Joensuu

Liberals only support legislation, when it protects an entity (individual, animal, property etc) from the excesses of another. Fox hunting is a clear example of something most liberals would ban.

If we played Peru, would our fans sing Southerners?

You can't sensibly have countrywide PR as regional parties (such as Plaid or SDLP would be squeezed out). Likewise PR STV on existing consituency seats (AKA AV) would essentially give the same biased results as the existing system. Therefore what is needed is a regional system of PR STV, where the country is divided into regions of about 4-5 million voters, with each region allocated a number of seats relative to the number of voters. Under this system, you'd get a healthy balance between proportional voting, and local representation (NB, as pointed out on a different thread, PR can actually increase local representation, as under FPTP the personal politics of the local representative determines whether a local issue gets raised in the Commons).

Any of those three would have been good reserve/backups for Calderon (if he signs). I'm a bit surprised to see them all go (perhaps they offered Thomas a significant wage cut and he turned it down?). To me this cull of right backs suggests we will see at least two joining this summer. Wonder if Calderon is the first choice or the backup?

I'd guess that they (and other similar players, Holmes etc) still have time on their contracts. Even though a large number have been released the impact on the first team will be minimal. Right back is an obvious problem (is Harding now our only player who has ever been fielded there?). Apart from right backs, only Gillett, Perry and Thomas have played (much) in the first team this season. Martin & Seaborne should cover the centre backs, but IMO we are still lacking some depth in centre midfield.

An employer will pay most attention to the last few years on a prospective employees CV. if you compare Burley and Pearson's achievements over the last 4-5 years it really is a nobrainer. SOG, do you have an alterior motive for championing Burley? What's the deal?

Perfectly handled. Isn't it wonderful to have a real businessman as a CEO.

4/10 IMO, you could improve the whole design simply by removing the scarf, red circle, halo, and the black curved team name. You'd end up with an attractive simple retro (ish) badge

Miliband is a clone of Blair, another Tory with a red tie. Burnham wouldn't stand a chance with the electorate. Cruddas is the best MP Labour have (since Mo). He stands a good chance. Balls is a Brown-loving porky ****

Whhooa! Calm down JB. No offence intended.

is this partof the caption competition too? Uncle toff: Oh bugger, in the process of liquidating a charitable workers collective, Ive accidently inherited one of those riff raff leather ball entertainment stadia. Hmm, wonder whether there might be a few sterling to be made exploiting the plebs? Now where did the butler put couisin Ruperts telephone number?

HRH: if one shakes hands early, he might not have any blood on them yet. Or HRH: Oh, a Tory, how delightful. Philip is so excited to meet you, he desperately wants to show you his third reich memorabilia. That Major fellow wasn't too taken by it, but Margaret seemed to love trying on Adolf's shoes.

Wrong, only 39.6% did.

Not a bad idea. Or should be run another FPTP sham?

Disgusted.

I hope your right BTF... I'd rather the Lib Dems refuse to join anyone than join the Tories.

Sky's source is the Evening Standard, whose exact quote is:

AKA Politics?

According to the Gruniad, the Beeb is reporting that Labour have given up talking to the Lib Dems

Clegg: "... but yet you still try to argue that the old system is fair?"

I wonder whether the Scottish Conservative Party would like to introduce PR? It would certainly win them a fairer share of the avaliable seats in the Commons. Seems to be that the only people opposed to introducing a fairer method of voting, are the beneficiaries of the existing biased system. Power corrupts.

So by extention, voters are only happy to help bail out failing economies when they consider the economy to be within their same country? What happens if Scotland's economy fails? As a seperate country, would England not send aid to support them? I think you can see what I'm getting at, that essentially, Europeans share broadly identical aims, they have similar views on education, society, health, defense etc. When you think about it we have more in common with most Europeans than we have differences. Why should helping one another overcome economic difficulties be unacceptable to some voters? Surely it's just another safety mechanism to keep our economies strong. I see little difference in the EU helping Greece than if Westminster were to bail out Scotland.

I recognise the difference in the type of union - but they are both still examples of areas which are geographically and economically distinct, which are bound by the same currency. By extention of the 'Greece can't devalue currency' arguement - should say Rhonda, Middlesboro, or Lanacashire be able to devalue their sterling if they are in recession while London and the SE are booming? Obviously not, they have to find other ways to stimulate their economy. What, I am pointing out, is that the 'Euro devaulation problem' arguement is flawed, as fundamentally the same problem can be attributed to every currency.

Sorry Wes, why does calling other countries friends and neighbours change the sentiment? Are they strangers? Do these countries not have more in common with us that there are differences? So you argue we should help needy individuals, but ignore the suffering of entire countries of individuals (even when doing so could cause us to suffer from the fall out)? Err, because that's the law? Would you rather we have no governance between the ballots being closed and the new leader is decided?

Same princple. As the name indicates, the Texas is one of the United States which make up America. It could easily be suffering from high unemployment while New York is booming. How can Texas devalue it's dollar when it needs to? Or as I queried before, does the US obey different laws of economics?