DJW1

Thanks for your detailed replay!

I always had the impression that Americans would support their President even if they hadn´t voted for him, since he was the figurehead of their country. Is that correct and, if so, has it changed in the last few years?

As someone said at the time about the Romans and their empire: "where they create a desert, they call It peace"

They should ask him to name Ipswich's starting XI last Saturday, to see how much of a fan he is

Portugal kept trading with England during the Napoleonic wars, defying Napoleon. So I suppose It was due to that treaty. The things we talk about, and the things we learn, here! 😃

In a successful long ball side... I don´t care about playing style right now, so long as at the end of 2 May we are above the relegation zone. Some people were unhappy with Enzo´s style but I thought it was exciting (and successful), although it made me nervous when they played it around near our goal. To adapt a golf cliche, "football is not a game of HOW, it´s a game of HOW MANY"

Definately worth a try. Walsh was excellent up front, as was Matt Elliott

People walking towards me who wait until they're right next to me before they cough or spit.

I can still see Pompey getting 10 points more, possibly making our game against them the decider

Just been looking at our results from the start of the season. Three wins from 4 to start, only 1 defeat in the first 9. In theory we should have improved after August, as JJ didn't feature in the first month, but we didn't

So Daka embodies everything that has gone wrong at the club since 2021

I blame the following people at LCFC for the fact he's still here, still hopeless but still in the team: 1. Those who thought he was worth signing 2. The coaches, who haven't improved him at all 3. The people who gave him such a long, expensive contract, so the likes of Crewe can't afford to sign him 4. The financial (mis) management people. Because of them we've not had any money to spend on a replacement in the last year or more

We drew 0-0 in September with ......... the team that's going to win the Championship

It´s a bit worrying that he hasn´t played a full 90 since he came back (I think). I hope he doesn´t get injured with Wales

At least today Watford didn´t score 5 seconds later

Don´t be so harsh. They did try to resolve the situation, by bringing in......Carranza

Yes. I think he is intelligent and educated, although he ought to be bearing in mind the cost of his education. He probably used to dumb It down and keep It simple for the voters. Quoting Socrates and using Latin phrases isn't a vote winner

Although when there is more than one party in a particular sector of the political spectrum standing in a constituency, the FPTP system means that they will both suffer, perhaps allowing another party to win the seat. The same may well happen with the Lab-LD-Green sector

It was the mean wage. If, as you say the majority of people have had rises of 2-3% in the last 2 years that´s still around the inflation figure. In fact it was 4.7-6% for public sector workers in 2024-5 More widely, as pollsters attest, it´s the "feeling" that people have about an issue rather the reality that determines how they vote. For example, in a Welsh constitutency some of the people interviewed thought their town was "swamped" by immigrants when the figure was actually 2% of the population.

A quick Google search seems to confirm what I thought regarding wage rises and inflation. Namely, that wages have been rising more quickly than prices for at least 2 years. Yet many people seem to think the opposite is true. Of course, the prices of particular items of food etc. have shown spikes, but prices of other items have fallen/stagnated. I think that many people have made their mind up about this government and won´t let the facts cloud their judgement. This is not a new thing - I actually felt a bit sorry for Sunak because some (OK, a couple) of his policies seemed quite good but the Tory poll ratings were never going to recover after Lettuce Liz.

What is the origin (the original song?) of the Ben Marshall/Ben Nelson song?

I suppose that the immediate strategy of the European and NATO countries is to keep the Russians bogged down in Ukraine for as long as possible. This proxy war is expensive but cheaper than fighting Russia in, say, Poland and involves only Ukranian soldiers

To Peter Shilton, whenever he played against us: "Does your missus know you´re here?"

I remember "Wallington, Wallington, show us your bum" from the Kop. Mark, being a good sport, would then fiddle with the back of his shorts a little.

I´m being serious here. If nothing else this will surprise Watford (4-4-1-1) Begovic (if fit) Aluko CB1 CB2 Thomas Aribo (I´ve not seen him play but he´s bigger than Skipp!) Winks Mavadidi (in the absence of anyone better) Fatawu JJ (free role) CB3 (to hold it up and win some headers) I really don´t care which of the available CBs play where. Titter if you will, but remember how well Walshie and Elliott did at centre forward. I really can´t bear seeing Daka or Ayew trying to play CF anymore.