Pugwash

Good spot. I'll have to read Holland's book.

Agreed. He's proved a lot of doubters wrong. Shame he's been carrying the back injury and I feel this could be one reason why he's not been challenging for high balls as much as earlier in the season.

Sheringham?

Yep - right on the button.

I couldn't see NC or the Liebherrs from where I was, but Owen got a long standing ovation from all areas of the ground when he came on.

We must have been at different games, or at least at opposite ends of the ground

Thought Lallana had another poor game tbh. Things got a bit more lively once Punch came on - should have started. On the whole though a mediocre display, particularly in the last third of the pitch. Defensively we looked solid, but then Stoke were pretty sh*t when attacking. Clyne MoM, Cork and Shaw honourable mentions. Shaw's slip led to their goal, but that was the only time they got past him.

I'd like to see MP trip him up as he's coming off the bench.

I bear him no ill will. There were 10 other crap performances on THAT day and the Palace sending off was a bit unjust. The Everton thing was down to inexperience. However, I seem to remember Danny Higginbotham being at fault for two late goals in Harry & Jim's first match against Middlesboro, thereby losing us two points. Peter Crouch made his debut in that game and was named Man of the Match. I was in Corporate that day and Crouchie came in for the interview afterwards. An all-round nice guy, actually.

A better question would be: "What does London consume to gain such wealth?" The city consumes so much of the national resources (labour, infrastructure, material, money, water, food) chasing the financial dream that it impoverishes half of the country, leaving 'Provincial Britain' to squabble over the crumbs off its table. I don't deny it's successful at what it does, but it centralises too much of national effort into a financial sector that is focussed too much on making money rather than creating wealth. If you consider Germany, its national efforts are much more diversified across the nation and through different sectors of commerce and industry. Consequently, they are much better able to respond to change.

Thinks this deserves a little outing to reflect the sniping from them for the past week, culminating in the news this morning: [video=youtube;W3rP-8mWWeY]

Well done Katharina. Show jumping at St Mary's?

Great news. Charlie - Employers should be as helpful as employees. Success is about support, cooperation and team work, not hierarchy. But what impresses me most about this is the timing of it all. NC knows the timetable, has had the meetings and is getting the decisions at the right time to really position the club well for the future. Clearly he wants the last game of the season to end on a high and doesn't want speculation festering away through the summer.

Signed. Anyone on Twitter who could ask MLT or some Saints players to retweet this?

I've been fortunate to have visited the Mohne dam. Standing in the middle of the dam, the thing that strikes you is how small it actually is. It's been rebuilt in the middle of course, and you can just discern the repairs. However the towers are original. The height of the dam wall is actually not that great.

I didn't say the end justifies the means, merely pointed out that Egg was using that as an example of such. As it happens, I have been to the bomb museum in Hiroshima, so don't necessarily agree with Egg.

Those were two of the reasons - no bomb is effective unless it's been used and the bean-counters always want their say. But his statement, whilst he uses it to reinforce his view that the end justifies the means, certainly isn't bull****. Your standard of debate is slipping, Tokes - too much time on the MS. Anyway this is all getting way off topic.

We should offer them our old one and add some free musical 'chimes'. I'm thinking something by Tony Christie...

It's the same old demand for instant success. What was it, 5 seasons before Ferguson won anything? Not as bad as FC Sion: http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/22513334

Stupid short sighted decision

Gotta be worth bumping this...

Is that the one where the child was sleeping with the dog and eating off the floor?

The trouble is that social services continue to labour under the misapprehension that this is a family way of life that should be preserved at all costs and treated with a light touch with minimal intervention. It's not. Many of these kids learn no moral values from the parents and are often abused mentally, emotionally and - on occasion - physically. What's needed is a properly run and funded care system for kids in these situations, to try and turn their lives around. Save the kids. F*ck the parents - it's too late for them.

23344 Neat game.

I hear of similar stories on a regular basis from a teacher I know. They flag the issues to Social Services and that's where it falls apart. All they seem to care about is 'keeping the family together'. They continue to repeat the mistakes of Haringey(?) and then wonder why successive generations (typically every 13-16 years) turn out bad. Many of these families are well known to social services with kids from very early ages of two or three being put on at risk registers. Yet nothing is done.They should nip it in the bud early, remove the kids to better environments and break the vicious cycle.