The Real PapaBear

it's every bit as easy as that. The World Service is just British State broadcating, so let the Foreign Office pay for it. BFBS has nothing to do with the BBC and is already paid for by the MoD. The BBC forces us to pay for content that many of us have no interest in - and in many cases forces us to pay them to lie to us. BBC TV is, with the exception of BBC4, wall-to-wall, dumbed-down, infantile shite and their 'news' department is a national disgrace. Their coverage of the Rangers saga has been a text book case of cronyism, cowardice, vindictiveness and downright bigotry in some cases - absolutely par for the course for this shower. The only thing they do well is period dramas and nature programmes, both of which would easily survive in the free market.

excellent bit of writing D'art and you're spot on with everything you say. The only thing I'd add is that nobody who actually knows something about a subject the BBC 'covers' has trusted them for a very long time. They are nothing more than an official State Broadcaster in everything but name. The people who reach the top of this organisation, or the people who are promoted to any sort of power, behind the scenes or in front of the cameras or microphones are put there *because* they are the 'right sort of chap'. A shower of immoral, two-faced, cowards is what they are.

And you just *know* that the front view would shown them wearing two big Fuck Off Crucifixes the size of dinner plates. Religion, football and the combined IQs of a shoal of plankton, not a good combination.

Quality. Now, *that* is the Rangers Way!

I'm just worried that the pull of Old Trafford might be too much for Ally to resist.

If Walter quits Rangers...I don't even want to think about it. The next thing you'll hear is that the club is discovered ten years later living in a house in Ohio. There are only two people we can trust and the other one is managing the team. Take them away and we'd be as well handing the keys to Ibrox in to Janefield Street

Daminus Deius You saw right through me and my ******esque attempt to establish credibility. The game is up, or as we say in Rome, the gameius is upus. Back to the Vatican it is for me, then. I should have known better than to try to infiltrate such a hive of intelligence - it was only a matter of time til I was rumbled. If it wasn't for you pesky proddies, I would have gotten away with it. Ad hominem per adua ad astra, amen

Her sexuality has nothing to do with her being a comedian, but it has everything to do with the point I was making; namely that under the real nazis, homosexuals, like Susan Calman were dispossessed, brutalised and murdered in concentration camps. Under the SNP, who d'art would have us believe are cut from the same cloth, homosexuals, like Susan Calman will be given the same human, civil and legal rights as the rest of us, for the first time in British history, and that to compare the nazis to the snp is extremist language of the most offensive and ludicrous kind. Nor am I saying they should. But one thing they should never do is label democrats nazis, no matter how much they disagree with their policies. Doing so not only renders any valid point you may otherwise have made (and there is an area for legitimate discussion in his core point) but it devalues the terminology so that when they real nazis do appear, you have nothing left to call them.

Quite so - and, indeed, Rangers are frequently referred to on the Continent simply as "Glasgow" - as far as they are concerned, there's only one team in Glasgow.

no, it just seems like yesterday. It was 11 years ago.

If we don't join, all they have is a change in the name of their league. They'll have no more money, no more fans, no more prospect of survival for many of them than they do now. We should not touch this with a bargepole.

ehhhh, Susan Calman is a lesbian comedian, not a "leading academic" - and , thanks to those SNP nazis, she's the type of human being who will now be able to marry the person they love and enjoy the same legal rights as the rest of us. Now, if you feel no shame in comparing the most inclusive and democratic party in Scotland to one of the most evil regimes in the history of humanity, that's up to you - but the question you should be asking yourself (quite apart from what it does to your credibility) is, if you're using such vitriolic and extremist language about a left of centre democratic party, what language remains for you to use about the real nazis?

I've had a wee think about my previous post, D'art and I would only add this: Comparing Scottish nationalism and/or the SNP to the Nazis? You should be fucking ashamed of yourself.

and in one article, you reduce your credibility to less than zero. Goebbels? Nazis? Whilst you and the rest of the unionists were swallowing the removal of our heritage and rights that that English government were taking from you, the "Nazis" in the SNP were protecting free higher education for all Scottish kids; the SNP were protecting free care for the old people, the SNP were protecting free eye exams, the SNP were protecting the NHS in scotland from English/American style privatisation - I could go on and on - all the things that we grew up with, accepting as "normal" are still normal in Scotland, thanks to the SNP. Try living south of the border and you'll soon see how far the rot down there has set in. If you liked the 1950s, it's the place for you. As for your reference to Susan Calman, do I need to remind you that it is an *SNP* government that is pushing through Equality legislation - and was the first in the UK to do so? Labour has had 100 years to do so and failed miserably. But then labour wouldn't want to upset it's "core vote", so no wonder they have been silent on issues such as sexual equality. The SNP, like most reasonable human beings, find bigotry and sectarianism, be it political, sexual or religious utterly reprehensible and, for a 21st century democracy, shameful - and they, to their credit, have tried to do something about it. It may not be perfect, but it's a start. Here's an idea. Go to a football game, as I do. Shout and swear at the opposition, the referee and our defence, as I do. Have a pint and a pie and a laugh with the company, as I do. You'll be fine. But if you start shouting about fucking Popes and f""nians and any other forms of bigotry, you'll be nicked - and that's as it should be.

Reports are coming in that the first Germans have started arriving in London and are putting beach towels over the seats at Wembley.

fight! fight! fight! fight! Absolutely. bottom team in Div 3 to be relegated. The winners of the West or The East juniors or the Highland League to be promoted, depending on where the bottom team in Div 3 comes from. 2nd bottom in Div 3 has a playoff against the winner of a mini-group playoff which includes two other league winners, the runner up to the team that got automatic promotion and the team with the best record across the three junior divisions.

*if* the two additional teams end up adrift (and there's absolutely no evidence to indicate they would) then you still have the teams above them fighting to avoid the relegation play off place. So, unlike the current situation where you usually have one team whose out of it, Dunfermline or Dundee, and the rest playing for nothing, with my idea you have at least three of the 7 fighting to avoid the drop - and possibly all 7 involved. Under my system, with a play off for the second UEFA cup spot, you have at least 5 of the seven teams playing for something at all times, and possibly all seven playing for something. Fourth and fifth. Third gets an automatic place. Or if we only have one CL spot, then second gets the Uefa place automatically and third&fourth have a play-off. a) this idea is based on there not being a Members Only Club of an SPL and b) we're just shooting the breeze here. It isn't actually going to happen - it's far too good and sensible a suggestion to ever see the light of day. Following that logic, the (highly successful and universally applauded) play-offs in England are also a farce. When the team that finishes 6th can get promotion to the division above. The Defense rests, m'laud.

"the only real change is adding two teams"? well, that and relegating two instead of one...oh, and adding a relegation play-off....oh, and adding play-offs for the second Uefa cup spot. You mean no change apart from those 3 fundamental changes? You'd have 7 teams in the bottom split fighting to avoid 3 relegation spots. You'd have 7 teams in the top, 2 going for the title, the remaining 5 going for 2 Uefa cup spots. *Every* game for every team would be meaningful. Everybody agrees the playoffs in England have given a huge boost the the Championship and leagues 1+2, because it means more team are playing for something for longer into the season. In scotland, the winners are going to be us or them - we know that before the season starts; with one team getting relegated it usually means that, at most, two of the bottom 6 have meaningful games. Nobody yet has given me a reason why the split is a bad thing and how it's damaging the game.

we tried the mini groups format in the league cup back in the mid 70s and it died a slow, lingering and painful death because nobody cared. It's hard enough to care about the league cup in a knockout format but the mini leagues? Man , shoot me now then bring back the three day week, Suzie Quatro and power cuts. How about an 14 team league, play each other twice. = 26 games Split into two 7s, play each other twice. = 12 games, top 2 places go to the CL 3rd spot to UEFA Cup or top team to CL, second to Uefa Cup, playoff for remaining Euro spot 2 relegated 1 play-off relegation spot for third bottom team / third top in first div This gives you your 38 games. It gives the great bulk of teams an interest all the way up to the split. It gives everyone in the top half something to fight for 3 relegation places will give everyone something to play for right up until the end. It increases the number of different teams we play It results in a better spread of money through the game. It means that every game, for every team will be meaningful.

I don't think being a vomit-inducing, hypocritical, lying, homophobic bigot is a crime, so I don't think he'll be investigated by the police. His homophobic rhetoric is, of course, utterly immoral and vicious, but he's just spouting the party line as handed down from Rome, so I don't think he'll be investigated by them either. I'm also a tad surprised that the RCC want to highlight hate crime stats which show Catholics more than twice as likely, per population percentage, to commit sectarian crimes as to be victims of them. Personally, I'd like to see the hate crime statistics showing the number of attacks on gays and lesbians following one of the Catholic church's numerous pronouncements on how they are inferior human beings undeserving of the same human rights as the rest of us.

They did indeed - but their motivation was hatred and bile, ours is loyalty and love.

Couldn't disagree more! With daily tales of doom and gloom coming from Ibrox, the fact that Lennon's across the city making a monumental tit of himself and his club is only thing keeping me going right now.

I though Brown was excellent during the entire piece. Whatever else you say about him, you have got to admire his honesty, integrity and courage. He is not an articulate man, but he challenged a guy on national radio, in Tom English, whose livelihood is the spoken and written word - and came out, imo, on top. (FWIW, I think English is just about the best and most honest sports journalist around at the moment) However, the reason he came out on top is the most worrying aspect of the whole thing. He had a simple, honest and unshakeable point of view; namely, that Green and his crew were at it. He definitely seems to know something - and it's something bad. I suspect it will be shown to come down to the ownership of the stadium and the training complex.