Rayvin

I do say that tbf.

I started off thinking this was banter but honestly I'm not sure anymore. It's a full blown qualitative vs quantitative argument. I love statistical analysis of, frankly, most things - but I also think you can just watch the game and come up with fairly similar conclusions from a qualitative assessment. Then again I've only got one prediction right so far, what do I know.

I'm actually quite opposed to the banhammer on general principle fwiw The whole mod team tried to avoid this but it is what it is.

He posted a meme that made fun of trans people. Presumably with the expectation that it would trigger a bout of arguing.

I read the full range of news information I can - like I've said, I'm not buried in my echo chamber

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/02/13/eu-hands-britain-post-brexit-olive-branch-offer-lead-new-security/ EU wants us to lead on new security Council for Europe. Nice to see some unity although its worth pointing out that at least as far as I understood it, this was really our area within the EU anyway.

The proof will be in the pudding either way, but honestly CT while you're right about the fixtures and so on (although it's not just Burnley and us down there, even Brighton could get pulled in at this point) I feel like you're not giving enough credit to how the team has played - we were fairly unlucky to lose both of our last two games, and they were away to one very good team and one very desperate team. The fact that we're performing well enough now that even 'poor performances' are resulting in very close, very unfortunate losses - rather than 3-5 nil drubbings - should give us some encouragement.

Yeah, shame most of those voting for "freedom" are closet Putin sympathisers. He can fuck right off tbh, the unmitigated cunt.

Agree with both of you, just depressing to see.

Is anyone else becoming a bit concerned that China appears to have sided with Russia on this? I read something about them offering military hardware to support the endeavour. And also this: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/18/asia/wang-jixian-chinese-vlogger-ukraine-intl-hnk/index.html Chinese vlogger branded a national traitor for sharing the truth.

Done

I honestly and fully think a lot of this is explained by that Carole Cadwalldr tweet that PL linked to a few days back. The world changed around 2014 and not for the better.

Has anyone asked him about our relegation prospects recently? I've be genuinely amused to see how he's processing that

This would be amazing

Trump was a consequence of Putin's information war within our countries - he is the political personification of isolationism and anti-internationalism. He withdrew the US from several significant global organisations and most of his rhetoric was around building walls. Repairing the damage done to the US led world order takes time. Alliances were weakened, the US started to look like a far less dependable partner. The shakiness of the western world order, I would argue, is an emboldening factor. And given his policies and approach to diplomacy, I would suggest that it is clear that Trump significantly contributed to this shakiness. And truthfully, sped up the wider decline of the US as a global power.

It took me longer than I care to admit to appreciate that this was a joke

I don't know if anyone on here would disagree with that statement about Trump vs Bush btw, at least in terms of direct and easily visible deaths and associated wrongs. When you look further into the indirect consequences though, I think the water muddies significantly. Bush was a status quo kind of guy and Trump was... well also a status quo guy, but one who was prepared to throw fuel onto the bonfire of things that the status quo doesn't care about (everything other than money). Trump pulled the US back from the world stage and emboldened Putin - I'm not saying Biden is playing a blinder with this, he isn't, but Trump is the anti-globalisation figure. Anti-internationalism. It's directly aligned with Putin and his aims of bringing down the Western framework of the world order, replacing it instead with a return to imperialism and "strong men" politics. Like it or not, internationalism is the thing that provides stability and prosperity for the world. Yes it's flawed, yes it could be a hell of a lot fairer than it is, but it's better than any other alternative that is presently feasible. What Putin and Trump are putting on the table is far, far worse.

I've said it before, but my "favourite" point of interest with it is that the overlap in the venn diagram of people who voted Brexit and those who favour the death penalty is larger than any other considered metric, including opposition to immigration. More Brexiters support the death penalty than oppose immigration. And I'm not sure this is a demographic that changes their mind. I'll be quiet now anyway.

I mean it's not as if they're delegating it to him, it feels more like the press are specifically targeting him - presumably because they have higher access but also because he's the more obvious face of the team. I assume they could target Staveley but they'd simply be told that business is business. They're asking Howe specifically because he's an actual human being who has chosen to be associated with this - rather than a member of the elite who view us all as ants anyway. No one at the club is going to come out and say anything bad about the regime. That said, I applaud the spirit of the comment. You're right in essence, but no one is going to do anything about it. Howe is just an easier target than Staveley for the press though, IMO.

Good luck mate, I'm sure all will be fine!

Let's not forget, as CT says, that the majority of this country want the return of the death penalty too (eye for an eye - i.e. murder results in death). We're not particularly "far ahead" on that metric of civilisation. 54% at the last survey done in 2021.

This seems balanced enough but I don't think they're telling us anything we didn't know, which calls into question a bit their premise that discussion on these issues isn't taking place. I think we've all been very aware of the Azov regiment since this kicked off, and I'm not personally convinced that there has been any real attempt by the media to suppress discussion around that - the guardian was running articles on them in the same year they formed tbh. I think an area that they could have addressed, was the extent to which this 'nazi' regiment was causing problems/violence to anyone. Just the fact that they exist, even if armed, doesn't make them much different to any other country. A bit, but not much. If they are running around using these weapons though, then that's a different story. As it is, every time anyone brings them up it seems a bit of an impotent remark - yeah they exist, but they don't particularly seem to have done anything for all their heavy arms.

It's starting to feel as though the stage is being set for this to come to an end tbh. The concession over joining NATO yesterday won't just have come out of nowhere, that will only have been offered as part of a wider negotiating strategy, and only on the basis that it moves us closer to an end to the crisis in very real terms. I'm a bit more hopeful today than I had been.

Truth be told, I like him. I think he's pretty consistent in his disdain for this sort of thing - this time it goes against us but in all honesty you can see why.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2022/mar/15/david-squires-on-the-fall-of-chelsea-roman-empire Squires on Chelsea. Guess which other club made it in...