Recent content by Dr Bandler

That does not make sense. If you are looking at a statistic that 80% of asylum applications are approved, presumably the 20% that are rejected are deemed to be bogus. That is inherently in the data, unless you are implying bogus ones are somehow excluded before their applications are assessed.

Is that a good thing? It is hard to believe 80% are genuine asylum seekers. Our figure is higher than other European countries.

Fair point, although Chas could be quite eloquent when he wanted to be. Also, some of his notes on my essays were sheer comedy genius.

Come on Harry - a split infinitive from an ex-HCGSB pupil? What would Charlie Cope (RIP) say?

While there may be a few of us Seagulls supporters in Cambridgeshire, I was surprised to see this sticker on a lamp post in the car park at Asda in Soham today. Any ideas on the originator? Maybe the Fenlands are a secret hotbed of Seagulls fans, or even 1901 Club members?

How did you find that? When I worked in Switzerland we had a sister office in Lausanne. On the surface it is a nice place, but my workmate was mugged for his laptop there.

Yes, and even when I lived in gentile Zurich, there was a European match between FC Zurich and Borussia Mönchengladbach and that was "interesting" before and after the game. You could argue it was almost a local derby in European terms, but still. Amazingly Switzerland does have some hooligan...

Be interesting to see if this thread is still alive this time next week. We are due a direct Northerly wind Monday to Wednesday and that will take a few degrees of how it is currently feeling. That will test the central heating savers. Hoping spring will come alive soon.

Much later than the 70s, Harry, trips to places like Cardiff, Leeds and Millwall have retained the ability to be, ahem, scary. Cardiff has been foul until recent years, but not as bad as the 70s and 80s, when I was happy to leave in one piece. Anyone remember the Seagulls Special being attacked...

At the replay I remember some gentlemen from mid-Sussex pushing past me to climb into the next section to have a pop at the Man U there. There were so many in our end that day, it was inevitable.

Trying that at an away pool fixture at the Whitehawk Tavern would have been interesting, my memory recalls.

Switching to The South Stand in the late 70s, does anyone know the name of the gentleman with long hair and a leather overcoat who (with his mates) was prone to throwing beer up in the air and occasionally urinating down the terraces? I think he drank in the Cliftonville Shades bar before games...

No, I am quite clear. After the events of 2014 Donetsk and Luhansk became breakaway republics, obviously supported by Russia, who did send people to support the breakaway militia. Periodic shelling of Donetsk continued by the Ukrainian side right up to the start of this conflict this year. This...

And don't you think everything should be done to avoid that? Somehow I kind of believe that no one is daft enough to allow the potential mutually assured destruction of full out nuclear war. Certainly if you believe the super rich really control things behind the scenes then what is in that...

It is awful, and the whole situation is a great source of stress and unhappiness to all Russians I know. One is married to a Ukrainian man - they had a business in Donetsk and left there because the Ukrainian's never stopped shelling before this all kicked off this time, and then moved to...