Gene_Clark

wasn't there someone from Skunkers who died of carbon monoxide poisoning?

mackems who died included Laputian, Hazey (both cancer), Gary Rowell (car crash), the legendary Blep just this week & a young lad whose dad i worked with many, many years ago, who drowned in the River aire on a stag do in Leeds (i believe his brother is the spennymoor goalkeeper)

saw Teenage Fanclub supported by Veronica Falls there in may 2010

Next door to O'Neill's? I've seen Patti Smith there you should have gone to Cafe Rest next to Goldhawk Road tube..... only place i've ever seen a shop that is car spares & joke stuff; weird business plan

I'm with Gorgeous George on this one; Hitchens was "a lying, opportunistic, cynical contrarian; a drink-sodden, ex-Trotskyist popinjay," not to mention "the only buttefrly who changed into a slug."

Bizarrely there have been something like 5 weddings from OTB, plus at least half a dozen deaths; unlike the disparate on-line Newcastle United communities (a good thing IMHO), the Mackems are all on the one forum.

Who is CT?

What's the difference between a tramp on a unicycle and a well-dressed gentleman on a bicycle? Attire!

I am available for conversation and social interaction pre and post match; invitations can be sent by PM. I'll consider them all on their individual merits

"Baby Lee" by Teenage Fanclub, the best band in the history of the world

Medina was from Surrey or somewhere & came from a family who didn't like football. However his dad's mate was a Mackem, so Medina adopted them & moved to Durham, aged about 18, never having been up north before & started going to mackem games with the ALS bus & joined the SMB messageboard (aka On The Buses, OTB). Through this he met & wooed this enormous & hideous bird called Sarah, who he got engaged to & after about a month they split up, he went back home & became a trainee accountant. The Mackem Boozer was a short lived rival to OTB, set up to protest about OTB's strict moderation.

very interesting; sad & uplifting at the same time. i actually know 1 of those photographed

Ersatz GB - The Fall; easily their best album in a decade

Zorionak

"Ersatz GB" by The Fall or "Abandoned Love" by Trembling Bells.

If the concern was genuine as opposed to a mere catalyst for argument the word 'poppy' needn't have been brought into the debate at all but no it was there to spark a grief war.

An absolute tragedy. RIP to a fine, fine footballer who served his clubs and his country with honour. Thoughts to his family.

Bratislava is supposed to be mint. Not many people realise it's actually in the same connurbation as Vienna, but it is, it's not much further than Newcastle to Sunderland with population in between. it is a great city; always flew newcastle - vienna to get there. didn't often go to austria - very expensive compared to slovakia, even on ex pat wages while i was there, my season ticket resided with the brother of monkeysfist, boringly enough

Prior to WWI, Polland hadn't existed since 1795

When I lived in Bratislava, it was pointed out to me that the city had been known as Poszony when under Hungarian rule, until 1918, Bratislava between 1919 & 1938, then Pressburg under German rule until 1945, then Bratislava again. The country's official language had been Hungarian, Czech & German, but never Slovak until 1989!!

it became Foundation & is now unlet office space. missed oasis gig in 94, on holiday

They were just easy targets at the time really. Generally speaking they were an entrepreneurial lot and Germany was in a terrible state. It was already fucked before the Great Depression due to war reparations from WWI. The Nazis were opportunists and took control at a time when the Communists could have just as easily seized power if things had happened slightly differently. That's not even the slightest justification for what took place, you understand. There's no justification for murdering one person for their ethnicity and beliefs let alone 6 million. The Poles were good during the war though, they probably got the shittest deal of the lot the Poles. However, it's estimated they saved 500,000 jews by fighting the nazi authorities and releasing jews back in to society. Going off at a tangent here but everyone else in the war got something, Poland was largely deserted by the west after we promised them they wouldn't fall under the Soviet sphere of influence. historically Poland was always fucked over by rest of Europe; partition of Poland in 18th Century an absolute joke; Russia, Prussia & Hapsburgs just waltzed in 3 times in 30 years & helped themselves to large swathes of land. Poland didn't exist between 1795 & 1918!!

They were just easy targets at the time really. Generally speaking they were an entrepreneurial lot and Germany was in a terrible state. It was already fucked before the Great Depression due to war reparations from WWI. The Nazis were opportunists and took control at a time when the Communists could have just as easily seized power if things had happened slightly differently. That's not even the slightest justification for what took place, you understand. Jews were money lenders as the Church forbade usury (charging interest), which is where the money-grabbing stereotype comes from. The Weimar Republic disintegrated as it was knacked from the outset (Versailles Treaty as you correctly observe). In times of economic crisis, the far right exploits worries & unease, generally by providing simple lies rather than the complicated truth. same tactics from EDL & BNP today

this is one of the hardest things to explain to people; being Anti Zionist (for example opposing Israeli occupation of Palestine) is not being Anti Semite (which is prejudice against Jews). i think your post brings out the difference, in being Anti Zionist but not Anti Semitic.

Oh yes, I could see just how profoundly exciting it was. Having been just too young for punk & really got in to music with the Rough Trade 1978 DIY post punk experimental stuff, I was fully in support & awe of the innovative work going on in that genre. Sadly, my musical taste had been seduced by Teenage Fanclub, The Wedding Present & The Fall, where it remains to this day; my last 4 gigs have been Roger McGuinn, The Fall, Veronica Falls & Wire.