edprice1984

Clearly there is a fundamental battle going on at the heart of the Conservative Party and one that is likely going to leave them in the political wilderness for many years. The main reason is the infiltration of an Evangelical Christian element (imported from the US) and an attempt to win elections on 'Culture War' topics. The issue however is that even when we were a far more Christian country than today, overt religious comments have always been generally dismissed by the UK electorate. Faith is seen as a private affair in the UK (especially in England), unlike in the US where it is often the total opposite. As we increasingly have moved to more of a secular society, any politician who expresses their religious convictions publicly is often seen as a bit of a crank! It is one of the reasons, I suspect, that many watching the Coronation felt uncomfortable and possible confused with the religious aspect, despite the fact that the Monarch is the Head of the CofE. The other part of this is that most people don't care about the culture war stuff, again because it barely affects their day to day lives. Most ordinary voters care about jobs, healthcare and their own security. If the economy was booming, the Conservatives wouldn't be talking about pronouns, immigration or anything like that - it would be rightly "Vote Conservative, it's the economy stupid" or something to that effect. The 'normal' Conservatives (and I include Rishi in that category, for now at least) are going to be squeezed out by the lunatics unless they really start to push back. But Brexit has already torn away the Centre/Left leaning One Nation Tory, so I imagine there isn't much fight left in them.

On the basis that West Ham weren't properly punished when they stayed up because of Tevez etc (which was blatant cheating); Everton - if they stay up - won't get punished other than a points deduction next season

We (and most clubs at the time) would often wear next seasons kit on the final game of the season in the mid to late 90's. I seem to remember some sort of rule the Premier League introduced that stopped it though. A good example of this would be the final game at the Dell, where we wore the kit for the first season at St Mary's.

It's just another thing for the Conspiracy theory brigade to excited about. Last time I was in New York (2019) my phone was pinging all the bloody time with alerts around missing kids, crime alerts and heat warnings, after a day the novelty wore off so asked the Concierge in our hotel about it and he showed me how to turn off notifications etc. Very easy to do. I live in an area of the country prone to flooding (sometimes severe) and it can effect how I get to and from work, or to see my parents; so flood alerts (if kept local) would be very useful.

Calling it now - it will be Wayne Rooney.

The Board may think that it would be a dangerous precedent to sack Jones due to the overwhelming fan pressure, but as a fanbase we are generally very tolerant and since Branfoot I can't remember another instance where a manager has been so universally disliked. Unless something happened today involving the players making an official complaint etc, they aren't going to sack him unless we don't win on Saturday. At this point only 3 points could save him to be honest and as others have said, even then its simply a case of when not if. Personally I think it would need a run of form that we haven't managed in a long while to change the opinions of fans. When you consider the fixture list, it isn't reasonable to expect that either.

She'll be fine. She was at the Coventry Cup game last season, where Neanderthals were trying to punch each other because the other team scored! We are in the Chapel too, so fairly confident it should ok. If it gets silly, we will leave.

Looking forward to taking my 11 year old daughter to her first (and at this rate) last Premier League game on Saturday. The drive back to Gloucester after the match will be two and a bit hours of explaining why everyone was using all of those bad words...

The Vitinha to Saints link seems pretty solid. Lots of outlets (including in Portugal) basically saying its a done deal. The interesting thing would be if we added one or two more. Very un-Saintsy.

We will sign a striker - I suspect it will be Vitinha. I would also imagine the issue with the up-front fee could be managed by sticking in a generous relegation clause and sell on percentage alongside structured payments. Everton are linked to pretty much every player that any of the bottom six are supposed to be interested in. It's easy copy for the papers to print and require no actual work or genuine information. Dyche will want a particular type of player to join - he doesn't have a lot of those at Everton currently, so the only one of the signings that would make sense from their point of view would be Onuachu.

3-0 now. Another one for Tyler Dibling.

Who was the last Saints player to score at a World Cup???? Turns out it was Bednarek against Japan in 2018.

A League One side at home with a chance to get to the QF's should mean we take this relatively seriously. I feel far more comfortable and confident this being at St Mary's than if we had to go to Sincil Bank. Tricky ties for Leicester, Forest and Brighton too. I would expect one of those to lose. Hopefully City and/or Liverpool, Newcastle or Man Utd get drawn against each other (provided they get through) and then its simply a case of how much do you want to target the competition.

Gyorekes was excellent for Coventry in the FA Cup game against us. Our only chance with Gakpo is by basically saying you are going to be our main man, if we get relegated you can leave and if we get an offer at £x million we will leave let you leave. Although I think that ship has sailed.

I don't particularly want Jones as manager, but will support him if he is appointed. I think there is still money in the pot and the situation is clearly not irretrievable. Based on the little I know of Luton and their style of football, Jones would be a surprising choice. But if the board and owners are looking at someone who can improve players then may be that is the reasoning. As long as it isn't Dyche/Bruce/Allardyce hoof ball all the time then I think we can cope.

My radical plan would be: The monarch could be replaced by a 'President' elected from said Upper House as a Constitutional figure head and only allowed to serve a single term of 10 years. Maintain the Constitutional convention approach. A written Constitution sounds like a good idea, but as you see in the US, it can store up trouble based on how words, meanings etc are reinterpreted. Personally the biggest change I would make is to write into law, the need to call a General Election whenever a PM is removed from office. I know that we don't technically vote for a PM, but this is for the most part how people make their decisions. I am not sold on PR as an alternative to FPTP. I can see positives and negatives on both sides. It could be argued that if we had PR, the right of the Conservative Party would have split out years' ago and Brexit wouldn't have happened. Whereas Cameron had to consider the Eurosceptic ERG wing when putting out his manifesto in 2015 to maintain party cohesion and any chance of winning the election. In an ideal world you get more collaboration and bi-partisan work with PR, but you do allow some very nasty and questionable people (even worse than some current MPs) to be in positions of power and influence. The BNP would have had seats in Parliament under PR for example. British Politics is actually remarkably stable when it comes to Political parties, who have decades or centuries of history behind them. Compare this to most other Western nations and we are the anomaly (the US probably the most notable other exception). If Braverman stands then she will only take votes away from Boris.

Boris certainly has the support of enough MP's privately, but his popularity among the public and a sizeable percentage of other Conservative MPs is incredibly low. I would fully expect to see a handful, maybe as many as 10 MPs, decide to refuse the whip and sit as independents should he win. This wouldn't be enough to force a General Election but would make it more difficult to govern, particularly if Boris begins to act as we know he would do. The problem for Boris is that he will almost certainly be found guilty of misleading Parliament within two months of him becoming PM again and then we would be back to square one. I think Mordaunt will end up with the job as she is probably the only one who can, in the short term, bring the different factions together. Rishi will probably end up as Foreign Sec. Hunt would remain as Chancellor and she will have a crack at getting the Government to the Coronation unscathed. Finally, when we have a General Election and following the eventual destruction of the Conservative Party, Braverman will probably seize the reins of the Right Wing rump that is left (provided she hasn't lost her seat).

I think this shows more than anything else the resilience and patience of the British public (and Civil service, who are almost entirely running the country while this farce plays out). There would be plenty of countries where we would see people on the streets by now. I think this does prove we need to put something into law which means when a governing party change their leader (ie. the PM) a General Election must be called once a new leader is in place. As it stands I can see this being the end of the Conservative Party as we know it. They will get obliterated at the next election and the rump of the right (ERG/Brexiteers) will either flounce off to join Reform/UKIP or whatever Farage's latest party is, the Centrists may stay as 'Conservatives' but could equally look to join the Lib Dems and they would then once again fight it out against Labour. The ironic thing being that Labour activists who have been called for PR for years will likely suddenly find they have changed their minds once they realise that would mean giving power/seats to the Right/Far right in this country whereas retaining FPTP would likely leave them in the electoral wilderness. In my view, there is no-one left in the current Conservative Party with the broad appeal, political nous or moral backbone to recover this. Some have suggested Boris could return, but he is simply too damaged in the eyes of the general public. Especially after going absent without leave in the dog days of his premiership. At this point he probably realises that he could make significantly more money, carping from the sidelines with little to no consequence. We need a GE desperately - whether we get one is unfortunately down to Conservative back benchers growing a spine.

George Canning - 119 days (he died in office). The utter stupidity of the local news media trawl from a PR perspective is genuinely astounding. Firstly most if not all of these morning presenters are experienced journalists with basically the prime slot (other than 4-6pm) for their area. Hence why Truss was on there. This is a great way to make a name for themselves, they are going to be ridiculously well prepared and will likely ask questions not anticipated by the No.10 media /PR team. Truss on the other hand, won't have a clue who anyone is, won't have anywhere near enough time to prepare and with the ability of the presenters to listen in to other interviews they can tailor questions to make the maximum impact. It's not just Truss and Kwarteng who are out of their depth, the entire No.10 machinery and team are too.

I would have sympathy for this argument if people weren't also being arrested for protesting at the Proclamation events too. So not at the Funeral or anywhere near her late majesty's coffin and still being arrested. People have also been arrested outside Westminster this week.

Born in Southampton, lived first few years in Bransgore but don't particularly remember much. Chose Saints as my 'hometown' club over family team of Liverpool due to a deal I made with my Grandfather on whoever won a televised game on Easter Sunday 1990... Anyway, lived in Gloucester since 1988. I am a Gloucester Rugby season ticket holder so tend to get to 4 games a year, mainly the home games as it is pot luck when we are playing teams from the midlands and whether it clashes with rugby etc. Hoping to get to the Newcastle game on 5th November and Nottingham on 2nd Jan. Away fixtures will be a challenge this year but always fancied trying to do Arsenal or Utd. Hoping for a relatively local fixture in the FA Cup or League Cup too.

We probably focus too much on presentation rather than content when it comes to political discourse. However there are limits! Truss looks and sounds out of her depth. The problem Starmer and Labour have got is that they really need to test her support outside of the hardcore Tory membership, but there aren't any sort of elections upcoming. She's basically got two weeks to come up with a plan on Energy bills and the cost of living or she is screwed.

The first thing they should do is show the VAR replay on the big screen - like they do in Rugby Union. Everyone can see what they are looking at etc. This nonsense that the refs could be intimidated or the crowd could be riled up is nonsense. If the refs also are mic'd up and transmit the decision over the tannoy system (like in NFL) at least the fans could understand the process. Once a ref indicates VAR is being used, any player who approaches the ref should be booked. The only player that will be spoken to will be the Captain. VAR checks can take place behind the scenes during the game, but when the ref is alerted he must stop the game immediately. I also believe that there should be a maximum time for VAR to make decisions. 3 mins max for example. Any longer then the decision on the field stands. I also believe we should have a countdown clock, linked to the refs watch so that everyone knows how much actual time is left. This removes the need for 'Stoppage time' and again gives clarity for all watching and participating. Any official, whether ref or VAR official who makes an 'significant' error should be banned for three weeks - equivalent of a red card. All of this is entirely wishful thinking, will never be introduced and we will continue to plod along for another decade or so.

Most of France is incredible, particularly the rural hinterlands of Dordogne, Ardeche and Ardenne. Never tire of visiting and provided you make an effort with the language the locals are generally incredibly welcoming. Only ever had poor service and anti-English sentiment in Paris (and once we started to speak a little French even they were ok). Morocco is a beautiful place but I think you need to get away from the tourist centres of Marrakesh and Agadir. This isn't for the feint hearted and is a little challenging if you happen to be travelling with a very pretty blond woman! I understand why some don't like the USA, but I really love it over there. So much variety in landscapes, things to do, cuisine, cultures and experiences. The New England coast north of Boston is my favourite.

I went yesterday with my 10 year old daughter. She has played football for the last 4 years and we have been to a few Womens' Internationals, England Men v Croatia (Nations League) and a few Saints games - mainly friendlies until the Coventry FA Cup game this year. Firstly the atmosphere at a women's match is far more family friendly. Many many more women, families and kids than you would ever see at a Premier League game or Men's International. It isn't, however, devoid of morons. There were two blokes who were escorted out by police and stewards (with very upset kids and wives in tow) just after the Germany equaliser. Another chap tried to start singing 'Ten German bombers' in the Mens toilets in between full time and extra time - I firmly told him to stop (which he did and looked quite sheepish after too). There were clearly some people who had been on the pop all afternoon and couldn't handle it. I also saw some supporters be very rude to stewards at the end of the game. But comparing that to the fighting at the Saints v Coventry game (in the Itchen) and the idiots who were looking for fights after the game it is chalk and cheese. The issues at Wembley yesterday were in the very real minority - it was probably the most lovely atmosphere I have experienced at a big game. Thank god we won and my daughter was there to see it!