Chippy Minton

Why don't you take a machete? That way, if things get out of hand, you can claim you were performing maintainence on the garden in defense.

http://www.clipartguide.com/_named_clipart_images/0511-0904-1302-0029_Dad_Snoring_in_His_Easy_Chair_clipart_image.jpg

http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u492/UdayDanceParty/Album%20Number%202/yawn.png

In the four games we played, every other team could claim, or at least make a case for the idea, that they were as good as or better than England. And these were three teams that are very, very average themselevs. Low expectations or not - it's been another poor tournament for England. After the shocking world cup defeat, I still thought we needed to retain the old guard of Gerrard, Lampard, Terry et al as at the time there was simply no one coming through to replace them. However, they now have to go - build a team around a solid spine of youngsters - Hart, Jones, Wilshire with Rooney up front and supported by Walcott and the Ox on wings. If Hodgeson was the "looking to the long term" choice as manager he needs to be brave enough to make these players the new guard whilst knowing that we'll get the occasional spanking whilst trying to qualify for Brazil.

It's been said all over the place, but it's true - Jimmy Carr's biggest mistake was to not be a Tory Party donor. He avoids tax and Cameron labels him "morally wrong." Ashcroft avoids tax and he's given a peerage.

3am tomorrow morning

?40 a day out in the burbs AKA Bromley

The ODA money won't cover everything - the operators will still have to pay some, so it's not a done deal. My guess is that the complicated nature of 20 operators being involved in the dispute means they've found it hard to injuct against Unite and along with Boris's intervention have conceded to the ACAS talks. Unite probably won't strike if those negotiations are taking place AND all the operators take part in those talks. I agree with Bic Basher - assume it is still on for now.

I'm for goal line technology - if we had it, then obviously it would have been awarded. But we don't. So it wasn't. As it stands at the moment i.e we don't currently have GLT, if your arguement is "The goal should have been awarded as the offside was missed as many things are in football" you might just as well say "The goal shouldn't have been awarded as the ball crossing the line was missed as many things are in football."

Eh? The offside should have been awarded first!

I'm not confused at all. There was an offside in the build up - therefore the "goal" should not have been awarded. Simple and logical.

It's not illogical at all. UDT is right - it is irrelevant whether it went over the line if the bloke was offside in the lead up. The ref should have blown up for that.

More like Boris is adopting his usual "anything to make me look good" approach. Unite have been asking him to intervene for the last nine months! Now, less than two days before the potential strike, he gets involved to try and portray himself as the gallant knight in shinning armour battling the evil unions.

I agree Loz - Labour are just as guilty, but the ConDems def won't reform it. You're wrong about the unions not wanting it though - they actively campaign for this as low turnouts are as bad for them as anyone else and, to be blunt, it would save them a lot of money which they need to do wherever they can.

I guess because they are asking for the extra it isn't illegal, but I'm not a lawyer! As for the low turnout, I don't think it's explained by "union muscle flexing", it's just simply a sad reflection on the country's current apathy with regard to voting. General Election, local election, referendum - you name it, no matter what it is, people in this country don't turnout to vote like they used to. PS If the government allowed more modern/flexible voting methods for this sort of thing (e-mail, SMS, workplace ballots etc) - like the unions are campaigning for - there would be higher turnouts for all ballots. But the ConDems aren't going to allow that though are they!

Loz - Unite have already considered the cost And how can it be an "extra ongoing pay rise"? It's a one off payment for the Olympics!

Loz - Eh? There is no cost because the scheme is in surplus (not no "involvement"). Are you deliberately being obtuse?

Doctors' pensions are simply deferred pay - doctors have paid for their pensions themselves, their scheme is not unstainable, it is not in deficit and now they are being told it's being cut. The fact that it's the first doctors' industrial dispute for 40 years speaks volumes for the strength of feeling. Good luck to all of them.

Crap TfL eh! They maintain the dispute is a matter for the private operators even though it's the body responsible for London's transport and they put out press statements on the strike!

My guess is TfL would claim the dispute is between the union and the bus operators, although clearly the union sees TfL (at least) as partly responsible. Either way, it goes ahead on Friday.

Ukraine tonight, Spain in the quarters, Portugal in the semis, Germany in the final = easy. It's got our name on it!

It's definitely been called and it starts at 3am this Friday. It's the first London-wide bus strike for 30-odd years and it involves 20-plus operators so it is difficult to predict how many buses will run. Some of the operators are also likely to try and get an injunction to prevent it, so obviously the success or otherwise of this will affect its impact.

Are there any pubs in the area that don't normally have TVs that have brought them in to show the tournament?

Hmmm...a reference to Greece, and moving back to the OP's question - perhaps what has gone on there, with the rioting/petrol bombing the police etc should be considered the limit to political protest rather than "The 6th form rantings of uncut and the middleclass tossers camped outside StPauls" and "unprompted tea parties by very nice, humourous, middle class people" ?

I'm not sure how to make myself any clearer, but I'll have one last shot. I think the EDL is a racist and violent organisation and because it incites these things it was right their march through Tower Hamlets was banned. I do not think UK Uncut harassed Nick Clegg or broke any laws and so therefore it was right it wasn't banned.