DoofersDad

No need to do that. There would be a standard clause in any agreement to prevent him playing against Celtic. In any case, Celtic would probably want us to be as strong as possible to knock out other sides like Aberdeen before any possibility of us meeting them again. It would not be in their interest to have Stokes cup-tied before sending him out on loan.

HT 0-2 FT 1-5 ICT Warren Opp Robertson Time 31 mins

Yes. He needs to prove he can still do what he did previously.

One tends to forget that the lad is still only 27. He should be at the peak of powers at the moment. If Yogi can do for him what McIntyre has done for Boyce OTB then getting Stokes on loan for the rest of the season could be a great bit of business for us. It would also give the player the kind of confidence boost he needs. Having said that, I personally doubt it will happen.

I think you are being a tad harsh on young Horner. He's come into the side in difficult circumstances and has done pretty well on the whole. There is no reason why he can't develop into a good squad player. He certainly doesn't lack for effort and that was rewarded with a late goal in his last game. And he does have a better strike rate than Lopez!

Brilliant news!

And, as a result of those games and a postponement, it was the only game played between 2 teams who are now sitting in the top six.

That really would be "unforgettable".

I thought Vincent was superb. He kept chasing and harrying the County back four and the keeper and pressurising them into hurried passes and mistakes. He kept running and changing direction up front and making more space for Storey. Storey certainly caught the eye more and was far more effective on the ball but Vincent also made a massive contribution to our win.

What a scoreline! Having secured a victory after again conceding a 2 goal lead should be a boost to the players and a reminder to the manager that we have midfielders capable of scoring if only they are allowed to press forward. That's 4 excellent points and 6 goals in very poor weather conditions and to my mind, an excellent advert for winter football. The thing is, the worse the weather gets the more difficult it gets to pass the ball prettily out of defence and play tippy tappy stuff in the middle of the park. Instead, the players get back to the basic fact that the team that scores the most goals wins the game. Get the ball up the park and pressure the opposing defence into making errors and the chances will come. Its a good strategy at the best of times and provides for a lot more excitement to warm the cockles on a cold wet winter's day.

In my day if you ended a match with so much of the shirt colour still visible you would have been criticised for not getting stuck in enough

HT 1-1 FT 2-2 ICT Storey Opp Irvine Time 1st goal 7 mins 1st Yellow Tremarco

HT 0-1 FT 1-2 ICT Polworth Opp Crawford Time 1st goal 36 mins 1st booking Raven

HT 1-0 FT 3-1 ICT Warren Opp Rooney 1st goal 16 mins 1st Yellow Polworth

Now this is the sort of response the SNP will give when you do actually get a response. What Robbylad says is true in as far as it goes but it deliberately avoids the issue. Whilst it was not in Swinney's power to increase the higher band of taxation, the fact remains that the poorest in our society do not pay any tax at all and those who earn just a bit above the income tax threshold pay very little. As Robbylad correctly states, a rise in the basic rate of income tax would have hit everyone who pays income tax, but what he fails to acknowledge is that those who earn more would have paid more! Robbylad also avoids the issue of the Council Tax which not only could have been raised but which could have been raised to a different degree within different bands. Again this would have led to the better off paying proportionately more. It was an option open to the SNP and it was an option they decided not to follow. As a direct result of this politically motivated budget, the poorest and most vulnerable in our society will be worse of than they need to be. It is also worth picking up on Bobyjag's point about only 50% of folk knowing who Dugdale is. What an appallingly depressing statistic that is in the way it reflects political engagement in Scotland! If only 50% of the population know who the leader of the main opposition party is, then what hope is there that they actually listen to what politicians are saying, and follow and think about the arguments they make? What hope is there that they actually explore issues beyond the kind of superficial and inherently misleading one liners of the type Robbylad posted? Enough of this. It's too depressing! I can at least take comfort from the fact that we are not facing the New Year as an independent nation facing an uncertain economic future with depressed oil prices and the prospect of massive loan repayments. Instead we remain part of a country with one of the strongest growing economies in the world and have the opportunity in May to elect a new Government which, unlike this wretched SNP administration, is prepared to use the devolved powers it has for the benefit of the people. Thanks to Robbylad for his Christmas wishes and in turn I would like to wish him and everyone else a lovely festive break.

Welcome to the forum, Ed! I think the deafening silence from all the SNP folk on here provides the answer to your question. But the point of the budget was not to do something the electorate would like or which the SNP think would be good for the country, it was to do something which was unpopular and which could be blamed on the Tories in Westminster. Being able to blame the Westminster Government for the hardship facing many of our citizens is a far more important consideration for the SNP than the fact that our citizens are facing hardship. Hence a budget that increases the hardship when currently devolved powers provided an opportunity to increase taxation of the better off in order to better address some of the social problems in our society. The budget suits the SNP's purpose but is not something they want to debate.

It is hardly a surprise to see a further fall in support of the Labour Party, but what I do find surprising is the failure of the Tories and, in particular, the Lib Dems to start to pick up support from the low base they have fallen to. Both Ruth Davidson and Willie Rennie are likable personalities and have been very effective in pointing out the failings and hypocrisy of the SNP administration. But it seems nobody is listening to reasoned political argument any more. As some of us said during the referendum, the SNP appear to have reduced political argument to social media sound bites and support for the SNP seems to based on following a trend rather than considering the arguments. Like many popular brands, the SNP's product is low quality and expensive and relies purely on slick marketting for it's success. They claim credit for everything good and blame Westminster for anything the voters don't like. They get away with it because so many voters can't be bothered to look at the detail to understand that all too often the credit should be going to Westminster and the blame to Holyrood. As long as voters only concern themselves with the superficial image of the SNP and their vote winning sound bites then they will continue to flourish.

Alex, you seem to be getting the hang of SNP evasion tactics. You say you have given up on sensible comment because you don't like Charles's "vitriol". Yet you keep responding to him and not my, hopefully, objective comments. If you think Charles's posts spoil the debate then don't respond to them! You don't even have to read them! But please, don't use them as an excuse to refrain from sensible debate. You are better than that. And goodness knows, we need somebody who can make some serious effort to defend what they are doing. I have posted a couple of posts strongly criticising Swinney's budget but nobody has made any attempt to take issue with me or to defend the budget. They do say that attack is the best form of defense and it does rather look to me as though you are attacking Charles because you can't defend the SNP over this Tory copying austerity budget. But I rather enjoy Charles's posts. I think it is because I share his contempt for the SNP in the way in which they sway with the wind, blame anyone but themselves when things go wrong, and adopt a shamelessly populist stance on all issues with the sole aim of gaining independence. There may be parties with more objectionable ideologies (BNP for example) but at least they make pronouncements and take action consistent with their political ideology. The SNP are only interested in gaining independence, and if those who have been persuaded to support them by the sway with the wind populist rhetoric find they have been shafted afterwards, then as far as the SNP are concerned it will be job done and a price worth paying. Charles treats the SNP with contempt, because they are contemptible. But please be fair, whilst some of his posts may be rants, others make very valid and hard hitting points (like his post above titled "Swinney Bottles it".) Of course, it is those hard hitting, objective posts which don't attract the responses!

It wasn't great but Polworth and Vincent provided a little bit more forward movement than usual with the result that we did get a few more chances at goal and a few more corners. Tansey's delivery at the corners was excellent but we weren't able to to take advantage of that. However, defensively we were poor. Several have singled Horner out for criticism but we were poor defensively in general. Billy Mckay at his best would have had a hat trick before half time. It was a relief to get the draw at the end. Utd looked far more threatening than us going forward in the first half and had they converted more of their chances we could have been seriously embarrassed. We need Raven back and for Meekings to be back in his central role. But the real problem is up front. We either move forward with tippy tappy passing allowing the opposition to get men behind the ball, or we punt a long ball forward more in hope than expectation. Storey cuts a lonely figure up front and seems to have lost some of his initial spark. We rarely look threatening and unless that changes we are going to seriously struggle this season. We urgently need Doran fit again and hope that a fit Roberts can contribute some positivity to our play. Is there any word on how close they may be to a return?

There's nowt so queer as folk. I read that too and it seems quite extraordinary. I'm not sure you could describe the opposition as "huge" but the gist of it seems to be that the proposal is to replace the current community centre in the Merkinch with a significantly bigger and better one. It seems some protesters like the current place as it is and would feel intimidated about going into a bigger place. Meanwhile, a larger place would allow better facilities for current and additional activities thereby enabling a wider range of individuals and groups to engage in community based activities. The Council Official quoted in the report makes it quite clear that plans are at an early stage and if they can identify resource then the Council will consult with the community to identify what services folk want. Added to which, the report makes clear that the current building is deemed not to be a long term option. Fortunately we live in a democracy and decisions are made through a democratic process and not by a small number of protestors and journalists stirring things up to make a story. The area is served by 4 Councillors and if the community was genuinely opposed to the proposal you can be pretty sure they would be telling the Council that and the proposal would be dead in the water. You'll note that it was reported that 3 of the Councillors spoke to the demonstrators but the reporter failed to quote any comment any of them might have made. I guess quoting the Councillors talking about the broader community support for improved facilities would have ruined the story. The worry here must be that unless the community are united in supporting improved facilities, a cash strapped Council might see cancelling the project as a way of saving money. Other groups will then not get the facilities they need and then, when the current building is no longer fit for purpose, one of the most deprived communities in Highland would be left with even fewer community facilities.

Never mind the weather - May offers the last few games of the season and perhaps a cup final.

Scrooge Swinney has ensured it won't be a very merry Christmas for Council workers threatened with redundancy or reduced hours, or for the folk who receive the services these workers provide.

This is indeed welcome news both from the perspective of housing justice and related services in more appropriate premises and because it will release the undoubted tourism potential of the Castle. But before we get too carried away with this scrap of good news we should remember that the budget overall is an appalling one for the Highlands. Whilst there may be money for the justice service, the Highland Council is facing a budget shortfall of around £40m as a result of the austerity measures proposed by the SNP Government. Swinney's budget was even more Tory than Osborne's! Is there really anybody left who actually believes the SNP are the party to deliver social justice in Scotland? Or are people finally getting the message that the SNP are prepared to sacrifice the needs of the most vulnerable in our society in their manic pursuit of independence? Any credibility the SNP might have had left before was surely blown apart by yesterday's shameful budget.

HT 0-1 Ft 2-1 ICT Warren Opp Mckay Time 18mins

Actually, the truth is that he was recruited by the FBI at an early age as part of their master plan to discredit the game in Western Europe through shocking refereeing decisions. This was in the vain hope that we would all stop watching football and would spend our money watching American "football" instead.