stu0x

Actually the starting point is 6 months custody (it's probably a cat 2). Use of weapon, no credit for his defence, and by the sounds of the witness accounts various additional harm and culpability factors, with precious little mitigation. 12 months would be typical, more if he's got previous for any similar offences. Still, don't let the facts get in the way of rolling out a hackneyed cliché...

No. - Alcohol is normally an aggravating (not mitigating) factor in the case of assaults when it comes to sentencing. - Unintentionally killing someone whilst driving (I assume you mean with the car ) is neither murder nor manslaughter. It's death by dangerous driving, or one of the new variants - in fact I think there may even be a specific new variant offence of causing death whilst drunk driving. Anyway, they are completely separate offences to murder/manslaughter. - Any murder be it by vehicle or otherwise would not 'convert' to a manslaughter due to intoxication. I think what you are talking about is Voluntary Manslaughte - this is when a murder 'converts' to a manslaughter, but this is in the case of suicide pacts, diminished responsibility, abnormality of mind, etc. Being drunk is specifically excluded from qualifying. - Intoxication can be a defence (in which case, it wouldn't convert to a lesser offence, it would become no offence committed at all), but only in the case of involuntary intoxication. And obviously the burden of proof lies with the defendant.

I know someone who did that. My initial reaction was that it was cheese, but having seen the photo it is absolutely brilliant

Well, I respect your right to have an opinion, however illogical it may be. You have expressed and argued it. But I dont agree with it. And it seems nor does anyone else on this thread. I don't see you 'converting' anyone here any time soon. So perhaps now might be one of those occasions? Back on topic... I proposed in a public place, but with no one else around. I took her away as a surprise to the place we had spent our first weekend away together. She spent most of dinner playfully badgering me about why I hadn't proposed yet, while the ring was burning a hole in my pocket. I don't agree with phil's assertion that you should arrange it for when her friends are there. I can see how that might work for some people but for me/us it was a very personal and private moment that we didn't really want to share. Of course within minutes you're (she's) on the phone to parents to tell them, but the moment itself was for just her and I. And obviously I asked my father in law's permission first, although I left it until about 48 hours before as I knew he couldn't keep a secret any longer! Although it was a no-brainer that I would do it, I think he was still very happy and proud that I did.

You're joking aren't you? Sure, the short term disappointment of being promoted will be crushing for him, but within days he'll be revelling in threads about how there is really no money and we are planning for relegation because it's already July 3rd and we haven't signed Ronaldo yet.

Now I know how Leeds felt. We absolutely dominated them until their second went in. Then it just went flat. Fox was poor for their first and second.

but as a statistician you should know that, as your data is generated by your own entirely arbitrary percentages which you know in advance to be flawed, the end result is inherently worthless? You'd have been better off using posted odds for the remaining matches, that would at least remove some of the subjectivity.

I doubt it. Watford are hopeful of getting Cat 1, although its pretty unlikely they'll achieve it (a Cat 1 facility will cost 2.3m a year just to run, I doubt Watford have that?) But Steve Parish at Crystal Palace has been very outspoken against EPPP on the basis that it will allow wealthy Prem clubs to cherry pick players away from the likes of Palace. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/crystal-palace/8956789/The-new-Elite-Player-Performance-Programme-is-bad-for-the-future-of-the-English-game.html He'd hardly be saying all that if he envisaged Palace being Cat 1 themselves...

But that's exactly the point. United v Liverpool isn't a derby. It's a match with a load of history, and the fans hate each other, but even Sky's relentless SuperMegaUltraSunday hype machine won't refer to the fixture as a derby. I suspect it's a matter of timing as much as anything else. Growing up I remember the great enmity between Leeds and Bradford, back when it was relevant. Younger Leeds fans don't really care about Bradford too much, I suppose Huddersfield will probably be more so for a while. You seem to find it difficult to debate an issue without resorting to aggression or insults. Not everyone who disagrees with your opinion is personally attacking you.

Are you sure it's unlocked? Have you tried it recently? Even if you unlocked it a while back, versions of iOS since 3.1.3 have had updated basebands (basically the firmware for the aerial itself). These updates remove the unlock, cannot be unlocked, and cannot be uninstalled once they're on there. The only way to have maintained an unlock is to have done what I said in my previous post. Or to have never updated the software on your iPhone. Go to Settings, General, About, and check the Modem Firmware. If the number is higher than 01.59.00, you're stuffed. (this is assuming you are in contract of course. If not, then speak to your network, they *may* help you)

Only if, since about iOS4, you've been updating it with custom built ipsws that preserve the baseband and then unlocked with ultrasn0w. Or, in other words, "no".

The reality is as black and white as that I'm afraid. The end of season league table doesn't lie. Winners win. Losers whine about ifs buts and maybes. That year, and for a lot of recent history, we were a club of losers. Now we are winners. No comparison.

I'm from Leeds. I grew up there, surrounded by Leeds United fans. I have never heard anyone refer to matches against most of those clubs as a derby match. A United match isn't even considered a proper derby, although obviously they hate each other. Derbies are particularly local rivalries, not simply matches against teams you don't like. Liverpool loathe United, but their matches aren't derbies - they would be Everton and City, respectively.

Its almost tempting to parlay a lay on Saints to be promoted and a back on Pompey to stay up... If you could find someone to take it, the huge payout would go a significant distance to making up for the overwhelming disappointment

With the obvious exception of Bale, I wouldn't put any of the older team into the starting 11. Many of them would strengthen the bench/squad. History is always rose-tinted with football. A direct comparison of the facts is pretty telling. Now: we have the bulk of a League One team. We have dominated throughout the season, never being outside the automatic promotion places (has that ever even happened before?) We go into every game expecting a result, and we are pretty disappointed when we don't get one. Then: we had the bulk of a Premiership side. We scrapped for most of the season and basically snuck into the playoffs, before falling at the first hurdle. We went into most games hoping for a result, and on many occasions were very pleased to get one.

There is no logic to 'taking a draw'. If you would take a draw, you are essentially saying that you think Reading are a better team and are likely to beat us, otherwise you'd take your chances. If you think that, then by extension you think that they will better our results for the remainder of the season. If that is the case, then a draw doesn't help us, as they will win the league regardless. The only advantage to taking the draw, therefore, would be to get the 1 point benefit over losing it would offer us against West Ham. And that only becomes relevant if you think West Ham will be 7 points (but not 8 points) better than us over the remaining 3 games. Which means 3 wins for them, and only 2 draws and one defeat for us. which would be pessimistic to the extreme. So essentially, being happy with a draw (before kick off) has zero benefit.

Assuming West Ham win every remaining match, then yes - 6 points from 4 matches equals promotion, in the absence of a 12 goal swing

Agreed. If only the transfer window wasn't shut, I think we'd stand a pretty good chance of signing a Real/Barca player.

Mainly 'oh god it's started already'... How often in the recent past have our transfer dealings gotten into the public domain before they are concluded? (Almost) never. Combine that with the fact that we don't know what division we will be playing in next season, and it should be pretty obvious how much credence should be lent to *any* transfer rumours involving us at the moment. Edit: colour me surprised, this *article* was in the Mirror... For the record though I think it's a bad idea to sign demoted players. Yes you can say they are better than their club, but demotion does something mentally to 90% of players. It's very rare for someone to be demoted, transfer away and actually bounce back in a meaningful way.

The problem is, you need a speedy resolution, but bad behaviour is all forgivable. The more she likes you (and/or the more needy she is), the more she is likely to forgive, and you have no real way of gauging her cut off point. So you might end up banging someone else only for her to 'forgive you'. And the longer it goes on, the worse it gets, until you're 18 months down the line and you're choosing your wedding rings. At which point your only way out is to cut her head off and dump her in a wheelie bin. Not ideal. The only solution is to man up and just tell her. If you're too ugly to then find something else to put your nob in, you'll have to deal with that separately.

Apart from the two goals, obviously

Repeal of s44 was nothing to do with abuse of power. The power was used exactly as it had been designed by our Government. The EU then decided the powers themselves weren't appropriate. And as usual the Government rolled over without so much as a whimper.

Are you sure you don't work at Rangers?

True. If only he had the pedigree of being, oh I dunno, Celtic's 8th choice centre back?

Not true. Perfect Blackjack returns 96.5%. There was a time a couple of years back when the sudden explosion in online casinos created a good opportunity. They were all offering things like First Deposit Matching up to £100 with very few conditions, other than a fairly high churn rate to prevent hail-Mary style tactics from being profitable. Because of the churn, low stakes perfect Blackjack was a very efficient way of ensuring the 'free' money remained in your account until you could withdraw it. I made about 3k for five evening's 'work'. Unfortunately since then they've gotten wise and introduced a whole host of conditions to prevent you from doing it.