cambsaint

Having been very interested in politics for over fifty years and even considered going into local politics -but for my wife's chronic illness, I can honestly say that I have never felt so disaffected with politicians. How they get away with taxing nearly all at over 30% and those on relatively modest salaries at over 50% -yes NIC is nothing but income tax!-beggars belief, and yet those who are on top salaries whinge at 45% income tax when many take most of their income as dividends and can claim 40% relief on pensions is disgusting. However this isn't the place to discuss the gross inequalities in society and for me to say I will vote UKIP is a very painful choice and shows my utter contempt and disgust for "The Westminster Bubble."

I and many of my friends are probably going to vote UKIP in the Euro elections just to show our utter disgust at the "snout in the trough" political class and the Westminster circle of clowns who have never done a proper job in their life- posh school, Oxbridge, political researcher or PR whore then MP. (I personally agree with Cameron over Europe -it needs reforming, but we must try from within first of all. Just walking away is foolish. I also understand that The European Court of Human Rights was a post war reaction supported by Churchill to try to make sure that a lunatic and his evil followers could never again sieze power at the ballot box, and go on to murder six million just for their religion. Yes wishy-washy liberals have subverted it, but the U K never had a Bill of Rights and it provides us all with some safeguards against governmental abuse of power.) So my forthcoming UKIP vote will be a protest vote. Gone are the days of working class trade-unionists coming through further adult education to MP. Replaced by all women lists of posh girlies or boys with connections. You even begin to wonder if old died in the wool Tories like "Rear Admiral Morgan-Giles of Winchester who supported sending British troops to Vietnam weren't better than the current lot of onanists-at least they weren't in it solely for the money, and a few had even done a real job before. At least you knew what you were getting. When the Labour MP for one of the poorest constituencies resides in considerable luxury in a walled mini-estate in Oxfordshire one wonders where the money came from.-To say nothing of B Liar's post parliamentary activities. Shows what his real motivation was all the time. (Respect for John Major living a quiet retirement watching cricket.-Never heard a bad word about him (except for his affair) and I live quite locally and used to know one of his close associates.) Unfortunately after the Euro elections it gets more difficult. Can UKIP really get its policies right and put feasible candidates up for the Parliamentary elections-probably not. So it'll probably have to hold my nose and vote Tory for only the second time in my life. How anyone could vote Labour after they dumped us in this mess in the first place and are led by an overgrown clown of a schoolboy defeats me. The Liberals are just a joke- and their probity is in doubt over tuition fees. Being careful here-not what I would like to say. The way they run Cambridge City is almost beyond belief at times. So I and many others will vote UKIP on the 22nd and hope that it puts the brown smelly stuff so far up the resident politicians that they sit up and take notice.

Perhaps collusion is too strong. It is logical and obvious to most that if Saints can buy the three or four good players we need, and also probably increase wages, then if the top players are happy as they are mainly young it wouldn't harm their prospects to stay a couple of years. Most have the time to play for a top English team and then go on to Europe; which is exactly what I would do if I was so fortunate to have the opportunity.

Many years ago in my confirmation classes, which I attended of my own free will, a very wise priest told us that effectively "you did unto others as you would be done unto yourself" you would be leading a good life. He of course believed that Jesus was a son of God. In later years I lost faith in a Godhead figure, but still try to liver my life largely by Christ's teachings which I consider to be an excellent framework for a civilised society. Is today's Britain a Christian country? I don't know.The pursuit of Mammon, celebrity, and the attempts of many of the the better off to continually increase their wealth by almost any means probably not. However most of the people I know lead decent. thoughtful lives and would consider they live by Christ's standards.

Unfortunately my thoughts that a move to MU would be a poor career move for Shaw and Lallana due to Moyes may no longer stand. Hopefully MP will be considered too inexperienced, but if he took a couple of players he would transform that lot. He'd be made to speak in English though to satisfy their commercial needs. Proves "The Peter Principle" rules in Football management -ie you rise until you reach your level of incompetence. Without doubt my "Manager of the Year" and I have no doubt the choice of the vast majority of non Man U fans.

Although Man Ure can pay top dollar in fees and wages, I still cannot see a move to them being a sensible career move for a very good young player unless wanting three years mega pay-days and not too bothered about honours. This would suggest an age of 27-28. My reasoning is: No Champions League football next year and possibly not for a couple of years. A manager who looks to be somewhat one-dimensional and second div to me. Forget what he's not done this season, look at what Martinez has achieved at Everton this year. My Man City supporting football journo acquaintance calls him his "Manager of the Year" and prays that he doesn't get the sack. No guarantee the decline can be quickly arrested. Uncertainty of knowing who the next manager will be. No guarantee or realistic expectation of being top four next year. Also how would you rate the delights of South Cheshire against those of: the Solent region; London;Spain:Italy. Just think where Saints would be with Rooney and Van Persie in the team- top four for sure imo. I'd stay with Poch for another year-and probably follow him if he moves to a super-team. Of course the equation changes dramatically if an exciting managerial change occurs at OT.

The Polish community was established during or just after WW2. I believe they were put up in a camp near Hythe. Some fought for us in WW2 We had a significant Polish community in 1969 when I found about it while working with a lad born in Southampton but of Polish ancestry. There was a thriving Polish community then and he demonstrated Polish folk dancing to us-just like Russian on bent knees-required fantastic practice, strength and stamina. I haven't been to Southampton except for a few games for many years, so I assume if it is popular it's because of the pre-existing community. I'd be surprised if it had a greater percentage than Peterborough though.

have got genuine fifties solid oak flooring. looks beautiful and very practical with dogs but cold. would cost a fortune today, but the wood flooring with a thick layer of genuine oak are good. Can thoroughly recommend them especially with dogs.

Can any of the experts confirm my view that the most likely vessel to find the plane will be a hunter/killer submarine. Of course we would never be told how it was found, the Aussies would be told the location secretly and claim that they found it accoustically. I have no specialist knowledge apart from being pretty sure that modern subs have incredibly sophisticated underwater search systems which we are never going to be told about. I imagine there would probably a presence near The Maldives to keep an eye on Somalia.

Should have been Let's make our negative and somewhat abusive comments after the match, not before.

Has it never occurred to anybody that Gazzaniga could have been intensively coached and has improved considerably. The comments on here are really going to help the lad's confidence. It's often better to keep your thoughts to yourself and not post them for the world to see. Let's make our comments after the match, not before.

I fully agree with the sentiment that we are very very lucky. This season we are probably going to finish eighth with about 50% of available points tally. We have many fine young players including several internationals. Never since the days of Laurie McMenemy when we could still sign top class if ageing players and money wasn't all important and any club in Div one could compete-Derby, Notts Forest, has it been more fun to be a Saints supporter. Some of the negativity and lack of realism of many on this board never fails to astonish me. But heartfelt thanks to Marcus and his family without whom we may have followed Coventry into disaster. We are of course still entirely dependent on Katherina's continued support and the club's debt is effectively hers; but we are also very valuable and saleable and could hope to be bought by a good buyer if put up for sale. I completely agree that there should be a statue of marcus and perhaps the supporters should suggest this to Katherina who would I'm sure be very gratified to have the support to erect such a statue.

Depends entirely on your personal circumstances and whether you and your sister's are the same. I and my sisters considered holiday letting out my late mother's house, while she was in a home-(in perfect condition in a highly desirable and lettable position) but in the end decided that it involved a lot of work. Unless you really like the property you may be better to sell it and use the money for your own housing needs, or even use it for a deposit to buy an easily manageable buy to let, say a recently built apartment, that you can let easily. I believe that your Dad can amend the will to pass on money as well as property.

If its true and MP is offered the job then he'll go. Wouldn't you? We must just hope for successful new contract negotiations and hope we keep him for a couple more years.

It wasn't oxygen, it was Entonox a mixture of Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) and oxygen AKA gas and air which is a pain-killer (as used in dentistry and childbirth) and would have been recommended by the doctor. Just because it isn't broken doesn't mean it can't be extremely painful. Remind me never to come to your surgery!!(:-

Surely the best option for all if the breakdown is irretrievable and Katherine Liebherr doesn't want Saints is for NC and MP to remain in place and NC to managed the sale of Southampton for the best price possible. The Liebherr estate would walk away with over£100mill profit and the new owners would inherit a stable and well managed club. Money is usually the deciding factor in these matters and the Liebherrs would surely get a much better price with Chair and manager in place and the possibility of stability. If both walked to an Italian club-probably together then the Liebherrs would be faced with a management problem and almost certainly a worse price.

It sounds logical to me. If we are serious about European football then St Mary's will have to be enlarged, and if you come from outside Southampton and don't know your way around then the logistics of getting there are a nightmare. However I expect that there would be very considerable costs putting in new road links to a site at Fords, but for everyone coming from outside Southampton it would be much easier. I'm sure the Liebherrs could fund it if they wanted to.

One of the BT pundits said very sensibly IMO that we were in our correct position in the league. We were beaten by one of the best teams and managers in Europe today, with a vastly superior squad. It is unarguable that Arsenal, Man City, and Chelsea are in a different class. Man Ure ought to be but have vastly more squad depth and experience, Spurs have spent about 100 million after selling Bale and injuries excepted are a very good team. Liverpool at full strength are very good, but a bit thin, and Everton are a very good team. I hope that at the end of the season we are fighting it out for eighth or ninth which I consider to be our true position. As I think we are better than the ten teams below us I will be very disappointed if we finish tenth or lower. This is a truly magnificent position to be in, after our recent troubles, and better than any rational person could have hoped for. However I think we have to try to strengthen our squad this as we are putting too much pressure on a very thin and extremely young and inexperienced squad.

I've done a few back of an envelope calculations, based roughly on how many points we would expect to take from the top four, four to eight and ten to twenty, and if all goes well we should finish on fifty five to sixty points as a realistic target. Based on the thinness of our squad and the inexperience of our young stars, I will be highly satisfied with seventh, eighth or ninth this season, and it looks as if we are on course to realise that target, assuming no disasters.

The speed of the game and the fitness of the players has increased massively. A ref in their late thirties/forties is unlikely to be able to keep up. Not enough attention is paid to the fact that a tired ref is more likely to make mistakes. The professionalism of the game has increased enormously, but although refs are full-time nowadays, little real improvement has been made. Refereeing should become a career choice for keen footballers who cannot make the grade, and who have the authority and judgement to do it. However realistically the career at the top level would only last a decade, and salaries and pensions would have to reflect this. Cheating has come on enormously and players are much more skilled at cheating-possibly some even practice it. Some of the criticism is based on the availability of TV replays-the ref only has one view in real time. It is ridiculous that technology isn't used at all. It is time for the fourth official to be able to inform refs about unseen incidents, and when there is a break in the play to be able to review a decision, and say inform the ref that a foul has or has not been committed. DRS doesn't detract from the enjoyment of cricket, neither do the video reviews in rugby union. Considering the enormity of the financial rewards that can depend on incorrect decisions it is surprising that no action has been taken. However any review must nit detract from the authority of the referee and they must remain the ultimate arbiters. Just a pity that they don't take this responsibility more seriously and book any player who aggressively questions a decision or a player who attempts to influence their decision.

Playing at the intensity that is necessary with even a mild viral infection is potentially dangerous. There have been reported incidents of fatalities of sportsmen exercising at full performance with viral infections. Leave these decisions to medical professionals.

He had a very poor game; but does this vicious criticism -and I use the word vicious meaningfully, really do anything other than undermine what little confidence he has left. Remember that he's probably our best option until we can buy in Jan or Boruc back from injury.

The simple fact is that we don't have a big squad or strength in depth. We have done amazingly well with teenage players coming in. If anybody had given me top half early in the season I would have been delighted. I can't imagine Cortese and Poch not strengthening in Jan. The suicide squad need to take a reality check and realise that Spurs squad is so deep that Adeboya was training with the kids a couple of weeks agod. They even had Defoe to come on late. OK we had a bad day, but we've had plenty of good ones to balance it out. the important thing is to ensure we can beat the bottom half teams with injuries and suspensions. It was obvious that the absence of Shaw was critical, we must get cover for him.

I'll never forget the goal that Ossie scored for Chelsea against Crystal Palace in the 71-2 season at Selhurst Park. He hit the ball with such force that I and my friends all ducked even though we were stood behind the goal. It was hit so hard that we thought it would break the net. the keeper didn't even move it went so fast. The hardest I've ever seen an old football hit. ( I was working at KCH at the time and only had time to get to Selhurst Park after finishing at one.)

Not to mention Terry Paine, Martin Chivers (often overlooked as a Southampton player), and of course Mick Channon, before the ones Shearer mentioned. With the possible exception of Manchester United has any other English club produced so many real star players-particularly strikers?