Sounds about right, particularly at some of the places I've worked Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ | Fortune [Link]

I remember they did special trips to littlehampton to Ryde a few years ago during summer season and to sandown as well

CW - no because they lost to Hull. If a team gets expelled from the FA Cup you do not get a the highest placed team that lost in that round re-instated. It is either the losing team or no-one.

RK - there are smart people who know how to fix this. But we and the politicians need to accept that they are smarter than us and listen to them rather than hold on to our ingrained beliefs.

If Millwall finished 3rd then surely they could claim they have a better case than Middlesbrough

Silk, indeed BUT the transition to lower birth rates, the differences in North v South and the ageing populations, in the north, create both economic and political problems. In so many years, an equilibrium of some sort will be found.

And I have zero sympathy for those cheats Southampton. Maybe for their fans but Boro v Hull is the right final.

It is a good thing that birth rates are shrinking. The estimated population in 1926 was 2 billion. In 2026, just a hundred years later it is about 8 billion. Doesn't anyone see this as a problem?

Harry Maguire has been left out of England's WC squad. He has confirmed it himself.

For Spit and Alan IoW - A new Hovercraft route is being trialed over the summer between Lee on Solent and Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

15 years ago, I thought i had cleverly factored in extra time & pens plus the presentation, in determining my train back. What i didn't allow for, was the very slow moving exodus of Looton fans blocking my way on those narrow paths. I only made that train with a Usain Bolt type sprint at the end.

15 years ago we were approaching extra time.

Kite - yep 👍

Lurker, was trying to play devil's advocate, as a cosy consensus seems to have formed

Most western nations are experiencing declining fertility rates. Russia, Spain & Japan the lowest the last time I checked. Part of equality means more females choose careers, it's also increasingly costly to bring up kids. Developing nations have high rates, read somewhere that Niger had 5.0. Hence understanding migration issues properly, developed national need skills and resources that they can't find at home, add an ever-growing populations in developing nations see their futures elsewhere

Southampton I’m talking about.

Surely the club should reimburse the fans since this is their behaviour.

OI - yes indeed. One thing that’s always been fun to teach kids about is the Demographic Transition Model, which can confuse some of them, but eventually helps them to see why some places are still hugely overpopulated and still have high growth rates…. [Link]

Timmy - that’s a common argument used by those who forget or ignore that a high proportion of couples with children part, thereby often leaving one parent (usually, but not always, the mum) with the child(ren) - if they are on a low wage or working part time (both of which are of course more common for women than men), then they may well need some financial support, that’s true. Other circumstances can include bereavements, serious illness, redundancy, eviction, and many more reasons…

As a4e and Timmy have said there are various reasons the birth rate has dropped (currently around 1.5 in the UK), which can easily become political discussions. It is good for people to be aware of the trends in declining birth rates and the ratio of taxpayers to pensioners when formulating the political views.

No, they don’t… 🙄🤦🏻‍♂️

AKA us taxpayers Timmy

And some women have a penis, so the child birth rate will shrink

A lot of the cost is covered by the state

DD 😂