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Listed below are comments made by CAM_Edin between Tuesday, 14th October 2008 and Friday, 9th January 2009.

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Captaincy tops desert agenda 5:53pm on 09 Jan 2009 Okay, I feel a bit like a one man Sandy Lyle fan club, but here goes:

* The first EVER Brit to win the US Masters
* Two time major winner
* Regarded as the best golfer in the World in '88
* Multiple time winner of the European Order of Merit
* Mulitple winner on both US and European Tour

If that doesn't get players respect (most of whom will never come close to career stats like that*) then nothing would.

*except Harrington of course.

Moreover, despite walking off at the Open, he remains a well liked figure in golf.

It is simply not about "buggins turn", it is about appointing someone who is 100% qualified to a role where the accepted convention is one-time captains these days. Woosie has done the job, and so has to be ruled out.

For sure Sandy has endured a long slump after his peak, which has maybe coloured some people's memories of the golfer he was. But a similar slump never ruled out Seve in 97.
Captaincy tops desert agenda 4:49pm on 09 Jan 2009 kotakinabalu - you obviously didn't watch his bunker shot on the 18th hole of the '88 masters if you are wondering if he has "what it takes".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/golf/7333595.stm

He has not always made it easy for himself in golf, but he has shown at the very highest level that he can get the job done.
Captaincy tops desert agenda 4:45pm on 09 Jan 2009 It has got to be Lyle. Olazabal will get his turn when he is no longer in playing contention.

Sandy might not be everyone's cup of tea, but that didn't stop Faldo getting the job.

Anyone suggesting otherwise has a very short golfing memory.
How Chris Hoy's life turned upside down 4:20pm on 01 Jan 2009 Knighthoods are, rightly, for exceptional service over a prolonged period. Chris Hoy has won medals at three Olympics and by winning three at a single Olympics ensures that the bar remains sufficiently high so as not to devalue the honour. Ben Ainslie will, fingers crossed, be the next recipient in 2012 should he add another gold medal to his collection.

People who say that such honours should not, on occasion, be given to sportsmen and women, utterly fail to grasp the inspirational and motivational role they play within society.

We are all allowed to dream impossible dreams, and those that achieve theirs deserve our utmost adulation and respect.
Will the web kill the High Street? 1:31pm on 12 Nov 2008 One common misconception is that it is "much" cheaper to run an online store as compared to a high street store.

Aside for the warehousing and distribution overheads, there are hosting fees and web site design costs.

However, there is also another layer of costs that most people in the real world are not aware of: I am referring to display advertising (i.e. banner ads) fees, pay-per-click fees, affiliate commissions, discount codes, agency fees, higher processing costs for Credit Cards, etc.

Taken with the fact that online competition between merchants drives prices down, these hidden costs of online commerce mean that most online retailers simply don't have the margins available to expand.
HBOS takeover challenged 10:07am on 08 Nov 2008 @Gordonisamoron2

I don't think for a second anyone is suggesting that a job in Halifax is any less important. By saving jobs in Scotland (i.e. by HBOS retaining its independence) jobs will be saved in Halifax.

It is just that Halifax doesn't have quite the same platform to rally around (being a town rather than a country). But if you are worried about your local jobs, then you should be throwing your lot in with these two guys.

@scagiola

Name two more suitable candidates for the roles? I'd also point out that they are proposing themselves very much as "caretakers".

@excellentcatblogger

The Treasury, I understand, has made it clear that it is up to shareholders to decide. Currently there is only one offer on the table.

Indeed, at this stage any alternative plan is very much an outside bet. Matthewson, Burt and other guys like Jiim Spowart have been raising headlines about possible alternatives now for some time.

They really need to move beyond the PR campaigning and produce some firm details and/or significant shareholder support.
Extraordinary 3:01pm on 07 Nov 2008 Susan Croft - "Scots will never vote against one of their own for an English person "

Not a student of polictics then? Care to enlighten me as to what happened to this English-hating bunch in 1955 when a majority of Scots voted for a party (the Scottish Unionist Party, aka the Tories) that was supporting a man born in England and educated at Eton to be the Prime Minister?

Your posts in general seem to indicate a distinct lack of sympathy and affiliation with Scots. One wonders why you continue to live alongside them?

Oh, and is the National Westminster a beloved Scottish bank? And where in Scotland could I find the town of Halifax?

As for Pot-Kettle, I didn't call last night's result any more than a boost from the heartlands - Cameron's problems are much more diverse. And to suggest there is a single person in the Labour party who is not delighted with the result is simply insane.

And imho, they'd have been delighted if the margin was considerably slimmer - this was a fight that Labour was widely expected to lose. And it didn't. It might not change the world, but it is still a success worthy of note.
Extraordinary 12:55pm on 07 Nov 2008 Today doesn't mark a new dawn for Labour and Gordon Brown....

However, it certainly has sparked people's attention. The progressive movement is not dead, and the New Labour campaign machine might just have rediscovered its mojo.

A couple of points: Firstly, for those disparaging the people of Glenrothes as benefit scroungers and simple minded fools - go ahead, keep on down this route. Keep displaying the level of south-east arrogance and ignorance that turned the country against you in 97.

You'll actually find the people of Glenrothes to be hard working, relatively well-off and solidly educated. Fifers are a canny and enterprising breed. Some of their famous sons have certainly done alright for themselves - Adam Smith and Andrew Carnegie for starters.

Secondly, Cameron and the Tories seemed to have taken Labour's demise for granted. However, with Brown's handling of the crisis, the return of the Prince (as de facto deputy prime minister), the election of Obama, and now a boost from the heartlands; things are not as straightforward for the media-appointed Prime Minister-elect...

Look out for the old Tory divisions starting to emerge, as well as doubts about whether this over-privileged, pale imitation of Blair has a solid enough chin for what might just become a proper contest over the next eighteen months (assuming a 2010 showdown).
Facebook's founder - too late to cash in? 09:26am on 14 Oct 2008 I have enormous respect for Zuckerberg and as far as web apps go, Facebook is deeply impressive.

However, I feel that the "valuation" will be the Ratner-moment that follows this guy about for the rest of his career.

Facebook fundamentally is a brand name and little more. The technology, although beautifully implemented, is not unique and will be copied and improved on.

The biggest worry for guys who have come out of bedrooms to end up with a mega-valuation company is that someone else will do the same and crush them (the "only the paranoid survive" approach).

However, unlike Microsoft, HP, Intel, Apple and latterly Google, Facebook simply doesn't have a mega-valuation (licence to print money) business model beneath the hype. Heck, the best they have come up with is advertising for advertisers on Adwords and anyone who has seen conversion stats for social networking...ouch!

Flogging the world's hottest brand of 2007-2008, Zuckerberg could have made himeself at least a couple-of-billion-dollar-aire. Trying to sell Facebook as a technology play in a couple of years time... well, that might be a bit harder.

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