Liverpool hero Gerrard tells Arsenal transfer target Luis Suarez not to quit ... - Mirror.co.uk

Steven Gerrard has urged Liverpool team-mate and friend Luis Suarez to follow his own example - by chasing his Champions League dream wisely.

Ultimate one-club-man - and ultimate professional - Gerrard has revealed some surprise news on the eve of his testimonial: The latest offer to tempt him away from Anfield arrived less than a year ago.

Yet the bid - from a Bayern Munich side that would go on to win the European Cup, with Real Madrid also maintaining a keen interest - was met with the same response the Reds' skipper offered to the countless other attempts to prise him from his beloved Liverpool home, where he has played his entire, dazzling 15-year career.

And it is this example he has offered as evidence to Arsenal target Suarez, to persuade his team-mate there is simply no need to rush out of Merseyside in a desperate search for instant Champions League gratification.

Gerrard said: "I had a chance to move to a Champions League club last year, but there was no temptation. I have been through that enough before - and that is the message for Luis.

"He will get many more chances to move on, if that's what he wants to do further down the line. I just think a player of his level and quality should wait for the big ones to come.

"Luis deserves to maybe play in one of the best teams in world football in Barcelona and Madrid and they will come calling for him again.

"So I am hoping, from a biased point of view, that he stays for another year and shows the form he did last year... which could help take Liverpool to that level.

"Then, maybe, it will be time for him to go next year or the year after. But I really don't think it is the right time for him to go just yet."

A grinning Gerrard declined to reveal which team made the offer to him last year.

But it was no secret Jose Mourinho was desperate to take him to the Bernabeu, and Bayern tried an official approach of their own.

It could've been me: Gerrard had a chance to join Bayern for last season

 

To have perhaps the two biggest clubs in the world right now show interest in you at the age of 32 shows both the enduring quality of the player, and the power of his message to Suarez.

The South American would love a move to Real, but so far only Arsenal have made an offer, with the second of two bids passing the £40m mark by one pound.

There are strong indications the Gunners will return next week with an offer significantly closer to Liverpool's £55m valuation, but Gerrard remains adamant that unless one of the top clubs in the world come knocking, Liverpool have to stick to their guns as proof they retain their own Champions League ambitions.

The fear at Anfield in recent years is that the Reds are facing an ever harder task to bridge the gap to the very top clubs - a challenge that could one day become impossible.

Gerrard said: "That is my main worry, yes, and I think the main worry of every fan.

"It is no different for me being a player. The only thing that may be different is I can do something about it on the pitch.

"That's why Liverpool have to do everything they can to keep their best players. Can you imagine the reaction if the club just said to Luis, 'Okay. Go to whoever you want. Go to one of our rivals' and we give in easy?

"I think the club are doing the right thing by wanting to keep their best players. I am sure all genuine Liverpool fans have the same worries and concerns that it becomes permanent and we can't bridge that gap.

"But we have to keep fighting and believe, and I have confidence from the last six months of last season that we can prove people wrong and break into it.

"I think certain things have to happen to help us do that and one of those is the main subject on everyone's lips - Luis Suarez.

"You lose him you take steps backwards to try to achieve top four. If you keep him and add to him it gives you an awful lot better chance."

Gerrard of course, has resisted the urge to seek more instant gratification elsewhere.

His testimonial game against Olympiacos - the side he scored THAT Champions League against in 2004 - on Saturday proves his loyalty after 15 years of service and his support for the local community, given that proceeds of around £1m will go to children in the area via his charitable foundation.

 

And he still believes Suarez would do well to invest in a club with so much passionate history.

"Clubs are spending a lot of money and have a lot more than us but I think a traditional club like Liverpool still has a value.

"It certainly does for me and is the reason why I have stuck around for so long. For me it is more important to win a couple of trophies and achieve something that is a lot more difficult than going down the easy road and moving to a club where it becomes easier.

"That would send out the right message to supporters. We need to show them we mean business and can challenge, and the only way we can do that is by keeping top players."

 

Facebook and Twitter race to siphon off TV ad budgets - Financial Times

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The Guardian

Facebook and Twitter race to siphon off TV ad budgets Financial Times Facebook, meanwhile, is catching up. It does not yet have ad products similar to Twitter, but has been busy on other fronts. It is developing 15-second video ads that can replay TV commercials on Facebook, starting in October. It is also laying the ... Facebook plans to woo big budget brands with 15-second video adsThe Guardian Facebook finally beats IPO price in boost for Mark ZuckerbergTelegraph.co.uk Facebook plans 'TV style' commercials for siteIrish Times Daily News & Analysis -Business Insider -PC Magazine all 173 news articles »

Inaugural London cycle race 'does not fulfil Olympic legacy' - BBC News

Some of the world's best cyclists will take to the roads of London this weekend for the inaugural RideLondon.

But a leading female cyclist has been critical of the organisers' decision to host an elite men's road race but not an equivalent for women.

"It doesn't fulfil the Olympic legacy," said Britain's Helen Wyman, the European cyclo-cross champion.

Organisers said it was logistically difficult to hold two elite road races in the first year of the event.

RideLondon cycling festival

Saturday, 3 August, 09:00-16:00 BST: Eight-mile ride through central London, where the roads will be closed for up to 50,000 people to take part.

18:30: Women's criterium - a city centre loop for professional women cyclists.

Sunday, 4 August, 06:00-17:00: A 100-mile ride from London to Surrey and back for amateur riders.

12:45: A UCI Europe men's international professional road race

But they added that the schedule would be reviewed after a post-event debrief this year.

Rather than a road race, women will have a criterium on Saturday (at 18:30 BST) - one of four events which form the two-day cycling festival, which forms part of London's Olympic legacy.

Around 100 female riders, including Olympians Laura Trott, Dani King and Jo Rowsell, as well as Wyman, will compete on a special 1.3 mile street circuit, known as a criterium, around Buckingham Palace and St James's Park.

The men will be in action on Sunday, in the 140-mile Surrey Classic (12:45 BST), which will feature around 150 of the world's top male cyclists.

Slovakia's Peter Sagan, who beat Mark Cavendish to win the green jersey for the points classification at the Tour de France, will take part, as will British veteran rider David Millar.

The festival opens with an eight-mile ride through central London, where roads will be closed for up to 50,000 people to take part.

Then on Sunday, around 20,000 thousand amateur cyclists - including celebrities such as three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker - will take part in a 100-mile challenge from Surrey to the capital.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Wyman, 32, added: "It's unfortunate, it's a shame that they have a criterium (a short circular race) for the women but a really impressive road race for the men.

"Cycling became really big in the last two or three years because of what Bradley Wiggins and Lizzie Armistead have done. People who are new to the sport don't see inequalities so why enforce these inequalities by not treating men and women as equal?

"It's reinforcing the idea that women's cycling is not really a professional sport when it genuinely is. It's really sad."

Last month, a number of female cyclists signed a petition, which currently has more than 70,000 signatures, to resurrect the women's Tour de France, which was held between 1984 and 2009 before sponsorship problems contributed to the event's demise.

However, it was recently announced that from next year the Tour of Britain would have a five-day international women's race, a first step towards a full women's version.

Home Office anti-immigration Twitter campaign branded start of 'the UK Hunger ... - The Independent

The official Twitter profile @ukhomeoffice posted pictures as it arrested suspects in connection with possible immigration offences, showing people with their faces pixillated being taken away by officers.

While most of the posts were careful not to jeopardise potential legal action by saying the arrested people were guilty, at least one did not, linking to a Home Office website page describing all 139 suspects as "immigration offenders".

Users responded on Twitter by accusing the government of publicising the crackdown as a form of "dystopian" entertainment, with comedian David Schneider sarcastically saying: "I'm enjoying @ukhomeoffice's tweeting of the preliminary rounds of the UK Hunger Games."

The Hunger Games is a dystopian series of novels, made into a film starring Jennifer Lawrence, where youths from the lower strata of society are rounded up and made to fight for the entertainment of the wider public.

Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker wrote: "Hey @ukhomeoffice why not make your tweet-a-long-a-stormtroop gallery of brown folk thrown in vans even more dystopian by using cattleprods?"

And David Allen Green, legal correspondent for the New Statesman, said: "For the @ukhomeoffice to say those arrested are already #immigrationoffenders is to prejudge their cases and possibly contempt."

Anger, particularly at the possible use of racial profiling in the crackdown, was not limited to the social media platform.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission said it was looking into a whole range of practices that make up the anti-immigration campaign.

A spokesman said: "The Commission is writing today to the Home Office about these reported operations, confirming that it will be examining the powers used and the justification for them, in order to assess whether unlawful discrimination took place.

"The letter will also ask questions about the extent to which the Home Office complied with its public sector equality duty when planning the recent advertising campaign targeted at illegal migration."

Phil O'Shea, who witnessed one of the operations earlier this week in North London, told the Kilburn Times: "They appeared to be stopping and questioning every non-white person, many of whom were clearly ordinary Kensal Green residents going to work."

The #immigrationoffenders campaign comes after criticism of the Home Office for its use of stop-and-search tactics, and of vans telling illegal immigrants to "go home".

Writing in the Independent, Dave Garratt, the chief executive of charity Refugee Action, warned that the operations could "incite racial tensions".

"Over the last few weeks we've seen some very visible signs of the Government's 'hostile environment' crusade. There have been vans out on the streets with threatening slogans and, reportedly, non-white people being visibly stopped and searched," he wrote.

"The Home Office is responsible for community cohesion. Yet we are increasingly seeing what appears to be hostility towards non-white immigration, which will do nothing but incite racial tensions and divisions within otherwise rich and diverse communities."

Championing the campaign on the Home Office website, Immigration Minister Mark Harper said: "Today's operations highlight the routine work we are carrying out every day to stamp out illegal working. We are sending a clear message to employers who choose to use illegal labour: we will find you and you will pay a heavy penalty."

And a Home Office spokesman defended the tactics, saying: "We make no apology for enforcing our immigration laws and our officers carry out hundreds of operations like this every year around London. Where we find people who are in the UK illegally we will seek to remove them."

Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant said: "The Home Secretary said that it is unacceptable to stop someone simply on the basis of their ethnicity. Theresa May said that someone from an ethnic background was seven times more likely to be stopped than a white person, and she said that this was wrong and we supported her.

"We must now have immediate reassurance from the Home Secretary that this is the case for immigration enforcement too. With enforcement operations now under the direct control of the Home Office she must establish straight away whether the rules preventing racial profiling are being enforced.

"Intelligence-led operations to remove illegal immigrants are to be welcomed. Racial profiling is not."

Luis Suarez should pick Liverpool above Arsenal, says Ian Wright - BBC News

Luis Suarez should stay at Liverpool and turn down the chance to move to Arsenal, according to former Gunners striker Ian Wright.

Liverpool have rejected two offers from Arsenal for the 26-year-old, who wants to play Champions League football.

"I'd welcome him at Arsenal with open arms," Wright told BBC Sport.

"But if I was Suarez, when you look at everything, it does seem strange he would want to go to Arsenal. I would give Liverpool another season."

Wright, who will co-host BBC Radio 5 live's football phone-in show 606 on Sundays with Kelly Cates, added: "Arsenal finally realise they've got to get up there with the big boys otherwise they will be left behind."

Uruguay striker Suarez has spoken of his desire to leave Anfield despite only signing a new long-term contract in August 2012.

He believes Arsenal's latest offer of £40m plus £1 triggered a clause in his contract that allows him to speak to suitors, but Liverpool dispute this and have no intention of selling until a £50m-plus valuation is met.

While Liverpool have not played in the Champions League since 2009, Arsenal will feature in the competition for a 17th consecutive season this year.

Reds captain Steven Gerrard ranks the Gunners among his side's rivals for a top-four finish and has questioned the sense  in letting them recruit Suarez, who scored 30 goals in 44 games last season.

"Gerrard is not someone who comes out and says things flippantly," said Wright, who scored 185 goals in 288 appearances for Arsenal.

"If you look at Arsenal - not won anything in eight years, just challenging for fourth place, not really any players there who will make him say 'I'm going to play with him and him' - Gerrard has got a point."

Wenger to remain 'amicable'

Suarez is banned for the first six domestic matches of the new season as he completes a 10-game ban for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic.

He was also suspended in 2011 after being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has reminded Suarez of the debt he feels the player owes the fans after two seasons of controversy - but Wright says this is the only reason Arsenal stand a chance of getting him.

"Suarez is a world-class striker and if he didn't have all the baggage around him, I feel the Barcelonas, Real Madrids and Bayern Munichs would be sniffing around," said the ex-England international.

"That's why I believe Arsenal should try to bring him in - because I feel it's the only time they could get someone like that. In another market, I don't think he'd even look at Arsenal."

Arsenal's only summer signing to date is the free transfer of 20-year-old French forward Yaya Sanogo from Auxerre, and Wright thinks that even if they bring in Suarez, more big names need to follow.

"We need to see something I've not seen Arsenal do for many years and that is compete to sign players that Manchester United would want, that Manchester City would want and that Chelsea would want," he said.

"But they're running out of time and I don't think, at the moment, they've got the ability to attract those players because they haven't won anything in such a long time. This is why Arsenal are in serious trouble right now.

"I would like to see them go as far as they can to get Suarez, but they can't just buy him and not replenish the rest of the team. I think they need a goalkeeper, two centre-halves, two full-backs - for both left-back and right-back positions - another midfielder and two strikers.

"It doesn't make sense buying Suarez for that money and not backing it up with other signings of the same stature."

Gerrard Interview

Inside the world's first Twitter hotel @SolWaveHouse with themed suites - Daily Mail

• The @SolWaveHouse hotel in Majorca is the world's first Twitter hotel 
• Guests can stay in Twitter-themed rooms and ordered themed cocktails
• Dedicated hashtags can be used to check-in and order room service
  

By Victoria Woollaston

PUBLISHED: 07:40 EST, 2 August 2013 | UPDATED: 09:42 EST, 2 August 2013

The Sol Wave House hotel in Majorca has been dubbed the world's first Twitter hotel.

It has Twitter-themed rooms decked out in blue and white decor, to match the social network's iconic colour scheme, and holidaymakers can check-in, find out about events, order room service and get exclusive deals using dedicated hashtags.

The hotel also has Twitter-themed parties and offers Twitter-themed drinks such as a blue mojito.

The Sol Wave House hotel in Majorca has been dubbed the world's first Twitter hotel. It has Twitter-themed rooms, pictured, drinks and a hashtag that guests can use to check-in, find out about events and even order room service

When guests first check-in they are given access to an exclusive Twitter app, only available on the hotel's Wi-Fi.

Guests at Sol Wave can then tweet each other, share photos, send private messages, see who's online and flirt by sending virutal kisses using the #SocialWave tag. 

It has two Twitter Concierges that greet guests via Twitter.

The hotel also has #TwitterPartySuites that sleep up to four people.

Anyone who stays in the suite gets 20 per cent discount on all bars and restaurants, VIP hammocks and customised mini bars.

Minibar fridges can be also be restocked by tweeting a #FillMyFridge request to the Twitter concierge.

Food and drinks are ordered at the pool bar by tweeting the @SolWaveHouse Twitter handle.

The suites also come with champagne, blue balloons and liquorice in the shape of the hash symbol.

Each Friday there is a #TwitterPoolParty as well, where Twitter guests receive a free drink.

The hotel's General Manager, Gonzalo Echevarria said: 'The hotel takes a new step in meeting the expectations of an increasingly experiential and social customer profile, through new technologies.'

Guests at Sol Wave can then tweet each other, share photos, send private messages, see who's online and flirt by sending virutal kisses using the #SocialWave tag. It has two Twitter Concierges, pictured, to greet guests and answer questions

VIDEO: The Sol Wave House Hotel

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#WHY????!!!!

- milesp , wigan, United Kingdom, 02/8/2013 18:25

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I'm just imagining how old fashioned and stupid it will look in ten years when the pretentious kind of people that use twitter have moved onto something new.

- Mark , stoke on trent, United Kingdom, 02/8/2013 18:16

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Oh dear. What a nightmare.

- Nathaniel , ToryHeartland, United Kingdom, 02/8/2013 17:46

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"What is point?"

- Lou , London, 02/8/2013 17:08

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What is this world coming to, why can't people talk to one another. I must admit all this twitter business is completely beyond me

- DJP193 , West Wickham, United Kingdom, 02/8/2013 16:33

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#tacky

- paranoid_android , Nowhere Land, land Islands, 02/8/2013 16:26

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Great, a place solely for the socially inadequate.

- Abu , Gods country, United Kingdom, 02/8/2013 16:11

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perfect for pretentious twitter uses who think they have something to say

- Cheeky31982 , Madrid, Spain, 02/8/2013 15:47

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Does that mean I can't go? I don't have twitter... and never will

- peacemaker , Poole, United Kingdom, 02/8/2013 15:07

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Twits.

- Kiri , Taipei, Taiwan, 02/8/2013 14:22

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A local newspaper ran Cooper's picture next to a court report of the case - Daily Mail

• Charlie Cooper, 20, was sentenced for theft by Canterbury Magistrates
  
• A local newspaper ran Cooper's picture next to a court report of the case
• He complained on Facebook the paper had breached his human rights
• But his mother told him off for committing the crime in the first place
  

By Suzannah Hills

PUBLISHED: 10:46 EST, 2 August 2013 | UPDATED: 12:55 EST, 2 August 2013

17

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comments

A 20-year-old thief has paid the price for being friends with his mother on Facebook after she gave him an embarrassing dressing down for stealing a woman's jewellery.

Cleaner Charlie Cooper complained on the social networking site that his human rights had been breached when his photo was printed in a local newspaper next to a report on his court appearance.

But he was left red-faced after his mother waded into the argument and told him off for stealing jewellery from an innocent woman.

Embarrassing: Charlie Cooper, 20, pictured left, paid the price for being friends with his mother Teresa, pictured with him right, on Facebook after she told him off for complaining about his photo being published in a local newspaper next to a report on his court case for theft

Complaint: Charlie Cooper left this message on the Facebook page of the Herne Bay Gazette after they printed his picture - accusing the newspaper of breaching his human rights

Cooper, from Kent, wrote on Facebook that the Herne Bay Gazette had not asked his permission to print the photo.

In a statement on the newspaper's Facebook page, which contained several spelling errors, he wrote: 'Well done guys, im having to watch my back every time I go out now, thanks to the idiots at the gazzette im getting threats left right and center, I know what I did was wrong but you didnt ask me if you could take a picture and put it in the papers, I know the public have a right to know but.i have my human rights, and now they have been breached, thanks guys well done'. 

His mother Teresa responded to his remarks, telling him he didn't have a right to complain as he had committed the crime.

Telling off: But the 20-year-old's mother Teresa told him off for complaining - pointing out he shouldn't have committed the crime in the first place

Determined: Despite his mother's advice, Cooper continued to defend his Facebook complaint, saying he didn't want his picture taken

She wrote: 'They don't need your permission to take your picture if the courts have given them permission to be there to do so.'

He replied: 'They do, I dont want my picture taken. End of.'

But it was a case of mother-knows-best when she had the final say and told him: 'It done now. That lady didn't want her jewellery taking but you did it anyway, end of.'

The row prompted Cooper to block his mother on the social networking website.

Argument: Mrs Cooper and her son continued to debate the newspaper's use of his picture until he tells his mother he is blocking her on Facebook

He angrily posted: 'This is why I didnt have you on facebook mum, you say things like that, im blocking you ok.!'.

Undeterred, she replied: 'Its the truth charlie, you dont like the truth, until you realise things like this you will never learn ok.'

Crime: Cooper stole jewellery worth 1,500 from Vandra Henderson while working with his father to clean her home

Canterbury Magistrates Court last week heard Cooper stole the jewellery worth 1,500 from Vandra Henderson, in Whitstable, last year, to fuel his drink and drugs habit.

Prosecutor Julie Farbrace said Mrs Henderson, who is in her late 50s, had her home cleaned every two weeks by Cooper's father.

Cooper helped his father in October and November and at the time the jewellery went missing.

The home owner alerted police, who discovered that Cooper had sold the pieces to a jeweller in Margate. Magistrates told him he had let his family down.

Chairman of the bench Carole Kincaid said: 'This was a very serious offence in which there was a breach of trust.

'The jewellery you stole not only had a financial value, but also a sentimental value. You have also let your family down.'

Cooper drank up to two bottles of wine a day and took party drug MDMA, the court was told.

'This was not part of a long course of offending,' Nigel Numas, defending, said.

'At the time he was suffering from problems with drink and drugs. He was drinking two bottles of wine a day and taking MDMA.'

Magistrates gave Cooper a 12-month community order with 240 hours unpaid work. He must pay 1,519 in compensation to Mrs Henderson, plus 85 prosecution costs and a 60 victim surcharge. 

Motherly love: Despite him threatening to block her on Facebook, Teresa Cooper gives her son some more sound advice

Court case: Cooper was ordered to serve a 12-month community order with 240 hours unpaid work and to pay his victim 1,519 in compensation at Canterbury Magistrates Court

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No shame, no remorse. A 20 year old man whining like a 10 year old. Just worried about how it will effect him. No thought for the victim of the robbery OR his poor mother!

- rufusbezak , Carlisle, 02/8/2013 18:30

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You nasty little man. What about the lady's right not to be burgled by someone she seemingly trusted - you are lucky you did not go to jail. If you were my son and that was your attitude I would pack your bags and tell you to go if you were still living at home. You did the wrong thing and instead of keeping your head down and taking your punishment like a man you are wimpering like a baby. Good on Mum for telling it like it is. Maybe some service to the community will set you on the right track but somehow I doubt it you are too far gone at 20.

- Miranda , West Country, United Kingdom, 02/8/2013 18:29

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Good for her. It's what a right thinking parent would say.

- jo , tunbridge wells, United Kingdom, 02/8/2013 18:27

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He sounds like a self-entitled person but he's just an outright THIEF, nothing more! Who the hell does this upstart think he is?

- Reubenene , Victoria, Australia, 02/8/2013 18:18

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New idea, how about a new Human Rights act, with very severe penalties for breaching them, that only protect victims. And a second set of Basic Human Rights, the right to bed, water and a blanket, in a small cell, for Criminals? Someone should point out to this guy, that the homeowner who was burgled also has the basic human right that some drug abusing, alcohol abusing, waste of oxygen, won't break into her house and nick her possessions!

- George , Doncaster, 02/8/2013 18:12

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Good for his mother!

- Susan , Marietta, United States, 02/8/2013 18:03

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Haha - what a sad loser - told off by his Mum on Facebook. Charlie? the name suits you son!

- MarkyP , Kingston Upon Thames, United Kingdom, 02/8/2013 18:02

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Good for his mother!

- Susan , Marietta, United States, 02/8/2013 17:56

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What an idiot. Diddums.

- Nick , London, 02/8/2013 17:52

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Whiney little brat!

- RedWaif , Elgin, 02/8/2013 17:50

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