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jimbrant

Listed below are comments made by jimbrant between Friday, 3rd April 2009 and Tuesday, 22nd September 2009.

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England one-day player ratings 12:44pm on 22 Sep 2009 Don't see how you can give Onions a 7 based on only one game, and that in relatively favourable conditions. I have a lot of time for him, but he can't deserve more than 4 or 5 in this series unless his drinks carrying was beyond superb.

I don't think Rashid should be playing in ODIs at all at this stage of his career. He is a brilliant prospect, but a leggie needs a lot of time to mature, and being clobbered by the best attacking batsmen in the world won't do him any good. However, considering the 'batsmen' in the side, he could probably be selected to play at #5, and not be asked to bowl unless the conditions were very favourable! Both he and Bresnan are too low in the order - they are both probably better with the bat than Broad.
Iraq war inquiry - lessons to be learnt 1:02pm on 16 Jun 2009 #192 meninwhitecoats: "However diligent the enquiry is [and I am not prejudging this], because of the scret nature of the enquiry no-one will ever believe its findings."

Hutton was a public Inquiry, so of course everybody believed what it discovered, didn't they.

The sad fact is that many will not believe the outcome of any inquiry unless its conclusions support their preconceptions.
Iraq war inquiry - lessons to be learnt 10:32am on 16 Jun 2009 #158 HarryPagetFlashman:

The fault with your argument is that a real expert on biochemical wmd, Iraq, and weapons inspection (perhaps THE real expert on that particular combination of areas of expertise) thought that there was a significant chance that Saddam had evaded sanctions and had some level of wmd capability. He didn't think there was any realistic way of dealing with that situation except by invading Iraq and removing Saddam.

Of course, I am sure that you were better informed than was David Kelly.
Iraq war inquiry - lessons to be learnt 10:25am on 16 Jun 2009 #157 redmichael2: " Now he packs a secret inquiry with establishment placemen (no women)"

Arrant nonsense. One is a Baroness (there's a clue for you there), and two are distinguished military historians neither of whose views could be considered 'establishment'.
Iraq war inquiry - lessons to be learnt 10:12am on 16 Jun 2009 #154 meninwhitecoats: "Presumably this enquiry was launched to appease backbenchers but then he completely undermines the enquiry by making it private."

I think your analysis is incorrect. If Brown had really wanted simply to throw a sop to his backbenchers (and the contributors to this board), he would have announced a public inquiry confident in the knowledge that nothing would come out of it for years (as with the so-called Bloody Sunday Inquiry, bogged down in interminable legal arguments).
Iraq war inquiry - lessons to be learnt 10:03am on 16 Jun 2009 #128 stanblogger: " no reasonably well informed person could have been sufficiently certain to justify starting a war."

Well, I think that David Kelly could be considered 'reasonably well informed' in this area. In fact he was probably the best informed person in the UK (maybe anywhere) when it came to the nexus of biochemical wmd/Iraq/weapons inspection. And he persuaded members of his family to change their initial view, and think that the invasion of Iraq was 'necessary and desirable'.

Of course, that is part of the evidence to Hutton, so it must be a lie/whitewash.

It's interesting that a Tory who actually knows what he is talking about when it comes to inquiries, and who has seen much of the 'secret' evidence as a member of the Butler Inquiry, supports the form of inquiry set up by Brown. More evidence of the great conspiracy, I suppose.
England left to absorb shocking defeat 2:42pm on 06 Jun 2009 I'm a fan of Adil Rashid, but I could not understand his selection for the 20/20 squad. He doesn't usually get into the Yorkshire side in this (IMO debased) form of the game, Wainright being preferred as the better containing bowler and better slogger. As it happens he didn't do badly in this game, though Swan MAY have done better. My concern is that Rashid is very young for a leggie, and being taken to pieces by seasoned international big hitters will do nothing for his confidence.

I don't blame Broad for the defeat, and his bowling in the final over was very competent (ie negative, which is what 20/20 is all about for the bowlers), but his fielding was attrocious. He dropped a relatively straightforward catch, missed an easy runout by dropping the ball before breaking the wicket, and then missed the stumps from 7 or 8 yards - all in that last over. In the end, in spite of the deficiencies of the batting after the openers had done so well, it was England's fielding (not just Broad's) that lost them the game.
First cheques, now jobs 5:26pm on 14 May 2009 I'm not quite sure why several people on here have been asking about the Balls/Cooper partnership. The details on the BBC website shows that they each claimed about half of the (maximum?) housing costs open to individuals (such as Clegg). So unless there is something in the detail, it looks as if some will be disappointed by the fact that they claimed one housing allowance between them, as you would expect.
Honourable no more? 12:49pm on 11 May 2009 #55 LippyLippo: Nice to see a bit of common sense.

While I agree with your basic argument entirely, I have to say that my previously expressed confidence in the essential probity of MPs has been badly shaken (and that probably is an understatement). The fact is that not all MPs have been acting in this disreputable way - I think for example (based on hearsay, I admit) that Hillary Benn's total claim amounted to £147. If he and others were not conditioned by decades of following the herd then people like Gove and Blears should have been able to resist as well
Chancellor of the World 10:18am on 03 Apr 2009 I was thinking of doing a parody of the sort of response you would expect from the regulars on here, but I see that many of them have already beaten me to it with their own self-parodies. Central Office has obviously been busy.

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