Yes, indeed – but just briefly – I thought your club was the Tigers because of your location….

Precisely and well said SH!

However being called a drivelling sycophant has cheered me up no end!:D

Inkworm, the Sea Harrier really was a variant of the old tin Harrier, which was begun before Concorde.
A superb piece of engineering, but not as iconic with a worldwide public as Concorde and the E Type.

Concorde? – as I thought at the time – a bit of a joint effort, wasn’t it??;) Which brings us back to the E-Type!!

That’s the one, Laviticus! I had copies of both of the little books but they have disappeared in a move, I think.

Nice idea with or without the Hush-Kit but, $880…ouch!! Now if it was £100 and at Manston, I’d be up for it!!:D

Pete, it may not be the way to go to be rich, re pornography, but if your honest, you would like to be on the Sunday Times rich list, even if you were at the bottom, isn’t that a reason you were a businessman yourself, to make money.?.
Jim.

Lincoln. 7

Err, no in fact!! I almost resent the suggestion!:( I have absolutely no desire to be on any “rich list”. We started a family business to fund ourselves because we were sick of working for other people and we spent many years working 80 plus hour weeks to try to give our families a moderately pleasant life, after paying all our very hard earned taxes. I think we last awarded ourselves a pay rise of 3% 5 years ago since which time we have reduced our salaries twice to help keep the company going.

I assure you that I could not go out and buy two HD cars tomorrow!!;);)

In any case I’m not sure I follow the connection with the debate we are having about the Olympics.

Yours is a great club, Inkworm!! What is the stat? Winner or runner-up 15 times in the last 20 years?? Incredible.

Good or bad is of course a very subjective view. But I am not sure that it is a programme which requires much critical analysis, is it? And the “drivelling sycophants” are probably no more sycophantic than the average TV studio audience for almost anything.

It is pure entertainment built loosely around the motoring theme and is certainly no longer intended to be a serious motoring magazine programme. If it was it could be justifiably criticised for not delivering.

Anyway a few million people enjoy it and several million more do not – a bit like soccer……

Neither would I so we’ll both be in the clear!! But I honestly believe the good intentions will never be realised. They rarely are….and the following is one of the reasons why!!

Under the agreement West Ham United will move from their Boleyn Ground in nearby Upton Park and become the main occupier of the Olympic Stadium beginning with the 2014-15 football season. This will follow a post-games conversion to a 60,000 capacity venue to make it suitable for football. West Ham is expected to agree to a 250-year lease on the stadium, to be shared with UK Athletics.

The exact financial terms and legal contracts of West Ham United’s occupancy are currently being negotiated, but it is understood that the football club and the council will share future profits 50/50 from events to be held in the stadium. This will be carried out via the creation of a stadium company.

The transfer makes a mockery of the assurances from the previous Labour government and current coalition under Prime Minister David Cameron, that the 2012 Olympic Games would help regenerate the socially deprived East End of London. The stadium when completed will have cost UK taxpayers £537 million. A further £95 million will then be spent to convert the stadium for joint football and athletics use, as well as other sports and the staging of concerts.

The £95 million is not being raised privately by West Ham. Once again the public purse is being raided. Some £35 million will be handed over in public funds, from a post-games “conversion” fund run by the OPLC. Another £40 million is being borrowed by West Ham from Newham Council, repayable at very low interest rates. Newham Council has, in turn, borrowed from the Treasury on “Prudential Code” terms (at far lower interest rates than West Ham could have secured with a private bank). The remaining £20 million is expected to be raised from the sale of the land on which the club’s present stadium is sited.

In total, more than £600 million in public funds is being handed over to a privately owned football club.

Taking over the stadium will further enrich the already mega wealthy owners of West Ham United. Due to its close proximity to the City of London, and future sponsorship and corporate hospitality revenues, the move will lead to a vast increase in the share value of the club. The majority of West Ham United’s shares are in the hands of two multi-millionaire businessmen, David Gold and David Sullivan. The Gold family is estimated to be worth £360 million while Sullivan was listed as the 114th richest person in the UK 2009 Sunday Times Rich List, with a personal fortune of £450 million. Both Gold and Sullivan made their fortunes from pornography.

A West Ham United source told ESPNsoccernet, “There is a chance the value of the club could go from £100 million to £500 million, to £700 million over five years when we move. There are only four big clubs in London: Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal and West Ham, and West Ham is by far the cheapest. Yet it has great heritage and a huge fan base and, with the Olympic Stadium, it can become a top-five club in the future.”

So lots of regeneration going on there, isn’t there? Mainly into the pockets of those who have already got rather a lot!!:mad: