Rayvin

If the collective Western world decided it was moved to act over Yemen and bring pressure to stop Saudi Arabia in that context, I would be more than happy for them to do to NUFC what they're doing to Chelsea. Whatever saves lives. For now though, the problem lies with our government rather than our football club.

I think there's more right in that article than I want there to be. Was reading a Monbiot piece in the guardian yesterday about how Germany has a huge gas reservoir that could supply 2m homes for a year... that they've left in the management of Gazprom who have systematically drained it to less than 10% capacity. No restrictions or controls in place to prevent this, no wariness about allowing a country as volatile as Russia ownership over such a key strategic asset. We have been caught with our pants down here, and no mistake. The laziness and incompetence of our politicians, in the west generally, is breathtaking. That said, where I disagree with the article is more in the future - this is going to rapidly expedite the move away from Russian energy, comfortably within 10 years IMO. What does Russia do then? How is that a big part of their master plan? I feel like that part of the article is agenda pushing tbh, I don't see the lasting logic around how this benefits Russia.

I assume the lad who actually did have experience was admitted. It's fair enough anyway.

Zelensky addressing the commons now via video link.

I always enjoy this guys videos - it's alternative history (the channel that is, not this particular video). It's a bit bitesize but it's a decent primer on the issue of NATO versus Russia.

One thing that always pisses me off with these pundits that tbh may be down to my own bias - Owen mentioned it in that clip - this notion that SJP is great when the team is flying but the polar opposite when things are going badly. As if the fans are very much a double edged sword. Granted, when it's going badly we'll have a quieter stadium as with any club - and granted, there was some loud and raucous protest under Ashley, aimed at Ashley. But I cannot for the life of me remember a match when the fans really got on the team's back and generated a really toxic atmosphere. Am I just looking at us with rose tinted glasses? I mean I've seen loads of other clubs do this - Sunderland fans got themselves relegated to League One as a consequence of doing it after all - but do we?

It'll be interesting to take our end of season points and see what it would have looked like over the full season, when the time comes. I honestly can't wait to start looking forward to next season.

How has Luke Edwards not featured yet Maybe he's so obvious it didn't need saying.

That's not what I was getting at - I know he can't do that. I'm saying that the spirit of his condolences to her that he couldn't do that, made clear that he would do everything he could do to help. He can take in more than 50 Ukrainian refugees. I refuse to believe the country can't handle more than 50. I didn't give him a hard time over the no fly zone because I understand it, I fundamentally do not understand this - especially given what he has said. And from what you've said, you just be just as appalled as me - 10,000 applications and 50 taken. How can we justify that?

Well that's that then - If 10,000 people have applied and 50 have made it, we cannot possibly claim that we are making good on our commitments. Our government has in fact lied to the people of Ukraine, and indeed the world, in claiming to do everything in its power to help. Boris Johnson was apparently unmoved by the tears of the Ukrainian journalist who begged him for a no fly zone to save people's lives, he did not take the spirit of his condolence and assurance that he would do everything possible forward into reality. Imagine if it was any of us in that position ffs - you have to tell this woman that you can't help her countrymen, that they will die because action is too risky... and not only that, you then sign off on a policy that makes their attempts to be safe as difficult as possible - turning 10,000 desperate people away. I wouldn't be able to live with myself man. I wouldn't give a fuck whose decision it was by that point, I'd be right into Priti Patel's office demanding that she let people in or I'd go public about how difficult the home office was being. On the importance of moral leadership. They just do not give a shit, seriously. And that's because, ultimately, they've been elected not to give a shit.

Green energy is a threat to Putin's attempts to control and influence the West, Farage is openly a Russian stooge, so this had an inevitability to it. He's a traitor and the enemy within.

I mean we're talking about refugees rather than immigrants of course, which I do appreciate you know - but I'm not sure where this great fear of the Ukrainian far right is on the right leaning side of politics? Wouldn't the true nazis stay and fight for their country? Also we're talking at absolute best about less than 300,000 people in the whole of Ukraine who even voted for a far right party, let alone joined one. To put that into context, we had over half a million voting for the BNP back in 2010. If we were being invaded, would you think it reasonable that 60m British people were denied refuge on the basis of 500k twats voting for a nazi party? I would take men, women and children as well, frankly - although I assume since many men have been conscripted, it's not weighted in their favour anyway. Those points aside, would you agree that we are behaving shamefully and failing to live up to what we are saying, if we are indeed being deliberately obstructive just because we don't really want to take these people in? Irrespective of whether they're nazis, whether they're desperate or not, our policy isn't discriminating on any of those bases -it is simply difficult to complete, and therefore an active barrier. That's how it looks to me. We just don't want them because they're foreign. They're different. Surely you would agree that if this is true, it is a deplorable stance?

Yeah that was a fucking weird comment tbh. And Trippier seemed a bit stunned by it too. I think he probably meant in terms of 'you never know what he'll do next' but aye, eyebrow raising

In the interests of absolute balance, yes, I do agree we would have to know how many are trying to enter before we can fully judge it. Would you at least agree that if we're talking tens of thousands of people are trying, then we are being deliberately obstructive?

Asprilla, can we not surely all agree that taking 50 people is a pretty pathetic response? Either we should be honest and say we don't want any, or be genuine and take a real number. Don't sit there talking the talk and then do everything possible to prevent anyone coming in. As per the other posts people have made, we are clearly being obstructive.

Priti Patel... the immigrant hating daughter of an immigrant.

Utterly humiliating to see that. What Ukraine must think of us..

Is it full co-op? As in, can you play it front to back with a partner?

"Technology. Entrepreneur. Business". He's not even trying ffs How many successful businessmen hashtag 'business' in their tweets.

Yeah and since then we won a couple of games I didn't have us down to win. I'm not gonna be shamed on that prediction lads, I made peace with it being entirely wrong as soon as I posted it But I just thought it might be interesting to compare.

I see that side tbh but I'm always brought back down to earth a bit on imagining Russian competence when I think about how widespread corruption is there. Corruption breeds incompetence, in the end. And Putin, for all his history, has surrounded himself with inferior men - because, I suspect, it's the only way he holds onto power. I do think he is playing a game we haven't gotten our heads fully around yet, in terms of misinformation and sowing division in the West... but I also think that was supposed to render us inert at this point. And it hasn't. So I think he's miscalculated and assumed we were entirely broken when we were just in fact wounded. Brexit, Trump, everyone's strong views on these issues... none of that changes the reality that we still all basically agree on freedom and Western liberal democracy. I actually think he may well have undone a lot of his well poisoning. Not all, but some.

I think it's hard to call Everton yet because they have so many games in hand versus those around them. They get two wins from that and they're more or less on even footing with us. The main thing though is that we'd actually need 2 or 3 teams to put a run together for it to be any threat to us. We've done the hard work in clawing our way out - we don't need to keep it at this level, we just need to match the pack.

Well I gave a bit of a range there since there can always be surprising results, but I think 6 points from the home games and 7 from the away ones. Takes us to 41.

Russia seems to be saying it's the former. That post Tom made the other day referenced a statement that I believe was from the Kremlin outlining how Putin had taken on a 'historic duty' to solve the Ukraine problem once and for all, so that future generations didn't have to. That honestly sounds like a legacy consideration to me. I don't think fucking over Europe has legs beyond the next 10 years anyway - we'll be increasingly on renewables by that point anyway, based on this. The less dependency we have on them, the less power they have over us. I don't see how cutting us off there helps them longer term.

So that we can actually just relax I agree there, although I am pretty much certain that short of something truly bizarre, we're now fine.