Happy Face

Ironic that they think Americans will grasp the irony.

Dunno what the squad is, but... Given Harper Forster Krul Soderberg Enrique Cacapa Beye Taylor Tozer Faye Edgar Kadar Butt Duff N'Zogbia Milner Smith Guthrie Geremi Gutierrez Barton Martins Owen Ameobi LuaLua Zamblera Baheng Viduka Carroll

4 days to the first game of the season. 2 signings made. Are either going to play?

Can you imagine him saying that about scousers? He'd be hung from the nearest lamp post! That's why people hate whining scousers. The only part of me offended by this is my sense of humour.

I even watched Four Rooms a few times.

Ken's back in the fold (or was), and ironically probably lost as much from that in this election as he originally gained for not towing the line in that election. Correct. Not easily delineated by the casual observer however. You'll rejoin the debate for your little digs though eh? I'm fully aware Livingstone got back into the Labour party....entirely on his own terms though, it was only the slightly less embarrasing option for the party to coming fourth in the '04 election. There's no love lost. The bottom line is I don't actually give a fuck about James Whale, I was ranting a bit and loved the banter once we got going. No more to it really. You of all should know me by now. England has lost/losing too many things and apartchniks are taking over it seems. It saddens me. No really. Me neither, me too, I do, it hasn't, they aren't and no reason for it to.

FYP

Ken's back in the fold (or was), and ironically probably lost as much from that in this election as he originally gained for not towing the line in that election. Correct. Not easily delineated by the casual observer however. You'll rejoin the debate for your little digs though eh? I'm fully aware Livingstone got back into the Labour party....entirely on his own terms though, it was only the slightly less embarrasing option for the party to coming fourth in the '04 election. There's no love lost.

is correct.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7504122.stm Cripes!

I think you'll find the gravity of the two issues are worlds apart. How so? You mean you failed to answer the valid point I made. I asked where YOU would draw the line? Who can radio presenters lobby on behalf of? Just the major parties? The Green Party? The more restrained nationalist parties like UKIP? Not bait, just debate. Ofcom judge every decision on the regulations, your fixation on the number of complaints received has no place in the argument. 44,000 complaints were made against big brother which was upheld, but no-one lost their job. Whale previously had a complaint to ofcom upheld after receiving a single complaint....from the person whose email address he read out without permission. He wasn't sacked though. Ofcom haven't even investigated this case yet, but knowing that a huge fine was on their way, Talksport have hung him out to dry on his own. If you really believe that Gordon Brown and Labour intervened to get rid of a bloke who was telling the odd joke about Ken Livingstone (a constant thorn in New Labour's side) your rampant paranoia knows no bounds.

Your facts so far is that he was sacked cause 3 people complained and it's aginst the ofcom rules. It is an independent station, and that is precisely my point. The BBC are so colourless a James Whale type wouldn't be tolerated. This debate isn't really about facts it is about a more abstract concept called Free Speech. There seems little of it around these days. Parky, You seem to be confusing free speech and the discussion of opposing views in a forum the public at large can access, with free speech for a miniscule population of tv and radio presenters. As a chairperson of a discussion, it should be James Whale's place to invite views from any side of an argument and stimulate the debate by playing devils advocate with each individual he talks to, without ever disclosing a personal point of view. In giving his own view, and arguing most vehemently for it he can only invite sycophantic agreement from one side and a harshly opposed disagreement from the other, where the presenter holds the position of power in being able to censor whatever dissenting voices do call in. What's the line between playing devils advocate/encouraging debate and making jokes about Livingstone? If in that mediation and that process of debate he crosses the line from time to time should he be sacked? Surely you can see this is a gross over-reaction and huge pressure must have been alligned against Kelvin Mckenzie and his boys to ditch Whale (a person who is completely at odds with my politics btw). If this was France there would be a white van protest across London by now halting trafffic and burning sheep or whatever... He hasn't been sacked for making jokes about Livingstone has he? He encouraged his listenership to vote Boris. If that's allowed, where would YOU draw the line? What if he'd urged listeners to vote BNP? What I want to know is at what fucking point James fuckhead Whale became a threat to the State. It's a joke surely you can see that? He never did. He just broke some broadcasting regulations and lost his job for it. Probably so Talksport won't have to pay the hefty fine.

Good of Parky to tell us what's wrong with freedom of speech in the UK and where our broadcastoing regulations are going wrong when he's resident in a country where holocaust denial is illegal to EVERYONE and punishable by prison.

Your facts so far is that he was sacked cause 3 people complained and it's aginst the ofcom rules. It is an independent station, and that is precisely my point. The BBC are so colourless a James Whale type wouldn't be tolerated. This debate isn't really about facts it is about a more abstract concept called Free Speech. There seems little of it around these days. Parky, You seem to be confusing free speech and the discussion of opposing views in a forum the public at large can access, with free speech for a miniscule population of tv and radio presenters. As a chairperson of a discussion, it should be James Whale's place to invite views from any side of an argument and stimulate the debate by playing devils advocate with each individual he talks to, without ever disclosing a personal point of view. In giving his own view, and arguing most vehemently for it he can only invite sycophantic agreement from one side and a harshly opposed disagreement from the other, where the presenter holds the position of power in being able to censor whatever dissenting voices do call in. What's the line between playing devils advocate/encouraging debate and making jokes about Livingstone? If in that mediation and that process of debate he crosses the line from time to time should he be sacked? Surely you can see this is a gross over-reaction and huge pressure must have been alligned against Kelvin Mckenzie and his boys to ditch Whale (a person who is completely at odds with my politics btw). If this was France there would be a white van protest across London by now halting trafffic and burning sheep or whatever... He hasn't been sacked for making jokes about Livingstone has he? He encouraged his listenership to vote Boris. If that's allowed, where would YOU draw the line? What if he'd urged listeners to vote BNP?

Your facts so far is that he was sacked cause 3 people complained and it's aginst the ofcom rules. It is an independent station, and that is precisely my point. The BBC are so colourless a James Whale type wouldn't be tolerated. This debate isn't really about facts it is about a more abstract concept called Free Speech. There seems little of it around these days. Parky, You seem to be confusing free speech and the discussion of opposing views in a forum the public at large can access, with free speech for a miniscule population of tv and radio presenters. As a chairperson of a discussion, it should be James Whale's place to invite views from any side of an argument and stimulate the debate by playing devils advocate with each individual he talks to, without ever disclosing a personal point of view. In giving his own view, and arguing most vehemently for it he can only invite sycophantic agreement from one side and a harshly opposed disagreement from the other, where the presenter holds the position of power in being able to censor whatever dissenting voices do call in.

He's like Richard Herring. "aaaaah!" "No, not ahhh" "aaah!"

A right wing Thatcherite telling people to vote for the right wing Thatcherite candidate that went on to win the mayoral election. If you're worried about people swallowing whatever shit they hear, surely he's the kind of broadcaster you want less of. Or do you think he's going to find objectivity all of a sudden.

I'm afraid I haven't commissioned any market research on the station recently. Read this though.... About sums it up. http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/music-radio-statio...k-sport/349119/ That's pretty bigoted and prejudice view to be fair, in these modern times. Brainwashed bollocks as usual. I guess in your world we aren't spending a £1m a day on a totally now pointless war (civil war) in Iraq. I guess Blair didn't turn a country £50 billion in the black to £20 odd billion into the red?? FACTS. Not conspiracies dear. 3 fucking complaints... I honestly thought they had left a 0 off. What the hell does any of that have to do with a broadcaster rightly being sacked for breaking one of radio's most important regulations? Your level of casual naivety is astounding. He made a few offhand remarks about Livinstone a man who has been in radio and the media for 25 years. A warning yes...Sacking him has to be agenda driven. It comes to something that a leftie like me is having to defend a Thatcharite like Whale. Madness. Yup, in the end it doesn't matter whose boot in standing on your face, the issue is that someone's boot is standing on your face. Let any belief system grow too powerful unopposed and amazingly you end up at exactly the same place, just by a different path. How have so many people swallowed so much shit in so little time? [famousquoteripoff/] Yeah, the way to stop people being eating shit from supporters of those in power is to keep the man on air who supported the man currently in power.

I'm afraid I haven't commissioned any market research on the station recently. Read this though.... About sums it up. http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/music-radio-statio...k-sport/349119/ That's pretty bigoted and prejudice view to be fair, in these modern times. Pejudiced? To think anyone that listens to a certain radio show is a moron? What about people that watch a TV show? Is it bigoted to call anyone that watches Big Brother a moron? Like you have in the past?

I'm afraid I haven't commissioned any market research on the station recently. Read this though.... About sums it up. http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/music-radio-statio...k-sport/349119/ You look down on normal working class people. A round of applause surely. No, I look down on Talksport listeners. I'm working class.

So when I'm carrying a knife home that I just bought at Asda I can get 5 years? Horseshit.

I'm afraid I haven't commissioned any market research on the station recently. Read this though.... About sums it up. http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/music-radio-statio...k-sport/349119/

Brainwashed bollocks as usual. I guess in your world we aren't spending a £1m a day on a totally now pointless war (civil war) in Iraq. I guess Blair didn't turn a country £50 billion in the black to £20 odd billion into the red?? FACTS. Not conspiracies dear. 3 fucking complaints... I honestly thought they had left a 0 off. The number of complaints is irrelevent, it's what was actually broadcast and whether or not that conforms to the rules. Big Brother got thousands of complaints, but remains on air.

He's got a unique broadcasting style you mean? Feel sorry for him. Why has he been sacked though? 3 complaints? Probably sacked for expressing political views (a big no no) rather than the complaints. Political views have a long history in radio. And long may it continue. So can no one have a radio show with political and biased content? That's fucking crazy. 3 talkradio shows in the whole U.K.??? Guests can have political views. Callers can have political views. But when a host uses a show as a platform to sway an election, I like that the station will take action. If only Rush Limbaugh could be sacked for forcing his views on the listenership. The lack of deabte in the U.K. is getting seriously worrying. A colourful renegade talk show host is part of radio history. This sacking stinks it stinks of censorship. It stinks of little balding men with thin ties sitting in rooms with French mineral water deciding what's good for us. Fuck that. As far as I can see there is one independant paper in the whole country: The Guardian (a charity). The rest are owned by media tycoons and nutters. Airtime is filled with swathes of horse shit and game shows and american cutesy comedies. There is fucking war on...Reems of stealth legislation is all around us..Fuck that...Arm the people. I don't get your point. Surely he was sacked for compromising the independence of Talksport. For the station to remain independent they can't have employees telling you to vote Conservative. Now Boris is in, Whale isn't anti-establishment, and he can't be because he's already expressed his preference for the establishment. Aye it was so compromising they got 3 complaints. Because no-one with an ounce of sense listens to Talksport. No-one at a BNP meeting complains about the underlying racism.

He's got a unique broadcasting style you mean? Feel sorry for him. Why has he been sacked though? 3 complaints? Probably sacked for expressing political views (a big no no) rather than the complaints. Political views have a long history in radio. And long may it continue. So can no one have a radio show with political and biased content? That's fucking crazy. 3 talkradio shows in the whole U.K.??? Guests can have political views. Callers can have political views. But when a host uses a show as a platform to sway an election, I like that the station will take action. If only Rush Limbaugh could be sacked for forcing his views on the listenership. The lack of deabte in the U.K. is getting seriously worrying. A colourful renegade talk show host is part of radio history. This sacking stinks it stinks of censorship. It stinks of little balding men with thin ties sitting in rooms with French mineral water deciding what's good for us. Fuck that. As far as I can see there is one independant paper in the whole country: The Guardian (a charity). The rest are owned by media tycoons and nutters. Airtime is filled with swathes of horse shit and game shows and american cutesy comedies. There is fucking war on...Reems of stealth legislation is all around us..Fuck that...Arm the people. I don't get your point. Surely he was sacked for compromising the independence of Talksport. For the station to remain independent they can't have employees telling you to vote Conservative. Now Boris is in, Whale isn't anti-establishment, and he can't be because he's already expressed his preference for the establishment.