Jara

Hey Wrecker - sorry, not sure how to highlight on my phone, but that bit you said about Australia donating to the Clinton foundation. Is that true? Have you got evidence (not doubting your veracity, it's just something that interests me - have heard a couple of people saying it recently. Bloke in the pub last month tried to tell me that Australia had given $17 million ((or maybe it was $70 million) towards Chelsea's wedding))?

Wrecker, re your last point, about Clinton's home server. By the time they said that, the damage had been done. Releasing the information about a new probe a week out from the election was (as far as I can recall, which may not be far) a real game changer - derailed her campaign - refocused attention on the "Crooked Hillary" thing.

Wow - did that really happen, Jnr? (Not doubting you, I'm just surprised. For a panadol?)

Presumably from the Bombers' insurers. Sure it'll cost them a fortune in the long run, what with extra premiums etc. Amazes me that the players are going to be massively compensated for taking drugs and lying about it every week. Doesn't amaze me, but pees me off that the team is going to be compensated as well (the no. 1 draft pick ). Not so much for the drugs -I presume that was mainly the mad scientist - but for their disgraceful efforts to deflect, deny, obfuscate, nit-pick, point fingers everywhere else, all of which set a shocking example for our children.

I enjoyed this little exchange. I know "delusions of grandeur" is the usual expression, but technically, is there anything wrong with "illusions"? Maybe it's a new expression just waiting to enter the language? English is a river, not a puddle or a pond.

Huh? I'm perfectly aware of the difference between weather and climate. Weather events are obviously affected by the overall climate. For example, in a time like the present, when we are busily heating up and changing the climate, fires, droughts etc will occur more frequently and with greater severity.

Sorry Prodee - love you as a fellow Demon, but your last post really doesn't make much sense. even a bunch of lefty ratbags like the BOM reckon - don't have the figures in front of me, but from memory, they say 8 of the hottest years ever recorded have happened since 2002. Is that a coincidence? Black Saturday broke all kinds of records. As did the twelve year drought leading up to it. planet heating is good for us? My god, man, have you ever fought a bushfire?

My god, I can't stand Watson. What the hell is he in the team for? The guy's got four centuries in what is it - nearly 60 tests (and never in pressure situations)? Batting has been our problem for decades, and we exacerbate the problem by keeping this plodder in the team. Send him back to the rubbish IPL - that's where he belongs. Ready replacement in Marsh.

Hey Django You may not see this for a while, but I'm curious. You mention your interests include 'writing for film'. What writing do you do in this area? Cheers

Not that my thoughts on the matter are of any interest to anybody but myself, but god I hate those Pommy scum. The spirit of Jardine lives on. I'll never forget that 2005 series when they brought in the best fielders from the counties as substitutes, and then kept 'substituting' their bowlers whenever they got a bit puffed. Not to mention that most of them are bloody South Africans. Only thing I've got out of this Test has been a reassurance that the difference between the teams is not that great, and that the 10 -0 drubbing I'd feared isn't likely to happen. From what I saw in this game, I reckon we'll knock em over when they get out here. Just hope we doctor the pitches the way they do theirs. (ps sorry Deeluded we seem to have crossed in mid air. Same idea as you. Trouble is, of course, that if everybody does that, kind of ruins the game. Only the really great teams will be able to win away from their home turf. Oh well...hard to resist when everybody else does it)

Would somebody mind satisfying my curiosity? I know we're hopeless, rebuilding and all that, but do we prepare pitches to suit our own team the way the Poms have obviously done? (I mean I expect Indians etc to do it, but I kind of recalled the idea of a level playing field as one of the honorable aspects of playing England. No more it seems. I remember a few years ago a Pommy groundsman openly boasting of preparing a pitch that would limit Warnes effectiveness)