afghan

He sometimes reminds me of David Brent from "The Office".

Indeed not, sir. Among the extensive list of vegetarian dishes in my repertoire are such delights as butternut squash and sage risotto, mushroom en croute and ravioli of asparagus and sweet potato. My kitchen is ignorant of sludge.

I have no problems with vegetarians. People are entitled to eat what they like. However, I have one gripe, and it is this. When I invite people to my house, I will cater for their dietary requirements. This courtesy, however, is rarely reciprocated, and I am compelled to eat vegetarian food when visiting their homes. Is this fair?

I agree with this. It gives a lot of teams something to play for towards the end of the season, since a place in the finals means a shot at some silverware, not to mention the extra cash. They do it here, even at schoolboy level, and it does help to maintain interest. It would need to be established who gets the European places, though. I would suggest that the winner of the league (ie before the playoffs)gets whatever Champions League spot we have left, and the winner of the playoffs gets a Europa spot at least. I honestly think this would give the game a boost: what is the point of he split as it is?

You may scoff, but the AFL will be nursing a warm glow at the thought of the income generated by another 70,000 sell out with attendant TV money, sponsorship and advertising. The rugby league favouring press have been very unkind about this, but I don't see what the big deal is: at least they will end up with true champions rather than a team who has won the lottery of something like a penalty shoot-out.

Went to that game too and found it quite entertaining. Particularly enjoyed Gold Coast sub John Curtis (formerly of Man U and Blackburn Rovers) getting sent off two minutes after he came on. The atmosphere was pretty good considering there were 10 000 in a stadium that holds four times that amount. Expensive, though: I paid about 20 pounds to get in.

"The refs in egg-chasing are allowed to award a "penalty try" when an infringement (they don't call them "fouls") prevents a try from being scored. A similar rule in football would have meant Ghana would have won, Suarez's intervention rendered meaningless, and this debate would not be taking place, which may not necessarily be a good thing. Also, I've always felt it a bit harsh that, should the penalty from such a handball go in, one team is down both a goal and a man: Australia and Harry Kewell, for instance. It's as if they are being punished twice. If the outcome of a deliberate handball on the line is a goal, there is no need to send the man off. That said, had this been the case we would have missed a great deal of drama the other night!

I really thought that was going to be a picture of the guy out of Jethro Tull playing his flute.........

Just watched it,and would agree they were good, but I don't think they were playing at anything like their full potential. Australia were, as I rather feared, poor. Didn't agree with the sending off, though.

Is the Bothy still in Ashton Lane? That was a good spot for a lot of Scottish cuisine.

Crass, vulgar and completely inappropriate. Post of the month

Ahh.....the mighty Whigs. Saw them twice at King Tut's. Spot on.

I had a great moment quite a few years ago. My eldest, who was then about 8, had bowed to peer pressure and was a Celtic fan. I took him to the odd game when we could blag tickets, but, as his interest in football developed, we would go to watch Thistle fairly regularly. I'll never forget the day he came to me and told me that he no longer supported Celtic, and was now a Thistle fan! Tears to glass eyes etc. His two wee brothers are Thistle as well. He is now a right-thinking adult with a healthy dislike of the OF.

Austinmer, New South Wales, about 80 minutes south of Sydney. Really miss football that I an can get emotionally involved in. Tried Sydney FC, but the games are on at such awkward times. Mon the highlights package!

Rugby league is huge here, but God it's dull. I've tried hard to get into it, but it is a game lacking much in the way of skill or tactics. I've also them train, and they rarely use the ball: it's strength and speed.

I would be happy to pay for highlights assuming that they were slightly longer, put up a bit more swiftly, and were perhaps better quality. You would think, given the amount of nomads alone, that this might be a nice little earner for a small amount of effort.

I too have worries about them winning. I like to remind myself of the following: 1. They haven't got a goalkeeper worth the name. 2. Apart from Rooney (and how fit is he?) their strikers are ordinary. 3. Rio Ferdinand is capable of making almighty blunders. 4. They don't have much cover in any department. 5. They think they are going to cruise through their group, which may work against them.

It seems that the main barrier to any sort of meaningful change is the fact that everyone wants a go at playing the OF as often as possible. John Boyle (the Motherwell chairman) said recently that an OF visit is worth about 125000 pounds. It's hard to see the anyone in the SPL voting to lose that kind of income, even if it were for the greater good of the game in Scotland. I really wish they would naff off to England and let a sensible restructuring happen.

Greetings from sunny New South Wales.

That's twice I've avoided that today. Feeling quite smug. Small achievable goals................

New Errors record has just been delivered, and rather good it is too. "Beards" is an initial standout.

Hello. Looks cozy. Well done!