Can we still sell players abroad if their windows are not closed? I suspect they

[Sir C]

Regularly. I'm not letting them forget it.

Not a huge amount. Generally, it's heating elements that really burn the leccy.

I've had one of they smart meters fitted. The fúcking thing is terrifying. I'm wandering around turning out lights and only using the oven when absolutely necessary.

[redgunamo]

Fear of flying is simply arrogance, of course; a grossly inflated sense of self-worth. Perhaps that was what made him so fine.

Typical Dutchman, my wife called him; all campervan but no car.

I owned a campervan when I first met her

[Sir C]

Typical Dutchman, my wife called him; all campervan but no car.

I owned a campervan when I first met her

Definitely the archetypal Dutchman. I can assure you that when he goes on holiday in his camper he takes everything, from tea bags to toilet rolls, so as not to have to take the risk of being ripped off by nasty foreigners.

[eastgermanautos]

How can this anomaly exist? Either the window slams shut or it doesn't.

Freedom of movement and all that. There's likely a players' association. For example, if I want to hire a writer who is represented by the Writer's Guild of America (WGA), I have to negotiate through the WGA. But I also have to set up a separate LLC to conduct those negotiations. Me dealing with them directly, just through my company, doesn't work. All the players, metaphorically, report to Andorra, Luxembourg, Monaco. From there they board flights to all parts of the world, safe in the knowledge that they are about to get paid ridiculous amounts.

[Burney]

Fear of flying is simply arrogance, of course; a grossly inflated sense of self-worth. Perhaps that was what made him so fine.

It really, really isn't, you know? Because it's not about fear of death, it's about fear of actually flying. It's an irrational fear based on one's position and environment that provokes a physical reaction. This is why no amount of telling someone how safe flying is makes any difference. They know all that stuff, but are still suffering. It's no different to fear of heights in that regard. The person with a fear of heights is not shítting themselves because they think they'll die, they're shītting themselves because their brain is sending panic signals throughout their body due to their location and they can't control it.

This is what people who don't suffer these afflictions simply don't get. They seem to think that people develop these fears through some logical sequence of decisions and that, by deconstructing that logic, they can be 'cured'. It doesn't work like that.

You aren't not scared of flying because you have rationalised the situation, balanced all probabilities and come to a rational conclusion. You're not scared of flying simply because you're not scared of flying and it has never occurred to you that you should be. You're just lucky enough not to be wired up that way. It's the same thing for those of us who are scared - it's just how we are.

[Sir C]

It really, really isn't, you know? Because it's not about fear of death, it's about fear of actually flying. It's an irrational fear based on one's position and environment that provokes a physical reaction. This is why no amount of telling someone how safe flying is makes any difference. They know all that stuff, but are still suffering. It's no different to fear of heights in that regard. The person with a fear of heights is not shítting themselves because they think they'll die, they're shītting themselves because their brain is sending panic signals throughout their body due to their location and they can't control it.

This is what people who don't suffer these afflictions simply don't get. They seem to think that people develop these fears through some logical sequence of decisions and that, by deconstructing that logic, they can be 'cured'. It doesn't work like that.

You aren't not scared of flying because you have rationalised the situation, balanced all probabilities and come to a rational conclusion. You're not scared of flying simply because you're not scared of flying and it has never occurred to you that you should be. You're just lucky enough not to be wired up that way. It's the same thing for those of us who are scared - it's just how we are.

Elegantly put and cogently argued, as ever. I remain unconvinced because I find fear of flying offensive. There, I've said it.

[redgunamo]

It really, really isn't, you know? Because it's not about fear of death, it's about fear of actually flying. It's an irrational fear based on one's position and environment that provokes a physical reaction. This is why no amount of telling someone how safe flying is makes any difference. They know all that stuff, but are still suffering. It's no different to fear of heights in that regard. The person with a fear of heights is not shítting themselves because they think they'll die, they're shītting themselves because their brain is sending panic signals throughout their body due to their location and they can't control it.

This is what people who don't suffer these afflictions simply don't get. They seem to think that people develop these fears through some logical sequence of decisions and that, by deconstructing that logic, they can be 'cured'. It doesn't work like that.

You aren't not scared of flying because you have rationalised the situation, balanced all probabilities and come to a rational conclusion. You're not scared of flying simply because you're not scared of flying and it has never occurred to you that you should be. You're just lucky enough not to be wired up that way. It's the same thing for those of us who are scared - it's just how we are.

I see. Can you describe your very first experience of flying, and further, when this "fear" first materialised?

[redgunamo]

Elegantly put and cogently argued, as ever. I remain unconvinced because I find fear of flying offensive. There, I've said it.

Of course, in Dennis' case, the onset of the peculiarity arrived in his late twenties, so I gather.

[Mo Britain less Europe]

Absolutely. I said it throughout his career. He should have been at Madrid with Zidane and Figo winning European Cups, instead of taking it easy with us.

Of course the truly big teams would never have allowed his non-flying clause...

The non-flying clause happened after he'd been playing for us for two seasons. 98 World Cup incident.

[Burney]

I see. Can you describe your very first experience of flying, and further, when this "fear" first materialised?

Certainly. My first experience of flying was when I was 10 on an old BAC-111 to Majorca. I was fine. I didn't like take-off (still don't), but for the rest of the flight I was calm.

My fear of flying didn't develop until my early 20s, really. It was a flight back from Ireland, I was badly hungover and suffered what I now realise to have been a mild claustrophobic panic attack . After that, the floodgates were open. Deep down, I associated flying with the feelings I had experienced on that one flight and to some extent still do. The fear is not of crashing, it's of being in the environment where one experiences those feelings. Now of course, there is no better way of ensuring that one experiences those feelings than by harbouring a fear of doing so, but the human brain is a fúcker like that and breaking that cycle is easier said than done.