saintbletch

Good point. I hadn't really thought about it historically, but if we kept records and with the usual caveats (state secrets, lives of citizens overseas, armed forces not unduly put in harms way) - all the way for me. I mean, it's not going to lower our opinion of any of our politicians is it? What would be interesting would be looking for a correlation between the non-exec roles our retired politicians take up and the 'visitors' they might have entertained while in office. If would hopefully serve as a reminder for our current, as well as future office holders.

You've won me over with the power of your argument trousers... I'll attempt to avoid trousers' own brand of political parody and share my views - for what it's worth. Until we sort out the way parties are funded this will continue to happen. It's naive to think that someone who gives £250K to a party wants nothing in return. I guess a few might be dyed-in-the-wool party members who are looking for nothing more than 5 minutes of altruistic 'fame'. But the majority will want the party's ear, will be looking to buy influence and will be looking for politicians to look out for their interests. As you say pap, our political funding model means this will happen with parties of every hue and tone and let's not forget the special influence of the Union in Labour's policy making. Whilst it's quite transparent it's still open to abuse. But if you're going to use a public office to do this and then you're going to use public funds to entertain them privately in a state-owned residence, then I think we should be able to know who has been entertained. David Cameron is merely a custodian of the office - these trappings are not his. If he wants to entertain people privately then he should take his friends to a restaurant. By all means entertain your friends at Downing Street, but tell them that their visit will be recorded and published because it will have been paid for by us - the tax payer. Not wanting to hijack the threat but I'd pose a supplemental...should we be able to find out who David Cameron has entertained in Downing Street at tax payer's expense? Personally I'd say that we should.

Yep, see opening post. So does that mean that the device is SO clever that it can put the Mercedes right into contention during qualifying and that without it the car is at best average? Early days to draw any conclusions I guess.

Just read Winter in Madrid by C J Sansom. It's fundamentally a spy story but told through 3 public school friendships, the British class system and a couple of romances - all set against the backdrop of the Spanish civil war. It's a real slow burner but as the strands of the plot start to come together in the last third it becomes really compelling. C J Sansom wrote the Matthew Shardlake series of novels and has a history PhD. His books are so thoroughly researched and educational (but never dry) that you have to keep reminding yourself that some of the events he describes are fictional. It's a very enjoyable and well written book that opened my eyes to a pretty sh*tty time in recent Spanish history. Just started James Joyce's Ulysses. Beautifully written but bugger me it's incredibly difficult to follow.

Enjoyment and frustration in equal measure. Rain usually shuffles the pack and it was great to see the rain remove the usual advantages of the better funded teams. Very early thoughts on the season so far. - That win does nothing to disguise the problems the Ferrari team has (and with 5th in Australia probably says that Alonso is the the best driver out there?) - Hamilton seems to have some demons left after last year - driving very well but he's moping around without his mojo - The Mercedes seems to be completely different car between qualifying and in the race - Either the Red Bull is a dog, Vettel isn't interested this year or previously Vettel's wins were more down to car dominance than his mastery - Williams surely have had the greatest transformation from 2011 to 2012 - looking good. As I said, early days but it does look like things have been really shaken up this year.

An interesting article on Mercedes' new DRS system. Well, interesting in an "I'm an F1 geek" sort of way. It apparently allows them to have the rear wing open for a greater percentage of the lap. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17484900

Oh dear. The offending lyrics...

I do know what you mean Sour Mash. I don't have any specific 'faith', so I can't really personally relate to someone turning to religion for anything. But I can see how someone might get some relief from the pressure of their job through a recognition that there is something more important than football. Is there a religion that you do take seriously then?

I love the way you started that sentence Thedelldays. Ironic? I think that anyone who believes in (a) God would believe that Muamba survived and is hopefully recovering as a result of their God's benevolence. Why does that surprise you? Coyle is very religious. I remember him being interviewed when he was under a great deal of pressure and not winning any games. He was asked how he coped and he said that prayer and his belief were very important to him. I'd ask you also to consider that just because he tells his players they don't have to play doesn't mean that he expects them not to. There is probably some psychology in there - he is telling them that it is OK to be upset by what they saw. Great management in my book. I wouldn't criticise any player that found it difficult to give his all following the traumatic scenes they witnessed on the night as well as the two days afterwards when they assumed, as we all surely did, that they had witnessed their mate effectively die on the pitch at White Heart Lane. Just as I don't criticise servicemen and women who find they cannot return to battle zones due to stress-related conditions - even though they are supposedly trained to deal with situations that would be beyond us civvy-streeters. At the same time service personnel that saw the same things take it in their stride. I'm not equating football with fighting wars and neither am I equating Muamba's situation with the scenes of hell our service personnel regularly witness. That would be utterly ridiculous. I am saying that we all handle situations differently. Some of us are deep thinkers. Some of us aren't. I think Coyle understands that too.

Ah, yes. Thank you Dig Dig.

I hope that now he appears to be making a recovery of sorts I can ask this. Does anyone remember a Premier League player in the last couple of months leaving the pitch due to a racing heart rate? I'm sure I saw the game and the commentator said that the player had a condition that was monitored by the bench and his heart rate had given them cause for concern so he was substituted. Anyone, or is my mind playing tricks with me?

Worth commenting on this for the phrase "allowing the fronds of private industry to wrap around institutions like the NHS" alone. Wonderful, but to your points. I'm not sure any party or coalition can do anything that looks well thought through and creative at this time. Their hands are so far tied behind their backs that this is really arranging deckchairs. Whether those deckchairs are on the Titanic or a super yacht, I guess time will tell. As for the nasty party, I'd probably go with the nastier party and as I said I'm not sure any party has the room to truly do what they would like to do. But what has got me a little worked up is the usual spin that surrounds these moves. Removing the 50% tax rate is a driven by symbolism and Tory ideology. Not meant as a criticism - the Conservatives got the votes to negotiate their way into coalition government and 50% tax rates are an idealogical anathema to them. Fine. But to then tell us that the motivation to do this comes from... 1) Those wealthy enough to fall into the 50% bracket are adept at avoiding tax at this level therefore it is not effective as a means to generate tax receipts 2) A 50% tax rate will deter wealthy entrepreneurs from coming to these shores or worse 'force' wealthy entrepreneurs to move themselves and perhaps their company to a country that allows them to keep more of their income 3) We are closing loopholes and raising taxes so the net effect of the budget will be that those that fall into the old 50% tax band will pay much more anyway. ...is pretty disingenuous in my opinion. OK, I can accept 1) and I can accept that it's not easy to stop creative avoidance of tax. But if 2) is true then surely if 3) comes to pass, the wealthy will be thinking to themselves... To tell us that they were genuinely worried that wealth generators would leave the country due to a punitive, but ineffective headline tax rate; but by changing this system so that they actually pay far more they will now happily stay doesn't make sense. Perhaps it's me? The other issue is as you've already suggested pap, we weren't a fledgling democracy/economy introducing its first taxation system where you might argue that a 50% rate isn't the right place to start. I might even agree with the argument about not putting off the wealth generators in such a system. Instead, we already HAD a 50% rate, an enormous debt from previous regimes and public sector workers just about to start to come to terms with the impact of the cuts that haven't even started to be felt yet. Making this move in that context could be an absolute killer for the Conservatives at the polls next time around - especially if those 250 doctors and surgeons also stand against them. And hitting pensioners, the small tranche of our society that still routinely bothers to place their 'x' on the ballot card probably won't look that smart a move either. As Orwell might have said "We're all in this together but some are more in it together than others".

"What a lovely arse!". The linesman blushed slightly as he realised that he probably had the best job in the world.

Danny Fox was incensed by the lengths that Bet327.com, Bet365.com's main rivals, would go to in their quest for leadership of the bookmaking market.

Agreed. Their goal last night summed him up perfectly. Hoof from defence and a looping, deflected Faye header dropping into the net behind the keeper. He has shown that he can be successful doing that but the West Ham fans prefer their bubbles in the air and their footballs on the ground - not the other way round. If they keep dropping points and fall into the playoff-chasing pack, with their owners, I wouldn't be surprised to see a change.

Oh dear. This made me laugh... it's about the only thing I can quote from him without getting this place shut down... Not a royalist myself but surely he can't say what he did about the Queen?

I understand, and to a certain extent agree with the basic point that you and Thedelldays are making, but I think you should consider the impact that internet-driven social networks are having on our communication. Imagine the conversation were in a pub and everyone around the table was talking about Muamba and wishing him well but two people around the table were sitting their with their arms folded and not joining in the conversation. If we were part of that discussion we might conclude that the two non-participants didn't much care whether Muamba pulled through or not. The social pressure on them to declare their thoughts would increase. Eventually they would probably feel compelled to state their view. And so it is with twitter. If we haven't contributed our thoughts on some meme or other but the people we follow have, then we fear that it looks like we don't have an opinion on the matter or worse still, we don't care. The RT on twitter is the 'yep, I agree' of the pub conversation. There is a desire within us all to ensure our views are heard even though we're adding little to the views that have already been expressed. It's why I commented on this thread. And, if you'll allow me to say so, it's why you posted your opinion on the Internet even though Thedelldays had already made and defended the major point of his argument. Not being critical at all - if people didn't comment in this way, we wouldn't have much of a forum. I'm just offering an interpretation of what from a distance, looks like Twitterers jumping on some maudlin bandwagon.

Nope, I've checked it again tpbury and that's exactly what I meant. Muppet Show?

It is amazing. About 8 months ago one of my neighbours, who already had a pacemaker, had a heart attack. His very emotional teenage daughter banged on our front door screaming for help as her Mother was at work. I ran to their house to find another neighbour, who has only basic first aid training, giving the victim CPR. I tried to calm the family as their Dad lay on their living room floor not breathing and blue. The emergency responder arrived and shocked him 3 times and eventually got him breathing again. We think that he hadn't breathed on his own for nearly 10 minutes. I took the family to the hospital and waited with them - a very emotional time and the doctors told us to not expect a positive outcome due to the potential lack of oxygen to the brain. He recovered, which was a miracle having seen him 'dead' for a very long time. The CPR my neighbour performed saved his life by forcing his body to draw breath. He has been left remarkably unaffected except that he says he feels a little distant mentally and his memory isn't what it once was. He still makes a mean lamb curry. He had a sort of ICD fitted and was told that this would not allow his heart to fail but on Friday night he had another heart attack. It was a coughing fit that caused the problem and the ICD didn't immediately get the heart going again. He was out for a minute or so and is now recovering in hospital. They think something might have failed in the ICD to stop it kicking in earlier. So hearing about Muamba really touched me and I obviously hope he pulls through. I hope the urgent professional care he got will give him the very best chance of survival without suffering other complications.

I'd love to have seen the scene chez trousers when you explained to the gathered family that you were just taking a picture of your Yorkshire puds to post on the Internet. Well played sir! I for one would sooner stuff Uncle trousers into my mouth than Aren't (sic) Bessie's any day.

Likewise. Got up at 7:30 to watch the recorded qualifying from Sky but something went wrong with the satellite signal and it didn't record. I think there must have been heavy rain or something as the recording said the signal had been lost. Glad I didn't get up to watch it live. Anyway, spent the morning avoiding all news channels / Internet sites and have just watched the good old BBC coverage. Great qualifying and fantastic to see a change in lots of teams' fortunes. Really enjoyed seeing F1 again.

Yes.

Rule 1 trousers.

Same here. The commentator on Sky's coverage of free practice was saying that Mercedes' rear wing could be the equivalent of Red Bull's 'blown diffuser' from last year. In that it looks like they've done something very different to other cars and so if it's good it will take other teams a long time to catch up. There is speculation that Mercedes have implemented something similar to McLaren's F-duct but without the driver needing to put his knee in an air stream to make it work (which is the reason it was outlawed). This apparently makes them very quick in a straight line. We'll see. I do enjoy this stage of the season where everything is up in the air and before we all realise the Vettel will win 90% of the races. Hope not.

Looks like those pesky neutrinos realised they were being observed and clocked their speed down a bit - to below the speed of light. Boo! More here and here.