Sheaf Saint

Reade and Toynbee may well have been fiercely critical of Margaret Thatcher in what they wrote. I'm not aware, however, of either of them printing outright lies about her and refusing to retract them when corrected.

Doesn't really matter where this story was published really. It's a direct quote from a former Conservative cabinet member who knew Ralph Miliband personally having studied with him.

Nonsense. The outcry would be the same if the article appeared in any of the other nationals. But that's beside the point, because none of the rest of them would have had the indecency and poor taste to print such a 'story' in the first place. The fact that the Mail published it only serves to reinforce the reasons why so many people find it to be such a disgusting rag.

I wouldn't know the first thing about submarines so it's good to know that somebody with experience of the subject matter thinks that. I guess because Clancy himself served in the military and that accuracy and attention to detail was important to him.

Read a few of his books in my younger days, and enjoyed the numerous film adaptations - most notably Patriot Games (I even enjoyed The Sum of All Fears despite it starring Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan.) Took me months to get through The Bear and The Dragon (I read quite slowly!) but it was well worth it... An epic story on a grand scale. RIP Tom.

Wow! That's a lot of strawmen for somebody who only last week was complaining about himself being the victim of stereotyping and generalisation.

They ruined it by bringing Gus back from the dead and turning everyone into zombies though. Too far-fetched IMO.

While we are at it, can everybody point out to the fans singing that moronic "we've got Pochettino, Pochettino" song that his name is pronounced "po-cke-tee-no". If we are going to sing songs about our manager then the very least we can do is pronounce it properly.

That's a very good shout. I've made sloe gin and blackberry vodka before (got some of the latter on the go at the moment from what I found in my garden) but I've never considered combining them before.

I fail to see how the club could even consider withholding your ST without any physical evidence. Even just CCTV footage of you sipping from a hip flask isn't conclusive. If they didn't even confiscate the flask then they cannot prove there was alcohol in it. You could just claim it was Ribena and they can't prove otherwise. If you argue your point on these grounds then I think you will be fine. If they still ban you despite that then there is something seriously wrong with the world.

I'm well ahead of you there. The black cherry tree near me was giving ripe fruit back in july...

He had a point about the penalty decisions though to be fair. The one given against them was very soft and would not be given 9 times out of 10, and the handball at the other end was so obvious and really should have been a pen.

Crap highlights from the beeb. They didn't show J-rod's disallowed goal or Davis' effort that went just over. It's as if they have some sort of anti-Saints agenda

Thought he was harshly booked today which might have affected his game a little. He wasn't as effective as he was at Anfield last week but he still put in a decent shift.

It's that time of year again. After the disappointment of only managing to find enough sloes to make about a litre of sloe gin last year, there's a bumper crop of everything available this year following the hot summer we had... Gonna make some hawthorn jelly and some rosehip syrup. Got some apples from my mum's garden so will probably make a crumble with the blackberries. Not decided what to do with the elderberries yet. I've never tried making wine before and a friend of mine has some wine-making kit that he no longer uses, so I might give that a go. Will probably need to pick some more first though.

Job done. First half was scrappy and unspectacular, but with the two early goals in the second half it was over as a contest as Palace didn't offer any real threat (no shots on target the whole game). Great to see Osvaldo get his first (of many, I hope) for us and a wonderful free kick from SRL. Defence looked much better second half after a couple of panicky moments in the first. I'm still a little worried about Wanyama's passing though. He can't seem to ever find a team-mate when he isn't under any pressure. A solid performance from him otherwise. MOTM for me goes to Lovren again. He has brought so much confidence to our defence it's like we are a completely different team with him at the back.

1990 I believe, although we lost 2-1.

what the goddam living f**K was that from Wanyama!?

Palace's best move of the game so far - Jerome blazes over the bar.

Ossie nearly puts J-rod in. Good move

Gaston on for Lallana

Aaaah, bugger. J-rod offside - doesn't count. Good decision as well.

I'm getting a nosebleed!

If it finishes like this we will be on 11 points and City only on 10.