DJKillaQueen

Another team with poor defense it torn apart by the Germans.

The problem with fox hunting is that we have all sorts of laws that protect animals from cruelty, be it the dog in your home or the animal going to the abattoir. It's nonsense to say that fox hunting is somehow 'different' if those taking part agree so. After all, how many of those that fight dogs would ever say it's cruel and should be banned? It's right that a country takes a moral stance on such things. It's never been an intrinsic part of my human nature to cold bloodedly see an animal torn apart for fun. That I think you'll find is a calssic symptom of the psycopath. The 24 hr drinking thing actually didn't change anything. Nighclubs and bars have always been able to apply for late liscensing and indeed local authorities still do decide if a 24 hour licence can be granted. I'd like to see a few things changed...although not necessarily scrapped. For example I'd like to see an end to the practise of charging double on a parking ticket if it's not paid quickly. I think that practise is prohibitive to motorists rights of appeal. I'd also like to see clamping and towing banned except where a vehicle causes an obstruction to the highway or right of way of another. In fact the whole process of fining motorists for parking infringements needs looking at. Like others I agree the HRA needs looking at. It was never intended to protect the rights of those that disregard the human rights of others but yet that is what it has become, with criminals time and again hiding behind it. I'd like to see the end of the kind of involvement from Brussels that tells our governemnt it has to continue paying benefits to foreign migrants and their families and indeed our own expats once they no longer reside in the UK. And I'd like to see some of those laws scrapped that were intended to protect children from abuse but in reality have just made it impossible for the majority of adults to effectively discipline out of control children.

I think the stupidity of the work bosses that blocked the site. Don't a lot of employers blocked all forums as a matter of course though?

I think it's a great idea to ask us what we'd like to get rid of, unfortunately like all politicians that put out to consultation they'll ignore anything that doesn't suit them or their policies. I don't think we can repeal European legislation can we? As for the barely significant issue of fox hunting....if the upper classes want the right to tear foxes to pieces then the working classes should be allowed to let their dogs tear each other to pieces. Both equally cruel and both of which should stay banned.

I disagree all the best teams have gone. Spain is still in there. And Holland, whilst not playing the most exciting of football totally deserve their place. Argentina are not the completely great team some think they are. Strong in Midfield and up front but have weaknesses defensively that Germany might be able to exploit. Great teams are not always about facny footwork and these days, players at that level are such finely tuned athletes that the days of any great player having enough time on the ball to thrill us all have gone. As for football and cheating and so on.....that's why the game has a referee and free kicks and cards. Everyone plays by the same rules so I don't see any issue, except where the ref is at fault of course and in that respect I'd support goal line technology. In the end it won't matter anyway, neither team are good enough to beat Holland.

They've shot themselves in the foot really....with policies that will increase unemployment on the one hand, and a desire to cut the welfare bill on the other.....while at the same time acting as though they have the answers for the long term unemployed (and not really wanting to invest anything into them). Economic measures aside (as any government coming into power would have had hard chices to make), so much of what the coalition has decided upon is a reflection of conservative prejudice against the unemployed rather than any sound policy to make the country a better fairer place. It's exactly the same rhetoric as spouted in the 80s. Even the middle-classes have been hit (although only by taking away some of what the previous Labour governemnt gave them) whilst the rich will still continue to pay proportionally less for everything. The other issue of course is that 33% of working people earn less than ?7 per hour and most of them need Housing Benefit (by far the most expensive benefit expense to the country) to subsidise their rents. They could cut the welfare bill easily by capping what Landlords can charge, but of course no-one has the guts to really tackle the banks and their lucrative housing market. So meanwhile tax payers subsidise landlords mortgages and effectively buy their houses for them, and politicians will carry on as though nothing is wrong in that and try and con us into believing that unemployed spongers are the reason the welfare bill is so high. Poverty isn't just about the unemployed - it's about the millions of low waged workers too. That gap is a serious problem.

Oh it's always the left isn't it...bog standard response from Tories masquerading as Liberal Democrats. They didn't get into power they came THIRD. And in order to form a coalition they broke promises on VAT, Trident, abolishing student fees...need I go on? And as for electoral reform even that won't be what they campaigned for. Those are some of the grievances that many people I know who voted Liberal Democrat have....none of whom ever would have voted Tory either.....they DO feel betrayed. It's nothing to do with left or right...just the simple case of voting for one thing and then seeing those MPs you voted for totally abandon what pursuaded you to give them your vote in the first place. Not rocket science. And completely disingenuous.

I totally agree they have cheated and personally think that the player (was it Suarez?) should be banned for three matches. But the rules of the game have always been the same. Deliberately handling in the box results in a penalty and a red card. So the match was played according to the rules. It may seem harsh but it's the same for everyone. You have to be able to socre penalties if you get them.

Ghana had their chance....they didn't take it. Gutted for them. Hate cheating and thank god they had a better linesman than the one at the England/ Germany game. Expect Holland to make the final though. it seems to me is our problem is we don't play, in each position, the best English player for that position. Instead we bodge, defence aside, the best half a dozen players into a formation to try and fit them in. Yes and no. The problem is that we don't have enough English players playing first team football at the better clubs, so we are extremely limited in who we can pick to play for England in any position. Players need to play first team football to both improve and stay sharp and fit. Only 34% of starting players in the Premier League are English and most of them are not in the top flight clubs. The truth is that the FA care more about Sky and sponsorship money for the league than they do for international football. It's is no coincidence that since the formation of the Premier League England has struggled at international football. Euro 1996 was the last time we made a European semi-final and before that the 1990 World Cup Semi Final. The Premier League was formed in 1992. In 2009 Sep Blatter suggested we limit the starting line up at clubs to five foreign players.. The Premier league and FA rejected that with robust opposition which tells you everything you need to know about the state of football in this country.....it's a business first, sport second. Still glad to see they had the sense to keep Capello.

'So, have we sold out by forming a coalition. Clearly not.' Err I think the electorate at the next general election will decide that you have. I like many others are fed up of this mantra of 'what option do we have' as an excuse for delivering to those who voted for them the opposite of what they voted for. The Lib Dems are betraying their voters and they will pay the price for that. But local councils are different. They at least (if the councillor is doing his or her job properly) allow the community to effectively engage in and shape local decision making. Community Councils are an important part of that and where local councillors like yourself James do work hard to engage with the people you represent (and listen to their views) then the machine works very well. But what can we do about those councillors that are 'invisible' and how do these people manage to get selected as candidates in the first place?

What is going so wrong with some of our children that turns them into murderers? I just saw the details on the news. It was a pre-meditated murder by children. Just appalling and tragic.

Well done Holland!

DaveR Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "Ozil was actually born in Brazil" > > I think he was born in Germany, to Turkish > parents. Sorry my mistake....it was Cacau that was born in Brazil! Ooops And Holland just scored somehow......how did that happen...? lol

Now that Hodgeson has signed with Liverpool I think this will help Capello's cause. I think he should stay. People have short memories. They forget we didn't even qualify for Euro 2008 - because we have a mediovre team. We qualified for the World Cup but not as emphatically as a world class team would against the opposition we had to play. Cappello did make mistakes in the run up. He used the two pre-tournament friendlies to audition players when he should have used them to test out his core team (although fear of injuries when you only have 4 or 5 world class players probably played a part). He made a mistake in some of his squad selection, notably the injury prone Ledley King. He also was too cautious during the group stage with tactics and formation. But much of the rest is down to the players. Without question Capello would have pointed out the threat of Ozil drifting into space behind full backs. So only the players can be blamed for their defensive errors in that match. Terry was in no-man's land for every goal.....when it's his job to keep the back line. Goal glory hunting I think. Glen Jonhson could not match Ozil's pace but who do we have to replace him with? Capello is one of the best all time managers at club level and I think he'll learn from his errors (just like Bobby Robson did). A new manager however will not miraculously give us 11 world class players that don't exist, nor will he be able to put football brains between the various cloth ears that went to the world cup. Managers need time to grow at international level as much as they do at club level. Have people forgotton what a diasater Alex Fergusen was during his first couple of seasons at Man Utd? Why spend the ?10 million required to sack Capello only to see the same failure with another manager (because that is what will happen). It's better to let Capello work it out, learn form his experince (and I think he will) and look to a better performance at Euro 2012.

You are spot on Jimmy about possession football and the worst thing I find with parents is that they all think they are armchair coaches. They take their kids to the park with a goal and make the kids practise penalty after penalty (I've seen them). They all want their kids to be glory hunting strikers. The Argentina match will be the first serious test for the German side but I expect them to do ok. The irony is that Ozil was actually born in Brazil so I'm classing him as more Brazillian than German lol. If Germany keep their shape then I can see them getting a goal but Messi is by far the most challenging player to hit their defense so far and it will be a real test to see how they cope - the German back four are not at their best yet. There won't be much in it I think.

I thought it was a vote for the best GP and was going to jump in and highly recommend mine and then realised it was for the receptionist! I don't even know the names of any of my receptionists! In fact how many of us do?.......

Very few coucillors and politicians have to send their children to under performing schools so it's rather cynical to expect their constituents to do so. How many years of poor schooling do children have to put up with before the Ofstead target is reached after all? We do need more affordable homes in the borough for sure. Surely there must be some other solution to build those new homes whilst protecting the places of the children already attending that school. After all, 12 news homes probably equates to an extra class of children at most. Any options for expanding the school that could be considered James?

Just to let you all know the winner will be announced on Sunday - voting is taking place as we speeak! :)-D

The England conundrum is no mystery. We are not as good as we think we are....simple as. The whole coaching system in this country needs to change. Beckhenbauer was right. We do play kick and rush football. We play in straight lines too. We coach any kind of flair out of kids and turn them into predicatable players. End result is a national team that can't play modern football together - stuck in a long outdated 4-4-2. Just look at how few players we export to other countries for example. The truth is that there are no great replacements coming through for Gerrard and co. English national football is about to hit the wilderness for 10 years. Germany interestingly changed their approach to coaching 15 years ago. They could see that international football was changing and revamped the way they bring players through accordingly (their under 21's team thrashed us too). And in four years time that team will be awesome. What England has been missing for a while is a creative holding midfield player. Where is our Messi, Xavi, Schweinstiger or Kaka? Gareth Barry is not even close. More improtantly we need players with football brains. What appalled me most about that game against Germany is just how stupid our full backs were. All week everyone had warned about schweinstiger feeding Ozil who looks to get in space behind the fullbacks. We gifted it to them. The game with Argentina will be interesting. Germany actually play in a similar formation to Brazil - staying deep and playing with the front three on the break. It works because they move so well and the finishing of both teams is top notch. But Demichellis is definitely a weak link in the Argies defense. I don't think there'll be much in it though.

According to the office for national statistics, nationwide 17% of all households are workless and 33% of all employees earn less than ?7 per hour - that's less than ?280 per (40 hour) week before tax and other deductions. You don't have to be a genius to figure out that a society where a third of the workforce doesn't earn enough to pay their rent in full has a serious problem. Our housing market outstripped wages a long time ago and has put home ownership out of the reach of a whole generation of people, and we the tax payers are picking up the bill. My personal view is that capping rents in the private sector would be a better option for reducing the HB bill. Controversial I know but it is ridiculous that we do nothing about the over-priced housing market. Where will it stop?

Well that's why so many people in work are having their rents topped up by HB. The minimum wage for example leaves any rent of more than ?100 per week unaffordable....so HB steps in. Even in Boroughs where the average rents are lowest, a one bedroom flat in the private rented sector costs at least ?127 per week. The real question here is what has gone so wrong that so many working people can't afford to pay their rents in full? As I wrote earlier, SHELTER predict almost two million tenants and families will be affected by this blanket cap - and they are not all living in leafy Westminster. But many more will continue to have their rents paid by HB in part because they don't earn anything like the ?450 plus rent needed each week. The end result is that our taxes are paying landlords mortgages really. It is the price of private housing, mortgages and rents that are responsible for the massive HB bill more than where people live. I'll try and find some figures on just how many working people require HB.

Yes and both are linked to the over inflated private housing market. When there is a lack of social housing the only option is to rent privately....and the average rents reflect what landlords are having to pay in mortgages and other costs for that home. This is not rocket science and the last three governments have been made fully aware of the impact of the out of control housing market on the low waged. They have all chosen to do nothing about it. Capping housing benefit beyond it's current caps does nothing to address these issues.

I agree it's not a piggy bank but I also think that those who suddenly find themsleves unemployed be given a cushion to find new employment before being forced to move. Six months even would be reasonable. We all pay tax, some of us more than others but the deal with tax is that we don't get to say how it's spent. I have no children for example. Do I mind that a proportion of my tax has gone on education, child tax benefits etc? No.....because what I want is a fair society that affords opportunitiy to all in equal measure. The problem with blanket caps that don't reflect the local market is that there will be individuals who are not spongers who suffer....along with creating ghettos that are off limits to the unemployed (temporary and otherwise) and low waged. That is immoral imo (where someone has lived in their home for a long time) and socially divisive. We need more affordable rented housing....not measures to drive the poor out of certain wealthy areas. HB IS ALREADY CAPPED....the changes will only reduce the overall bill by a fraction....inneffective and designed to sound more than the good it will do.

Nah...God made the world in seven days init ;-)

hmm 80 families compared to how many HB recipients? That's sure going to make a huge dent in the HB bill isn't it? Plus I wonder how many of those 80 families were previously employed and happily paying their way until they were made redundant or worse still became ill. The average rent in Westminster is ?1100 per week. Hmm Camden is ?825. Are you going to suggest no umemployed live in Camden as well? Don't get me wrong...I too agree that we look for somewhere to live that is within our means, but I suspect a good proportion of those families ended up in Westminster for other reasons and then found their circumstances changed. In terms of the unemployed I think it would make more sense for example to have a time limit for those people, say of a year, before reducing the HB and forcing them to move.