Benni is sheer class. But he is 32 and not looking after himself the way he should.

Washington Post reports on rapid move to legalise pot in US States and collapse in support for prohibition

I am absolutely torn on this one. Benni is the most skilful player now at the club, is a brilliant goal scorer (look at his record) and can turn it on when he wants. Plus it would be great to see him as a Rover and leading the South Africa front line. BUT his lack of self-discipline in everything he does combined with the fact he is of an age where lack of physical fitness is literally a career-ender (look at Fowler as another example) means I would enormously reluctantly part company if he cannot mend his ways. For all his professed desire to play in the World Cup Finals, apparently he still couldn't put in a decent shift against Japan yesterday.

The Economist approvingly tracks the increasing decriminalisation of drugs

Hasn't Benni had swine flu and that was what Sam was referring to.

Benni is and always has been a class act. We don't have enough class as it is at Ewood to be able to keep Benni on the bench.

Hardly a resounding vote of support from me to the Axe was it?

Reset the table to a 1-0 win to Liverpool in Lyon. Lyon Pl4 GD+5 Pts 9 Fior Pl4 GD+5 Pts 9 Lpol Pl4 GD-1 Pts 6 Games to play Fior v Lyon Deb V Lpol Lyon v Deb Lpol v Fior Assuming the Hungarian lose the last two games, then Liverpool would have needed a favourable result for Lyon in Florence. If Fiorentina win that one Lpool have to beat Fiorentina by 3 or more or else they are out because Lyon are ahead on the head-to-head and Fiorentina are ahead head-to-head.

Benni and Dunn are only mutually exclusive because we have Andrews playing in central midfield. Sort out that position and Benni and Dunn would be a lethal combination.

They didn't because to qualify they had still to get ahead of one of Lyons or Fiorentina. At 1-0, Lyon were winning on aggregate so Lpool needed to get more points than them. Fiorentina were stuffing Debrecen so that meant even if they won in Lyons, they still needed a 3-0 win against Fiorentina at Anfield. Hardly a very good chance of qualifying in my book.

Even when it was 1-0 to the Scousers they still were not going to qualify. They had to beat Lyon by more than Lyon beat them at Anfield (3-1) to be in with a realistic chance in the last two games. Their remote chance now comprises beating Fiorentina 3-0 or 4-1 etc and a prayer mat for other results. They were out before tonight and are still out.

I'd love Liverpool to get KO'd from their next £20m pay day but I'd like their agony prolonging long enough for it to affect them when they come to Ewood. I'm a cruel so and so...

I've just seen confirmation why Aguero is so highly rated.... Steven Reid eat your heart out! ...and why he'll be wearing a Chelsea shirt and we might yet have a chance of keeping Di Santo.

Let's be honest- legalise drugs and Society would benefit- The Independent If that fraud Alan Johnson is serious about reclassifying canabis, then he should expect politicians to set an example and report to their local police station to confess all their past drug taking activities. A crime surely remains a crime no matter when it was committed. The sentences given to the likes of David Cameron and George Osborne should be the norm applied to all users who are unlucky to be nicked using whatever drugs the Parliamentarians have taken. This has to be the fairest approach. Incidentally, Prof Nutt's work positions alcohol as a borderline Class A/ Class B substance and tobacco as Class B. Ecstacy scarcely warrants so much as a Class C rating.

Hey I don't for a moment condone it or approve or am anything other than totally opposed to drugs abuse but that question just shows that drugs are probably more mainstream than tobacco is these days. Anyway, here is how our fellow Brits popped their clogs over the ast two years.. I shouldn't be being irreverent because my mother died last week (suffering a 100% legal bad trip on the way- cannabis would not have caused the same problem)) but this shows that: For every person who died of cannabis excess, 5 fell off a cliff and 170 died of alcohol poisoning (that is direct poisoning by alcohol after a bender too many, not any of the digestive or cancerous or mental illnesses that alcohol is traditionally blamed for). To be really naughty the score British deaths last year was rat bites 1 Al Qayda 0. Send the troops down the sewers- they are wasting their time in Afghanistan!

News reports that Benni will go on loan to Pompey in the second half of this season. Do we have a death wish?

Blackburn without a Premier League Trophy to be more precise. With the exception of Sevilla, not a good week for Spanish teams. Madrid and Barca both beaten at home and Atletico thrashed out of sight by Chelsea.

Gillett and Hicks will not pull the dosh from their own pockets to sack Raffa and get a decent replacement unless one of them (Gillett) thinks its worth winning the argument with his co-owner (Hicks) that it is his get even time with the Spanish waiter for having sided the wrong way when Parry was still there. It is like "Soap!" at Anfield these days. Liverpool FC haven't got that sort of money lying around themselves so Raffa will probably stay even if the Mancs wup the scousers at Anfield this weekend.

Yes Lyon could easily double Fiorentina but even that favourable result leaves Liverpool needing effectively to get the better of Fiorentina over two legs starting the second leg 2-0 down. Even if they beat Fiorentina 3-0, Liverpool still have to get as good a result in Lyon as Fiorentina do at home to Debrecin. If Fiorentina get a draw or win against Lyon, Liverpool could get through with a better than 2-1 win in Lyon if they also win their other two games and given how they struggled at Anfield against Debrecin, the Hungarians will be fancying themselves at home- they might well be challenging Liverpool for the Europa League slot if Liverpool don't buck up. They are as good as out I tell you!

How? Look at the table, results to date and fixtures. Even winning all three games (two away and Fiorentina at home) will not guarantee them qualification.

Interesting tonight- excellent results for Kiev and Kazan in Milan and Barcelona. Most significantly, I think we have just seen the end of England's Big 4 with Liverpool's home defeat by Lyon. To all intents and purposes, they are the first English club not to progress to the knock out stages of the CL for five years I think it is. Fiorentina's win in Hungary coupled with Liverpool having a much inferior goal difference and effectively needing to reverse a 2-0 deficit to get ahead of Fiorentina means they are headed for the Europa League.

That's why Salgado came to Rovers.

Early days but that Fiorentina defeat has actually put Liverpool in some danger of not qualifying. I enjoyed Zurich winning at AC. On the balance of play it was no fluke.

If the area gets a really strong reputation for superb food (which they are) then they grow the market between them. What is clear, the future for any pub not doing sensational grub in the Ribble valley area is zero. Unless it has a local crowd to support it by drinking a lot, it will be finished. There are many areas in France and Italy where there is a similar agglomeration of superb eateries in seemingly rural and not well to do parts and they do fine without having four million plus people within forty miles of their doorsteps.

I went to Quanjude in 1987 and was underwhelmed to say the least! Hopefully it has all improved since then.