NJS

Recently Alan Smith Always liked him at Leeds and thought he'd do well. I think he deserves a bit of credit for his attempted re-invention as a midfield player especially in light of his honest comments about not having the edge to be a top class player since his injuries but still a shadow of the player I hoped he'd be. I'd like to see him score then be phased out - maybe Tiote is the answer to that. Going back further I'd say Michael O'Neill - he was fantastic when he was in that scoring spell and I thought we actually had found an absolute gem. Maybe Smith sold him too early but his failure elsewhere suggests it was all just a sort of too good to be true deal.

Holmes epitomises the Irish Manc Cunt - I fucking despise him.

Did alright for us when he deputised for Tommy Wright at Birmingham.. Was is that prick David Speedie who knocked Brock out after he went in goal? Aye - that was certainly his bravest display for us and I wished he'd been as tough in midfield.

In defence of Kevin Brock I remember thinking at the time what a ridiculous percentage of Quinn's goals were made by him. He was a complete wimp but a canny footballer imo.

Anyone renewed their car insurance in the last couple of months? Mine is due next month and I haven't had the renewal letter yet but have just responded to two invites for quotes from Direct Line and Churchill which were fucking ridiculous - twice as much as what I paid last year with Elephant for shitter policies. I'm worried there's a typical insurance industry take the piss phase going on.

We nearly always played shite there as well. In fact the most shocked I've ever been about any NUFC result was when we won 3-1 in the league cup in 1992, I think that was the first time we won at Boro in my life time. What was good about that was it was right on the cusp of us becoming a good team imo - I remember That twat Page trying to be clever saying "half time will be 15 minutes as that's what we use in the premier as opposed to the lower leagues" - that made us absolutely destroying the bastards all the sweeter.

I know one of the lads who bought the tickets - claimed he was with the Hexham branch of the Mackems supporters club and they handed over 70 tickets no problem. I was in the Roker.

Got it last week but in the middle of a long proper book so haven't used it much apart from a brief check out. I'm in the middle of a couple weeks off so haven't tested it on the journey to work yet but have started in the last couple of days to use it in bed last thing at night - my usual reading time. I've bought 2 or 3 books and the delivery is as advertised - you click to confirm the order and within a minute you have the book. The claims about legibility are also accurate - its is pretty much like the real thing. So far definitely so good - will update after more prolonged use.

I think "tribes" which tend to limit mixing outside their small-ish number are more prone to concentrate genetic traits among them. Of course then attributing generalisations based on that is fairly racist.

RIP One thing the Mackems actually get right is that they have one match every year with a pause/silence to remember fans who've passed away - I'd support a concept like that for ex-players with perhaps a roll call.

Or of course Steve Bruce.

I overheard a conversation involving Keith Barratt years ago where he claimed he'd met Gazza and he'd told him it was wages (which I guess is underlined by ambition) - he was on £180 pw at Newcastle and Spurts offered him £1800 pw.

It's a bit like Jason Donavan - "There's absolutely nothing wrong with being gay but if you suggest that I am I'll go fucking mental".

I can see the London club rule being applied for the Van De Vaart transfer - obviously after the deadline but just like Arshavin it'll go through - corrupt FA cunts. (Of course the most corrupt deadline day deal ever was Berbatov's but that's a whole different scale of FA cowardice)

He was linked with Stoke yesterday - my usual nasty reaction was "bigger, better things eh Jermaine?"

Was allotment encroachment the true cause of WWII?

I suppose this shows how much my hatred of Man Utd has mellowed (though still strong) but I can remember being quite pleased they lost - with an "if we'd deserved Europe we would have finished high enough" disclaimer.

Genuinely unsettling for me - obviously fear of dentist driven which I'm over now. "This nerve is dead, we need to open up a live one"

Brian Deane? Yep - cheers

Black player complete donkey (not Yeboah) who scored late winner for Leeds that meant we finished 6th instead of 5th in 94/95 The usual driving me mad - can anyone think of his name?

I don't see the difference between burning flags/effigies and holding protests screaming hatred at Muslims - both are free (or should be) to do so but both show underlying intolerance which is identical.

In most of Europe you can get away with criticising other religions but to an extent in the US and in huge tracts of the rest of the world, criticising any religion is most certainly taboo - Islam or not. I think this is why a few of the "Liberals" you refer to have went too far the other way - we'd got used to the religious "turning the other cheek" as it were and the offence taken by Muslims came as a shock which led to people thinking that the offence is legitimate - it isn't imo.

I caught a bit of her statement and it hinted that she did it just for a laugh and was actually apologising for the offence its caused rather than the actual act - in some ways I wish she'd had the courage to just say "look I don't really know why, maybe just for a laugh but anyway you can all fuck off".

As I have said in other threads, the only way forward is to get to know each other better. People fear what they don't understand. I saw a poll recently - I will try to dig it up later - that said opposition to this mosque/community centre is lower among Americans who actually know individual Muslims. I just think that's naive. When two culture are diametrically opposed, there will always be conflict by definition. I mean, look at this board, with one or two notable exceptions, most people are reasonable and tolerant people, yet threads like this invariably cause a shit storm. I think I've said before that I think the voluntary segregation by too many Pakistani immigrants into places like Blackburn and Bradford is a problem in the UK. I think the way West Indians have more or less integrated into the UK in the last 30 years (with some reservations) should show that it is possible for culture clashes to work but I think the underlying key to that integration was willingness to mix socially and sexually. This is where the problem with a lot of Muslims comes to a head imo. Of course there are some who are willing to mix - as I've said before I worked with a Turkish lad until recently who is very Muslim lite but I still see big barriers in some areas as I've mentioned.

Back ones I presume? Not wanting to trivialise domestic violence, but if there was no medical evidence and was her word against his then it does become a bit of a judicial coin toss.