NJS

8 weeks out.

It was a typical cynical scythe but those tackles very rarely cause injury which is why I assumed he was making a meal of it - definitely a yellow at most.

I first heard of Nasri when he made what I think was his Arsenal debut in Keegan's last game - he came on as sub and the first thing he did was put a disgusting coward's tackle in on Barton - now no matter what you think of the latter it marked him down as a shitbag in my book and he escaped what should have been a red almost certainly because it was Barton he tackled and then he followed up later by talking about Barton's assault on Dacourt as some sort of primer/excuse for his behaviour as Dacourt was supposedly a friend of his. I have absolutely no sympathy for him and I honestly hope its serious - sometimes football brings out a nastiness in me I'm not proud of but in his case I have no guilt whatsoever - he's a nasty, cowardly little shit.

I thought the crowd booing Hart was a bit harsh at the time but watching the analysis he's the lying shit who leads the protests - if he honestly says his view was obstructed, the cunt should be fined for being a cheat - though typical of the modern player of course.

I think you posted something like "Can I used a banned name?" but mis-spelled it as "band" so someone changed it - it was quite amusing at the time but I didn't think it would be permamnent.

As an afterthought which wasn't noticed or commented on, anybody else think there wasn't much difference between Kolarov's block/tackle on Taylor in the box late on and Debuchy's West Brom red? Both were two footed and involved a degree of jumping imo.

I hope that worky little cunt is crippled for life. How's that Kippax, you camel-fucking, mackem loving twat?

But despite the black-hearted thievery afforded by technology, cinema attendances and studio profits are higher than ever - maybe that doesn't make it "right" but it begs the question how much do they want to make? They also still won't accept the argument that on the whole people who "pirate" the most also spend the most on CDs/DVDs as Ant mentioned above - its very naive imo to think that if all downloading stopped tomorrow, revenues would increase by an equivalent amount - instead of buying the DVD people would just wait for Sky (as is their choice now).

Thing is the whole cinema/regional dvd/sky timescale model is ripe for taking the piss. If everything was released at the same time and people had a choice of medium I think there would be less abuse. You might say the dvds would just be copied earlier but I think there would still be appetite for people going to the cinema for the social aspect and I think good films would still sell as they do now.

My view is I pay a hefty sum for Sky so downloading is just getting things a bit earlier - that's before I factor in things I buy on disc.

I think the stock phrase is "one of mankind's greatest benefactors"

Boringly my initials - always used it as a team name for pub quizzes years ago and I think my mates still use it in the local weekly one years after my departure.

Have they dropped that Israeli/Arab type shit where getting a cuban stamp in their passports is a huge no-no?

Pedant corner - 3-1 and the first stupid KO I recall was Easter 85 at Roker (loads in the Fulwell end)

I don't think they're saying that the police will just not bother somehow if it was a 17:30 game - just saying its up to to the clubs to pick the time then up to the coppers to just get on with it. Bearing in mind I've been to derbies in the past at 3pm on Saturdays and on nights - it was only in the mid eighties (funnily enough after a gap of a couple of years with no games) that the police started fucking around with KO times.

Without being passe I don't recall too many injuries serious or otherwise at many derbies and that's going back almost 40 years since my first - a bit of argy-bargy and sometimes quite serious trouble yes - hospital jobs no.

Went on the supplied buses a couple of times and by car as well - last time I went with all the daft lads via attempted train which turned into going by Metro which is actually worse than the club buses - it took about 2.5 hours to get back to the town because of the queues.

I think "washing their hands" is a bit of a stretch - at the end of the day the club(s) shouldn't be responsible for how fans get to the game - in fact neither should the police. Once they get to the stadium or its surrounding then its down to the club or police biut not beforehand imo.

I remember in the run up to the very first game at the SOS one of my mates suggesting we hire a fuck off stretch limo to get there - looking back its a small regret we didn't.

I think I mentioned when you talked about Cuba that I was thinking about going on a cycling holiday there - Might consider that again later in the year but I'm not fit enough at the moment to consider doing that in March.

Usually correct but they sometimes almost acidentally get things right. There may indeed be an undercurrent of money-driven self-interest here but I'd combine it with the charging press thing as a sign that he doesn't like people geting something for nowt or indeed paying for something which isn't good service (policing in this case) - I think it illustrates that most rich people are tight twats at heart.

Don't agree Rayvin - the coppers have tried to wheedle out of this but everyone knows all of the kick-off times have been completely down to them - they've only been televised in recent years as an afterthought once the police have named their time. We like to talk up the derby but the point that other forces cope with high pressure games is completely damning imo. You should also read the FSF anti-bubble statment about how only 6 of the 96 arrested in April had been to the game so this was punishment for completely innocent fans.

I was speaking to a lass at work today whose husband is from Tobago so she's been there and a few other places in the Caribbean who reckons a lot of them including Barbados suffer from isolating tourists from the contrasting poverty too much and don't necessarily allow enough of a flavour of the culture to be appreciated. She reckoned St Lucia was the best she'd been to (after T and T).

I was with First Direct for years but when I got into a bit of financial difficulties when I stopped being a contractor they fucked me over big style so I moved to Abbey which is now Santander. They talk up how its very much a UK company but I still think they'd struggle if Spain goes more tits up. If I won the lotery I certainly wouldn't deposit any sizeble cash with them. I did consider the Co-op years ago as well as I knew they did consider themselves ethical but by Mam used to bank with them and they upset her with crass customer service when my Dad died so they're on my blacklist of companies as well. In my more ethical moments (which is hard considering the industry I work in) I think about moving to the Nationwide as its still a mutual as far as I know.

They drive on the left in case you didn't know. Scariest driving of my life was in the Troodos years ago - they were doing a lot of improvements at the time so I'd imagine it's better now.