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Prediction
Prediction Logged by at 10:50:42
Ipswich Town v Norwich City prediction logged
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RAF Flypast
at 23:30 17 Jul 2018

Apologies if this has been posted, I did have a search but couldn’t see anything. I just thought this was amazing. Enjoy..

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This makes me sad 😢
at 16:54 1 Jul 2018

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44674652

Ivor the Engine, Basil Brush and Bagpuss. Some of the best children’s programmes ever. RIP.
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Why so much negativity towards Lampard?
at 23:16 21 May 2018

TLDR — Don’t discount the idea of Lampard as manager, his inexperience may not necessarily be as much of an issue as you fear.

I’ve read a number of posts discounting out of hand Frank Lampard as our next manager, purely on the basis of a lack of management experience, which I find quite odd. If, as it appears, the shortlist of 3 is Ross, Lampard and Hurst I think each offers something unique and in every case, I would be happy to see them take the helm and be given a go to move us forward.

What is clear is that we’ve tried the experienced manager with a track record of getting clubs promoted to the Premiership route, without success. The last 3 managers had 5 promotions between them and a single payoff semi is all we had to cheer about (that and not getting relegated the year McCarthy joined). The idea of going down the tried and tested, battle-hardened championship manager route again does not seem particularly appealing.

Of the potential shortlist of 3, some perspective on the other 2 candidates is needed.
Jack Ross has 114 games in management. Of those 34 were in charge of semi-professional Alloa Athletic with a 38% win ratio. His spell with St. Mirren, however, is undoubtedly impressive. Furthermore, he seems like a ‘good fit’ for Ipswich, whatever that means. I’ve seen it mentioned a few times and I feel it too, however, I’m not sure quite where the frenetic Ross support is really grounded in given his relative lack of overall experience or time managing at this level.

Paul Hurst has 10 years’ experience managing through the lower leagues with over 500 games in management. He has done well at Shrewsbury and it will be interesting to see what he does if they win the play-offs. I get the impression he may be less media-friendly than the other 2. That said its difficult to argue with a win ratio over 50% across 500 games. The question for me is why hasn't it happened for him before now?

Lampard’s (who will be 40 next month) credentials as a player speak for themselves. However, it wasn’t until I wrote them down that I was struck by what an incredible career he has had. 913 club games with 274 goals to his name. 106 (29 goals) England caps and an incredible list of honours over the years. Most relevant to Towns interest perhaps is that he has played under a huge variety of managers, experiencing their different styles, influences, tactics and man management over the course of his career. His bosses have included, Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas and Rafael Benítez. With England, he would have played under Sven Goran Erikson, Steve McLaren, Fabio Capello and Roy Hodgson. It is difficult to deny that that is an impressive list to have worked with. Furthermore, this is unlikely to have been wasted on Lampard. His intelligence is well documented, his IQ is rumoured to be well over 150. He is media friendly, polished, driven and a proven winner, he could really raise the profile of our club without it becoming a media circus and he is very connected and respected across the game. He’s even got an Uncle ‘Arry! I don’t accept that he has nothing to lose. He is fiercely competitive and will want to maintain that winning mentality, especially when the focus will be purely on him. I think the case for Lampard is very strong and should not be discounted just because he’s got no management experience. I think the experience and credentials he does have stands alone among all the candidates (all 100 of them if Sky Sports are to be believed!) and if it isn’t at Ipswich, we will certainly get to see at some point in the future what kind of manager he will be.

But what about this lack of management experience issue? I looked at other very good/world class players who have turned their hand to management? There are plenty of examples of young players taking up management in their late 30’s early 40’s, in many cases taking on roles at huge clubs or even nations and going on to be incredibly successful. The following list makes the point pretty well.

Antonio Conte —36 with Arezo and then Bari
Didier Deschamps —33 with Monaco
Bobby Robson — 35 with Fulham and then Town year later.
Fabio Capello — 41 with Milan
Jupp Heynckes — 34 with Borussia Mönchengladbach
Kenny Dalglish — 34 with Liverpool
Diego Simeone — 36 Racing Club
Brian Clough — 30 Hartlepool
Mario Zagallo — 35 Botatogo and Brazil at 36
Carlo Ancelotti — 36 Reggiana and Parma at 37
Franz Beckenbauer — 39 West Germany
Pep Guardiola — 36 Bara B, 37 Barcelona
Johan Cruyff — 38 Ajax
Jock Stein — 38 Dunfermline
Fran Rijkaard — 36 Holland
Ernst Happel — 37 Ado Den Haag
Miguel Munoz — 37 Real Madrid
Vincent Del Bosque — 37 Castilla
Giovanni Trapattoni — 35 AC Milan
…and yes I accept there are some that have made a complete hash of it too. However, the higher up the footballing tree you go, the less examples there are of total failures in management.

So, in summary, someone is going to give Lampard a shot at management and there are plenty of reasons to believe that he could be a huge success. I for one would welcome him to Ipswich.
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You can stick your Laurel up your Yanny!
at 10:31 18 May 2018

This is brilliant. Mind blown!


It also works if you think of 'green storm' or 'brain needle' ! What is this witchcraft!
[Post edited 18 May 2018 10:33]
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Pendulum @ Printworks Saturday
at 11:00 12 Apr 2018

Their first non-festival live set for 7 years or so. No Ben (Verse) Mount but should be epic. Anyone going?
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Creative Types...
at 14:29 19 Sep 2017

I recall there are a number of members working in the creative industries and I have a question that is probably far from simple but I would really appreciate some input. In short, how on earth do you choose a graphic designer and how do you 'value' their work? I've always worked for larger companies so any requirements like this have been dealt with by the in-house marketers. Now I'm seeing things from the SME perspective.

In short, I am looking to refresh/update the identity (logo in the main) of my employers business. The owners of the business would happily spend £200 outsourcing to India or £500 to 99designs as they don't really understand or value the work of a professional designer. I, however, understand the importance of good branding and identity but am finding it impossible to find the right level for us. A grown-up agency is out of our league and yet I've even had quotes ranging from £5k to £12k from freelancers to produce a new logo. I've also had quotes for £700 from smaller design companies so what on earth do you get for 10x even 15x your investment and can that ever be quantified or justified? I've never known such a broad range of costs for essentially the same thing, particularly when the opinion of the success or failure of the end product is entirely subjective.

Any help or advice welcome. Cheers.
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Anyone here grow up in Brandon?
at 09:19 8 Sep 2017

If so and although not technically correct, how did you deal with the idea of the town being split half in Norfolk and the other half in Suffolk and the unsavoury influences that this brought from friends and family?

I'll confess, before the age of 11 I had been taken to significantly more games at Carrot Rd (never as a supporter I'll add) than I had at Portman Road. However, once I had freedom of thought, of course, I made better choices.
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Is the US really so skint that it needed to raise the debt ceiling to...
at 18:42 7 Sep 2017

...pay for the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey? Apparently, if I have just understood what I read correctly if the ceiling isn't raised by 3 October, in any event, they may struggle to pay 25% of their bills in October.

I'm starting to think that the North Korea situation really is a convenient distraction.
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Hurricane Irma
at 14:19 5 Sep 2017

Just been upgraded to a Cat.5 storm with 210mph wind gusts with sustained speeds of 175mph with a storm surge of 11ft and pressure already reading sub 930mb. With plenty of warm water still to cross this really could get very very nasty over the next couple of days.

Antigua looks to be right in the firing line at present and either a north turn towards Miami or the Florida Keys or it slipping right through into the GOM would result in catastrophic damage and loss of life. Either way, it is going to get bad somewhere soon, unless by some miracle the whole system collapses, which won't happen.
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Cannabidiol
at 23:15 3 Sep 2017

Anyone else use it for medicinal use? I tried it for the past 3 weeks and have noticed a huge improvement in aches and pains as well as a subtle improvement in mood. The most noticeable change is that I'm listening to loads of music a getting loads of pleasure from it, something I've not done in years.
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I'm James Milner apparently...
at 11:36 15 Aug 2017

...who are you?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40507399
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Odds for our record to go...
at 19:38 9 Aug 2017

...I asked and Paddy Power will give you 100/1 for an EPL team to win a match by 9 goals or more in the 17/18 season.

Anyone think that's a good price?
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Random acts of kindness...
at 13:33 29 Jun 2017

So, yesterday Mrs Yaffle was in Germany with our daughter who was representing England in the Dance World Cup. The journey from the hotel in the Black Forest to the airport was a good couple of hours on trains and a bus. Upon arriving at the airport she discovered that the boarding passes, passports and car keys to the car parked at Stansted were still in the room safe. Long, story short with no other way of getting them to her in time the hotel manager jumped in his car and drove the hour to the airport to get them to her in time to board the flight. He wouldn't even accept any money for fuel although he did get given some champers and chocolates!

If he hadn't done that it would have been a nightmare getting home or even finding additional accommodation not to mention the cost which would have huge due to the competition! He didn't have to do what he did but I'm hugely pleased he did.

It helped restore my faith in human nature so I thought I would share and see if anyone had experienced anything similar either as the superhero or recipient!
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Get ya skates on, first race is 'alf past two!
at 11:36 21 Jun 2017

State opening of Parliament, as mad as it is brilliant.
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Grenfell Tower disaster parallels in House of Cards - 1993
at 08:42 20 Jun 2017

"Events, the politicians greatest enemy they say, plan until you're blue in the face then things just happen and events take over. Not terrorists this time it seems, an accident. A gas explosion in a rundown block of council flats, that's all."



I'm not suggesting any conspiracy or otherwise, just sharing as I found this fascinatingly similar to recent events and as the publisher of this states...

"I have absolutely zero intent to offend the victims, their families or the survivors of this dreadful and shocking event, nor to trivialise the nature of this disaster in comparing real world events to fictional television shows, and I wholly apologise if that is how this is judged. Neither do I wish to make a further comment on either the real event or opinions voiced in the fictional dialogue. What I will say though is that Urquhart's reaction in the BBC interview is chilling, and I hope not at all prescient. Beyond that, I am simply struck by how a 25-year old show can so closely resemble today's reality, with seemingly so few of the issues having been addressed in the interim."
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In the public interest?
at 09:02 17 Jun 2017

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/16/man-jailed-sharing-photo-dead-grenfel

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3817547/man-facebook-photo-grenfell-tower-fire-vic

The wife and I have been discussing this over our morning cuppa. I'm conflicted and uncomfortable about this. To be clear, I'm not for a second defending what he did as anything other than very wrong and hugely misjudged. Question is, was it criminal and if so, was it in the public interest to send him to prison for 3 months? If you start imprisoning people for everything offending or indecent on Social Media we are going to have to build a lot more prisons. I'm genuinely interested in others thoughts.

127. Improper use of public electronic communications network

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he–

(a) sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or

(b) causes any such message or matter to be so sent.

Maximum sentence 6 months.
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Trump isn't coming...
at 13:48 11 Jun 2017

He doesn't want to visit until the British public supports him coming. That'll be never then!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/11/donald-trump-state-visit-to-brit
[Post edited 11 Jun 2017 13:50]
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Theresa May on Mental Health
at 09:47 7 Jun 2017

On a subject that is important to myself and many on here, I believe May is simply lying with her manifesto pledge on Mental Health services, there is no way what she is promising can be achieved. Since 2010 the number of Mental Health staff has reduced by 6,700 and most services are woefully understaffed http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39836506

She has been claiming since the turn of the year to recruit 10,000 more mental health professionals (whatever that means) by 2020, a net increase of 3,300 over the 10 year period, assuming of course that she manages to stem the mass exodus from the service. In this article http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/40169336/i-dont-like-liar-liar---five-thin this is quoted as 10k RMN's (nurses), not simply professionals. So aside from the fact that she has pledged to stop nursing bursaries which is already impacting on numbers applying to study (applications actually down by 23%), it takes a minimum of 3 years to train and qualify plus a preceptorship period to become able to operate safely at full capacity.

Also, bear in mind that for each student nurse you need trained and qualified nursing mentors for each student placement (which accounts for 50% of study). Nursing mentors typically do this for no additional remuneration and/or protected time, meaning that much of the admin is done in their own free time. Understandably, it's not as popular as it once was to be a mentor.

Finally, consider this. 2015 saw the lowest ever number of nurses qualifying, fewer nurses are coming to the UK to work from the EU and only 60% of newly trained nurses actually enter the NHS. Crisis, what crisis?
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/25/number-of-mental-health-nurses-f
https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/views-from-the-nhs-frontline/2016
https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2016/jul/16/mental-health-nur

This is the terrifying reality, it may never touch your life but I cannot vote with a clear conscience for any party who is promising to oversee the continued decimation of a service that is meant to be in place to protect some of the most vulnerable in our society.
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Amber Rudd censors candidate during hustings
at 16:15 4 Jun 2017

Rather naughty of her.



Actually, her business track record is all rather dodgy to be fair. She probably wouldn't be able to bid for public sector business yet she can be Home Secretary.
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