Scottish First Division is about three levels down from the PL.

If Freddie Sheppard had not "shot Bambi" NUFC would not have been the mess they are today. Not only a true gentleman by all accounts but was successful in pretty well everything he did. RIP

This article in the Times articulates my position exactly: Drugs are evil. They must be legalised. I will repeat, just as the depression did for prohibition of alcohol, so the sick state of public finances will drive the ending of prohibition on drugs. Like the author, I am close to a minority of one who has never popped an illegal pill or smoked an illegal spliff amongst the people I know.

Lucash likely to sign for Galatassary. One less to boo at Ewood next season then!

It is interesting that the two States in the biggest messes are the ones looking to end pot prohibition. California's prison system costs have doubled in ten years to $11bn anualy- pretty well all of that increase going on drugs convicts. Then there are all the costs of policing. At the end of the day with civic budgets stretched beyond breaking point, society is collectively going to decide that drugs prohibition is a luxury it can live without. Legalising and taxing pot is looking like a very attractive "get out of jail free" card now throughout the recession hit economies of the west. Just as the Great Depression did for alcohol prohibition, so will budget deficits bring drugs prohibition to an end now.

New York has similar legislation in draft.

Interesting that in these difficult times financially, more and more people are concluding that drug prohibition is an expensive luxury we can all live without. Economically-bust California makes moves to legalise pot. With the controls in place to control and manage distribution, the next sensible step would be to supply and distribute tobacco the same way as pot.

Every once in a few years I risk testing the TGI Fridays hype and try it. Have always been profoundly unimpressed and not even the young things kneeling at the table side have remotely appealed.

Did none of the other strikers take penalties?

The Guardian guide to grub in the Ribble Valley. The Guardian also asks which town has the best food in England and cannot quite bring itself to say Ramsbottom

Thirty odd years ago, the Spread Eagle was the number one restaurant in north Lancs. Glad to read it is still going well even though overhauled by the Michelin starred chefs.

Drugs won the War- New York Times

Apparently Lucash is on his way to Citeh on a free.

Maybe I have misread something somewhere but isn't 31 year old Chimbonda being hawked for £3m? I'd rate ucash above him in terms of reliability and professionalism.

Lucash has looked at what West Ham are offering and the situation they are in and concluded he's much better off as a free agent in the market place. My guess is that if he were under contract, he would still command a transfer fee of £4m in all likelihood. So as a very proven PL full back, he thinks he can command a "normal" wage of say £30K a week plus pocket most of the transfer fee he is not costing any cub he joins. West Ham on the otherhand might (and I stress might) be extremely grateful not to be even paying him the 20% reduction in pay they offered. It depends what RBS are saying to them about their own £48m bank loan. (That is seperate from their soon to be liquidated owner's debts).

Don't know whether it was just London hype but Lucas seemed to be a large part of the reason on field West Ham went from strugglers to Europa challengers.

I wonder what line up Ferguson would go with if Rooney ronaldo tevez Hargreaves giggs and Carrick were all unavailable against Barca.

Hopefully quite a few Prem managers learnt from watching that game. Incidentally Evra had a stinker last night- where was he for that first goal? Ferguson will be smarting knowing Hiddinck was way better than him in handling Barca.

RFW completely got that one wrong. Mancs were never at the races tonight. Certainly nowhere near the level of football played by Barca.

Mancs are clueless compared with the way Chelsea handled Barca.

Went on your recommendation 'drog. Quantity is such that at least half the tables including me took doggy bags. The clothing worn by the clientelle was colourful to say the least. Plenty of Rovers shirts whilst the Asian ladies present ran the gammut from burkahs through head scarves to glorious sahris to casual sort and jeans to microskirts. Incidentally being non-alcholic makes it extremely safe for driving, a great chance to drink a superb mango lashi (sp?) and keeps the price right down.

Called in Bukhara on the way home- thought it excellent. Lamb succulent and the spices perfectly balanced. Brilliant value compared with London as well.

Andre Ooijer confirms his departure. On the whole, Andre has been a class act for Rovers and been an excellent player for us with real class. Sorry to see his time ending with us. Was proud to have the Dutch skipper playing for Rovers and being our representative at Euro08.

New York Times op-ed: Legalise it and Tax it

Hmmm. Nextright, a right wing American think tank/pressure group has started working on how to make the Republican Party electable again by breakingout of its elderly/white/rural/southern ghetto. Of it's ten recommendations, number one is: 1. Legalize Drugs - You have turned a corner on this issue. All evidence and economics indicates that prohibiting anything for which there is a demand causes black markets. The black markets in drugs mean the costs of doing business are higher—but that means so too are the profits. These profits (and turf) are protected violently by gangs and drug cartels. Gang culture is built around said profits. Remove the profits through legal competition and the gangs fade away eventually (just as they did after alcohol prohibition was repealed). Yes, there will be secondary social costs. Yes there will still be petty crime due to addicts—despite lower-cost drugs. But you can offset those social costs by taxing the product to build rehabilitation centers, which are preferable to building more prisons and morgues. You get credibility points for admitting that people have a right to do what they like with their bodies. Freedom is freedom, warts ‘n’ all.