MakemineVanilla

I can't decide whether Luiz meant to hit the bar with the penalty - I kind of hope that he did.

What looked like a shoo-in at kick-off began to look like a possible banana-skin thirty minutes in. Our £50m+ striker missed chance after chance and the backline looked ponderous and slow. Even Moreno couldn't sort his feet out. The men of the match were either Watkins or Bailey. Witnessing Villa's many shortcomings made it very anxious to watch. The referee wasn't bad but he either missed the elbow on McGinn, or didn't want to send the player off - I suspect the latter. The Villa bubble hasn't quite burst but is definitely slightly deflated.

I wouldn't deny that he deserves it because he never made himself rich from Glasto. His knighthood does seem to confirm the accusation that governments tend to hand out honours to send political signals. The party now in government is renowned for exploiting every opportunity for personal financial gain, and so it seems to be at odds with its own values to reward a guy for showing restraint.

The only thing I like about the Honours system, is when people turn them down, like Benjamin Zephaniah et al. It just seems like the establishment attempting to co-opt the demotic.

Villa deserved their two-lead but United were just better for the last half-hour. While the Villa fans will be wondering if our bubble has burst, the United fans will be asking themselves if tonight's performance will prove a flash in the pan.

Sorry about that because it was meant to be a compliment. I have Irish grandparents on both sides of my family, and I feel the influence to be strong. I assumed that your passion for music and literature were part of your heritage. When Dawkins coined the term 'meme' and defined it as a unit of cultural transmission, it seemed to make sense. Sorry!

Only a prod would suggest such a thing. There is no escape, as Irish hospitality is both legendary and obligatory: "You will, you will, you will!".

I think the problem with the "family-friendly" films which are usually broadcast on Christmas day, is that they absorb you on first viewing but reveal their glaring faults on the second. This seems particularly true of Spielberg, although Duel still retains its tension. The arty foreign stuff they used to show on Boxing Day is far more impactful, like: Babbette's Feast and Jean de Florette.

No need for that, the stadium is actually called St Andrew's!

Apologies already!

No artefacts though!

Love it!

I thought you might like John Cage's 4′33″ but as it was written in 1952 it was probably before your time.

I think people's current music tastes are the result of a journey and if you don't know their route their latest taste is incomprehensible. But I have no idea how you get from Bach to Stockhausen.

If Sheffield United get that referee every week, they might stay up.

That reminds me of how proud I was when I could finally boast about owning 100 LPs.

I am curious to know whether these picks of the year are actual purchases or streams. Thanks!

Congratulations! It always amazes me that so many men continue working long after it has ceased to be a necessity, only to accumulated money they will never spend.

The consumerist dystopia was being predicted back in the 1960s and I have always liked J G Ballard's story, The Subliminal Man. There was also a very funny play on TV about a society where robots did all the work, and every citizen was given an allocation of stuff they were required by law to consume. One character was prosecuted for failing to consume his allocation of baked beans, and his punishment was to have his allocation massively increased. The centre of the plot was that some guy had reprogrammed his household robots to help him consume his allocation, by wearing out his furniture. It can't be too far off, can it?

Just to bring things full circle, there is plenty on Amazon and they will deliver it tomorrow for those on Prime.

Question: A few decades ago there seemed to be a trend for roasting spuds in goose fat - is that still the case?

I wouldn't deny any of that but my shopping habits have changed over the years, which has coincided with the diminishing amount of space to store new stuff. I am told that the residents of old folks homes love a trip to the shops, just to look at the stuff on the shelves and never buy anything. It seems that shopping is a chore for some people and a nice day out for others. I definitely think that there are far fewer interesting shops these days, which has taken most of the pleasure out of making the journey.

The worst thing about Amazon and every other shopping on-line experience is the delivery anxiety. Admittedly things have massively improved over the last few years but the doubt never goes away. We've had flowers left on the doorstep in the rain, smashed bottles of beer, and parcels left in a recycling bin, to mention just a few. Add in the parcels meant for another address or the wrong goods entirely, and your day has started badly. Going to an actual shop finding what you want and queuing at the check-out, seems like a breeze by comparison.