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I really dont understand the logic behind this ideal at all. We have a public service which currently has far too many days off (annual leave, concession days, etc.) with the net result of insufficient supply/cover to meet the demand. So what does our govt do - tells the public service to take more time off, albeit for no pay. Do they really think this will solve anything, except temporarily plug a hole in the finances.

Would they not be better off taking a week off the annual leave entitlements across the board. So you get more output straight away. This could then allow the govt to cut alot of temporary PS jobs and reduce the need for some overtime. The result would be a more efficient service, and some savings in finance.

Steve what did you go for?
Thinking of purchasing myself, have my eye on the Nikon D40.  Only thing is i would like video included. Any ideas anyone?

Carmen, I ended up getting the Canon EOS 450D, and very happy with it. Doesnt have a video but we werent really too bothered about that. Went to a very good camera shop to get a feel for the various Nikon and Canon models, and we just preferred the 450D. We then bought it brand new on Ebay including a host of extras and saved a fortune.

Good luck..

I got this in an email today. thought it was quite funny. not sure if it was posted already.

I just have a few short words to say to Manchester United fans, players, staff and management this morning...

Tough tits.

Yes it should have been a penalty, yes you were wrongly flagged for offside at 0-0, yes the goal should have been disallowed for interfering with play, yes it probably should have been disallowed for being offside - but it wasn't, and it was ALL against you and that's what makes it EVEN BETTER!

Let me remind you of a date - September 23rd 2007. Chelsea took on Manchester United at Old Trafford in Avram Grant's first game. After Mikel gets harshly sent off (but set the tone for subsequent red cards in the weeks that followed), Tevez scores three minutes into two minutes of first-half stoppage time which there was no justifiable reason to be added on. Then, at the end, Saha cons and scores from a penalty with the most outrageous swallow dive you'll ever see after a 'tackle' from Ben Haim - and if that wasn't bad enough - it happened outside the box as well. Final Score 2-0. United get 3 points and come the end of the season, United win the title - by two points.

Yesterday's victory was for any team that's rightly or wrongly felt a sense of injustice against Manchester United and their twelfth man in the last 15 years. That was for Oldham in the 1994 FA Cup Semi Final, that was for Middlesbrough and the numerous Ronaldo penalties that never should have been, that was for Newcastle when Solskjaer hacked down Robert Lee when clean through and then received a standing ovation, that was for Blackburn and the goal-kick that became a corner that became a Tevez goal, that was for Manchester City, Sheffield Wednesday and the numerous other victims of 'Fergie Time', that was for Tottenham and the Pedro Mendez half-way line goal that never was that led to Roy Carroll's beady eyes looking over at the linesman, that was for Arsenal and the Rooney dive that led to a penalty and ended their 49-game unbeaten run (which to be fair, we benefited from).

Man Utd (and imagine me saying those two words like Paul Merson does) - take that defeat like we've all had to and try and take your boring Ronaldoless team to the top of the table again.
Jamie (Chelsea) Doherty, Slough

As per normal this season, nervous again tonight. If we don't win this we may as well give up.

Team I would like to see.

Reina
Johnson Agger Skrtl Insua
Babel Mascherano Lucas Benyaoun
Aquilaini
N Gog

Keep Torres and Gerrard in reserve.

Cant see that happenning. Rafa just doesnt drop kuyt, he'll be first on the list tonight. I can see a similar line up to the team that played united, with skrtl coming in for carragher. Aquilani, Babel & Riera on the bench if needed.

whats the team likely to be?
something like: 

            riena
Darby carra agger insua
      mash     lucas
kuyt   aqualani      benny
         torres

think thats aboutt he strongest they can put out.means giving darby a edbut at right back, but its either that or play cara there and play that greek  fella in the centre

Thats probably the strongest starting 11 we can hope for (Johnson & Aurelio are both definitely out).

However, as was mentioned previously in this thread, it's unlikely that Torres & Aquilani will finish the game so it might be better only starting one of them. I'd definitely start Torres & bring on Aquilani if needed. Could start kuyt upfront with Torres and put babel on the wing. Aquilani then to replace torres and play just behind kuyt.

I'd expect a big performance from the team tonight.

[does anyone actually know who else is in the squad?]

This is getting scary.

Skrtel, Kelly, Degen, Gerard and Riera definitely won't travel to Lyon then Johnson, Agger, Aurelio, Ngog and Aquilani will all face late fitness tests and Torres is only likely to get 60 minutes again.

That is bleak, this could well get worse.

If Agger and Johnson don't make it through the fitness tests who the hell plays right back? Degen is out because he was never selected in the Champions League squad, does anyone actually know who else is in the squad?

Goalkeepers - Reina, Cavalieri, Martin
Defenders - Johnson, Agger, Insua, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio, Kyrgiakos, Darby, Kelly, Dossena
Midfielders - Aquilani, Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas, Riera, Benayoun, Babel, Spearing, Plessis
Forwards - Torres, Kuyt, Voronin, NGog, Amoo, Eccleston

Sounds like johnson is a real doubt, but im just praying that agger & aquilani make it. team could be:

          reina
darby carra agger insua
kuyt masch lucas benny
         aquilani
          torres

we can only hope a 60minute torres does enough for the win. it is as bleak as I've ever seen it.

No Gerrard, Johnson or Aquilani today and riera still out. Torres still not fully fit, but will play. So it wont be easy, but with Torres on the pitch, Liverpool are always good for a goal. Who'll start at right back - Carragher, Degen?

My guess:
reina
degen, carra, agger, insua
benny, masch, lucas, aurelio
torres, kuyt

Was in Anfield on sunday. What an atmosphere, absolutely unbelievable. The noise was deafening at times and the whole ground was bouncing after the Torres goal.

On the game itself, I thought Liverpool were immense and should have won by more: VDS pulled off great save from aurelio free kick, Kuyt should have scored in first half when sent in by Lucas and Kuyt again should have shot in the 2nd half when Benny set him up. Benny himself had what looked like a great chance in 2nd half when he dribbled in but took one touch too many. Aurelio came close with a decent header. The win was setup by the Liverpool midfield who totally bossed their united counterparts, and also a defence which didnt give an inch. As for united, I was surprised how poor they were - must be so frustrating to be a united fan having to watch berbatov every week - I'll probably get slated for this but give me dirk kuyt any day over the lazy bulgarian. Also not very impressed with valencia, Liverpool are weak at left back and were there for the taking but valencia seemed unwilling or unable to beat his man. O'Shea played well and was one of united best players, Vidic & Rio were just running scared all day and evra had one of his worst days with benny causing all sorts of trouble down that side.

As for the referee, thought he was poor overall but I cant have any of this "he gave everything to Liverpool" stuff. I was in Anfield road end and had a good view of everything down that end of the ground and there were loads of 50-50 tackles that went to united - Kuyt disposessing Evra in the first half, Masch on valencia in the 2nd, Lucas had two tackles i think - one on giggs and cant remember who the other one was. Also, the Carra incident - it was clear to everyone down that end of the ground that owen fouled carragher first, the crowd was livid that the ref gave a free to united. Also had a clear view of kuyt being pulled by Berbatov (i think) - didnt seem to be much in it, no penalty from what I could see. Now on the other side of things, Lucas definitely should have seen yellow and Masch should have got booked earlier (as should vidic by the way). The vidic 2nd yellow was a cert, cant have any arguments there. On the carrick "penalty", obviously I couldnt see it too well from anfield road end, so maybe the ref got it wrong but there didnt seem to be many shouts for penalty from the utd team. Also, I couldnt see what berbatov did to get booked, seemed a strange one - was it verbals??? Finally 5mins injury time - madness!!! Now all of the above is honestly how I saw it from the stand, havent seen any of it on TV, so I could be wrong on some of that. But overall, the ref was very poor but certainly didnt favour Liverpool.

As for all the pre-match talk about Rafa, people need to take a reality check. Rafa is far from perfect (his man management skills in particular are poor) but he is a good manager who is just about holding the team together in an unbelievable situation. Take voronin for instance - Rafa could have sold him for 3m to berlin but was told that he couldnt then use that money for further transfers. He also wanted turner from hull, but again no money available. Barry situation last year, it goes on and on. And he's supposed to be able to compete with united/chelsea in those circumstances!!! The yanks are on the verge of bankrupting the club and I really do fear for the future. Rafa is the least of my worries.

Finally, it was a very sweet win over the old enemy and one that I was glad to be at, but I cant really see us mounting a serious title challenge. After 10 games, Liverpool are 5 points worse off this year than the same games last year, which isnt actually too bad. But united are 2 points better off!! The only thing is that I cant see any team getting 90points this year, there are alot more teams this year capable of taking points of united/chelsea so even 85 points could be sufficient. And it needs to be at that level for Liverpool to have a chance.

This will be a big test for Liverpool with the 2 main men out. As we seen a couple of weeks ago Sunderland are a serious outfit. If Liverpool drop another 3 points tomorrow they are out of contention to win the league and will be worried about top 4.

Yea, totally agree with that. Along with injuries to Torres & Gerrard, the 3 south american amigos are returning from international duty and with their long haul flights, they'll hardly be in super shape for the sunderland game.

both of them picked up groin strains on international duty, i think. 

will be doing very well to pick up a point at sunderland now.

["We now have Chelsea away at the weekend in an important Premier League game. I believe you will see a different Liverpool in that match, a totally different performance with a different mentality.]

Rafa obviously fuming about the performance last night, and rightly so. I thought Rafa was very slow to make changes but also the attitude & effort from some of the players was a disgrace. They didnt seem to care.

Hopefully he's right about the performance for the chelsea game. Need at least a draw in that game.

Rafa rages at lacklustre Liverpool
Rafael Benitez could find absolutely no positives after seeing Liverpool beaten 2-0 in an awful Champions League display at Fiorentina.


The Spaniard seemed to suggest it was the worst European performance under his Anfield management after admitting the Reds were simply never in the game.

Two first-half goals from teenage striker Stevan Jovetic stunned Liverpool, and even with an improved display after break, the damage had already been done.

Benitez said: "In that first-half we did not play well, there were too many mistakes and problems. We did improve, but it was not enough.

"Our mentality in that opening period was just not right, we were bad all over the pitch and I cannot really recall a performance like that.

"They were on top of us all the time, we played badly and they were just better than us."

Liverpool went behind when Jovetic broke the offside trap with Adrian Mutu deemed not to be interfering with play.

"It is the new law, and another mistake by us," Benitez said.

"If a player is in such a position he is offside, and it makes it difficult for defenders who are distracted by him. But the law says the other player coming from deep is fine, he can go through. Just another error by us."

Jovetic took advantage of poor defending on the near post to claim his second, and Benitez was also critical of the tackling and pressing from his team.

He said: "I was not only disappointed with the challenging in midfield but all over the pitch.

"But they did not produce anything we did not expect. We had watched them, we knew about Jovetic, there was nothing new out there that surprised us. But we still played badly.

"We now have Chelsea away at the weekend in an important Premier League game. I believe you will see a different Liverpool in that match, a totally different performance with a different mentality.

"Then we have Lyon home and away in this group, they are the leaders and it means we have to now win them both.

"We certainly will not be as bad again. If you make too many mistakes against such sides, you will be punished. It is very simple.

"Mentally we will have better days than this. We did improve, but we needed to score early in the second-half. We had the chances but we failed to take them."

Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli was delighted with his own team.

The former Juventus player said: "We were fantastic, that is the best performance I have seen by a Fiorentina side in the four years I have been in charge.

"Liverpool did not play well, but that was because of the performance of my team. We were outstanding.

"Especially in that first-half when we were just fantastic. The pressure we put Liverpool under all over the pitch was wonderful to watch.

"But although we played well, I believe we can still improve, and we will have to if we are to qualify from this group.

"To have beaten such a great team with such brilliant players was an achievement, but we must not waste this and we now need to keep winning in this group.

"I will now rotate my squad for the weekend, this team is not just 11 players, but a real squad. Everyone has to play their part.

"I was delighted with Jovetic. I have always said he has great talent, but last season maybe he did not play for the team, now is working for everyone else and he is gaining his rewards."

Just in relation to Torres, I read in a sunday paper that he has scored 32 goals in his last 34 games in Anfield. Now, that obviously includes all competitions and some goals against brutally bad teams, but that record is absolutely incredible by any standards.

[Kuyt's importance to Liverpool is illustrated in that he is only two goals away from equalling Reds legend Ian Rush's tally of 14 European Cup goals.]

In Corn02's absence I had to post this interview with Rafa high praise of Kuyt.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has aimed a swipe back at Jermaine Pennant following the former Reds winger's criticism of his methods.

Pennant hit out Benitez's man-management skills, accusing the Spaniard of turning him into a 'robot' during his time at Anfield.

The Real Zaragoza new-boy also criticised Dirk Kuyt, who took Pennant's place in Benitez's side, labelling the Dutchman as a failed forward who was accommodated in the team because of his high transfer fee.

Benitez has jumped to Kuyt's defence, hailing the Dutchman's team ethic in not complaining when being reverted from a striker to a winger and also suggesting Kuyt would be willing to play anywhere for the Liverpool cause.

"I saw what he [Pennant] had to say, but I don't intend saying too much about him," said Benitez.

"Kuyt's record is there for everyone to see and he doesn't need me to defend him. You only need to look at the impact he has made to see he is picked on merit and has become an extremely important member of our squad.

"He speaks out on the pitch and doesn't have to say a single word to justify his place. He is a striker who is as effective on the wing or as second striker, and, as you can see from his record, he scores goals as well as working hard.

"He is the sort of player who would be good for any manager. We signed him then extended his contract because we knew he was an excellent player and outstanding professional. I could put him in central defence and he would be as good as anyone."

Kuyt's importance to Liverpool is illustrated in that he is only two goals away from equalling Reds legend Ian Rush's tally of 14 European Cup goals.

The former Feyenoord man admits it would be an honour to join the likes of Rush in the Liverpool record boos and he is at a loss to explain why he is so prolific in Europe compared to the Premier League.

"To have the chance to maybe draw level with someone like Ian Rush is unbelievable," said Kuyt.

"He is one of the biggest names in the history of Liverpool and it would give me a great feeling if I could manage to do that."

"The milestones are nice but, if you don't have anything to go with them like a trophy, then it is not the same.

"I'm not sure why it has gone so well for me.

"I don't try and do anything different from in the Premier League but I do feel confident going into big Champions League games."

Fairly impressive that Kuyt is close to Rush's european cup record although Rush would have alot more goals if the existing CL format was in place back then.

That gimp Pennant isnt even worth talking about, although it was a nice swipe by Rafa.

Would only have met & spoken to the man a few times, but echo eveything that has been said here - an absolute gentleman and a great character. Unfortunately Im not old enough to remember him playing, but seemingly an absolute legend on the pitch particularly his fielding ability. Sincere sympathy to his family and friends, May he rest in peace.

How can Straw 'pardon' him of a crime commited and convicted outside the uk?

Something to do with prisoner transfer laws. It was actually the bulgarian authorities who initially claimed that Straw had the power to pardon Shields. A judicial inquiry was then set up last year to investigate if this was true, and they came back with the same finding, however it was only Straw who could pardon him and not the courts.

It does seem strange to me. As I said, I think the initial investigation and arrest was a farce and the case should have been thrown out. But once convicted, I dont think he should have been pardoned. Could set a dangerous precedent. If there was new evidence, then just appeal and reopen the case.