Uriah Heap

It's been a great build up this week, hasn't it Crusty? Even I'm now interested in what's going to be in the Budget. Once delivered later today the Govt will claim it includes everything NZ's could ever desire and the opposition will claim it's a shameful misuse of taxpayers money and resignations are required all round. Either way the rest of us will have lost interest by the weekend.

Good - cause Weiss and Benioff were seriously found wanting in the final series. They just lapsed back into Hollywood smaltz. Jamie and Brianne getting together or Gendry and Arya getting together - did either of those have to happen? Super sneaky Varys and Tyrion becoming dumb buggers overnight. Really? Westros ends up an (Americanised ) democracy - makes me puke. In the sequel they should have a bloke called Ser Donald of Trump get elected as King on the back of promises to rebuild the Wall, due to a perceived threat from the North. Then it'd all be back on - Lies, conniving, cronyism, off with their heads etc etc.

Bran didn't have to do anything. Once he got to that tree, north of the Wall and got his third eye he knew exactly what was going to occur. He just couldn't say, cause it would have been a plot spoiler. However this begs a few questions going forward in Westros- especially for the Kings Council. If their new King can see everything in the future; won't they just ask him to tell them, in order to save alot of pissing around.

Yeah Crusty - like Dianna Rigg - I wonder if she'll go on to bigger and better things - maybe an Avengers remake

That Europe is a double edged sword for teams like Wolves. Great to get an international game or two at home. However, it means quite a few games early on in season and I reckon it takes a bit out of the teams who don't have the depth.

I thought the FA Cup result was a terrible result for English football. Top team wins - fair enough; but 6 -0 over the team that finished 11th in Premier League. It's way too one sided. This is after Man City and Liverpool went through the season with only a couple of losses each, The gap between the top few and the rest is huge. Maybe it's time for a European League?

Alpine Whisper

Open letter to rdytdy Your repetitive critique of Jacinda Ardern, tiresome and subjective that it might be, occasionally sees you raise some valid points. However, this harping on about her response to the Mosque massacres in Christchurch is borderline at best. I'm sure you're merely looking to leave further black crosses against the Prime Ministers name. However with this "we are Christians - they are Muslims" line of attack you end up sounding like it's "them and us". It's extremely divisive, and will not have gone unnoticed by many New Zealander's, or the couple of people who read your posts. It's not who we want to be in NZ any longer. You're out of step - you sound like a dinosaur - someone born in the 1800's.

"If you leave me now Crusty, you'll take away the biggest part of me. Woahoooh no baby please don't go..."

To be fair, well prior to any massacre in Christchurch, I can recall many references from the Muslim world calling western interference in the middle east a continuation of "the Crusades" of 1100 to 1400. Then you have two mosques shot up and 50 Muslims killed in a city where the local team name is "The Crusaders". In addition, prior to the game they have horsemen galloping about dressed just like those Crusaders of long ago. It's not only trendy, chardonnay drinking, white liberals who would go "Ahhh - that's not a great look". I think it's a good idea that the horses and swords have gone.

I purchased The Informant religiously, finding it the best $10. I spent each week. It provided me with a form guide to carry around; comments from trainers about where their horse was at fitness wise; many articles to keep me up to date with the happenings in NZ racing and great articles on the breeding of Group winning horses. Loved hearing the thoughts of Des Coppins. old Grumpy Pitman, The 'Boys Go Racing' guy, etc, etc. I'll be lost without it and I'm certain my interest in horse racing and TAB betting will drop away accordingly.

Australian's with thoughts on our Prime Minister . Ho ho ho! Those Australians tend to be a bit fickle about Prime Ministers. They've certainly had a fair few of them lately. We here in NZ tend to be more forgiving and as a result our PM's hang around for a lot longer. I feel we're better off for it.

Fortunately the scientists studying "Cl;imate Change" don't use a "Method" that involves studying "One Saturday in Melbourne in late March"

Woah! - this is treading on thin ice.

Thanks for those thoughts Donald.

Chiefs have lost some very experienced types (Messem, Ngati etc) and there was talk before the season that they'd struggle this year. Brumbies got upset by Rebels first up and they were always going to be up for this game. Still, it coud be "just one of those games" cause Hurricanes got dicked out of sight by Brumbies first up last year, then put together a 10 game winning streak.

A good one on Radio Sport this morning. Jason Pine and another bloke talking about the inner turmoil you face when punting against your own team. They referred to it as "Emotional Insurance" Then someone text in to say - "It's like having an affair in case your wife doesn't work out." I liked that.

1975 Holden Kingswood. Same as the one parked on your front lawn; with the long grass growing around it.

This is an interesting statement. The country's leader and the military are working together to root out elements of the democratically elected government, which have upset said leader. It's almost Latin American. How will the military and the Leader act if they feel their power is slipping away?

Happens all the time. 100 people die in a car bombing in Baghdad will get 30 seconds as 10th item on TV One News. Two dying in London, in a bombing linked to ISIS, will be lead story and go on for 5 minutes plus.

I think we all feel a bit bad that this murder has occurred here in NZ. Prime Minister merely reflecting this. Having said that, when you got a population of 4 million+ you only need 0.01% to be odd bods and that still numbers 400 people.

That's because the only three sites you ever go on are NZ TAB, RaceCafe and Whale Oil.

Oh yeah..."Duncan Garner backed it up..." - well you can stop reading right there; because you know it will be 99% exaggerated bulldust.

Nah...no "perhaps about it. I'm pretty certain the sea level is rising; whether it be from man made climate change or merely nature running it's course. I see the Insurance Companies are going to bump up their rates for sea front properties. Surely those fat cats getting wealthier is not a part of your "socialist world order".

I see the Greenland Ice sheet is melting, when all thought this had ceased.. Are we all in agreeance that, for whatever reason, the sea level is rising at a concerning rate?