Red-Robbo

It may as well have been...

Keep up! It's about the merits of Budleigh Salterton now.

I like it down there, it has a lot going for it. It pains me the bile that AFC Bournemouth fans attract on Otib, although it is perfectly true to say the club's Russian owners bought their way to success and somehow evaded the EFL rulebook on FFP. That isn't the fault of the fans however.

The whole concept of a unitary authority for Bournemouth-Poole-Christchurch is very divisive. Bournemouth is generally quite affluent (apart from the Scouse ghetto in Boscombe/Pokesdown) whereas bits of Poole are fairly grotty and rough, and as mentioned Christchurch is the start of the Costa Geriatrica and quite genteel - apart from the vast Somerford estate. Basically, all three constituent parts hate the other two!

Bournemouth itself is only part of the wider East Dorset Conurbation, which includes Poole, Christchurch and other communities. As I pointed out, Bournemouth itself is a big student town, with many employers and more nightclubs than anywhere else in the south of England outside London. I had always thought of Bournemouth as a "retirement community" but then I lived and worked there and realised that stereotype is completely wrong. If you want to visit God's waiting room by the sea, I suggest you go to New Milton, where the high street is a riot of mobility scooter vendors, hearing aid shops and undertakers.

If you think that, I suggest you don't know Bournemouth very well. Christchurch and the New Forest coast are the Cosata Geriatrica. Bournemouth itself has a lower-than-average wage profile and some of the best paid jobs in the south-west outside Bristol. If you avoid the horrors of Bournemouth pier beach and Boscombe, there are 21 miles of sand, with some lovely beaches at Hengistbury Head, Southbourne, Durley Chine and Sandbanks etc.

? "Drink up thy lukewarm glass of imported Pepsi, drink up thy glass of lukewarm imported Pepsi, for tonight we'll repressive be..." ?

Away kit in green this year:

I guess this is the mark of being a fan of a club like City as opposed to a plastic supporter of one of the big six. Virtually every City fan has watched us live, a fair percentage have, or have had, season cards, and many have watched away games as well as home games. Your typical West Country Arsenal fan (or Man U, or Liverpool, or Man City these days, or Chelsea, or Spurs - mostly older guys there) has never watched them outside the confines of his/her house or the pub. They have their "Gooners" duvet set, but are really just followers rather than fans.

Absolutely fabulous military writer. What is so good is the geo-political context he puts on stuff. It allows you a far better understanding than simply a "maps and chaps" author. I have Operation Pedestal, his newish one about the struggle to defend Malta in World War II, in my books to read stack.

Good stuff. Might pop out and have a quick pint...

It's not shirt colours or patterns that create a difficulty for us non-colour blind (but no longer in possession of 20/20 vision) folks, it's the contrast in the numbers/names with the shirt. Bournemouth at AG last season was particularly bad. Black lettering on a dark green shirt. I couldn't easily make out who was who from my perch in Row 34.

? Can't tell if you're joking or not...

Portugal's shirts must be a 'mare for colour-blind Lusitanians...

Got a skin like a rhinoceros that man. It's worth noting that Max is a very firm Conservative. But a traditional one. He actually wants to conserve things rather than wreck them for short-term profit.

Piers Gaveston. A Medieval courtier of reputed homosexualist tendencies, who foppish Oxford University undergraduates still have a fascination with. Bozo pretended his godfather (a historian) had said something about Gaveston, which he hadn't. Tip to the lazy journalist: If you're going to manufacture a quote and attribute it to a real person, best clear it with them first.

We haven't got anyone on loan to break their leg in the first match so... maybe 14th.

He basically made up a quote from an acquaintance. Unfortunately for him, the acquaintance complained to the editor. Before joining The Times, they had a scheme where there trainees spent six weeks on a local paper and Bozo went to the Wolverhampton Express & Star where, as well as encountering council houses for the first time in his life, he was asked to leave for persistently being late. As you say, his made-up stories about the EU didn't bother the Telegraph: In fact they encouraged the falsehoods.

There's a song about it. (I was at this gig incidentally, but it's not my terrible shaky filming)

Makes a bloody difference from seasons past, doesn't it? I recall many an August approaching and thinking "but we haven't brought anyone in!" It's decisive management. Identify targets last season; speak to and persuade them to sign ASAP after the season closes. The later you leave things the more other clubs get involved in the chase, and the more cash you might blow from desperation.

From Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I'm sadder.

Cheers for posting a graph showing what I said - that the UK did much worse than average in the "hot" year of Covid - 2020. I refer you to my "falling in a hole" analogy. By Jan 2023, everyone who has had a post-Covid "spurt" will have had one. We're in an international economy where "but Covid..." will not excuse your crap performance. So, what is your excuse for the OECD forecast of zero growth in 2023 for the UK? Please actually use economic science rather than "but I fink" in your answer....

Not actually true that. The degree of lockdown varied and while some things were tighter in some countries, others were looser. At any rate, our economy shrank more than many others. If your theory is that the UK opened faster so we got a growth spurt this year, that still doesn't explain why it's forecast to fall to zero growth next year. In a race, if you get a head start, that advantage normally carries on. We are talking about growth in a calendar year where all economies are likely to be open and all will be effected by the after-effects of 2020/21 and the Ukraine crisis.

I take it you've never studied economics? Having better-than-average growth in 2021 would not of consequence lead to us have much worse-than-average growth in 2023 - and of course the better-than-average year came after our economy fell more than average in 2020. If you fall in a 20ft hole and climb 6 feet up the wall, you're still in a worse position that someone who falls in a 10ft hole and climbs 5 feet. PS: We have more expensive prices at the pump than Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and various other countries more dependent on Russian fuel supplies.