Golactico

The case for Bale returning: Gareth Bale is without a club. If Wales qualify for the WC on Sunday, he will need a club to keep match fit. At 33, and having earned a fortune at RM, money won't be a motivator for him. In fact, it would probably only be the WC that would keep him from retiring altogether, so he'd only want a 1 year contract. None of the top 10 Prem clubs will want a player for just a year, whose motivation may fade after the WC ends in Dec. He wouldn't want to play at Championship level. Ideally, he would want somewhere familiar, where he wouldn't have to waste time settling in. Therefore, If Wales qualify for the WC, Bale will sign for Saints.

Can't help with the value, but the Shag was an American dance craze from the 40s/50s. The Tams tried a revival with their late 80s single 'There ain't nothing like shagging'. Oo er missus.

Good to see that the art of reasoned, intelligent debate is alive and kicking.

If you worked in local government, then you'd know that local government isn't the Civil Service. The news today today is about cuts to Civil Service headcount.

Two adult tickets for tomorrow's game unexpectedly available. £40 for both. Anyone interested? Must be able to collect from Chandlers Ford.

With Trent AA out injured, surely a KWP England call up is imminent? Perhaps waiting for him to come through today's game uninjured before announcing.

'Pompey failed to muster a single shot on target as their faint top six hopes were all but ended.' Looks like the Fun's over for another season.

Fingers crossed that Johnson doesn't make any last minute, untruthful comments (like he did when he was Foreign Secretary), to make the Iranians change their minds.

Do we still need to pay any outstanding stage payments for Tino?

Yes, it occured to me how convenient this war is for Johnson. Whenever the results of the Met investigation and full Sue Gray report are released it will be dwarfed on the news agenda by Ukraine. However damning the findings, the appetite for a change of PM at this time will be very small. I want to see the back of him as much as anyone, but doubt that a change would be in anyone's best interest at this particular time.

It certainly belongs on the dark web.

You called it correct! Here's a handy guide from farmers weekly, complete with illustrations. https://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/livestock-breeding/8-step-guide-artificially-inseminating-dairy-cow

Is it not legal practice for pigs to have their teeth removed and tails chopped off (without anesthetic), to stop them from harming eachother out of sheer frustration at their cramped conditions? Are pigs not routinely and legally kept in crates so small that they can't turn around or tend to their young? Do dairy cows not get impregnated by a farmer sticking his arm up their arses to deposit the bull semen? Is it not legally allowable to call eggs 'free range' with birds kept at a ratio of 9 hens to 1 square metre? I do not not identify as a vegan, so am not presenting a 'vegan argument'.

Thanks. I had a feeling that the picture was somewhat confused. In the absence of a shred of evidence that JC was born at this time of year, seems more logical to tie our celebrations to actual historically verifiable events. Happy Saturnalia, one and all!

When is it?

The thing is though, you don't find many vegans who consider highly processed plant based burgers etc to be a major part of their diet. Those that do are undoubtedly headed down the road to malnutrition. These products are junk food that have their place, so long as they're only part of an overall balanced diet. Exactly the same as highly processed meat junk food. All that meat free stuff that looks and tastes like meat is actually rather good (as part of an overall balanced diet) for those who don't deny that the meat equivalents taste good, but are not comfortable with getting someone else to torture and kill a sentient being in order to consume it. If you're not bothered how food gets to your plate, stick with animal flesh - objectively it probably does taste better.

This story had gone right off the boil until last night's video revelation. I can't help thinking that there is more to come, be it Stratton coming clean, or someone else who was present at the party.

Last night, I asked my MP, Steve Brine (Winchester & Chandlers Ford) why he wasn't calling for the PM to resign. The last line of his response a few minutes ago was: 'Lots of conversations are being had today. I hear you.'

A bit of a change of subject, but still very much on topic. 1/ The Prime Minister has not denied that a social gathering took place at his No 10 Downing Street residence on 18/12/20. 2/ The PM's claim that 'all guidance was followed' at this gathering, simply cannot be true. 3/ People were dying on 18/12/20, without having seen their relatives, through adherence to the covid guidance that was ignored by No 10. If the above three statements are true (which it seems very likely they are), why isn't the country (including decent Conservative MPs) up in arms, demanding the Prime Minister's resignation? It's not even stayed on the news agenda. Strange times.

Used to see David Prutton jogging down Hursley Road, Chandlers Ford in the early 2000s. Going back a bit further, whilst waiting for a mate who lived in a flat in Ocean Village once, I was vaguely aware of a bloke coming out of his front door and sparking up a fag. It was only after a few minutes that I glanced in his direction and did a bit of a double take - it was Robbie Slater. I lived in central Southampton around that time and regularly drank in the faux Irish pub O'Neil's in Oxford Street. Regularly saw Saints players in there, including one Saturday night when there were about 10 of them. I think I'm right in saying that Matt Oakley liked a ciggy too - must've been the tail end of when this was tolerated from pro footballers..

I watched a fair bit of Rafiq's evidence today. If I knew nothing about the case, I'd have assumed he was talking about events in the 70s or maybe the 80s at a push.

Speaking of Winchester, I contacted the current MP, Steve Brine, to ask him why he voted for the Standards amendment. I got some honesty in his reply that the Govt had made a mess of it, but also a whole load of twaddle about the Owen Paterson case being completely separate from the desire to reform the standards regime. Curiously, he also sought to completely distance himself from Paterson, saying that he didn't know him, so why would he want to get him off the hook?! A quick look at the members interests register told me all I needed to know really. Brine has 3 paid consultancies declared, paying a total of about £60k. Curiously, he has also declared relatively small amounts of income from completing a large number of surveys. Wish I had time to sit around filling out surveys to pull in a bit of extra dosh!

Doesn't invalidate your point, but that was Tuesday, not today. They were busy today scraping a 1-0 win against Harrow Borough from the 7th tier (I think - might be 8th) of English football.

My son and I started watching the mid-2000s US series 'Lost' a while ago. The first few seasons were really good but we are now in the middle of season 5 and the constant flashbacks and flashforwards are making the plotline really hard work to follow. We are even wondering whether we can be bothered to see the rest of season 5 and the final season through. Is it worth sticking with? Does the plot settle down to a more regular rhythm again?

'We will not be in a climate crisis this winter.....' Well, that's a bit of good news, that climate change will have all gone away in a few weeks time.