Rayvin

Depends more on his motivation than the financials I reckon. Even if you can get the discount, if you can't be arsed, you're not going to get around to any of it...

Happy Birthday mate!! You deserve a good one, hope you enjoy it

Holy fuck...seriously. Well fucking done to the lads for once. I didn't watch this one but coming back from a goal down is not something we're normally able to do.

I meant the views on offer, rather than a critique of the worthiness of the topic

I think that every time I check the Syria thread to be honest.

Yeah the loud thing might be a struggle depending on how noise sensitive you are. Earplugs are an option then, they'd muffle everything in the same way as a pillow I guess. Another option on the feet thing is to dangle your feet off the end of the bed by sleeping a little further down it. Makes sense why you're trying it - in terms of getting used to it, another choice might be to bunch the pillow up a bit; then you could 'lean' your head on it as if you were lying on your side. Apparently I've subconsciously put a lot of thought into this over the years

Had mine last night - I don't really like them but as I'm responsible for everyone's 'fun' I pretty much have to go. The company pays for it which isn't too bad - went to an Italian place that I frequent regularly (and have a loyalty card with). A loyalty card which benefited from a £700 spend last night Went to karaoke afterwards as someone thought that would be a good idea. In truth it was kind of fun, everyone belting out really shit songs and so on - am now quite hungover though...

I have never thought about this, but I used to sleep on my side up until my rhinitis made it generally impossible to do so. I think I 'mastered' sleeping on my back by getting to a point where I was literally so tired that my body had no other choice. That said, I think it only took the one night... As for feet, they lean off to each side. As interesting as that has been to consider, why on earth are you asking this

Wtf is that about Sissoko being like Viera wasn't Viera more of a Roy Keane enforcer type player? With character and such. Unlike Sissoko... Did Sissoko come up with that comparison? Sounds like something he'd say.

I'm pretty left wing, even though I'd argue it's not in my interests to be. I put it down to being raised Catholic, which means I'm naturally predisposed to feeling guilty and like I'm not contributing enough. I voted Corbyn. I agree with a lot of what he says. I would previously have identified as centre ground, but over the years I've become much more cynical of Labour. I don't think they'll end up back in power in this form, I actually suspect they'll split, but they can't keep going on fighting the Tories for the centre. Osborne and Cameron are the true heirs to Blair.

The reality is, we'll lose all three. To be honest, I wouldn't begrudge the club ignoring this. It's one thing when we're midtable and achieving nothing, it's another thing to risk relegation over the FA Cup.

In the cold light of the following day, I must concede that it is a fairly dismal post. I dunno though, I don't think this result tells us anything new about the team. They're highly selective in games they'll bother playing in, and I don't think McClaren has any ability to influence that. As such, for most of the season, we're going to be utter shit.

They're just totally obsessed with what everyone else thinks of them. The number of threads they have dedicated to various people in the wider footballing community who have said something mildly critical of Sunderland at some point is truly bizarre. If we did that we'd have twice the number of topics in the NUFC forum... I guess the truth is that when someone, anyone, pays attention to them, it's meaningful. Which is really sad.

That said, I'm glad it wasn't another hammering. The difference presumably being that the team actually tried today.

As pleasing as it was to check the result and find that we had actually not lost this game, it doesn't change anything for me, materially. We're still shit, and but for a lucky deflection and a bizarre decision from the officials, we'd have likely drawn or lost this. I would actually suggest that the fact we went a full half of football without conceding was the most encouraging thing - but I wonder if that wasn't just down to Liverpool not being arsed? Anyway, what surprised me about this was that I hate Liverpool, and I just barely cared that we won. There was a flicker of excitement at the scoreline but it was caught up very quickly by the act of remembering how generally shit we are and all that's wrong with the club. I recall thinking I was over the emotion before the Norwich game, but that brought me all the way back again because it felt like we might be turning a corner. The bitter reality of what followed that, though, makes me hugely opposed to getting anything approaching my hopes up. This result does nothing for me in the overall scheme of things this season; if we get a result against Spurs, beat Villa, and start picking up some decent players in January, I'll probably come back around. Until that, 2-0 vs Liverpool is more likely another false dawn than anything of any real significance.

It is the way we're heading. Kind of convenient for those in government who want more control over the populace in general, really. Obviously you could argue that some have a vested interest in keeping this conflict, and terrorism in general, going, by continuing to interfere in the affairs of other countries (and even directly supporting such groups), but that would be tinfoil hat territory, I guess. More left wing craziness. The other really clever thing about it would be that it would mean that those making these decisions had allied themselves to elements of the left who despise religion due to its intolerance, which in turn makes them look more tolerant, and therefore more likely in received public wisdom) that they're acting for the correct reasons. That really is getting into tinfoil hat territory, but at the same time you could argue that something similar happened with multiculturalism, which brought wages crashing down and improved profits at the top. A very left wing ideal with some highly convenient right wing results. I'm not actually saying, for what it's worth, that any of this has happened (although the latter one definitely did happen, just may not have been planned that way) but I think its a bit naive to think that we're entirely victims of fate in this. It's much more likely that this is playing out the way we want it to, than the other way around. Especially considering recent government drives to heighten internet surveillance, etc. And if that's the case, why is it such a stretch to consider that this is something that we have had a hand in causing? Unless this is pure opportunism from our side. I think the key thing for me will be looking at what legislation the government puts through as a result of this new terrorist threat, and what it is then used for aside from terrorism.

Renton, just out of interest, presuming you know that ISIS can't be defeated by airstrikes, and that you feel Islam is the root cause here by far, how would you propose we deal with it? I don't see any way of combating it on our shores other than taking a very hard and divisive line against Muslims. (Other than obviously not bombing people in the middle east and working on diplomatic means for improving the quality of life and educational standards for people who feel that ISIS offers them something). Assuming the latter is out as lefty nonsense, presumably a police state is the answer? Unless you have a middle ground that isn't just going to be a continuation of exactly what's happening as a result of not going far enough?

After last season, you do have some credibility in truth. Just.

Does sound like it was an ISIS inspired attack. That said, no one has officially confirmed it yet to my knowledge. Heaven help us now that we're bombing them too. Although I'll believe that our government is taking this seriously only when attention turns to Saudi.

What does the Fish think?

It's going to be the caning to end all canings IMO. Liverpool are in form and we're falling apart. I fucking hate Liverpool as well, (although it's harder now they have Klopp) but when they win, and the 5th or 6th goal goes in, I don't think I'll even care. This team deserves to get it's ass kicked up and down the field if they play like they have been. I predict that the forward (Cisse or Mitro) will be isolated and useless all game; Gini will disappear; if Tiote's playing his contributions will be giving them the ball variously throughout the game as well as the inevitable foul that gets him booked and sets up one of their goals from the resultant set play; the entire defense will cave under pressure, probably when they realise that Liverpool aren't going to give them the 3 or 4 seconds they need on the ball to make the next pass; Janmaat will start charging forwards to try and force some kind of response only for the move to fall over because no one bothered to go with him, and Liverpool will subsequently counter down the same flank, Sissoko watching drearily as they charge past, all of which will result in another one of the goals we'll concede; and McClaren will come out at the end at an utter loss to explain it all but will commit to bringing the players in an hour early the following day to teach them a lesson that they're too fucking thick/indifferent to understand, thus allowing the whole cycle to repeat.

BBT ran its course but was great back in the day when it genuinely was a fresh show and enjoyable if you had the vaguest handle on contemporary pop culture. Haven't seen the Mindy show... Will try that, and catastrophe. Found myself watching blackadder the other day - have always enjoyed that. Hard to beat the classics.

You're absolutely right. But that has no bearing whatsoever on why we're doing this. 66 Labour MPs voted for it because they think it'll make them look credible and that there will be votes in it. The Tories voted for it at best because our involvement will be significant in international relations management with other foreign powers. Absolutely no one, not even Hillary fucking Benn, thinks that we're doing this because of a moral imperative to combat fucking fascism. If that were true, why aren't we doing that everywhere? If we really cared about terrorism, why don't we just take out Saudi Arabia, the main source of funding and Islamic religious brainwashing? I just wish they'd come out and say it. I could get behind shit like this if someone came out and said 'look, ISIS aren't that big a deal really, but our involvement in a pointless bombing campaign is important for making the UK look credible at the international level in terms of militaristic involvement'. I'd think it was cold, but I could at least accept that governments have to make hard decisions to look after our interests. And probably be grateful that I don't have to do the same thing. I don't think it's about protecting us, because they can't protect us from this. Until Islam moves past this particular phase, which we could enable but are choosing to prevent, there is nothing our governments can do to solve this (without looking like fascists themselves). So we're going to go and blow up some crazed religious fuckwits in Syria, along with the children they will hide behind. Fucking well done everyone. No wonder the whole world despises us...

I had to do something very similar to this, and I very literally just made shit up that I thought people would find interesting. Just because they're on a course with you, doesn't mean they need to know anything more about you than you would tell them off your own bat. I hate all that new age management bollocks.