NJS

A bit of a con - you don't pay 40% of your entire salary as tax - it's more like 28% of the whole.

Rossi was unlucky in that he couldn't play in the the UEFA and Sibierski took that chance which made it hard for Roeder to justify playing Rossi in the league.

I know this may not be rational but even the possibility of them forming a coalition with the Tories, even if that is a "fair" result of the actual votes means I won't vote for them.

Anyone in anyway connected to Labour who doesn't take a nanosecond to answer "Thatcher" to that particular question should be expelled from the party, kicked to fuck and then hanged.

I was confused there for a minute - I use a subscription tv guide called Digiguide which has a film called "The Dark Avenger" in that timeslot but with the correct description - turns out that is an Errol Flynn film from 1955 which had the alternative title of "The Warriors". The Warriors was one of those films that I associate with the emergence of video recorders - it was one of the first films you had to have once you got sorted for a machine - I remember The Wanderers and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre being in the set as well. I enjoyed it at the time but fear Gemmill may be right - I think the memorable bits will still be good but the rest may not have aged well.

The Liberal fucker in my constituency isn't giving up - I get daily shite from him and now have a personally addressed letter begging me to vote for them. Still hasn't actually knocked on the door yet which is a shame.

As I've said before, the BBC completely lost interest in us when it became obvious we weren't going to fail.

Against undercover SAS soldiers illegally operating in "their" country?

All hope is dead.

Brilliant It’s bullshit. I know somebody with no political bias who knew Brown from his days as a Labour back bencher and they say he was a decent lad who genuinely cared about ‘ordinary’ people. He might not be media friendly but who gives a shit, I want my prime minster to be an intelligent man with good intentions – not a plastic tool who just happens to be comfortable in front of the cameras. This is one of the big problems with our democracy. It has ceased to be about policy and has turned into a vacuous image contest. All style and no substance. I might add that I haven’t voted labour for years and won’t be voting for them this time, as has been said none of the parties really have the guts to do what needs to be done to create a sustainable and healthy society instead of doing what needs to be done get elected. You can’t blame them, the media have made the two mutually exclusive. If you're just referring to that quote then that's about Cameron not Brown. If you meant the whole thing then fair enough.

I remember Lawson admitting on Question Time in about 86 that he'd had to raise funds from foreign source (ie take loans) which were in real terms twice as much as the IMF bailout Healy had to take in the 70s. The media pretty much ignored it because at that time they were all scared of the bitch.

I've been miserly with praise this season because of the quality of the opposition but I have to say I think the determination to win what sounded like a shit, pointless games is admirable.

Literally everyone I've spoke to who is voting for the Tories has given me an answer about immigrants and that's it. I don't think the majority of people are aware of what they're like. I've just about resigned myself to them winning now but have two reasons to be positive - King's opinion on how much shit is going to hit the fan and a whole new generation of selfish twats are going to be reminded what the Tories are.

As I understand it the club owes the money to the company he setup to buy the club - two separate entities. CT has it wrong imo - if he was going to "write off" the loan he would have converted it to equity with no value which is what Abramovitch did - keeping it as a loan suggests intended repayment.

Funny thing is I was just saying to someone the other week how I didn't know what their plan was going to be as there were no major industries in the NE left they could destroy - then he came out with his "too much public sector" and I thought "Ah".

Don't know what they mean by tools to maintain discipline but there will be challanges to any and all of those in 2 minutes flat.

I've always been for the concepts of the EU because I feel in the next few years we need to be in an entity that big to compete with China and India as well as the "old" powers. I think an individual country would be too overshadowed. I've also always thought the idea of a larger community with similar people (fuck off Parky) to be beneficial from a social point of view and I'f like to see the ties and exchanges between countries expanded.

Well the majority of the country backed the tories for 3 long terms, even after the miners strike. Bastard this democracy lark for the dyed in the wool socialists. They never got 50% in a General Election, did they? Or hardly any support in the North, Scotland, or Wales. This is why I'm a supporter of regional government - it seems to have worked out okay for the Scots an the Welsh and I can't understand why people in the NE rejected it so out of hand. There was a lot of lies about an extra tier when it was actually a replacement level with more powers but still. Of course the converse to the Tories not caring about the regions is Labour taking them for granted which I accept to a degree but I think having a body of people specifically interested in the region beyond the NEDC would work.

Again, unemployment among immigrants is less than in the general populace. The only reason EU immigrants come here is to work - the only way non-EU immigrants can come here is if they have a job.

Look at the people not the manifesto. They are all black hearted evil bastards and always will be. Deliberately playing devil's advocate but Renton is saying exactly the opposite... judge on policy, not personality. I agree - but at the same time policies are about contexts - historically the Tories have always put the rich first so anything that goes against that is untrustworthy in my view - like their plans to regulate banking - I just don't believe they would do it. That doesn't mean I think Labour don't have the same contexts btw.

Shares aside, a lot of the bailout loans given to banks were at 11% - an extremely nice little earner. A lot of the figures being banded about are like when football spending is discussed - "Keegan spent 100m" sounds good but it doesn't mention he took in 60m so actually only spent 40m (a price worth paying imo) and this is the same - the balance sheet in 5 years time will look a lot different to how it is now. I'd also point out on Phil's point about the Tory 6m cut - that's a sop to say they are doing something NOW - the Labour view is that the inevitible cuts should be delayed while the economy is still fragile.

Look at the people not the manifesto. They are all black hearted evil bastards and always will be. I don't care if that sounds irrational - I have a shit load of evidence from history. (I'd also point out that NR have paid back nearly all the money)

Hasn't got that good a record at getting his message through then has he? If his messages have prevented some disasters but not others then you have to explain the difference - and that's when it gets tricky - does hw only look after Christians? If so why have so many died in disasters - were they not worthy?

The problem for me is that if the Tories win and the economy "naturally" recovers then they'll live on the kudos for another 2 or 3 terms which will give them time to do real, Thatcher style damage to the country. I do think Brown overstated his good management after effectively taking over an economy in decent shape in 97 so I think the broad alignment of the 2 parties on the economy won't make that much difference - but I think theres a huge difference in how they'll shape society.

I know its "what if" but the Tories wouldn't have put the money away as Phil suggests - they would have given out tax cuts which would have fuelled even more of a housing boom here which would have made the crash sooner/deeper. Given a choice between that money having been spent on the public services or the rich, I favour the former.