moonraker

I find this all very sad. As parents we are always being told we have to work with schools and support them, something I have always done having put 6 children through the system (2 still in it). I have in the past taken my children out of school, with approval, for special holidays with Grandparents and Relatives. I like the vast majority of parents are responsible and consider the effect on our children. In my experience most school trips for things other than genuine curriculum field trips are taken during term time i.e. skiing and other sport which seems to against the reason for this rule. Additionally I am involved with youth organisation that has a standard letter for schools for children who wish to attend the organisations courses and these are nearly always approved. The worst case I have heard of is a lady who was refused permission and fined for requesting and being refused permission to take her children out of school to attend her wedding!!!! My point is that family holidays are very important for family cohesion and happiness and if the choice is between taking your children out of school or no holiday then I would vote for the holiday everytime. PS I do not blame teachers, this is Gove and strangely possible aaided and abetted by the NUT nutjobs. Lets face it the tory leadership kids go to fee paying schools it dosnt affect them, they have much longer holidays than state school children and therfore benefit from the cheaper deals.

Big Ron must be up there, the best centre forward in Europe!

I think you are right there may well be a swing to the SNP position because of the Torys unfortunately as pointed out above the UK is very regionalised when it comes to party following, try finding a Labour MP west of Bristol or indeed any MP from the main parties in NI. Oh the irony of the Conservative and Unionist party being in Government for the break up of the Union.

Its the top job at the Pompey Job centre, as the job requires no particular qualifications or skills so workshy skates are applying to make it look like they are actively seeking employment, its highly likely one of them will get the job on the Tory work for free scheme.

For me MC is the greatest post war product of SFC. I know it was a different era and he did briefly do the big club bit but at heart there has only ever been one club in his heart and 600 appearances bears testament to it. He had supreme skill and I have no doubt with modern training and fitness methods he would be a top international. Many happy returns from one moonraker to another.

Scotland will become the Nation equivilent of Pompey under the fiscally incompetent and conning fish siblings just like there skate cousins.

The problem is although it is called Sports Personality of the Year it has nothing to do with personality, it should be called most popular sportsman of the year.

Spurs are a signifcant club in Engalnd, they have a lot of plastics, tough they are aging due to lack of recent sucess and as mentoned above there are more toons and from my experince diry leeds shirts around than TH. On the European and World stage they hardly register in the modern era, so whilst they have a proud history they are not a big club in the Utd, Arsenal, Celtic, RM, Barca, Bayern sense oh and they are from London!

Sadly I fear not, it would be great call.

If players were judged on on the odd the below standard performances we would have no footballing hero's. SRL along with AL are todays true saints, they have been with us since the dark days and have grown with us to the point that they are both now internationals playing in a team that everyione is talking about, both are very close to being full blown legends.

Does this mean you are in favour of PR in elections?

"They were dropped in behind 'enemy lines' ten months after the Second World War had ended and remained operating their intelligence- gathering missions until October 1990" Blimey they must have been ancient when they finnaly got home, a bit like those Japanease sodiers who held out in the jungle for years.

Twice this year and twice last year, its far better than it was, it may get into the finals of the most improved but it is still way behind thiose I named, in my opinion.

Where can I find the official classification for cities in terms of Industrial City, Port City, etc? Your point that no Southern City has an industrial past is simply ridiculous and demonstrates you have little knowledge of industrial history and heritage or are just another WUM. Take Bristol, it has been or still is a major centre for Ship Building, Aircraft Manufacture, Engine Manufacture, Chocolate, Cigarettes are these not industries built on industrial processess. Also if you looked beyond the Georgian Facade of Bath you would discover that up until the 1980's the City had a significant industrial base, Stothert and Pitt Crane Makers to the World, Bath Cabinet Makers Pitman’s Press plus significant others including Clarks Shoes all industrial companies employing over 10,000 people out of a working population of maybe 25,000.

From Southampton being on an insignificant and meaningless list of Crap Towns why has this degenerated into a Liverpool v Southampton ding dong? I have not lived in either, but I have visited both on many occasions visiting relatives and friends, for business and for football. I would not move to either city they are both wanabee big cities with no unique features or attaraction, with typical wanabee city problems and notable deprived areas. Neither is a patch on London, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol or Newcastle and neither are in the same carpiness league as Bradford, Portsmouth, (I have lived there and despite the heritage it is still a pile of sh*te), Middleborough, Hull, Newport and many more. In my opinion cities are best when they can are small and intimate more like Chester, Cambridge, Bath, Salisbury. One other point Tourism really is good for a city, the small cities I mentioned all have significant tourist industries yet are highly desirable places to live with high property values, low crime, a wide variety of employment across the salasry range, multiple leisure choices and generally a cleaner and more pleasant environment.

Just read the objections of Mr and Mrs Starns, wow this is really going to impact on their lives! noise from the dome banging away 24 hours a day and unable to walk her dog around a field that dos not belong to her? not forgetting her phobia of people, perhaps they should move to a more remote location, Marchwood is hardly Dartmoor.

MILE JEDINAK??? yes but as the foot notes say he has a special local or station connection? he plays for Palace is a Auz international and seems to be representing New Cross over ground Stn. which on this map is the nearest to Selhurst Park, still a bit random tough!

You missed out the most important crossover player - Jimmy Dickinson!

Im 1 in the 20!

I did say heavily influenced, I am sure if the salary and transfer fee were not right he would not have gone to his "boyhood club".

There is of course a tipping point when any club will sell any player, Bale Ronaldo, the speculation on here is what is the tipping point. In simple money terms it is not in my opinion £15m or anywhere close. The tipping point will be determined by a number of factors, the one most often repeated is the players desire to leave. As of today we have no evidence of this, many are assuming, understandably so, that if a big club comes in for him he will want to go but an assumption is all this is. In terms of Chelsea I do not subscribe to he’s a supporter angle I can not think of a single major transfer that has been heavily influenced by the team the player preferred as a child. In addition his 5 year contract means the club do not have to sell him any time soon and what we all seem to agree on is that NC will not be pushed around. Finally I believe a key to Luke’s immediate future is how well we do this season, whilst I am not in the CL spot space I do feel that anything from 8th upward would provide real food for thought for the lad, he may be much more attracted by the prospect of being part of what might be our beloved clubs finest hours.

These stories in themselves are lots of spin, the real value is the exposure of practices, legal or not, that exploit migrant workers. DP has pointed out that there are laws in Qatar to deal with this situation the issue is enforcement and that to often custom and practice overrides legal obligations. The awarding of major international events to otherwise totally unsuitable or undeserving hosts provides a catalyst for greater scrutiny of the hosts and will I am sure lead to changes for the good in the long term. Finally as DP also notes Western big business has been complicit in these practises for years, perhaps as with sexual offences we apply our laws on H&S, employment etc to our citizens for breaking UK law in a foreign country.

listening to radio bristol commentary, dire it is, tough they have recognised that saints are the better team, just. Just had a dig about the crowd, bigging up the wonderful city support, all 500 of them, and saying the people of Southampton cant be bothered!

"We've jerked Billy about, who now faces 4 months without a game" Is the loan window for Football League clubs closed? I didn't think it was. The Championship is where Billy is headed.

my point exactly