Lord Duckhunter

We were given a vote on remaining in a "common market". The present EU is a long long way from the "common market" that we were given a vote on. The whole thing has been one big con job, and Tory Euro loons like Heath, Hestletine, Patten and Clake have made it worse by stiffling opposition from within the party.From the very outset the British people were misled. Had they realised their fishing industry would be decimated,vast areas of Sovereignty would be lost, countries like Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, and Slovenia would join.They would have voted to come out. The very same people who have championed further European integration for years were the same idiots who wanted us to join the Euro.

Complete and utter rubbish, the only changes that are being made will rebalance the constituency sizes, as the system is skewed towards Labour at present. The only reason the changes will work in the Torys favour is because the system is so unfair against them at present.If the present constituency sizes was so biased in favour of the Torys, the BBC and lefties in the media would have a field day. Had Labour done as well as the Torys in the last election, they would have won a landslide. How on earth can that be fair? Constituancies should be of equal size population wise. The number of MP's should be reduced now that there is devolution for all but the English. I thought we had a vote on changing the electrol system, and FPTP won by a landslide.

The whole Party conference season is a complete and utter waste of time. They used to be about the grass roots and discuss policies, now they're so tightly stage managed, they are pointless. Labour dont want their comrade's getting too much airtime, the Torys dont want Europe mentioned and even the Libs have stopped wearing sandals.The whole thing is just a massive jolly, and whose picking up the security bill?

The problem Labour had is Gordon Brown spent 10 years crushing anybody with any leadership qualities in case they stood against him. I've got no time for David Milliband as he should have moved against Brown when Parnell quit. Like Portillo 20 years ago, he tried to box clever, look loyal, and lacked the balls to stand up and be counted. You need a strong opposition to keep a Govt in check, particulary when the Govt is the other 2 main parties. Neither Ed will be able to provide it. On the wider point of career politicans, they can not be a good thing, whether left or right.I want me leaders to have run a business, or led a union, or faced some of the hardships that we have to face. I would like to see more retired police chiefs, doctors, businessmen, shop stewards, and other high flyers from various walks of life, enter Westminister. Unfortunatly, the pay is poor and the work/life balance awful, so it will put these types off. You only end up with rich Etonians or Oxford PPE graduates, who have never done a days work in their life.

I agree, I find Liverpool a fantastic football city, because of the respect for the past from both red and blue parts of the city.If I was running the club I'd have Lawrie sat in the most important seat in the stadium and let him have whatever he wants for free. However, I'd be more like Eddie Mitchell and the first "LD out" chant and I'd be over offering the fans outside.I would love the club to do a lot more to honour the past, but you can't expect foregin busnessmen to feel as passionate about it as we do.

Claridge was alos head and shoulders above anyone else at the Sakte forum last season. Asking "why would anyone buy your club" and similar unbiased statements. He upset the Blue Few who felt he should have been more positive about their club. Claridge says it how it is, and I wish there were more like him.

I'm honest enough to admitt that my thoughts on the person who made these quotes dictate my response to them. Had Lowe made these I would be up in arms about what a ****** he is. As I think Cortese is doing a great job, I tend to overlook the quotes. Most people if they were honest, are the same. Journo's tend to put a spin on things to get a better story, they manipulte situations and rearrange quotes in particular oredr for effect. However, Cortese would have known this and the fact that he mischievously asked for Newcastle in the cup, shows that he was looking to settle a few scores in this interview. Whether we like it or not, the modern Chairman/owner is not interested in the past, I doubt if the Glazier's give a shiny shiete about George Best or Denis Law. That's the way the games gone and it's sad, but there's nowt we can do about it. We could be led by a Eddie Mitchell or Leon Crouch type, a supporter with a bit more money than the average fan. But if we want to move forward in the modern game, we need people like Cortese involved. It comes at a cost and the cost appears to be a lack of respect for the past,but as sad as it is, that's football in the 21st Century.

Spot on, Should Terry Paine get a freebie, what about Mick Channon, Nick Holmes, what about the guy Brin from the mayflower show (oldest living saints player), or Ron Davies. It's where you draw the line. Do you have to play a certain amount of games or score a certain amount of goals, do you need to have turned down moves to other clubs? If you let some ex players in for free, you would only end up with someone paying who feels (or the supprters feel) is a worthy cause.I would have half a dozen explayers as special guests each game, and everyone else pays. And to add, it's **** all to do with Stelling. Would he make the same rallying call for Terry Paine?

You only have to look at Coventry and the Blue Few to see how new owners turn out for some sides. The sacking of Wotte & Pardew, the appointment of Adkins and the general running of the side can not be faulted. It turns out that our chiarman knew more about football and who should manage our club, than the moaners on here.Behind the scenes we appear to be seriously well run, despite the digs aimed by some at Les Read in previous threads. Without any fuss our top players are signing new contracts, our only major sale was conducted in a top professional way, with a deal that at first glance looks great for the club. My respect for Lawrie is second to none, he is a legend in my eyes and a remarkable figure in this clubs history. I wish that something could be sorted out and I'm saddened that there is this hanging over him and NC, same with Matt. Apart from that what on earth have people got to complain about, after years of 2 bob businessmen like Askams, Lowe and Crouch, we have someone like NC running our club. He's doing a great job, that's not an opinion, that's fact. A glance at the league table will confirm what a great job he's done in a very short time. Stop bloody moaning and enjoy it..............

QT has been going down for the past 10 years. Where on earth do they get half the idiots in the audience from? I would change the format and have 6 journo's from various outlets asking meaningful questions.

I like a drink as much as the next man, but whoever thought that relaxing the licencing laws would lead to continental drinking habits was completely and utterly barmy. There are laws in place to deal with this. We need a zero tolerence appraoch to anti social crimes committed when drunk, and zero tolerance towards establishments who serve people who are clearly drunk. When I was younger the landlord used to tell me to bugger off home if I was too ****ed, and if I didn't get the hint the older locals would do the job for him. Personally I think drink is a wonderful thing, and a pub can be a great place.I was once talking to a Frenchman who said to me "in France we go out and sometimes we drink too much, in England you go out with the sole intention that you are going to drink too much". There also seems to be a badge of honour connected to getting ****ed. I used to try and walk home as sober as possible in case anyone my family knew saw me staggering around (I failed misreabley many times, but I tried). Nowadays there seems to be no shame about being sick in public or so ****ed you cant stand.

Spot on. But unlike the other "businessman trying to make money" we had before, he is doing it through making the team better and not trying to reinvent the wheel. Good solid Manager, managing good players with a good back up staff and youth policy.

Kevin Phillips is a ****, and the way he left us will never make me like the guy. That said I was surprised how good his hold up play was, when in a Saints shirt and there's no denying he's a fine player and a really good goalscorer. The difference between him and DC is basically down to injuries. At the moment they're pretty much on a par, but I can't see DC still knocking them in at Phippips rate in 4 years time.

If you're following the popularity thing, it'll need to be Mohammed

Dont forget, they've also had every ref against them as well..........

I think it's great the way we play the ball out now,and as others have said it creates more space further up the field and also tires the opposition out.Occasionally we're going to give the ball away and concede but in the long run this type of football will reap benefits. What I can't stand is sides (and the England national side is always doing it) is keeping possession for the sake of it, going backwards, sideways but never acheiving anything. For years foregin teams have been going backwards, sideways and keeping the ball with the purpose of moving the opposition around and dragging players out of position.Sides at our level tend to be comfortable defending in lines, we are pulling them about, with Lambert and DC turning up on a wing and Guly and AL popping up all over the park. The easy way out is to bang it forward to Lambert to battle for the ball, that's easier to defend against. It's a shame Lawrie has fallen out with the establishment because he would love the way Nigel sets his team out to play.

What I said was “We dont live in a leftie paradise, where the decifit can be reduced by taxing the bankers and everybody who does a "worthy" job is left alone. Given inflation linked pay rises, decent pensions and early retirement”. Now my English is not too good, but the point I was making was that Public sector and “worthy” jobs can’t have inflation linked pay rises, they will have pay freezes, pension changes ect like the rest of us.. I didn't say that they were, getting these things, but that they should stop complaining because they're not getting them, having previously done so.. All I hear is public sector workers moaning about, what poorly paid private sector workers have put up with for 2/3 years.

My mate is a fireman. I run a golf society that plays every couple of months or so, he books a "sick day" each time we play. He also runs around during work hours, collecting green fees from various members. I know he does a valuble and brave job and sometimes will have to deal with situations that would make most people **** themselves, but they do take the ****. Nurses, police officers, The military, teachers, social workers, firemen, Doctors,Prison officers,paramedic's, Mid wife's, we can't exempt them all from the reality of 2011. We dont live in a leftie paradise, where the decifit can be reduced by taxing the bankers and everybody who does a "worthy" job is left alone. Given inflation linked pay rises, decent pensions and early retirement. I'm getting sick to death of switching on programmes like QT and having some public sector worker moaning about how "they didn't cause the financial meltdown" . Complaining about having to pay more into their pension and get less out whilst working longer. Their only alternative seems to be "tax the bankers". Well the girl working in my local Barclays didn't cause the meltdown, the cleaner at RBS didn't. I have had to pay more into my pension, will get less out and will have to retire a bit later and I didn't have anything to do with the bust. We really are all in it together and that includes Fireman, teachers and bloody policemen............

"The Emperor's New Clothes", best sums up him and most of the players in the set up that impressed Chris Iwelumo. To think there were some people who believed that people like him, Olly Lancashire, Lloyd James, Gillet, paterson ect proved that we were on the right track and the whole football world was watching us. Where are they all now?

Being Saint's supporters, we can't see this, but most Championship players would jump at the chance of being Newcastle's centre forward. That's not to say I think it's going to happen, they'll get better value abroad as Englsih players come with a premium. But, if Newcastle did want him, I'd be surprised if he wasn't interested. There was quite an interesting chat between Alan Brazil and some journo on talksport this morning. Brazil said RL could make it in the Premiership, and the journo was on about how good Lallana was.

It was len Shackleton, "The clown prince of football", seems like he was cross between Matt Le Tiss and Gazza. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1045604.stm

I dont know how true this is, but I was speaking to a Boscombe fan today and he reckons that the latest rumours are that Mitchell confronted the players in the dressing room after the game, getting quite abusive with them and blaming them. He was also threatening to cut their wages if gates fell any further. Evidently he was ****ed as a newt and slurring his words............... As I said, dont know how true, but the bloke who told me is a stright sort of guy.

This thread highlight's in a nutshell the problem political parties have around pensions. It was obvious to everyone 20 years ago, that there were 3 options open to us. 1) Retire later 2) put more money in your pension pot or 3) Put up taxes condiderably to fund the increase in life expectancy. All 3 look horrible on paper, so Govt's of both colours have put the discussion off, have fudged it and have generally played party politics with this important subject. My personally opinion is that Govt should fund a basic pension for everybody, paid at a flat rate and giving people a minimum standard of living. People then should decide how they wish to fund the "luxery retirement" that everybody seems to think is a right. Work later, save more, move in with your children ect ect. If somebody has spent their working life ****ing their money against the wall, smoking fags at £5 a packet, jollys to Spain and Turkey every year, then they may have to work to 75, or retire in a situation where every penny counts. Everybody is in charge of their own lives and their own future. I would rather work later and have a good time now, whereas somebody else may want to save and retire at 65.We should educate our teenagers now, that their retirement provision is down to them. Retiring on a great pension at 65, is rightly or wrongly not going to be given to you as a right, your decsisions over your 40+ years working life, decide your retirement.

I thought this Saturday . I really thought he would be class this season, but he hasn't started too well. I'm hoping it is the new partnerships and once things settle down he'll be fine.

Living in Poole, some of my mates go and watch Boscombe (whilst supporting other teams) and a couple follow them regulary. They all had an uneasy feeling about Mitchell, evidently he's given his son a job at Boscombe and nobody really knows if he's given the club money or loaned it to them at high interest rates to make money. They really want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but his PR has blown all that out of the water. The "go and support Southampton" thing, really did hammer the nail in the coffin, because his "apoligy" was so weak. Sunday lunch time I had a couple and was talking to a Boscombe fan who I know slightly, but not well. He was saying that they dont expect promotion and understand that players are going to leave (they've had 30 years of it), but Mitchell is now making a complete and utter balls up of it. You can not expect a rookie manager to manage with all this going on, they needed a Ronnie Moore or Peter Jackson to steady the ship. Coupled with Mitchell's antics, they are really worried about the future.