the stain

Lads in Stripes

He was about the only good poster left

Or that you've done your market research vis a vis ringtones and forum subscription.

:)

Well certainly the PR system would favour them. It was meant as a slightly flippant comment as there's no possible way of knowing how many people 'would' vote Lib Dem if all the other people who 'would' vote Lib Dem actually did. Just seems to me that among my circle of aquaintances, from vox pops on the news, even people on here one often hears that comment... 'I'd vote for them but they'll never get in/it'd be a wasted vote' so they end up swinging between Labour and Tory and hating them both. I think the age of the traditional Labour/Tory voter is dying out, and to an extent the safe seat is going with them. And a good thing too. It's not like picking a football team, you're not stuck with them for life. You get to pick the party/candidate who's policies and views best resemble your own and that's extremely likely not to be the same party/candidate for your entire voting life.

If only all the people who don't vote Lib Dem "because they'll never get in" actually did vote for them, I reckon they'd win by a landslide.

With the exception of Burley, I don't really recall who was given any time. Perhaps (just perhaps) if some of them were things might have turned out differently. If I have a criticism of Lowe (and I have very few) it's that he sometimes listens too much to the fans when he ought to stick to his guns. Lowe has clearly been trying to implement a more continental approach, a slightly more technical approach, to the club's structure for a long time, as evidenced by the focus on the Academy, the hiring of SCW, the attempts to promote coaches from within. All this strikes me as an attempt to build success from the ground up and promote continuity. Now I'm not saying how many out of Luggy, Wigley, Gray would have been a success if given a longer stint. But in each case (and SCW paid a similar price IMO) when short-term results weren't favourable, there was a clamour for change and a quick-fix old-school chequebook manager has been hired at considerable expense. This has had the effect of stemming the anticipated flow of talent from youth to 1st team, in all but a couple of exceptional cases. Now the chequebook managers have spent all the money, we've got to push all the backlogged youth players through at once (never the intention, I'm sure). But it does have the positive effect that Lowe can't afford to back down to short-termist outcry and will have to see his plan through. I'm sure there'll be some "Oh, so the fans are to blame?" complaints after this; that's not what I mean. Fans want to see their team succeed and understandably don't like it when they don't. It's the Chairman's job to play the long game in ensuring future and continued success, and his burden is to sit through the abuse while he waits for his plans to bear fruit. Sometimes I think Lowe hasn't been thick-skinned enough.

Well I've just been enjoying a bit of Dickens (does that sound homosexual?). Now I'm reading Nights At The Circus, by Angela Carter.

Art doesn't seem to depreciate in value, so it's a sound investment.

You're barred from the rest of this thread.

We did one through Winchester last year, from The Roebuck (up Stockbridge Road) down to The Black Boy. Taking in, if memory serves... The Roebuck The Albion The White Swan The Gaolhouse The Royal Oak The Eclipse The Old Market Inn The Bakers Arms The Old Coach House (now Alfie's) The Crown & Anchor The Bishop on the Bridge The Black Boy I didn't keep the pace very well

This one looked really exciting, and then I found that it's no longer available

It's all the bullsh*t about 'freeing people from fear' that's hard to swallow. As if the idea that there's a filthy toucher in every park isn't the result of accumulated scare-mongering, and as if this new initiative isn't adding to that concern. You don't free people from fear by hinting to them that there may be a threat.

Crazy though it seems, there are some people who still don't have a copy of Innervisions, by Stevie Wonder. Pleasure awaits them.

A sheath, made from a sheep's stomach.

For some reason reading/texting is much easier walking up steps than down.

TBF, Alpine was pointing out the lack of defensive cover this time last season as well, and he was quite right. "Even a stopped clock..." &cetera

You don't think the club shop would go for a line of "We're desperate for reflected glory" shirts? How about a t-shirt emblazoned with 'Arry and Theo in a passionate embrace, with the legend "I gave him 'is leg up, f'sure"?

It's usually just pictures of myself naked, tbf.

Pah! iPods cost money I haven't got. And talking books are either abridged or camped up by hammy actors. Or both.

And I like it when pretty ladies try to check out what I'm reading. It makes me feel like they desire me.

Peripheral vision is enough to warn you that someone's about. And I still look both ways before crossing the road (I used to be a member of the Tufty Club...)

Does anybody else do this? It seems to me to be the only way to nullify the tedium of the same half-hour walk to work every day. People used to look at me strangely but I've noticed that a couple of people who I regularly pass going the opposite way now read as they go along too. I'm thinking of inviting them to join a book club. n.b. I've never yet trodden in any poop.

That's a bit stiff And of course you're completely wrong. Music is a subjective thing, except in this instance. Plodding cod-reggae? Check. Soulless MOR drug bores? Check. Song about being soulless MOR drug bores? Check. Time stretching to eternal dusty tedium? Check. It couldn't be worse if it had set out trying.

In a word: very much so.