NJS

As I've said before, getting people out of the lack of work ethic trap is the biggest task there is imo - whether there are jobs available or not. However, conversely I'd say that a lot of the middle/upper class have an expected "entitlement" to the good things in life which is much more odious.

I think if people have to sit down and plan at a minute level what they are going to spend their money on and that spend only covers essentials with maybe a few very rare luxuries then I'd class that as being poor (in relative terms) and I think that covers millions.

There was an article in The Guardian (where else) a few months ago which suggested a one off tax of I think 20% of all wealth on anyone who has more than a million (non-property I think) which would raise something like £120bn. No chance of course but a decent suggestion.

My Dad always told me this - he reckoned he was the classic "plays for a London team" type of star.

It's well known that indirect taxation affects the poor dispropotionately which is obviously why Tories like it so much - they can use spurious shit like "well maybe you shouldbn't be buying a plasma TV if you're that poor" which disregards both the direct increase in expenditure on things I mentioned as well as the passed on price rises due to increased costs.

Cars, train fares, Petrol, heating, beer, DVDs, CDs, clothes, electronics including phones, household items like fridges etc. No, nowt there obviously.

It is a strange phenomenom that the no mans lands of Boldon, Cleadon and Whitburn are all pretty posh which has probably segragated the accents in some kind of evolutionary way.

Had a bad car crash before he could make his mark iirc.

You can't argue with 27 goals from midfield for England 16 more than PB, and Gazza. Great career in Italy too. Not being a great England fan, I suppose I never appreciated what he did for his country though agree he was a bit Nolan-esque in terms of "just" scoring. Having said that I can't knock his Italia 90 contribution. It was all the transfers in Italy that really got me - just didn't see it.

I thought that Stargazing (should have called it Stargazer and used the song as theme/background) was caught too much between catering for people with an amateur interest like me and dumbing down too far for people who'd never looked up in their lives. Would also have enjoyed it more if it hadn't been so cloudy last night which prevented following up on the tips.

David Platt and Mark Hately for me - the money those two made out of football is obscene given their talent.

One of the lads has just opened a present from a supplier - chocolates - not a lot of takers so far.

I've never been able to drink lager (can stomach a few if forced to abroad) and started off drink ales including Smiths along with Exhibition and Dog but I migrated to cider as I travelled more around the country and found that was the only way to ensure consistency. Now drink nothing else.

Caught the end - sounded like Birtles.

I'm looking forward to the world re-opening so I can get on with getting a new fucking job. I'm sure people have been sitting on CVs and sanctioning recruitment using the "leave it till the new year" shit so they'd better be getting their arses in gear now.

On Ranger I thought he was probably saving him to start on Wednesday - could be wrong of course.

The thing is we didn't score more mainly because our strikers and final ball are piss poor. The only hardlines was Taylor's header - the rest were poor imo. Hold on, we had enough final balls to miss those above and probably more. I agree Ameobi and Lovenkrands were poor, but they could have gone in and it was just one of those games. I still think the overall play / creative play was very good, particularly first half. That's against a shit team though where you should make it count - I'd expect to only get one or two good chances against the better teams and without Carroll we won't score.

The thing is we didn't score more mainly because our strikers and final ball are piss poor. The only hardlines was Taylor's header - the rest were poor imo.

I love that TyneValleyBitterCunt - doesn't see the irony in pointing out 3 of our titles were in a short period "years ago" when 4 of theirs were two fucking centuries ago. I thought Sky were playing Mackem wind-up bingo today - travelling fans/biggest club/5-1 - all good shots. Wigan were fucking abysmal - made Shola look good despite him missing a chance a potted plant would have scored. A bit early but I think they could well take one of the places - especially if N'Zogbia goes. Highlight for me was Best's chance/miss - fucking hilarious.

If its the HDNL then you're in trouble. Turbo Gash. City Link, I think. Either way, resigned to it not turning up today (funnily enough ), so ho hum. I'm getting something from Amazon via City Link on Tuesday and after all the bother I had with them last month, I checked whether they were back to normal on their web site - apart from 4 or 5 depots they claim to be okay.

Villa were another one, weren't they? Mind, Barcelona are doing ok Villa and Arsenal were named before relegation when some people still had the idea we were a half decent club under him, Wolves and Birmingham were the "post-promotion" models. On a related note I see Allardyce will return "for a club that matches his ambitions" which I suppose now only means Barca or RM.

Most of Independence Day - again. I always find it hard to resist watching what is probably the best brainless film ever made.

I notice Birmingham have joined Wolves in the bottom three - nice to see our targets/models as named by the cunts and their yes man living up to expectations.

I'm presuming its the usual "adopt our customs" shit that idiots always post - completely fucked by the fact that Australia is the country most based on immigrants there is who've treat the natives like utter shit for 200 years.

Monday is a bank holiday but tomorrow seems hitty-missy - some things open, others closed. We should also be thankful that the UK does this weekend holiday carry over thing - they definitely don't in Germany.