TartanTokyo

So ce Strafhan took charge I've been pretty upbeat. There was a renewed energy about the team and a great collective spirit. However, that is now 5 games in a row (a England, Qatar,Gibraltar, without verde ring things On the phone

Would have had to as Ibrox don't do food!

Excellent steakhouse called Cestr at the top of Wenceslas square. That would be my first port of call for dinner. Surprisingly, the set menu of starter and effectively two mains is excellent but don't leave without trying the Pilsner Urquell Dark Master beer ice cream. They are part of the same group that own three Beer halls called Lokal. For me, the one in the old town is the best beer hall in prague. Packed every day from about 5 ish. Cestr and all the Lokals have Pilsner Urquell tank beer - unpasteurised and fresh from the brewery. http://www.ambi.cz/en/restaurace/ Goes without saying that a trip to the Pilsner Urquell brewery is a must. About 90 minutes max by bus. If you or whoever you are going with likes a cocktail or whisky then Hemingways bar is a good shout. Check online and call to book as can get busy and is a small place.

Yeah the top of the kids' new slide has a dusting of white on it here in Staffordshire. We have packed our bags, one full of tinned goods, and just waiting in the army to arrive and take us to a safe place. Keep us in your thoughts.

The Kings Arms hotel in Kyleakin describes itself as boutique so I guess the definition is "a dated shithole"

The likes of Brewdog have tried to own the term 'craft beer', attacking the large breweries as if having scale = lacking quality. Well some of their own beers are average at best so I guess they must be pretty scalable. I've just taken a group of customers out to the Pilsner Urquell brewery. Just because it is owned by a multi-national doesn't mean it isn't crafted. In fact I would argue it is one of the most crafted beers you can get. 5 week brewing process. Triple decoction. Parallel brewed to ensure it is the same as the very first batch in 1842. Every drop still brewed in Pilsen. 7 coopers on site (would struggle to fin pd many breweries with one these days). Having a big brewery behind it did cause some controversy but the advantage is that it can now be transported, fresh and refrigerated, as far as LA and New Zealand. It means it can now be found unpasteurised in 4 pubs in London. Yet some in he 'craft beer' world would argue this was a bad thing.

If everyone that talked about 'craft beer' drank 'craft beer' then it would be a category with a much larger share of the market. There are some great independently brewed beers out there but also a lot of Shyte. The notion that shovelling more and more floral American hops in makes it good is a mis-guided one, what winds me up about Brewdog is their constant attacks on the "big brewers". As if they are some kind of garage brewery outfit.

Just going on what i get told by friends and colleagues down here that attend games regularly. Not talking about running street battles but more a case of pubs getting trashed. Apparently is often fans fighting among themselves. Trouble is often well away from the ground. I live in Lichfield in Staffordshire and this is the last place that the police permit a lot of supporters buses to stop at. Not lower leagues i know but on Newcastle's last visit to Villa, a couple of pubs here were trashed. I am not suggesting it is anything like the bad old days but there is still plenty of it going on away from the public view from what i have been told.

I am not one to sensationalise but rest assured there is still an ugly element within the England travelling support, usually fuelled by club rivalry. It is just not publicised much anymore. Much like the trouble at lower league games every week. One of the lads in my team at work was in Estonia last month and he said it was horrible and shameful. Pubs trashed and large groups of fans throwing chairs and tearing the place up. 99.9% of the England fans we met in London last year were great. Sadly though among a large population, there is still a sizeable number of knuckle draggers. Especially among those that travel.

Al2014 Sent you a PM. Short notice i know bit wondered if there were two more tickets available. Three of us have tickets for monday but two more looking to join us. Cheers

34000 at say an average price of £37 is £1.26m in revenue. 52000 tickets at average of £27 would be £1.4m so surely even the inept SFA can see they have lost out today. What a useless shower of ...

Some virgin flights from Edinburgh to heathrow tomorrow morning have been cancelled. We have just been moved from the half 9 to half 6 flight.

Afraid not. Free cancellation only up to 7 days before. Oh well, means we can choose whichever pad is nearest. One is old town one is new town. Toffs Tartan Army

Right. Somehow i have managed to book two apartments and forget to cancel one. Very unlikely anyone hasn't sorted digs out but on the off chance then this are available. Send me a PM. 2 bed. 3 nights sun to wed. £236 or reasonable offer. http://www.booking.com/hotel/pl/euroapartments-x.en-gb.html

I just read and shared this one by someone called Murray Calder. Spot on. I’ve been lucky. I was born, grew up, was educated and have spent the last 25 years working in Scotland, a country I love in all its parts from the wild, wild Highlands to wild nights out in Glasgow basements. I’ve been lucky. I’ve had a successful and rewarding career which has taken me around the world while living and working in Scotland. I’ve been lucky. I met and married a wonderful woman with whom I have an amazing daughter who I want to have the same opportunities I did, and more. I’ve been lucky. Lots of people across the country have not been so lucky. Through no fault of their own, they have not had the benefit of a free higher education, they have been unable to find work, they have fallen ill, been born or through some accident become disabled, have brought up children on their own, have had to deal with prejudice and abuse, have entered old age alone and in poverty. I don’t want to live in a country where my daughter, or anyone else’s, happiness and contribution to society is dependent on how lucky she is. I want to live in a country where all children, regardless of their background and upbringing have the help and support they need to become happy and productive members of a socially just society. I want to live in a country which looks after the most vulnerable and helps the poorest out of poverty. I have come to believe the only way to secure this future is to vote Yes on September 18th. In the last few weeks, I’ve watched the No campaign and the Westminster government lie with impunity on an almost daily basis and have those lies reported without critique in newspapers and on television. Lies designed to make us afraid of change, to make us fear the future, to make us distrust our own thoughts and feelings, to make us believe we are incapable of governing ourselves. I watched a former Prime Minister lie to pensioners that their pensions wouldn’t be safe in the event of Independence. The DWP confirmed that pensions would continue to be paid as they are presently, even if those are amongst the lowest state pensions in Europe. I watched the same former Prime Minister lie that sick children wouldn’t have access to specialist care in English hospitals. Great Ormond Street confirmed that these services would continue to be available to Scots as they are to people across Europe through the reciprocal arrangements that are already in place. I watched Labour politicians lie that the SNP were scaremongering over threats to the funding of the Scottish NHS in the event of a No vote. I also watched Labour politicians tell us that the NHS was in grave danger in England. The Barnett formula means reduced funding in Scotland as English welfare state budgets are reduced. I watched as statements from EU and NATO officials were taken out of context and spun to create the impression that we would be excluded from both. And I watched as those EU and NATO officials refuted the spin that was put upon their comments. I watched as a Cabinet re-shuffle populated our current government with even more reactionary, anti-EU, anti-Gay Marriage, anti-Barnett Formula politicians, 75% of them male and 75% privately educated with some calling for the repeal of Devolution and massive cuts to the Scottish budget. You'll see in today's press how this prevailing attitude in government has translated into the ongoing fallacy amongst English voters that Scots are net recipients, rather than net contributors to the UK treasury. I watched as the prospect of a UKIP/Tory coalition at the 2016 general election became more likely as Labour still seem incapable of forging a socially just path to more votes in the rest of the UK. And I see no evidence of a grassroots desire for radical change in the rest of the UK and too many vested interests in the current system to make change at Westminster likely in my lifetime. I watched as DRIP legislation was rushed through parliament to enable even further erosion of our civil liberties with the promise that a future Tory government would withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights and repeal our own Human Rights Act. I watched as the establishment closed ranks to cover up of institutionalised child abuse at the highest levels and granted the Royal Family the right to absolute secrecy. And I watched as millionaire celebrities entreated us to stay in a Union that is broken, that does the exact opposite of what David Cameron promised in his 2010 election campaign, that does not look after the weakest and most vulnerable but demonises them and blames them for the ills brought upon us by the richest and most privileged. I will not take lectures on pensions from the people who stole the pension pot. I will not take lectures on the future of our oil and shipbuilding industries from the people who de-industrialised Scotland and lied to us about our reserves. I will not take lectures on the economy from the people who presided over the worst banking crash since the 1920’s. I will not take lectures on austerity from those who have doubled the national debt in 4 years to finance their assault on the poor and to enrich their donors. I will not take lectures on security from the people whose foreign policy brought terror to our shores. I will not take lectures on the NHS from those who would see it privatised. I will not take lectures on care for the elderly and disabled by the first government to be inspected by the UN on disability rights violations. I will not take lectures on nuclear weapons from those who don't live with them in their back yard. I will NOT be scared into voting No and neither should you. I will vote Yes. I will vote Yes for the opportunity it will give my and all of our children. I will vote Yes for the opportunity to create a progressive and socially just country. I will vote Yes for the opportunity to make a positive difference to the community, society, country and world we live in. I will vote Yes. ‪#‎YesBecause‬ LikeLike · · Share

Yep, here's hoping thousands upon thousands of no voters join him by voting on friday.

Thankfully someone at the BBC is capable of telling the truth. 15:37: Andrew Browne, Editor of BBC Reporting Scotland tweets: Thousands of people currently protesting against alleged BBC bias outside Pacific Quay studios in Glasgow.