chrisp65

.....though it might soon be time to move on?

What I thought was particularly gauling was that self proven idiot Graham Pole announcing on 5Live this morning that Dowd was absolutely right to leave Vidic on 'as it was early in a cup final so you've got to interpret the rules differently so as not to spoil it'.

wasn't just the ref who was a total arse gravey. every decision the linesmen on both touchlines waited for the ref to point before raising their flag in agreement.

not getting that vital first decision obviously affected us psychologically.

yeah, the officials didn't cover themselves in glory.

It's done now, we lost, boo hoo, next game.

but.... if the officials make it clear they are playing different rules for different teams over the majority of the first half it's bound to influence your style of play. They are allowed to tackle, we aren't. They should have 10 players, they have 11.

Ah well, MON's clever enough to use that to our advantage at the next Final.

just saw Mourinho's agent in a pub in Manchester

came in just like a normal bloke but produced his own can from a carrier bag and drunk that

bought one of the Alexander McQueen shirts today

neck's a bit tight but it hangs well

How dare HM Custom and Excise take issue with an undeclared 6 figure payment! Don't they know who he is! Thats an insignificant amount to him so it should all be forgotten about!

If that was what I'd said, then I'd agree with you. But sadly for you I didn't say that it should be forgotten about.

Instead I said that the motivation for Harry to dupe the taxman of 40k is pretty hard to fathom when the guy is a multi-millionare and earns 40k every 3 or 4 days. In other words, I'm suggesting that the charge may a face-saving crock of shit to try and justify months of investigation, and I won't be surprised if Harry wins the case.

PS. 40k is 5 figures, not 6

It's not that hard to fathom, some people are crooked and some ain't. Not everyone that shoplifts does it to put bread on the table. Some people do it because they are little shits. I would suggest Harry could fall into the 'little shit' category.

The part from P3te about religious doctrines running part of the state is particularly interesting.

In my home town there is a whole debate on the local Roman Catholic school. They don’t currently have their own sixth form, so traditionally the pupils have got to that age and been bussed into Cardiff. The local council has always funded this. Tighter times mean the council have told the RC’s they are still welcome to travel 15 miles passed some perfectly good schools to get to one that supports their ideology, but from now on they will be paying full whack for the transport. Sounds to me like a good compromise. For me personally, I don’t want to pay tax that funds someone else’s religious schooling. State and organised religion need to be completely separated.

After all this, I’m still happy to believe in God. Though I have to admit I haven’t read and researched all of the big books, from what I’ve seen many share common stories and should be used more as a guide than as a definitive list of do’s and don’ts. I don’t believe in the Father Christmas god, chair, cloud, white robe and impressive beard. I also don’t believe in the funky new American liberal god (Morgan Freeman). It’s patently obviously possible to get through life without a belief in the divine, the other worldly. Not just get through life, but contribute greatly to the greater good. You can discover a wonder drug or contribute to philosophy or philanthropy without kneeling to any god. Good and god are not mutually inclusive or exclusive.

But personally I do still believe in the big divine force for good. I want my kids to learn the basics of western Christian thoughts and principles, you know, the nice modern liberal slanted bits. I believe it’s a good starting point in life. Saying that, I've ended up with one kid christened and one not. I'm fairly confident this half cocked starting point will not influence their eternal place in the universe, that's for them to determine. I want them learning to critique, to think for themselves and not just believe that the vicar always knows right from wrong, that the Church has millions of pounds locked up in land deals in New York for the greater good or that women have a fixed place in society and so on. I also want them to understand and embrace science, but again without blind faith in what scientists tell us about lard being good in the diet, space exploration being essential and cars with batteries being the future. This doesn’t make me a better person than others, doesn’t buy me any insurance. It works for me, I'm sure in my belief, to answer the original question, that’s the top middle and bottom of it I suppose.

Surely you just cut it down to the core message, try and be good, sometimes you **** up, try and make amends. Treat others with the respect you would wish to receive from them.

Why? When you take away everything other than the core tenents of a religion you are taking away the religion.

The idea to be good to each other is not a religious one, it is a question of morality and social survival. To say that morality has to be religiously enforced is to cheapen those who have morals. It's far better to be moral because you think it's right than because some god is telling you to. Which is the better man, he who gives to charity because he thinks he should, or he who gives to charity because he's told he should?

The entire concept of be good so you go to heaven as a reward is completely out of skew with the concept of morality. It turns selfless acts into entirely selfish ones, and anyone that follows a religious moral code is surely just ensuring they go to hell because they're living their life in an entirely selfish manner, they're only being good for their own gain. Or does religion not have to comply to logic? And it's ok to be selfish if god says you should be?

That'll teach me to enter a big G thread. I don't know if you have to be religious to believe in your own personal God? Genuinely not sure on that one, wouldn't personally mark myself down as religious. I think I tried to say I don't subscribe to a pre set list of mores chosen by some historic character that didn't like gayers or wanted more wives or whatever. I also don't believe in some hieronymous bosch version of hell. There is no hell for me, so I can chill out on that one. Anybody that is 'good' to ensure some insurance policy for their anticipated afterlife probably hasn't really grasped the point of the whole exercise.

Each to their own and get yourself comfy in your own skin.

Fascinating that there are so many threads on and around this subject on this messageboard, for the same old group to consistently trot out all the God! Show me magic taunts and wittisisms every time it comes around.

For what its worth, yeah, I believe in God.

I also believe in ever developing science, I don't see them as mutually exclusive. Proof the universe is really big, the world is round, some jesuit priests are kiddy fiddlers, babboons have affairs and an octopus can learn stuff is all great. Doesn't prove or disprove anything though.

For what it's worth, I don't believe in catholicism, or Greek orthodoxy, or Henry the **** eighths variation on a theme. Those tend to be self interested translations of versions of older accounts and translations and versions. Surely you just cut it down to the core message, try and be good, sometimes you **** up, try and make amends. Treat others with the respect you would wish to receive from them.

I'm amazed Lembit hasn't pretended to be gay just to get another minute on another channel, then married a fish in Vegas to squeeze just a little tiny bit more publicity then shagged the fishes mother just to try and get on Trisha. Or pretended to date some Rumanian tranny's tranny brother or something.

None of which would stop me voting for him if he actually had good ideas and not just an ego much much bigger than his mildly deformed face.

los campesinos! romance is boring (

album out tomorrow)

not bang on my usual taste but close enough when you need a fix of something new

I got the impression Man Utd's main aim was to block City getting to the final, it's always possible that for one or two of their players the work has been done and they will notch back a little. It's possible, but it's not a big factor. It depends far far more on which Aston Villa turns up.

Perfectly winnable.

Shouldnt ye be having an early night on the 27th ? :-)

all part of a big weekend!

plan for 28th still a bit vague but boils down to:

a) expensive club wembley tickets via a contact

£50 1st class train return, leather seat free coffee & hearty breakfast, pub somewhere around the ground to soak it all up

c) watch it on the telly with me dad and use the money saved for 10/11 season ticket - never had one, always wanted one and the opportunity might be just about surfacing

27th Feb, Cate Le Bon at Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

not something that would have appealed a couple of years ago, but I must be mellowing into a folksy psychie middle age, opening track of the new album, Me Oh My is just lovely

tickets £7

well I for one thought that was very poor value for money and will be writing in expecting some sort of compensation, preferably in late February.

interesting to see a debate about the state of things in '76 with the received wisdom trotted out that Labour screwed the economy and the tories had to put it right again.

When Wilson's Labour won in '74 they had actually presumed they would lose as the opinion polls ahd them a good 10 points behind late in the race - they had also been tipped off as to the state the conservaties and world events had left the economy in and many Labour shadow ministers didn't want to win as they would have to try and sort out a proper shit storm people didn't yet fully understand.

perhaps we shouldn't be comparing Labour's ability to press the accelerator with the tories ability to put on the breaks - perhaps we should be asking if either side are actually at all qualified to drive the bus!

wtf!

edited cos i've had a little drinky

don't let the players with no votes take it the wrong way, it's a team thing at the moment

we're like the special olympics, we're all winners!

not sure that's the best comparison but there you go.

just the sort of game I'd have expected nothing from

looks like I've got to re calibrate my expectations

well done guys

surely now its classic Villa trap, you're loosing at home, what do you wanna do? commit more forward?

nice

it's edging our way!

**** I wish I hadn't said that......

office party yesterday with a free bar fromm noon til 5:30

quite day most of today

my boss is a Man U consumer unit so I waited until the final whistle to send him a 'thanks for the weekend' text

fair play, he texted back to say **** off and don't come in on Monday

a shout should also go out today to Wolves and Bolton, a nice 0:0 draw tomorrow would make it quite neat.

Enjoyed seeing a new formation today, having experimented with 4.5.1 and the like I thought 10.0.0. was an interesting one and could have worked if only some of Gabby's defensive work could have resulted in Gabby knocking it forward to, er, oh I can see the floor in the plan now.

Southgate becoming available should put a very different slant on this poll.

is my medicine ready yet?

Villa played off the park but win 1:0

not based on any in depth knowledge of opposition formations or star alignment, just woke up this morning and new it