NJS

I remember watching the original Thing from outer space as a kid and being scared but then seeing it years later and realising it was a pretty typical 50s b movie - Carpenter's was certainly an improvement. I caught the start of Total Recall the other night and on looking it up on IMDb to find out what happened to Rachel Ticotin (not much) I saw that's up for a new version - don't think it will work without Arnie's unique talents.

Possibly but the point is would any government have prevented it? If as I said at any time in the last 5 or 10 years a rule had been mooted that only people in work and eatning more than say 30k and with a cast iron credit rating could get a mortgage, personal loan or credit card what would the reaction have been? I'm not saying that that should have been done btw but even "sensible" regulation like setting fractional reserve multipliers would have been met with cries of armageddon by the banks and as a consequence the public at large.

Ah yes - only the UK is affected so isn't it's its obvious the root cause is the FSA. How exactly would the BofE prevented this Danny? By doing what they are doing now after the horse has bolted. Stress testing, scrutinising bank risk profiles and exposures. I don't blame the FSA, they didn't have the expertise required to scrutinise the banks and their instruments in detail. The BOE didn't have the expertise either - the root cause of this goes back to Thatcher and Reagan - the market knows best philosophy compounded by later slackness and encouragement of consumer greed. If 5 or 10 years ago Labour had announced large scale regulation of the city and a huge clampdown on irresponsible lending via credit cards and mortgages what do you think the reaction would have been? It would have ranged from mild "Old labour stifling growth" jibes to outright rebellion and would certainly have lost them the last election. If Cameron or Duncan Smith had won on that basis do you think there would have been more chance of the Tories preventing the crunch or Newcastle winning a trophy?

The striker aren't the problem - we have a diabolical midfield - Torres or Drogbha wouldn't make that much difference.

Ah yes - only the UK is affected so isn't it's its obvious the root cause is the FSA. How exactly would the BofE prevented this Danny?

So instead of someone on 180k getting 18k of the last 30 they get 15k - I don't see that as evil. Income tax is the wrong target imo - I'd rather they repealed all the tax evasion laws and targetted inherited wealth.

If all those people turned down honours for the right reason (contempt for the notion) then I admire them greatly - including those who I despise for other reasons.

It's a bit chicken and egg imo - he denies the holocaust because he know how people will react to that denial - a bit like claiming Ameobi is a good footballer.

Rather him than Bennett or Styles imo.

Butt is another "victim" of our shitness in the sam way as Owen - I think he feels it's up to him to create (which he's shit at) as well as to destroy/get posession (which he's quite good at). If he had someone he could always drop it off to he'd look much better imo.

I'd do that although Barton might be struggling in which case I think I'd play Butt and have Barton on the bench (not ideal but I prefer the former to Nolan). I'd also play Steven Taylor at RB, Duff at LB and have Beye and Bassong in the middle. if barton is not fit can i advocate alan smith for the role instead of nicky butt and kevin, fat plodding bastard i am a footballer honestly nolan? i know alan smith is not ideal but he can move and attempts to get stuck in. not ideal like.... I know its heresy but I though Smith did okay on Sunday.

If the UN passes the new declaration which makes defamation of religion a breach of human rights I'd withdraw from the UN the next second.

Think you're being a little harsh on Beye for example, never been anything but a class defender and model pro for us. I just keep looking up and seeing Owen collecting the ball at the halfway line. Our midfield is so shite that he always has to track back to collect passes/loose balls and at this stage in his career he's not much more than a poacher, so that's not a good position for him. If Viduka can stay fit then I think we'll be seeing more of Owen. Beye is an excellent defender but I use "footballer" to describe somebody who has the brain required to use a ball well - not many defenders ever qualify even if I think they are worth having. Owen dropping deep to get the ball reminds me of Beardsley doing it in his first spell - a classic sign of a good player in an absolutely shit team.

He still looks too good for the team - he can actually play ten yard balls to a teammate in decent areas and make intelligent runs which unfortunately are never, ever going to be found with the midfield we have. It's a shame the only other footballer we have is Viduka. (Any one who suggests Guttierez can fuck right off)

I'm going to repeat what I said a couple of months ago in the context of this game - our only hope is the presence of Viduka and Martins in as many matches as possible.

Apart from Stoke and possibly Pompey probably making themselves clear, I'm not that disappointed overall - the Mackems are still catchable and I know Hull & Blackburn both have nasty games coming up. Don't get me wrong I still think we will go down but I still have a bit of hope.

I'm sure when the Tories were in they suggested a law which said that all TV based VCR recording had to be wiped after 28 days to much ridicule but then they were informed that as you say essentially the whole thing was illegal. Audio cassettes can be added to the list of thing which "encourage" piracy - I guess the feeling was that cassettes or videos could at most be shared among a group of friends but torrents could be downloaded millions of times. I think a factor in all of this is that people perceive that something is wrong with the current model. If I buy a CD I think it's reasonable that I can rip it for playing in my car or MP3 player but to be told this is illegal gets people's back up. Then you have the whole £12 for a CD that costs the equivalent of £6 or £7 in other countries.

I think theres a happy medium - a healthy respect and/or simultaneous direspect for the police can work - I know its a cliche but I have a couple of good mates who are coppers and I argue this with them quite often - both are possible.

Interesting, I didn't see any evidence of a blow to the abdomen on that footage, but if can be proven to be directly attributable to the policeman's action then he will go down for manslaughter I guess, and rightly so. Unless falling on your back/kidneys could cause it - he did seem to fall sort of straight back.

Ultimate in cat among pigeons: New PM

The only legal use for blank CDs and VCR tapes is video camera output or at a push data backup (most of which would be copyrighted anyway) so why aren't blank media manufacturers being prosecuted for enabling theft? I do recognise some of the arguments about theft of creative output but the whole thing is a mess.

I agree but they aren't helping themselves very much - there is a case in the Guardian where 2 coppers deleted photos from an Austrian tourist's camera (the bloke was a weird bus/transport spotter) quoting anti-terror laws. Their spokesman then says quite rightly that they don't have the right to do this. This means either they've been wrongly briefed by their superiors (either through genuine mistake or malicious intent) or they honestly think that the new laws give them carte blanche to act like twats. I think getting things out in the open and having a good look at how they do things is overdue - I think what these incidents can do in a positive way is to stop the "unquestioning respect" that a lot of British people have for authority.

My twopenneth is that I don't think Stevie is a racist and sometimes just says thing deliberately to provoke - however I think not taking the hint is a bigger crime than the actual posting.

She wants to be careful - I've seen some of those cop shows on Bravo where coppers threaten to nick people for assault just for touching them - I wouldn't put it past them to charge her with assault for pushing/slapping the copper's back.

I usually end up at an Irish social club around the corner from the train station which is canny - the early kick-off will probably change that this year and I'll end up in HH for a couple.