Sheaf Saint

Nope. Never.

Amazing. Fair play to Fisi. What the hell is going on with Button though? The car is obviously OK cos Barichello is doing alright at the moment, so what's gone wrong from the start of the season?

This is precisely my view as well. Never been bothered by Oasis - the main reason is that I can't stand Liam's voice. He's just an untalented, arrogant gobsh1te and this comes through in his singing. The only Oasis songs I have ever really liked have had Noel on vocals, so I look forward to hearing what he comes up with as a solo artist.

Hang on a sec. Souness gives his opinion when asked, and you accuse him of talking out of his backside???????? Well I guess you speak from a position of authority when it comes to talking out of backsides, but please forgive me if I don't agree with your summary. Out of interest... Why would Souness give a false reply to that question? Please give me one good reason why he would do that, because I can't think of a single one.

Who's the coolest bloke in a hospital? The Ultrasound guy! Who's the coolest when the Ultrasound guy isn't at work? The Hip Replacement guy!

You know that Black Beauty? He's a dark horse I'm telling you.

Right, I've just finished making up my mix and it has been a bit of a nightmare tbh. It's not as easy as some people might think. There's so many different ways you can approach it. At first I just wanted to put together a list of some of my favourite songs of all time, because I think you can tell a lot about someone from their specific musical tastes. But then it dawned on me that a lot of those songs, although they mean something to me on a personal level, are probably quite obvious and most people will be familiar with them. So I decided to put together a selection of much more obscure tracks that a lot of TSW users may not have heard of, so that I can hopefully introduce you all to some music that you perhaps might never have discovered otherwise, but the problem with that is that a lot of the tunes I had in mind are so obscure that they are not listed on Spotify. I think, or at least hope, I have managed to strike up a good balance. There are some songs and artists that most will be familiar with, and I hope that those you haven't heard before are to your liking. There's some very new stuff, there is also some very old stuff. I wanted to have a diverse range of styles that have either influenced me over the years or that are what I am listening to at this stage of my life. The newer stuff is mostly inspired from acts that I have seen at festivals over the last couple of years. I hope you all enjoy it. Will be interesting to get some feedback.

If there is hope, it lies with the Proles.

OK Draganov. I apologise for coming across as patronising. But I don't like it when people automatically make assumptions about my views on certain subjects based solely on comments I have made on another totaly unrelated subject. To me that demonstrates an irrational prejudice. I like to read the facts on each individual case and make my own mind up based on the information I have available to me, rather than make sweeping generalistions about people based on whatever pigeon-hole I can fit them in to. Just because McGuiness and Adams were never convicted of murder, does not make them innocent. Accordingly, just because Al Megrahi was convicted does not mean he is actually guilty. As far as I am concerned he was found guilty by a corrupt kangaroo court.

Err, no. Clearly you haven't actually read my earlier response to your question about Martin McGuiness. Be a good boy and go back and read that first before you start making pathetic, ill-informed judgements on my beliefs.

Some people need to get some perspective methinks.... We have to consider that we barely had a pre-season at all because nobody knew if the club was even going to exist at the start of the season. We appointed a new manager just a week or so before the season began, meaning he will have had very little time to assess the current squad and identify new transfer targets. By the time we were able to start spending some of ML's cash, most of the better available players had been snapped up by other clubs. Add to all of this the fact that we, as a club, NEVER start a season well. AP has already admitted (what everybody with eyes already knew) that the squad needs strenghthening, and that we can expect more signings before deadline day (which is another 10 days away). Seriously - what did some people expect? The fact that we haven't been dicked 5-0 in every game so far should be looked at as a positive IMO.

Hold your horses. You will need to complete the takeover first before anything like that gets the go-ahead.

According to the news this morning, Mr Al Megrahi is preparing to release the new evidence which he was going to present at his appeal hearing, and that it will then be up to the people of the world to act as jury and decide whether or not he is guilty. It will be very interesting to see just what this evidence is.

If that happens, I will eat my own testicles. Al Megrahi is about as far removed from the typical profile of an islamic terrorist as my aunt Betty is. At what point have we heard this guy shouting "death to the infidels?" Oh that's right, we haven't. In fact he was full of praise for the people of Scotland in his statement to the press yesterday. Does that seem to you like somebody who is willing to die in the name of Allah so that he can go to paradise and have his 72 virgins?

Just watched In The Loop Brilliant political satire from the team that brought us The Thick Of It, which will make you laugh til it hurts. Some of the best improvised comedy you will ever see, but at the same time it is actually quite scary because the 'headless chicken' image it portrays of the UK and US governments is so believable. I watched the extras after the film and in an interview with the director (Armando Ianucci of The Day Today fame) he admitted that most of the storyline was based on real research and observations of government ministers' activities. Sharply observed and brilliantly scripted. The funniest film I have watched in a long, long time. 9/10

Interesting you should mention that, but way off the mark I think. Apparently when Al Megrahi was handed over by Libya, the US was given assurances from the UK govt (not the Scottish parliament) that there would be no transfers and he would spend the rest of his life in a Scottish jail. Kenny Mcaskill claims he was reminded of this fact by the US authorities when they lodged their objection to his release, so he wrote to Westminster for clarification. Being the spineless bunch of cowards our ruling party are they refused to comment, so Mr McCaskill was left to make the decision on his own. Gordon Brown can't even tie his f***ing shoelaces without proper consultation. Why on earth would he feel the need to get involved in a dispute between the Scottish Parliament and the US State Department?

Seeing as his health will have deteriorated to the point that he would no longer be a threat to anybody, and that he will be certain to die a slow and painful death from cancer anyway, yes I would have.

I can understand why somebody might be so consumed by bitterness towards somebody for something they may or may not have done, that they could not find it within them to show any compassion or forgiveness. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that nobody close to me has ever been murdered, so I can't say for certain that I would not feel the same way if I ever did find myself in that situation. What I cannot understand is why somebody would decide, and state publically, that an entire nation of people should be ashamed of themselves because they disagree with the decision of just one member of that population. No amount of anger or frustration could ever lead me to that conclusion myself. It would be like blaming the entire population of Germany for the actions of the U-boat commander who gave the order to torpedo the ship my great grandfather was serving on when he was killed.

well clearly not all of them have shown any forgiveness. It was depressingly inevitable (although, I admit, understandable) that we would have american relatives on TV yesterday speaking of their outrage at this decision based on their bitter need for revenge and their blind faith in the justice system that convicted him in the first place. One woman who was interviewed said "The people of the UK should be ashamed of themselves" - as if an entire population is at fault and should be condemned for Kenny McCaskill's decision. I find it amazing, but not in the least bit surprising, that people can allow their blinkered hatred to influence them into making such ridiculous generalisations.

Many have, yes. And many also don't believe he is guilty either. That speaks volumes IMO.

From Wiki... It would seem that the principle of 'beyond reasonable doubt' has been scandalously overlooked in this case.

I really don't see how you can draw any comparisons between the two men. McGuiness was always open and proud about his involvement with the IRA, and yes I find it pretty sickening that he now finds himself in a position of such power in the NI Assembly because he clearly is a murdering bastard, and he has never denied this. Please could you explain how this relates in any way to the case of Al Megrahi - a man who was convicted on extremely dodgy evidence and has always maintained his innocence?

Firstly, his conviction in the first place was shaky to say the very least. I've been doing some research on this today and it appears that the man who positively identified Al Megrahi as the man that bought the clothes which were found in the suitcase which contained the bomb was 'buttered up' by the Scottish police, and that this is pretty much the extent of the evidence against him. Secondly, he did not 'lose' an appeal in 2002 - he was not given permission to lodge one in the first place. Not the same thing at all. The Scottish govt agency that investigates miscarriages of justice reviewed the case in 2007 and agreed that he had very good grounds on which to lodge an appeal, and he was subsequently given the go-ahead. Thirdly, the reason he has dropped his latest appeal is because it meant he would be allowed to go home to Libya to live out his days. He was given the option of dropping the appeal and going home, or continuing it and living out the rest of his life in a Scottish prison... What would you have done? Read his full statement from today here Does that sound like the words of a murdering terrorist to any of you? Not me. I thought the whole point of terrorism was to admit to carrying it out so those they oppose, and indeed the rest of the world, know who did it. Don't all islamic terrorists go round screaming things like 'death to the infidels' or similar? I am well aware this is a poor stereotype but just making a point: Al Megrahi clearly does not fit that stereotype in any way. I'm sorry if this offends those who believe strongly in the integrity of the US and UK governments, and in the principle of 'An eye for an eye', but I do not believe this man was guilty at all, and I am saddened that by giving him no choice other than to drop his appeal, the truth will now never be known.

I thought that was in Peru????? :smt102

Exactly. I admit I don't know the ins and outs of the case, but it has been suggested for many years that his conviction was about as safe as a taxi ride with a blind driver.