CHAPEL END CHARLIE

I shall remember today a distant relative of mine of whom I know next to nothing about, Lance Sergeant 29555 Herbert Thomas Parker, a Dorset lad serving in the 2nd Battalion the Hampshire Regiment. Killed in action near the French town of Arras on Monday 23rd April 1917. Like so many others where his body rests is known only unto God. His name however is commemorated on both the Arras Memorial and in the little parish church at Corfe Castle in Dorset where he enlisted. Please feel free to add any tribute you care to make to your own fallen family members here.

Unlike the Bertrand loan from Chelsea I don't believe we have negotiated a fixed 'option to buy' with Atletico Madrid for Alderweireld. At least if we have then both clubs are keeping quirt about it. So the situation is uncertain and one suspects his agent may be expecting a number of serious inquires from other clubs hoping to secure his signature in the summer. But let's hope he rejects Lovern's 'the grass is always greener' attitude and decides to stay here because surely its no coincidence that our defence has been rock solid ever since Toby arrived.

Be not afraid of smugness: some are born smug, some achieve smugness, and others have smugness thrust upon them.

Somebody please inform this ignorant youth that the correct term is 'Sotonians' not bloody 'Southamptoners'!

On remembrance weekend let's remember that there are legions of football fans all over the country who are loyally supporting little clubs that have never achieved anything important or indeed won a damn thing. Have those fans also not 'earned' some kind or reward? Our wilderness years in the lower reaches of the Football League proved to be a relatively short interruption in this clubs recent history - for so many others it remains a permanent fixture in their footballing lives. No, we are where we are today thanks to a combination of Leibherr money, good fortune and one hell of a lot of hard work. But to quote a memorable line from one of my favourite films - deserving's got nothing to do with it ...

After the events of last summer only a fool would dare come on here and say that there is no way we would allow JayRod to leave for £20m. However a fit and in-form JayRod, alongside our other attacking options, would I suspect further improve what is already a very good squad. There's a lot of football left to be played this season, but if we are already seriously entertaining thoughts of Europe next season (and why shouldn't we?) then we will require not only more players in future, but players of his proven ability level too. So methinks we should make him as good contract offer as we prudently can and see if he responds positivity or not to that. Either way, if we take only one lesson from recent events it is that no one is irreplaceable.

Some more TV I've been watching recently: The Passing Bells (BBC1) A story of the doomed generation (both British and German) who were destined for sacrifice during the Great War. It seems churlish to criticise a series of such noble ambition, but this sort of thing has been done so many times now that it's becoming increasingly hard to say anything new. This series also lacked the budget to convincingly convey the epic scale of the war and its pre-watershed time slot meant that the true nature of the bloody violence inflicted on Human bodies during combat had to be toned down significantly. Judge for yourself whether that is a good or a bad thing. As for soldiers peacefully strolling around 'no mans land' (in broad daylight!) contemplating the meaning of life during the Battle of the Somme ... well that really is a utter nonsense. Hawaii Five-O (CBS Action) Apart from its exotic location this is in truth a fairly routine 1970's police procedural that I watch for purely nostalgic reasons. However it does boast what is surely the greatest title sequence ever shown on TV ... and how the preternaturally cool 'Steve McGarrett' (Jack Lord) can afford such a endless array of expensively tailored suites on a coppers wage is a enduring mystery. Book him Danno! Not Going Out / Would I lie to You? (BBC) I really like and admire Lee Mack, on 'WILTY' he (and David Mitchell) are bloody brilliant. However, it seems to me that being such a obviously gifted standup comedian and panel game contributor does not necessarily mean that he must then also be a equally good sit-com actor. 'Not Going Out' just doesn't work for me as not only do these US style team written 'one liner' shows not really work over here (see the awful 'My Family') but Mack comes across as a bit of a Mackerel - IE a fish out of water.

'No Comebacks' by Frederick Forsyth. A collection of ten short stories by a author who - if you have ever read 'The Day of the Jackal' or 'The Dogs of War' - you might well consider to be perhaps the master story teller of his generation. All the various tales included in this book are well worth reading, but for me the highlights are: The Emperor. A henpecked little man on holiday in Mauritius finally learns what it means to be truly alive, but only courtesy of a epic ten hour battle to land the 'Emperor' - a huge Marlin of formidable repute. Money with Menaces. A city banker finds himself caught up in a blackmail plot after he changes the habits of a lifetime and visits a prostitute. But this man didn't always work in banking and the blackmailer may be about to receive something more than he had bargained for. Used in Evidence. Chief Superintendent Hanley of the Dublin Police must help evict a reclusive old man who refuses to leave his (scheduled for demolition) home. But as the building is demolished it soon becomes horribly clear that it was not just stubbornness that was making the old man so reluctant to move out. No Comebacks. A rich playboy businessman falls in love with a married women, but she steadfastly refuses to leave her husband despite his pleading. So he covertly hires a assassin to murder her husband so that the two of them can be together at last. But instructing this killer to make damn sure that there are 'no comebacks' afterwards results in a consequence he could never possibly have envisioned.

I liked that recent film with a woman astronaut stranded in space after a accident, and I'm only mildly embarrassed to admit that I admire the 'Hunger Games' series more than a grown man is supposed to. I'm also looking forward to this new 'Interstellar' film - which may well be quite interesting.

Back in the day these things were once so common that they were almost the default choice family car for many thousands of British family's. Examples as good as this one however are now a very rare sight indeed. So look after this lovely old 'Dagenham Dustbin' and it can surely only increase in value: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Cortina-1-6-GL-MK4-1977-46000-miles-from-new-/261643991946?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3ceb327b8a

Anyone interested in early Sci-fi might want set their TV recorders to Freeview Channel 48 at 1pm tonight because Howard Hawks classic 'The Thing From Another World' is getting a rare showing. Okay it is just another Earth v horrible alien monster film I suppose, but this is a fine example of the genre, indeed early 1950's science fiction really doesn't get much better that this. Note that this is the original black and white movie and it is not to be confused with John Carpenter's charmless 1982 effort 'The Thing' - the less said of which the better if you ask me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5xcVxkTZzM

Could it possibly be that we have indeed played very well and we have also been given a reasonable run of fixtures? Or is this a case of having two notions simultaneously occupying the mind represents too much of a strain for some ...

I too am looking for a job that doesn't really need much in the way of formal qualifications, or indeed any real talent. Furthermore a position that does not require any overt display of enthusiasm (or work ethic) on my part would be ideal. If this job could also pay well, but only involve me in a few hours of actual work a week, would be most agreeable. So a career in Local Government it is then.

You lot repulse me with your nauseating happiness and satisfaction! Yes I suppose the midfield are scoring now, but what you don't realise is that if you ignore Clyne and Bertrand's goals those useless tosspots otherwise known as our so-called 'defence' haven't scored at all. Pelle has the hair cut of a 1970's porn star, Shane Long is actually not very tall and as for that lazy bugger Jay Rod, who could dispute that he's been totally ineffective. Oh and another thing, Kelvin Davis is a git and fans of proper clubs know that second place means we're just the first of the losers. So get a grip you bunch of dingleberries

My dear Bear not only have I not see it, I didn't even know that Annabelle was a sequel - which is good because had I known that I might not have bothered to go and see it.

Annabelle A nice middle class suburban couple living the American dream (but with a utterly inexplicable liking for grotesque dolls) witness a satanic cult murder next door and as a result enter into a nightmare existence where they find themselves the target of a hellish demon that is ever hungry for more Human souls ... Stir a little bit of 'Rosemary's Baby' in with a liberal sprinkling of 'The Exorcist', add a garnish of 'Chucky' on top and you will have a formulaic, but nevertheless surprisingly effective, horror film on your plate. I seldom go to watch contemporary horror films anymore because so many of them now are crude gorefests and I like to think it takes more than that to actually scare me in a cinema. But I must admit this creepy film managed to find a decent balance between showing you the 'monster' and leaving at least something for the viewers imagination to work with. I genuinely almost jumped out of my seat on more than one occasion. So if you want to give yourself a post Halloween scare then you could do a lot worse than go see 'Annabelle'.

Yes Toby is a great player and when he didn't start in midweek I note we conceded twice - which is very 'unsaintlike' this season. With Lovren and now Toby we've kind of made finding great defenders for reasonable transfer fees look so bloody easy you wonder why the rest of the Premier League have such trouble. Of course like many things that look straight forward on the surface, this is probably anything but easy in practice.

Another 3 points and yet another clean sheet - what a fantastic time it is to be a Saints supporter. No team can go on a run like this without first fielding a well organised and robust defence. Well done to all of them, but especially to our captain Jose Fonte and his partner in crime Toby Unpronounceable - two players who may just have formed one of the best defensive partnerships in the Premier League.

May fellow Space Cadets. I've been in orbit around Planet Brand for a while now and despite an intensive sensor sweep I've yet to detect life signs of the deep political thinker that some of you seem to have unearthed. I intend to undertake a full diagnostic check on all my systems to make sure I haven't missed anything important. In the meantime, so what if he disapproves of how the big banks and those legalised loan sharks that infest our TV ad breaks have behaved themselves - join the club! This kind of obvious populist stuff hardly amounts to a coherent manifesto for change - or even evidence of any particularly original thinking for that matter. A 21st century version of Karl Marks or Adam Smith he ain't. Mind you in this age of commerce and conformism I feel there is a distinct 'gap in the market' when it comes to original thinking ... but I'm just not convinced that Brand has what it takes to fill it.

No one with eyes in their head could possibly deny that SFC has done exceptionally well this season. We play a immensely entertaining form of attacking pass and move football that is a joy to watch and the envy of much of the division I suspect. I give credit to all at our club who have played their part in this achievement from the owner on down to the support staff - but especially to Ronald Koeman who shows all the signs of becoming as good a manager as he was a player. Having said that you have to look back at who we have played so far this season to put this success story into its proper context. Leaving to one side Arsenal in the League Cup, the record shows that when we have played what are traditionally 'big' Premier League clubs - Liverpool and Spurs - we have (narrowly) lost on both occasions. For what it's worth I think we're easily good enough to give anybody in this division a game on our day, but perhaps only when we played more of the big boys will we know just how good we really are. On the question of the role that 'luck' has played in our season, I suppose you might say that we have made our own luck, or even that 'fortune favours the brave' if you want to delve deeper into cliche. But let's face it there are no guarantees when it comes to signing players and had Graziano Pelle turned out to be another Ricky van Wolfswinkel ... well then we'd now be somewhere midtable looking down, rather that top two and dreaming of Europe.

I fear you may be confusing style with substance. If you watch any of his recent interviews (although 'performances' might be a more apt term) as soon as Brand is confronted with a difficult question he can't really answer he immediately attempts to divert attention away by resorting to phoney aggression, or even inappropriate levels of intimacy with the interviewer. As debating tactics go this unorthodox approach can be quite effective in a off-putting kind of way, but behind all that bluff and bluster I question whether he has very much to say. But we may live in a age when all the main parties are fighting over the same (middle) ground and therefore style has finally become not only more important than substance, it is perhaps now the only thing that can lift an increasing disinterested British public out of their apathy - as the ever upward career trajectory of that other great unorthodox politician of our time Boris Johnston shows.

I keep hearing criticism that some nations are not contributing very much towards to international effort to counter the Ebola outbreak in Africa. This link shows that the US and the UK lead the way and how much some other states have helped: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11179135/What-countries-have-pledged-to-fight-Ebola...-and-how-much-theyve-paid-into-the-fund.html Note that China has contributed very little considering the (vast) size of its economy and Russia too is notable by its absence. Much the same could be said about Spain, Italy, South Africa and (with the exception of little Kuwait) all the wealthy Arab oil economies. I also note that Australia's contribution almost matches that of mighty Germany.

I say only the dead have seen the end of war my friend. What is more, it seems to me that not only is the world a dangerous place, as the situation in the Middle East shows it may well be becoming more dangerous still. So not the best time perhaps for us to disarm ourselves. However, the isolationist UK you call for may already be on the verge of happening anyway as endless defence cutbacks and the fall-out from controversial wars in Afghanistan and Iraq come home to roost. I'm not convinced myself, but some are now saying that we may have already heard 'The Lions last Roar'.

Ok then. But I hate to think what would have happened to the world had this nation pursued that policy in 1939.