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I honestly didn't type that because I thought I'd get no end of abuse. Seems I was wrong.

The oft cited political power issue that I've seen is AIPAC and equivalent pro Israeli lobbying groups. The deal with that seems to be that the US government gives aid to Israel, Israel gives some of it back to AIPAC who then in turn pass that on to fund US representatives, who then vote to give more money to Israel, etc. They fund politicians who support Israel, Republican or Democrat, and their money was involved in almost 400 individual races in the last election. It's not a Jewish conspiracy so much as an American one, but that's what I have seen argued as to why the US is so politically obsessed with Israel - though it wouldn't be evidence of "Jews running the world from the shadows" so much as Israel lobbying the US government in the same way every other lobbyist does - just that AIPAC is perhaps a bit more powerful than most. I think the money probably has the biggest say in the 'why' for a lot of this from a US standpoint.

no elite is in my thrall, i can tell you

What industry do you work in again, mate?

I lad I know who went to St Lucia for his honeymoon last year and it looked absolutely amazing. Because it’s got volcanic origins it’s got lots of spectacular peaks formed by the basalt rock. Unfortunately my own experience has been restricted to drinking its rum. Which is excellent btw

i don't think it is mate, unless you take the old antimseitmic consipracy theories that jews run the world and the us politicial class are the thralls of the jewish banker/media elite seriously

The fucking irony that Israel are bordering on ethnic cleansing when you consider what happened during WWII is not lost either. I read one political commentator remark the post-holocaust rhetoric was "'this was never to happen again', NOT 'this was never to happen again to us'"

mate, there's like 7m jews in the us out of a population of almost 350m. it really isn't the demographic that decides elections.

I mean it’s difficult to simplify it too much. But I think at least in part you have the huge collective guilt of the Holocaust. This is turn has led to Israel being backed financially and militarily in such a disproportionate manner over time that’s led to them being this regional superpower but also surrounding by potential enemies and being a counterbalance to Iran in particular. Then you have the huge vested interest of the American military war machine. And the huge profits that comes with that. You can’t just row that back easily, which has painted Europe and America into this corner. And Trump being in power and the instability of that seems to have given Israel even more of a free rein. Whilst recognising and agreeing with SpongeBob on Biden’s role in all this too. Probably rambling a bit but I think all that is much more of a factor than securing the Jewish vote in places like New York

That goal-line clearance by van de Ven was unreal BTW. van Dijk does that and we'd be hearing about it since time immemorial.

that awful goal pretty much summed up an awful final between two awful teams the wife's a red so i couldn't celebrate on the outside and had to say soothing things. she knew what i was doing so silence ensued. sweet sweet silence

Well the theory is that the Jews provide a lot of finance to the presidential campaigns so you have to keep them happy, though I'd guess that's another anti-semitic trope.

I didn't take it that way in the slightest mate. I've thoroughly enjoyed this this morning in much the same way as I have crossing swords with craig and yourself over bellamy/dyer in the past!

And yet...

I've got a Pixel 9 Pro you dirty bitch. I wouldn't touch an iPhone with your gnarled, tattooed hands.

It was a joke based on a recent post of yours about being at the casino at this time. That’s all, wasn’t meant to infer anything else. 👍🏻 Hopefully it’s all moot and we get to have our cake and eat it this Sunday anyway

A fair point, but the common belief is it's enough to decide it hence why there's such appeasement.

by far and away the best coffee in a jar out there. a bit like like the galaxy s ultra range pissing all over the iphone.

Instant coffee? What sort of a dreadlocked craft woodworking hipster are you exactly? I thought you'd go everywhere with an Aeropress.

I've had one sex pistols never mind the bollocks mug of nescafe alta rica. the 6 pints of aspalls award goes to any fucker who fails to grasp the intrinsical link between success and finance whilst simultaneously rejoicing in what was achieved in march.

I think a lot of that comes down to Howe's insistence that he deals only with the next game ahead of him, that said he as good as made an admission that wrote off the league game at Anfield in order to keep his powder dry for the cup final so he definitely was prioritising the cup over the league in March. When I started following football, it was all about winning silverware - and it certainly took precedence over Europe given English clubs had only just been banned from it. Even if we did have European football back then, you've either have had to win something, or finish league runners up to qualify for it. So winning domestic silverware DID take precedence. As soon as they started stretching the competitions and allowing more and more teams to qualify, the waters become muddied on what was more important. You're bound to have traditionalists who think winning a trophy is more important, but you're also going to have people who think qualifying for Europe's premier competition provides the platform to push on. Trying to argue which is more important is pointless. It's like trying to argue whether Android or Apple are the better phones - people will have differing opinions. Personally, I've waited my whole lifetime to see us lift a trophy, so for me it took precedence. We did it and following the international break we rightly went into 'the next game' mode which was to push on for Champions League. So rather than the argument of which was more important, it brings about the question 'why not both?'

It'll be harder to repeat a cup win next year though, and for the next few years if we can stop in the CL. That's why winning this last one was so important - building slowly through CL qualification and the extra games that brings will make winning something more difficult. So getting that tangible benefit first has been massive.

You're the chart man these days. Sunday's game is massive but it's not bigger than a cup win. Give me a choice and I'd happily drop into the EL next year and keep the cup win. As it happens I think we'll end up with both cos Eddie Howe is the fucking man.