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The Real PapaBear

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  1. The Real PapaBear
    Good point. I'm out. it's the waiting around until the season starts that's the killer.
  2. The Real PapaBear
    Equally, any growth in that market will benefit the country - or do you think the price of oil and gas will fall as it gets scarcer? food and drink industry creative industries life sciences oil and gas industry, renewable energy industry tourism industry manufacturing industry agriculture forestry universities and education Looks pretty diverse to me
  3. The Real PapaBear
    Quite. Yes, Danish banks got hammered and the point is that the country, far from going under because of it, enjoys a GDP significantly higher than the UK, so claims that the failure of RBS (even if an independent Scotland had allowed it to get to that point, which is debatable) would not have ruined the country. The Austrian Central bank released a statement today saying "Austrian banks' exposure to emerging Europe is generally positive so they do not need to consider exiting the region ". Talk about timing.
  4. The Real PapaBear
    It's actually the polar opposite mate. Compare the performances of all the European nations of our size who can manage their economic levers much more flexibly than the lumbering, centralised, large state economies like UK, France or Italy who have to adopt a one-size fits all approach. Being part of a large diverse ecomy is certainly a good thing and thankfully, we are already part of the EU. Quite how long that will remain the case when the right wing in England get their way and pull the UK into isolationist irrelevance remains to be seen.
  5. The Real PapaBear
    I think it's more likely that an independent Scotland would have prevented the bank from becoming so big that it posed a threat to the country. It's much more likely that our situation would have been more like Norway (with whom we have much more in common economically) than Ireland. That's obviously speculation, but then so is any claim that, had we been independent, we would have followed the UK regulatory framework which allowed the banks to behave as they did. Did you know that whilst the world economy was imploding in 2008, Norway's economy actually grew? http://www.newsweek.com/stoltenberg-how-norway-escaped-economic-meltdown-70511 Imagine being able to control your own economic levers to suit your own economic demands. Something to think about when interest rates in Scotland go up because the housing market in London and the SE of England is starting to overheat.
  6. The Real PapaBear
    what's your memory of that time?
  7. The Real PapaBear
    Had we been independent, what makes you think we'd have allowed ourselves to get into that mess? How did Switzerland get on during the crisis? Sure, those Swiss banks which were exposed to London/NewYork casino-banking suffered, but it doesn't seem to have done too much harm to the overall Swiss economy, (which actually suffered because it was too successful and thus offered a safe haven for foreign currencies, thereby pushing the Franc into the stratosphere). Or, on the theme of small European nations, how about the Norwegian or Swedish or Finnish or Austrian or Danish banks? They all seem to have weathered the storm very nicely, despite having the massive disadvantage of being independent countries in charge of their own economies.
  8. The Real PapaBear
    seriously, mate? seriously? Westminster, where politics now no longer makes any pretense at being about or for the people; where you'd need a forensic scientist to tell any of the posh-boy-to-public-school-to-oxbridge-to-westminster politicians apart. In Holyrood, whether you like them or loath them all the party leaders are recognisably different, and all the parties, (apart from Labour) actually stand for and believe in something. Your remark about "because most of them have never done anything but politics" is certainly true about Camerocleggiband and Westminster's established parties, but doesn't apply to the SNP. When the current SNP MSPs joined the party, there was next to no chance it would ever be in power, so they weren't motivzted by political career advancement. Fortunately, as things turned out, they did get into power. Perhaps its beause the MSPs are made up of real people, rather than party aparatchicks, that they were reelected with a greater majority last time.
  9. The Real PapaBear
    this is an exceptionally good article. Put aside, for a moment, the fact that the writer supports the board, his analysis of how media is used to frame a subject, to manipulate and distort is very valuable - and is something we should bear in mind no matter what the subject matter is.
  10. The Real PapaBear
    said it before and I'll say it again; anyone who allows the biggest decision they or their children will ever have to face to be based on 11 men kicking a ball should have their right to vote taken away from them. As your kids start having to pay to go to university (as they do in England), and as your NHS becomes ever more privatised ever more quickly (as it is in England) and as you have to start to fund your parents nursing home (as they do in England) the colour of your football team's shirt might start to seem less and less important and your decision to vote NO more and more regretable.
  11. The Real PapaBear
    he's explained that in previous posts, JTP. I'm not yet entirely convinced that he's not a wind-up merchant playing a long game, but as long as he plays nice.... and anyway, you can't blame him for having an interest in the only show in town
  12. The Real PapaBear
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_%28football_badge%29
  13. The Real PapaBear
    I'm taking France for this one (cue sounds of rejoycing in Berlin!). The German defense looked very porous last night, on the flanks and in the centre. If they had been playing a team with composed strikers they'd have been on the plane home this morning.
  14. The Real PapaBear
    no point crying over spillt milk, Andy - you had your chance. Just get on with your tennis and see how you do in that.
  15. The Real PapaBear
    Sorry mate, you're describing a place I've never been to in a language I don't understand. The above bears no relationship to the Ibrox I go to or teh supporters I know. It is the application of the law which is confused, not the law itself You kinda make my case for me here. When you and I were young we sang the song. Now that we know what it means, we don't sing it. We know what it means because we learned what it means as we grew up - as did every other Rangers fan. Anyone who still sings it, knowing what it means opens themselves to accusations of bigotry. It extends only to football matches at which one of the teams is from Scotland. It does not extend to the Abbey Road recording studios.
  16. The Real PapaBear
    you mean, only upitty Jocks, not the ones who know their place?
  17. The Real PapaBear
    Are you seriously trying to tell me that there is a Rangers fan alive who doesn't know or think that f*****n refers to Catholics? And please don't give me any nonsense about it meaning some obscure group of 19th century Irish American activists, who nobody had heard of until recently. 'Context' applies if Professor Higgenbottom-Smythe is giving a lecture at Edinburgh University on the rise of 9th Century Irish nationalism. In this context the word F****n is pretty central to the day's events. When we are talking about football, context does not apply "in such situations", because there are no "such situations" - when you're wearing a Rangers scarf and talking about f******s, it's bigotry, pure and simple. Sectarianism has no chance of ending as long as children are divided into separate schools at the age of 5 and grow up with a mentality of division. The promotion and fostering of sectarianism has little or nothing to do with us or Rangers FC. That aside, the issue is very, very simple: if you use derogatory, racist or discriminatory terms about any particular group, that's illegal and those songs are banned. There is no confusion. TBB =banned; The Sash / Derry's Walls = no problem. If you were to sing TBB tomorrow, you'd be singing about Catholics. You wouldn't be able to kid yourself on that it had any other meaning and you sure as hell wouldn't be kidding anyone else on either. You're talking about two legal jurisdictions here, so in that respect, context is relevant. In Scotland, it's a no-no. In rUK, you can sing about terrorists all you want, no problem. (unless of course, it's Islamic "terrorists", when a whole new set of laws and rules apply. Some of them even on the statute books.) But again, the motivation is of no relevance whatsoever. Bob Geldof and the Dalai Lama could sing it in a duet atop the steeple of Greyfriars Kirk and they'd still get lifted for doing so.
  18. The Real PapaBear
    what a shamefully disingenous attempt to hide reality. Are you seriously saying that anyone using f*****n in a "political" context? What a crock of shite! This nonsense about fe****ns being used in the "original" context has only emerged in the past few years and only then because some people needed some "political" justification for spouting their "religious" bigotry. Many people are ignorant and stupid. Should I live my life based on their ignorance and stupidity? Much as I find the tune to be a woeful dirge and certainly don't regard it as my national anthem, there is not a single anti-English word or anti-English sentiment contained within it. Accusations of it being anti-English as only ever levelled by cringing jocks transferring their own inadequacies and hang ups into this song.
  19. The Real PapaBear
    I hope he goes on to prove us all wrong, because he seems a top lad, but I don't think Little was good enough for where we want to be and wasn't as safe an option as Boyd or Miller in getting us there.
  20. The Real PapaBear
    Really? Replace f****n with n**g*r in the song and sectarianism with racism in your post and then read that back to me, just to see how it sounds. (I'm not accusing you of anything, by the way - just pointing out the weakness in your contention) Quite apart from that, the motives of those who sing it are pretty much irrelevant (although how someone can admit it is seen to be anti-catholic, yet continue to sing it but claim not be anti-catholic is a step too far for my addled mind). The fact is that singing it only harms the club and that is unacceptable, regardless of the motivation.
  21. The Real PapaBear
    Ok, so you support singing a song which damages the reputation and finances of the club, which threatens our future participation in European football and you're quite happy to put your own anti-catholic agenda before the well-being of Rangers FC. That's all we need to know.
  22. The Real PapaBear
    it kinda is, since it's against the law to sing it. I don't think arson or murder are specifically banned at Scottish games either.
  23. The Real PapaBear
    Hats off! That was nicely done. I honestly am impressed with how you body-swerved the question - so let me try a more direct approach: Do you support the singing of TBB? unsubstantiated hypothesis based on nothing but opinion. Can you provide an example of a club having been charged and fined on three occasions for repeated discriminatory chanting and their national association doing nothing about it? After all, this seems to be the basis of your arguement, namely that the SFA will do nothing about TBB and UEFA will do nothing about the SFA doing nothing. So let's see some evidence to support it.
  24. The Real PapaBear
    Then lets have a clear answer. Do you advocate the return of TBB? If you are unable to unable or unwilling to understand " The SFA have not taken action because it has all but disappeared from domestic games, apart from a couple of brief appearences belted out by a handful of morons." then there's not a lot I can do to help. you asked: "Do you have any examples of UEFA intervening in the business of a national association elsewhere?" - I furnished the proof that they had. The purpose of your question, (which you had probably hoped would be rhetorical) was to cast doubt on whether UEFA had jurisdiction over national associations, and thus, would be unable to do anything if TBB returned and the SFA did nothing about it. The link I provided proves that UEFA can and have intervened in domestic national affairs. Whether the reason for that intervention was discriminatory chanting or not is irrelevant. They have the power to intervene and in extreme cases they will do so. You'd have to be some sort of blinkered fool to think that UEFA would do nothing about SFA inaction on the return of TBB.
  25. The Real PapaBear
    If Chile had been able to move the goalposts as easily as you, they'd be into the last 16 tonight. What relevance does "at that time" have to anything? You clearly want the song to return, judging by the language you use, "capitulated" "bending the knee" - why not just be up front about it and admit that you want it back and to hell with the consequences for Rangers? As to the second part I already answered it in the post you replied to, so I'm not sure why you're asking the same question again. As to your final request for information, once again, happy to help: http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6279791/bosnia-memberships-suspended-fifa-uefa
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