Alf Bentley

A few hours on and previous entries are already out of date..... Sheff Wed dropped 2 points tonight, so can now only have a potential of 74 points. Thus, if we win at Stoke on Saturday and they lose at Huddersfield, they also cannot catch us.

MOTD pundit Danny Murphy..... Wigston drug dealer jailed after being caught with £2k of heroin and monkey dust.... https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/wigston-drug-dealer-jailed-heroin-9059379?int_source=nba

The KKK took my Wembley away....

Spot on - and I find it a sad development that hitching seems to be dying out, at least in this country. During my 20s, I hitched a lot around England and France, a bit around Scotland, Ireland and Spain, then extended jaunts around Aus and NZ (+ 1 ride in Nicaragua). Got picked up by young and old; male and female (though more male - except in NZ); rich and poor; diverse Christians and atheists; communists and racists; hippies, farmers, truckers, tradespeople, salespeople, businesspeople; swanky cars and wrecks, even a truckload of lumber and a trailer-load of sheep.... As you say, probably the one thing that 99% had in common was some kindness for / interest in others, though some just wanted some company or an audience for their views (which was fine by me, as part of the deal). Out of many hundreds of rides, possibly over a thousand, there are only 3 hairy episodes that I can remember: - The young French blokes who pretended they had a knife and demanded my grape--picking earnings (which I'd been naive enough to mention)...but I called their bluff, they never produced a knife and let me out as we passed through a town. - The middle-aged French bloke who suddenly asked me if I minded if he masturbated while driving (). I said I preferred him not to do so, he agreed but it ended up as a philosophical debate about free will, before he dropped me off safely. - A pair of blokes in Aus who picked me up, the passenger (a Scottish hitcher) apparently high on drugs and the driver swigging cans of beer as he drove, overtaking one-handed at 70mph.

Nah, Ted Curd is his real name. He's rubbish, though. Always ducks a challenge - completely yellow. An absolute lemon, if you ask me.

Handwritten personal letters: I used to love sending and receiving them, up to about the early/mid-90s, when the advent of computers killed them off Full English Breakfast in a can (basically sausage, bacon bits & potato bits in baked beans, as I recall). Instant Whip dessert Milky Lunch bars Babycham for the ladies Gooseberries (not much rhubarb around, either) Earwigs (fewer wood lice, too) Socialist Worker sellers: "Get your copy of this week's SOASH-alist Worker!" (they all pronounced it the same way, stressing the "SOASH" - party training?). The Workers' Revolutionary Party and the Revolutionary Communist Party seem to have completely vanished.....the SWP were just cheerful, misguided and manipulative, but the WRP and RCP were quite sinister, based on reliable stories I was told. Football: National Front selling vile mags outside grounds and getting counter-demos, mass monkey noises by crowds plus mass chants of "You're going home in a fvcking ambulance!", "You're gonna get your fvcking head kicked in!" etc. I share the distaste that many have for the sanitisation of the modern, all-seater game, but some aspects of the old game did need some cleaning up

Love that goal! Great quick thinking by Patson and an outstanding (OK, maybe partly lucky) finish by the scorer, firing it between and over the Keystone Cops (DR Congo defence).

I read this thread and it reminded me of a song. Not entirely sure that's a good thing.

1 yellow to Huddersfield - for a trip when Mavididi (?) was dribbling towards the area.

I was imagining a protest march. A million men hoofing it to the White House (or the Bundestag) to protest against women's liberation or something.

Don't be too sad for the lad. He's been awarded an OBE..... Obnoxious Bastard of the Epoch

Surely the bit with your brother on the landing and bolting downstairs was just a nightmare, then you woke when your Mum emerged? Mind you, it must've been scary when your Mum took her beard off....

1. Vladimir Putin: Falls from balcony of Kremlin 2. Kim Jong-Un: Accidentally attaches himself to a ballistic missile and fires himself into Mount Fuji 3. Keith Vaz: Gets locked in a washing machine with an overdose of white powder, dies during the spin cycle 4. Suella Braverman: Mistakenly deported to Rwanda, she dies from Covid after being bitten by a fruit bat. Sadly no PPE is available. 5. Brendan Rodgers: A notebook-induced paper cut exacerbated by hand-clapping abrasions leads to a fatal blood infection. The Celtic board and players are blamed for the death of an outstanding coach. U40: UB40: Yes, the entire band drown in a vat of red, red wine in a poignant echo of the death of the Duke of Clarence, brother of King Richard III I expect double points when each of these deaths occurs as described.

Wilf deserves an awful lot of credit for how he's adapted to his new role this season. I wasn't surprised at him closing down well further up the pitch - and shouldn't have been surprised to see his athleticism and reading of the game in making good runs into space in attacking areas. Those were qualities he needed in his old, defensive role. But, as the season has gone on, he seems to be improving in other, less familiar areas of his new role - better crossing, linking & spotting of teammates' runs, even better finishing (well, some of the time). He already looks a very good attacking midfielder at Championship level. If he stays and if we do go up (two big ifs), I wonder what role he'll play in the PL? Playing against better defenders in a league where he and the team would get fewer chances, he'd have to up his game again to be a good attacking midfielder in the PL. But, given how he's adapted within a few months, I wouldn't bet against it. On the other hand, it would also depend on how Enzo adapted his tactics and squad at a higher level. Winks has been superb for us this season, but I wonder if we'd need a stronger defensive presence alongside him at PL level.....such as Wilf? I do think the centre of our defence would be vulnerable at PL level with current centre backs and Winks & Ricardo in front of them. I'm amazed Championship teams don't attack us more down the middle. It's great to see Wilf thriving this season, though. He had 3-4 years as one of our best players, so it would've been a shame if his stint here had ended on a low, with his poor form around 2021-23. He comes across as a nice bloke, too, and it's always good to see longstanding players bounce back or thrive (loved Sharky's cameo on Saturday for the same reason). Hats off to Wilf for his astonishing adaptation this season. Will be interesting to see what the future holds for him - hopefully here.

If Skippy the Kangaroo snaffled one of these "skipflated" packs of Skips from a skip, would that constitute SkippySkipSkipflation? I'll get my coat and head in shame for the Izzy Joke Thread.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/oct/21/shrinkflation-youre-right-from-gin-to-butter-quantity-and-quality-are-taking-a-hit I'd come across the "shrinkflation" concept before, but not "skimpflation".

John Hyatt of the Three Johns: https://louderthanwar.com/john-hyatt-the-three-johns-rip/ Among the best live bands of the 80s - and still outstanding at a reunion gig a years ago.

Dancing in the church? Poignant emotion, conviviality, fun and mayhem even from beyond the grave, eh, Shane? Good to see almost all the surviving Pogues there (Jem Finer, James Fearnley, Spider Stacy, Terry Woods & Cait O'Riordan - didn't spot Andrew Ranken?). Also, John Sheahan, the last of the classic line-up of The Dubliners - the proto-folk/punkers. After a childhood listening to parental Dubliners records and teenage/early 20s into punk and its many post-punk ripples, I was always going to be a big Pogues fan, wasn't I?

I'm half-watching BBC Live Text...... "6th minute: Offside, Leicester City. Mads Hermansen is caught offside" WTF, Mads.....that's taking the sweeper-keeper role a bit far, mate!

Half a million per year in net migration / UK population of 68m = annual increase of less than 1%. Also a large proportion of the increased migration is foreign students, who wouldn't generate much economic output. In comparison, recent growth is described as "flatlining" but has typically been between 1.5% and 2% in recent years, so higher than net migration.....but lower than growth was in previous decades, so only "flatlining" comparatively. There'd be different opinions as to why growth has slowed, some of them political: mature capitalist economy in an era of globalised competition, low productivity, failure to move into high-value-added business, low private/public investment, tendency of British stock market to demand high shareholder value/dividends and consequent under-investment in R&D.....many theories, many of them controversial.

No, I'm not a protectionist by instinct - more a pinko liberal internationalist. In a utopian world, I'd like to see much more of politics and democratic decision-making, particularly on the regulation of global capitalism, become global - but that ain't happening any time soon and with Brexit the UK has even retreated back from pooling some sovereignty in a regional bloc. I'd say that what comes across to you as protectionism on my part is down to: (1) Concern for democracy and economic/social/political stability; (2) Pragmatism as to what the people of this country will accept re. immigration, without risking instability and the rise of Far Right, populist, anti-democratic forces. Though, while the nation state remains important, its first democratic responsibility is to its own people, anyway. My concern for democratic stability is real and justified, I think, by the rise of anti-democratic, divisive forces worldwide. Even in the UK, it wouldn't surprise me if we see the rise of Reform UK (or possibly a rehashed, Braverman-style Tory party) as a political force, perhaps before the election but certainly after it - a definite risk to democratic stability as the state of the nation and structural factors will make it enormously hard for any Labour or other govt to retain public approval, even if it does a good job. The risk of the Far Right having a chance of power in the UK by 2029 is quite real, I think - and would certainly be boosted by levels of immigration that proved unpopular. Factor in popular alienation from the democratic system, a possible rise in unemployment, climate change disruption, an increasingly unstable world, associated migration flows and A.I. and the risk gets greater. I have a lot of sympathy for many of your points on an abstract/moral level, but pragmatic analysis restrains idealism for me, I'm afraid - or maybe I'm just getting old and over-cautious... Sorry that I can't respond more fully but my life is busy just now, working long hours, part-overseeing 19-year-old daughter and trying to complete a move to South Devon. The good news is that, if the move is confirmed soon, I'll probably be casting a tactical vote for your lot in the election, as I'll be moving to a Tory constituency with little Labour presence but that went Lib Dem during the Blair years. Probably just as well to draw this dialogue to a close, anyway, before we piss off other posters, get banned and get this thread shut down for excess politics.

It's just a shame that Robin Friday and Sunday Oliseh won't be playing Wednesday, Wednesday. Maybe they'll be fit for the weekend. Though I suspect Friday won't be, as he's dead.

Yep - and I'd add Choudhury to that. Faes and Hamza both impressive - barely put a foot wrong all match. I had both at 8. KDH started slowly but was very good for the last hour & Ricardo also pretty good. I had both at 7. None of the 4 of them rating much above 6 so far?! All subjective opinion, I suppose....

I can see it now....Elton rises like a young salmon at the far post to power home the winner with his hair transplant....