Cruyff's Turn

He chose a fine time to leave us, but at least he made the last edition.

Whilst not knocking the help for business I think a bigger problem will be those employed who lose their work and by extension their incomes. We could see millions unable to pay rents, mortgages, council tax, utility bills and what then? Are we seriously going to contemplate evictions or cutting off peoples gas and electricity? That would be the one thing certain to bring about the breakdown of society as we know it. And the businesses themselves? Are they ever going to be able to get themselves back in the black in a world where demand is going to be seriously depressed for a long time? Its easy to see why the stock exchange is crashing!

Saw him play many times in the 1970's at Portman Rd. A big, effective centre back, Although as a Norwich City supporter I didn't always approve. Odd that a top player ends his days in a council bungalow.

Sir Creep, I think that your maths has gone a bit AWOL there. A 16 year old combatant in 1945 has a 1929 birthdate so to reach 2040 he will need to make 111. I think that is quite likely. All your other points however I concur with.

I see that the Battle of Britain Society is listing just eight survivors, two of whom were on Blenheims which would not have been directly involved in the fighting. No Spitfire pilots remaining. The last one of those would have been Geoffrey Welham who died a few weeks back.

I wasn't really reckoning on underage combatants. No doubt some 12 year olds were clutching a Panzerfaust in one hand and a sticky lolly in the other down the Unter den Linden in May 1945. I'm not sure how longevity is increasing at the extreme limits as opposed to more living to say a hundred but I think we can be fairly sure that one veteran will make it towards 115.

Raises an interesting question. When will the last WW2 veteran tip the twig? Based on 18 year olds fighting in 1945 my guess would be 2040 ish.

Norden in my sights. ( google it)

Didn't ring true to me, far too much effort put in not to be a wind up. On the subject of mothers, my old girl was convinced that putting money in the bank would disqualify her from benefits. An un intended consequence was a great piece of entertainment when she twigged. I was getting texts from my brother along the lines of "three hundred quid in a bundle behind the gas fire". "Two hundred under the chocolate digestives in the biscuit tin" for days, made a very enjoyable and lucrative game of hide and seek.