pap

It might have been you who told me that since the advent of league tables, schools have been more concerned about converting D students to C students than genuinely encouraging the best and brightest.

Yeah, Glen Eyre was tops. You all did a bang-up job with Hampton Park too. Wasn't at all scary going to the chippy from Bassett Green and seeing blood, razor blades and rozzers all over Burgess Road

With the higher and lower paper setup, GCSEs are already two-tier in certain subjects. When I was at school it was impossible to get higher than a C on the lower paper, any lower than a D on some higher papers, and you got no grade at all. Even in 1991, when I sat my exams, Cantell were already shopping around the various exam boards. Doesn't really matter what era it is; people will try to game the system. League tables have just brought that behaviour front and centre.

Spot on. There's apparently an old trick; never tried it myself - where you wrap dogsh!t in a bundle of newspaper, put it outside someone's front door, set fire to it, knock the door and watch as they repeatedly stamp their feet in dogsh!t to put out the fire. That's this thread, that is.

My thoughts exactly. There are sequels hanging off Dredd fans going to see this movie, and they did fine groundwork in getting Anderson into the picture early. C'mon norwaysaint - get on it! You've now got a couple of Dredd-heads telling you this is worth watching!

First, you've got to check out The Crown. It's on your left when you come out of Lime St. Nice old Victorian pub with nice high ceilings and some very impressive interior work. I'd plan on making Liverpool One your lunch spot. Very family friendly, bars and restaurants, etc. Can be a bit pricey, depending on where you eat, but there are a couple of buffet restaurants there, including a Red Hot, so you're sorted for that. There are Wetherspoons etc nearby ( one in Whitechapel called the Welkin ) too, and I've never had any bother taking my kids in there. Mathew Street is right next to the Welkin too. Can't say all of the bars will let your nipper in, but most will, and aren't massively policed at that time of day anyway.

Er, depends. Two main areas of the city. Concert Square skews toward the 14-28 crowd, is replete with fit underdressed women. Mathew St is for about 28 upwards. Albert Dock is also worth a go, but it does tend to attract a LOT of people if there is a big gig on at the Arena. If you want to do something more cultural than drinking, there are a load of theatres ( Liverpool Empire, Playhouse, Everyman ). Also a load of cinemas, including a very civilised one that serves pints ( FACT ). Give us a few more specifics ( what you actually fancy doing, sort of music you're into, etc ) and I'd be more than happy to provide specialised advice.

VPN, for starters. I tunnel into the US for various reasons. Netflix must think I'm an international man of mystery.

I went to tech college before going to Uni. Didn't get on with Tauntons. Last thing I really wanted after four years of school. Ended up doing a BTEC National in Computer Studies. Excellent course; got far more use out of that than A levels or indeed, much of the degree I did afterwards.

Retrograde step and completely out of step with the reality of what we're preparing kids for; working life. I doubt that there are many jobs that require someone to remember the last 2 years of their lives in something approaching entirety, yet this is precisely what we're asking our kids to do. Question is "why"? They'll most likely never need to do it again.

I don't remember saying that Prometheus was dull. It definitely isn't that. The android is obsessed with Lawrence of Arabia. It's fairly clear that he has been watching that movie every day for the past two and a bit years. Think the point is that in the absence of any humanity of his own, he finds it preferable to emulate someone in a film. Perhaps you've seen LOADS of films where an android goes around pretending to be Lawrence of Arabia, but for me, it's a first You really should have watched more than 51 minutes, mate! It's half a review, half an opinion - with arguably the most important bits missed out.

In news that will no doubt shock and alarm the SaintsWeb faithful, a new report suggests that Southampton is the 3rd most prolific downloader of pirated music per capita. Manchester came top apparently, followed by Nottingham. http://fb.me/22bEgvLur Those scummers, eh? They'll have everything on the Internet that is not nailed down!

Will be going to this. Be rude not to, given that the ground is only 2.5 miles away from my gaff. Going to be going out for a few scoops. Up for bumping into a couple of SaintsWeb peeps too.

I like it. Used to eat it for lunch most days. One of those things that people just don't like the idea of.

Doing yourself and the character a bit of a disservice, IMO, and I would completely disagree with Dredd (or indeed, most of 2000AD) not being cinematic. 2000AD was born after another comic, Action, had to be closed down on account of being super violent. Most of the creative talent jumped onto 2000AD, whereupon they immediately started creating a very violent sci-fi comic. Both publications were heavily influenced by cinema ( Dredd often looking a dead ringer for Eastwood ) so I don't know why you'd say they weren't cinematic.

Give it another go, phil. I really don't need to tell you that a 5" screen really isn't the place to witness an off-world sci fi spectacle.

This, or something like this, has been earmarked as the Next Big Family Holiday. Not to subvert the OP's thread too much, but any general tips on road-tripping would be welcome.

Respect to you for putting your points across. I'm fairly open-minded when it comes to the treatment of stuff we don't know about, but I happen to agree with you on your general "Villa or bust" sentiment, at least when it comes to Adkins. The 6-1 at Emirates was gutting, but there is historical precedent, and on a pure points level, 0 from the Emirates meets with expectations. Villa is a very important game, for a number of reasons. First, Villa's diminished status in the Premier League means this is a team we should have a chance of beating Second, it's Paul Lambert vs Nigel Adkins, both relative newbies in the English Premier League, except Adkins has had a better transfer budget. I know it is also perfectly valid to argue that Lambert had the makings of a Premier League team before he started, but nevertheless, comparisons are bound to be made. You describe the game as having the potential to be pivotal. I honestly don't disagree. With three of the four teams we've faced, we can argue that the relative difference in stature provides a degree of mitigation. Wigan at home, so far, was a blip. Lose to Villa, especially if it's by a healthy margin, and I believe that the perception will be that Adkins isn't winning the games he is capable of winning. That'll be a problem, and if that happens, I think you're right.

Someone on the UI was asking about Dredd. Go see it. Great action film which features plenty of claret and people dying in interesting ways.

Bits of it are still sticking out in my head, which is normally a good sign. I've got no problem with what Prometheus is. It's like a lot of things in sci-fi, attracts flak because it doesn't fit what the audience are expecting to see. I reckon a fair chunk of the audience were expecting to see an Alien film, and it most definitely was not that. If I'm honest, I'd have been a little bored if it had been. The more I think about it, the happier I am with it. Sequels are on their way. It'll be interesting to see which direction they take. They could focus on the survivors, but equally, they could just as easily do a "what went wrong" follow up on LV-223. Note, that's not the same planet as the one they found the derelict on in Alien (referred to as LV-426 in Aliens) so Prometheus definitely doesn't act as the lead-in to those events. Personally, I hope we go further into the Engineers stuff. By travelling that path, Scott has the ability to flesh out so much more and really put some meat on the bones of that particular universe. I reckon we'll see the derelict hitting LV-426 in the third Prometheus film, and that by that point, it could almost be throwaway compared to the other stuff that is going on.

I have now seen Prometheus. A lot to like about that movie, but also, quite a bit of meh too. Will need to see it a few more times, but doesn't really answer any questions without introducing more, which is what you'd expect from Lindehof ( one of the chaps who wrote the screenplay, also wrote quite a bit of LOST). The film looks amazing, no question about that. Definitely up for some repeat viewings to work out whether it's a shallow spectacle or not. Part of me suspects it is, but I reckon a lot of the criticism probably stems from the movie's links. There are a lot of expectations, a lot of theory and a lot of extended universe stuff that this movie just urinates all over. At one stage, many were quite keen on the whole Alien breed being created as part of a Weyland-Yutani weapons program. This would be one of those theories that Prometheus completely kills.

Respect to you Dalek2003. Might not agree with all your views but you stick your neck out, kid. Perhaps plunger? Either way, it works.

Yep, looking a little scary. Arsenal have still got genuine quality up front. Making it look easy.

Hopefully the international break would have got the team a little fitter. If we'd kept those players for the full 90, might have been a different result versus United. As Aura said, hope Jose has a good game.

Unchanged team, eh? Hope you know what you're doing, Nige!