SaintBobby

yeah, ur right, was looking at the draw 11/2 on Saints to win is not bad.

I think we're only about 3/1 to win at Old Trafford, when were we ever such short odds at Old Trafford? Still, head says home win.

It will either be MIT or Wonga. I'm happy with either!

Well, I'd be surprised if that's down to MIT making a profit of £31,000 a student. In any event, even if you want to cap English univeristy fees at £9k pa, I'm assuming you wouldn't object to someone setting up their own university and charging £9k per student but only spending, say, £6K per student - i.e. making a £3K profit per student? People would only go if they thought it was worth it - otherwise they could go to a not-for-profit university where all £9K is spent on them. But maybe the profit-making uni has such brilliant dynamism, efficiency, imagination and creativity that their offering is still very attractive. If it is and they make a huge profit, good luck to them. I wouldn't say they were exploiting human misery or desperation ("young people being desperate for an education given the poor state of the job market" etc etc), I'd say they were providing a great service that people wanted to buy.

That seems like a specific complaint against some pharma companies. You wouldn't object to, say, Rocco Forte running a chain of brilliant schools and getting rich from it? It's not "profits before humanity", it's a profit for helping humanity. At the moment, if Rocco Forte's main aim is to get rich, but (say) his main ability would be running a chain of schools, he is going to decide to do something he is less good at (say, running hotels). So, people who enjoy nice hotels benefit from his decision. Rocco Forte also gets rich. And kids suffer because there's less talented people helping them to become numerate and literate. I think it's actually immoral NOT to allow people to make decent profits in services like health and education for just this reason. That's not to say I approve of the behaviour of all companies (we need to make sure they aren't incentivisied to e.g. make people sick only to then financially benefit from curing them for example!) but then the state isn't exactly a paragon of virtue either (see Mid Staffs causing 1,200+ needless deaths, terrible abuse in many state-run children's homes etc etc)

Never really got why we don't like people making a profit from "caring sharing stuff". It's okay to get rich by running a chain of hotels or singing pop songs, but if you're skill is nursing the sick back to health or helping kids become numerate and literate and helping people who have screwed up their finances, you're supposed to do this basically out of altruism and kindness. I think that's the wrong way round, I'd be very happy indeed for people to get stinking rich by, say, running a chain of brilliant schools or superb hospitals. That seems to me to easily as justfiable a way to become a multi-millionaire as, say, being a professional footballer.

I'm not really worried about Wonga profiting from a miserable situation - if they are doing something to try and relieve or mitigate the misery. I mean, doctors and nurses working in A&E are making a living from a miserable situation, trying to patch together people who have been beaten up, got injured or been in a car smash. Are they exploiting people too? I agree that financial mismanagement may be why some people turn to Wonga. Although I know other cases too (one mate is a jobbing actor, he does okay, but his income is VERY lumpy...he might even have already done a month's acting work, knowing the cheque is sure to arrive but hasn't yet...). Plus, like I said above, Wonga isn't the last resort - that would be a truly illegal and viscous loan shark. If Wonga are making a profit because some people are in miserable situations and Wonga make that misery just a little bit less miserable, good luck to them.

Sorry to hear that. But people do make ludicrous financial decisions all the time. Re-mortgaging their house to invest in their own idiotic businesses that would even make the first cut for Dragon's Den etc. You can't ask financial services companies to protect everyone. Someone who goes overdrawn on their standard current account to place a bet doesn't seem to blame Barclays when Northern ireland surprisingly win a football match. Short bridging loans also do a lot of good for a lot of people - especially the self-employed. E.g. knowing you've got, say, £1,000 coming into your bank account in seven days' time, but that you need £200 to tide you over for a week right now. This is the standard sort of reason for a pay day loan. Are we better to say "Sorry, best you go hungry for the next week?".

Nice to see people starting to worry about Saints players doing too well! Sign of very good times.

Am not aware of the state helping people clear their debts. If the state does so, it shouldn't. I think we're likely to see some pretty good evidence coming out soon about how Wonga and other pay-day lenders have squeezed out the real, nasty loan sharks in poor areas. The sort of guys who take your kneecaps as collateral. I think someone worked out that a Wonga loan's interest rates are the equivalent of borrowing £20 from a mate and a week later paying him back and buying him a pint of beer as a thank you. I wouldn't ban that sort of activity either.

I'm pretty pro-Wonga. Don't understand the fuss. If some broke bloke in your digs borrowed £300 from them and gambled it on an accumulator he is a total idiot. I don't generally want the law to protect people from their own idiocy. If Wonga's interest rates are exorbitant, why aren't other companies entering the market and offering short-term loans at better rates?

Yep, I am. Or rather my mate is, who occasionally uses this account. Well, not household name, but on TV/radio a lot.

Not so worried about lack of pace in the starting XI. They have done a great job. Am slightly worried we can't inject pace from the bench, basically "playing our joker" - de Ridder, Puncheon, Tandari Lee all gone. I'd have it in the options....

Did anyone else see the Lovren-Fonte reaction to the second goal? I didn't, but apparently they hugged on the halfway line (my Mrs said "it was practically tongues"). Only slightly off topic, but I think the keeper and the 2 centre backs are a great part of the team.

Don't like him one bit. But, hmmm...if I was Sunderland? God knows what they were thinking with di Canio in the first place. They would have stayed up with O'Neil anyway. Nuts.

Another marketing failure by the club tbh. Don't get me wrong, the progress in the important areas has been amazing. The "offer" in the ancillary areas (easily getting tickets, loyalty points for away games, hospitality) is just woeful. Utterly woeful.

He was pretty dreadful overall. I didn't boo him, but had my head in my hands a number of times. I'm grateful for his contribution to date, as I am with others - Hammond, Barnard etc - but he shouldn't be in the first XI or even close to it really. It's a brutal life being a footballer I guess, but theya re well paid for it, even if they can't cut it at the top level.

I'm with Alpine.We should stop signing foreign players and we will get relegated this season.He's not here today. But I thought I'd troll on his behalf if that's okay with folks here?

Last time we got 5 consecutive clean sheets?

How bad are Fulham this season? Serious relegation candidates?

We've become totally hysterical about smoking in Britain. Sure, it's bad for you. But you'd think it's the health equivalent of eating weapons grade plutonium for the paranoia it generates. Smoking an occasional cigarette is no more of a health risk than walking along a busy road and inhaling the fumes. A regular habit isn't smart for an athlete - or anyone else - but if Wilshere smokes, say, 2 or 3 cigarettes a week, it's a matter of total trivia.

Fascinating. I'd spent years wondering why 185 was a bigger number than 209. Thanks for clearing up the mystery.

Surprised Chamberlain hasn't developed as rapidly as I thought. He seemed to burst into the England team before fading away a bit.

The main job of a club is to subsidise its supporters. Free food, free beer, free travel. I just don't get why Cortese doesn't understand this. I imagine he just doesn't appreciate the years of support people have gone through. It must surely entitle them to a slice of cash. They were there in the hard times.

Sigh. All publicity is good publicity, I guess.