El Pibe

you need office 2010.

He's had a good record with smaller, second rate teams who aspire to punch above their weight in the past, so surely he's perfect!

- weird, i was DEFINITELY on the football thread, no idea how that post ended up here -

chemtrail activity.

I love UDT's assertion that he can't name a number one pop record. I'm pretty sure you can. I'll kick off with "Do they know it's Christmas" and keenly await your denial. - Does who know it's christmas? Er, I'm afraid I don't quite follow you, Squadron Leader.

I'm with UDT, property is theft. I too only listen to music made by foreigners and quite specifically not for sale. The BEST EVER deeply unfashionable band with a great back catalogue is Maria Zarzuela and her dog on a string. You'll find her begging by the Rastro market in Madrid where she gives her music away on old C60 cassettes; each one is a one off and I will never let you share in their goddness. This of course means none of you will ever get to know just how right I am. I also know of a great sushi place in London, but I can't divulge that little gem either.

Woodrot in voice of calm voice of reason shocker! Seconded though.

Mothere teresa was a hunny wasn't she? http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSqv3I6hiSnR7_dKSvrdjA94fSCd0XIVK6utEhictSY9N30S4_9

In my day it was full of pretty Essex girls who work in the city trying to act all sophisticated in order to bag rich city types being preyed upon by Essex boys who work in the city trying to act all sophisticated in order to pretend to be rich city types.

Fair enough. As long as it's good old fashioned snobbery ;) What about ELO and 10CC *Bob*?

Can you define trendy Jeremy? Shoreditch seems more popular than ever these days. Is it: trendy = when I used to go out there pass? = i used to go out there and now lots of people like it i wont go ;-P

Or Simple Minds?

ELO 10CC

On the subject of unfashionable (and I'm not just referring to lurid pink leopard print leotards) 80s metal, I occassionally have a nostalgic yen for some Def Leppard!!

Reading a couple at the moment The Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England is a fine tome for anyone with the vaguest interst in social history. Pops lots of myths and humanises the past. Very readable and entertaining too. ANd I've mentioned this elsewhere, but this masterly history of the misguided Soviet intervention in Afgahnistan is a must for anyone interested in current affairs. Well researched without being scholarly (it was written by the old Ambassador in Moscow) and enough anecdotes garnered from first hand interviews to make it a deeply human and sympathetic work.

I hate to say it, especially as a supporter of a lower profile club myself, but the main reason one doesn't think 'diver' for Osman, or 'divers' for everton is because people don't really think about Osman or Everton. Everton doesn't get scrutinised in the same way as Chelsea, Man U et al so it isn't talking point enough to get those dubious sobriquets. We get things like plucky because we're underdogs. You may not like it but when most people hear 'everton' they think 'liverpool's second team'. Sorry :-/

Camel, wishbone ash, good shouts. Fleetwood Mac have long had a bit of retro chic, so Im not sure they count. The eagles are perennials aren't they. Fairport Convention? Though they are hugely influential in a current crop of bands like Midlake, the Decemberists, Joanna Newsome et al. Mind you, not sure they're fashionable enough to negate this. Am I over thinking this? If we're going 'deeply unfashionable' how about Simple Minds?

We've been through this. Yes PFI was introduced by the tories and ued in a limited fashion. It is not an intrinsically bad idea. It was abused by Brown to get spending off balance sheet, and in typical new labour fashion they had an idea but no interest in detail, so that they pursued it incredibly badly and negotiated some woefully poor deals. My god, I can't stand the tories and find myself defending them. Aaaagh. They got lots and lots wrong, including the national curriculum, but Nulabour got lots and lots wronger. It's no coincidence that exam results in a league obsessed system are at an all time high, but basica literacy and numeracy skills are at an all time low, and that includes many of those headed to university. Something is rotten, and a blinkered party political partisan bleating is what got us into this mess, it ain't going to get us out of it. Your faith in labour is heartening, but I fear naively misplaced.

Jethro Tull

Dire Straits

Successive governements have failed to address the issue of how to squeeze quality out of an underfunded education system. Labour may have added a financial sticking plaster during their term, but it was unsustainable and left an expensive PFI legacy. PLus it was they who have overseen the introduction of the league table results obsessed culture which is undermining both real educational values and demoralising the profession. Your black & white, 4 labour legs good... mantra is becoming really quite tedious UDT.

It's something of a viscous circle though isn't it. Teaching is a much maligned profession. Beauracracy and league table type pressures have only served to undermine moral in the profession too. Retention, especially among the young is relatively low. Government can't compete with the private sector, but if we we were to rely entirely on the private sector literacy and numeracy would be significantly ower as a huge swathe would simply exclude their children from education (much like the 40 million americans who exclude themselves from health care). I'm sure we'd love to have good teachers educating our young, but how do you persuade them to do it? ANd if we get rid of the bad teachers there aren't enough left to teach everyone. Lowest common denominator socialism? Perhaps, but the alternative is worse. Maybe public education whould be means tested and if you can pay for it you'll have to. I'd not be happy about it but it might be the only way we can prevent writing off our youth.

It's the British Food one that really confuses me. Is he bemoaning it in general or is he harking back to a golden age of prawn cocktails, blackened roast beef, fondue, angel delight and spag bol, before this modern foreign obsession with fresh ingredients and cooking techniques?

genuinely a letter in said paper. He speaks for the entire readership, don't you just hate self self self moan moan moan.

Like the Edinburgh tram? That went well!!!! Trams are great when you're on them, it's when you're a road user of some ilk that they become silent angels of DEATH!!!!