norton65ca

UEFA can change FIFA forever if they sit out the next two WCs in protest at the worker deaths and corruption. Without UEFA particpation, the WC would be a joke. This is a golden opportunity for UEFA to force through significant changes and at the same time establish its clout.

See, here's the thing. I am a politically active and aware person, with a conscience. I am also a football fan. I have struggled with the ethics of being one, while watching the revolting ascension of Big Money in the game, and the corruption and lavish wastage that ensues when Big Money takes over. Football is not alone in this among sporting events, the various games are rapidly being ruined for the common man, and the competitiveness and "sport" are being removed and replaced with mountains of cash (and bribes...). It is in this arena then that I contemplate the exposure (Shocked? Not on yer life) of the corruption rife and endemic within FIFA. At the same time we also see the horrendous death toll in Qatar among the workforce building the stadiums (Seven years to go and we're close to 1,000 deaths...) These men are slaves, people, indentured serfs who have been deceived, their passports confiscated so they may not leave, and are paying the price with their very lives, dying like flies in +50 degree heat. FIFA does NOTHING about this. As a politically activist person, I can no longer support FIFA sponsored International football with all this in mind. I can't sit in front of a television and cheer for a team when I know that (figuratively speaking), the bones of countless workers lie beneath the stadiums. I'm done. The bottomless corruption is bad enough, but this latest news has tipped the apple cart well and truly over for me. This isn't about Blatter, this is about human lives, common decency and compassion. I would rather watch Derby County playing Blackburn Rovers in the shitting down rain on a November night in England than watch Italy v Brazil at this point. And I do love the World Cup and I WILL miss it. But there is always a line and I am in no mood to cross it. Human lives are worth more than sport. DONE.

awright then... Is the topic of Stan Collymore, the Falklands Islands and the IRA tweets off limits? just curious... I have searched all over here and have thus far failed to find a peep of it... The reason I ask is that on facebook I am a member of tons of WW1, WW2 and other veterans sites and pages and boy oh boy, they're right pissed off.... Seems our ex player has been spouting his ill informed mouth off regarding topics of which he knows nothing... Wondering why there isn't a single reference to this controversy anywhere on VT...

Canadian here, 50 years old and I've already done quite a bit of travelling when younger, so the list isn't as large as some, but there are specific things I would like to do before I cash out. within reach: Ride my old Norton round the Isle of Man TT course. Scuba dive the WW1 wrecks of Scapa Flow in the Orkneys or Truk Lagoon. Visit Normandy and Flanders (Ypres, the Somme and Vimy) Fly in a First or Second World War fighter aircraft. Have a footplate ride on an express steam locomotive at speed. Visit the Isle of Skye. Take the missus to Venice, she's never been out of North America. Would love to watch The Villa at Wembley. (i've only made it to Villa Park once) dreamland... Spend a week on the International Space Station. Take a submersible down to look at the Bismarck. Dive the atomic bomb test wrecks at Bikini Atoll.

Aston Villa FC (number one by far) England national team. AFC Bournemouth (home town) Crystal Palace FC (lived in London late 80s, followed them for a bit.) Victoria Highlanders (where I've lived for thirty years now) MLS? Vancouver Whitecaps Borussia Dortmund Fiorentina Villareal

Pompey in free fall into the fourth tier. Bournemouth in Championship for the second time in their history (my home town). AFC Wimbledon stay up.

http://tinyurl.com/c8jb2zy Former West Ham and Bolton midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker will join the Vancouver Whitecaps on a four-year deal ahead of the new MLS season on March 2. Nigel Reo-Coker's leadership qualities have been championed Reo-Coker, 28, was a free agent after leaving Bolton in the summer and signed a short-term deal with Ipswich in October. However, he has now decided to take the next step in his career in the MLS and, after initially being linked with the Portland Timbers, he has opted to move to Vancouver. “I am very excited and looking forward to this great new challenge in Vancouver,” he told Prost Amerika. “The MLS is a growing league and growing in stature every year, which makes it even more exciting. I still know the best is yet to come from me as a player. “I’m 28 and know there is more to come. I would love to contribute to this growing league and love to help Vancouver win the title.” The midfielder, who was the captain of West Ham, Bolton and Aston Villa during his time in the Premier League and also made his name at England Under-21 level, will not be handed the status of ‘designated player’ but thinks he can make a difference at the club. “It wasn’t an easy decision to make: I had lots of opportunities to stay in England and I also had the chance to go to Russia,” Reo-Coker told Sky Sports News. “I felt that this was something I wanted to experience and that I was making the right decision. “It is an amazing city. I spoke to quite a few friends who played in the MLS and I spoke to the manager, Martin [Rennie]. Funnily enough he used to manage one of my closest friends in the league below, so it has worked out and everything seemed to fall into place.” Nigel moved in over here. Might have to go check out a Whitecaps game if it wasn't for the bloody ferry fares...

the end of monotheism? One can only hope, for the sake of our children.

Kinda surprised this morning when I didn't find a topic on this one, so I'll start one! Discuss.

After all that, the rampant greed and lack of concern for anything but their deep pockets being filled, I am DONE. I will not give a single ratings dime by watching, NHL hockey for me is over, sick to death of the whole miserable show. Will watch minor league and local hockey instead. The whole affair was unseemly and exposed both the players and the league for what they are. Ticket prices no doubt will rise even higher than the stratospheric levels they are at now. sick.

I live in Canada, and my compatriots fail to understand the appeal. I love the stuff. The existence of Marmite makes the concept of heaven redundant. Tried XO for the first time this year after my sister in Eastleigh sent me a jar. lovely.

Matthew Boulton, Rowland Hill, Joseph Lucas or James Lansdowne Norton. (can't choose but Boulton probably wins.)

http://tinyurl.com/ama9blg more good memories. there was football prior to the Premier League.

http://tinyurl.com/a55ggvg I figured it wouldn't hurt to see us back in maybe happier times but far lower down the pyramid.

woah.

COR! spectacular. just a sec, be right back...

haha. done!

RIP. My mum adored the man, many Christmas memories enveloped in this guy's tunes.

I would hope that your fair city has more to it than bars. I was in Birmingham for the very first time last Nov, attended the Norwich game at VP but was only in town for two days to be fair. I am, a classic bike nut, and Brum is Mecca for this (The Isle of Man is Jerusalem btw) IF you have a liking for classic British machinery, then a visit to the National Motorcycle Museum, out by the airport, is a must. I was gobsmacked. They had a calamitous fire bout four or five years back, but rebuilt in style (with sprinklers thankfully...) and there are over 850 gorgeous machines on display, too many really for one visit, which means I shall return. It is THE premier motorcycle museum on the planet (I also visited The Sammy Miller Museum, outside Bournemouth in New Milton, and it's a close second.) If you like old bikes or simply have some time around the airport, take a quick cab to the museum, it's absolutely top drawer. I also visited the Art Gallery and was impressed. I liked your town but didn't really have much time to spend and would have liked more. My focus was on the bike museum and getting to Aston in time to get well slaughtered in preparation for the match... I'm 49 by the way ;-)

http://tinyurl.com/6efhkjx Religion poisons everything. Some very telling and interesting stats to examine. The amount of folks from the Islamic world who approve of harsh punishment for things we don't even consider crimes is startling. Death penalties for adultery and leaving Islam (!), food for thought. If this human race of ours is to progress, and maybe even survive, religion must go.

^^ this. paedophilia is a criminal offense, having religious belief isn't. we must both criticize the idea and we must also incarcerate the perpetrators so they do no harm to minors, the two concepts are very different and the example is of limited use as a comparison. Nazism was an ideology which could have been criticized on philosophical grounds, as we are speaking of Islam now.. When put into practice by the regime in Germany, it became a destructive, criminal enterprise which murdered millions, but in 1933, the vast majority of German citizens could not have known what was to come. By 1937, maybe, but not in '33.

OK, now that I've been referred to as a "pensioner" because I haven't a clue who the fellow in the photo several pages back was, even after it was explained, I confess I haven't a clue who Muse is, or Radiohead, or Chris Martin, or Thom Yorke for that matter. Oh, I know that the first two are bands that are very popular nowadays, but I don't know what they play and probably wouldn't recognize their music at all. I'm sadly out of touch, but I'm fine with it. (retreats into his office to turn up some Clapton) born in '63, cut me some slack ya merciless bunch ;-) when folks refer to new music, I think Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers...

film coming out in October: Celebration Day, the movie of the 2007 Led Zeppelin show at the O2 arena in London. As a 49 year old, this is good news. Yeah, I'm an old fart who still listens to The Who, Queen, Black Sabbath, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Bowie, the Stones etc. We had the best music. Just sayin' ;-)

I'm with Mr Rimmer to be honest, and I think there's no better time than now to hammer home a logical truth that needs stating. I came from an evangelical background of 29 years into an atheist worldview fairly recently, and I have to say I am conscious of a large body of internal vitriol which is spilling out of me these days about religion and its power. I support the fundamental human right of all men to believe whatever nonsense and b*llshit they want to believe. It is a right that we must stand by. In a world full of medieval superstitions and lunacy, we unfortunately must accept that because of the nature of these intolerant fantasies, many who do not follow a majority view will be endangered in some places on the globe. Religious freedom (that is, the freedom to worship any skydaddy or mummy or combination of the above) MUST be protected at all costs or blood will flow. Human history proves this. At the same time, I fervently hold to be true that it is also the right and indeed the duty of the free thinkers of this world to never yield their rights to demolish religious dogma at every opportunity. It is the need of humanity to move forward to develop a more compassionate, civil society which rejects hidebound, barbaric and bronze age superstitions. We will never survive as a species if we do not rid our world of religion and its destructive nature (especially that scourge of the planet, monotheism). We have the right to critique and ridicule religious doctrines and dogma for the sake of our descendants. The distinction between the demolition of ideas and beliefs must be contrasted with the attacks on religious PEOPLE. the two are not the same and we must be perpetually on guard against people who would muddy that distinction. Ideas are there to be either proven or refuted. I will fight organized religion till my dying day as the destructive, ideologically rigid and destructive force it is. I am concerned that these attacks and so on will create an environment ion the west, as the poster noted above, which will prevent decent men and women from being able to critique religious belief in any way, due to fear of offense. This is a dangerous situation which must be faced and opposed. Don't give me hogwash about "Ooh you can't say that, so many are comforted by their faith". it's a convenient excuse for the retention of indoctrination and superstition. Religion must die. Once it's gone, believe me, the world won't miss it. I was there, I drank the koolaid. I am the enemy of religion now. No quarter shall be given and none shall be expected. I wasted too many years of my life being in thrall to Yahweh and his threats. No more. To hell with religion.

a world without religion would be awesome. Imagine, just interacting with one's fellow man without the lens of religious belief getting in the way. Unconcerned with which man made fairy tale one follows. I'm so sick of it all to be honest, from the right wing Murkan fundamentalists, to the nutbar Scientologists, the mumblings of monks, the peadophile priests, the bomb toting screaming Salafist freaks, the dull and square righteous mormons, the door to door charlatans, the whole fecking bunch can rot in the hells of their own making for all I care, I just wish they'd leave the rest of us be. Imagine a world without a Qu'ran, without a buybull, no Torah, no talmud, none of the vile hate literature anywhere on the planet. I'm dead set against censorship of any kind but a world without those books would be a better world.