NJS

Associateing Germanic tribes with modern day Germans is a bit daft - those tribes would have included Angles and Saxons who are just as linked to modern Britains. Recent research has shown that the Saxon element who came over are very much exaggerated. Our genetic make up of many of us is apparently 75-95% Basque. Yes but the ancestors of the Saxons etc came from the same Ice Age refuges as the Celts who originally populated Britain (in Basque areas as you say) Trying to genetically separate European "tribes" is generally pointless - post Ice Age we're all of a muchness.

Associateing Germanic tribes with modern day Germans is a bit daft - those tribes would have included Angles and Saxons who are just as linked to modern Britains.

I work with a few Germans and surprise, surprise they're just like evryone else - a range from sound to cuntish. I can see some stereotypical traits in some of them but that's just accentuated by knowing they are German.

I think he's a decent footballer at playing short/key passes which is why I could see it working in the right setup - his problem as a winger imo was not enough quality delivery.

Just shows they were just like the Pilgrim Fathers - religious nutjobs.

Or swap him for Shola if they've forgotten how shit he was when he was there.

Other countries including Germany still have those industries. There may be an argument that some of the things she did were right but the lack of thought for the immediate consequences of those changes and the delight she took was devestating.

Strictly speaking its Boers rather than Dutch. Basically all of the commonwealth countries wanted to impose sanctions on SA - as a sop Thatcher agreed to stop the trade in Krugerrands in London whcih was a token gesture - something like £25m pa. So at the press conference with her typically arrogant tone she made it clear it was pointless by saying "Do you know how much the trade is worth? - this much" and showed her thumb and forefinger together along with a sneer that you could say was like Jenna Jameson demonstrating what she thought of a Mackem's cock.

The press conference where she mocked the value of a sanction they had passed on Krugerrands by saying it was worth "this much" with a sneer is a classic moment in the bitch's career. I fully admit that a lot of my knowledge of Africa from a history pov comes from reading Wilbur Smith books - the thing that stands out is the descrpition of how tribal many Africans are - I know it sounds obvious but for example everybody though Nkomo would take power in the new Zimbabwe because he was more moderate but in effect the vast majority voted along strictly tribal lines which is why Mugabe won. I think this sort of explains why Apartheid in a way seemed to "make sense". One of the reasons I think multicultarism is a good idea especially by including the UK in a homgenous Europe is to get away from tribal shit like this (although of course the former Yugoslavia proved its not just Africa). I also realise that the very tribal nature of football support and regional pride makes me sound hyopcirical but I think its about levels.

I started on a list earlier which included Kluivert and Rep. I'd also mention Trevor Steven for Everton in 84/85 - they beat us 4-0 and he had a blinder.

Certainly no better imo. Probably harder to dismantle though. I think its the labelling thats the problem - just like in places like NI where your label defines where you live, which schools you go to and as I understand it in the past where you can work and who you can marry. I know the British class sytem takes a lot of stick which I agree with but there are more fundamental and rigid labelling systems out there.

Theres an argument that the Caste system in India is just as bad - don't know if it's true.

Scholes when they beat us 6-2 was obscene.

Horrific defending caused both goals, a proper side would've avoided the two, he was good though, and he was good here in the first leg, nearly scored a pearler on the volley iirc. Woodgate missing - I know it was normal but that really fucking cost us that night.

It was also painful how good Gates was in the play-off.

I thought it was okay to watch occasionally but not worth the kind of worship it gets.

I remember how the Mackems started last time they went down before Keane arrived and I thought we'd struggle. I did harbour a fear that our squad shitness combined with the "cup final" factor would see us struggle and I thought of relegation. I still think we may struggle to keep up this level of result but it has to be said that the shitness of this league is absolutely staggering.

I once left Southampton at half time - we'd gone 2-0 down and I think Howey had just been sent off by some cunt of a ref so with the history there I just thought fuck it - we lost 2-1 in the end. I don't blame you Berb - the last home game I was at was the derby last season and given that the football is even worse than that debacle despite winning games, I don't see much hope for the future.

Fair play to Lowes "Like an Exocet missile"

The argument about "what if it saves lives" is a compelling one but I've also read it doesn't really work - the view that "they'll say anything" seems to be true. I also think there's two sides to the "both sides do it" - if you're honest and admit you are going down to your enemies level then that's fair enough even if I disagree. That does however mean you can't claim the moral high ground about being civilised/the rule of law. This is pretty much why I oppose capital punishment and in the past opposed views like "we should just round up the IRA top dogs and shoot them". I can understand the arguments at a simplistic level but as I said I'd prefer to be able to say We are better than them and that killing does not justify revenge.

^^ You can add the Irish potato famine dead to the victims of "official callousness" as well.

That is the case but employers get around it by changing the job title so a receptionist becomes "General Affairs Clerk" or something like that. Sackings have to have a just cause - even "he was shit at the job" isn't good enough as in law that's your fault for not training them - so if you close the job then it's less hassle even if it may seemingly cost more.

I started reading that sentence thinking you were referring to the Swiss

My understanding was that the British ones for the Boers weren't "death" camps by any stretch but were the first ones to have a less than humanitarian reaction to care - ie they weren't too bothered by the diseases and their consequences.

I once rejected someone mainly because he had a sweaty handshake and he came back last month as a contractor