Lighthouse

She is head of state in name only. She isn't a leader, a decision maker or a politician. Ambassador would be the best way to describe her. You may not like her but she has spread British good will and diplomatic relations across the globe. No it's not fair that she was just born into this 'job' but she was and she does a heck of a lot of good for this country. Maybe not you personally but she is an important figurehead for this country. She is more well known and respected Worldwide than Cameron, Brown, Blair, Farage, Milliband, Major etc. put together.

That's not relevant to anything. So ISIS might say we aren't proper Christians. We aren't, what's your point?

WTF has Jesus got to do with this? We aren't the ones burning prisoners alive in the name of Christ. He may well have been the ultimate pacifist, if the Bible stories are to be believed but he would be an awful politician in the 21st Century. The West isn't bringing religion into this at all, so stop rambling about what it says in the Bible, it's irrelevant. Yes it should be an international collaboration to sort this mess out, nobody is arguing against that.

We do though. The Royals may reign but they don't rule. Apart from not eating swan they have no effect on your day to day life. USA and France are both republics but their politics are just as riddled with red tape, greed, ulterior motives, hidden agendas and occasional corruption as ours. The best run countries in the World, according to most surveys on quality of life: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Holland, Austria, Oz, NZ, Switzerland and Canada. That's 4 Monarchies, 3 Commonwealths and 3 republics. I agree it's probably not 2 billions, that's just a number I've seen reported. As I said, even if it's half of that...

Actually I do agree on your first point entirely, the Lords can f**k off. Buckingham Palace is where the Queen lives. That's the de facto British tourist attraction, if you take away the Royals, you take away the whole point of the Palace. I'm we'd still get visitors coming in but without the Royals it's just an old building and you take away the unique selling point. It would be no different to any French Chateau, German Burg etc. etc. Some media outlets would have us believe 2 billion people watched the Royal wedding. Even if it's half of that it's on par with an Olympic opening ceremony, WC final, the superbowl etc. That's the kind of global interest they bring to the UK. Get rid of the Royals and it's like saying we could go and visit St Mary's this weekend. Sure Saints aren't playing but the stadium is still there.

How is that any different to politicians being influence by large multinational corporations, heads of other states, trade unions, media alliances and agendas, demands for cheaper oil, gas, corporate bankers, etc. etc. etc. Do we get rid of anyone who has ever influenced a politician? No it isn't, it's exactly my point. If the Queen has the power to do something but never does, how is it a problem? She is head of state in name and symbolism only. The political leaders who actually run the country are democratically elected, so what's you're problem. They do use other income streams, hence they only cost us 50p a year. Still, why don't you go and tell the thousands of people employed by the royal family and the thousands of others who rely on the tourism it generates that they should be put out of business because you REALLY need that 50p.

You haven't answered my question. I have the power to go on a knife wielding killing spree, I just chooses not to use it because of the **** storm it would create if I did. Should I also be removed from society? The entire royal family costs us about 50p each per year I think. I can live with that for all the good will, international relations and tourism they bring to this country.

But the slaughter of Jews, homosexuals, blacks, gypsies, 'racial inferior' Slavics, trade unionists, communists and the disabled is acceptable, so long as we aren't at war?

Which political decisions the Queen has enforced during her reign have you disagreed with in particular?

WTF? You're trying to back your argument up with a man who knew he had to go to war to achieve peace because he was fighting a fanatical idealist who couldn't be bargained with.

ISIS will never do that. That's the point you aren't getting. They aren't the IRA. The IRA, whilst evil in their own way and willing to murder British citizens to pursue their cause, at least had a sane motivation and plausible political motivation. They were fighting for something which was at least achievable, over which a compromise could be found. ISIS aren't like that. Their goals, their methods and their rationale for doing so are all completely mad. They will stop short of nothing less than strict, worldwide Sharia law. If you are prepared to offer them this, together with the global enslavement of women and the mass extermination of all gays and Jews then you can go and negotiate with them.

We used to hang women? Being a woman has never been a capital offense in this country, unless you mean we used to have capital punishment and some of the prisoners executed happened to be women. As it happens we as a country have moved on and are enlightened. The legalisation of homosexuality and the abolishment of the death penalty have both been in place for about 50 years. ISIS have no such intention of moving into the 21st Century. The go to bed at night dreaming of mutual annihilation with Israel. A nuclear holocaust which brings about judgement day, where all nonbelievers are sent to burn in hell for eternity. You cannot bargain, appease or negotiate with that kind of fanaticism.

Yeah, in two friendlies. Look at what other strikers have achieved, compared to Rooney Hurst - hat trick in a WC final Linekar - Golden boot at Mexico 86 and scored in SF against Germany in Italia 90 Shearer - Scored against Germany in 96 SF, winner against Germany in Euro 2000, 96 golden boot etc. Owen - Wonder goal against Argentina, scored against Brazil in 02 Beckham - Free kick against Greece, penalty against Argentina in 02

It's no more impressive than scoring 50 goals in the Championship to be honest. There's a complete list of them here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_goals_scored_by_Wayne_Rooney Never scored in a knockout game of a major tournament. 2 goals in any major tournament since 2004, despite being almost ever present. A tap in against Uruguay last summer in a tournament in which he was dreadful and a free header from all of 6 inches out against Ukraine at Euro 2012. He has been consistently mediocre for England. A half century against teams like Andorra, San Marino, Estonia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Belarus really isn't anything great.

Hard line Imams, brutal dictators and ancient conflicts between various caliphates of Sunni and Shia.

The Argentinians. You mean a government who invaded a territory in which the population was almost unanimously opposed to their sovereignty, leading to the deaths of over 900 people in an utterly pointless conflict, over a piece of land they have no legitimate need for. All in a vain effort to drum up national pride and distract their own citizens from the awful state of the economy back home. Were we mean to them? Oh boo hoo.

Well, that's not going to be ISIS is it? They will just keep on murdering innocent people who disagree with their medieval beliefs. You write that in a kind of, 'we think we're right and they think they're right' kind of way. Well we are right, they are wrong. There is no debate to be had here, those people are barbaric and need to be stopped.

Sit down and reach a compromise... with people who throw homosexuals off the top of tall buildings. Without wanting to go all Godwin on you, that sounds a bit like Neville Chamberlain. The Taliban have already shown what people can do if you sit back and fail to act. Groups like ISIS need to be wiped off the face of the Earth. Potential recruits wont be appeased if we just let them get on with it and don't interfere. Every single member of that organisation needs a Tomahawk down their chimney, starting with the leadership, working our way downwards. Get the leadership, the guys doing the brainwashing, recruiting and training. People aren't rushing off to join ISIS because of some stupid Sun headline. They are doing it because they are being hoodwinked into thinking it is a just cause by highly intelligent, extreme sociopaths.

"Come and join ISIS. Everyone will think you're a bit of a knobber and laugh at your death in the national media." It's not really selling it to me. I think if somebody is suggestible enough to join a cult like that, stuff printed in the mainstream media isn't going to sway their decision either way. I can't say I'm that bothered about the headline, they're just selling papers. There's nothing wrong with it as far as I'm concerned, those people are complete scum and any attempt to humiliate them in death is fine by me.

Is there any scope for a few of these at home Steve? Would be decent to get some games going fairly regularly, we'd have enough players for it.

I've finally figured out who he reminds me of

People keep saying this but he was supposed to be good cover for Balotelli last season. It's all well and good talking about how useless Brenda is but they did finish above us. Like it or not they were better than us and Rickie struggled to score there. 1 goal since November.

We will never win the Worthington Cup with that negative attitude.

I've always rated Vincent Pericard and Nicholas Bignall myself.

Swiss banker or not Cortese pretty much proved it with the Osvaldo signing, which was pretty much all about his own ego IMO. I'm sure it was more about his own reputation, going from -10 in League 1 to buying an Italian international striker and Serie A marksman. I don't think Gaston was quite the same but there are some similarities, no coincidence that he also came from Italy.