revolution saint

Just what has the echo done wrong? It seems they released details of a revamped Staplewood after it became public knowledge, they've reported on other articles that were in the public domain anyway, they've asked people who were previously connected with the club what their opinions are. No big drama and no need to create a fuss. All the echo has done is to repeat what most of already know anyway - where's the crime in that? Proper investigative journalism with an agenda would have been to dig out exactly how Barnard felt after being dropped despite being in good form or to speak to employees who feel that NC is frankly a bit of an arse to work for (we all know someone who has told us that) - the echo haven't done that though. All they've done is repeat stuff which can be crticised as lazy or boring but not controversial.

Maybe you should cut Lallana a bit of slack then? He is after all our best ball player. It makes me laugh how we're debating how we're going to win this league and not if. That's arrogance for you and I thought we'd had it knocked out of us. First and foremost we need to win the game and if we can do that playing attractive football then great but in this division it's not always possible - I'll take an ugly win over pretty but pointless football.

I'm not a grass roots liberal but I have voted for them before. I've got to say the captilulation of PR is pretty unforgivable. AV is not PR and won't really change anything, besides which it's only a referendum. As Clegg said in the election build up if you're going to have a referendum then make it comprehensive (he was talking about staying in Europe but the point still stands). They've given away a hell of a lot and got what? Some lesser cabinet seats (Secretary for Scotland! Yeah the Tories were desperate for that one) and a share of the blame when it all goes wrong. The clever thing would have been to take what was on offer and enter into a pact but they've thrown their hat in with the Tories completely and haven't really got much for it. Oh well at least satire will be better - it's the only thing that is under the Tories.

Blackstock, Ormerod, McGoldrick...who was the other one or am I being dense?

I actually think Cotterill is a good manager and he'd get us playing good football. He knows the lower leagues well and could be a good manager for us. However, given a choice between him and Pardew who'd have a side he knew well and a full pre season I'd take Pardew every day. If we lined up someone earth shattering I could see the logic but not Cotterill. The relationship between NC and AP must be really bad if this is the case.

What bit of "first part of his tenure" don't you understand? Fact is you NEVER vote for a PM in this country. If you want a presidential system then argue for it.

Depends on what version of PR we end up with. Under this system every vote does not count - where you live matters. Ultimately the three parties average about a third of the voting electorate (I know that's a bit generous to the liberals but not too far off) and that should result in a more even distribution of power. At the moment it doesn't and that's not right or democratic.

This is mental. Are people on this thread really talking about Islamic fundamentalists having a controlling say if PR was introduced? Or the fact that we've not had a dictator as some sort of validation of first past the post? Get a grip! The fact is the majority of people under first past the post do not have a vote that counts. Argue that.

At what point did I ever express an opinion on the Burkha? Only a right wing immigrant obsessed idiot would ever bring that up and think that it would matter to anyone let alone me. You can keep your small minded opinions - your priorities are not mine. Thank you.

And that's how you justified your vote for UKIP you nutter! You wanted a more right wing Tory party! Or do you now disagree with yourself (not for the first time).

So by that I can infer you believe UKIP are not centre ground? If you wanted centre ground then why didn't you vote for your centre ground Tory party?

Yep, you're right - a bit like the Tory alliances in Europe. You'd have UKIP and the BNP....good luck with that.

And as has been explained to you it works well in other countries. What you're scared of is that the anti tory vote will result in you never getting the degree of power you once had. This is a good thing - the majority of people are united in not wanting the Tories. I think it's great that diverse parties can unite under the banner of not being Tories - it's quite refreshing. The markets will love it too - it delivers certainty.

Depends what you want - it'll deliver an effective non tory government. In fact if that's the case in future elections then I'm loving it.

Plus Sinn Fein never vote.

It seems strange to me how desperate the Tories on here are so eager for the Liberals to do a deal with the Conservative party. Before the election you were telling us how different they were and Dune you were even castigating people who could switch between them (ironically quoting Churchill at one point). You were right - the Tories and Liberals don't have much in common so a pact would probably fail earlier than a Lib/Lab one. The Liberals don't "owe" the country - they owe their supporters to fulfill their policies the best way they can. Oh and for anyone who says this is good news for the Tories in the long run - remember we'll probably have PR by the time of the next election - you hate that don't you?

Avram bought the lot...case closed.

Agree with this. I've enjoyed this season more than any other in the last 20 years. I've enjoyed being a big club, I've enjoyed seeing us scoring five goals in a game, I've enjoyed nicking the best players from other teams, winning a trophy and going to Wembley, and I've enjoyed decent prices. I like Div 1, the other teams and mostly other down to earth supporters. 90% of supporters in the premier league experience more disappointment during the season than we have in div one and they pay more for it.

Well I'm not ITK in any way unless you count speaking to a few corporate hospitality staff but the feeling I got is AP won't be here next season. Shame really but it does tie in with the club not commenting on AP's future. I could be wrong and I hope I am but I wouldn't bet on AP being here next season.

There does appear to be some friction between AP and NC which is a shame. Hopefully that'll dissipate. However, if NC has a plan to replace AP then it has to be a bloody big and realistic plan. A bit like when Blackburn Rovers brought in Kenny Dalglish - it really put them on the map and it worked. If we were in the Championship then it's feasible but in div 3? Can't see it happening really unless Keegan decides he wants to rip up the leagues again but that would mean big spending and I can't quite see that fitting in with NC's vision.

Personally I'd rather Alan Johnson as labour leader. Whatever happens I can't see Gordon being leader in a year's time.

Well with some rough calculations with 36% of the vote the Tories should have got 234 seats and the Lib Dems 149 with 23%. As it didn't quite stack up that way I'd rather have a lasting legacy that delivered proper electoral fairness. If this parliament delivers that it will have more of a legacy than many parliaments. I doubt that, on the economy, any of the parties would act much diferently in terms of overall taxation although the burden of taxation would probably be different. As for cuts they'd all deliver the same - some would probably promise more but I doubt they'd deliver them.

To be fair to portsmouth fans they'd probably budgeted on the club being out of existence by the time of the cup final and had reallocated the money.

I worked at Solent when Plummers was being converted and helped run a lot of the network cable there. Was really good fun - got to play football in a department store which doesn't happen often.

That got me through. Best tenner I've ever spent. I wrote the speech about three weeks in advance and then practised it every day till I knew it off by heart. That was the key for me - most people aren't lucky enough to be a natural but practise really does come close to being perfect. The good thing is, as everyone will tell you, everyone does want you to do well. Get a good early laugh in and it will seem much, much easier. That said I would never, ever be Best Man again.