culduthel

A "Team New Zealand" round. Eight up with nine to play.

The player - ex Thistle

Someone somewhere responded to a discussion about Titchy Black - RIP Titchy Black. What happened to him?

Reading various pieces on the Named Person legislation being introduced in Scotland. Is it really something that people want? Is every single child really going to have a Named Person allocated to them? How do people with children feel about all of this? From this end of the world it looks pretty scary and draconian.

Melvins Bookshop - Union Street

I have been disappointed and embarrassed with the early performance or non-performance of the SNP MPs in the HoP ( mostly childish pranks as far as I can see - pinching peoples seats, clapping against convention and hogging the bar - wow! what an impact ). I think we need a topic that follows and assesses their performance during the course of this Parliament to ensure they are held to account for their representation of their constituents and the Scottish people. I am sure there are many swinging voters who will be watching with a keen eye to see if this tranche of MPs is effective and does any good. If not many of these MPs could lose their seats at the next election. I am keen to see them do well ( now that they are there ) and to see them perform at a level that will see Scotland being treated with the respect it deserves and in turn seeing all our MPs treating the rest of the UK with the respect that they deserve. Have yet to see any one of the SNP MPS earn a Bouquet. Time will tell.

The FIFA Under 20 World Cup ( the second largest football tournament in the world ) kicked off this afternoon in Auckland. Nil all draw between NZ and Ukraine to start us off. Quite a good game. Have just been watching the USA vs Myanmar. Another good game with open flowing football. A lot of players in the tournament are signed with top clubs in Europe and South America so should be an entertaining few weeks. Argentina are favourites to win. Hoping for a Brazil vs Argentina final. Have my tickets for the group stages, quarters, semis and final. Tune in and watch if you get a chance you will be surprised at the level of skill on display. All the best to the boys at Hampden Park this avo. Cannot believe that it is not being screened live here in NZ.

I'm afraid that Salmond will find that it is a mouse that has roared not a lion when all these SNP MPs get to Westminster.

Yes I know what you mean Renegade. However a lot of the reporting and film has been sourced from the U.K. with many of the pieces being presented and commentated upon by people with Scottish accents. Some of the material is from Australia. If my memory serves me right Scottish television was always pretty appalling as well. Has it improved that much in your estimation? Reports are now coming through that individuals are being suspended from the SNP for their violent behaviour. Is this happening on another Planet or in Scotland? I have lived in six different countries in my life time and Scottish Television has to rate amongst the worst I have experienced.

Most reports in NZ are now equating the SNP and supporters as Fascist, bigoted and racist. It is reported that SNP supporter tactics, antics and behaviour are reminiscent and consistent with those of Nazi Party supporters in the early 1930's. The most disturbing of the lot is the hatred being levelled at English people. Some of the video footage is a very ugly and disturbing. It is also reported that some on-line comments are being made by SNP supporters that they wished that they had used violence during the referendum to secure a Yes victory. Is this true? I cannot believe that Scottish people are heading down this road. One panel commentator here in NZ compared the situation in Scotland as similar to that of Ireland in the early 1900's when the Irish Nationalist returned around 59 MPs to Westminster. They felt it was only a matter of time before SNP Nationalists pick up arms and started killing fellow Scots. There is a very strong view here that the SNP are a racist organisation supported by racists. Sad days.

Scotty, I purchased the full set of this on DVD from Amazon about five years ago. It was great watching it again. It brought back so many happy memories watching it as a child - from the haunting memorable music to the quaint language of the narrator. Best of all is that it stayed true to the original novel and didn't try any smart arse politically correct variations. A version of Robinson Crusoe starring Peter O'Toole released later, while highly watchable, was highly inaccurate when it came to keeping faith with DeFoe's original. It is well worth reading the original novel to get a sense of what life was like back in the 18th Century.

Middle Class! Culduthel, middle class? Please! We are much more refined than that. Try elsewhere for your middle classes.

I now want to see Maradona carpeted and banned for the "hand of god' incident in 1986 and the World Cup final stages of the tournament replayed as a matter of course even if we have to bring out all the old players and have them replay it all. This would be consistent with the way the SFA approach a missed hand ball in a match. Petitions anyone?

ICT in the Scottish Cup Final with a very good chance of winning it - dreams are made of this. By the way how come the mighty Celtic support only managed to cough up about 25,000 supporters for the Semi. Majority probably saving up for the Final. Or perhaps the majority of their support had no interest in the game.

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