Salt n Vinegar

Wouldn't put it past Russia to save the nukes and use gas.

It would explain a lot. You can't imagine them voting some of the Tory policies through if they were sober.

I agree to an extent, but I'd prefer it if the head of state held office by a democratic route, as opposed to who his or her parents had sex with, and, along with their siblings, their order of springing from the womb as a fully qualified head of state, and who actually had the power to say "What? Prorogue Parliament? On yer bike, fannybaws". As someone else pointed out somewhere, the First Minister of Scotland (elected) holds office 'at the pleasure' of the Monarch (unelected). Feck that and all who sail in it.

I hope you are correct but having a system where the Head of State, her heirs and successors hold office by the grace of a supernatural entity and are the heads of church kind of reflect a certain level of an insane level of "fervour for fairy tale bible bullshit", even if it is only in the "establishment" - after all, that's where the power resides. The establishment bolsters the monarchy and the church and the monarchy and the church bolster the establishment. If I may stretch the expression a little - they are three cheeks of a horrible arse.

Err... "aye, but flags, Royalty, better toether, good v bad patriotism and erm, but..." (etc ad nauseam)

I have a horrible feeling that we might not have heard the end of the Family Party. With the leaked finding from the US Supreme Court on Roe v Wade, I expect to see wads of American cash "finding its way" to these 'proper' family type organisations in the UK and elsewhere.

Maybe the Unionist parties' support was distracted by events at Ibrox and they forgot to vote?

The Conservative and Unionist Party must be wondering what the Hell is going on. They seem to have a clear definition (in their own minds) of the supposed value and glory of the United Kingdom yet a party favouring Independence for Scotland has won 11 elections in a row*, and a party favouring Irish Reunification looks like being the biggest party in Northern Ireland. Cause for thought? I'm almost tempted to say "Boris must stay", but no. (*not personally checked, but have heard it couple of times now.)

Aye, know what you mean. I'm still beelin' over the rule changes that allowed more than one team from each country into the ludicrously mistitled "Champions League" while some actual national Champions don't get a look in. When Celtic and Rangers won their European trophies, in 67 and 72, they each played 9 matches. So far, Rangers have played 16 European matches with the final to come. It is now all about TV rights and cash. I'm not convinced that the changes have been universally positive. I think it's one reason why Rangers run has been remarkable, given the spending power of some of their opponents. Ah well, grumpy old gits like me need a kip now and then. Offski. Looking forward to the reaction tomorrow. Night all.

There is some truth to what you say, but it's not just Rangers and Celtic who benefit from a measure of success in Europe. It helps the coefficient, which should mean more qualifying teams from Scotland in the European competitions. It's hardly Rangers or Celtic's fault if the other qualifying teams can't raise much of a gallop in Europe. For fans of other teams to always want Rangers or Celtic to lose is a bit sad and totally against their own clubs' interests.

If it's a choice between having religion and woo-woo involved in football I'll take neither, thanks.

Can't understand why some folk insist on bringing religion into football.

Very happy to be proved wrong. I doubted that we could score 3 if we had to but we did it. Think I've been remarkably restrained as I'm only on my third Stella. ( MATRON!) Trying to resist a cheeky wee malt. I'm driving tomorrow.

It will be nice to bask in the heartfelt, warm and sincere congratulations of all of Scottish football after that performance.

Time up ffs.

#uck. Ing. Hell.....

And the Returning Officer comes round to "have a word with you" about your future behaviour.

Edit - no doubt one of our more dependable right wingers can explain this latest breach of faith with the "ordinary" folk. Hint - from the article "In September business minister Paul Scully said it would become "illegal" to withhold tips and a new law would "ensure tips will go to those who worked for it"."

For any undecided but Tory-leaning P&B-ers out there, there's a report in the Independent that Her Most Britannic Majesty's Government has abandoned plans to ensure that restaurant and other hospitality staff can keep their tips. Wonder if JRM might come to my door and her could explain it?

We did that (3 of us) and didn't change back. Never had postal votes until covid hit, so I suppose there'll be plenty like us.

Aye, these Leipzig brutes better watch out or the ref'll have 'em!

It might give Conservative voters cause for thought. With all the stuff about parties and "allegedly" dodgy Covid related contracts, the "party of law and order" reputation has taken a knock. The cost of living, interest rate rise, inflation etc is putting the cloak of financial competence on a shoogly hook too. Add in the involvement of Baroness Ruth and a visit by Lord Snooty Rees-Mogg and it could be a perfect storm.

Dross must be delighted . Nothing like a Baroness and buffoon to make inroads into the SNP and Labour vote around election time. I take it that the Home Secretary was too busy?

Aye, it's going to be a long day. I'm (early ) retired and Mrs Salt n Vinegar is at her sister's till the weekend. She said something about something called "a washing", and I think I caught a passing reference to "a hoover", but even today probably won't be the day to rush into dangerous DIY like that... Seriously though, I don't think I'll be able to suffer watching the pre-match coverage. I'll record it and I'll maybe watch it afterwards, if it goes well. I'll maybe watch a film this afternoon.

I have a feeling that as far as the overall tie is concerned, tonight is a case of "next goal the winner". I can't see us scoring three times. I've not been a big fan of Sakala but I thought he played well against Celtic and got himself into good scoring positions. Everyone needs to play a blinder tonight. Go two goals up and Ibrox will be rocking; lose the first goal and it could be a long, long night. Ever the optimist, I'll go for 2-0 Rangers - as long as Bassey stops driving me nuts by kicking the ball too far ahead of himself and having to go in "baws oot" to try to retain possession...