markavfc40

Like @trekka I was surprised he was 80 as had him down as maybe late 60's. His teams played some nice stuff and that Euro 96 England team is probably the last England side I really enjoyed watching. RIP.

Getting away from the my dads bigger than your dad bollocks then where it really matters whose better, on the pitch tomorrow, then I am very confident we'll have the edge. I expect us to be unchanged from the Fulham game and if our starting 11 doesn't have too much for Spurs then we'll win the game off the bench using the likes of Bailey, Zaniolo and JJ. We'll win by at least 2 goals.

Labour have played a blinder here.

I think the saddest thing about it all is that we have a Prime Minister in a video appearing to show him being clueless as to how to use a hammer and it seemed believable. I suppose that is what comes from having form as someone so out of touch with reality that he doesn't know how to use chip and pin.

I think it may have been removed as there is a longer video where the woman told him to use the hammer in that way.

Man of the people.

In fairness the current UK government is spouting, and stoking, a lot of the bile on social media. They aren't going to be in any rush to regulate it.

West Midlands Police (second biggest Police force in the country) have been adjudged to be failing and have today been put into special measures which makes it the fourth force in special measures including the Met (the country's biggest Police force). I think we can safely say that the Police can be filed under things the Tories have broken since 2010, assuming there is enough room in that filing cabinet still.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Tories did get a little post autumn statement bounce due to the NI reduction and some people thinking they are going to be a few quid a week better off. Then the reality hits within a few days that once again the Tories have been all smoke and mirrors (or in layman's terms lying bastards) and that they won't be any better off at all. Even some of the right wing rags are now calling them out on their tax cut claims.

Just to be clear Rob, I may have commented on others talking about I'm A Celebrity but I can honestly say I have not watched a single second of this series myself. I do have to confess I have seen, and quite enjoyed, some past series though

Given your descriptions for Farage and this young woman then you hold him in higher regard than her. I'd say you've gone way OTT on her and been very, very, very kind to that racist, divisive, deceitful, self serving scumbag.

In fairness Dem if you are describing this young woman as vile and vermin just because you don't like her youtube videos, find her annoying and she is over reacting to some TV waiter called Fred, then what would you describe someone like Farage, who has done real serious harm to this country, as being?

This is to do with the rumour that the attacker is Algerian isn't it and the anti immigration mob are out. Apparently the person who tackled the attacker and got the knife off him was also an immigrant and I'd imagine some of the people (drs/nurses) treating the victims will also be immigrants. The attacker is clearly a sick, evil bastard. I am not sure what his ethnicity has got to do with it though but I guess those anti immigrant were always going to latch onto it and stoke the fire, literally it seems.

The far right Party for Freedom in the Netherlands is set to win the most seats in their parliamentary elections according to the exit polls. Whether they'll be able to form a coalition government remains to be seen.

How many years ago was that mate?

I'm not naive enough to think that plenty of people don't hold these views mate. I think the thing that surprised me most is that it was in a work meeting, that it was everyone in the room freely expressing really racist views and that they made the comments in front of me who they don't really know that well.

It certainly wasn't the first time they'd expressed views like this amongst each other given how comfortable they were and how easily the conversation flowed. I'd imagine between them it was just a given that they all thought that immigrants are not welcome and that they'd all expressed those views to each other some time ago so there was no reason for them to get into why they felt like that.

These are all well educated people. Two other Principal Engineers, a Senior Engineer and the team manager. Three men all early 60s, one woman in her late 30s. I wouldn't say there was a ringleader as they all openly contributed and the conversation flowed naturally. They weren't just agreeing/going along with what one individual said they all had plenty to say. I work in a team of 11 people and in terms of racial/ethnic diversity it is none existent. All would identify as white British. I think I possibly found out today why that may be. Thank you to all who have taken the time to reply by the way. It has been really helpful.

Just to put a bit of context into that I am about to post. I started working for my current employer almost a year ago and my work is around 50% site based and 50% office based and the 50% office based work I do from home ( I am a highways engineer). Over the last year I have probably met up with collages collectively for meetings around 10 times. The team I work with there are 10 other people and they have all worked together for years. Today I went into the office for a meeting with four colleagues, including my manager. At the end of the meeting the subject of a local hotel being used to house asylum seekers arose. I then had to sit through some of the worst racism from everyone else in the room I have probably ever heard. To give a flavour of it one person commented (and the rest agreed) that they'd love to have a political party to vote for who said they would get the navy to shoot out of the water any boats crossing the channel with immigrants on , another commented that what this country needs is a Hitler type to take over and a bit of ethnic cleansing and another felt we (I assume he meant white people) would end up being slaves to the immigrants. I have heard some mild racism (compared with the above) from some of my colleagues before but today I sat there gobsmacked. I have got to be honest though I didn't give my thoughts which would have been the complete opposite from them. Instead I stayed dumb and now I feel really bad about that and feel that I should have spoke up even though my opinions would have gone down like a lead balloon. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. What would others have done in the above situation and what should I do now?

Latest line coming from the Tories is that disabled people must work from home so they can do their duty or lose their benefits. Do these self serving bastards feel they have done their duty over the last 14 years. They really are scum.

It is a future that they are not going to be part of so they won't give a shit about that. I think in terms of any surplus though I can't see Labour using any extra money to pay down debt when they get in. Any surplus will have to go into getting public services, especially the NHS and social care, back to something like the standard they were at 14 years ago. The Tories are leaving behind a huge mess.

It is certainly pointless for the masses. According to Martin Lewis only 4% of us pay inheritance tax.

It goes beyond that as a lot of the press aren't now giving what is coming out in this enquiry the level of coverage it warrants. It is disgusting how low even the right wing rags/media have sunk over the last 5-6 years especially when you consider they were already lower than a Dachshunds foreskin.

As someone who has always been an advocate for those of us who can afford to paying more taxes to fund better public services and to give those in need/with the least a leg up and provide us all with a decent safety net I find it quite remarkable what they have done in fairness. We have the highest post war tax burden and at the same time they have decimated our public services and made our welfare state one of the least generous in Europe.

On the face of it there is no denying it appears Southgate has done very well. Certainly if we just look at where we got to in tournaments. Semi final of world cup, final of euros, quarter final of world cup. It is strange then that I'd imagine less than 10% of football supporters would want him managing their club, certainly at Prem league level. I certainly wouldn't want him managing Villa. He has had some unbelievable talent to pick from but I think where he has done well is that he has brought together some great players and got them in the main to get on and not have any dressing room cliques/avoided any club cliques. Better managers than him have also had some great players to choose from but have failed due to not getting players to gel. You only have to listen to the likes of Ferdinand and Lampard talk to realise that. Where he is massively found wanting though is tactically. He has been very fortunate with the draws we have had in every tournament he has been to but whenever we have faced a team on paper as good as us we have fallen short, often well short. As England manager 95%+ of the time other sides you face will be inferior. It is in the games where you face a side on your level where a manager will then need to really show his worth. As a club manager he'd regularly be up against teams on paper as good as his sides, and depending on who he managed may well often face sides on paper better than his. He wouldn't last 5 minutes in that environment again which is why most supporters wouldn't want him anywhere near their club. I expect the same outcome at the euros next year as we have seen in all the tournaments he has taken us to. We'll get as far as the draw dictates because as soon as we face a side on our level we'll be out. I am sure in 10, 20, 30 years time some will look back and think what a great job he did, looking purely at his record. Those of us who lived it though will know that it was just another case of another England manager having a great group of players and falling short. This time not because he couldn't manage the egos and get them to gel but because on the few occasions it got tough he was found wanting tactically.