tinofbeans

hmmmn. racism is racism. fairly black and white to me. i do agree that in terms of murders rape or nonces its not on that scale, but it is still slighting someone on the colour of their skin etc etc.

you cannot beat high quality chebbage.

If you want a job done properly do it yourself. So goes the mantra of those who have entrusted dirty work to others who were supposedly more qualified only to end up trying to sort out the mess themselves. We have all been there and now it seems the Football Association and Middlesbrough have joined in our chorus of disappointment. On Wednesday, Newcastle fan Barry Norman Hutchinson, aged 49, was fined £270 with £45 costs after admitting racially abusing Middlesbrough's Egyptian-born forward Mido. He did not, however, receive a banning order excluding him from every football ground in the country, much to the chagrin of the Premier League club and the English game's governing body. "It makes it very difficult for football clubs to have a robust anti-racism policy without the support of the courts," said a club spokesman. "Despite this setback, we will continue to be vigilant and supportive of the police in tackling all discriminatory and anti-social behaviour." Those who run the game, and who have made commendable efforts to clean it up in recent years, have every right to feel disappointed, although they are perhaps victims of their own naivety. Anyone who has spent time in our magistrates courts will know that justice is often random and occasionally batty, just as they will also know the ingenuity — or should that be brass neck? — of defendants is without limit. In Hutchinson's case, the so-called "mitigation" constitutes a collector's item for absurdists. "Essentially he thought the song referred to Mido having a ball as opposed to a bomb," said his lawyer when asked to explain why the accused have been singing "Mido, he has a bomb you know". The court bought this explanation, along with what it described as Hutchinson's remorse, and handed down its ruling. We could spend an age deconstructing this verdict or we could move swiftly on to the kernel of the case; are we going to tolerate racial abuse (or for that matter homophobic abuse) at football grounds or we are not? Do we take an absolutist approach to those who offend our sensibilities in this way, or do we accept there may be mitigating circumstances? The answers are so obvious that it seems unnecessary to state them, but for those still groping in the dark here is a clue — racism is illegal. Yet if certain kinds of abuse are unacceptable in any circumstances, there is another category upon which the statute book has nothing to say, where there are no laws, only opinions. To boo or not to boo? That has been the issue as the nation has divided over the treatment of Emmanuel Eboué by Arsenal fans at the Emirates Stadium last weekend. At this stage in the debate, the last thing the world needs is yet another opinion. Did Eboué's tears signify something greater than the disappointment of an under-performing professional footballer? Have football fans become so entitled they think the price of a match ticket buys them the right to humiliate a grown man in such a way? If this is the case, should they not be ashamed of themselves? We could go on and on, but as the questions pile up and the arguments grow ever more fierce the temptation becomes irresistible to seek answers in what we know rather than what everyone and his Labrador thinks. And what we know is the booing aimed at Eboué, unlike the racist abuse aimed at Mido, was not illegal. This is an important distinction because it leads us to the only logical response to this week's furore over terracing behaviour, which is this: We may not like the things people say and do when they are in football grounds but, if no laws are broken, then we have to accept their right to do it.

i forgot. hospitalised compilation.... hospital records... if you like decent dnb these guys aren't bad.

quality!

nver heard of him. vargas that is. is it me or does versatile mean that he doesn't know which position to play in....

Amen. i'd say the musical equivalent of rice pudding. needs something extra to get any enjoyment out of it. like jam.

too right. I still don't see us getting relegated this year. we'll probably finish with fewer points and a lower league place than at any time since our stay in the prem started.

both are the equivalent of smarmy kids you never liked at school. one because he's excellent at all the technical stuff but is too much of a show off (satriani), the other because they are a plodding dull idiot that thinks he's better than he actually is and nicks other more talented kids ideas (coldplay).

reasonably similar story for me, except the marraige bit. never been married. women are great and i've been seeing a 28 year old who is lovely but she's off travelling in the new year to oz. for a year. we've both agreed if you find someone during that time, then to run with it... trouble is she is definitely one of the top 3 i also understand about you being fussy. we all are in our own way. don't think i could go gay, as i love the women too much!

True enough.

i use 03 at home and 07 at work. both have their good points.

simple truths are that whoever goes into power next has a largely failing economy (that will by all accounts recover by dec 09) an apathetic audience (i.e. us) and political infighting ( brown and cameron are neither parties best mp's for leaders, (brown beleiving he was due some credit for the boom years in the UK ) (cameron being an egostistical bastard). but we have no real alternative. lib dems are too wolly and no one has had confidence in them for years. green... no. bnp and other extremists.... no. what to do?

well the lib dems aren't going to win shite, and the conservatives are in in my area, and have been for a while. they'll win again, because where i live has the highest population of millionares per head seemingly..... i think david cameron is by far the more charismatic leader than brown, but thats like saying i'd rather have ebola than non curable cancer. i reckon despite the recent outrage on the bnp , there will be more people than ever before voting for them. of course a lot of it is reactionary bs in relation to the weakened stance on immigrants imposed by the labour govt. also this labour govt (or at least its front man) got us into this mess where jobs are now at risk and the currency is devalued as they've f***ed the economy up. having said that i'm not voting.

before he goes i don't think many have been as successful in so many places. he won medals in porto, barcelona, psv, ipswich and was englands best manager since alf ramsey (at least in 89-90 he was!). also was a mean player from what i could see, was a very talented inside forward and an england regular during his career. True Legend.

hot chip were good. portishead rex the dog. kings of leon did some good tracks on their latest album. squarepushers album was shit.

15-20 but the calories.... wow. serious stuff!

that is primarily because our midfielders aren't box to box players, none have the legs to do that.....

not going too well is it. hmmmn.

absolutely saddening.

too right. i'd go for noble as well. good player though nothing really special. oh and a decent head coach. someone that can adapt the team rather than just trot out the same BS every week.

get ourselves sold. that won't easily happen. get some loan players in that aren't crocked. quantity is as important as quality. permanently sign a high quality left back. sign 2 ball winners and a creative player in midfield as its pretty clear that butt can't do what he did even 12 months ago. try different tactics. play on the break at home....

collo is most defenitely a sweep it up and keep it simple guy who doesn't like fast, big forwards. bassong looks like he could be classy at stopping people playing but can't kick a ball straight. i think gutierrez works really well with players that offer great movement. only owen does that in a black and white top. i've seen more movement in a cancerous bowel tract than most of our other players.

exactly, subjectively if you were a very good pro footballer, where would you not want to go. currently i'd really not want to go to the toon, because of the way the place is run.....

lies, lies and more lies. all that i expect from this joke of a club.