Saintandy666

Boris Johnson is very calculated. His whole public persona is constructed, and it is a brilliant one at that as it allows him to get away with stuff other politicians never could. But I really do think we should be wary of him and look at his record and his policies behind his admittedly likeable character.

If we stay up this season, there is no reason why we can't cement a top half finishing position within 3 seasons. Especially if current investment levels continue.

Yes, I think there is a problem in this country re: young vs. old budget balance and the rewards are being reaped now with record youth unemployment whereby money continuously gets ploughed into where the votes are going to come from; and older people vote so politicians are scared to upset them in any way. Youth unemployment is a critical problem, if don't sort it out now in 10 years time we are going have a lost generation of people who have missed out on 10 years of potential skills and career development.

The income tax band increase is huge and will make a big difference to lots of people. Hopefully it can eventually be put up to a level where no one on the minimum wage pays any income tax.

There's a lot more hype around Shaw and he is young and British... and that for whatever reason raises prices!

Love this.

Indeed, but he barely played for them, and was still a teenager!

I dunno, I think he is more anonymous than say Luke Shaw. But I do have confidence with the new regime to keep hold of our stars. We have do well to do so so far, as well as strengthening. Bar Oxlade-Chamerlain, but that wasn't in the premier league.

I hope Morgan is a one club man.

Still very close if Wigan can go on a run though... which they can.

Draw Villa QPR would be better. Would mean even if wigan win twice, we still have a 3 point cushion.

I think Man U are definitely a semi final standard team though. They were just exceptionally unlucky to meet Real in the last 16. That game should have been a final or a semi final really...

Indeed, I wonder how many years of failure it would take to lose our 4th Champions League space...

Such a shame, the condom issue is so important as well, and if the new Pope doesn't signal a change a lot more people will die. I don't see how the regressive hole can be gotten out of though. The Pope selects the Cardinals, and from what is reported the Cardinals appointed by Benedict reflected his views and so on and so forth, so I don't really see how a Pope with reasonable views on contraception will ever be selected soon :/

Considering there are 1.2bn Catholics, many of whom care a great deal what the Pope says, I think it does! I am no Catholic, but the Pope is a man of great influence, so we probably shouldn't just dismiss him as a nothing.

We're currently 4 points from the dropzone, and I'd quite like to keep that at least at 3 after these two tricky rounds of matches. Looking at the other teams fixtures, I think we need a minimum 1 point from these two, but it might be more. Depends who comes out on top in QPR vs. Aston Villa.

I don't know. She seems a quite strong character, and the way she tried and used this(many years down the line) to implicate Huhne, but not herself was very coy and manipulative. I don't think it is the actions of a weak-willed person.

The fine point is a good one. I guess their family and professional life have been trashed more by personal and media forces than state forces. However, I wouldn't want to get to a point whereby poor people get fines because it is a punishment, and rich people don't. Especially if there is a big correlation between poverty, unemployment and so on and crime as the figures appear to show.

Demanding stats, the old SW backup! I would point to the fact firstly that crime happens everywhere regardless of system harshness. There is absolutely no country in the world which is crime free. However, there are obviously differences. Looking at recorded cases of crimes per 100,000 people of selected countries - US - 5.0 England and Wales - 1.1 Norway 0.6. Now, if you want to look at which of those systems concentrate on harsher sentences as opposed to rehab, the correlation is there. However, I would personally say that the real conclusion is that there is little direct correlation between crime and penal system. I would probably criticise my figures though in that obviously what is and isn't a crime is entirely subjective to the state that rules present in that given country at the moment. I think the main thing I am trying to say here is that the idea that people won't commit 'crime' because of a longer jail sentence is rubbish. If you look at the figures there is a much stronger correlation between poverty, unemployment and blocked goals than with sentence length. Though that of course has little to do with this specific case, but we'd do well to remember that within the grand scheme of crime this is just one case and not necessarily the indicator of any trend.

Of course they deserve to get the normal punishment. That wasn't really my argument at all. I was arguing against those who claimed they should go to prison because it acts as a deterrent.

Because I honestly do not think punishment level has a big deterrent effect in most cases. Those that end up committing crimes do it regardless(and there are theories for that)... hence why people do the same stuff over and over and over again despite many demonstrations of deterrent. Don't misunderstand me here. They did wrong, and they should be punished for that. I just don't think it will have the great deterrent effect you hope for.

Oh I'm aware that cases are done to prove a point. I'm not that misty eyed my dear And I'm not defending him at all. He's done wrong, I just don't see the point of jailing him, given the context. However, it sounds like he'll only be actually in jail for 4-6 weeks.

Huhne: 8 months. According to a lawyer earlier, he'll be in for about 2 months and then will be on curfew. Pryce also gets 8 months.

Hmmm, going in harder on Pryce in my opinion. Calling her 'controlling, manipulative and devious'.

I have to disagree with you! I think everyone should be treated equally under the law, regardless of social position. Especially in cases like this, where the actual crime could have happened to anyone with the same ease regardless of their job etc