberg and Hanks! The second episode of Band of Brothers ( the one with the parachute drops ) convinces me they could nail this.

Had a nephew born at 25 weeks who didn't make his first day, so I can fully appreciate the state of foetal development at that point. I don't think that anyone is saying that this limit should be the norm. I appreciate your views, Charlie - but equally, I'm thinking of what most parents say when you ask them whether they want a boy or girl. "I don't care, as long as it is fit and healthy". Frank's cousin was right to ask whether Downs is a compelling enough reason to abort at that stage. I can't say whether that is right or wrong, but data from the United States suggests that at least 2/3rds of foetuses detected with Down's syndrome are terminated. Irrespective of whether you or I agree with that, it is the option that at least two thirds of prospective parents choose. Please correct me if I'm putting words in your mouth, but it sounds as if you would prefer that these foetuses all went to term. I have to wonder what consequences that would bring about. Could we have potentially vulnerable children being looked after by parents who do not want them? Would these kids be dumped on the state wholesale, to spend a lifetime in institutions? I've seen the Hippocratic Oath being put into conflict with abortion before and I have never been sure that it's a relevant comparison. For one, Hippocrates was from a culture which widely practised infanticide ( technically, it was just abandonment of the baby to the elements - the end result was the same ). Second, he documented a procedure on obtaining abortion through bloodletting. Finally, he offered abortions to his own patients. Hippocrates' concerns centred on the living and Ancient Greece ( and Rome ) had different ideas to us as to what constitutes a living person. Typically, the baby's father got to decide whether his offspring was a real person or not, making the call on whether the child would be raised or "exposed" ( abandoned ). If we're to take the Hippocratic Oath literally, I think some understanding of the social context it was written in is helpful.

Watched the Battle of Britain (1969) recently. Always been on my to-watch list. Great film. Excellent effects for the time and a mostly superb cast ( Christopher Plummer is a fine actor normally, but I have no idea what accent he was aiming for in this one ). As good as the effects were, would really like to see this movie spruced up or remade. Personally, I'd have no problem if they kept the original cast and just replaced the effects shots ( a la Star Trek HD remakes ).

Business chiefs: We're losing faith in Tories http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/business-chiefs-were-losing-faith-in-tories-8200269.html Have to say, I do like the sort of questions in this survey!

Our new ( and definitely not improved ) health secretary has weighed into this debate on the eve of the Tory Party conference. He supports a ban after 12 weeks. Bit silly really - as a dad myself I know that a lot of the pre-natal health tests ( such as for Downs, etc ) take place at around 20 weeks.

How's about a series of smiley hieroglyphics? They use those in place of words on some forums.