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“But we’ve let ourselves down in the second half, and you should never put yourself in that position. There was a 20-minute period when it was just unacceptable, when they were getting behind us much too easily.

“They were bringing it down too easily off the front and that was really disappointing. I can’t think about my goal. It’s just a disappointing day.”

Newcastle’s success during the first half of the season means Pardew has been battling rising expectations for some time – but he conceded that this would force him to lower his sights.

He confirmed he is anxious to bring in a defender this month but said: “I don’t think we are really in that battle for the top four. We are realistic enough to know that if we qualify for the Europa League, it will have been a fantastic season for us, an absolutely unbelievable season. The players have played to their maximum all season except for 20 minutes at Fulham. I can’t, as a manager, moan about this team as they have been brilliant.

Source: Express.co.uk

by Patrick Love

In a new report that may force a major rethink of the entire field of well-being studies, researchers have discovered that people are happier at the weekend.

Writing in this week’s edition of Science magazine, Scott A. Golder and Michael W. Macy, sociologists (in case you hadn’t guessed) at Cornell University also claim their results suggest “that people awaken later on weekends”.

They analysed 500 million tweets in English (lol) from 2.4 million people in 84 countries looking for keywords that indicated mood and a positive or negative attitude.

They also found that positive attitudes peak just after getting up and dip a few hours later, weekend or not, so it’s not just because you have to deal with the stresses of getting to work and earning your living. Circadian rhythms are important too.

It’s easy to mock the findings (see above) although maybe the OECD is not best placed to do so. Remember our revelation about men doing less housework and childcare activities than women? (“Gosh, I hadn’t realised” said a mother of three I spoke to)....

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by admin

A cheery British Depression-busting song which was featured in the late ’80′s revival of “Me and My Gal”. One of Ralph Butler & Noel Gay’s collaborations, here rendered by crooner Sam Browne with the incomparable Ambrose Band: THE SUN HAS GOT HIS HAT ON (Ralph Butler / Noel Gay) Ambrose & His Orchestra (vocal: Sam Browne) The sun has got his hat on, hip-hip-hip-hooray The sun has got his hat on and he’s coming out today Now we’ll all be happy, hip-hip-hip-hooray The sun has got his hat on and he’s coming out to play. So jump into your sunbath, hip-hip-hip-hooray The sun has got his hat on and he’s coming out today All the little birds are singing All the little gnats are stinging All the little bees in twos and threes Buzzing in the sun all day (Orchestral Interlude) (Band singing) The sun has got his hat on, hip-hip-hip-hooray (Sam) All the boys excited, All the little girls delighted What a lot of fun for everyone Sitting in the sun all day”

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