Rayvin

Obertan trying at least.

Our defence is too short, more importantly...

Not sure about Anita who I think you may have sacrificed De Jong for, unless he's -still- injured? Krill should be ok though, as long as Southampton aren't playing with a humpback whale up front.

100% behind you on that one.

Me neither actually...

Fucks sake

I wonder what this comment will look like I'm referring to in a year or two when MF no longer has that avatar...

I see you've taken Techno-Hitler to the next level

Well played...

...Is the new quote in your sig a reference to Ashley or CT?

I would actually read a debate between those two. I'd envisage CT taking up his standard contrary position and starting to quote articles that were supplied to him by HF in the other topic.

We're going to be seeing a lot of Techno-Hitler, I see.

True enough. Also positive to hear about the apprenticeship levy. In truth, we've struggled to recruit on the apprentice minimum recently, it's looking like we'll have to go higher. One thing that seems to be holding up is that the power is back in the hands of the employees in the jobs market, which is positive.

I think that quote should be the other way around...

ISIS are a US asset IMO; they're acting almost entirely in line with what I would assume to be US strategic interests (destabilising the Mid-East and Russian partners). In terms of how taking them out could be done, I rather fancy Israel could handle it, if it so desired. In truth, any competent military power could do it. EDIT - see also Parky's response

We have apprentices at work and in a lot of senses it's a good pathway. The problem is that first year of pay is shocking...very difficult to live on. And speaking as an employer, I can safely say that the reason we use apprentices is because they're cheaper than normal labour - and because we can, in theory, kick out said apprentice after 2 years and bring in another one. It's all a rather sorry state of affairs. That said, we've retained all apprentices we've ever trained - but I know our CEO keeps wanting to get rid of them from a cost point of view.

I agree, but with any luck they'll be prevented. I don't think the Tories really have the mandate to take us back. Then again, I'm sure some sort of 'high threat terror event' can be fabricated for it, if the situation becomes dire enough.

This illegal wars bit is a rather irrelevant waste of 'debating' time to be honest. Blair's war was approved by Parliament was it not? Therefore it was legal. Ridiculous and based highly dubious information, but legal until someone actually proves otherwise in court. Bombing other countries, technically, doesn't count as an act of war, or so I've heard, so I'm not sure we can claim that Cameron has done that. The point is probably that, given Cameron's attempt to take us to war in Syria, he's quite prepared to get us wrapped up in a similar confrontation to Blair's one, for reasons that almost certainly have nothing to do with the reasons we're actually being given. Therefore, it's all much of a muchness. No one is voting for either party based on war though. I'm actually more interested in hearing about the argument for apprenticeships going on into people's late 20s...is that for real?

CT, do you enter into these unwinnable debates just to pass the time? You're at the heart of almost every multi-page argument on this entire forum

That's actually pretty funny. If kind of depressing at the same time.

This is actually the first conversation that I've seen essembee engage in, ever. ...What is with leaving spaces out after full stops though?

Off topic but I just found myself wondering at the context behind Fist's sig quote, and re-lived a memorable meltdown from Ken. Awesome poster

Inevitable that Dave was gonna be the one singled out