Sergei Gotsmanov

Very sad to see a legend pass away

Well done Verbal. Hopefully the loss of a good man in such barbaric circumstances will make us demand why. Donation made.

Hampshire and England cricket. An Ashes tour is up there with any sporting event.

I bet I know the shop. I think it has closed now but it was more like a junk shop in one of the 'olde' streets off the main shopping street.

I lost mine last year . The bitterest pill I have had to swallow but it will get better. I really know what you are having to go through.

That really moved me. Not surprised. Just discovered Danny is a Southampton boy

Potatoes need another ten minutes

Their education policy has a hell of a lot of merit to it. My lad goes to a Grammar school and he goes with all sorts of diverse people. Hundreds of kids from all backgrounds took the test, the 2 grammars in this catchment are extremely popular, particulary with the poor. It is the middle classes who sniff and them and don't want the kids to go, my sister being one of them. She finds the whole thing wrong and wouldn't let her kids sit the entrance exam. However, she's pretty wealthy, her kids will be ok. For the poor the Grammar maybe the only chance they get to better themselves. I don't know enough about Health to comment on what the effect of their policies will be. But, I'm sure it cant be any worse than the Chuckle Brothers "from me to you" policy of the past 30 years. Flat taxes are worth looking at. It's about tax take, not tax rates. If flat takes bring more money in, then surely that's worth persuading. Tax rates for the wealthy are set for political reasons or punishment at present. A % is a % and therefore a bloke earning 100k WILL pay more into society than a bloke on the minimum wage. I've never understood the moral argument that because you are good at your job and earn a lot you should pay a higher % of your wages into the Government. Surely it's fairer in the strict meaning of the word "fair" that people pay exactly the same %, or does "fairness" not extend to people earning a lot? The other thing I agree with is merging tax and NI, it all goes into the same pot and is just a con trick on the British people, the suggestion that the 10% (or what ever it is) is some sort of Insurance is laughable. Tax cuts will be funded by not paying the millions into the EU. In their eyes one of the reasons for withdrawal is to save money, so it's entirely joined up thinking to use this to fund tax cuts. I agree with you about smoking ban, as a non smoker it's great to come home and not smell of fags (the ciggie type, I'll come onto gay marriage in a min). However , if you are a party that believes in individual choice and freedom then having government legislate what you can and cant do in your own business seems wrong. Smoking is entirely legal and I would have much preferred pubs that want to let people smoke, do so and I'll just go to one that doesn't allow it. Gay marriage, their views are the same as a lot of the population of UK. The government itself allow church to opt out of it, so they are discriminating against gays themselves. One thing I do find rather odd is this. When asked about policies for the next Parliament Labour MP's say "it's too early to say" or "we are working on that". Yet when interviewed Farage is expected to tell us all his polices for 2015 and keeps getting quoted his 2010 manifesto. His 2010 manifesto is irrelevant, they will not be fighting the 2015 election on it. The only parties that need to stand by their 2010 manifesto are the ones in power. You know, like no tuition fees!!!!! I did not post the orginal

As I understand it homophobia is against a person. The church opposes a lifestyle.

# Well I might be inclined to agree with you but I am not talking about me just the rights of others to believe something else without being labelled homophobes when they are not.

Yet the same principles apply in terms of 'sport'. Surely you should be opposed to both or none at all.

Historically that is because people getting remarried for the second time could not do it in a church because the church would not let them. Were they discriminated against or were the Church just upholding their teachings. Now do you get where they are coming from?

It takes all sorts to make up the world and I respect their rights even if I disagree with them. I am not sure your wife would agree with *** about. I might puff out my chest a bit about my son but I would be horrified if my daughter took that view. She can wait until she has married.

Quite rightly they do in civil partnerships but some people believe that the institution of marriage is exclusive to the Church. They have a right to believe that without being labelled homophobes.

So you are not opposed to the sport of falconry

Christians do not approve of the lifestyle not the person. In the same way that promiscuity contradicts the institution of marriage they believe that so does homosexuality. Yes that might be a traditional or old fashioned viewpoint but people should be allowed to hold it.

I think its very dangerous to start labelling people racists and homophobes because you disagree with them - that makes you the intolerant one. Just because you disagree with gay marriage does not make you a homophobe. Opposing the current relationship with Europe does not make you Xenophobic. Thank god there were people to fight us going into the Euro.

I include lawyers as career politicians

Generally a party of people who have a life out of politics. You see their warts more clearly because they do not have slick PR teams to manage them like the despicable career politicians that make up most of the Labour party and much of the Lib Dems and Tories.

I did meet one of the last of the few who told me that they really did not know that they would be alive the next day. As a result they drank and drank running up enormous tabs in the local pubs. When Churchill gave his famous speech never has so much been owed by so many to so few. All the pubs had signs up locally saying never had so much been owed by so few to so many.

Not necessarily. UKIP have a poll rating of 13 or 14% in the opinion polls yet in the recent by elections from Eastleigh to South shields have registered 25% as they did in the local elections. In the Euro elections they will score in my opinion 30%. In the general election they will poll 4%.

Their education policy has some merit to it. Their health policy might work, but stands a good chance of making a mess of the NHS. Their tax policy is outrageous, a flat rate of tax would see the gap between rich and poor increase dramatically, while either overall government tax income would be massively reduced (meaning even more cuts to public services), or the flat rate would have to e higher than the bar rate is currently (perhaps everyone paying, say 30% might just work, hardly fair on the majority of people though). But hang on, in the section called the economy UKIP are proposing tax cuts. Where does this money come from? Or do they actually mean tax cuts for everyone earning £50k + (with the richest saving the most), paid for by the masses? Personally feel that their views on Europe, gay marriage, defence, and the environment are completely wrong. Pubs are much better since smoking was banned, and the fox hunting ban should IMO be extended to include hunting with birds of prey. Have you ever actually ever seen falconry? Or is your opinion based purely on your own perception of it?

Yes one is a poll of 1500-2000 and one is a poll of several million.

"Will some kind hand in this foreign land place a flower on my son's grave"

So do you trust opinion polls because they use a tiny sample of the public.