weekevie04

We'll all watch it though.

A bit harsh, Ersatz. I've always found MacTaz a good dude, if not a bit deluded when discussing the British military. As for the Tories flogging off 'our' bases. I'm all for it. When, or more like, if, we ever become a proper country, I'd like to see us have as minimal as possible army/defense force as possible - a bit like Ireland - let's just keep the peace and have a basic defense force. As for folk who wanted to vote yes, but voted no due to some form of civic duty to the British army then who gives a shit. We all tried to warn the naevoters (was hoping for a pun on naysayers) that what is happening - not just to the military, but everything, roll that Alan Bissett video - would happen, but oh well, seems most likely from polls that the majority of the people who live in Scotland seem to support Scotland being an insignificant region of this world rather than a less than insignificant country in the world - even if there are 'only' 5.3 million people in Scotland (bang average) at least if any other Libya, Iraq came up we could at least make it, UK 1 - Scotland 1 at the prospect of bombs and more wars.

Absolutely. The recent few days reporting on Sky News, Al Jazeera, etc regards Aleppo has been breathtakingly one-sided. I watched both on Wednesday and AJ had ambassador after expert after commentator tearing in to Russia for their action in Syria, and not one reporter offering a different view. Also surprised that there are no western journalists in Aleppo. None! Not one of the MSM stations have a team there. They are relying on social media, and local sources as much as Johnny Furringer is on Twitter. The Democrats are tub thumping the Russia blame game and 'Putin hacked our election' so people are angry at that, and not the content inside Wikileaks.

Used to dislike it a lot when younger - of course it was the hell fire that is blended whisky, the only ones I had tried - but was given a gift a couple of years back for my 30th of Bunnahabhain and loved it. Tried the Jura Diurachs and was extremely nice too. Did the Talisker tour and had a few drams - out of the three, probably the worst, but still quite enjoyable. Looking to try a few more over the next few weeks. A' Bhunadh sounds rather interesting. P.S Regards Irish and Scottish whisky, what is the difference? I am a complete novice in whisky, but might try a good Irish one to see if I can, I doubt it.

Used to dislike it a lot when younger - of course it was the hell fire that is blended whisky, the only ones I had tried - but was given a gift a couple of years back for my 30th of Bunnahabhain and loved it. Tried the Jura Diurachs and was extremely nice too. Did the Talisker tour and had a few drams - out of the three, probably the worst, but still quite enjoyable. Looking to try a few more over the next few weeks. A' Bhunadh sounds rather interesting.

One thing I am looking forward to with Trump is his ceremonial visits and occasions. Pardoning the Thanksgiving Turkey "This is a terrific bird. A tremendous bird" And likewise with heads of state.

Wouldn't mind if FIFA or UEFA suspended us rather than go through the remaining meaningless 6 games.

Echos of Burley making a pig's ear out of a decent group where we were out of it far too early. This group has been very kind to us - and I suppose to the others in getting us too. Lithuania are not impressive. They have had two previous terrible campaigns, but fair dues to their start in this although brought back to earth on Friday in Slovakia. Slovakia were on a four defeat run when we went there. Their manager was under a huge amount of pressure, and if we had won, even drew! They would have been sitting in a precarious position. Of course they easily put us away and now up and running, and still to meet Malta x2. Slovenia had a mixed qualifying for the Euros before losing in the playoffs to Ukraine. Katanec is back and that late 2-2 draw - which looked bad to begin with - looks to have saved and lit up their qualifying campaign. They were unlucky not to beat England, and will fancy their chances of a victory at Hampden in March. We'll just pip Lithuania for fourth. I'm not confident of us getting a result there, but I believe they'll stutter more than us but there will not be much in it. The group was very kind. Much kinder than Northern Ireland's 'easy' Euros group that many shouted about. What a shame we are pretty much out of it after 4 games. Disastrous and the SFA should disband, but we won't hear a thing. The Scots media luvies of course think we are punching above our weight, we don't have the players, Strachan is doing a great job with limited resources, etc. All utter nonsense! Although it does sum up our cultural mentality quite well.

Were you originally Malc or something? A big Rangers fan if I recall.

Pretty harsh. They just beat Azerbaijan, 3-0. A very good result and one I doubt we'll see Scotland repeating anytime soon. They also have Czech Republic to come to Belfast and looking in a great position for the Playoffs. O'Neill has worked wonders with that squad.

For 50 odd minutes we did quite well. We still look a class behind England though ; everything from first touch to creativity we are miles behind, but we actually played better than we have in a long time for a short period and really were unlucky to be behind at half-time. Our defence and especially centre halves are utterly honking. You fear anytime a decent side plays us and they whip in a cross or setpiece that it will end up in the back of the net. Grant Hanley is a carthorse and an awful defender, an absolute liability. We are never going to improve if we cannot do basic things like defend or mark players - all three of their goals were unmarked, and it could have been more if not for a bit of luck or England missing a sitter. The biggest disappointment of tonight is that it flatters England. Whilst no team was brilliant in the first-half we certainly had a good half and created more opportunities, yet when we flap like an accordion under pressure, we are quite rightly going to end up nowhere. Plus sides - Lee Wallace played alright, and thought Brown did well too. Griffiths worked hard and almost had a few chances although poor decision making to not put Snodgrass through. He deserves another chance up front on his todd. Hate to say it as I've been a big fan but Darren Fletcher's international career probably should be over or at least nowhere near a XI place. Gave the ball away again too easily like the whole campaign. As for Strachan. I think he was unlucky tonight, but the past few games have been awful and he should've went for that. Whilst tonight we were nowhere near as bad as the last two matches, I think he's gone as far as he can with us and probably should go. I imagine he will. His reign has been mixed - started off alright, a good run in the middle, but the last 20 months or so have been poor backed up by some odd management decisions. Same old, same old. And our campaign is over after four games. Rotten stuff, and the whole SFA need to go too!

Looking increasingly likely it'll be a Trump win, and if he does pull it off it has been a repeat of Brexit. Bookies, stock market, exit polls all showing a Clinton win and lots of commentators talking up the exit polls showing - high Latino turnout, strong female turnout and Trump underpeforming. Also it being too close to call in the likes of Georgia, South Carolina to being the night had many folk thinking it would be an early night if he couldn't win there. Then something changed. About an hour or so in to it. Trump's vote in Florida, North Carolina and later Ohio, and the rust-belt states showing Trump changing up, and even Trump's chief Shellyanne Conway coming out early doors saying that the GOP elders and chiefs could have done more to help Trump win - like Farage saying he thought Brexit had just lost, everything changed exactly like Brexit. Unbelievable really that Trump wil most likely be the president of the United States.

I'd vote for Jill Stein. If I HAD to vote between the main two and had no other choice, I'd vote Trump - he is awful, no doubt at all ; but she is a lot worse for corruption and stability in the world. Clinton will win. Trump seems to have peaked. I could well be wrong, but for him to win he needs an awfae lot to go right - winning independents by double-digits in many states, low turnout of black and hispanic voters, winning lots of crucial swing-states. Then again she is disliked and polls show she is not trusted, he isn't much better for likability. It's a steep trek for him, but as we seen with Brexit shock wins can happen. I think it'll end up something like Clinton 300 - Trump 238.

Excellent. Cheers for your help. I've never used them in Scotland. Thanks a lot! Never even thought of Uber.

I am not on their trains enough, but really can't complain personally. Must have been on time-ish. Whilst not the cleanest or newest - they've most of the time got me there. And reasonably cheap. 11 quid from Glasgow to Dundee is fantastic. Although I can understand the frustrations of daily use. Their PR is pretty non-existent was stuck outside Dundee - as some branches had fallen on the track, and was simply told the train was cancelled. Nothing about a replacement bus services or if tickets would be refunded - lots of head scratching dinnae ken going on. No one was blaming any staff member, but surely someone at the top could've made some form of an announcement about what was planned next and not just basically 'get off the train'.

A week of bollocks in the papers about their arrogance when in reality most of their support and players seem to accept they are really average (England). We are basically what Wales were, when we were fairly decent as in qualifying for things. So I doubt many English supporters will know : if Brown has retired or not. Maybe some will still think Ferguson plays. We are not a laughing stock, but we are not respected either much like Northern Ireland, Israel, Latvia, (I'd have said Slovenia and I'd have put us ahead of Lithuania but that seems unfair considering both have started the group well, especially Lithuania. We don't know many of their players, and would many Scots know if Roy Carroll still plays? We are an irrelevance. We are desperate. The Scottish media especially the Record will paint this game up as a huge match, auld rivals, no doubt we'll get a Butcher, Trevor Steven, Chris Sutton interview. The final battle cry before the game on Friday and then it'll be over and if we're lucky we'll lose 2-0. Just like the Slovak coach who was under real pressure, the doubt from some English fans about Southgate will be lifted -for now and until they meet a harder game- and we'll go on our way looking at fourth place being a good finish! Hope to christ I'm wrong on Friday, but seen it far too much and that Slovak performance was one of the worst I've ever seen. Especially as it was against a team low on confidence, and that was after the previous disaster of Lithuania at Hampden.

Cheers for the advice, lads - great shout about Uber, Alan, thanks.

Hi, Haven't flown in/oot of Glasgow for a few years and wondering if anyone can tell me if a 2 hour turn around is enough to get to the railway station at Queen St after passport control/luggage etc? Flight will get in around 0940 and there's trains at 1140 and 1240. The earlier train is direct and it's 3 quid cheaper too, woohoo! Main reason for asking is the last few times through Edinburgh have had a bit of waiting around for the luggage to come through so nae idea if Glasgow is any better?

I think he should go. He came in and did a good job after a horrible time under Levein, but we are steadily heading back that way. I can't recall the last game we played good football. Some people were getting hugely excited about gubbing Malta 5-1 away - after a huge amount of luck e.g red card(s), penalty's given very harshly. Our defence has been shockingly bad. We don't look comfortable or strong at all. It's probably harsh to criticise him as he does pull off some excellent saves, but Marshall can often flog a goal at the wrong time. Our defence look like a team that should be ranked 100th in the world. Against any decent side they are constantly under-pressure, make too many errors or even let off the hook by their opponents messing up. Slovakia tonight could've been through more times than they were if it wasn't for their own last minute sloppy pass or bad decision making. Playing S Fletcher upfront on his own is never going to work against a decent team, if you are expecting to win the match. Fletcher is a useful player to have and very good at times holding the ball, but he isn't good enough to play that role on his own - unless we were winning 1-0 and trying to hold out. Some of the general play is just awful and whilst Strach has to take some blame for the system, tactics and his arrogrance; many of the players just are not good enough, but again that is no excuse as we've seen with Northern Ireland - you can get results with limited footballers. Too many times tonight professional players ran the ball out like a Sunday league team would do, our ball control is terrible, not many of the players look comfortable on the ball.

I think you are wrong. Our best players tonight were the ones who play in Scotland - Tierney, Griffiths, McGinn (when on).

Nevio Scala

Grant Hanley is a professional footballer. What will he be on a week, 30k at least? A scary thought. An absolutely atrocious footballer in clown's shoes. Paterson is not cut out for this level. Tierney has been superb though. Such a shame he's surrounded by second-rate footballers. Gap between supporting midfielders and attacks is shockingly bad. Whilst we've created the odd half-chance, we either relinquish the ball ourselves through error or there is no one there to assist. That half chance from Snodgrass' cross yet no one there in the middle. Slovakia aren't even that good. Their keeper is poor, and their defence shaky albeit a lot better than our centre halves. A decent side like Ireland, Iceland would go here and win. We won't.

The draw in Dublin was -at the time- a good result. Taking 4pts off the Irish was a good return. What ####ed us was Ireland taking 4 off Germany, and not being able to see of Poland in both games when we were ahead. We had a fair amount of luck in that Euro group as well though - Georgia and Ireland at Hampden had some hairy moments, and of course that stinker in Tblisi. I'd give him these next two games. Not expecting anything from the England match, but if we can win in Slovakia and somehow get a result or at least show something different and play well in England - which I doubt due to his stubborn, arrogant, and one dimensional tactics then he should stay on. I'd imagine he might walk himself if we are gubbed in the next two, but strangely if he does go by Christmas - the way the group is going, we may still have an outside chance at second spot with the new coach in for 2017.

Divisive SNP. Sturgeon must condem and answer, frankly.