Crompton's the man

Count me also as one grateful for small mercies and prepared to give due credit

What a beauteous thing it be : to use a huge plurabibilitiness of words, labels and headings to draw the reader’s eye away and to obscure the fact that the question being answered is not the question being asked. Is this naked intellectual dishonesty or simple garden-variety hypocrisy ?

The Geelong game this weekend should be a case study for anyone interested in this topic imo The almost astonishing numbers of visitors' free kicks ignored by the umpires aided and abetted by the deafening silence of crowd noise when balls were dropped by the home team testifies to the bias whether it be conscious or unconscious of the umpiring team. All we want at the end of the day is consistency after all. We can wear a ridiculous call for deliberate out-of-bounds or holding the ball as we must but what we long for is the application of the same standards equally applied to both teams. I would like to see some (nearly wrote "more" !!) accountability by the umpires in the sense of public match reviews post-weekend. And part of that process should be to recognise when the umpires got it right which they often do. Part of valid examination involves praise where deserved imho. The ideal would be an identification of consistent trends and open discussion on whether a problem has been identified. Hopefully the will for this type of painful self-examination is in abundant supply at AFL headquarters ?

It's interesting (and writing as an ex-smoker) that the many many chemical additives placed in post-WW2 cigarettes (to keep them smouldering among other nefarious purposes) may be as harmful as the tobacco itself (I'm guessing). Pipe smoking is a now extinct form of self damage and was associated with increased levels of tongue, throat and vocal cord , but interestingly not lung , cancer and the postulated reason is the lower temperature at which the product is burned. What I'm saying is that it might not be only the climate that has changed over the many years.

sorry I get like this if I forget my medication You know the sort of thing - trying to fly off the top of tall buildings, etc.

I Like Edward McGuire for his fierce dedication to the ideals of journalistic ethics and his single-minded determination to see the truth come out into the naked light of day : no matter what the cost even should it be to the detriment of the football club he represents so constantly.

General strike in Rome - re austerity measures by the Bersculoni govt. Could be a paradigm for if we fail to win a premiership soon - will report further All fruit is seriously expensive in Paris and generally unavailable in the UK where dairy and deep fried are the staple foods. Rome has a better balance of food readily accessible. Little discussion here about what we're not talking about though I sense deep interest just under the surface. Still found no reason to emigrate - though our daughter has for marital reasons to Swansea in Wales Lois Vuitton knock-offs cost €20 ($28) : good enough to fool me ( though to be truthful all the would need is two handles joined by a bag) Will keep observing .......

Oops - left the Mercure Tour Eiffel and went to the Novatel Mont-Parnasse ( both Accor hotels) I grovel in apology.

TRAITOR Well I've left Paris for the first time ever and I've got to say the key to traveling there is to learn to use the underground. Best thing my wife and I did was to leave the Novatel Tour Eiffel ( HORRIBLE - I will write a book) and move to the Novatel Mont-Parnasse (classy and good value for money) Rome is a lot different - I really miss the stuck-up attitude which you do accept as convincing if it's maintained for long enough (cf MM)

Has anyone heard of the 12 steps? Perhaps we could go through them one by one. This is good but it's hard