pap

I look forward to this thread being bumped when we qualify for the CL

Oh dear, looks like we have a case of lazy poster makes unwarranted assumption. Not to worry, I am not entirely blameless on that front. Not a supporter of the EU, have gone on about it here and would vote out of the EU in any referendum. I also wouldn't mind a bit of economic fall-out, if only because it's a pre-requisite to a proper economic sort-out.

I see the influence of fellow Manx resident and arch-capitalist running-dog Clarkson has taken its toll, father. When the day of glorious revolution finally arrives, we'll put you down for a "maybe"

Spot on with the Etihad sponsorship deal. That'll be the way things go, especially if it's uncontested. Financial Fair Play is about clubs living within their means. The biggest expense for clubs is player's salaries. Theoretically, it should level the playing field, but what'll actually happen is that we get more Etihad wheezes. And to be honest, I'm not really sure that UEFA gives a crap. At least this way, the clubs can actually point to the cash in the bank.

My dad is on here, but he doesn't post much - probably because his first-born is shaming the family name by polluting the forum with left wing nonsense

Yeah, and if you looked at how rich clubs are getting around that, you'd know that there is nothing to stop large bundles of cash from being ploughed into the club via sponsorship deals. You only have to look at Manchester City's £300M sponsorship deal with Etihad. A few clubs have had a moan, but UEFA haven't stopped it and the precedent has now been set. Clubs get to technically live within their means, but same end result. You'll still be able to buy titles.

I suppose all those who say that CL qualification is impossible live in a parallel universe in which neither Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers or Man City bought their way into the Champions League spots.

Definitely an interesting scenario. The EU has imposed austerity on Greece, Italy, Ireland and Spain. In the case of Greece and Italy, they've actually replaced democratically elected leaders to implement it. Now, suddenly France gets a change of government and doesn't want to play the austerity game. It'll probably get its way too. Shows where the true power of the EU resides, and gives an indication to what it really represents.

Do we know that though? Those plants will probably make a ton for EDF, and the UK-based plants have the benefit of not being in France and generating income for the country.

A hallmark of the current club setup is overachievement. If Cortese/Liebherrs are in it for the long haul, not sure if they will be happy with standing still in the Premiership, especially with the couple of years we've just had. I know it sounds mental, but if they do have a new five year plan, expect European qualification to be an objective.

Nicolas Sarkozy has become the 11th European Leader to lose office since the start of the financial crisis. He is also the first Socialist president that France has elected since the late 80s. The new President, Francois Hollande, has been returned on an anti-austerity ticket, and is seeking to introduce growth incentives to the EUs current austerity plan. Guardian article Does this represent the beginning of a shift back to the left in centrist-right Europe?

So in conclusion, good day for Boris Johnson and Ed Miliband. Bad day for Ken Livingston and David Cameron. BNP didn't do very well at all. Nick Griffin's Question Time appearance still doing the biz!

So should that be "may the 5ith be with you?". Told you those Tories were nasty, trousers!

She comes across as a woman who lacks compassion, which is a real turn-off to anyone who has met the countless women that have it in abundance.

I agree with your last statement - not so sure about the first. Do you really think that having to go to Liverpool to apologise to enraged scousers was a tiny stitch in the master plan to "make Boris look fit for PM"? I mean, it's possible that this is some scheme of Moriarty proportions to gain country-wide acclaim at the expense of a city that were never going to vote for him anyway, but probably not likely.

Oddly enough, Warsi would have been one of the few Tories with a humble background. Needless to say, she is not part of the inner circle (see also: Pickles). Perhaps she is suffering from an inferiority complex which feeds her hate and anger.

I'd agree with this. I listen or watch a lot of political stuff, and it is so amazingly frustrating to hear one side of the argument repeated ad nauseam, even when Humphries or the like have repeatedly pulled them up on it. They're all as guilty at it as each other. The anchors are wise to it, the public are wise to it and I suspect we're all sick of hearing florid responses which fill air time yet say nothing. This is why Boris is so popular and is being touted as a possible PM. I would vote for Boris - not because I share all of his political views, but because he actually seems real. All the blunders and gaffes actually make him more endearing and authentic. After all, isn't occassionally making an arse of yourself an essential part of being a Brit?

Agree on this. There was no need to poke this particular beehive. Most who should be at that rate dodge it anyway, and it's certainly not a bar to US executives being paid out of a US cost centre, so removing it was a large political blunder. Achieved nothing but the ire of the majority.

So all Cameron needs to stay in office is another Falklands conflict? I'm well aware that local elections don't necessarily translate to national success, and that they represent a protest vote. However, I don't think that the Conservatives will win an election with Cameron in charge. There's a piece on the Guardian site, Thatcherism with a posh accent is a toxic proposition, supporting the notion that Cameron's cabinet is out of touch in a way that Thatcher's government was not. How does Cameron put the class genie back in the bottle?

I don't know, trousers. Tony Blair did at least win the election that preceded those results, and won the next one too. Hopefully, Cameron and pals didn't spunk their best ideas onto the political Kleenex prematurely - otherwise I can see them have trouble getting it up for the next election.

Labour now past the 800 gains mark.

I do love the way that you think anyone on the left has to defend the opinions of anyone else on the left. It's cute.

The way copyright violations are being prosecuted is sickening. We've got people being extradited to the US because they've set up websites with links to copyrighted material. This draconian bolox is just the last throw of the dice for an industry that has failed to keep up with technology, or adequately incentivise people to buy content through licensed services, either because they want too much money or in many cases, the service doesn't even exist. The likes of Netflix have got it bang on, in my opinion. Work with the technology, not against it.

Great film.

Keep up, mate. This isn't 1983. Nerds and geeks are cool now. We grow in number each day. Lower your shields and prepare to be assimilated.