F1. He should have gone a long time ago. Now, the time­ is right for a change in direction. Most of the teams­ want it. And to be honest, if it wants to survive when­ its two wheeled rival is within touching distance of­ each other each race, it has to. F1 in the early years­ had the same amazing character as it does today. But­ with something else....A brut image for drivers,­ drivers that would share a pint with fans, drivers that­ often had rough beards or long greasy hair. Perhaps the­ very image of F1 has allowed mr Ecclestone to take such­ a dramatic hold of it... there seems to be only one­ clear path for him, leave the sport and leave the­ limelight.

Cheers for reminding me Gareth,that even my history­ needs brushing up.:).Your point on W Wilson duly noted.

In Japan were are taught to treat our elders with­ respect. As many of them lived through the roughest of­ times that no text book can tell you about. Also, only­ a few years ago we all read about how China wanted to­ remove certain elements of their history. And so too,­ when I was growing up a revolt in the UK commons about­ how history was being taught meant no pro-totalitarian­ economic books could be taught in UK Schools or within­ Europe. I was born in the UK, as many of the guys who­ follow the Motogp forums will know. I've live in­ Japan for a long time now. And the honour system here­ still reveals much about what is lost in modern day­ Europe. I will not support many of the comments on­ here. Infact, some are completely out of context and­ rubbish. All I will say, is that a man whose family­ lived in Germany and fled it will know more from his­ parents and grandparents than any book can tell you.­ Also, it goes without saying, don't believe all you­ read in books. As my father once told me, when I said,­ I have a technical engineering and computer engineering­ degree..."In the pub, that means what?". This­ is not a place for shouting off anti-simitic ideas. In­ this world, today, I would hope that people would think­ before they spoke. Sadly, often people forget to think­ before opening their mouths. Even those who clearly­ aren't anti-simitic can come off that way when they­ ridicule a Jewish man for his thoughts and remarks. Too­ also call his historical recalls a mis-read piece woudl­ certainly be wrong. One mans reflection of history, is­ another man text book. Mr Ecclestone has never ranked­ highly with me. When he briefly entered motorcycle­ racing in the early 90's he ruined it, introducing­ shirts and ties to worn by riders, no spraying of­ champagne and victory laps to have no celebrations­ without express permission from the organisors. It­ nearly killed the wild animal that was then, and always­ will be bike racing. Sadly, he got his way all too­ often in

Gareth and Holly I agree with your posts and would like­ to add that Bernie reminds me of Gerald­ Ratner,who's after dinner "jokes"­ backfired.I just hope that Formula One can overcome­ Bernies latest gaffe just as his mate Max seems to have­ calmed down.There are some very informed people who­ post very sensible/witty comments and have seen through­ the Poison Dwarf.

he just said something that he believed in,only when it­ caused an uproar did he retract it and issue an­ appology, he's just a pure a r s e

BTW Rick, Woodrow Wilson was one of the founding­ fathers of the League of Nations going to Paris in 1919­ and helped write the Treaty of Versailles for which he­ was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize!!! He also preached­ Internationalism not Isolationism and was the one who­ got the US into WW1 following German use of­ unrestricted Submarine warfare!!!!

Rick, I agree with everything you said but why put my­ name at the start as if you were disagreeing with me or­ something I wrote? The point of my last post was to­ make a point to Luke who seemed to have got a bee in­ his bonnet that we all are possibly anti-semites or at­ the very least have no knowledge of the holocaust, the­ socio-economic state of the Weimar Republic post 1918­ etc....... I believe that I and Holly-Anna have both­ displayed that is not the case as have others such as­ yourself!! Amazing that we can all get into a world­ history discussion on what should be such a­ 'fun' site!!!! After all, we all come together­ here to comment on F1/motorsport rather than racial­ hatred etc...... Pity that others try to shove their­ 'knowledge' of history on us when they could­ look it up and see how wrong they are so quickly!!!

Holly.After the Treaty of Versailles,Woodrow Wilson­ went home and the U.S. did not participate in the­ League of Nations.My grandfather said at the time that­ it would mean another European war in 20­ years.Luke.moors should remember the U.S.went into­ "isolation" helped by Presidents such as­ Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.As my father also­ commented this country was badly served by its­ politicians here between 1918-1939,and we were broke­ after WW1 in spite of our Empire which became a­ liability.

Hello boys.

mga & Big Sid you had a bit of a set­ to with some very strange new characters earlier,­ trying to make it look like mga was a British Asian and­ he was also Potter. Now understandably you put the­ blame on the shoulders of Jeanette Bolan trying to­ muddy the water - but you were wrong.

Looking at the­ logs and comparing ip addresses etc the trouble make­ this morning was your old pal John Owen, the TV Man. ­ You were dead right that there was only one person but­ you had the wrong person boys.

Gareth.The Great Patriotic War was savage to Soviet and­ German alike,but both sides had a hand in the deaths of­ Polish and other Eastern European deaths.Nazi Germany­ used the territory acquired to set up death camps at­ Treblinka,Sobibor,etc but tried to hide the evidence­ when they retreated.Its only since the Soviet archives­ have been made available since the 1990s historians­ such as Antony Beevor or Max Hastings have been able to­ write about that aspect of WW2.Soviet losses are­ officially 26.6 million,but estimates can vary between­ 21.5 to 43-47 million(Niall Ferguson-War Of The­ World).A lot of Soviet losses were POWs who were­ executed or sent to the Gulags.

luke.moors I consider myself knowledgeable of that­ period because modern European History formed a large­ part of my Degree and PhD.

Whether you like it or not­ the worst of Germany's economic woes were over by­ 1933, I am not saying it was heaven but times had been­ worse. The thing I took issue with in your earlier­ post was that you claimed that Hitler carried out some­ economic miracle, this was of course what the Nazis­ claimed but was untrue.

By the time the war started­ Germany had absolutely huge debts and it was this­ credit that paid for the road building, army expansion­ etc. Germany was not producing any more goods that­ could earn foreign currency she was just borrowing­ more.

The other thing you are total ignorant off is­ the payments to be made under the Treat of Versaille,­ these were almost 100% offset by aid from the US and­ the UK. The thing about this Treaty was its­ psychological affect it had on nutters like Hitler NOT­ it's economic affect.

Can I please ask you to be­ less insulting in your replies to people, this is a­ discussion board not a shouting at people board.

Mad bernice will be gloryfying Oswiecim (auschwitz)­ next.

Luke, yes Stalin killed Jews but he also did for many­ other ethnic minorities!!!! But he never launched a­ pogrom against any individual race and many of those­ who died during the 1930s where as a result of famine­ in 1932/33 and then the Great Purge!!! Increased­ numbers of death occured following the German Operation­ Barbarossa with Stalin and the Red Army often sending­ people into battle without even rifles, then ordering­ them to fight and die and if the odds overcame them and­ retreat the only option they would be executed by their­ own side for fear of them having been turned or for­ cowardice!!!! Communism didn't care for any­ religion and therefore although many of Jewish ancestry­ died, greater numbers of Orthodox faiths died as a­ result!!! I'm not sticking up for Stalin or­ Communism, just pointing out that he was a ruthless­ inhumane individual to all and not just your­ 'brothers'!!!

The thing is luke.moore the discussion wasnt about­ communist russia was it.

very stupid comments from a would be respectable person­ grow up even though ur very old

kingeoix.Bernie referred to Hitler,Saddam,Maggie,as­ people who got things done.Most people criticising­ Bernie are doing so for his ignorance of history and­ are freely expressing their opinions based on their­ knowledge of history which is a lot better than­ deviating to modern events to obsfucate the issue such­ as yourself.Since 1947 certain Arab states have made it­ their intent to eliminate Israel,and certainly the­ current President of Iran is no exception.Please­ refrain from suggesting that some of Bernies critics­ suffer from mental illness-that was a Soviet ploy­ against their dissidents,and looked what happened after­ 1989 to the U.S.S.R.,who supplied Arabs with their­ arms.