Mick Mac

I met Gavin at a Florence and the Machine gig a couple of months ago (yes and yes) and he had a go at me for taking his photo without asking first. The rocky marriage might be putting a strain on their personal lives, so tread carefully.

Dirk Kuyt booked for simulation (diving/cheating).

Great to see an organised and motivated England team (even for an Irishman). Rooney shouting instructions, Heskey chasing down the goalkeeper - all the things they were not doing under Maclaren and Eriksson too. They will not be far down the betting for next year Quids - are you saving up for a big bet?

Going to win the World Cup - definitely. Harry Rednapp said today about England's chances - "This could be our year" - even though the finals are next year - thought that was funny.

I think R&A you might be in agreement with me. Cheap money is always good provided you do something constructive with it. Quids is more conservative though.

I don't think WOD took a blind bit of notice of anything said here Steve - but its good fun batting around the issue. Of course noone knows.

Keef - I think the above summarises what I think too. The Lounge has also suffered - its used to a good combination of serious and humourous threads and a good place to be. The Lounge needs it fair share of serious threads. I understand that the Drawing Room idea was wanted to keep serious discussions serious, but I think its the normal life cycle of a thread in the Lounge that it will stay serious for as long as people think its important to make serious contributions. Each thread finds its own level in the Lounge. The recent discussion on education in the Lounge ran to four pages and had input form more people than would ever have contributed in the Drawing Room before eventually going off topic. For me personally I'd prefer to have just the Lounge - you have to put a very serious head on to go to the Drawing Room and as I don't really have one I don't go there. I don't mind making serious posts in the Lounge in between having a bit of a laugh. It should all be in the one place.

As England need some company in South Africa hopefully NI can beat Slovakia and in Republic of Ireland's group hope Bulgaria can do ROI a favour and take some points off Italy.

Banger

Leon - were these unfortunate people walking on the pavement - if so did the car mount the pavement? There seem to be an awful lot of crashes in ED recently - this seems very strange. There was a fatal collision yellow notice outside ED Station too.

Expensive

Never heard of her - but no shock there. I was hoping for Florence.

Its a good advert Bob. Try to hard disk it for yourself to watch tonight.

???? Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ...RBS at 12p...got to be worth it purely as a bet > (NOTE NOT AN INVESTMENT ) surely? If they don't go > down, let's call that evens chance, then I can see > them the quadrupling in two months or so...so > that's value in betting terms..... Looked back to your OP - Top predicting Quids.

Never pay off cheap loans in my opinion Quids. They free up money to invest elsewhere. You don't need to look for a guaranteed return, guaranteed returns usually factor in a cut to a third party. In the current climate I'd personally like to have more money rather than less money available to invest.

I buy some Barclays shares monthly and have added in Hammerson yesterday. Any other tips to add to my mini portfolio??

womanofdulwich Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Wow-you all sound soo wise- so if you are lucky > enough to have a low mortgage that is at 1.5% > above base for another 15 years on a small amount > -should you pay it off asap or stick it somewhere > else? ie unit trust s etc and wait until interest > rates go up on your mortgage and then pay it off? 1.5 above base is likely to remain cheap for some time. Id keep it and invest in a balance of worldwide unit trusts as you suggest. There may be good growth opportunities over a 5 year period. You may not be able to get 1.5 above base again so i would not pay it off.

anyone who bases their financial planning on a 15% rate is likely to make only the most ultra prudent of financial decisions and not make the most of their available capital and borrowing capability .

I like the new advert. Good imagination the young lad has.

they have added a dutchman and a russian to cool down the squad and take the initiative on their icy northern expeditions.

preties? An Ulsterism.

base rates of 10 and 15%? Im tempted to post that to the lol posts macroban. But i have more manners.

yep. Also my nearest pub (apart from the castle). So should be able to make it out, without anyone noticing.

eh? The weather is nicer in london though. Hence im tipping a london team to win.

Or you could say AC Milan drank a load of champagne at half time? (just a joke Matt).