badgerx16

Churchill was a maverick, who had the luck that he would be remembered for leading a coalition war cabinet, and "crossed the floor" between the conservatives and liberals several times as he saw fit. For what good points he had, he made many poor decisions and held many dangerous opinions. He was directly responsible for the disastrous Gallipoli campaign in WW1, led the demands to extend British involvement in the Russian civil war, including sending arms to Poland to help support the anti- Bolsheviks, which did not really count in their favour when the Poles needed Russian help in WW2. He advocated the use of gas bombs against Kurdish rebels, ( wonder where Saddam Hussain might have got that idea ? ). His appointment as Chancellor of the Exchequer enabled him to return Britain to the Gold Standard, which was a major causative factor in the depression and General Strike, ( this was later admitted by WSC himself as probably his greatest mistake ). He also, at this time, gave great praise to Mussolini, as an example of how countries ought to be governed. He opposed granting independence to the colonies, and was on the 'wrong' side of the debate when King Edward VIII abdicated. There is no doubting he had the 'right stuff' when it came to leading the country in WW2, and was certainly the "right man. at the right time", but his crushing defeat in the post-war election shows how the country at the time rated his politics.

"AT SEVENTEEEN" By Janis Ian I learned the truth at seventeen That love was meant for beauty queens And high school girls with clear skinned smiles Who married young and then retired The valentines I never knew The Friday night charades of youth Were spent on one more beautiful At seventeen I learned the truth... And those of us with ravaged faces Lacking in the social graces Desperately remained at home Inventing lovers on the phone Who called to say "come dance with me" And murmured vague obscenities It isn't all it seems at seventeen... A brown eyed girl in hand me downs Whose name I never could pronounce Said: "Pity please the ones who serve They only get what they deserve" The rich relationed hometown queen Marries into what she needs With a guarantee of company And haven for the elderly... So remember those who win the game Lose the love they sought to gain In debitures of quality and dubious integrity Their small-town eyes will gape at you In dull surprise when payment due Exceeds accounts received at seventeen... To those of us who knew the pain Of valentines that never came And those whose names were never called When choosing sides for basketball It was long ago and far away the world was younger than today when dreams were all they gave for free to ugly duckling girls like me... We all play the game, and when we dare We cheat ourselves at solitaire Inventing lovers on the phone Repenting other lives unknown That call and say: "Come on, dance with me" And murmur vague obscenities At ugly girls like me, at seventeen...

The truest sentence on this entire thread. Sums up politicians of all persuasions.

For all those berating Gordon Brown for committing public money in bailing out the financial institutions, read this - from The Times, ( hardly a 'Red Top' ), and work out what alternatives, and potential consequences, there might have been. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article6860385.ece Look at what happened to Iceland, so nearly happened to Ireland, and the rest of the mess that unfettered Capitalist greed caused. What would the Tories have done differently ?

"Ambition makes you look pretty ugly. Kicking, squealing, Gucci little piggy" "You can laugh your spineless laugh. We hope your rules and wisdom choke you." "This machine will not communicate, these thoughts and the strain I am under." "Calm. Fitter. Happier. A pig, in a cage, on anti-biotics". "You look so tired and unhappy, bring down the Government. They don't,- they don't speak for us". "Riot shields, voodoo economics. It's just business, cattle prods and the I.M.F. I trust I can rely on your vote". All courtesy of Thom Yorke and his chums.

Agreed. Somebody should point out to them that I leave a gap between my car and the one in front because it is my 'thinking' plus 'braking' distance, not a parking spot for a Kawasaki. Or are they under the impression that as there is now a bike in the gap, suddenly my reflexes and brakes have been upgraded 100% ? Sorry, St L, there are some bikers who almost deserve to have accidents. No wonder A&E doctors refer to them as 'Donors'.

Of course the US Government didn't use taxpayer's money to bail out Fanny Mae, Freddy Mac, or AIG, did it ? And, as reported on ABC on October 14th last year : "ABC News confirmed Tuesday that the Treasury Department will buy $25 billion in preferred stock in Bank of America, including Merrill Lynch. It will also buy $25 billion in JP Morgan, $10 billion in Goldman Sachs, $3 billion in Bank of New York Mellon and $2 billion in State Street." The US Senate set aside $700 billion to assist the banks and other financial institutions. How Socialist was Dubyah ?

When judging the Tories, all it takes is one name..... Boris Johnson. Case closed.

Had to do a double take on the JCB one to spot him. Agree with Arizona, the Police one is superb.

Well that rules out the 3 main parties then.

"Vacuum cleaner sucks up budgie.......... Bye-Bye" The Clash, The Magnificent 7 "Me and my girl, seal clubbing. Me and my girl, out on the ice" Half Man Half Biscuit, Seal Clubbing "And she bangs like the sh@thouse door when the plague's in town" The Macc Lads, Julie the schooly "Like a dog lying in the corner, they will bite you and never warn you, look out. They'll tear your insides out. 'Cause everybody hates a tourist, especially one that thinks it's all such a laugh, ( oh yeah), and the chip stains and grease will come out in the bath. You will never understand, how it feels to live your life, with no meaning or control, and with nowhere left to go. You are amazed that they exist, and they burn so bright that you can only wonder why". Pulp, Common People

You take a mummy meerkat and a daddy meerkat, who love each other very much,............. And several weeks later you have a whole lot of new meerkats. Simples.

Why can we never do things the easy way ?

Wasn't there a quote from Nicola Cortese that he wanted to see some actual trophies in the cabinet, as all he had seen was a samurai sword ? This is an ideal opportunity to start filling it; First the JPT, next the League 1 title, then the CCC, then the League Cup ( with whichever sponsor's name is attached to it at the time ), the FA Cup, the Europa League, the Prem, the Champions League,.......... That should keep us going for about 5 years.

You are correct, there was an article on the Beeb website about how they do the fixture schedule, and they did mention that one of the quirks they have to account for is not having Southend at home at the same time as West Ham. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2009/06/secrets_of_the_fixture_compute.html

Muse - Black Holes & Revelations Lacuna Coil - Comalies Nightwish - Century Child

Whilst you may be correct with your statistical breakdown for defining 'middle class', etc, ( and by implication 'middle-income' peeps are 'tax payers' by default ), the point I was trying to make is that in the eyes of the political mischief makers, a large proportion of this group don't matter, as their votes, in their particular constituencies, won't make a jot of difference. They seek to influence the 'swing' voters in the 'swing' seats, so policies are derived that appeal to the 'middle Englanders' in these precise areas; the Tory south-east, and Labour North-east & Scotland won't find any favours from either side, as their results are taken as read. All in my cynical opinion.

Under the existing system the result is determined by about 20% of the electorate in about 20% of the seats. Each party has their share of 'safe' seats, and each also has it's core of voters who would vote for the proverbial donkey if it wore the correct colour of rosette. What decides the elections in this country is how successful Labour or the Conservatives are at influencing the voting choice of the 'chattering classes'; generally middle class, middle income, mortgage paying, car owners, with school age children. Which is why, in many cases, their policies are so similar. And if anybody makes up their mind as to how to vote in the next election on the basis of todays SUN headline, they should have their mandate withdrawn immediately, as they are not fit to exercise it.

Look at the rate change for the administrations of Israel & Italy. PR at it's best !

How many times in the last 5 years have we switched managers and things have improved ? I don't get to see many games each season, and rely to a great extent on radio commentary when I can find it, or for home games, reading reviews and comments from those who attend. Based on last night's game it would seem that whilst we had good spells of domination, and passed the ball around well for a while, there are a few things that seem to come through from the post-match discussion, and from previous games; Substitutions,- any time you think about bringing Wotton on, you know there will be trouble Tactics,- we still seem to play players out of position, or they switch positions without rhyme or reason Fitness / Pace,- we still seem to lack both, whilst the opposition have it in spades Corners,- why don't we simply ask the ref to give the ball to the oppo's keeper when the ball goes behind, we can't do anything useful with it. To my mind all of these things are down to the manager, he picks the team, he supervises the training, he 'motivates' the players, and he controls the flow of the game. This squad is now, pretty much one of AP's making, so no excuses about being left the dross from last year. But despite all this, we have still not made up a single point on 20th place, and ths has to be down to AP. For a few games now we have had the 'things are improving', or 'we are turning the corner',- sorry, but whilst we had our unbeaten run, it was 5 draws and one win, 8 points from a possible 18. When does that rate of return become 'not good enough' ? I do not think it is time to ditch Pards, but the 'green shoots of recovery' need to sprout into flower pretty damn soon.

Don't worry...we are too good to go down.............

Does this make Gillingham a 'must win' ? After that 3 of the next 4 games are away, [ Southend (currently 14th in the league ), Oldham ( 7th ), Orient ( 21st and a true '6-pointer' ) ], and the home game is MK Dons, who are right up at the 'sharp end'.

Sounds a lot like last season

And with our squad, that is what we should be aspiring to ! We may have "competed well" against a top three team, but you don't get points for trying, and we don't win against the lesser teams, ( Carlisle 18th, Stockport 16th, Millwall 15th ).

Does that mean we can start of the discussion about speed limits again, because there is little point in finding anything positive to say about the football. 10 games in and only 1 win. The only possible good thing is that we are still 10 points behind 20th, so that gap has not got any worse. When are we allowed to start complaining that it isn't good enough ?