UR TV CAST

During my three and a quarter hours in The Swan I was made profoundly uncomfortable and restless by my narrow, armless seat and by the deafening noise of the production, which was far too intrusive for such a limited space. THIS IS a time of year when people are suffering from PHT ( Post Holiday Tension). I would honestly say he is as good, if not better, than those other players under consideration for the front role.”With McCoist’s former Ibrox colleague Gordon Durie ruled out because of ankle ligament damage, McCoist has few rivals in attack.Brown rates the Lithuanians highly, suggesting they are the best of the Baltic states, and, by his own admission, McCoist could prove the “quick fix” he needs to do the job required.Brown followed the inclusion of McCoist with a further change yesterday, this time forced upon him because of injuries.Blackburn’s Billy McKinlay and David Hopkin, of Leeds, have withdrawn from the travelling group because of fitness problems. That has prompted Brown to promote Rangers’ 20-year-old midfielder Barry Ferguson from the Under-21 squad.Ferguson was instrumental in Rangers’ emphatic 4-0 win against St Johnstone on Saturday. Brown said: “Barry was very close to being selected in the original squad, although I didn’t think he would start the game as we had experienced provision in McKinlay and Hopkin.”The Under-21 team have a difficult game and obviously want to qualify, so their coach, Tommy Craig, will be tearing his hair out at losing Barry.”. BRENTFORD YESTERDAY went to the top of the Third Division with a 2-1 victory over Rochdale at Griffin Park.

Darren Powell scored within 90 seconds, but the visitors were unfortunate not to earn their second away win of the campaign after Isidro Diaz’s 17th-minute equaliser. Rochdale enjoyed most of the possession in the second period but Kevin Rapley’s 71st-minute goal sealed the game.
Plymouth Argyle leapfrogged over Halifax Town after their 1-0 win over the Shaymen at Home Park. Paul Gibbs’ strike three minutes before half- time was sufficient.Gustavo Di Lella dispatched Hull to their third defeat of the season with the only goal of the match at Hartlepool, sending the home side into fifth place.Barnet jumped 11 places after their 2-0 victory at Shrewsbury. I have just returned from Stratford, where I saw two plays in one day – one at The Swan and the other at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and my experience was exactly the opposite to the claims made by the RSC.

What is not surprising is the reactionary attitude of the Tory Party. They opposed the last major electoral reform – votes for women.
JOHN PALMERWaterlooville, Hampshire. Sir: What an extraordinary admission of defeat for the Royal Shakespeare Company to want to demolish the very theatre that made it great (report, 27 August). Sir: Lord Parkinson asserts (“Right of Reply”, 26 August) that “Independent research suggests that our electoral system is more proportional than any form of PR.” Did that research cover the result of the 1951 general election in which Labour received most votes but the Tories won more seats and formed the government? Or the 1974 result when the Tories received most votes but Labour won more seats and formed the government? Or even the 1997 general election when the Liberal Democrats got 13 per cent of the votes in Scotland and won 10 seats, against the Conservatives’ 17 per cent of Scottish votes but no seats?

The looming anti-PR alliance between the Conservatives and Old Labour is interesting.

Say, “We had a really good time at Heathrow, though…” Tell people all about your experiences.You’re joking, surely?Dr Monica Furlough writes: Keep telling people how much better things were in the country you’ve been to Show them your pictures. Ask them over and over again if they got your postcard.But what if you didn’t send them a postcard?Dr Monica Furlough writes: All the more necessary. If you didn’t send someone a postcard, you must make them believe that you did. Tell them about the food, the hotel, the trip, the nice people you met from Staffordshire…But you’ll lose all your friends if you do that! Nobody will talk to you for a week!Dr Monica Furlough writes: That’s the whole idea! What I forgot to mention was that the people who suffer most from Post- Holiday Tension are not those who come back from holiday – it’s the people who haven’t gone away and have to put up with the return of the holidaymakers! My treatment guarantees that you will be ostracised, which will give the sufferers at home a chance of quarantine from you!Miles Kington writes: I’ll be back tomorrow with my holiday snaps, an account of my best meals in France, and a story about a really funny couple from Norfolk we met on the boat.. Someone once said that the amount of organisation and planning that goes into a perfect holiday is the same amount as needed for a small Gulf War.Very true. Who was it?Dr Monica Furlough writes: Me.And is the cure for PHT the same as that for a small military operation?Dr Monica Furlough writes: You mean, should you have church services and war crime tribunals and parades of thanksgiving when you come back from holiday? Well, holidays aren’t quite that serious, although it would certainly be tempting to place certain hotel proprietors on trial for their life after certain holiday experiences.So what should we do about PHT?Dr Monica Furlough writes: The most important thing is not to snap back straightaway into everyday life.

You know, athletes always warm up before a race, but afterwards they always warm down again. They have to make a gradual transition from physical exertion, otherwise their muscles will suffer Same with holidays. Come down slowly.What does that mean in practice?Dr Monica Furlough writes: It means you should wear holiday clothes for a day or two Keep to shorts, if you were wearing shorts Ski clothes, if it was a skiing holiday Talk about your holiday a lot. Tell people where you have been and how great it was…But what if the only good bit was relaxing at Heathrow and buying duty free?Dr Monica Furlough writes: Talk about that a lot. All yours, Mon!

This PHT thing – how do I know if I’ve got it?
Dr Monica Furlough writes: If you have just come back from holiday, you’ll know if you’ve got it all right. In a club famous for its sex shows, a giant screen flashes pornographic images on which Radio 1 has superimposed the message, “Annie Nightingale, LIVE IN THE BACK ROOM”.Nightingale is a Radio 1 DJ, but the Daily Mail could be forgiven for thinking otherwise..