NJS

Somebody should ask him: When did the Catholic church excommunicate Adolf Hitler? For how many centuries and how recently did the Catholic church withdraw the "warrant" against all Jews for Deicide? If he really wants to try the old Hitler was an Atheist bullshit it proves he's not the intelligent man his fans claim.

Religion is the distillation of humans' desire for explanations, their fear of death, their need to be part of a tribe and a mechanism for those in power to control the masses. In 2010 I think we've pretty much addressed the explanation side of things but the need for belonging to a "gang" still remains. I think however that there are enough satisfactory alternatives gang identities around that we shouldn't need to cling to old ones based on disproven myths. Sometimes I do want to join CT in screaming how can adults be so stupid in believing in obvious nonsense, but other times I just accept it as part of human nature as much as any other regrettable trait. Of course if they want to affect my life and the things I care about, I reserve the right to stand up and point out how ridiculous their beliefs are without apology.

I agree there are a lot of good people who are religious - though I also think Sam Harris has it right that so many "nice" believers do help shield the nutjobs.

Had some dodgy experiences in Liverpool itself from both games but never felt the in-ground hated was that bad. That end behind the goal at Everton tends to be full of pathetic kids. Whats happened? If you don't mind me asking Nothing serious - just dodgy walks back to Lime St feeling like you needed six pairs of eyes. Also walking into pubs resulting in wild west style silences and get out orders.

One thing that stands out talking about away support was one of the most appreciative goal celebrations I've seen was at Hull - McGee had obviously started well but hadn't scored which everyone realised. When he did score there was an extra edge to the response from the away fans.

Had some dodgy experiences in Liverpool itself from both games but never felt the in-ground hated was that bad. That end behind the goal at Everton tends to be full of pathetic kids.

It's not very PC to say but a huge ingredient in any decent atmosphere is aggression and hatred. That doesn't have to manifest in violence but it's still necessary imo.

I love the use of "communist" as an insult - very American.

As we've argued before, the notion that only those pointless public sector workers will be affected is wrong. All those consultancies and providers like EDS will also see a fall in business. Then theres the ancillary stuff like sandwich shops and even Taxi firms that will see less business if offices close. A lot of the "little people" like the Sandwich shops won't have Unions to fight for them - I have no objection to them being included in the fight. My overall position remeins the same - a better way to cut the defecit is to promote growth and tackle tax evasion rather than decimate government - especially as the latter is driven idealogically.

It was the Mackems wasn't it? When they were running away with Division One in the mid 90s? The thing is I always thought "sad mackem bastard" was a more natural fit than "Sunderland supporter" in that song which is why I was always dubious about which version came first.

My sister does. Hasn't really affected her life too much yet but obviously it can be progressive. She takes Betaferon for it which makes it manageable at the moment.

You have won the grand sum of 3 more trophies than us - are you one of those who sing "You've never won fuck all"? Learn some history. You haven't won a trophy since, what, 1958ish, that's the excellent progress of a big club. Have you ever had a period where you've dominated English football? 1969 and yes - the period 1905-1912

You have won the grand sum of 3 more trophies than us - are you one of those who sing "You've never won fuck all"? Learn some history.

Like a lot of places, it used to be decent but has gone way downhill in recent years (though it is about 8 years since I was there). I'd say the same about places like Chelsea and West Ham - too many families/women/students/posh. (This also applies to SJP imo)

I think I've mentioned before that one of my lowest moments as a football fan was sitting in a minibus after the 99 final waiting for the rest of the lads to get back and seeing a Man U fan with a kid of about 10 walking past - I couldn't help thinking how much the kid would assume that winning doubles/trebles was just the norm whereas I'd just about accepted by then that no matter how good we were, we'd never win anything.

Man U's away support is excellent but I agree with the "it's easy to follow them" view - of course the usual allocation is probably taken by a pretty constant set of people which makes it easy - then compare that with how shit their support is when its swelled for Semis/Finals.

Tying a knot in a cherry stalk with her tongue - hmmmm.

At the moment Tory scum just think "benefit cheats" will be affected by the cuts - as it becomes apparent that it will effect them after all to some degree their tune will change. Also CT a Union's whole raison d'etre is to protect and fight for its members jobs - surely that includes opposing cuts to those jobs?

Disagree to some extent - there was a "let's see how daft we can get" approach to the second but I found that a postive thing. Maybe wouldn't stand up in hindsight but I remember finding Bob very disturbing.

Leeds was a bit like that in the corner of the old stand until someone set it on fire in 92 Tremendous recall tbf. (Though that was more just like banked up earth wasnt it, compared to the back of the Gallowgate which had that almost lattice* like construction) *I realise lattice isnt the right word It always looked huge when I was a kid and usually went somewhere else with my Dad but it wasn't that big really. I still can't my head around them getting 60k into the ground in the Fairs cup days when you see how shallow the popular side and Leazes were as well. We played Leeds on Boxing day 76 when I was 12 when there was 56k there and I remember being quite scared at the front of the Leazes. One of the biggest cheers I've ever heard at a game happened when they announced the end was full just before kick off.

Leeds was a bit like that in the corner of the old stand until someone set it on fire in 92

I'm always willing to read stuff like this - maybe at 11 you won't have much drinking and fighting to add but I'm sure others can do that. I remember approaching the season with no great hope - as you say we'd been shit even for a relegation team so I couldn't see a few signings making the difference. I'd been to Cyprus on holiday for two weeks and we flew back on the Saturday morning - I was up for going to the game but I remember a couple of my mates couldn't be arsed. In the end I think I got a taxi from the airport and only got there about quarter to three. I Can't remember too much about the game now but I can remember how good McGee looked. I also thought Quinn looked like a great buy as I spotted his now famous trait of being faster than anyone over 2 yards if there was a sniff of a goal. Gallagher also looked good - a proper enthusiastic young kid who didn't give a fuck who he was up against.

I always got the impression Italy was very fur coat and no knickers - a lot of the elegance of places like Milan and Rome have poverty a lot worse than I've seen in this country a few doors away. They also aren't interested unless its at least 10 to 1 in their favour. Some canny women though.

BBC3/4, Sky Arts

Does the refusnik have a problem with the specific new owner or any? - if the latter then won't re-selling risk the same scenario?