1976_Child

All I can say is that I hope those in the Northam sit down. It is against ground regulations to stand.

I just am not really one for conspiracy/cover up theories. It was a tragic, tragic disaster. Could it have been prevented? Yes. Should it? Yes. Should those fences have been there with hindsight? No. Are are football fans now much safer as a direct consequence of the disaster? Yes, lessons have been well learned. Honestly can not believe that anyone in the police/FA/Wednesday tried to hide evidence the first time round. Sometimes tragic accidents do happen. I only hope we don't have another enquiry into Diana's death in another ten years too.

It just occurred to me. Are you cooking gammon tonight in some voodoo ritual because we are playing West Ham tomorrow?

The main cause of the disaster was not the police nor those 'thugs' who didn't have a ticket etc etc. It was the simple fact that there were solid 10 foot high metal fences caging the scousers in. That is really all that needs to be 'investigated'. Sorry if that sounds callous to the victims' families but surely they can see that it was this inanimate construction which is really to blame. Yes, I know that all would have been fine if the numbers had indeed been restricted but ultimately if the fence wasn't there then no one would have died, the game would have been postponed and people would still buy the Sun on Merseyside. It was a truly horrific disaster. The most important lesson was quickly learned: fences are now outlawed in English grounds. Again, I know this is a sensitive subject but really, what good will it do to rake up the muck again? The coppers are all retired, the stadium officials and FA officials are long gone too. Sometimes it really is best to just move on, even if with a heavy heart.

you're most welcome buddy. Anytime. What are you having for dinner tonight? Roasted commie?

There are not many other clubs out there which could afford to pay £250,000 per week. Maybe Real/Barca, maybe one or two in Italy and Germany but none in the Americas (Beckham is an exception which proves the rule). Africa - nope, far east ditto. I admit to having not seen any proof, but I would be astonished if the Prem is not already waaaay out in front of other leagues in terms of players' wages. Even mid-table wages.

Sure, let them go to scouserville after Belfast. Then on to Cobh (Queenstown) which was Titanic's last port of call. (good quiz question that. Most people say her last port of call was Southampton or Cherbourg)

Please let us know what it honestly tastes like. For me, £1.74 for a gammon joint sounds awfully cheap. I feed myself well on a really small budget. I only cook meat at most twice a week but when I do I either buy cheap cuts of meat from a quality independent butcher and then make a stew or I buy a quality roasting joint from same butcher. Going to a quality independent butcher is really a must. Nothing per se against the butcher in Sainsbury's but the actual man is always different. Building a relationship with the butcher means he looks after you and will not give you crap. As far as roast go I will happily pay £25 for a big beautiful hunk of rolled rib with loads of marbling. This will feed me all week, sanis and all. My sound expensive but believe me it is quality and every scrap gets used. Also, anything on the bone so use the bone for stock. I only ever buy British or Irish meat. The idea of shipping dead carcasses halfway around the world appalls me. A new zealand lamb leg may cost £5 cheaper than a Welsh one but not only should we support our own farmers I genuinely believe you can't beat Welsh lamb. Irish beef is really excellent too, all that lush green grass!

Ironic that! Ariving by cruise liner to gawk at the place the most infamous liner was based! I hope they all go to Belfast too to see where she was actually built.

Celtic may have wanted 2 million but that was because the day before every sports section of every newspaper reported we had off loaded Oxo cube to the arse for 15 million. You dunnae have to be the canniest of Scots to bump up the price when you know the Saints bank account is now overflowing.

yeah, I know we all like to take the p!ss out of them but they do actually have a pretty solid hard core of proper fans, as I am sure you can agree?

I couldn't agree more. (at this point, the keen observer will notice that I appear to be going against my usual dune-bashing anti-capitalism ravings. I am still very much opposed to the unfettered free market, crony capitalism, growth-obsessed neo-classical economics of the last 30 years. But one can be against all those things and still be appalled at the sense of entitlement of the non-working population)

The only way it could ever conceivably work is if it followed the NFL model completely - yes be a franchise with no relegation but also you would have to have the draft system. That is why no one NFL club really ever dominates. The weakest performing club from the last season gets to pick first from the new intake of players coming from the college 'football'. Now we don't even have colleges. Most clubs don't even have respectable academies. There is just no way this is anything other than a pure pipe dream. I echo the thoughts of others. If it ever was implemented, even if we were in the Prem at the time I would stop following football. It would be emotional to do so as I love my club, but it would lose all meaning if there is no threat - or promise - of relegation/promotion. And I would not be the only one. Football would die in this country the day it was implemented and before long stadiums would be empty.

Again, if Liverpool or Manure do try to pull this off I would be gobsmacked if the scouse/manure fans would let it happen. There would be complete solidarity amongst all football supporters of all divisions. The Scousers would make their recent protests look like a picnic as would Man U. I really just can't see it happen. There would be picket lines outside the turnstiles at Anfield and Old Traf. Maybe not manned by the 'tourist fan' but the hardcore would not stomach it.

Thanks all. Just brought it up because (if God forbid) those dirty scousers do relieve our port of some of the cruise liner traffic then why not entice a ferry company back and nick it off the skates? Now that would be funny!

Absolutely spot on. I have been going through all my regular spending recently. Anything non-essential goes. I am now weighing up whether I need to pay Sky £45 per month. Especially as I just received a marketing letter from Bupa and so just to see how much it would cost for comprehensive health cover I logged on to their website and went through the quotation process ticking every single box, i.e. the most comprehensive cover. The monthly premium? £88.80. Now, compare that - which provides world-class, clean hospitals and prompt (like tomorrow) diagnosis and treatment against sitting on one's backside watching sport on tele. Personally, I won't be joining Bupa just yet, but the comparison is there for all to see. It is still actually very possible to live on a very little, quite comfortably. Whilst I acknowledge that having kids is a whole new ball game, as a single man I can have a roof over my head, heating, clean running water, in-door lavatory and electricity all for only £800 per month. And this includes paying the council to collect my rubbish, fix the roads, provide social services to the community (and thus crime down), policing (and thus crime down) and education for the neighbours' children. In all, a veritable gamut of services. I can feed my body for about £100 per month extremely healthily (cooking from fresh and eating meat sparingly) and add another £50 for travel around town and all-in-all I need only £950 after tax which is only £1,100 per month before tax and NI (go to http://www.listentotaxman.co.uk if you don't believe me). Sure, there are no luxuries but who said luxuries were necessary? They ain't. To most of the world's population running clean water is a real luxury whereas a new wizzy phone every 6 months is just weird). Ok, so I would have to mend my own clothes, darn my socks, and perhaps shop for every-day wear at budget outlets or even Oxfam shops but it is possible to dress smartly without 'logos' and do it cheaply. (£1,100 * 12) / 48 = £275 per week gross pay - allowing for 4 weeks of doing nothing, if not a luxury holiday. £275 / 45 = £6.11 per hour. Minimum wage for 45 hours a week. 168 hours in a week - 45 hours at work - (say) 10 hours travel = 113. Now, 113 hours - 49 hours (7 hours kip a night) leaves 64 hours in the week to just doss around. And that is the real reason we are still rich beyond an African's wildest dream. (ok, so there are some rich Africans). Having all of the above AND 64 hours free time per week would have been though crazy just a few generations ago. I totally agree - people assume that they are just plain entitled to all the luxury they have. In reality they are not. And in reality they will still be living way, way, way better standards of living than not only the vast majority of the planet today, but also at levels only attainable by Kings and Emperors just a few hundred years ago.

sure, but for an iconic brand gadget like that people may well have cut back spending elsewhere to be able to afford it. The power of brands. Make people feel they need it and it becomes almost recession proof, but at the expense of other things like eating out or going to the cinema/football or even eating cheaper food. I think in aggregate spending is definitely down across the board. Interestingly enough, during the depression years in the US (1930s) car sales were very strong and grew year on year. It was the new fangled thing and prices had dropped rapidly.

I vaguely remember that Southampton used to host a cross channel ferry service when I was growing up. Can anyone remember which company it was and the route? And more importantly why not still? Ok, so it takes a bit longer to clear the Sound compared to Portsmouth but on an overnight crossing why would that matter?

gross

the clue is in the first few words of my post. "I went to bed the other night.." And I have always been a better writer when drunk. Dunno why it works that way but it does.

But are they actually spending or just browsing - most people have no imagination to go elsewhere so they just end up drifting down the shops. Also, don't forget that for a (say) 3% drop in highstreet spending it only takes either 3% of people to stay away or 100% of people to continue to go but spend 3p less in the pound. The problem is that it still causes havoc with our growth-dictated monetary system and it all falls apart. Especially as most retailers have already slashed margins to the bone already, as soon as the tills go slightly under target it is P45 time for the staff.

To be fair to the fans of current Prem clubs, I doubt they would want it either.

never understood the whole raising the pension age thing. Sure, an argument can be made for people to work longer now they are living longer but one of the reasons there was always a mandatory retirement age was to free up jobs at the top-end so everyone advances and space opens up at the bottom end. Maybe if more old gits buggered off to the golf course earlier there would be more room for the nippers coming out of school/college

Has anyone mentioned Carisbrooke Castle yet? A proper old castle. Charles First was held there before his head was lopped off. And it has a very cute donkey which turns a wheel which does something. Think it lifts water from a well.

Oi! Sit down! I can't see the game!