deiseach

If you don't like people following your commentary on this subject through to its logical conclusion then I suggest you put them on ignore or stop commenting. I'm not going anywhere.

Your personal opinion seems to be that if there is an accusation of rape and it's her word against his with nothing else but circumstantial evidence, you can never convict him.

Graham Rix is nodding vigorously at this. The jury, having been instructed they must agree on what happened beyond reasonable doubt, agreed that she consented to sex with Clayton McDonald but not with Ched Evans. To get twelve people to agree on a set of events is an extremely high bar to clear, but the prosecution managed it.

Ah, he'll end up supporting Liverpool. If I didn't do it, my wife would do it in my stead and she'd be right. I suppose the fact that I'm having these thoughts shows I'll never be the real deal as a supporter. It's part of her heritage, it's not part of mine. Still, I don't think it's unreasonable to question whether the pleasure is worth all the pain (financial pain included).

I considering not introducing my son to the joys of football in general and LFC in particular.

People who know the law like, you know, loads of judges, disagree with you.

You are. Reasonable doubt isn't what you think is dodge.

You are making up the measure of reasonable doubt. As things stand,the Court of Appeal has said that "We can see no possible basis which would justify us interfering with the verdict of the jury, which heard all the evidence and reflected on it after careful summing up by the judge." Legally there is no reasonable doubt. Of course, maybe Ched Evans is about to create some new case law. I hope not.

Your definition of 'reasonable doubt' requires an alleged victim to demonstrate that they did not consent. In circumstances where there is no physical evidence and no corroboration, it would make it impossible to ever convict.

A 'complication'? Jesus Christ...

The jury believed she was. And even it can't be proven that she was, your insistence that the onus is on the alleged victim to prove that they didn't consent is a charter to rape unconscious women with impunity.

Unconscious women have to prove they didn't consent (edited), otherwise it can't be rape?

I'll probably regret this, but anyway . . . speaking for myself, I would advocate a 20% drop in ticket prices across the board. The ball park figure for what that would cost the club is about £10 million. I wouldn't ever claim this is nothing, but set against a wage bill of £132m it's not a lot. The price drop would make a huge difference to almost all match-going fans though. Someone who goes to every home match this season will pay over £1,000, so to be able to knock £200 off that is a serious dent in the cost of the match-going experience. Most people wouldn't see that much in a generous annual tax cut or pay increase, yet people rejoice in those as if Christmas has come early. To put it all into context, I would ask you this: if the goal is to compete financially with the Madrids and Barcas of this world. and you think the match-going supporter should be willing to pay for it, how much do you think a match ticket should be? There is clearly scope for significant increases. For example, there's a waiting list of something like fifteen years for season tickets. Plenty of those on the list would pay far more than just shy of a grand to be able to jump the queue. Putting your business hat on, what measures would you take to increase match day revenue?

Gee, that doesn't apply to anyone who has been knocking around Anfield in recent years, does it?

I laughed. I'm going to Hell.

Where's the stewards, substitutions and corner flags money, Bill?

Is your hypothetical OJ as good at proper football as he was at the American version?

That's fair enough, but he has been convicted and I think Sheff Utd should take his lack of remorse into account. I should emphasise that I don't think there should be laws or rules preventing footballers convicted of crimes from resuming their career, just that a club should take into account any remorse (or lack of it) when considering whether to re-employ them.

He hasn't shown any contrition or remorse over what he did and the way he has managed to bag a new girlfriend and brainwash her into doing his heavy I-woz-stitched-up lifting is downright creepy. If I were Sheff Utd I'd say he needs to do more to demonstrate he has learned his lesson before he plays for them again..

Ronseal are sniffing around Walton as we speak.

And the thing is we probably could have gotten away with doubling ticket prices after last year and still sold out Anfield. That we didn't shows that, at some unconscious level, there is still some belief left at the club that a match ticket isn't an iPhone.

You are attributing to me an opinion that is not mine.

I'm not suggesting it. Who are you arguing with here?

I'm saying that the club doesn't auction tickets therefore they are clearly NOT out to maximise revenue.