It involves me shouting various pent-up accusations and obscenities. I also do a lot of energetic finger-pointing.

This messageboard must be a God send to you , Matt ......

My case is simple-

Human beings have been altering their states of consciousness since the dawn of time. Whether it is legal (alcohol) or illegal ("drugs"), it seems to be a basic human need which different individuals deal with in different ways. Some of the greatest achievements of humanity have been conceived and realised by individuals under the influence of hallucigens.

They are all harmful to health to a greater or lesser degree.

Your case is indeed very simple .

Basically it is that because some harmful substances are legal ALL harmful substances should be made legal - regardless of the degree to which they damage both the individual and society as a whole .

Today in town (on one of my very infrequent visits) I came across a couple of druggies who , to be honest , were an embarrassment to the human race and of no good whatsoever to society . True , it could be said that many alcos are in the same boat but the question always remains ......Do people want the government of this nation to actively collude in destroying the lives of its own citizens by making the most dangerous of drugs legal and taking a cut in the profits made of such sales ?

I for one will never accept the lowering of standards to such a level and have the gov't abdicate its responsibility to the people just because it's a tough problem . Best take the gloves off and tackle the problem head on . Zero tolerance is the answer - harsher sentences , cold turkey for addicts .

....and if that doesn't work - deportation for druggies to Malta . See how you like them on your patch .

I suppose that is a possibility , Flops ......but if it was merely a group of enraged citizens at the end of their tether then they have my admiration .

Either way , where is the legitimate arm of the law ?

It allows scummy blokes to gather round you and make lewd comments.

So it's not all bad then....

Did Abbey enjoy the game by the way ?....

The atmosphere in Jack Walker upper was a hell of a lot better on Sunday, I can only put it down to large numbers of people transferring over from the potting shed to experience some decent facilities!

It has to be said the view from the JW Upper is spectacular - I pity the peasants having to watch from the bike shed . Time to replace it with a new single tier stand I reckon .

Back to the drummer(s) - I've noticed that they have featured in the past couple of MOTD highlights . Highly embarrassing , they succeed only in making us look a bit backward . The only reason they have been tolerable is that the atmosphere drowns them out . Time for them to be drowned out completely .....then we can start the "get rid of the horns" campaign

the Red Scum made me sweat but Saha scored fairly late on.

I hope your beer poisons you tonight , Rev

Actually I wouldn't , Eddie .

In many ways we have lost the right to call ourselves civilised . We have a judicial system that in many areas no longer punishes nor deters .

I would applaud such radical action wherever it took place . Scum have to treated as scum ; punishment and humiliation might work where liberalism has so patently failed .

I'd laugh at West Ham and say "If Bent is worth £16m, Bellamy £8m, and Dyer £6m, then pay us £20m". I'd settle for £15m, but only if we have sorted out a replacement worthy of coming. And how would he score fewer goals with a better forward alongside him?

£8m is a joke.

Discounting the crock Dyer , Bent is only 23 . All those daft apeths talking about McCarthy being worth anything up to £20m should realise he'd be worth next to nothing after a short/medium term contract . He's knocking on 30 years old now .

£8m isn't too far out .

I think the whole point of Suetonius Paulinus being so unlikeable is deliberate on behalf of the author. He's a cold bugger and he's on "their" side against "our" side, but I still found myself wanting the Romans to win.

Funnily enough I've always put myself on the side of the Romans but this time I wanted the Brits to win...... :ph34r:

Paulinus's character seemed too contrived in his "coldness" ...as if the author was trying too hard to make him appear so . I've already forgotten anything about the other characters and SP's "affair" with Cartimandua never rang true and seemed to be just shoved in for a bit of love interest . Maybe the author was hoping for a film deal out of it ......

Cheers anyway , Sidders .

The book you said you would read, although I think "vow" is going a bit too far, was IMPERIAL GOVERNOR by George Shipway, if I remember rightly. Bloody first class stuff and you should make time for it, but TTOD is better.

Well , it's finally been read after all this time !!

Similar to the Robert Graves "Claudius" novels but not nearly of the same outstanding quality . To be perfectly honest , although the book was obviously meticulously researched , none of the characters really came alive . In the end I didn't really care who won , lost or survived the battles described . Still readable though .

My holiday reading is hopefully going to be Nathanial Philbrick's most recent book "Mayflower" about the new Englnd settlement if I can pick it up in time... If it's anywhere near as good as his magnificent earlier book "In the Heart of the Sea" (which I recommend to anyone ) it'll be worth it .

An article written in the Guardian by a faded rock star now studying law.....

Oh dear ....

Are you trying to say they show the games at the Hare and Hounds , Theno ....? A banning offence ! :ph34r:

Good points eddie. The country's full of people who always want summet for nowt.

Maybe , but that's the way the system works .

The way technology is going it's a pointless task the Rovers trying to get the police to check all the pubs in town . Are they going to go breaking down people's doors looking for suspect channels on the TV or internet next ?

The bottom line is that Rovers have to fill the ground in order to retain the best players and management in the long run . If the ground is still half empty then either the price is not right or there are other more significant factors to be considered .

Whatever the case I'll still be looking to be watching away games at the local boozer . I don't care who suffers really ......I believe I already contribute enough to the coffers !

So they should just allow it to continue knowing full well that it is both illegal and a factor contributing to why people don't attend the games?

Yes .

I would be a hypocrite if I said no because I always go out and watch the away games at the pub

To be honest , Eddie , I put the interests of the pubs before that of the club in this instance . They're not having a good time at the moment and I still believe live footy is overpriced . Sattelites aren't going to go away ; it's going to be more readily available to everyone in their homes , let alone the pubs fairly soon . The clubs will just have to live with it .

As for the illegality of it all - I simply don't care . Diverting a few quid from the pockets of Murdoch into the pub landlord's pocket is not my idea of breaking the law .....

Wahey one more to the little working class man!

If you want your club to be around in 20 years time then turn up and fill the stadium.

.....and if the club want the club to be around in 20 years time , learn the lesson - stop persecuting the pubs and aggravating their regulars . It's only going to prove counter productive .

Oh ..and tell the police to do some real crime fighting for a change .

See you at Ewood on Sunday Eddie ....

It was shortly after we played Sheff. Wed when they brought their band for the first time...

The Sheff Wed lads could actually play ....the drumming was in time and played rhythmically in accompaniment with other instruments.

Our lads are just useless . No musical sense whatsoever , no timing , no nothing ...except mindless noise . No wonder the TV producer switches them off ; I wish I could .....

I see you're in Colombia , FLB ....?

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There doesn't need to be a list of alternative suggestions surely . I certainly won't be wasting my time talking with people who are so blind to the weight of opinion against them .

Let there be a trial period without their "contribution" at the very least .

During that period maybe they could give up their free tickets - I take it they do have free tickets ........not that I'm suggesting that's anything to do with their reluctance to listen to the majority view of the fans

It's estimated that some 2000 deaths have been avoided by the provision of these premises.

There's always a downside ...... :ph34r:

That said, I like Bill, he's a nice bloke, but I hate his bloody drum and he knows exactly how I feel about it. But just becuase he chooses not to post on here, doesn't make him an acceptable target for very personal insults.

Don't get too touchy Glenn - I haven't got a clue who Bill is and only ever see him and his pals from a distance (thankfully) . My comments were in "general" rather than specific , so climb down from your high horse .

However , these lads must realise they cause misery for many and , undoubtedly , actively discourage some fans from going near the BBE . If they get stick it's part of the job .

By the way , is it true that they get free season tickets ?

On a similar note (if that word isn't out of place in this thread) it's becoming quite common these days to be surrounded by brats blowing unbelievably loud airhorn thingies . I don't know if the club have any power to suppress this nonsense but if they have I'd suggest they do so pretty damn quickly ...... :ph34r:

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I have suggested something ....and at a higher level than the so-called fans' forum ! But the main thing is to get rid of the drummers - at least for a trial period . I'd rather sit in total silence than listen to retards banging the drums and embarrassing us all .

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Well , there we have it . It's what I've suspected for a long time . Just shows how representative these committees are ...

......and now it is a non extrovert place with the accompaniment of so called drummers whose idea of playing the instrument is simply to bang it as hard as possible .

Would it be asking too much either for these noisy idiots to learn to play the drums properly ....or , preferably , to sod off completely ? They add nothing to the atmosphere and take away everything .

On a related issue ; are the drummers "represented" on the Fans Forum /Brisa ? I can only assume that they must be - given the strength of opinion against their being in the ground among the fans as a whole .

I think they would .

It's hard these days for clubs to hang on to players who want to go elsewhere .

If Chelsea had been seriously interested , and in the absence of other interested parties , I reckon he'd have gone for less than £10 m . A bit like the Barry Ferguson scenario if you cast your mind back .

But we'll never know .......