Dr Gloom

the other clubs which qualified for the champions league have

hard to disagree with any of that. Hopefully they pull their fingers out sharpish and we can all chill out

are stokes and mccullum trying to make bowling first the new batting first? if you win the toss and you're unsure, bowl.

i knew some pedant would pick me up in this, which is why i googled it before choosing an animal. so sit on that and swivel Camels are often cited as the animals that can drink the most water at one time, potentially consuming over 30 gallons in just a few minutes.

5 litres of water a day?!?! Are you a camel?

We’re surely not going through another window without backing Eddie, are we? He absolutely deserves to be backed this summer. There are no longer any excuses to not spend money. We’re about to go into a champions league season. There is extra revenue coming because of that. We shifted Miggy, Minteh, Anderson and Kelly for decent money in recent windows with few coming in the other way. I understand PSR remains a headache but there must be money to spend. Howe can’t be expected to work miracles again with a threadbare squad and all the extra fixtures in the new season. For that reason I’m not worried yet. I expect us to spend a bit of cash eventually. It would be a travesty if we don’t. It must be annoying for Howe however to see other clubs getting their business done early, which is exactly what he asked the owners to do this time. I agree with Craig that some of our supporters on social media are getting hysterical - it’s still early in the window. I suppose my main worry is if he starts to lose patience. His stock has never been higher and he would have no problems getting a job somewhere else if he concludes he isn’t getting the support he needs. Howe is the golden goose - I hope the owners realise this

the new season can't come soon enough

i'm ready to move on. i'm sorry for steering the israel/palestine discussion down a path we have covered in the past. i'm going to try to stop doing that on here. these numbers highlight everything that starmer is getting wrong. you can't win these voters back from reform by fighting them on their ground. all he's doing is losing the left flank.

No, I don’t see the waving of a Palestinian flag as an act of hatred against Jewish people. Like you, I see it as an expression of support for the Palestinian cause. I already said I found the show of support during kneecap’s set at Glastonbury moving. I suppose I’m just trying to explain the Jewish paranoia. My family was touched by the holocaust. It’s hard to get over the feeling that you have a lot of enemies in the world even a couple of generations later. I wouldn’t have dared march on the streets of London carrying a Star of David flag in the days following October 7. Seemingly not many other people would either. Re:Tommy Robinson, I’m sure he and his supporters would come for the Jews after the Muslims. It’s just deeply depressing that it only tends to be the right wing racists who are on our side. Maybe we are the baddies in the David Mitchell meme. Like I said, I have checked out of these conversations with friends - good friends whom I’m otherwise politically aligned with. Edit: to your point about the unsavoury messages at the marches, it’s not dissimilar to chanting “death to the IDF”. Lots of people who chant “from the river to the sea” or “there is only one solution: Intafada, revolution” do so not knowing the true meaning. There are plenty however who understand these are calls for the destruction of Israel and murder of its people. the same goes for those who choose to wear Hamas/hezbollah hats or flags

Yes, I understand that. I also understand, though don’t agree, with those who say the October 7 attacks were the act of a wounded animal. It was the sort or barbarism we are also seeing displayed by the IDF soldiers opening fire on starving people queuing for rations. I was surprised at the lack of compassion and solidarity, in London at least, for the many people butchered in Israel on that terrible day, most of whom were civilians. I appreciate its partially a result of the decades of conflict that preceded it and Israel’s postion as the oppressor. But when you look at the numbers below (from wkypedia) you can see how it scarred Israelis and led to the surge in nationalism (and fear) which helped facilitate Netanyahu’s actions: 1,195 people were killed:[33][e] 736 Israeli civilians (including 36 children),[38] 79 foreign nationals, and 379 members of the security forces.[39][f][40] 364 civilians were killed and many more wounded while attending the Nova music festival. About 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip.[29][45][46][47] Dozens of cases of rape and sexual assault reportedly occurred, but Hamas officials denied the involvement of their fighters.[48]

it’s utterly depressing that the only people that seem to have our back at the moment are the likes of Tommy Robinson and his supporters - that David Mitchell “are we the baddies?” meme springs to mind. And by “we”, I mean Jews, not Israel. I’m not trying to be deliberately provocative here but in the days following October 7, there was a striking absence of solidarity shown on the streets of London. And the pro Palestine marches and protests were in full swing long before Israel launched its retaliatory strikes. Again, possibly my Jewish paranoia but it’s hard not to notice these things.

I’m surprised. I noticed a couple of pro Palestine demos around the monument the last two times I was home for the match. Perhaps it’s a reflection of demographics in the two cities. Though I don’t work in a big Muslim part of town. It’s mostly white middle class avocado and falafel munchers in my corner of south east london.

It’s probably similar, actually. I got chatting to a young Russian kid at a dnb night a few months back. Really nice lad who moved to London because of his love of the music. I got chatting to him in the smoking area about background etc and he reluctantly revealed he was Russian. Prior to that he asked me to guess where he was from, I guessed Eastern Europe before he explained that sometimes people are put off because of his background, which I found really sad. As if he’s in anyway responsible for what is happening back home. I suppose I feel the same when people chant “death to the IDF”. There are plenty of innocent kids in the IDF, who would rather not be following orders

It isn’t whataboutery. I’m not criticising anyone for supporting Palestine. I am moved by the solidarity and support to the cause. This is a genuine observation. Clearly there is equivalence between Ukraine and Gaza. But where I live in London there are scores of houses with Palestine flags or “Free Palestine” posters in their front windows, and have been since even the early days following October 7. I’ve never seen a single Ukrainian flag displayed in a similar way. We also know about the regular marches down here, which continue deep into the conflict. Again, you don’t see this show of support for Ukraine. Maybe it’s as Rayvin says and people are just more inclined to show support because the UK is allied to Israel and Russia is our enemy. Or maybe it’s because people really fucking hate Israel. My personal view is Netanyahu and Putin are cut from the same cloth You’ll have to forgive my Jewish paranoia but I’ll put it this way: this forum, where I’m protected by anonymity, is where I choose to air these views now. I’ve stopped trying to engage in these conversations with friends anymore. No body wants to hear this side of the story. Perhaps i’ll stop here too.

As soon as I saw this thread I knew who would have bumped it

I enjoyed Busta Rhymes

Looks like we have to create a reverse gazump thread https://talksport.com/football/3338134/newcastle-aston-villa-anthony-elanga-nottingham-forest-transfer-news/

I actually think the amount Starmer can influence Netanyahu is negligible but I take your point. The issue is Trump. Netanyahu won’t stop until Trump tells him to but sadly he has his biggest cheerleader in the White House. Biden was fucking senile in his last year as president and should never have ran again but I’m convinced we wouldn’t be where we are today with a democratic president in the White House. Bibi upped the stakes before the election and doubled down after Trump started his second term knowing he’d have his support.

Yeah, I’ve seen them, which is why my position changed from where I was after October 7, where I could see why Israel needed to retaliate, to where it is today after the assault on Gaza intensified. I’m not here to defend what Israel is doing. I’ve also seen similar harrowing videos coming out of Ukraine, the forgotten genocide. Maybe it’s my Jewish paranoia but it appears to me that some genocides matter more than others

obviously things have moved on since the 80s - that’s progress. The point is, were you to call for the death of someone - or some group of people - on stage today, you’re getting nicked.

I’ll say it again. I thought Kneecap were class. I like their music and have zero problem with their solidarity with Palestinian people. I found the number of Palestinian flags in their crowd and the chants of “free Palestine” quite moving. It did make me think about your comment about how we picked sides however, @Rayvin. Trump is with Russia, not Ukraine, but Europe is supposed to be on Ukraine’s side too. I’m always struck by how that particular genocide doesn’t inspire the same level of solidarity here in the UK. I didn’t spot a single Ukraine flag during any performance at Glastonbury. Nor did I hear any artists lead any rousing chants of “Slava Ukraine”, despite Netanyahu’s tactics of siege and starvation coming straight out of Putin’s playbook.

I haven’t googled the definition of the law but IDF soldiers are almost exclusively Jewish

If you got up on stage and incited a crowd to chant “kill Thatcher” while she was still alive, you’d be getting nicked sharpish. Why are we debating this?