Kingsland Codger

I shall try to find one of their fans' message boards and advise those Season Ticket holders in Row ZZ and higher to purchase a tin hemet for their own safety.

Mmmm ... the article to which you kindly gave the above link - dated 19 January 2007 and so therefore before the financial crisis hit - serves as much to confuse as to enlighten. The headline and opening tells us the National Debt is at record highs but later on the article also tells us ... "As a percentage of the economy, however, the national debt is far lower than it has been in the past. It is currently at 38.1% of gross domestic product, lower than the 43.6% than Labour inherited in 1997". This would suggest Saintandy666 was right in some of what he said and you are right in some of what you say. Either way, the latest figures are a huge disappointment and it would appear none of the established parties have a cure for our economic ills.

Whilst I don't doubt what you say, one should also acknowledge that with the policies the Coalition are applying we now have ... rising inflation and a rise in interest rates quite likely. The very things you say would have happened had they failed to implement their austere policies. I'm prepared to give the Coalition more time as it will take decades to sort out the mess Labour have left us with (again) but with the recent VAT hike it is quite likely the current quarter will also show negative growth and two consecutive quarters of negative growth will therefore meet the requirements of the full definition of a recession. Should the Coalition attempt to dilute their policies, the forex market would fear they are losing their nerve and then the Sterling crisis we have so far avoided might well come to fruition. As things stand, it looks like we are stuffed. Batten down the hatches and prepare for even harder times.

After learning French and German - not to any great standard; a good (but not great) 'O' level - I then lived for many years in Japan. I studied/picked up the language so I could get around easily enough, buy a train ticket, order a meal, buy stuff in the shops - that kind of thing. A fair bit of this requires being able to read kanji (Chinese characters) and I guess I was about two-thirds of the way to being 'literate' by the time I came to leave. I could slowly decode (rather than 'read') a newspaper provided the topic wasn't too highbrow. Back in Europe I find speaking French a bit of a problem in that from time-to-time Japanese words slip into my sentences without me realizing what I have done which serves to confuse the listener and leave me similarly puzzled as to why he doesn't understand what I've just said. Which raises a question - if one is stronger in one foreign language, does that language come to the fore when speaking another foreign language in which one is not so strong?

And I see Charlotte Edwards and her girls didn't let us down yesterday, either. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/womens_cricket/9358789.stm

Probably the most heroic example of the use of the F-word was when Bryony Shaw was interviewed live on the BBC after her bronze medal in the sailing at the Beijing Olympics. Mercifully the sound track has been uploaded to You Tube for all of us to enjoy.

Not all is lost. Australia still has world class spinners. There's the redback, the funnel web, the white tail ...

Several comments above about how little Kelvin had to do (which is mostly true) but let's not forget his wonderful save in the first half when he had to leap very high, very quickly to tip a goalbound shot over the bar. Another thing about KD - before we scored out first, Kelvin was kicking the ball up the pitch. The defenders were all heading towards the halfway line and he had no opportunity to pass or roll the ball out. Once we had scored, the defenders then made themselves available with the CBs dropping into the FB positions to accept a pass/roll out. This was clearly a policy rather than mere happenstance - but for the life of me I can't think why ...

Microsoft Works

Whilst I'm of the view Jaidi is a very effective stopper and can put the fear of God into some of the other side, having won the ball he doesn't always 'clear the danger'; sadly (especially later in the game as he tires) he sometimes gives the ball straight back to the opposition and he becomes a bit of a liability. Were I an opposing manager in the last 15 minutes of a game I would put my best tackler/hassler onto Jaidi to put him under pressure and have my speedster nearby to hopefully capitalise on any loose ball that results.

And also as the closing sequence in the final episode of the same series.

The European Court of Human Rights is not governed by the European Union. It is overseen by the Council of Europe. The Council is a distinct entity and is not a branch of the European Union. If the UK were to leave the EU, we would still be a signature party to the ECHR. We would, however, be able to withdraw from the ECHR should we so wish. Heck, we can leave the EU, the Council of Europe and the ECHR; we just have to consider the consequences of any decision.

March will indeed be interesting - and, who knows, there might be some fun to be had before then; the wages are due at the end of this month and then comes the Tax and National Insurance payment to HMRC a couple of weeks after that. I doubt HMRC will cut them much slack should there be any delay.

I believe the switch from 'subjects' to 'citizens' was in 1981/1983 or thereabouts. I recall when my son was born there had been a new Nationality Act and his new passport said 'British Citizen' whereas my existing passport said 'Subject'.

I guess it means the person who did the stats count wasn't paying attention. Barnard had a shot parried by their goalkeeper, Lambert's shot from the rebound was blocked on the line and a header from the resulting corner was saved sharply by their keeper just below the bar. These first two efforts can still be seen on the Saints page of the BBC website. Then in the second half there was Lambert's free kick which their keeper palmed away for a corner and later Butterfield had a shot saved - a bit of a tame efort and more or less straight at the Bournemouth goalie but still on target. So, together with the two penalties, I make that 7 on target and there may be one or two othes I can't remember.

Hitting the woodwork = poor finishing.

Very true about hitting the woodwork. I regard 'hitting the woodwork' as another term for 'poor finishing' - so at the next training session it should be target practice for the lot of them.

Not so much remote but to give an idea of how communications have changed in the last 30 years - In the 70s I was living in the sticks in Japan. Unsurprisingly, the results weren't published in any of the Japanese language newspapers but there were included in the Monday edition of an English language paper - which I used to receive on the Tuesday evening. About a 3 day delay. By contrast, fast forward to a few years ago when we played Brentford in the FA Cup and Kevin Phillips 'scored' in the last few moments only for the referee to disallow the goal. Within seconds I received a text from my son who was watching the game in a beach bar in Thailand telling me the TV replay showed KP to be well onside.

But the key question about the evening with Mr Cortese has yet to be asked. Was the duck served with a black cherry or an orange sauce?

There is one's 'constitutional rights' and then there is responsiblity, good manners and common sense. These latter qualities are not usually incorporated into any legal framework as they are regarded as too vague (cf the height of the Cultural Revolution when the Red Guards denounced, amonsgst others, 'Bad People'). It might be one's right to have freedom of speech but to shout 'Fire!' in a crowded cinema is a clear abuse of that right. Think of the Orangemen who insist on marching through Catholic/Republican areas in Northern Ireland and the BNP (and/or their fellow travellers) who wish to do similar in an area populated mostly by recent immigrants. In order to exercise their 'rights' to walk in any British street, they are prepared to specifically and quite deliberately cause offence, chaos and disruption. This Pastor might have the right to burn the book (but I leave the finer points of that topic to those far cleverer than me) but if he does so he must accept the responsibility for any consequences his actions might produce. Invoicing him for the police costs, crowd control, fire brigade and any medical injuries sustained in the course of his exercising his rights might help to concentrate his thoughts. And finally, as a Christian Pastor, he might like to consider the 'love-thy-neighbour' message his faith claims to foster. His intended actions are in clear contrast to this. As things stand, he should consider a career move.

But this tells us more about Crystal Palace than it does about Adkins.

You might also visit Arromanches and Pegasus Bridge. And whilst you're in Normandy, a look at the Bayeaux Tapestry wouldn't be a waste of time.

I might have guessed there would be an attempt to re-write history over your Night of Shame. I most certainly was at St Mary's on 2 December 2003 and have an extraordinarily clear memory of the booing, whistling, jeering and otherwise uttery appalling behaviour coming from what certainly appeared to be the entire away end. You might recall the referee (Graham Poll, no less) brought the Minutes Silence to an abrupt end (as little as 20 seconds in, I believe). Tell me ... why do you think Mr Poll did this? Because of just 'a few idiots' continuing to chant or because of several thousand showing a lack of respect? I would like you to take a moment to consider this, as the undeniable fact of the shortened Minutes Silence clearly demonstrates my recall of what happened is the reality and your (plural) attemps to put the blame on 'a few idiots' and a 'small minority' is simply factually inaccurate.

Only it wasn't 'a few idiots' was it? It was the entire away end (expanded because it was a cup tie). And they didn't 'continue to chant when the whistle blew for silence'; they weren't simply chanting, they were jeering, booing and whistling and giving every impression of thoroughly enjoying themselves. Portsmouth's Night of Shame.

Will HMRC be expecting a payment from PFC around the 19th of this month? This will be the tax and NI contributions for the wages paid at the end of July.