The key is whether the Geordies can sack him or not. They should be able to because they should have amended his contract when they agreed to keep him after prison to allow dismissal for a further transgression but this is Newcastle we're talking about so god knows. If they can sack him I would have thought they would do so that they can save his wages for the remainder of his contract. That number would be a lot bigger than his transfer fee, which I suppose they could try pursuing him for through the courts a la Chelsea and Mutu, but I suspect that would be difficult. If he's sacked and out of work he's suddenly both a hell of a lot more affordable and a club could write his contract such that it's ripped up with any further offence.

Given Newcastle are currently looking at ways of sacking him I would think his current salary is completely irrelevant. I don't think I want him either but I don't think not being able to afford him will be a problem.

It's excellent - I've been a few times. Modern British, similar to Heathcotes. Not cheap but decent value for the quality you get.

You were a long way out there Oz! These days I only really seem to listen to world music, although that said that's a hell of a broad church. I'll listen to pretty much anything out of west Africa in particular, especially Tinariwen, Amadou & Mariam, Baaba Maal, Bassekou Kouyate etc. Still have plenty of time for the likes of Ry Cooder, Van Morrison, Brain Wilson and Leonard Cohen as well though.

I'm off to see Ojos de Brujo tonight in Liverpool - possibly the worlds' only Catalan flamenco/hip hop fusion band. Looking forward to a serious party night.

In The Loop, from Armando Ianucci, the maker of the satirical political TV show The Thick of It. Completely hilarious and featuring Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker, the world's most inventive swearer. You might have to search around for it though.

I think it was Austin Mitchell, then Yorkshire TV presenter, now maverick MP for Grimsby.

I've not seen the film yet but have read the book. The book is very dark and it's understandable that the family do not approve. I understand from reviews that the film is much lighter and kinder to Clough. In any event it's important to remember that both the book and the film are fiction, although based on real events - neither is claiming to give a true account.

You can keep control of the bill at Yang Sing by asking them to choose the dishes for you - you just give them a per person budget, tell them what you like and don't like and leave it to them. You will get stuff you would not have tried otherwise - we had razor clams last time which were amazing.

Whilst you're right about the disgraceful way the major supermarkets deal with food suppliers in the UK, Le Chuck is absolutely right about FairTrade. This is a specific term which can only be used for products approved by the FairTrade Foundation. It relates to products from Third World countries which carry a guaranteed fixed premium over world market prices and also a small social premium, both of which are used for community development. I have been to Cuba to see the operation of FairTrade in orange juice production and am off to Southern India in four weeks to meet FairTrade tea producers. It's still relatively small scale in world market terms but it does work and should be supported.

Great post Paul and I agree with the majority of your points - buying locally, in small quantities and often, preferably from as near to the grower as you can get, will generally be far superior. Even better, grow it yourself where you can. I thought the same as you regarding air-freighted vegetables from Africa until I read Fred Pearce's book - Confessions of an Eco Sinner. The bookn is about travels to find our where his food and clothing comes from. On one trip he goes out to Kenya to see the green beans operation and comes back convinced he should buy more! Not enough space to go into the full reasons why but in a nutshell the extra carbon foorprint of the air freight is greatly outweighed by the benefits to the local communities that are growing the beans - it's proper development, allowing people who were previously at subsistence level to become self sufficient and set themselves on the road to proper economic development. There are much the same arguments to be made about fairtrade products as well. The majority of fairtrade foodstuffs on sale in the UK are crops that cannot be grown commercially in the UK and the fairtrade premiums provide a way for poor farming communities to get themselves out of poverty. I have met orange juice producers in Cuba so can be rather boring on the subject if you want! At the other extreme, my wife treated me to dinner at Northcote Manor last night for my birthday - extraordinarily wonderful but not a regular event unless you have shedloads of money. Last night was a mystery gourmet and wine evening where we had to guess what we were eating and drinking - we were hopeless but it was terrific fun. We ate food we would probably never have tried if choosing from a menu but it was excellent - arctic char from Loch Ness, beef sweetbreads and goat from Cockerham!

It's the Sirloin Paul.

Just back from Glastonbury. Didn't really see Winey Amehouse as I was working in the WaterAid tent as a volunteer at the time. Thought The Verve were very average, but it might have been the comparison with Leonard Cohen who was on immediately before - his set was extraordinary, although I believe armchair viewers couldn't see him. Outstanding sets also from Balkan Beat Box, The Blockheads, Martha Wainwright, Cerys Matthews and the Handsome Family - probably none of these on the tele either. I was curious about Jay-Z - whilst it's not really my type of music he is a great showman and the first 5 minutes was a brilliant response to Noel Gallagher's ridiculous comments. There is a pretty good rule of thumb for most years - the best stuff happens miles from the big stages. You just have to be there - come along next year!

Tony Allen comfortably.

I've read an article about him in the last few months (can't remember where). He seems to be completely committed to sailing now. As well as the Windermere stuff he has been taking boats around the Med and even across the Atlantic.

Another article on atmosphere from yesterday's Independent, including a league table of stadium noise Rovers 14th in the Premiership, ahead of Utd and Liverpool. Can't say that the table makes much sense from my experience overall though - Tottenham 2nd?!

Of course it might have had something to do with about 1,000 Rovers fans in front of him screaming "shoot".

Interesting article on MGP in today's Independent

I think we actually now have two home matches which we can guarantee a 30K crowd, Liverpool and Man Utd. We have more or less done this in previous seasons with higher ticket prices and clearly the market for these two games could stand higher prices (not that I'm proposing it). This is not the case with the other two higher ticket price matches - Arsenal and Chelsea, mainly because of geography. With Liverpool and Man Utd there are large numbers of fans in the Lancashire area who can easily get on Rovers database - it only takes coming to another match (or even just buying a ticket). There were two behind me yesterday who were clearly local from their accents but were Liverpool fans and knew little or nothing about Rovers. Overall crowds are significantly up on last season. ST numers are 20% up - overall it will be less because we have presumably converted a number of those who picked their matches last year into ST holders this year. It's also complicated though by the team's performance which must be encouraging a few more but will likely be negatively affected later on with kick-off changes for TV - notably the home match with Sunderland.

Coupled with the fact that Wigan are only charging £15 for their category C games, £5 less than Rovers.

In general I like the 5.15 kick-offs as well, but it will create a problem for the Liverpool match in November when I'm due to be at a dinner in Sheffield at 7.30!

Mark Patterson no longer at Scarborough as they've gone bust.

I'm in the 1% as well. For a guy who has come first season into the Premiership, back from horrendous injuries, been troubled by niggling injuries, a goal scoring record like his is highly commendable. Frequently overseas players take a while to settle in England - Drogba and Vidic were mentioned above. He just might turn into a bargain. There's an element of risk but at £2m for the devil you know rather than £xxm for the one you don't in the Summer it seems decent business to me.

It's on Ipswich's website, although not yet on Rovers.

Despite which side of the Lucas debate you're on, is anyone else amazed at the arrogance of Rick Parry's comments today? Effectively he's saying we don't need to sell Liverpool to a player - if you don't want to come you want your head examined.