trousers

Word of warming to anyone travelilng to this game. Farnborough area was still very busy yesterday evening at 7pm due to airshow traffic so "allow extra time for your journey" etc (Airshow taking place all this week) You might be better off coming up/down early and supping a few beers whilst watching the air display (c2pm to c.5pm)

Does the labia turn into the foreskin?

Depends how strong the signal is on your area. If it's a strong signal then you may get away with an indoor aerial, which you can buy with a booster if needs be.

Having the muscle power to drive down costs is one thing, having the 'private company' mentality and hard-nosed business minded management to actually carry it out is another. Take my local primary school. They had the 'weight' of Hampshire County Council behind them when going out to tender for the building of a new wing of the school. When I heard how much they ended up paying for certain aspects of the project I was gobsmacked at the costs. It can often work the other way. Builders and drug companies can (to all intents and purposes) collude on their pricing structures for publicly run organisations because they know that they are dealing with a cash cow and (more often than not) procurement people who don't typically have a hard-nosed business background. I'm generalising a tad there I know but from the anecdotal evidence I've seen both in the education and heath sector this 'bargaining power' isn't exploited as effectively as, say, Tesco does with it's suppliers. What is the mark-up on the average drug supplied by a drug company to the NHS? This would reveal how successful they are at influencing prices.

Yep, agree. Realised that a long time ago. And with the football finance bubble about to burst we will be one of the best placed clubs to ride the destructive wave of fallout that will follow. IMHO of course

Fret ye not....they'll be off harvesting dozens of links to Guardian articles and posting them on here before you can say "all profit is evil" Oops, nearly forgot one of those little winkie things: ;-)

Ok. So we've established that some people think that it's immoral and/or "disgusting" for private companies to make profit out of people's ill health. So where does that leave drug companies?

Did Pardew really pick Pulis in his first squad?

Even if it turned out the appeal was without foundation? I know I'm playing devils advocate here because I believe there is substantial foundation on HMRC's case but what if a creditor files an appeal they know they have no hope in winning but do so 'just because they can' to inflict some tit-for-tat vengeance on the company that went into liquidation? That wouldn't be 'fair' would it? Anyway, as I say, purely hypothetical in this case I would venture.

Even though I'm 'naturally' conservative (with a small 'c') I tend to agree with you in principle. But, I also see the other side of the coin. Sometimes (but I agree, not all times) a profit making company can operate side by side a non-for-profit organisation like the NHS if properley regulated. Yes, I accept philosphically that 'profit' and 'greed' are often fairly close bedfellows but, if 'company x' is making less profit than the cost of inefficiency that is being dispensed with then the taxpayer is better off because his/her money isn't being poured into maintaining an inefficient system (and trust me, based on the conversations I have to endure at home from my relatives that work in a hospital, the management tiers are inefficiency personified). But, yes, being a chap who can see both sides of these sort of debates, I can see that there is a fairly fine line between a company taking 'enough' profit out of the systems versus taking 'too much' and to me that line is crossed if they were to take more money out of the system than the wasted taxpayers money that is being saved/re-invested. And, yes, it could well end up down the "scary" path that you forecast but there again it might not. People will be able to judge for themselves in 5 years time.

Yes. And my wife and sister-in-law work in a hospital. Why?

If it cuts out the beaurocracy and makes the NHS more efficient then how that happens is irrelevant IMHO. We'll all be in a position to comment on how it has succeeded (or not) in 5 years time.

Whilst any creditor is legally allowed to appeal, that doesn't necessarily provide them with immunity from a counter claim for 'damages' should they lose the appeal, does it? Surely PFC would have the same legal right to do that, wouldn't they ?(not that they would automatically win such a claim of course)

If the Sheffield Wednesday squad is as good as they're making out, wouldn't our billionaire owner have snapped up a few of them by now...?

Dagenham supporting friend of mine said he's good but suffers with a lack of discipline sometimes

I hope we sign Michael Labia next. Can't wait for that thread.

Did we ever sign that French chap, Marcel Brie, in the 70s?

Egg = Dairy? Steward's enquiry! ;-)

As consumers, "their" oil is also our oil. We demand it, they supply it.

That's a tad harsh on Labour supporters IMHO

Hmmm....that article is dated 30th June. Which would suggest that Cortese has gazumped that original "offer from another club" as I can't see us taking 17 days to complete the signing. Which means we outbid the club (millwall? QPR?) that outbid Palace? Nice. (edit: "outbid" as in 'were prepared to offer him better personal deal' as he was available on a free xfer)

"Even when he found himself ousted from the squad, the club’s joker played a crucial role in the demise of another club. Butterfield found himself loaned out to Charlton Athletic for two months, providing some moments of comedy defending to get our friends from the Valley relegated. Agent Butterfield he was - and he returned to the club as a hero." Made me chuckle.

Superb. As he looks as comfortable up front as he (probably) does in defence, perhaps Pardew might be thinking that he can use him as that missing piece of the jigsaw in our squad - i.e. A box to box midfielder? He seems to have enough pace and versatility for such a role based on that footage.

Spot the deliberate mistake: Wrong + wrong = right