JackanorySFC

According to that right wing loudhailer of hated - the BBC - they have quoted HMRC at saying the top 1% pay 24.1% http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8417205.stm - that was using financial year 2008's figures. Since then, with tax rises the figure has gone up to 27%. So the owners of 22% of the nation's wealth pay (at least) 24% of the nation's taxes, hmm. Face facts, without these Banker's (I'm talking about the vast, vast majority that work for non bailed out banks) taxes we wouldn't have anywhere near the level of public services we currently "enjoy"! As for those that work in branches not getting the same level of bonuses well..... These individuals on the counter or selling you a mortgage, life insurance, Credit Card etc make their company £000's a year and they get a profit share bonus of around 10% of their salary, not bad I'd say. The Investment bankers (who work double the hours, no lunch breaks, half the holiday, 100x the stress and huge amounts of knowledge and qualifications required to trade other individual's and institution's money) get paid based on the £000000's the company and their clients make. If those in the branch have a problem with this there is absolutely nothing stopping them asking their HR department about what is involved in that job. For what it's worth I walked into a job at Nationwide at 17 years old and only GCSE's for qualifications, for my mate with the bonus it has taken 12 years of hard work, exams, sacrifices and a bit of luck to get where he is. By 40 he will most definately be burnt out and will be playing catch up with his kid(s). We should be celebrating bankers bonuses, the taxes on these (rightly pointed out earlier - both by employer and employee) pay for our Armed Forces, Nurses, Teachers, Doctors, Bin men and social services. Good on them, keep up the hard work!

A good friend of mine that works for a well known Investment Bank in the City has been told his bonus today. over £300k, a record for him thanks to the hard graft on top of high intelligence and a knack of making his clients and his emplyers millions of pounds. The disgusting thing is that he will be paying 52% tax on it, bang out of order when the workshy types that can only be bothered to get a crappy job after failing at School pay less than 20%! The top 1% of earners (anyone over £150k per year) will pay 27% of the tax in this country according to HMRC. If I was him I'd move to Switzerland!

So at the time you didn't think he deserved to win it? How could they not have seen him play, he'd played over 20 games for us by then in the Championship and torn strips out of pretty much every full back he played against? Do you think they just ignored every game and goal and voted for him for a laugh?

He's not as good a prospect as Walcott was - oh what short memories we have! Theo was England U21's youngest ever player and goalscorer by AOC's age, (he had also set the same record at England U18 and 19 level - breaking Rooney's records). He came in the top 3 of BBC young Sports personality of the year due to being our youngest ever reserve player (a few weeks after his 15th birthday) and our youngest ever 1st team player when he scored again Leeds at Elland Road. He also scored in our next 2 games, at home against Stoke and someone else who I can't remember. Every big Club in Europe was aware of Theo from 14 years old (the age he signed his 1st Nike contract). AOC is superb, don't get me wrong - but a bit of perpective eh?

Yep, makes sense really. I'd put him in a similar pace bracket as Lennon and Dyer - ie rapid! That's 9/10. However Theo Walcott is the yardstick for a 10/10 - ie World Class sprinter standard.

Completely disagree, when we had Walcott he was the most exciting teenager in Europe. Barceona, Real, Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal all wanted him and it wasn't because he "was quick" and "raw". It was because he was England U18's best player at 15, and the most exciting young player in England. I suppose the proof will be if at 21 years old AOC has scored goals in cup finals, big Champions Leaue 1/4 and semi finals, a Hat Trick in England's most important win since the Germany 5-1 game, scare the cr4p out of the greatest footballing team since Brazil '70 (Barcelona last season) and start regulary and be one of the top scorers for the best footballing team in England (Arsenal). Personally I'm proud we produced a player as good as Walcott, for the few Months he was playing regulary he was the most exciting player on the ball I've seen since Matty. The lad had the opportunity to get a footballing education from Henry, Fabregas and Wenger - injurys or not, seems to have worked out pretty well for him I'd say!

Eh? How do you work that out? The same Telegraph that are in direct competition with Rupert's Times and Sunday Times? The same Telegraph that co-signed a letter to the letter alongside the BBC, independent newspapers, Mail Group Newspapers and Guardian PLC, to Ofcom and Vince Cable asking them to oppose the News Corp takeover of BSKYB? The same Telegraph that purposefully left out the Murdoch related Vince Cable quote from the transcript printed yesterday as they knew the ramifacations? Sorry but you've completely lost me?

Capacity in the areas involved would increase by 50% based on the German model. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/safe-stand-on-german-evidence-694484.html

Stay on his case, imply he doesn't go to football and if he did and loves to sit what does he do at away games when others are stood in front of him! He's the MP for Meon Valley and a Tory so he may be playing party politics. Press him over and over 'til he gives a proper response. My letter took me 3 mins to write, become a nightmare of needed - I hate answers that aren't answers like that. Makes me sick! As for Where would we introduce it at SMS. Like Germany it would have to be behind one, or both the goals including the wings. The ground can be easily converted (even Lowe was up for it).

Obviously Chris Huhne is more of a lad than I gave him credit for previously! Got a covering letter thanking me for my email and saying enclosed is a copy of the letter he sent to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which he hopes I will find useful. The letter attached says: Have to say I'm slightly worried by the high level of paper it was sent on - tut tut, recessions and all that.... All in all though: Chris Huhne = Lad!

I sent my letter when I first saw this thread, got a letter back from Chris Huhne on Wednesday with a copy of the letter he sent to Parliament supporting the bill due to a "high level of request from my constituancy". Fair play to the fella I have to say.... I banged this out and seemed to work? Dear Mr Huhne, Yesterday one of your colleagues, Don Foster MP for Bath, introduced the safe standing bill to the House of Commons. As one of your constituents I implore you to support this bill with your utmost vigour. I am a keen Southampton supporter, and I attend games at St Marys regularly as I did at the Dell when I was younger. Of course technically St Marys in not in our constituency but I'm sure you are aware of the depth of feeling towards our club Southampton in our borough. As well as St Marys I have attended games all over the country and in Europe. No stadium has felt safer than the grounds I have visited in Germany that have introduced safe standing many years ago. Please do not confuse safe standing with the old fashioned terracing that was abundant in the 80's - it is completely different. Please take time to read the bill in full: http://www.bathlibdems.org.uk/news/000380/don_foster_mp_for_bath_introduces_the_safe_standing_bill.html and take into consideration the masses of Southampton fans that would love to have this introduced at St Marys and grounds around the country (there are few things more frustrating as a football fan than seeing the clash of elderly or very young fans struggling to see the game whilst able bodied chaps stand in front - something the current system encourages). I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject. Yours sincerely,

I'm in London now, went out for a mooch at lunch and have witnessed the Students, most steaming drunk and blatently up for a tear up. I hope those on here appeasing them were the same ones saying our fans that merely shook a fence in the deby game this year deserved 2 year prison sentances as they were tearing up loads of fences trying to get at the police earlier. Will the standard have mug shots of every single fence rattler on their front page like the Echo did? Have completely ruined their chances of any sympathy - anyone that has seen it with their own eyes (or to be fair, the footage on that Tory loving right wing bastion of student hating - the BBC) will vouch for it. Complete idiots that would all be facing years inside if they were football fans acting 10% as bad as they are today at or around a football match. Acting no better than the rioting Moscow fans last night. Hope they don't get in the way of my train home....

Touche....

I've just sent a lenghy email to Chris Huhne, my MP asking him to support his colleague in the bill. For any Eastleigh Borough residents: chris@chrishuhne.org.uk I would suggest though, that all Southampton residents really lay it on thick with Denham and Whitehead - make sure they don't bring party politics into it and abstain or repel the vote as it was rought in by a Lib Dem! Southampton Test: alan@alan-whitehead.org.uk Southampton Itchen: john@johndenham.org.uk

The saints rose tinted specs out in force again, Turkish is clearly taking the p155 but the others sucked in crack me up. Anyone who rates the oxo kid at 50% of Theo's level at the same age are actually mental. Theo was the best kid for his age group in Europe, broke Rooney's records for age and goal scoring at U16 and U18 England level and was genuinely wanted by Real, Barca, Man U and Arsenal. He is now an important player the best footballing team in England by a distance, scored a hat trick in the best individual England performance by one player in a competitive game since Beckham vs Greece, scored in a cup final, scored a winner in a champs league semi final, a wonder run vs Liverpool which if Arsenal had held on in injury time would be hailed - oh, and he scared the s*** out of Barcelona (the best group of players since Brazil '70 imo) last season. Ask Guardiola of he rates Wallcott? If oxo kid can achieve that before he's 22 I'll by a season ticket at Fratton!

30 (got this after 5 years service, gets no higher and I started on 22 days).

There was "Le God for England NOW!" on the bridge in Bitterne that leads to West End in massive red and blue letters. Also, "God bless the Valley slags" near Oxford Street with some pro Le Tiss stuff (sort of gave away the perpitraitors that)

Replied. Very proud to be English, of our history and the influence this tiny nation has had and continues to have on a global scale and I always will be. That being said, "English by birth, Southampton by the grace of god".

This is what gets me - all over the place begging people to grass and implying they are guilty, however - when they get let off (as our mutual friend has), it's tucked away on page 17 and nowhere on the Echo website?

Credit where it's due, almost a full page tucked away in the book on page 17 of today's Echo (no where to been seen on their website right now though?) No where near the front page splash it would have got if any of the defendents had been found guilty (funniest thing about this case I've read is the Judge telling the defendent who plead guilty it might be a good idea to change his plea - such was the non existant nature of prosecution evidence).

Body from Baywatch, Face from Crimewatch Anyway, as with any Doris that has rapidly lost a lot of weight, a gentleman has to member that women are like puppies - they always grow into their paws. Just a bacon sarnie away from packing that timber back on...

Suprise suprise - The Echo havn't mentioned a word about it today, the same as a mate of mine who was found Not Guilty last week. If the verdict was the other way round however....

Well in that case Soze's mate was completely innocent of all points above as he was found not guilty earlier today. He will be back for the Posh game next week after missing (amongst other games) the JPT final - Good on him, hope we get a result! Still think it's disgusting his (and the other co-defendents) name was plastered all over the paper whilst he was still presumed innocent. Funny how the only trial to go to a Jury (all the others jailed plead guilty) have been found not guilty, seems the general public can see sense?

He did not "shake a fence" or anything like that. He was found not guilty as he was - not guilty. So he will do exactly the same thing again. Why, after being found not guilty should he do anything different? He didn't break the law. If anyone should think differently in the future it's the Police for taking an obviously innocent man to court and plastering his name and address all over the local media.