Gene_Clark

it was the 9 o'clock news then & i'm gay

if i ever meet you, i'll buy you 3 pints of beer for that post

As a Muslim, i'd rather not have a war with anyone; it's those Christian fuckers who are a real danger to our peace & safety in the world

i said on the other thread that what i like about this board is the lack of fascist fuckwits; i forgot about the Gordonstoun Old Boy. he's reason enough to start a class war

i quite like here; there's some sensible debate & interesting threads to browse. most importantly it's not full of fascist fuckwits or mackems

There used to be a pair of blinding old school pubs across the road in The Portland & Burton House; sadly both pulled down to make way for the widening of John dobson Street

Tiffany's for our generation; don't think it had been the Oxford since the early 70s..

i have to say Rocky Road is eloquent in his bombastic libertarianism. Christmas Tree appears to be the intellectual crash test dummy of this message board

indeed i do

i did all that? hey, not bad considering i was 14 when she won the election in 79

no, i used to be a member of Militant

agree with spongebob, NJS & paddock lad, though you do realise you'll be regarded as "despicable cunts" for daring to suggest the things you do; passive acquiesence to the established order seems to be RR's philosophy. i recall the 80s as a decade marked by widespread despair among ordinary people; the current recession is no barrel of laughs, but it's nothing compared to the 80s. Thatcher, the Tories & their policies made people's lives a misery

I used to work with Ian & when we had the weekly 6-a-side game, he was more like Pele, though I think that says an awful lot about the standard of the rest of us....

Chris Holland?

It was the Miners' Strike. Also, I met Peter Taylor once; the father of a lad I went to University with was a QC (who defended Peter Sutcliffe as a matter of fact) had been in chambers with Taylor & the eminent Lord was at their house in Clayton Road in Jesmond some time in 86 when I called round in the holidays one time. It wouldn't be true to say we had discussions. I'm glad you're able to make all the conclusions about my post in relation to my personality; we must go back a long time, so frighteningly & uncannily accurate is your assessment of my personality & belief system.

no, you've never met me

The news that incompetence and complacent avarice at the heart of the English domestic game was the root cause of the Hillsborough disaster and appalling police tactics on the day itself the main contributory factor as regards the scale of the tragedy, bearing in mind the complete contempt and outright hostility with which all football fans, regardless of club, social class or social demographic, were viewed by the entire ruling sectors of society, will come as absolute no surprise to anyone who has the slightest insight in to the nature of British society during the Thatcher Years. You don’t need to have been a regular matchgoer, or even to have lived through the era, though obviously both of those things are relevant in terms of the insight they give to the prevailing social conditions of the time, to understand the brutal, repressive nature of the Police State that Britain was during the 1980s; a cursory, dispassionate appraisal of the legislation passed during this period, allied to the outpourings of pro-Government propaganda on television and in the press, shows exactly how hard it was to assert individuality during that era. Orwell’s image of the boot heel repeatedly stamping on a human face was as much a literal fact as a metaphorical image in the year of 1984. From the Brixton Riots of 1981, to the South Atlantic imperialist adventure in the Malvinas in 82, to the decade long utter dismantling of manufacturing industry and the attendant social problems caused by the lumpenization of the British working classes that blight cities throughout the land to this day, the Thatcher agenda of reverse class war is evident from day 1; nothing sums up this repulsive ideology of brutalising hatred more than the Miners’ Strike of 1984/1985. This tragic defeat cut deep wounds in to the social fabric of mining communities throughout the land; in parts of South Yorkshire these wounds still have not healed. My ex-wife is from Barnsley; her best friend from school married a miner from South Elmshall. When his pit shut in 93, in the second wave of Hesletine-inspired cuts, he joined the police force. From that day onwards, his family refused to speak to him, using a single word by means of explanation for their actions; Orgreave. Who can really blame them? Don’t just take my word for it, read David Peace’s mesmerising, brilliant fictional retelling of Governmental malfeasance and the tragic impact it had on the lives of ordinary, dignified working class lives in GB84. Once you’ve read that book, you’ll be prepared for the soon come revelations that deceit, corruption and the vile manipulation of a complaint media by the forces of social control were involved in the shameful absolving of blame of South Yorkshire Constabulary in the Hillsborough disaster. The bastards may have got away with it for 23 years, but the facts will out and they will show that the Government fixed it for the Police to get off scot free in the aftermath of 96 tragic, preventable deaths, as a way of saying thanks to SYP for ensuring the Miners’ Strike failed and ensuring that the boys in blue would continue to act as state condoned shock troops, hell-bent on social repression and drunk on power. Remember; 96 innocent people died at a football match. That should never happen. Even at the time, the newly-released Hillsborough papers, made available on the day that the contemptible Michael Owen tweeted “Big thanks to the Police” after Cheshire plod had apprehended a trespasser at his racing stables, show the admission at the time that 41 lives, at a conservative estimate, could have been saved were it not for police tactics. These tactics may be seen, and to an extent excused, as being merely incompetent, but that is wrong. The actions of SYP were actually based on the prevailing attitude of the ruling elite that regarded all fans as potential criminals and an enemy to be confronted and tamed by any means necessary. A new inquest, allowing for evidence beyond the farcically imposed cut off point off 3.15, must follow and, though I’m not holding my breath, proper justice must be seen to be served by a series of court cases against those involved in the disaster and subsequent cover-up. However, bearing in mind the supine, obsequious nature of the CPS when required to take on the establishment, at best we may be looking at a few sacrificial lambs, hauloed up to be given suspended sentences, mainly on account of the fact they’ve gone off message from the wall of silent deceit and the closing of the thin blue line in obfuscatory contempt. Witness the Head of West Yorkshire Police, who was on duty that fateful day, stating last week “Fans’ behaviour … made the job of the police, in the crush outside Leppings Lane turnstiles, harder than it needed to be.” The blame is still being heaped on the innocent and the dead and that truly sickens me. At the time of the disaster, the ruling class attitude of repression and contempt was as pervasive as it was effective, both tactically and ideologically. The day of Hillsborough, I was watching Newcastle lose 1-0 to a Paul Davis penalty against Arsenal at Highbury; they’d be champions and we’d finish bottom. In a ground where the facilities knocked spots off the crumbling concrete and rusting girders I was used to, stewards treated away fans with dignity and decency; unlike the hideous crushes and appalling views of White Hart Lane, or air of impending violence that hung over Stamford Bridge like noxious cigar smoke, Highbury was a decent place to watch a game of football. We still lost. Nick Hornby writes brilliantly about the day and the kneejerk reaction of fans in Fever Pitch. I hold my hand up as guilty as the rest in assuming, when I heard the news of the disaster, that “Scouse bastards” had gone on the rampage and caused an abandonment. Basically, the media stereotype of football hooligans permeated the consciousness of other football fans, giving an indication as the effectiveness of the state propaganda machine. There is no better example of false consciousness prevalent among ordinary fans than the anti-Liverpool comments I heard inside and outside of Highbury that day. That said, all of us learned very quickly that we’d made terrible false assumptions. Don’t blame us; blame hegemony, as wielded by the Thatcher state apparatus. Divide and rule was their mantra and their casus belli. I was in London that weekend for a gig; Dinosaur Jr in Kentish Town, staying with some mates who simply didn’t do football. Attired in bike jacket, Butthole Surfers t-shirt, tartan lumberjack shirt, split-knee 501s and paint-spattered 7 hole DMs, it was fair to say I was at variance to the football casual fashions of the day. Indeed, I didn’t look like a football fan at all, which enabled me to blend in with ease as I made my way from Highbury back towards Finsbury Park and the pre-gig meet up in The World’s End pub on Upper Tollington Park. All the way up, I eavesdropped on conversations about the goings-on at Hillsboorugh and to those carrying transistors tuned to Sports Report, as the news from Sheffield unfolded. A sense of unease, mingled with guilt, that turned to shock, horror and eventually boiling anger, as further revelations about the day emerged; it wasn’t “Scouse bastards” to blame at all; it was “Tory bastards.” 23 years on, it is still the “Tory bastards” we must blame. Strangely, I didn’t hear a single word about the disaster at the gig; in those days, music and football were different worlds. Mind, I’d still contend that arena gigs of landfill indie that many fans seem to consider the cutting edge of popular culture are as contemptible as the Luther Vandross and Gloria Estefan soundtrack 80s footballers seemed addicted to. Despite the poisonous lies spread by Murdoch’s minions in the immediate aftermath, the real truth was to be found in the samizdat accounts of supporter zeitgeist in the fanzine movement. These days When Saturday Comes may be a toothless billet doux for AFC Wimbledon, but back then, it was a crusading mouthpiece for the articulate disenfranchised. WSC was clear about Hillsborough; this was not our fault, it was the fault of the authorities who’d treat us like cattle for so many years. Sadly, the events of 15th April 1989 meant so many of our fellow supporters were lambs to the slaughter. The emergence of a percentage of the truth related to Hillsborough means that we must never forgive and never forget; the petty whining of Newcastle fans about squad strength or the first half against Everton has been put firmly in context, as has the Ferdinand / Terry situation. Red herrings such as these and the excoriation of Manchester United fans for singing “it’s never your fault” to a Liverpool fan base who continue to chant about Munich to this day, revealing both sets of fans need to get their house in order and a blame or victim culture does nothing but play in to the hands of enemies of the game, must not deflect from the inalienable truth; 96 innocent football fans lost their lives. Those responsible for those deaths, historically and on the day of the tragedy, as well as those who smeared the victims and covered up the corruption and incompetence that followed, must be brought to book. Only when this has happened can we truly say we will have seen Justice For The 96.

If Krul can keep up this level of performance for another 5 seasons, we'll talk again

Agree totally with this. Given has never been quite the same since he was injured by Marlon Harewood in a 2-0 win at West Ham 6 years ago (almost to the day). However, what appears really to have finished him was the season of inactivity at Man City in 09/10 - I wouldn't be surprised if he retired next summer if Guzan keeps his place

"Summer Special" - Euros Childs The Wellgreen Also looking forward to releases by Jo Mango, Teen Canteen & Lenzie Moss

Brilliant post.... What we all knew in the first place is finally being tacitly acknowledged by the media & most politicians (fair play to Jack Straw in particular); the Tories clearly absolved South Yorkshire police of their complicity in the deaths of 96 innocent football fans at Hillsborough as a debt of gratitude for the force's role in the crushing of the Miners' Strike of 1984/1985. Friends, be in no doubt; England was a Fascist Police State under Thatcher & in many ways, it still is...

I think they've all gone very far from the idea of Talking Heads; David Byrne was very in to the Brazilian pop stuff that I just didn't get. Tina Weymouth & Chris Frantz may still be doing the Tom Tom Club. I see your point btw; having seen Joy Division, I never had time for New Order

Saw them in 79 at the City Hall on "Fear of Music" tour

get involved in your union & organise to stand up to management. "ask not what your country can do for you..."

diving header from Albert?