Lord Duckhunter

Exactly. That's why local elections dont matter that much to the people. A local income or sales tax, and real decisions made at local level would make the council accountable. The other benefit is that local councilours could then make a smooth and easy transistion to national politics. Perhaps Govt could work out a formula similar to what they do for Scotland for the basic funding, then the local council top it up how they see fit. It maybe raising local taxes by a lot , or maybe squeezing costs. At the moment even the Council tax can be blamed on national Govt. When my Lib/Dem came round during the last local elections, I told him that Council tax had gone up under his local party, but that I hadn't seen any improvement in services. He basically blamed the Govt of the day, saying that they had been given less money and had to fill the shortfall.It maybe right, but I would like to see real power devolved to them and then I'll vote on their decisions.

Surely it's not beyond the wit and wisdom of some of our leaders to come us with a local Govt system that makes local councils more accoutable to local people. At the moment every cut, council tax rise and almost everything else can be blamed on national Govt.Therefore local people are confussed as to who to blame and the status quo remains. If local councils could raise their own revenue and there was a direct link from the voters to the money spent, then any councils wasting money could be voted out.If the people of Windsor and Maidenhead didn't think they needed a Roller Disco coach, then they could vote the council out. Equally the council could stand for election on the back of "we've given you a roller disco coach", either way local people decide. At the moment there seems to be no local accountability for decisions made by local councils. It is the UK's taxpayers money, and not the Windsor and Maidenhead tax payers money.If locally you want money thrown around, and year on year increases in council services, then you can vote for that. If you want a tighter fiscal policy and the council doing the minimum, then vote for that. At the moment how you vote in local elections will not change Council services.

This reform is all a sop to the Lib/Dems for forming a coalition. It is not the system they wanted and it's rushed and hurried through to fulfill the coalition agreement. That's no way to reform our electrol system. I cant help thinking that it's been done in such a way that Clegg can appease his party, but there's no chance of it happening so it benefits the Tories as well. Clegg should have stood his ground and insisted on real reform for his support of the coalition. In my opinion the whole thing is a tick box exercise. Clegg can tell his grass roots that he gave them the promised vote on AV (even though it is miles from their goal of PR) and Cameron gets a coalition partner, whilst keeping FPTP (I really cant see this going through with Lib/Dem polls at such low levels) . Everyone's a winner,except the mug tax payer who has to cough up millions of pounds we can ill afford.

The Tories won the 2010 election with 36.1% of the vote. Labour won the 2005 election with 35.2% of the vote. Labour had a 66 majority, whereas the Tories were unable to form a Govt. Labour have a massive majority in Scotland and The Tories in England, Scotland have their own Parliament and England do not. I presume all the posters looking for "fairness" in our electrol system want these issues addressed as well.

If the electrol system is going to be changed then we need to look at it as a whole. It can not be right that Labour can form a Govt with a lot less % of the vote than the Tories need. All of the constituencies should contain more or less the same number of voters, and there should be a lot less of them. England should have the same devolved powers that Scotland have, there can be no justification for Scottish MP's voting on issues that don't affect their constituants. Unless all the unfairness in the present system is addressed I will vote no to any change.

Firstly, I dont read the mail (or any daily), my opinions are not formed by newspapers or any other media. Secondly, had I been told in 2008 that I would have to make savings, lose staff and work smarter I would have said "that's not possible", however having no choice in the matter made us take a good hard look at things and savings were made. Companies in the private sector have been making cuts for the past 3 or 4 years. Pay freezes, recruitment bans, screwing suppliers down,stopping final salary pensions. We are all in this together, including public sector workers, they should not be exempt from the realities that Labour left us with. To leave our debts for our children and grand children to pay off is just plain wrong.

They come to see Prince Andrew do they? How on earth does Paris attract any tourists, they haven't a Royal family?

Dune,if you want to get rid of "non jobs" then I suggest you start with 80% of the Royal family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmcdLEnhSi8&feature=related These sort of stories always remind me of this Peter Kay bit from Phoenix nights.

Inflation isn't high enough to justify cuts to front line services. If everyone had to go back to 2008 wages, it would hurt, but most people would be able to manage. At work I run on less staff than 2008, a lower CTS and still manage to get by, councils could do the same without cutting front line services. It's a political game they're playing.

What local Labour and in some cases Lib/Dem councils are doing is a disgrace and I hope the local voters wake up and smell the coffee. Take Manchester, cuts will reduce their income to 2008 levels and yet in 2008 I dont recall any clamour for more "investment", they were able to run libraries and swimming pools, so there is no need to cut these types of services, they are doing it to try and paint the coalition as the bad guys and playing politics with people's lives. The Labour party were committed to cuts, with it's last chancellor admitting that cuts would be "tougher and deeper" than those implemented by Margaret Thatcher" had they won the election. Now they play politics with the issue, standing on the sideline opposing every cut in a cynical , and deeply dishonest way. I just hope that the British people are not as stupid as the Labour Party seem to think they are.

You have to give credit where it's due. He's got them into Champions League, beaten the leaders of Italian league and is a shoe in for the England job (provided the tax thing goes away). The money he's spent is a drop in the ocean compared to Champions league riches.

I love the way Joe just stood there when that idiot stuck the nut on him, showed the modern player how to take it like a man. Great to see him not rolling around on the floor.

I have no problem with people swearing, standing, singing stupid songs or doing what the hell they like in the Northam. If you dont like it, go and sit somewhere else. I dont like it, but believe it or not can find another seat well away from it. Surely a fan base should be made up of all sorts of people of all ages and all social classes. My 2 eldest are decent boys, but they love it in the Northam, my youngest who was brought up the same way, hates it, so we sit elsewhere. Who are you to tell people what to sing and how to support the club. It's not a coporate day out, but a passionate working class sport.

Spot on. Do people really think people like Sir Alex, Sir Ian Botham and the like would get involved and video a tribute if it was just an old boys club awarding themselves honours? I really do despair at some of our fan base, no other club appear to be like it. Would Sunderland turn on Bob Stokoe,Ipswich on Bobby Robson, Watford on Graham Taylor? Just read the list of names that his personilty brought to the club, do you really think anyone else could have signed Keegan, Shilton, Osgood, Ball ect. You could tell on Sunday that people who are Saints through and through like Mick, Le Tiss and Steve Moran completely respected the guy. Keegan was a world class footballer who ended up at Southampton, when other giants of the game were after him, why was that? It was down to one man and if some of our fan base cant appricate the man, then I feel sorry for them. I went Sunday with my 21 year old son and he spent the whole journey back to Poole asking me questions about Lawrie's time at the club, he just did not realise how great the bloke was. Had WGS signed David Beckham when he left Man Utd, signed Iker Casillas, Michael Ballack,and Paul Scholes. Qualified for Europe 5 times, won the cup and finished runners up to Man Utd then younger posters may just get what Lawrie did for old farts like me.And we did it with a swagger, we did it with great football and I haven't even mentioned the likes of Williams, Wright, Wallace, Holmes and Golac.

One of the greatest cricketers the world has ever seen took time to record a tribute, as did one of the greatest British managers of all time.It seems he's respected throughout the sporting world, bar a few supporters of the club he gave so much for. Shameful.

Ok thanks, I didn't think there was anything sinister, just a shame they weren't all able to attend.

Correct, he siad that the posh name was bragging about starting the youth policy. I've never heard NC mention that, whereas Lowe went on and on about it. All the people wanting to highlight splits and rubbish our legends would have been dissapointed last night. It was not "last of the summer wine" with Lawrie and his cronies raging against the modern game and present set up, but a respectful look at a club held dear to their hearts.

A great night full of surprises. Osman was funny, so that was a bit of a surprise. The guy Brin stole the show and Tommy Doc was top class and really seemed to care about Lawrie and the club. The tributes to Lawrie were heartfelt, from Ian Botham to Fergie (who came across great in the short clip) and I was left thinking he must have been some sort of personality to manage the guys that he did.I just hope he gets some recongnisation from the club before he passes. Best bits for me were, Danny Wallace's entrance, the nice touch with the widows and children (Ossie son was a spit of him), the supporters cheering ML, Tommy Doc, Brin and Mick's tribute to KK and Shearer. Downside, I would have liked to see more of the '76 boys there particulary the Skipper. But all in all a great way to spend a sunday night. Tommy Doc mentioned the board, but nobody else, and Lawrie mentioned Lowe once. Matt didn't even mention Hoddle, it was what it said on the ticket a celebration.

Lord Sugar's just been on Talksport, quite scathing about the West Ham bid. Reckons they'll get rid of the track in a couple of years, claims "they're blowing more than bleeding bubbles", and they'll start backtracking on that committment.

Talksport seems to suffer the same fate as the Sun and NOTW. Nobody claims to read them, they get slagged all the time and yet they sell many more papers than anyone else. Talksport get slated on forums ect and yet they do pull in loads of listeners.

All joking aside perhaps Rupert should be invited. Move from The Dell, 2003 Cup Final. I hate the bloke but the one thing that's nagging away at me with these celebrations is that it's going to be Lawrie, Osman ect's take on the history of the club. If it was an evening celebrating Lawrie and his acheivements I would be there, but this is advertised as a celebration at the whole history of the club and should include Pre Lawrie, Lowe and the part that ML & NC played in ensuring it's survival. Of course there will be jokes about Lowe and proberly NC as well, but I hope it's a balanced evening.

He used to be station manager. It gets a bad press but it's a pretty decent station (better than 5dead anyday). I started listening way back when Lofty from Eastenders did the drivetime show. Wasn't so obsessed with expros in those days,people like Collymore and Cundy get on my tits.Over the years they've had some great shows, Mike Dickin RIP was fantastic, and I thought Brazil was great with Porky Parry. The Rodney Marsh interview with Bestie just before he died was one of the most moving bits of radio I've heard. I think it's a good move to get Keys and AG provided they dont try to be too controversial, Keys is a good presenter and Grey does know his stuff.

I like Parry and Graham in that slot, shame it's changing.

I was looking forward to the Mayflower thing on Sunday, I just hope it doesn't turn into a NC bashing event.