trousers

I don't recall reading that account of events in yesterday's reports on the enquiry findings. I was under the impression that they had left no stone unturned.

I don't know what's wrong with me....I've started to give the slippery ruffians a smidgen of benefit of the doubt in a few of my recent posts. I'm seeing my thearpist this afternoon who will hopefully beat such nonsense out of me!

http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/news/article/arsenal-vs-saints-preview-364655.aspx Team News New signings Gaston Ramirez and Maya Yoshida could be involved for the first time, whilst fellow recent addition Emmanuel Mayuka will also be pushing for a starting role after coming off the bench against Manchester United. All seven of the players who were away with their respective nations this week should be available for selection. The aforementioned signings were joined by James Ward-Prowse, Nathaniel Clyne, Steven Davis, and Adam Lalllana in being involved at national level in the last week. Danny Fox, who withdrew from the Scottish squad hopes to be fit in time for the trip to North London, whilst midfielder Jack Cork is also close to a return from the ankle injury he suffered in pre-season. The Gunners hope to have Abou Diaby available after the midfielder picked up an injury whilst representing France last week. Theo Walcott missed out on playing for England this week with a virus, so another ex Saint, Alex Chamberlain may well start. Goalkeeper Vito Mannone is likely to make way for returning No.1 Wojciech Szczesny, who has missed the last two games with a rib injury. Summer signings Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski, and Olivier Giroud are all likely to continue as part of a new look attacking option for the hosts.

I thought the Football league were supposed to be scrutinising every deal that Pompey do with players? Why would they be giving the green light for Pompey to sign players (on one month loans or otherwise) on wages that appear on the surface to outstrip what other clubs are paying? OK, I accept the words from one Walsall player are somewhat anecdotal and thus should be taken with a pinch of salt but it wouldn't surprise anyone on here in the slightest if Pompey were once again offering "competitive" wages to players whilst still in a position of financial uncertainty.

Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak Mayor of London says he was "very, very sorry" for comments in 2004 about Liverpool fans being partly to blame for Hillsborough disaster

I guess it depends what people are accusing The Sun of doing wrong in the first place. If they are accusing The Sun of publishing a report they received from a Sheffield news agency in an insensitive and sensationalist way (and at face value without confirming the details themselves) then they are guilty of the accusation. However, if they are being accused of publishing a story as fact, when in fact they knew at the time that it wasn't, then I've not seen or heard anything in yesterday's report that substantiates that. As I said yesterday, I have no desire to defend MacKenzie and The Sun, far from it, but I suspect that there are a lot of people out there accusing them of being complicit in covering up the truth when in fact they could just be guilty of incompetence and/or ignorance....

In the interests of protecting your computer screen and keyboard put down your mug of coffee before clicking on this link.... http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/no-regrets-on-ripping-up-celtic-deal-for-thompson-1-4253690 Over to you Rallyboy old chap...

John Apter ‏@Hantsfedchair At a time when cops need public support the #Hillsborough report is damaging to all those hard working honest cops who love their job.

Good post as ever Sir.

J I have it on good authority The Portsmouth News have a world exclusive tomorrow when they'll be revealing the Pope's religion at long last.

...

I was dipping in and out of the live news coverage yesterday and a journo asked the "How much did Thatcher know?" question to the enquiry panel. They basically told the journo that this was covered in their 400 page report but they alluded to the fact that Thatcher wasn't in the 'loop of deceipt'. I'm sure over the course of time people will pick and choose which parts of the report best fit their theory as to who knew what and when but if we're going to take this report as the definitive statement of what happened then, if it doesn't point the finger at the likes of Thatcher I think we have to conclude that either she wasn't complicit in any of the cover up or, if she was there wasn't any evidence to warrant stating this in the report. As you say, all governments since Thatcher would have had the opportunity to disclose any government endorsed cover up had it taken place but they didn't. So if it transpires that Thatcher was 'guilty' then so is every government since by association.

@mediaguardian: Hillsborough: news agency says it reported story 'faithfully' to the Sun http://t.co/43iLZE6j

Most human beings are functionally impaired to varying degrees most of the time, regardless of whether they've got the remnants alcohol in their system or not.

@SkyNewsBreak: John Lewis partnership has reported half-year pre-tax profits to the end of July of £144.5m, rise of nearly 60%

@pn_neil_allen: There's a new blogger in town in @dodgycurry - here he frankly assesses Sulaiman Al Fahim. Well worth a read. http://t.co/weDsKaFm #Pompey That blog is actually quite articulate and well researched. The 'Pompey Takeover Saga' also gets a name check....could almost have been written by one of us...(apart from the previous blogs slagging off Cortese of course...)

Anyone know how the 'free tickets to kids' initiative is coming along? (the scheme the fans voted for re: spending the £30k they won for being the self-proclaimed bestest fans last season)

Looks like more spin than a Dead or Alive single being lined up for tomorrow... @pn_jordan_cross: In The News tomorrow,Dumbuya on why players want to stay, transfer latest, Gyepes update & Thompson on walking away from Celtic for #Pompey.

@officialpompey: Members of #Pompey's academy will visit Nigeria for a tournament later this month: http://t.co/BnucQO6r

MLG's chopper?

But are they accusing him of publishing something that he knew to be untrue?

I'm no Kelvin MacKenzie apologist but isn't he simply guilty of taking what he was told by the police and local MP as gospel (and representing it in the usual Sun insensitive way) rather than publishing something he knew to be incorrect at the time? As I say, I've no desire to defend him per se but are people finding him guilty of the wrong 'crime'?

Playing devil's advocate for a brief second, I guess Birch could argue that a "more competitive" Pompey is a more saleable asset than a "non-competitive" Pompey and, as such, artificially increasing their competitiveness in the short-term is most likely to result in the best deal for the creditors that he is there to serve....

Warn us before you get your chopper out MLG FFS....

A good read - cheers for posting