Lord Duckhunter

Which teams did people think we'd finish above? Man c Man U Chelsea Arsenal I presume everybody had us below them. That leaves spurs,Everton, Liverpool and Newcastle. We will still finish above Newcastle imo. Leaving Liverpool, Everton and spurs. Liverpool are the most improved team of the season and could win the league. Everton and spurs have been top 5/6 for the past few years. Therefore surely 8th would be pretty much the best anyone apart from the deluded amongst us could hope for. Is 9th really so bad bearing that in mind?

I'm writing into sky about soccer Saturdays treatment of Andre mariner. The ex players were laughing at him sending off the wrong player. It was disrespectful.

****ing hell, what's the matter with some of our supporters? Haven't you got better things to do than complain about an ex player giving his opinion that one of our players should sign for one of the worlds biggest clubs. If someone said danny ings should sign for us on the football league show , would you write in and complain about that?

I haven't seen any posts saying it was "totally" his fault. I've seen a few saying he gave the ball away and then a free kick that wasn't defended correctly.

Don't talk nonsense man. MP is Argentinian and he hardly plays him. There's a reason for that you know, and its not that JWP , Cork or SD are world class players.

He gave the ball away with a causal touch in the centre of the pitch and then gave away the free kick. The free kick was dealt with poorly by a combination of fonte and lovren and personally I thought AB could have come and claimed it. The thing with Gaston is he keeps doing it, keeps giving the ball away, flatters to deceive time after time .

Sunderland all over again, the home supporters were on their back and they were gone just like stadium of light. Clyne made basic error, lovren unbelievably poor,Lambert might as well have gone home at half time. Yet again Gaston too causal in the last minutes gives the ball away gives and a free kick . long ball, could the keeper have gone and got it?

Wasn't really keen on dogs despite growing up with them and mum and dad always had them. Fast forward to my little girl persuading me to get one a couple of years ago , and I've turned soft. The thing about them is they give you unconditional love, ours is so happy and pleased to see us he melts your heart. Im the only one who walks him, twice a day no matter what and a couple of trips a week to different dog friendly ale houses. He's a great pub dog. I dread to think how I'll feel when he's gone, we've had him from a puppy. The daft twt eat a sock a few months back and needed major sugery, mrs duck and the kids were in a right state worrying about him. I was in a right state when I saw the bill £1300, luckily the insurance coughed up, but you know what, I would pay for anything he needed and I never thought I'd get like that.

Im sure I remember listening to Bradford details on the way home from The Dell. Hillsborough I was working abroad with a load of scousers , so wasn't particularly pleasant when news came through. One lad lost a mate and if I remember a couple of others had family there, but were ok. We had a big fund raising weekend and all the expats dug very deep, including mancs. I was forced to sing ynwal in a Liverpool top and my mate sang owts in my drapper tools saints top. I think more went into the kitty to make us stop, than to hear us sing. I know the band that agreed to play for free were getting ****ed off with my roger dalwtry swinging of the mike.

I like the system, but I think its one that needs to be worked on preseason. I would think chambers could easily play right side centre half in that system.

You can't just change decisions because players "confess" , otherwise every time we get a red card all the players will be surrounding the ref shouting " it was Jos".

I hope you're joking. How much are these world class players going to cost, how much are we going to have to pay them to come to a non champions league club and what happens if clubs above us also add 2 world class players to their squads?

The "not enough notice" guff doesn't wash when labour are still floundering around trying to get their narrative right in response to the budget. On Daily Politics today the shadow chief secretary to the treasury Chris Leslie couldn't answer Wiggy Neil or jo Cols simple questions. One was " what specific measure do you disaprove of" and then it git even more pathetic when asked "what specific measure do you approve of". Quite frankly 24 hours after the budget and a shadow treasury spokesman is still throwing around class warfare is depressing in the extreme. Talk about ****ing playground politics, they're even starting to make the lib/dems look grown up. Pathetic, worst level of debate I've seen in 30 years of watching politics. Fair enough , the day of the budget includes some knockabout stuff (although ed way overdid it) but the next day should be serious forensic analysis on the measures and the effects they'll have on people. They've seriously misjudged their response imo.

But all the others have managed to present some arguments against the budget proposals. Being a bit of a geek I've watched or listened to well over 20 of them and Red Ed's response was by far and away the worst I've ever seen.Dan Hodges claims that had Kinnock's or Blair's aides given them that speech or advised that speech, they'd have been sacked in an instant.

Why do people automatically assume papers are making things up when clubs are linked with players. They then claim transfers not going ahead is proof of these lies. The fact is that with modern scouting methods clubs will have numerous potential signings for each position. They'll be grouped into short, medium and long term targets. I would expect chambers to be on every single top clubs radar, certainly on arsenals. That doesn't mean he'll sign, but it doesn't mean the paper is making it up. Its not as black and white as people make out.

That's exactly as my Dad explained in to me over 30 years ago. He said its the opposite of life insurance. You take out life insurance in case you die and an annuity in case you live a long time. There's a ticking timebomb and its people in their 30's and 40's facing a real drop in living standards once they retire . Browns vandalism of final salary pensions will haunt us for generations, and what for? So he could **** our money away like a drunken sailor on leave.

The opposition was based on the fact that it was "unaffordable", surely they'll claim at the next election that because they managed the finances well they found they could afford it. Anyway, raising it again this time is a political move from the Lib/Dumbs, not some sort of moral crusade to help the poorest workers. If you wanted to help the poorest then the best way to do that this time was to raise the rate they pay NI, not take more out of PAYE. Talking of their pledges, how did the tuition fee one go?

In must circumstances I'd agree, it's people's money and it's not for governments to tell them how they must spend it. However, it is the unintended consequences that concern me. I may be way off the mark and have no pension knowledge really, but some things stick out as a warning for me. If pensions are to become basically a savings plan that you can access at 65, over time will the work place pension die out. At the moment employers pay a contribution towards a "salary" when you retire in the form of an annuity. Will the moral case to do so still be in place if they're funding cruises, people paying off their mortgage, season tickets at SMS ect ect? What happens to the annuity industry, I always assumed that annuity rates were based on some people popping their clogs early and their pots contributing to the rates. If most people take their pots, wont that drive down the annuity rates still further as that money will be denied to the Companies as it's already been spent. The fact insurance companies share prices have gone down considerably today tells us that it's bad for the Insurance industry and at the end of the day, for all its faults we need a strong insurance sector. My main worry however is Government meddling. Once you brake the model of what a money purchase pension is and turn it into a savings account it is left to the whims and political decisions of future chancellors. It maybe I'm wrong and that this becomes a defining moment that improves peoples retirements, but I cant help thinking that it's the money that will be freed up and spent in the economy that GO has his eye on, rather than the long term future of the nations workers.

These things are complicated but at first glance the Pension announcement looks bad to me. Being a free market believer I instinctively believe that people should do what the hell they want with their own money, but not forcing people to buy an annuity could lead to real problems. Annuities are there to stop people ****ing their pensions up too quickly and have a consistent income coming in. The other issue that concerns me is when one Government starts dicking around with this, Balls or the next Labour chancellor wont be able to resist raiding our pension pots with some clever move in future. Brown killed off the Final Salary schemes, and I'm worried this move will have a harmful effect on money purchase ones.

Unbelievable that they got anywhere near us. We played in third gear, but still should have got 6/7. Poorest side to visit SMS this season by a mile. JWP gone backwards, Clyne done well, MS man of match.

I didn't pass information on to the Nazi's. According to Anatoly Chernyaev, the Soviet Union's contact man with the West during the cold war, Foot passed information on to help defeat the "common enemy" (The Torys) and Jones was paid by the USSR.

Leaving Nato and getting rid of our nuclear weapons unilaterally, was profoundly dangerous during the cold war.

Of course he was frigging dangerous. All this CND and anti NATO guff in the middle of the cold war was extremely dangerous had loons like him and Foot got into power. Add to that his economic plans and we'd have ended up a basket case of a country. Foot and Jones were borderline traitors, Benn misguided, but he'd would have had these commie useful idiots alongside him. Whose next for the Lady Di BBC tributes, who is the next great leftie that our esteemed state broadcaster bestows greatness upon despite being wrong time and time again. Skinner , springs to mind. Another "national treasure".

Spot on. Some of the posters could do with a life on mars experiance and be transported back to the early 70's. Wedgie Benn wasn't some sort of Owen Jones boy next door leftie to be indulged whilst the big boys get on with running the country. He was a dangerous loon, hell bent on changing our already ****ed society into some sort of socialist republic. People like him, foot and jack Jones weren't friendly cuddly national treasures at all, they were muddled loons preaching sheite at a very dangerous time in the world. Their ideology and politics was defeated and rejected by the British people thankfully. New Labour was the final confirmation of that. Benn even commented that the 1981 election result was a "start" and that rather than a humiliation for the party , was great because millions had voted for their socialist ideals. Luckily sanity ruled and even the old windbag Kinnock could see they needed to move on from the bennitte curse.

He was a conviction politician , the problem was nearly all his convictions were wrong. He was not the cuddly old granddad figure he became in the 00's, he was a seriously deluded loon, particularly in the 60's and 70's. Like Michael Foot, it's amazing how someone can be so wrong so often. He caused deep divisions within his own party and contributed greatly to the Thatcher success story. Very, Very selfish politician who nearly destroyed the party he claimed to love. No doubt the BBC will big him up and make him out to be some sort of political great. That said, it's always sad when someone passes , particularly for the family.