SuperMikey

IMHO of course.

Descend into chaos? What exactly are you basing that assumption on? Or are you just regurgitating the diatribe that you heard during the referendum? Honestly, people think that Scotland getting independence would be the end of the world. Surely even a federal UK would be an easier way of keeping everybody happy that their country is being run in their best interest while retaining the political relationship of a union? You heard the Plaid Cymru leader talking about the financial disparity between Wales and England tonight on the debate, I think you'll probably find that there'd be more support for that kind of arrangement than you'd think. But anyway, that's not the point. There won't be another referendum for a while now, that ship has sailed for the time being. Rather than worrying about a policy that has very little chance of actually happening, why not look past that and actually look at the other policies that the SNP offers without being caught up in panic mode about the evil SNP, who actually represent(ed) the wishes of 45% of people in Scotland?

Ah, in which case I misunderstood your point. I don't think that the English public are 100% against the SNP - I was born and raised in England and supported them in the referendum (which was before I moved to Scotland, I might add). Aside from the obvious policy about independence for Scotland, most of their policies are very populist and attractive to people in general. They haven't become so popular here just off the back of the campaign for independence. I personally think they'd make good coalition partners, and i'm sure if you put their wider-ranging policies blind to the general population they'd mostly agree with me.

I don't think many English people can vote the SNP into power... the fact of the matter is that the SNP are predicted to win huge amounts of seats in Scotland and Labour would be stupid to dismiss them as an ally and would try to form some sort of coalition - whether it's straight Labour/SNP if they both have the required number of seats to form a government or whether they go for a Rainbow coalition including a couple of other parties like Plaid, Greens etc. Either way, Labour want back in and SNP want to be stronger in Westminster in order to provide for the Scots - best place to do that is from the driving seat.. Talk to people north of Watford and see who they intend to vote for - Tories won't win a majority and Lib Dems won't pull in enough votes to be kingmakers this time. Unless there's a big swing or the Conservatives decide to get UKIP involved in a coalition I doubt the polls will be looking too rosy for them any time soon. The only thing they really have in their favour is the amount of swing voters who will probably end up voting for more of the same because of the lack of other options available. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2015/feb/27/guardian-poll-projection The polls on that link indicate likely coalitions - Labour/SNP is looking most likely as it stands. Obviously there's plenty of time for that to change, but I think those polls results may suggest what i'm saying may actually be based in reality. Sorry about that.

Not sure about that, especially given that the Conservatives are dismally failing to establish any kind of meaningful lead in the polls ahead of Miliband (who is a weak PM candidate at best) and the Lib Dems support has dropped off massively since they were put into power after the last election. I think if you were to give people a choice between likely coalitions at this point a Labour/SNP pact would win out, but only just.

Using that kind of language to talk about people with that horrible disease illustrates the stigma in society that surrounds HIV patients. If the Scottish parliament did take in all the HIV+ patients that Farage et al want to get rid of, I would be delighted as it would show that at least somewhere they are thought of as people with a disease rather than a figure. For f*ck sake, they're people too - I imagine if it was you or a family member in a foreign-born HIV patients position you'd be pretty angry about being refused care.

Didn't anyone ever tell you not to mix wine & beer Turks?

As a Green Party member i'm a bit disappointed in Natalie Bennett's performance tonight tbh, she isn't a particularly confident orator and I think that she missed out quite a lot in debates that the Greens actually have a strong stance on - especially the EU and the fact that the Greens support a referendum so that people don't have to vote UKIP or Tory to get a choice on membership. Sturgeon absolutely smashed it though, very impressed with her. The rise of the SNP in Scotland has definitely been helped by having 2 engaging, confident and warm leaders in Sturgeon & Salmond - they seem like proper politicians as opposed to Cameron & Miliband who seem like 2 animatronic puppets repeatedly bashing each other over the head. Will be interesting to see the reaction to the debate and how it affects the election. Think SNP will clean up over Scotland now, which means that Labour will be in trouble of losing more ground.

New from The National. Very nice. Thanks for the Calexico stuff btw lifeintheslowlane, looking forward to the album!

.......are we still talking about America?

I'm just waiting for somebody to explain to the P*mpey fans in chimpanzee sign language what their finance figures actually entail. Could one of our esteemed posters potentially educate them? Or at least give it a bash..

+1, although it's a bit soul-destroying for me because I used to really love TLLS when Craig Ferguson hosted it. Hope we see him back on TV soon in some capacity, he's brilliant. I am a huge Stewart Lee fan as well, really looking forward to seeing him come up to Edinburgh for the Fringe this summer. Looks like he's going to be here throughout most of August so may catch him a couple of times!

That's the calibre of player he is and tbh any of those clubs would be mad not to go in for him while they have the opportunity. As soon as he makes a move elsewhere and signs a new deal he'll become a £40m+ player. Personally would love to see him at Barca or Real, would be a bit tough seeing him in the Prem still. Not sure what Barca's situation is with regards to transfers this summer but apparently Xavi is moving to Al-Sadd in the Middle East so they'll be on the lookout for a midfielder to replace him. Either way, there'll be a lot of speculation this summer about Morgan but he's outgrown a club of our size and genuinely deserves a move to a top team, unlike one or two that left in the summer.

Not seen much of Vilhena but from what i've heard he's a handy little player. Could potentially be a long-term replacement for Steven Davis? Even if we lose Morgan in the summer (incredibly likely) I wonder where this would leave JWP and Reed especially if we end up getting Clasie in as well. Wanyama, Clasie, Vilhena, Davis, JWP & Reed are pretty strong central midfield options though so can't argue with having all of those in our squad!

Agree with what's been said about Trippier, he would definitely be my preferred option. Looking likely that Burnley might avoid the drop though, so don't think they'll be too keen to let him go on the cheap especially as they're already losing Ings in the summer. Richards would be ok, I do like him as a player and think he deserved more of a chance at City but his injury record is worrying and also his wages are astronomical.

I used to enjoy Top Gear when it was less staged and manufactured - can't watch it now because the "comedy" in the show is all so set-up. Good that the BBC have been strong about this and decided to go against public opinion, the guy has been so close to a sacking several times now and so it's finally come to pass. They'll end up going to Sky and continuing to act like 14 year old boys well into their 80s for an absolute f*ckload of money. Good for them.

She seems pretty good but she needs to learn some new dance moves - looks like she's trying to shift half a gallon of Mr Whippy from her lower colon in this video!

Song's about as deep as a puddle, but it's a nice listen. Looking forward to the new album in a couple of months.

I'm not particularly worried with KD in goal, our defence is so much stronger than it was when he was first choice and he showed today he still has his reflexes. More work in training and some more match fitness and i'm fairly confident we won't miss Fraser too much.

I agree that Toby is a better player but Fonte is so important to our defence - excellent organiser, composed with the ball but also willing to get stuck in and get his knees dirty if needed. It's no coincidence that Lovren and Toby have looked so good playing alongside him, he allows them to play to their full ability because they don't have to worry so much about organisation and where their teammates are - Fonte keeps the back 4 and the 2 in front drilled so that we're a solid unit. He's going to be incredibly tough to replace when he eventually leaves/retires - people talk about Morgan going but Fonte is a real leader and they don't come around too often! As for the game today, 3-1 to Saints and Pelle back on the scoresheet.

I think I may have smelled somebody smoking a cannabis cigarette once at the Stone Circle. Disgusting behaviour and I hope that person was severely reprimanded for it. Drugs is for mugs!

I'll be the bald geezer carefully sipping a can of warm cider and doing his best impression of a middle-aged accountant I love Glasto but even at the age of 23 I feel like I lack the energy for all the late-night stuff, amazes me when I see these crusty 70 year old hippies swatting away pink elephants at 5am in the Snakepit! Perhaps there may be a chemical element to it that i'm underestimating.. Either way it looks like Hot Chip will be headlining the Other Stage or John Peel (depending on if they get a 'big' headliner for the Other). Seen some awesome sets in the JP in recent years, keen to see who they have playing there this year.

Not sure i'll be watching Kanye but i'm glad he's playing. All the people spitting their dummies out clearly haven't been before - it really doesn't matter who's headlining the Pyramid with all the other stuff going on. You don't even need to watch any music after 8pm with all the shenanigans going on round Shangri-La (which'll seemingly led by KRG this year!). Can't wait for the full lineup now, should be an interesting one.

Good pass from Djuricic last night to pick out Seager for the U21s first goal. I would probably start with Davis myself as he can fill in more for Vic/Morgan if they go forward but Djuricic has shown he can pick a pass and has good technique. Worth giving him 30 minutes off the bench against a tired Burnley defence to see what he can do -especially if we can't unlock their defence.