Polaroid Saint

I really liked it. You have to give in to the guys ego and then just roll with the story.

Not online, but a hard copy? Hmmm, some fanzines are doing pretty well these days. As per all the caveats above though, has to have a USP and a house style that would appeal to the average fan. Not sure the average fan craves fanzine nostalgia enough though?

Ha. Hardly glamorising football there! I wonder if he ever managed to find a brown leather jacket that actually fitted him? Great hair too.

Sorry Alps, it is just Banter really. I find your posts amusing for the most part, occasionally prescient and sometimes just quite sad; hence why I would never put you on ignore! Your original post 6109 about us requiring four new players in four positions was in response to today's 'news' we are only after two more signings this window. You managed to spin a negative by implying (nay asserting) that the club had de-prioritised two positions... ...this is negative, it is a dig at the club pretty much spun out of nothing. Yes you can be of the opinion we need four more players; but you can't then claim the club has purposely decided not to try for two of them; in the clubs 'opinion' we only need two, so no de-prioritising going on. Just (yet another) drip drip effect of negativity, not provocative in and of itself, but just another salvo of despair from the mountains! Love you really, keep on frowning! EDIT: and sorry to everyone else, but there is very little actual transfer rumour news today. I will cease.

The Alpine Factor. Never fails. You know they send him in to clear up oil slicks? Just roll him out and all the blackness gets sucked up into his soul. He then spits it out on here. Aboubakar anyone? Striker quick can play on the wing, or going to Hull?

Mainstream, no, but they (with others), did allow the opposite to happen: Guys like me who had previously had avoided football because of the f*cktards and louts, started wearing our colours again. If my favourite bands and alternative icons were into football openly it meant I didn't have to hide my love of the game away. I was 'suddenly' allowed to discuss the game in terms that David Gedge would understand and enjoy supporting my team again. That coupled with my mum buying me Desmond Morris's The Soccer Tribe and I was hooked again. I think indie bands did less to make football Popular in the late eighties and nineties (you are right that Safe Stadia and Sky did that) but they did make it COOL!!!

I hope you are right, but I am a frayed knot.

Roses are massive United fans except Reni who is Citeh. I mean, seriously huge fans. IIRC a gig I was meant to be attending (Cardiff?) was cancelled because it clashed with United's first trip into Europe for about five years. All part of the holy trinity Football Music Fashion, which has to go back to the Liverpool traveling fans of the eighties (the birth of the casual) etc. Oh. I'm getting nostalgic. Where's me Sergio Tacchini tracky top gone..?

Vincent Aboubakar rumours resurfacing again. Probably only due to Hull being a striker short now (Hehe) but hey, that's what this thread is for yes?!

It's the posters that I have arguments with on TSW, that I reckon I would have a good laugh with in real life! Bit of a spark n that. Sadly I am very much the same pr!ck/wonderful human being (delete as applicable) in real life as I am on here.

This is a very well written paper that gives an opinion on the history of Islamic radicalism that would be useful to anyone seriously interested in learning more about the subject. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14690760601121648#/doi/full/10.1080/14690760601121648

No problem. I am a real man like that. I would hate it if people thought I was some sort of paranoid or obsessive internet warrior with a line in snide putdowns. ;-)

Quite the opposite in fact. I consider my opinion to be of very little merit to me personally. It is only ever a placeholder until a better* one takes its place. If, however, my 'opinions' (I prefer the phrase 'current understanding') can help others form better opinions then I voice them, otherwise I stay silent. I seriously do NOT assume anything in life, real or online; I am genuinely sorry if that is the impression I give. *By 'better' I mean more informed, more rounded, more precise.

Brilliant. Yes it is my 'education' at fault here; I read BOOKS! And form OPINIONS based on research and academia. Shock! Horror! (Although, I would say it is generally agreed - of course open to be further research, proof/disproof - that the human animal is a social one, and naturally tries to integrate. As per that caveat, I'll take the TSW forum rule that any disputable fact is 'an opinion'.) Oh nose! You have outed me as an 'intellectual'! - "Boo Hiss, the man has chosen to spend his life on a quest for knowledge. What a cùnt! Let's ignore his opinions, for his reasonable approach to knowledge gathering scares us." Ignorance may be bliss my friends, but you should not take pride in it.

Once more. Look up Sayyid Qutb. Fascinating man and life. Hopefully that will help with your questions about timings.

You are absolutely correct. Most mass integrations are the final result of prolonged and bloody struggle. That was misleading of me, In my defence I was only using such an extreme example to counter the 'facts' as presented by GM. I do not believe it is a 'fact' immigrants don't wish to integrate. Sorry Sour Mash, I would love to take credit for the insight that Humans prefer to integrate rather than not; but I have to tip my hat to the thousands of anthropologists who have come before me. It is human nature to attempt to blend in. There will always be individuals, groups and iconoclasts who do not bend to this most basic of human traits, but the vast majority of humans prefer not to be noticed, to acclimatise and integrate. We are gregarious creatures, therefore it is in our nature to want to be accepted by 'the group'. Most importantly I refute GMs suggestion that Powell's opinion that 'immigrants do not wish to integrate' is/was a fact.

And he was wrong. It is human nature to integrate. Humanity's history is simply a series of emigrations and integrations (we even integrated with another species with the Neanderthals FFS). Look at the country Powell was so scared of, the States. At the time of his speech the USA was undergoing racial turmoil (primarily due to its racial segregation laws, not immigration, but hey, the facts didn't bother Powell then, so why should they bother us now!?). Let's also remember, this was purely a racially motivated position. Black people. Not religious (nowt to do with Muslims). Powell highlighted America as a warning. That same country now has a multiracial leader and its 'immigration problems' are with economic migrants from Hispanic America (much more similar to the UK in the sixties in fact.) Sure America still has some serious racial issues (its young black prison population for one), but, through multiculturalism, they are continuing to build their nation. Perhaps they could serve as an example of how to handle racial/cultural tensions? You, on the other hand, are suggesting we go back nearly fifty years for cultural advice from a man whose obvious prejudices did untold damage to open dialogue about race in the UK then and since. Bizarre.

Good point on the timings and a key mention of Suez... ...If anyone really wants to know about the recent history of Islamic fundamentalism (rather than pontificate on immigration and foreign policy), then they would do well to look up the name "Sayyid Qutb". This man is at the root of Islamic 'evil' in much the same way Edward Bernays is at the root of western 'evil'. (Don't get me wrong, I don't subscribe to the 'great man theory' of history, but individuals are good markers of historical context). Say again; Sayyid Qutb. Worth learning about.

Slightly redundant maybe? Even if 'National Pride' swells on the day of the vote and a vote for independence is returned I am not sure it will ever happen? All sorts of legal and tricky bits and bobs to sort that will leave the whole thong stuck in the mud - Westminster will bury the constitutional settlement process for years, I would not be surprised to see the results of the referendum quashed (or at least partially negated) by successive legal challenges either. In some ways I wish it were to happen. Then Kernow can get independence too, and them Pimlico and so on. I quite like the idea of an independent Wessex.

Slightly redundant maybe? Even if 'National Pride' swells on the day of the vote and a vote for independence is returned I am not sure it will ever happen? All sorts of legal and tricky bits and bobs to sort that will leave the whole thong stuck in the mud - Westminster will bury the constitutional settlement process for years, I would not be surprised to see the results of the referendum quashed (or at least partially negated) by successive legal challenges either. In some ways I wish it were to happen. Then Kernow can get independence too, and them Pimlico and so on. I quite like the idea of an independent Wessex.

This^

Not worrying too much about the result. The bear is probably right and rumours of a loss are likely to be true. I just want us to nick the SuperLambBananna. As its a bit like the names of them players that left. Go on boys, Fuxk it up. Its on Tithbarn Street. Even just a little friendly, easily removed, graffiti. *gameface* EDIT: I mean look at this thing. The opportunity is too good to waste no? StupidLamboLallana;

Bordeaux got pwnd. Lols.