Verbal

I'm afraid that as soon as I see this particular character's name pop up with a reasonably well-written post, I check to see where it was plagiarised from.

I got to know David Amess pretty well after he won his Southend seat in 1983 - probably met him three or four times a year until the late eighties. Never liked his politics - he was a committed Eurosceptic even then - but he was an immensely amiable man who was happy to hear strongly held views different to his, and to discuss them at length. He was also almost totally lacking in conventional political ambition - for him, winning his seat was like winning the lottery, and he revelled in the mundane and time-consuming work of being a constituency MP. He wasn't unique - there are a number of MPs in the Commons quite like him in temperament and calling, which makes recently heard the 'scum' label all the worse. But a talent for being genuinely nice - and I mean Ted Lasso-level nice - was something he clearly never lost. What a depressing day.

To be fair (as the saying goes), he didn't say whether that level was up or down

Too right! With bells on.

Apropos nothing of course, but listening to people trying to justify the many downsides of Brexit makes them sound like someone trying to convince an A&E doctor that there's a perfectly good reason for their cock to be stuck in a hoover.

You'd have been hopeless working for the Third Reich SOG

Google 'west pier'

If all that's left of him is an end-of-the-pier entertainer, I know a good one in Brighton

Calm down dear. And how the hell did you get through that hissy fit without uttering the only rhyming slang word you've ever learned?

Where is he? I particularly miss his Jew-baiting and Arab-bashing. Everyone needs to hear from a bigot every now and again...

sydney, you have the patience of Job trying to deal rationally and knowledgeably with this desiccated lemon. But you eventually got to where the rest of us already were: see buctootim for details

I tried, but realised it would mean inventing a new language, like the one my two-year-old niece uses

If you're looking for an alternative to fuel (and everything else) chaos in Brexitland, and fancy a detour, a friend tells me that petrol stations are fine and running smoothly in Kabul.

Yep, as you correctly predicted, you misinterpreted. Freedom of movement within the EU is freedom of labour movement, not of people in general. Hence, in Belgium, for example, it's incredibly difficult to stay in the country if you're a non-Belgian and your lose your job. So 'supply and demand' in action under FOM. There always were controls - and most other EU countries use them. It's perhaps a tiny example of self-awareness that British politicians knew that their incompetent governance meant that such EU controls could never work successfully in the UK, not least because of the absence of an ID card system - but mostly because, even in good times, the Home Office was 'not fit for purpose' (think what it is now!). What we have instead is not controlled movement. There's nothing 'controlled' about it. The massive labour shortages - not just HGV drivers delivering fuel - mean that economic output is suffering, and the economy is massively under-performing. This quickly translates into company collapses - even, as we're seeing, companies that are at the sharp end of distribution, where you'd think they'd be minting it. And this in turn translates into faltering growth, which we're already starting to see. But you knew all that, right?

I'm not sure even Boris Johnson thinks Brexit is a good idea. His desperate three-month visa ploy for HGV drivers is an explicit recognition that freezing freedom of movement doesn't work. On which subject - if you think it's easy to drive an artic, try this: Teabag challenge

Exactly so, Lord Pony - we're all familiar with your endearing refusal to let facts get in the way of your opinions. May you be fact-free until you pop your hooves.

We've also yet to see the best of Armstrong for at least one reason - at Blackburn he had Harvey Elliott providing assist after assist. We don't have a Harvey Elliott - yet at least.

I'm sure that's fine. I think this is more a debate between people who understand modern coaching terminology and those who pay for their beers in groats.

Nice report, thanks. But can you give a trigger warning if you're going to write a final sentence like that?

It's called Tai Chi, dumbass. Get with the programme.

I'm not sure why. Ever since Bosman players haven't been compelled to go to a club other than one of their choosing, regardless of buy-back clauses

Not necessarily. There are some good players in there. Lewis getting sent off gave another reminder of how promising Ollie Wright is, and two of our most recent signings were getting game time. Persistent losing is more likely to be a coaching issue (including team selection) rather than one of a 'bad' team.

That is just fabulous.

'Salisu is a yard too slow' is a new one on me.

Shouldn't we just do a pre-match thread for the Sheff U or Wolves games and imagine this one never happened?