CHAPEL END CHARLIE

Of all the things to worry about in life fretting about the miniscule 'risk' of a radioactive Toyota clutch cable harming you ranks as about 5397 out of 5398. But it is interesting to be there at the birth a brand new conspiracy theory.

It's quality much more than numbers that matter this time, but if the next two signings are as good as the last one then we should be set up for a good season. I'm hoping for a capable CB to really challenge for Jaidi's place alongside Fonte (presuming Cork doesn't play there) and the pacy forward every team in world football is forever seeking. I can hardly wait - but will have to.

Me too - I went for that spectacular Monument Valley vista.

There's something within me that always sides with the underdog - and lets face it that is exactly what we were for all those years back in the 1st Div/Premiership. Of course Bobby Stokes winning the FA Cup for this grand old football club (against all the odds) back when I was at a impressionable age didn't hurt either. Whenever someone says that cup competitions don't matter .. well they kind of do really. Growing up in Poole where the only real choices are the Saints or AFC Bmth a boy has to pick his club rather than have it thrust upon him - I've never regretted my decision.

I haven't seen much of him recently, but while we had him he looked a decent prospect I thought, quick, strong, and he knows how to score too. He very nearly 'stole the show' with a mighty performance when we beat Carlisle at St Marys back in 2010 - a glimpse of things to come maybe. So very obviously in need of a move the current situation is a near criminal waste of talent that should not be tolerated. All just a fans opinion of course, the usual suspect need not take offence !

Ten off the top of my head : 1 - Is not engaging in (often successful) attempts to corrupt the police force not a much, much more grave cause for concern than hacking into someones phone ? How come we nearly always learn the name (and sometimes even see the 'mug shot') of anyone suspected of a high profile offence before they are even charged ? 2 - Is not the sensationalist reporting of criminal trials to the point of subverting the sub judice law not a very serious matter indeed ? 3 - Is not publishing photos of suffering people on their 'death beds' a disgraceful practice and a infinitely more serious matter than mere phone hacking ? 4 - Do you find that the written media, which as a matter of routine almost, publish stories that are distortions of the truth if not damn right lies to be causing real harm ? Is not deliberately publishing a lie worse than any invasion of privacy ? 5 - Has our press contributed to a disproportionate fear of crime that has had a serious effect on the way many people live their life's ? All those old people utterly convinced that there are army's of muggers awaiting them around every corner when the stats (for what they're worth) show that crime has been falling for years. 6 - Have newspapers coarsened British public life in recent years to a damaging extent by the manner in which they report stories ? Is it right that a self righteous newspaper 'campaign' can result in a Pediatrician (not a pedophile) having to flee his home in fear of a mob attack ? 7 - Some of our more downmarket tabloid newspapers seem to have become little better than purveyors of soft pornography - do you want your children exposed to that at home ? 8 - Do overpowerful media organisations always use their influence over politicians for our benefit - or theirs ? Absolute power corrupts absolutely. 9 - Do you really think that certain UK newspapers are always seeking to improve race relations in this country - or damage them ? 10 - Piers Morgan. None of the above is intended to trivialise the seriousness of the phone-hacking, however, we should put it into some kind of perspective should we not ? A self-righteousness high can also be a powerful anesthetic: and phone-hacking is most certainly not the worst thing newspapers do in this country - not by a long chalk. So just how far do I take public culpability for the behavior of the News of the Screws' and the rest of the gutter press they finance ? - well 'all the way' actually.

I've precious little sympathy for the travails of the gutter press - but there again the tidal wave of phoney outrage we're now undergoing as News International's competitors engage in a good old fashioned 'feeding frenzy' isn't a particularly edifying spectacle either. The notion that tapping into mobile phone messages is the worst thing that our press has ever done is laughable - it's not even in the 'top ten' of UK press 'crimes' in my view. Of course large elements of our press behaves very badly, very often. It's abundantly clear that the reason for this sleazy behavior would be because the great British public have elected to pay newspapers to behave in precisely that manner. The hypocrisy of people who have chosen of their own free will to line Rupert Murdock's pockets so very generously but now recoil in fake surprise when the consequences of own their choices are exposed is a truly nauseating sight. As ever - people get the press they deserve.

If you really think Hitler's "ulterior motives" were in any way kept hidden from public view then you've obviously never studied 'Mein Kampf' which (if memory serves) was filled with vile antisemitism and a pathological hatred of Communism. Genocide and invading 'Mother Russia' may not have been explicitly detailed but that assumes these policy's were fully thought out in the first place - my reading of the chaotic administration of Nazi Germany leads me to question that assumption. I recommend you view Laurence Rees's superb TV series "The Nazies - a Warning from History" or the read books of Sir Ian Kershaw. As for the NSDAP's 1933 election victory I seem to recall they got about 30% of the popular vote - so he didn't quite 'fool' everyone did he ? Your comparison between what was certainly one of the great criminal's of world history and a minor politician who as far as I'm aware has never harmed so much as a fly is simplistic if not absurd - little short of character assassination in fact. Indeed this type of argument demeans its author and insults the memory of the real victims of fascism.

You've just described the typical behavior of every politician I've ever known - are they all comparable to Hitler or just the ones you don't like ?

No one should be allowed to call themselves a Engineer unless they wear a hat like this at all times.

I prepared to bet that Isambard Kingdom Brunel will be unimpressed to hear that he does not qualify as a 'Structural Engineer'. Indeed, I understand he did invent a 'Steam Powered Coffin Spinner' for just this eventuality.

Though my no means the best player to ever leave this club I'd be happy to see Drew Surman return - mostly because I still think of him as 'one of ours' in a way. The return of Chris Marsden Football Genius (in his pomp) would also do us all a power of good.

I thought he showed real promise as a young defender during his 1st stint here (under very differcult circumstances) and it will be interesting to see how he's developed in the meantime. Nevertheless, I'll risk a £1 and bet this could be a good signing.

You've never done a real days work in your life sonny - you don't even know what it means.

I had some good teachers and some bloody terrible ones - they all went to university. No one I know earns anything like £50k a year, I don't know how you could even spend that much money - although View from the Top clearly sees that kind of sum as petty change. Why do you think only civil servants deserve a 'decent pension' ? One rule for them and another for the rest of us ?

As someone who has obviously never gotten his hands dirty in his life I expect you think that's a simple task for a working man in the midst of a major reccesson. But yes I'm looking for some cushy civil service posting.

I stand at a workbench 8+ hours a day in a grim factory working bloody hard for a firm that offers no (lets repeat that NO) pension at all to most of its staff and pays something perilously close to the minimum wage. This company could go bust at any time and I expect to have to work well into my 70's - if I live that long. Please explain why I should sympathize with civil servants, who are any which way you look at it are still massively better off than I will ever be.

I live in the real world. A newly qualified teacher in their first job gets £22k - this can rise to c £40k or more according to the NUT. And yes I do think that's quite a lot of money, don't you ?

I was born in the year that Doctor Who started and JFK ended.

Dense. Its a outdated myth that all (or even many) civil servents are poorly paid, the fact that some still peddle this tripe I can only put down to self-interest. In reality teachers are well paid (starting at £22k p/a) to educate everyone's children - and even after the proposed (and long overdue) reforms to public sector pensions most will still be in a infinitely better position upon retirement to the vast majority of private sector employees. If you are really arguing that private sector workers bringing up family's on a income of £6 or £7 per hour should have found heaps of spare cash from somewhere to build up a sizable pension pot for themselves then you need to get in touch with reality at some stage sunny Jim. Don't tell me this is all Tory propaganda - my own sister recently retired at 55 with a comfortable workplace pension after a lifetime of fairly well paid, secure, and to be frank relatively pleasant work within the NHS - a fate many hard grafting factory workers and the like could only dream of. I know its fashionable for civil servants to be referred to as 'key workers' these days - but it seems to me the the poor sods who work themselves to the bone generating the wealth that actually pays for our grossly inflated public sector are the real heroes of British Labour. But of course no bugger cares about them.

When I see teachers, fire fighters, council workers ... etc showing any signs of concern for the plight of many private sector employees who not only pay their wages but also earn a mere fraction of what they do and have nothing more than the pitiful state pension to look forward to then I'll spare them a thought - as if.

Dale Arden made more of a impression on this fan ..... that's 'one for the teenagers' as they say.

As I spend my entire working day on my feet I've come to the view that standing is a privileged much overrated. As for the important question of Chapel fans and any problems with excessive flatulence, experience shows that most of us have all mastered the art of the 'silent waft'. We're a pretty sophisticated bunch really.

Yes Northam is especially lovely this time of year - I'm thinking of spending my summer holidays there.

The scene: St Marys Stadium one stormy June night. Turkish barges his way pass security, shoulder charges the door, and bursts into the boardroom . He falls at the feet of his exasperated idol - Cortese: Oh no, not you again. Turkish: Messiah! Messiah! Cortese: I am NOT the Messiah! Turkish: I say you are Lord, and I should know. I've followed a few. Disgruntled SFC staff: He's not the messiah! he's a very naughty boy.