moonraker

Most of what you say is very valid, but amongst the many lower league players who will not be able to step up are some real gems, identifying them is the real skill. Lambert and Vardi just two obvious candidates, our issue at this stage is we need a striker to hit the ground running and therefore the only solution is a proven prem level striker, and finding and affording one of those is equally challenging.

Defined benefits schemes are final salary, I think you mean “lesser defined contributions scheme”. The value of a DB scheme is arbitrary, a multiplier of the annual pension set , currently at 25 times I believe, this is purely for calculating a figure for your lifetime allowance. DC schemes are simply based on each £1 contributed, by both the individual and their employer. Most good private sector employers contribute between 5 and 10% to staff pensions so to be totally accurate when comparing the value of the benefit of public sector pensions this should be added to in to the value of private sector renumeration.

No they are not, while your “researching” the nurses pension please also ascertain the % of publicly funded pensions that are over 7 figures.

Sadly the ERG and the arch Brexiteers are not interested in what most people think. They fooled them once and they are playing on that. They have Covid and Russia to blame for the shitshow we are now living. I am ever hopeful that enough of the British electorate will see them for the biggest bunch of charlatans and traitors they are, self interest and personal wealth is their only motivation.

Anyone who believes there is to much bureaucracy in the NHS needs to take a detailed look at the US health care system. The very high costs of treatment are in large part due to the high administrative burden required to ensure every penny is recouped from patients. A friend recently required an emergency appendectomy, it cost $45,000, the very first procedure they underwent was to have a bar code stamped on each arm. To ensure every element of their treatment was recorded and billed. Add to this the influence and power of commercial pharmaceutical companies and the non clinical cost element is far greater than that of the NHS.

I appreciate times have changed, and modern day footballer egos can be off the scale, but we have a history of appointing managers with no top level experience and many of them turned out to be good. Mcmenamy, Nicholl, Poch, even Ted Bates. The difference now and my big worry is there is no time in the modern game for managers to develop their own team.

The incompetence and unsuitability of this shower currently masquerading as our government continues to be demonstrated with the revelations on their attitude to security. Truss and Braverman have both identified as having compromised security, I won’t be surprised if others have as well. If a civil servant or member of the armed forces had done this they would be severely disciplined. Following the rules and protocols should be the minimum we expect of our Government Ministers, they truly are unfit for public office.

Bring on the euro, Schengen and all the other benefits of the EU that our cowardly politicians of the past failed to embrace for fear of upsetting the muppets in the ERG, the right wing press and the traitor in chief Farage. Not to mention the thick red meat eating, mail reading gamonati that either vote for them and purchase their chip wrappers full of lies.

Despite all the drivel from Duckie and GM they are still unable to identify a single benefit from BREXIT. Taking back control does not count.

They are coming to Bath and Bristol soon.

But so on the money, and sums up the country the the Mail-reading, red meat-eating, gamonati voted for.

Boris has neither the commitment nor attention to detail to lead an effective opposition. Not that he would acknowledge that, if it were to happen then it would be a gift for Labour.

Oh wasn’t that fun, as many fireworks as we could buy. We’re you a Paines or Brocks boy.

Whoever is stupid enough to become the leader of this pathetic party will be signing up for failure. Who in their right mind would want to lead them, not just as PM but at a General Election. Whoever does accept the post either accepts that they are a sacrificial lamb, or they are just another arrogant narcissistic twat.

A general election is the only way forward. Sadly the entitled Tory party and their sycophantic supporters will continue to act in their own best interests. They have no patriotism, no dignity and no honour. Starting with the Brexit referendum, purely called because Cameron was a coward and could not manage his own party we have seen this pathetic excuse for a political party dive to ever lower depths to maintain their grip on power, and all at the expense of our country and our people. They must go, and go now.

I agree with the thrust of your argument. There is a possibility of a Tory implosion and the party splitting. I do not think the LDs will welcome many if any of the current crop of cowardly backbenchers who have been complicit in facilitating this shit show. The ERG types will claim the party as theirs the centre right one nation mob will claim its as theirs, could end up in court! No matter how much I despise the Tories and their ideology there is a need for a centre right party if only to remind us how self serving a section of our society is. The long standing Tory supporters on here have stopped defending them, claiming they are not true Tories, the problem is they can’t agree amongst themselves what constitutes a true Tory.

And this from the twat that we had negotiating the Brexit deal, amateurs the lot of them. I would not employ any of the current crop of senior Tories to clean my windows for fear or indelible smears.

The problem is the Tories introduced it to to lure the pensioners votes. They have a track record of luring votes, the sacred Margaret’s council house cut price sell of being the biggest. These short term populist policies always come back to bite you.

I do question the policy of allowing inmates unfettered access to the internet.

No it’s akin to the beer hall putsch. That failed but it set the scene for 1932/3. The people who breached congress should be tried for treason, the USA needs to defend their democracy, currently they are pussy footing.

Whilst never having conservative tendencies it is absolutely shocking to see how “Brexit” has effectively destroyed the Tories. David Cameron lit a very long fuse by calling a totally unnecessary referendum because he was unable to manage the loony ERG, and when calling their bluff failed he ran away and hid. We have as a consequence had to suffer May, Johnson and now Trussfuck. If ever a political party can be accused of treason the Tory’s, their myopic supporters and the absolute incompetents they vote in are prime candidates.

Meaningless, the U.K. has no plans to unilaterally invade one of its neighbours. We are members of NATO for collective security, international collaboration has so many more benefits than nationalistic posturing. I am not laughing at Russia just painting a picture of where they are. Numbers are meaningless if you do not have the command, leadership, morale and equipment to use them. The idea the U.S. could have stopped it is absurd, no NATO country was attacked it would have meant the US declaring war on Russia. History of warfare is littered with much larger armies being routed by smaller better motivated and equipped opponents. The definition of madness is to continue to do the same thing even when it fails.

I do have a military/defence background. Some of the most knowledgeable analysts of military capability have no military background but do have a deep understanding of military campaigns, doctrine and what works. As I said above logistics are critical to a successful military campaign. But you also have to be fully prepared. Whilst the Russians started with some well trained troops these cannot be replaced by conscription. The very minimum training required for a half decent infantry soldier is 6 months, other combat troops, artillery, armour etc. take longer to train and that assumes you have sufficient equipment, supplies and experienced trainers. You then need capable and experienced NCOs and junior officers to lead them in the field. Russian doctrine is top down command with little if any autonomy for commanders at the operational and tactical levels. When you add to this the questionable quality of their maintenance, reliability, and operation of their combat systems, they have a serious problem that I contend their military and political culture is incapable of fixing, certainly not within the time frame of “The Special Military Operation”. A final caveat, there is never certainty in war, but if I were a betting man I know where my money would go.

I disagree, to conduct a credible and successful military campaign logistic are everything. Disrupting supplies and support, even on a temporary basis, has as much if not greater value than shooting down a couple of MIGs or blowing up a few tanks. Throughout history the victors in military campaigns have been those who ,understood, managed and prioritised logistics. The Russians have been very poor at this to date and anything the Ukraine can do to disrupt their efforts even further will pay dividends. That is not to mention the PR value of this strike.

Duckie for once I agree, 2 bands should be sufficient, and the 40% thread hold needs to be raised significantly. My point was we are not a high tax country compared to comparable countries.