pap

Ms pap is extremely inconsistent when it comes to technology, displaying great feats of dextrous prowess in some areas and complete and utter failure in others. For example, she has no problem building PCs and she was even good enough to chip my XBox. Most women do not have the know-how to do it. And yet, she cannot play any computer game which involves looking and moving at the same time ( so no modern FPSs ) and turns white with fear at the prospect of plugging a console into a TV. The wiring on the surround sound system is the stuff of nightmares for her. Weird.

I'd rather have Rickie up there than most of the strikers we'll eventually take.

I'm happy with this. During his punditry at the last World Cup I think came across as someone who had a good understanding of the game, or at the very least, an articulate communicator. I'm not sure that you can take too much from his time at Liverpool - to paraphrase one report I've read today, Roy Hodgson's job became a lot harder after Dalglish was passed over for the position. Elsewhere, he seems to have carved out a reputation for getting the most out of teams. Granted, Harry is a good motivator too - but I get the feeling he'd have his favourites. Hodgson may be inclined to take a more form-based approach.

Never even knew I played for them.

Er, hang on. Is that stadium actually free? One of the sticking points was that West Ham were going to get a 40M loan off the local council to help cover the stadium bid.

Don't like the way that the Titanic has just become a marketing strategy for people, whether it's the likes of Belfast setting up a Titanic museum, Hollywood doing big movies or clowns like this looking to build exact replicas. I think it's a bit disrespectful. A ship sank, lots of people lost their lives including many Sotonians. That should be a starting point for some sombre reflection, not the green light for a series of macabre visitor attractions.

Ah, c'mon - Oxlade-Chamberlain's transfer alone almost covered the cost of those facilities. The club has long had a reputation for producing some of the game's brightest prospects. Is such income guaranteed? Of course not, but based on our track record of producing Premiership players - it seems like a sensible investment. You're kinda making out like the club is p*ssing its money away. That's not the case at all. The investment in the training facilities would be factored in the asking price of any sale.

Drove down to Southampton after the win to have some beers with some Saints supporting mates. Did a couple of bars in Portswood, and after being advised by the taxi driver that town was absolutely rammed, bought a copious amount of carry out and went back to my old dears. Chatted crap until 4AM in the morning. Back in Liverpool at 4PM today. Surviving.

Hope you're right on this one. The owners have got a really positive reputation amongst the fans, and well, we're in the top league now. Who wouldn't be excited at owning a Premiership club?

I'm not saying that the owners are going to sell, just that it is the ideal time to do so if those are their intentions. The Liebherrs have been the best owners we've had. I hope that you're right and that Markus's daughter was there to foster closer associations with the club. Any Saints fan who has seen the success achieved under their stewardship would rightfully want them to stick around.

Is that money really spunked tho'? It's an investment that'll not only provide revenue from player sales (look no further than Oxlade-Chamberlain) , but is also added to the value of the club. If you did major improvement work on your home, you'd factor the benefits those improvements bring into any selling price you conjured. Same thing applies here. Spending money on training facilities does not preclude the sale of the club. In fact, it just makes the club more desirable for prospective purchasers. Now perhaps that's moronic thinking, but a lot of the opinions on the issue of club sale boil down to "it's impossible because I don't want it to happen". That's not realistic, particularly when we've just hit the big time. Anyone thinking about buying a Premiership club will be taking a long hard look at us right now. As others have said, it's just a question of how big the number is.

Now is probably the optimum time to sell in terms of making a return on the investment, so if it is going to happen at all, it'll happen soon. As I've said before, I would love the Liebherrs to stay. Can't really argue with the stewardship of the club so far. It's a sell or invest decision, and if the plan is to sell - then I'll imagine they'll want to do that before splurging out on signings for the Premiership.

There were a couple of Londoners growing up on our estate from a family of Hammers fans. I used to have a lot of time for West Ham, especially when the likes of Tony Cottee and Frank McAvennie were playing, but the current incarnation leaves a lot to be desired. The style of football is not great. Also, the calculated way that Gold et al got involved when it became apparent that West Ham stood a great chance of getting the Olympic Stadium makes the current owners seem a bit mercenary. If I were in their position, I'd be booting Big Sam now and getting a new broom in for the playoffs.

Went to see The Avengers last night ( UK title: Marvel Avengers Assemble *sigh* ). Very good film - takes a little while to get going but is pretty full on by the end. Out of all the characters in it, think I liked The Hulk the best.

Yeah, but to be honest - a lot has happened since the war, and a lot has happened in the past couple of decades, which is why I made the point about making assumptions based on the capability that existed then. Things move on. Commercial hydroponics is now rapidly expanding after the Dutch made a success out of it, proven to produce stable and high yields. I am not a fan of GM crops or pesticides, but both have also contributed to higher yields. That's why it's nonsense to assume that food rationing during the war has anything to do with our current ability to feed ourselves.

As in, if we had no imports tomorrow, 58% of people would still be fed using British food stocks. The figure for "how many people would actually live" is much higher. Government policy is to use trade to supplement food security and the EU common agricultural policy prevents a lot of farming that could be happening from going on. It's difficult for me to accept arguments when they are qualified with "it used to be held", especially when the figures date from a couple of decades ago.

So we're 58% self-sufficient, but if we could be arsed to eat more British food, it'd be a lot more. Might be an idea to get a new "fiction" section onto the forum.

Maybe they were bald.

That's odd. I read recently that indicated that if push came to shove, we'd be 71% self-sufficient, which doesn't seem to square with your feeding 22 million people stat. Source?

Due to recent government legislation, benefits are now capped at £26,000 per family. The recent BBC investigation into EU farm subsidies shows that some rich landowners are getting paid upwards of £1M a year to pretend not to farm. They are not doing anything for this money, apart from being lucky enough to own enough land to qualify. So who is the bigger scrounger? The family of scrotes milking the maximum of £26,000 out of the benefits system, or the 889 landowners who got at least 10 times that each in EU subsidy payments? Per head, it is unquestionably the latter, yet you're looking down on the so-called scroungers, probably because like Tony Blair, they're an easy target. You can blame single parent families and immigration all you want for gross overcrowding, but that really is quite difficult to maintain when you look at the 77% of population on 5.8% of the land figure. Where are you getting your figures from, exactly?

I haven't seen it yet, so I'm not sure about the Mountain being recast. Have you bought a larger TV since watching last season?

Before:- After?

I went into a giggling fit when travelling past C L I T H E R O E. Had the notion that there would be one specific bloke in the town who specialised in orally pleasuring the town's female population.

The supernatural has been part of the show from the start. You've got your lads who are linked to their direwolves, your blood magic to revive Drogo and of course, your actual dragons. I've read the books - more supernatural stuff to come - but it's done well and its internally consistent. Starting to get a few of the answers now and I'm pretty happy with the stuff so far. Just love it though - it's really vast, layered and textured stuff. A lot easier to get through than the Lord of the Rings. Some may consider it heresy, but I think I prefer the Song of Ice and Fire series.

I would be disappointed if they were not dressed as Nazis wearing large foam paws