The Devil's Point

When I was a cub, I got promoted to be a Scout. And I made this promise; On my honour, I promise that I will do my best To do my duty to God and to the Queen, To help other people And to keep the Scout Law And in the draughty halls of the time, we all formed protrols. We went training to Auchingillan (or however you spell it - you know the place near Carbeth). And over time our pack got pretty good (we could of kicked the shit out of any other scout troop in the country at the time), but it was basically pretty pointless. It was the last link to the war. I'm 43 and saw the very end of it. You didn't miss much. First Glasgow.

Its all about anger management. In southern Europe, Italy for example, people will shout and bawl at each other then kiss and hug afterwards. The dour Glaswegian tendancy to sit and nurse our wrath over a bottle of whisky, just to keep it warm, ends up exploding badly at times. We do not articulate our emotions well, and anger gets bottled up. Everyone knows half the city's anger is going to explode if they go a few goals down, which they likely will. Hence the fascination. Everyone will tune in to see carnage, and will be disappointed if it doesn't happen. I'd recommend Jim Murphy's book, "The 10 Football Matches that Changed the World" for a good take on this, and also as a good read in general. I never knew about Pat Nevin's stand against racism at Chelsea in the eighties, or about Harlarnd and Wolf bringing the orange element from Ulster to work in their Clyde shipyard (the origins of the sectarian Rangers that panned out). Really interesting stuff. Think it will go 3 0 Celtic. Utd v Dons is harder to call, but I fancy Utd to nick it 2 1.

Indeed, and its a problem for them. General Elections are won on 'the economy stupid'. The Nat economics lies in tatters due to deflation and the oil price. They have been found out already.htt Only Al Murray can save Britain, and make us rule the waves again.......http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-30819779

Not making a point, just think this is funny....

Don't give them ideas! They could put up token candidates to get round that. My proudest moment as a political campaigner was being called a "wee ******' by George Galloway on Hyndland Road. He is an MP and would qualify with one seat just like the Tories would for a Scottish debate with their one seat in Scotland. Its a fine mess we've got into. I think there should be no official TV debates, for the reasons we are essentially agreeing on. It would be chaos if done fairly, and its not for broadcasting authorities to decide who should be important enough to take part. All hell is breaking loose! Time for a cup of tea, and the last slice of christmas cake.

I agree, the logic of letting in the SNP means the Welsh and Irish parties have to get in too. Galloway must get in. Perhaps, the Loonies (as a UK wide party) should also be included. BNP, Anti-abortionists, the list could go on......... Not fair to let UKIP in though to the exclusion to the Nats and Greens. I'd agree with Cameron that logically it must be either everyone (impractical) or the potential Prime Ministers. But who is to say Farrage or Clegg are not potential Prime Ministers. We should bin the debates IMO and leave it to social media where the arguments are happening right now anyway. Bring on the first Liberal Democrat Government for the new century. I'm off to to Inverness to campaign for Danny (next leader) so get it up youse

Looks like the bearded Jag in Jaggernaut's photo does as well. Anyway, this is a beard, not a willie thread.

But they want to have a hissy fit. Why play into their hands? If they are excluded from the debates they have another thing to whine about. I say let them in. Sturgeon v Farrage would be superb entertainment anyway. Just the same way they claim they would never go into coalition with the Conservatives, the truth is that the Nats want the Tories to win so they can keep moaning and blaming all ills on Westminister Tories. They want an in/out EU referendum in the hope the UK votes out. That is the only way to another Scottish referendum, and the only hope for Salmond and Sturgeon to finally be crowned to rule over us. The SNP only care about themselves. We wasted a year listening to their ill informed, ill researched nonsense, only for them to refuse to accept the result in the end. It was not an engaging or constructive process, and the spiel about how it energised politics and so on is naieve in the extreme. It was deeply divisive and some still think 45% was some sort of victory. I don't know why they are proud of the 45% tag. I seem to remember Scotland got an absolute doing in 45', Culloden and all that....

I thought we just voted for Scotland to remain part of the UK? I doubt UKIP will be putting up candidates in every seat (apologies if I am wrong on that). Surely Scottish MP's are just as important as any other ones, so, given that the SNP are likely to make some gains, and hold some influence, they have a right to set out their stall (and probably be taken to pieces) in the debates. I'd love to bin the SNP, but if its a democracy we can't.

Exactly. Too much uncertainty and why the 55' won. The referendum is over. What's opinion regarding the leadership debates? I'm not a great fan of them in general, and I think we could do without them. In saying that, I'll watch if they are on. Not sure they change results much though. If they did then Clegg would have won far more seats last time as he seemed to win them according to the polls. For once I'd also agree with the SNP in terms of having a right to participate. There is a far higher chance of them holding sway in a hung parliament than even UKIP can hope for.

When I was going to most of the games in the eighties, the crowds were often only 1500 or so. From that perspective you could ask where have all the fans come from! The average attendances once we got back to the Premier in 90/91 were probably a bit higher than now, but not by much. The 9000 against Morton (and the support at the Challenge Cup Final) were obviously exceptions, and I suspect there were plenty of neutrals at the Morton game, as well as occasional Jags. Price is the issue. Its like fuel, there is a level the price gets to where you start really noticing it. I used to think nothing of running up and down to Glencoe for hillwalking most weekends, but now its thirty quid in the tank, and it makes you give it a miss sometimes, particularly if the weather is poor and there is no one around to divy the petrol up with........ If I wanted to go to St Johnstone on Saturday I'd be looking at forty quid just for travel (even using a supporters bus) and to get in to the game. For a lot of us that is too much, and also assumes there will be no eating, drinking, or general enjoyment beyond what the Jags might produce (could be worth it sometimes, granted). I used to love going away but after spending something like a hundred and fifty quid going to Ross last season (a bit of a party to be fair ) I've pretty much packed it in. Will still go if it really matters, like Tynecastle last season, but otherwise I'd rather sit in the warm and listen to the radio.

Je suis Charlie? Ok then, should Jags fans start singing our banned songs again (which were never really sectarian anyway) to assert the new 'right' to offend. Plenty of world leaders, including our Prime Minister, seem to think its ok to inflame Muslim opinion through depictions of Mohammed as a bomber and so on, so why the big deal about songs about Ireland or religion? What a bunch of hypocrites some of these 'leaders' are given the treatment of opposition in their own countries. And for all the big talk, no papers have put their balls on the line and re-published much of it so we can see what the problem was. Newsnight at least showed the new front cover of the magazine in question tonight although very briefly and nervously. Haven't seen any other major media outlets show any courage at all. Under the anti-sectarian legislation you can be arrested for various hate offences, but also for 'otherwise offensive' behaviour. What does this mean, and is Scotland Charlie? Of course, it goes without saying that no-one should have died, but there are clearly perils when you try and draw lines at what is and is not offensive. When I feel inflammatory, I take ibuprofen in large doses. In fact I'll get some now and wash them down with the rest of my whisky.

Glad he's found a career he's still allowed to do!

Good point, although I suppose that was a quarter final where two first division sides had a rare opportunity to get to Hampden (which of course we did after the replay ). Remember that game well for the cracking atmosphere, think it finished 2-2. Were we not also top of the league at the time as well? If so, it maybe suggests, as with the big attendance against Morton, that folk turn up more often when they expect to see a winning side? Maybe that is overly cynical, but I doubt many occasional Jags attendees would have expected to see a win yesterday. Still think expense is the biggest factor though, and it certainly puts me off going to away games at the moment.

No chance we are going down. Best Jags side of my lifetime, despite the occasional duff performance. I've always just wanted to the Scottish Cup once. This may be the year.

Starting with the new Glasgow derby. We can win it. Rangers are gone.

I may have misread that. Actually I see what you mean!

Oh come on, if I do anything I say it like I see it. I'm just saying what happened. Gaberlunzie live in Kingussie with Famous Grouse in hand was fun. Brilliant at Dunkeld too. Shame you got beat, otherwise heavens knows what songs we'd have to listen to

I know its annoying to post utube stuff, but I've seen this band a few times and have had a dram with them. They are lovely people, but for me this is a total corruption of the name of one of the UK's finest mountains. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, see what you think.......

Very well said. You can't get to forty without understanding you are lucky. My friend Maggie (subject of other thread), witnessed an accident on the A9 on Drumochter, and had had to get out and deal with the consequences of an eight or nine vehicle mess. I think there were three dead in that one and there was no minutes silence anywhere. I know the heartbreak of grief and bereavement, and I feel for anyone in that situation. But life is brutal, and only the brave will live to tell the tales.

Apparently McCoist still has nearly 3% of the shears.

Oh, ok, I thought there might have been a twist, but never mind. 'Twelve Archibalds' it is then. I'm off to sing it to my neighbour in a revenge attack for his 'Follow, Follow' pish in the early hours last night.

Ok, well I accept this attempt to create a sin-a-long has been a total flop so far. So, instead lets try another one..... Hello, hello, how do you do We hate the boys in Royal Blue We hate the boys in Emerald Green So, lets have the next lines of the Archibald Christmas song...............

My true love said to me...........

Yes please. First line someone.....................