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Reply | Our Defence
at 16:57 30 Nov 2025
I would have said that of our back four Key is the one who is struggling, with Burgess still not settling to the extent we would have hoped, and Cabango and Tymon solid at this level. In the five across the back configuration Casey has done okay, and will improve with experience. Vig is a good keeper and (as a former amateur keeper myself) I think his alleged weakness on crosses is exaggerated. None of the three WBA goals came from headed goals, and the one on Tuesday came from a very deep cross where the failure seemed to me to lie with the defenders beyond the far post. To me the present problems lie with the two defenders mentioned above and - just as much - the failure of the midfield to get back to effectively aid the back line. |
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Reply | Billy Bonds
at 14:43 30 Nov 2025
Still Billy Bond stayed with the club he loved for most of his career, and probably could have got a lucrative move if he had desired one. Few players do that these days, and I have always thought that there is a different kind of reward - in terms of a kind of reputational capital - for those who do show loyalty. We have our own legends and Billy has that status for the West Ham faithful. |
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Reply | Black holes and OBR moles
at 11:13 30 Nov 2025
How much truth is there in this claim that a family on benefits can actually be better off than one in work? Well, the Centre for Social Justice has done some research and says that a 3 child family with nobody in work claiming all available benefits is about £18K p.a. better off than one with parents on the minimum wage (1 full time + 1 part-time). Haven't checked the calculation myself.
https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/library/benefits-budget
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2140318/jobless-families-18k-better-off
(Extract from CSJ Report)
New CSJ analysis shows how the removal of the limit interacts with the wider expansion of health and disability benefits to create benefit incomes that now far outstrip typical earnings.
For example, an out-of-work family with three children receiving the average Universal Credit housing element, health benefits and PIP is projected to take home around £46,000 a year by 2026/27. For the smaller number of families with five children, that figure rises to £55,000. These households are insulated from the overall benefit cap because two in five families previously subject to the limit are in receipt of health-related payments (translating to an estimated 244,000 households). The result is a system that delivers higher living-standard guarantees outside work than inside it for large numbers of families.
The distortion is stark when set against the returns from post-tax wages. A working family with one adult in full-time and another in part-time work on the national living wage would take home roughly £28,000 after tax – £18,000 less than the benefit income now available to an equivalent three-child family outside work on combined benefits.
Matching that level of support through earnings alone would require a pre-tax salary of around £71,000. The same pattern holds for single parents: a parent with three children on combined benefits will receive roughly £43,000 per year, over £22,000 more than the take-home pay from a full-time job on £20,600. These gaps demonstrate how the incentives to work, or progress within work, have been further eroded. [Post edited 30 Nov 11:21]
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Reply | West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City ; Match day thread (Updated Thurs)
at 15:53 29 Nov 2025
As mentioned, Albion are dishing out some rough stuff and have succeeded in pushing us back for much of the time. I would be inclined to bring on a different option for Inoussa and try to get a bit of forward momentum. Otherwise I can see us coming under sustained pressure as the 2nd half goes on. |
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Reply | This weekend in the Championship
at 14:40 29 Nov 2025
Luckily Portsmouth lost, but with Sheffield United's victory we are right in the poo with just goal difference separating us from a relegation spot. Really need something today.
Edit: Lose 3-0 today and we are in the bottom three. [Post edited 29 Nov 14:44]
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