Rayvin

You want the politicians then, not the justice system. Fixing this problem, these people, requires spending money on reforming and rehabilitating them - and if we can't do that, there should be some manner of avenue available for retaining them in prison indefinitely (if a danger to the community). Otherwise we're just kicking the can down the road IMO. The issue is the crime and what drives it - the early release is just a distraction.

From the sentencing council: "Offenders sentenced to two years or more will serve half their sentence in prison and serve the rest of the sentence in the community on licence. While on licence an offender will be subject to supervision and the licence will include conditions. If an offender breaches their conditions, they may be recalled to prison." So it's as Alex says really - this is the law and it isn't controlled by the courts or even really the justice system, beyond the actual act of sentencing. As I understand it only a life sentence evades this, but they are restricted in what they can hand life sentences down for.

What is the solution there though, keep them locked up forever? Presumably there are processes for vetting these people prior to release based on behaviour inside and other factors. He won't just have been released on a whim. The only solution here is to lock these people up forever with no possibility of release, or to become better at vetting them. I daresay the latter is in motion all the time. What is it exactly you think should be done differently?

Christ that article was dross. "Breaks silence" roughly translated here to mean "under pressure from our journalists, said the following nonsensical ramblings before finding an excuse to leave"

Agree with the general vein of thought here. It's possible it could be a last ditch move to salvage something that they're losing control of but it doesn't seem to have that look of desperation to it. It's far more likely to be an agreement that will run as a prelude to a PL announcement. The Saudis needed to go public first to give the PL the room to approve it. Who knows, maybe even today's result helped the situation - eliminated any remaining doubt on the Saudi side perhaps about our ability to stay up this season.

That should be relegation out of the way - now we just need the takeover finalised.

It's a fair point but given that they're effectively a totalitarian state, don't you think their media would be screaming and shouting about it? Not that I'd have any clue personally if they were I guess

Magic is online now too and it's free to play albeit with a system for effectively grinding more cards through playing. Just saying

You would have thought that Saudi Arabia would have been a lot more vocal if they were about to lose this. Qatar have barely shut up for several weeks and we've heard almost nothing from the other side.

Broadly agree with this. I just don't see the actual legal basis to reject it by their own standards unless they are stating that sovereign wealth funds represent the crimes of the state that they represent. And if that's true, then I think Qatar would have failed also. In the end it's probably gotten too big now to just be in the hands of the PL though.

You can absolutely guarantee that it doesn't ever come out unless we go full on back into lockdown.

There is no way that we should be remotely concerned about that £350m bid from some random American. The Saudis put down £17m to secure this and Ashley cannot walk away even in the face of a better offer. The only way Ashley gets to that £350m offer is if the PL knock this on the head. So that guy could have offered £1bn and it still wouldn't make any difference. We might even consider that if that is true, it could be a positive even if this falls through. I strongly suspect that there is simply no way for either party to do anything other than wait for the PL to conclude its process, unless there are break clauses built into the purchase agreement. And if there were, I'd imagine we would have started to hear about it.

I doubt that'll fly with the PL - all that really needs to happen is for the Saudis to say that they'll take it instead, pay at least what BeIN was paying, and then they have the kudos of a PL team whilst also have control of coverage across the Middle East. The PL will be guided by profit first and foremost.

I wholly agree, but the press seem convinced they're on the right side of this. Admittedly, the guardian could just be doing it's utmost to derail it by whipping up a storm because it's politically unpleasant for them. I still think this is going to go through because I can't for the life of me understand how any INDIVIDUAL who is buying NUFC, can be associated directly with any of this.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jun/16/newcastle-takeover-latest-saudi-arabia-tv-piracy-ruling-released-by-wto-premier-league-pressure The guardian appears to believe that there are concrete links: The ruling notes that at the 2018 World Cup there were 294 public gatherings in Saudi Arabia where games were shown on beoutQ and that it was also supported by “governmental tweets” by Saud al-Qahtani, close confidante to the Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman. The channel was also carried on Arabsat, which was based in Riyadh and majority owned by the Saudi government, before being taken off the service.

To be clear, that report cites an unnamed executive from another PL team who says it's 50:50 as far as he's concerned. To be further clear, this is nothing more than an admission that he knows fuck all.

I know the guy in the bra draws the eye first, but what the fuck is that knacker next to him up to. Look at that grimace man He's well 'ard, that'un. His mum said so. Insecure, terrified little fucks, the lot of them.

It also potentially saves them from spending any money up here.

True.

I've played magic with the same group of 6 guys ever since school A dentist, a programmer, a doctor, an accountant, a businessman and a radiologist. Geeks are everywhere

He said, desperately

Genuinely pretty cool In fact I just noticed that I actually use this card in my MTGA deck!

... You mean that someone used your hands in the image for a magic card? May I ask which one, if so

I'm just disappointed that they're not deferring tbh. An extra year of the country functioning would have been nice.