Messages

NL was nuts to play Ambrose, he's been away from the team for whatever length of time, just off a flight from South Africa that morning after winning the ACON, so I'm assuming hadn't even trained with the team in the lead up to the match. Also no doubt mentally and physically fatigued after playing in a different climate, timezone etc.

Hard to blame Lennon though, Celtic played fantastic positive football, big Samaras would have been good for an aerial threat, Hooper didn't look his best. The only player who played poorly was Ambrose and there were good reasons for that. Flattering scoreline for Juve, hopefully Celtic give a good account of themselves in the return leg in Turin.

ps the officiating was a joke re set plays, at one stage one of the Juve players hauled Brown to the ground and then threw himself to the ground straight after to make it look as if they were both at it! No class out of that lot.

I can't get my head round this.

Let's call NI for what it is - a complete non-entity, virtually unable to sustain itself and 100% dependent on Westminster.

You have a pretend government at Stormont with two opposing factions and a few token inbetweeners who combined are just about capable of governing this sh*tehole.

You have Westminster who in all honesty are probably fed up propping this place up, and in all likeliness would drop NI quicker than a fart in the wind if it wasn't for the inevitable backlash.

You have no flag, no anthem along with a pretend sense of identity that people who after decades of torment are happy to accept if it means they are able to get on with their lives in peace.

Division and segregation is as widespread as it ever was, peacewalls remain, riots continue and every summer we have the usual splattering of contentious marches that serve no other purpose than to create tension.

Only in recent years have we begun to scratch the surface into killings by the State of it's own citizens, and yet a sizeable part of the community here are against inquests and inquiries into that.

15 years on from the GFA and still we have not addressed our demons, the 'extremists' on both sides of the political divide hold power and yet every decision that needs made descends into a juvenile squabble along sectarian lines.

The Republic, for all it's faults and failings has at least made an effort to rectify the situation it is in. It is a long, painful, distressing process that will last years, but of all the Eurozone crisis countries Ireland is making the most progress and is being dubbed an exemplar for the other crisis-hit nations.

As such, the scenario in the south is not permanent - it will end. That is fact.

NI is arguably the 'worst-off' region within the UK. The economy here is the poorest in the UK. Unemployment here is the highest. Deprivation here is among the worst. Belfast has some of the worst poverty in the UK. This isn't a new trend, it's been here decades, throughout the troubles and thereafter.

Investors simply don't want to come here. They never have, even post-GFA. There is simply nothing to attract them here ahead of any of the main UK or southern Irish cities.

If people are happy with the status quo to continue without considering future options then fair play. All nationalistic ideology aside there are genuine arguments for a unified Irish state.

No one in my mind is calling for it immediately. It is certainly worthy of discussion. That poll the other day should be taken with a pinch of salt. If it had been taken at the height of the Celtic Tiger boom there'd have been panic stations all round.

For the record I am totally in favour of LGBT rights, but some of these arguments are ridiculous. The nature argument can work both ways

And as for the "natural" argument, homosexuality is widespread in nature. It's been observed in thousands of species and was well documented in about 500 species last time I looked.

So has zebras mating with horses and lions mating with tigers. Should humans now be permitted to shag bonobos? (Queue the Tyrone posters getting excited)

^^^^^^^

Let me guess. A middle class SDLP voter?

So quick to badge. And so quick to do so with a tone of dismissal.

I'd prefer to describe myself as a realist.

I really can't understand how anyone older than 30, who can actually remember what a dire, shitty place NI was to live in during the 70s and 80s, would welcome a situation that would bring those circumstances back again.

Well then as a realist you must also recognise that economically NI is, was, and forever will be an economic basketcast?

I mean, you speak of London bankrolling the UK, have you forgotten Scotland and it's oil reserves? Have you also over-looked how the (disproportionate) majority of spend in the UK goes to London/South east England?

As a realist I take it that you are mindful that some of the worst areas in terms of deprivation in the UK are in West Belfast and East Belfast? And that the majority of output areas that are worse-off for deprivation here happen to be Nationalist?

You must have also taken notice of shop vacancy in our towns and cities? Highest in the UK you know. (Not to mention all that empty office space lying idle in Belfast).

Again as a realist you must have also acknowledged how well NI and in particular Belfast rates for economic competitiveness? I mean post-GFA there's been a huge queue forming from blue-chip companies and outside investors just dying to set up shop here.  And all the while unemployment decreases in England, Scotland and Wales; it increases here 

NI might have been 'dire' and 'shitty' during the Troubles and I don't dispute that. Who's to say a return to that is imminent? Loyalists are simply incapable of a return to the widespread killing that occurred during the conflict without their masters pulling the strings.

NI reminds me of the child with the rich parents. Totally dependent but never short on pocket money/handouts and given a token job in the family business.

^^^^^^^

Let me guess. A middle class SDLP voter?

The drinking culture in the top teams in the late 80s/90s was rampant and was one of the things Sir Alex addressed when taking over at Old Trafford. Certainly not the worst influence to have on a player such as Gazza.

Roy Keane is an Irish legend. End of.

That's good I reckon, leaving the ends uncovered gives a good frame for Black Mountain in the background.

Answer me this.

What is happening the floodlights? Are they being retained? They're relatively new so it would be a shame if they were replaced.

.

.

.

.