Lord Duckhunter

There are plenty of people who would love to earn a shade over £30,000 a year. If you are defining people on a shade over £30,000 as poor, then I suggest you come and join the Tory party. The bankers you speak of, they are able to claim Child Benefit, is that all right then?

"The high debt levels going into crisis meant the UK would have one of the weakest fiscal positions in 2010" after a deterioration in public finances only exceeded by Ireland and Iceland over the past three years" That's what your independent highley respected think tank said of Labour's economic management. Basic goods and essentials are VAT free. People on £30,000 should not be getting benefit. Millionaires should not be getting child benefit

If you're comparing like for like, then you should compare The Mirror with The Sun.

When was the last time The Guardian outsold the Telegraph? Their revenues will go down further, now there's no Public "non jobs" to advertise.

The Guardian are against the Budget? I'm sure they were prepared Weds moring to look at a Tory budget objectively and from a neutral point of view. Shall we post The Telegraph's praise, or is it only The Guardians opinion that counts? No wonder their circulation figures are so poor.

Labour talked a load of rubbish yesterday, but this took the biscuit. Even with a Tory minorty govt, they would have got their budget through.Under a “confidence and supply" agreement the budget would not have been voted down. So the 2 choices, had there not been a coalition, would have been this budget going through or another election. Labour did not want or could not afford another election, an election which would almost certainly result in a Tory majority.

He said it about the JPT tickets (or may have been Pompey game, I cant remember) and I think the poster is quoting from then.

Labour were going to cut the budgets by 20% anyway. The Torries aren't cutting to fund tax cuts, they are cutting to balance the books. If I ran up huge Credit card bills and Mrs Duck had to take over my finances and the paying back of all my debts, is it her fault if I can't afford to play golf and go and watch Saints. Or is it my own fault for getting into the mess? This budget is Labour's legacy.

Exactly. I had a pay freeze and also lost a £2,000 bonus that I should have got after hitting my numbers. When I questioned it was told "bonus schemes can be withdrawn or amended at any time". My boss basically said I had two options, lump it, or leave. I didn't have a load of Lefties sticking up for me, or go on strike. I just calculated that it was better for my family to have a steady wage coming in and whilst continuing to do the job to the best of my ability, would be on the look out for other positions.The Company lost a bit of loyalty from me, but I have to keep performing otherwise I will be out. There's no excuse of "low morale", why should the Public Sector be any different?

I'm glad we didn't resign him, nothing against the lad, I just dont rate him. Too one paced and too light weight. Not in the same class as Lallana and Morgan and I would rather have Puncheon and Hammond in League 1. Of the very long list of players who left this Club too early in their careers, Surman is way way down the list when it comes to who I'd like to have come back.

The CBI Director General said "The chancellor has achieved his twin objectives of setting out a credible plan for the public finances and producing a convincing growth strategy for the longer-term. This Budget is the UK's first important step on the long journey back to economic health. The autumn spending review, and the re-engineering of public services, will be equally challenging." A spokesmen for Fitch Credit Ratings Agency said "Our preliminary assessment of today's Budget is that it sets out an ambitious deficit reduction path that, if delivered upon, will materially strengthen confidence in UK public finances and its 'AAA' status." Even Andrew Sparrow of the Guardian said "Generally, Osborne's budget has got a better reception than he might have expected". There were two choices for Osbourne, deal with Labours mess or try and fudge it. Thankfully he had the balls to do the right thing, and in 5 years time the British people could well reward him with another 5 years in office.

There was an expert on TV last night night saying that Clegg surprised everyone in the first TV debate and this was Osbourne's "TV debate moment". He had surprised everyone with this budget and his performance, he called it "very clever". perhaps they should have had you on the programme to peddle your "Osbourne is an idiot" line. When asked what you based this view on, you could reply "I posted an article on a football forum".

This is a budget of necessity and at long last we're getting some sensible fiscal policy and dealing with the massive Labour deficit. A VAT rise brings in a lot of revenue for such a painless measure. The essentials are VAT free, and if this measure wasn't taken there would be no raising of the tax threshold and income tax would have to raise. Taking tax credits off people earning £50,000 a year is hardly "cutting tax credits" and a freeze on child benefit keeps this benefit universal (although I would have preferred higher rated tax payers to lose this).Many people (including myself) in the private sector have had pay freezes, so why should public sector workers be different? There is also a small raise for the lowest paid easing their burden slightly. The markets have reacted strongly to this budget. Had Labour managed the public finances better, we would not need have needed some of these measures. I know who is to blame for my standard of living going down, and it is not George Osbourne.

Can I just make a suggestion? It is obvious that the Club are not going to back down over this, surely banging on and on about it is going to intrench their position. Perhaps it is better to look towards next summer, perhaps arrange a meeting with NC and DL in the early part of 2011 and see if something can be thrashed out installment wise next year. Now it maybe that the Club are indeed trying to limit the amount of S/T's, but if gates are down (as most of the pro installment people believe they will be), the pro installment people's hand will be stronger. I just feel that if you back the Club into a corner, they will never back down and you'll never get your installment plan back. By taking the heat out of the situation for a few months, they may see the error of their ways, and agree to Stu's plans for next season.

Poor England performances have been blamed on Keegan, Sven, Maclearn and now a guy whose won everything. The "golden generation" is just a joke, bigged up by people like Redknapp, the journo's who want to suck up to the stars and the TV media, wanting to make money on the back of our domestic game.

The report will be treated the same as in most of the Celtic nations I'd imagine. There will be people angry about what happened, some wanting prosecutions, some not. Had the same report been delivered 20 years ago, all hell would have been let loose. With the Americans putting their oar in as well. My Irish friends are staying with us in August, so I'll ask them, but I doubt if it'll be very high on their agenda.

I hope England win, but I'm hoping James chucks one in his own net. 3-1 will do me.

The whole "Peace Procees" has brought about a major change in the Souths attitude towards the Brits. I worked with a lot of Irish abroad in the 80's and there was always a little bit of resentment under the surface. There was always one ready to have a pop after a couple of beers, until they got to know you as a person, there was hostillity. Move on 20 years and that's pretty much vanised. I was in Dublin at the same time as the English Rugby side played at Croke Park the first time. I was in a bar packed full of locals, with just me as the sole Englishman. The banter was great, the people fantastic and despite the result it was one of the best laughs I've had in any bar anywhere.Dont forget that Croke Park has a special place in Irish hearts and yet they were willing to embrace me and welcome me into their bar. That would just not have happened before the Good Friday agreement, there would have been someone wanting a pop. Now I know that being able to have a friendly drink up is in no way comparable to shooting and killing people, but I just get the feeling that the Irish people as a whole are more comfortable about the past and more forward looking than anything else, and that can only be a good thing.

If Ireland was united the South would have to deal with all the criminal activity and protection rackets going on now.They would have to deal with the IRA policing their own people, and the unionist thugs doing the same, and they would have to deal with the UVF ect, that may take up arms again.Apart from the present financial crisis (which they are starting to deal with) The Republic has become a modern pretty wealthy state, why would they want the dead hand of Ulster weighing them down? From talking to people in the South, this is not an East/West Germany situation to them. They are perfectly happy the way things are.

I have good friends in the South and we've spoken about the situation. According to them, most don't want anything to do with the North, they know it's a corrupt "Country" which will just be a drain on the South and cause nothing but trouble. They have a romantic notion of a United Ireland, but do not really want it to happen.

I think most people accept that Chanri's only interest is getting his money back and his hands on the Parachute money. If that's the case any appeal from HMRC over the CVA wont matter to him. If they appeal it, he'll just do a Bates and buy the Club without a CVA, get a points deduction, and still get his hands on the Parachute money. Or am I missing something?

Spot on, people like Adams and McGuiness contributed to the conditions that led to Bloody Sunday. If British soldiers are prosecuted as a result of this enquiry, then all unsolved murders and crimes from the troubles should also reopenned and prosecutions sought. Killers are walking free as a result of the Peace procees, having served time cut short as part of this procees.They can still be brought to justice over crimes they weren't convicted for, if new evidence comes to light. Let's spend money on seeking justice for the innocent RUC officers, Army personell and civillians that Adams, McGuinness cut down. The whole Peace Procees is phoney,there are parts of Ulster that make 1930's Chicago look respectable. The IRA did not just go back to a peaceful life when they ended the "war", they are gangsters and racketeers and the establishment turn a blind eye

A lot of Boscombe supporters try to drum up some sort of rivalery, they're like wannabe Skates. It wasn't like it 20 years ago, I don't know if it's a Redknapp thing or what it is, but I hope we hammer them.

Not that I know much about these things, but the Poorsmouth case looks closest to the Leeds situation than any other. It appears that Bates manipulated the admin procees to get the Club's debt down and get a Premier League set up on the cheap. Here it looks like Chanarai is manipulating the admin procees here, to maximise his return and get his hands on the parachute money. In the Leeds case the Revenue challanged the CVA, despite it receiving 75% of the vote. It was the delay caused by this challange that resulted in the points deduction, as the administartor couldn't fund the club during the appeals procees.The Revenue will surely challange Poorsmouth's CVA and delay proceedings, but Chanari may still fund the Club during these proceedings if it means he gets the parachute money at the end of it. From day 1 there was only one outcome of the Leeds admin, that Bates would end up with the Club. Personally I think there's there's only one outcome of Poorsmouth's, Chanari will own the Club. It just depends how much damage the Revenue/FL/FA do to the Club in the meantime, points deduction wise. With Leeds you could see Bates' reasoning behind the deal, to get Leeds back to where they really should be, will make him loads of money. Chanari's motives are surely all about maximising his revenue, surely even in his limitted time in football he realises they are not a Premier league outfit, and even if they were, needed massive investment to sustain it. Therefore long term they are still screwed even if they do manage to wriggle out of it.

Whilst not wishing to gloss over the disgraceful behaviour of the British Army,if people like McGuinness weren't carrying submachine guns to a "peaceful protest" march, the outcome may have been very different.Do not under any circumstances believe that McGuinness wouldn't have used this to gun down Brits. That is the circumstances these boys were operataing under, and it's hardly a surprise that some over reacted.This has to be placed in the context of NI in the 1970's not Britain in 2010.