The Mantis

Mainly what Yngwie says. The guys got another 120 minutes under their belts to gel and you could see which team had the quality on a very difficult wet and windy night. The Warriors are a decent side, clearly used to the plastic pitch and usually trying to pass it. Our guys must get their share of training on these pitches but probably indoors? This one was so wet and slick the ball kept skidding out if you overplayed a pass slightly. The pen looked a wee bit unnecessary, a rash challenge from 'The White Lionel' who otherwise did OK. Strictly speaking Stenny did hit the bar before ht but it was a harmless cross cum shot from out right which was going well over till it swirled in the wind and glanced off the bar and went over. Ryan never really had much to do all night and looked frozen. His back four kept him pretty covered all night apart from the time 3 of them were standing in a wee group leaving it to each other Just like at Easter Road, Roberts came on and injected a bit of urgency. He was getting pelters from the home support for his 'enthusiastic' challenges. He'll be one of these players everybody in the SPL will know, like Foran or Tokely and once he settles cools down he could be a real asset. Respect to the home keeper for his banter but not so much to the pen taker who flashed us a girfuy after he scored

It's not the second rung, though. Because the SFL is a closed shop it can invite applications any time it fancies. Airdrie just franchised their way back in, and I'm sure Rangers could have done the same.

Maybe even Wanderer? What pub then big man?

Obviously give C(o)unty credit for pulling in a decent support for the size of the place compared to us , yes I know they come from all over Ross shire but still..... OK that's enough credit! When teams make their second visit of the season they tend to bring about half as many as the first visit. Loads of examples from our place of teams like Partick, St Mirren, Dunfermline and even Hearts & Hibs who couldn't be bothered the second time round. I don't think the cabbagemen will see 4000 again for the 6 teams outside of the Dons, Hearts, Hibs, Celtic and us. Especially if they keep getting 0-0. Mind you they could get up to their old tricks and I'll be wrong

I remember he played in that game at Brechin which I think was 5-0, but I was watching the game through a Ledaig-inspired haze so what do I know.

Ach Charles you need to find a better example than Traynor. His ignorance extends to the Borders as well . Salmond - obviously you'd like the guy hung up in Smithfield or wherever, but I challenged you numerous times before to provide examples of his blaming the 'Unglish' for anything. I think, in your dotage, you're confusing him with somebody else Yes, I suppose it's all down to perception. I reckon if I lived in Shetland, a place I visit regularly, I would have a different view. But the Highlands itself is more Nat than where I come from. Obviously they don't mind Wee Eck too much over in Banff/Buchan/Gordon. Now let's get your Independent Highland Republic underway so folks in Culbokie can complain about those nasty Sneckites denying them a bypass

I've never actually watched it so can't comment. However there needs to be an acknowledgement by our 'world class' broadcasting corporation that in Scotland, about 50% of place names are stressed on the second or third syllable (and this is true in many other cultures worldwide) whereas English placenames are virtually 100% on the first syllable.

The question of the BBC is actually one of the few areas where I think the 'better together' camp have a point (as opposed to the scaremongering about how we'll not win as many medals at the olympics etc etc :laugh: ) and I've never made any secret of that. That doesn't mean it outweighs the fundamental right of a nation to govern itself...... There was a guy on Radio Scotland the other day (Greg somebody, surely not Greg Dyke?) sneering at how small Scotland was and how you had to move to London to be any good in cinema, despite many examples being given to him of small nations producing great films. He was speechless when he was reminded that Edinburgh hosts the largest arts festival in the entire world. Mind you who knows where broadcasting will be in 10 years time? We all have broadband now and access to high quality stuff worldwide. Maybe traditional telly is on the way out, or they can fill it with the stuff I never watch anyway. But although it's become a bit of a cliche to describe the BBC as 'World Class', how about a bit of fairness/equality now and again? The example of locating Waterloo Road is just tokenism at its worst. Is that the best they can do? How about acknowledging that Scotland is a country, not a county? So when we get a story from 'Rochdale in Lancashire' follow it up with 'Kirkcaldy in Fife' not 'Kirkcaldy in Scotland'. You'd probably be doing the Unionists a favour - after all, we're as British as anybody else, so why make us feel like an ethnic minority? Same goes for the weather forecasts. It's not helpful to be told that there will be showers in parts of East Anglia and also "up in Scotland". And get rid of that bloody map. It's probably already influenced a generation who think that Scotland is about a third of the size it really is. Now come on Charles, give us ONE Scottish artist you really admire

About 3 years ago the BBC, despite getting that 9% of its income you mention, was told by one of these 'independent' reports (I forget which, now) that it was only sourcing 3% of its output from Scotland and it should be bumping it up to 9% - which, up to now, it has signally failed to do. So we still get high culture beamed into our living rooms nightly in the form of Eastenders, and daily in the form of a soap about doctors, and all these complacent middle-class househunting programmes. Meanwhile all that the rest of the UK knows about one of the oldest nations in Europe is what they get from stereotypes perpetuated by the Sun and the Evening Standard. Charles, by your constant manifestations of the Scottish Cringe, you really do appear to have an incredibly low opinion of your countrymen.

Back in pre-season I never thought we would get the players to compete with C(o)unty but I feel we have some decent players and can only get better. C(o)unty have a settled team and a great unbeaten record, team spirit, etc but I can't see how they can improve on all those 0-0 draws. Promoted teams usually get found out after the first quarter (except ICT of course, we always do it the other way round).

20 years since Caley went there in the Scottish, what a day that was. Nearly as good news as a trip to Arbroath! I bet Naelifts will be up for this one.

Raven's blunder turned the match. We were well in it till then. As Mary says, dubious decision when Foran was hacked down at 2-1. Defending was shocking though.

Was I the only one that bought smokies then? Had them for our tea last night. Got me a few brownie points

Can they actually buy players or is it just frees they can pick up?

Bullock was good crack too. Sure somebody can fit a banjo joke in there somewhere.......

Well according to Adams he's dropped for Saturday along with the rest of them

You can only play one goalie at a time. It's a striker they need.

Look forward to playing C(o)unty. They can't score, we can't defend, should be interesting :lol: :lol:

Ok I believe you. Maybe you could have phrased it better? I mean 'I hate the English' doesn't leave much room for maneouvre does it Well I'm sorry if that's your perception - it's not mine. It would be a sad reflection on our nation if a party could get a massive majority standing on a 'grievance' ticket It seems pretty clear to me that the election campaign was very positive. The whole point surely is to do so well in the devolved parliament that people will want more. That after 300 years of somebody else running our affairs we're actually mature enough to do it ourselves. Any other approach would be self-defeating. However if Westminster needs to be challenged, it needs to be challenged. One example - fishing is a major industry in Scotland. The British Government doesn't give a toss about fishing because in England and Wales nowadays the industry is pretty non-existent. What would you do? Just let it go? Same with immigration. England is vastly overpopulated. Scotland is underpopulated despite being a wonderful place as you know. Generations of British governments have failed to address this. It's only good for nuclear weapons and hunting and shooting. I've just had a brilliant idea. The government could make Viagra free in Scotland to increase the population. meanwhile the English can have bromine

Mark, I really think you're making a fundamental mistake here in invoking ethnicity once again. Salmond's job is to secure independence for Scotland the place, not 'Scotland for the Scots'. It's the system that nationalists object to - the number of Scots in a British cabinet is totally irrelevant in a United Kingdom, they're Brits, despite what your average London cabbie might think. Just the same as we cannot complain about being landed with the Tories under the system as it stands. Once you realise that, there's no hypocrisy.

Ooh get her! (it'll be Wanderer's car then?)

But I said myself the vast majority don't care. That doesn't stop me watching Question Time, or seeing vox pops on the news, or letters in the papers, when somebody who's obviously never heard of the concept of independence goes 'But why would they want to do that? We're all British!' What a bizarre comment. The Scottish Government is entitled to spend its block grant how it sees fit to help the population. If the Westminster government wants to spend money keeping out foreigners or invading other nations that's their fault. Scotland probably needs a population of about 7-8M to be more viable, we don't want policies that suit the south of England. Should I dignify this with a response? Oh all right then. You've kind of defeated your own argument here. You said it was not personal but here you are making it personal. By implication 'we are all Alex Salmond' :laugh: so the reason many of us are nationalists is not that we think it's better to have our nation run by the people who actually live there (including your good self if you like). No, it's because we all hate the English. I'm sure the likes of Mike Russell will be delighted to hear that, as will my nat voting neighbour from Leeds round the corner. The debate's in its infancy all right

I don't think that's fair comment, apart from the tabloid headline-grabbing stuff. The vast majority simply don't care and if they were asked would simply say 'yes, why not?'

Obviously, political parties are a necessary evil and the SNP are the vehicle for independence. They get my vote for that reason, not because i am a 'fanboy', to use a modern expression. I think they've done a reasonable job in following the corrupt, complacent (especially in my part of the world) Labour administration for whom I have nothing but contempt. Their opposition to independence seems to have more to do with the fact that they would never hold power in the UK again, than any socialist principles some of them might still hold. Despite their inexperience in government I don't think they've done much wrong so far and part of the game is to attack their record anyway - power seems to be a case of juggling so many balls and trying to keep everybody happy at once - the gay lobbyists and the Catholic Church for instance, which would have tested any party. I bet Labour are relieved they don't have to handle that one. Salmond's a fascinating individual for me and I have no problem with his so- called arrogance and smugness. He's good. It's obvious not everybody shares this view but to oppose independence because you despise the sight of wee Eck is not really a sound political principle. Where I do have problems is in the abandonment of the principles such as getting rid of the Queen and the missiles. I reckon this is the reality of politics that Labour have faced in the past and the Nats are now discovering - the internal squabbling. At least so far any hints of corruption in government have been minor. I don't think independence will go away. In 1979 people weren't even able to countenance devolution (well they were- but that's another story). Fast forward to now and people no longer believe the myth that they're too poor and too stupid to be like any other grown up nation. I have no problem with people who are well informed and still genuinely feel British but I respectfully disagree!

Just my tuppence worth as I believe in independence but acknowledge that it's not the majority view. The debate on independence in Scotland is a fairly mature one and has been vigorously waged since I was a student in the 70s and long before that. Sadly, in England the debate is in its infancy (people seem to take it as a personal insult that Scots should want to rule themselves and often Nationalists are described as 'the BNP with kilts') and therefore Laurence, my friend, you have bitten off more than you can chew here. It's no use introducing a political argument, accusing everybody who disagrees of being brainwashed and then throwing the toys out the pram. Just read back some of the personal insults you have dished out to Alex Salmond and anybody who has the temerity to agree with him. Unfortunately you are displaying a colonial attitude and I believe like many people who move to Scotland for 'lifestyle' reasons you have discovered it is not some mystic brigadoon, but a real living nation where people are born, work, eat, fornicate, die. We are not simpletons: we are more politicised than where you come from: just a fact of life. I'm afraid it is indeed scaremongering to tell people horror stories about being cut off from their relatives. Just imagine saying that to a native of Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden or Switzerland where people move freely between borders. Documents released under the 30 year rule have shown that our own (British) government lied to us about the benefits of oil, in order to downplay the whole thing. So why won't they 'let us go'? Simple. Nowhere to keep the missiles. The Americans wouldn't like it. P.S. I know for a fact that teachers in Ireland enjoy better salaries and holidays than teachers in Scotland or the rest of the UK. So do teachers in many other democratic European nations who have the political will. P.P.S. Amazon are in Scotland and in many other nations: why assume the books come from England?