Rayvin

God, maybe we deserve a nuclear holocaust tbh.

I do get that sentiment

Might get him on the cheap though since Leicester are doing poorly and he was apparently keen on the move in the summer. You never know..

Disconnect in final third, it's not news, it remains our primary issue. Sort it in January hopefully. Disappointing result but at least it's not a shock loss.

Really looking forward to this one, but also definitely feeling the same sentiment as some others that we need to get back to winning here.

Can only speak for myself - The lyrics put forward the notion that one individual is somehow worth more than the rest of us, puts them on a pedestal that I don't think any human being should be on. To sing for the salvation of that individual over and above the rest of the British people is repellent to me. It feels like I would be suppressing the relative important of myself and those I care about to sing this, and therefore acknowledge this inequality of value. The royals are worth no more to me than the the homeless man on the street - and no one is pushing me to sing for his salvation, so they can fuck off for the royals too. This isn't new for me though, I've resisted singing it for years.

As with many other things, I think we agree here.

Fair - I have to admit, football is a bit of a guilty pleasure on that front for me. I've not managed to attach myself strongly to the national side in this respect but I am fiercely proud of Newcastle, both the team and the city. I know it's irrational to feel such things but it also feels natural to want to belong to something. I take great pleasure in celebrating on here when we win, sharing the joy with everyone else. The misery when we lose, etc. These people have that on a larger scale as you say - maybe because they still identify with the national story in some sense - I have to admit I lost that entirely with Brexit. I would wager more than 90% of the people queuing up for that coffin are leave voters. The only ones with a national story left to cling to.

Just to briefly indulge my inner nihilist, IMO people are desperate to find meaning in their lives/can't cope with the reality that nothing particularly matters and so assign undue respect/attention/importance to cultural nonsense like this. The fact that many others are doing the same becomes validating and so by the end of it, they feel like they've been part of something meaningful. They're all enabling each other's delusion and I doubt many of them gave two hoots about the royal family before this. It is what it is though. Maybe they're the smart ones for believing there is meaning in anything at all tbh, I do wonder this sometimes.

Sunderland at the cutting edge of new dance trends

Think we've been locked into that since Brexit anyway but it does seem that they're going out of their way to make it as bad as possible. The entire Tory party should be proscribed as terrorists.

Yeah not so much saying that it's a good move ahead of an election in any sense, but still, if you're going to make that decision now is definitely the time for it. Agree on the scorched earth/accepted defeat angle.

Country isn't paying attention, election is 18 months away. If you're going to do this, now is the time.

If they've moved it once, it seems reasonable to me to assume that they'd have the necessary competence and forward planning to ensure that this was the final date that people could work around. Moving it a second time is taking the piss tbh. Why would you assume that there'd be a second move?

Streaming a coffin

Good question and I've no idea. I wouldn't have thought it'll be Medvedev since he's fallen from favour now apparently. Unless there is an obvious successor that is waiting in the shadows then I think the more likely scenario is indeed a collapse as you say.

That's the thing, many of us having been saying Putin is the enemy behind the curtain for years. I remember @PaddockLad posting that analysis from Carol Cadwalladr about how we have been in an information war with Russia since 2014, that we weren't officially aware of or acknowledging which really and truly allowed me to see Russian interference not as opportunism but as a deliberate, long term strategy. So yes, nothing new to those of us with our eyes open, but it's still significant that these reports are getting traction now. Seeing the enemy for what it is will be a huge step forward. The Tories ran their own investigation but specifically told that review not to look for evidence of Russian interference into Brexit... the US has had to do it for us. We knew, but I'm glad to see this anyway.

Sorry but, a lifetime ban for -asking if he could boo or not-. That's not even a lifetime ban for booing, that's a lifetime ban for demonstrating that his opinion is anti-monarchy. As for Charles, I can get Cat's point here that yeah he's human and this is probably a very bewildering few days for someone who is a completely ordinary human being in every conceivable sense other than that they've just been thrust to the top of the world's largest cult. I reckon that would do a number on anyone. At the same time though, he has been brought up to believe that he's a better class of person, and is seeing right now as we speak that his life is worth more than everyone else's, so it's not surprising if he's a total cunt in general.

No. Fuck off with your tawdry American bollocks.

There has certainly been a big shift in the perception of the Russian military in all of this. Some of it will be propaganda I'm sure but some of my formerly Putin sympathetic friends (left wing, but I'm glad to say that sentiment didn't survive this war where the obvious flaws in their perception have been revealed) used to talk about Russia as if it was a real and serious threat to the US war machine Fucking no chance on this evidence. They're a greater real and serious threat to themselves than anyone else.

Apparently the eternally reliable and factually accurate Italian media have picked it up again

Man the new thread they have for us though Exile sucking his own cock, racism towards middle eastern people, cancel culture, misogyny, desperate hope that PIF buy Inter (proving that they don't remotely give a shit about the human rights considerations). 5 pages in and they've managed all that.

Was speaking to a Swedish (left wing) friend on this and he claimed that part of the reason this is happening is because successive left leaning or pro-immigration governments have failed so utterly at integration. That alongside reports like this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45269764 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9625035/Asylum-seeker-raped-girl-14-avoids-deportation-Sweden-refusing-Covid-test.html Word of caution on both - the BBC one simply states it was reported by Swedish state TV, and references only convictions not total reported rapes. The second one is the Daily Mail. But that sort of messaging will be cutting through.

In the sense of what Putin might want to escalate to, tactical nukes make sense. I could see him wanting to do it. Not quite as certain as everyone else that the chain of command in Russia would prevent this from happening, but I can see the argument. Depends how unstable things are now. If they did it, what would the response from everyone else be - Ukraine can't fire back on the same footing so the only robust response possible would be a separate nuclear power getting involved. And I'm still not sure anyone would if they haven't been targeted directly. So yeah it would be harrowing and would see condemnation from around the world (maybe China, not totally sure on that myself) but would that result in anything substantive happening in response..? To prevent it absolutely, I think we need to be very clear that the consequences of it happening are nukes going back the other way.

Not sure anyone else is allowed to die or be mourned during the 10 days mate, sorry RIP nonetheless.