Jon

you also get confused about your age after 30, it seems .... :winkold:

18-The best age known to mankind :winkold: 19's better tbf mate. all the freedoms, with added maturity. so surely 20 is then better than 19? and 21 is better than .... and 22 ..... where does it stop?

because ...... :?

who are you feeling who's 17, you lucky b*stard! :winkold:

did you have an accident and find yourself back in the 1969(ish?) then Trickie? :winkold: How was "gene"?

+1 for me.

i think your pants are on fire, Roberto ...... :winkold:

why are you confused about your age, Ali? too many long hours at the hospital? :winkold:

Inflation figures up to 2.2%, figures just released say. I think there won't be further interest rate cuts for a few months now, as the BofE will need to keep this in check ....

Buy my flat, please!* *This does not constitute financial advice and should not be taken as such. Jon urges you to obtain professional advice before proceeding with any investment, unless you want to buy my flat. Then, IMHO, the time is exactly right to do so ......

agree with all of your post Pete, apart from this last bit, although i understand where you're coming from with it. I think MON uses the "small squad" line/argument in an attempt to bring unity/close-knit-ness/bonding/sense of purpose/team spirit within his "small squad". Bonds the lads together, kind of thing. Mourinho used it, to a large degree, in his constant portrayal of "everyone is against us/hates is/doesn't want us to win/especially the refs/the FA. We will show them, as we are stronger than that. Hence people on this board started calling him Moaninho. And IMO to a mlarge degree it brought about the squad unity/sense of purpose that he was looking for. MON is , IMO, using a similar approach with his "small squad" thing. Trying to use it to bond the team together and use it to his advantage. "we've got the smallest squad in the league, but we will show the others what we are really made of" type thing. That, and the fact that we Do have a thin squad, is why we keep hearing about it, not just from MON but the media in general. I honestly don't think it's ever been used an an excuse for dropping points this season, by MON anyway, yet .....

F1 cars instead of horses maybe? :winkold:

alternatively ...... MON stopped at 2 different petorl stations along the way, and refuelled with both premium juice and standard juice, just in case that the amount he knew he had in the car proved to be insufficient, although he thought it was really enough. Better to be safe than sorry he thouhgt, and filled to the brim with both quality fuel and standard fuel. BUT: the new fuel didn't seem to work so well in his car, and he'd lost time getting to his destination. The car was heaver, was weighed down by the new fuel, and kept spluttering. It was just far slower than before. It almost stopped completely. The mix wasn't right, and he had wasted time and money and upset the running of his car. MON then vowed to have more faith in his original belief that he had plenty of fuel to complete the full journey without any need for panic stops along the way. :nod: How's that? :nod:

I think MON has more petrol in his car than you give him credit for ...... and is confident he won't need another refuel until The Summer. I'm inclined to agree with him

?? has Ian finally finished his bike ride then? :winkold:

1. the availablity of easy credit (mortageb wise) has been curtailed in recent months, even more so following what has happened in the US of A. That had a detrminental affect on demand, and therefore short to mid term adversely affects house prices. 2. Interets rates have been going up for about 3 years now, and we have had only 1 slight cut a couple of months ago, which is on its own insufficient to really galvanise the market. This makes it more difficult to borrow, and adversely affects house prices. these are the 2 main factors causing the slowdown/drop in house prices in recent months, IMO. This plus the fact that we have had an unprecednted "boom" in house prices these last 8 or 9 years has lewd to this cooling down period. It's just not an ideal time to try to sell your house right now. Good time to buy though......

So why bother selling - if it's profitable, and if you're bullish about the market, it's now an investment. As long as it's in a good renting area, why worry. Over an average 20 year period, it should quadruple in value, so the mortgage reduces in terms of LTV without you having to pay a penny. Once prices start falling, people will delay their entry into the market (why buy now when it will be cheaper in 6 months), and demand will slacken. agree with all that Grings - i think there could well be (and judging by it currently is) a short to mid term slackening of the market, meaning that house prices are indeed currently dropping slightly. I beleive this will be realtively short lived, IF the BofE are able to cut interest rates 2 or 3 times over the next 6-12 months. the avaialabality of mortgages has been tightened, which i think is a good thing in terms of financial stability for the economy, but this will necessarily have a detrimental effect on the market short-term too. longer term though i think that a continuing reduction in interst rates plus the demand > supply effect will stave off a housing marker crash. There will just be a slight short term re-adjustment IMO, whcih is what we are seeing right now. as to your first point, you are correct. it's just that a) i wanted the money from the sale to make my mortgage on my new pad more affordable and i don't like the hassle of being a "landlord". But longer term if i hold onto it, it will probably make more economic sense, and should reap greater dividends. Selling right at this moment is not the right course of action anyway.

roughly my thoughts too ian. It's hitting me a little bit at the moment. Have had my flat on the market for just over 6 months now, and not that much interest and only 1 firm bid wich was way to low so had to reject it. I've just bought another property though, slightly more expensive than the one i already have but i reckon a good £15k lower than about 2 years ago, so just within my price range. But now i am in a position of holding 2 properties that i can't really afford (have had to get intyerst only mortgages on them both), becuase i can't sell my flat due to the market really slowing/reversing. i've had to remortgage my flat to get a bit of capital to put down as an advance on my new apartment, and have had to let my flat out to tenants. Tnankfully, just got tenant sin at the weekend, whcih covers my mortgage plus a little bit extract each month. Not ideal, though i am hopeful of an upturn in year or so if interst rates get cut afew times. They've gone up continually for the last 3 years or so, so hopefully we might get 2 or 3 cuts in the next 12 months, whcih can only help the market. Plus, demand still outstrips supply, whcih should ensure we don't have a market crash. People still need/want to buy property, the demand is still there IMO.

pourquoi Mart? if we bring in 1 or 2 class players in the next 7 days, why must they be seen as panic signings? :? i don't think we will BTW, but if we do, then .....

Fully behind the idea, for the reasons outlined by Bri, ml1dch et al. Much, much bettre/more beneficial to wider society than the current system. A few poeple/groups mught not be in favour, but i thinmk the vast majority of citizens will back this. It will save lives, at the end of the day.

1+2 combined = 86 3 = 86 4 = 4 so the majority now prefers a flag other than 3. let's start a campaign! :winkold:

good point. It seems to me like we've come full circle, and having emerged from the era when our history was hidden away, we now seem to have gone over the top in wanting to advertise it to both ourselves and everyone else. I'd prefer it somewhere in between, but for me no. 3 is too overstated. I hate it owhen other clubs try to ram their successes and "bigness" down peoples throats (Utd etc) so would be a but hypocritical of me to then support Villa trying to do the same ....

it's a strange one, as i am fully behind the star on the new crest indicating the european cup win in 82. Yet i hate that new flag with the various trophy wins on it. I think it's the understated nature of the star on the crest, and the overstated nature of the trophies with the counts on the flag, that does it for me. But again, it's not an important issue for me, TBH. t'is the results on then picth that matter, not crests, kits or flags, and MON?Randy are doing us proud in that regard.

whatever happens this season (bar a freak prem league trophy!), it would still be valid for next season :winkold:

indeed. I find it quite cringeworthy.