Virtue signalling by association (but also some may find this interesting): some friends of mine have offered an entire house which they just happen to have spare to a family of Ukrainian refugees. Not typical refugee territory: this is a huge house among other huge houses on the leafy fringes of southern GM. Driven partly by a feeling of wanting to do something useful (and partly, I must admit, by shame in that she has done something so big; and by the opportunity to feel virtuous about myself) I'm going to be spending collecting pledges of furniture in a van and busying myself with screwdriver and alan keys. Rather looking forward to having a minor part to play in all this.
Good on you. For me personally, it's not virtue signalling when you actually do something good rather than just talking about it.
No. But it probably is virtue signalling if you then casually post about it on an internet bulletin board.
Never again shall we allow ourselves to be lectured by Macron or the EU or FBPEers on Ukraine.
Perhaps Carl bildt and the ex Finnish PM could give us their opinion on Renault simply ignoring sanctions. For the pursuit of profit
Still doing that repetition strategy I see. You only need do a few more thousand posts and you will genuinely believe Brexit was not pointless. As Frank Spencer might have put it "Every day in every way I get better and better"
Can you show us how a remainer would criticise Renault and France for this?
I am no longer a remainer, because there is no longer the option, any more than you are a "leaver" unless it that applies to the absence of your brain on occasion. If you are asking *me* I will tell you; it is fucking outrageous. That help you? I was commenting on the ridiculous and monotonous regularity that Leon wants to turn anything negative that a continental government government does into a reason for Brexit, because deep down he knows Brexit was fucking pointless. Same reason as Boris Johnson and his ridiculous parallel that he drew the other day.
You're such a rude bitch.
No, I am just witty and on the ball and you are not. Apologies if you find that offensive.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
You forgot the London Stadium.
Nah, shit atmosphere for football. The two best London venues are WHL and Wembley.
Yes, I can't see London Stadium or Highbury getting the nod. The challenge to White Hart Lane is Twickenham – as @tlg86 points out.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
Would you not use the Aviva in Dublin?
Don't think you can use Old Trafford unless it's rebuilt in the interim.
By Landsdowne Road I mean the 'Aviva' – I can't bear to use corporate names. Why no Old Trafford? Eastlands a decent alternative anyway (although significantly smaller).
The Glazers have spent zero money on the stadium since the club borrowed money to buy itself on their behalf, so it's literally falling to pieces now, and they're finally starting to think about what to do to remedy the situation.
Never again shall we allow ourselves to be lectured by Macron or the EU or FBPEers on Ukraine.
Perhaps Carl bildt and the ex Finnish PM could give us their opinion on Renault simply ignoring sanctions. For the pursuit of profit
Still doing that repetition strategy I see. You only need do a few more thousand posts and you will genuinely believe Brexit was not pointless. As Frank Spencer might have put it "Every day in every way I get better and better"
Can you show us how a remainer would criticise Renault and France for this?
I am no longer a remainer, because there is no longer the option, any more than you are a "leaver" unless it that applies to the absence of your brain on occasion. If you are asking *me* I will tell you; it is fucking outrageous. That help you? I was commenting on the ridiculous and monotonous regularity that Leon wants to turn anything negative that a continental government government does into a reason for Brexit, because deep down he knows Brexit was fucking pointless. Same reason as Boris Johnson and his ridiculous parallel that he drew the other day.
You're such a rude bitch.
No, I am just witty and on the ball and you are not. Apologies if you find that offensive.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
Wembley (90000) and Lansdowne Road (51700), Millenium (74500) are the certs I think. and Hampden Park (51866) is very very likely. Windsor Park too (18614) as it's an NI joint bid.
Teams are 24, venues are 10 - so that leaves 5 remaining venues.
Leaves 5
Capacities required are 3 stadia with 30,000+ 2 with 40,000+
Can't see Brighton making the cut.
Nope – teams very likely to be 32 in 2028. The tournament is being expanded.
Windsor Park will have to be rebuilt/extended to satisfy Uefa rules (I have just read). But it surely will be if/when we win the bid. NI will have to have at least one venue as you say.
32 teams ups the venues to 12, though Qatar is only using 5 for the 2022 WC !
Never again shall we allow ourselves to be lectured by Macron or the EU or FBPEers on Ukraine.
Perhaps Carl bildt and the ex Finnish PM could give us their opinion on Renault simply ignoring sanctions. For the pursuit of profit
Still doing that repetition strategy I see. You only need do a few more thousand posts and you will genuinely believe Brexit was not pointless. As Frank Spencer might have put it "Every day in every way I get better and better"
Can you show us how a remainer would criticise Renault and France for this?
I am no longer a remainer, because there is no longer the option, any more than you are a "leaver" unless it that applies to the absence of your brain on occasion. If you are asking *me* I will tell you; it is fucking outrageous. That help you? I was commenting on the ridiculous and monotonous regularity that Leon wants to turn anything negative that a continental government government does into a reason for Brexit, because deep down he knows Brexit was fucking pointless. Same reason as Boris Johnson and his ridiculous parallel that he drew the other day.
You're such a rude bitch.
No, I am just witty and on the ball and you are not. Apologies if you find that offensive.
You're not at all witty.
That is because you would not recognise wit if it came up and slapped you around the face with a jumbo sized haddock.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
To be fair, both Nottingham and Leicester could pull out the pin on Derby....
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
You forgot the London Stadium.
They won't have more than two in London. I also doubt they'll have more than 12 in total - I'd guess one each in Ireland, NI and Wales, 2 in Scotland and 7 in England.
Wembley WHL or the Olympic Stadium Anfield Old Trafford St James' Park or Stadium of Light (good luck choosing but I can't see they'll have both) Villa Park St Mary's
plus
Landsdowne Road Windsor Park Arms Park II Murrayfield Hampden (I can't see them choosing Parkhead or Ibrox, too controversial to pick either one)
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
Would you not use the Aviva in Dublin?
Don't think you can use Old Trafford unless it's rebuilt in the interim.
By Landsdowne Road I mean the 'Aviva' – I can't bear to use corporate names. Why no Old Trafford? Eastlands a decent alternative anyway (although significantly smaller).
The Glazers have spent zero money on the stadium since the club borrowed money to buy itself on their behalf, so it's literally falling to pieces now, and they're finally starting to think about what to do to remedy the situation.
Never again shall we allow ourselves to be lectured by Macron or the EU or FBPEers on Ukraine.
Perhaps Carl bildt and the ex Finnish PM could give us their opinion on Renault simply ignoring sanctions. For the pursuit of profit
Still doing that repetition strategy I see. You only need do a few more thousand posts and you will genuinely believe Brexit was not pointless. As Frank Spencer might have put it "Every day in every way I get better and better"
Can you show us how a remainer would criticise Renault and France for this?
I am no longer a remainer, because there is no longer the option, any more than you are a "leaver" unless it that applies to the absence of your brain on occasion. If you are asking *me* I will tell you; it is fucking outrageous. That help you? I was commenting on the ridiculous and monotonous regularity that Leon wants to turn anything negative that a continental government government does into a reason for Brexit, because deep down he knows Brexit was fucking pointless. Same reason as Boris Johnson and his ridiculous parallel that he drew the other day.
You're such a rude bitch.
No, I am just witty and on the ball and you are not. Apologies if you find that offensive.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
Wembley (90000) and Lansdowne Road (51700), Millenium (74500) are the certs I think. and Hampden Park (51866) is very very likely. Windsor Park too (18614) as it's an NI joint bid.
Teams are 24, venues are 10 - so that leaves 5 remaining venues.
Leaves 5
Capacities required are 3 stadia with 30,000+ 2 with 40,000+
Can't see Brighton making the cut.
Nope – teams very likely to be 32 in 2028. The tournament is being expanded.
Windsor Park will have to be rebuilt/extended to satisfy Uefa rules (I have just read). But it surely will be if/when we win the bid. NI will have to have at least one venue as you say.
32 teams ups the venues to 12, though Qatar is only using 5 for the 2022 WC !
I didn't know that! If 12 venues, there's no way we'll have more than one venue in Gtr Manchester or Gtr Newcastle then... so likely St James Park and Old Trafford unless Eastlands gets the nod because as @LostPassword claims Old Trafford is effectively a pile of rubble by 2028!
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
You forgot the London Stadium.
Nah, shit atmosphere for football. The two best London venues are WHL and Wembley.
I think it is cute that you think that atmosphere or anything else related to the fans enjoyment will have anything to do with these decisions. It will all come down to money and FA politics. It always does.
And I say that as a West Ham fan who agrees that the London Stadium is shit.
If anything the last few weeks have shown that it really doesn't matter how contemptible your politicians are when the country they are leading still holds such political and military power. Sad but true.
Maybe
The PM would have been invited to the EU summit on Thursday if BoZo wasn't such a dick.
Maybe that matters. Maybe not.
I don’t get the concern over this one. We’re not in the EU so why would we want to bother with their summit? Nothing of military consequence in Europe can be discussed without us in the room, so this just makes the NATO meeting more important, which is surely what we want?
I could believe Cummings advising Johnson to make this comment precisely for the reason of not being invited to the EU Council. It would be impossible for Johnson to refuse the invitation, but he surely doesn't want the EU to be the forum for making these decisions.
That's why instead Britain has put effort into bilateral and multilateral relationships outside the EU, like the UK-Poland-Ukraine agreement.
I could see Johnson agreeing to a US/UK/EU format of talks, where the EU is one party out of three, but going along to the EU Council where the UK and US will be two voices among thirty - that's not the format Johnson would want.
Very short-sighted of the EU to allow themselves to be riled by Johnson in this way.
Problem with this analysis is that the EUCO is precisely the meeting where the decision will be made, ie the common position between the EU and the US. This then gets rolled out to the NATO and G7 meetings but no-one is likely to diverge much from that position.
It doesn't make the UK completely irrelevant. It's a significant player in the G7 and as you say it's working on the bilaterals. NATO appears to have excluded itself from involvement this conflict but no doubt there are discussions going on about a subset of countries providing security guarantees to Ukraine and the security implications of that for NATO.
I agree the EU should have invited the UK for reasons of protocol even though it doesn't make much difference in practice.
I'm not really convinced by this argument.
The EU has about 5 opinions not 1, held by different groups of countries, and that is what is needed to be managed. That won't happen in a US / European Council meeting.
If there is to be an intervention of a sort in Ukraine, it will be decided by NATO - as EuCo (Commission not Council) has no means to intervene, and nobody would trust their personnel to it in a risk situation. EuCo will have a roll, but not that one.
Though I can see EuCo trying to grab a role in NATO for itself in the next year or two, as that is a normal process for the Brussels bureaucracy.
It's mainly on sanctions, aid including military aid and coordinated diplomatic activity. NATO is not getting involved in the Ukraine dispute but there will be likely an ad-hoc group of countries providing security guarantees to the Ukraine. I am guessing the UK will be part of that group.
The EU is key because they are a major part of the sanctions and aid regime. Also the EU's organisational USP is in herding the European cats to come to a consensus. The US doesn't want to do that themselves so they outsource the cat herding to the EU
"European cats". Good job Lloyd Webber has already done that one.
Agree there is sense in EU doing relief and sanctions, and NATO military, since even with the new Military Strategic Compass the main hard proposal is for a RRF of 5000 by 2030 with Germany providing the backbone (which makes sense).
I think there will be a NATO intervention at some point, perhaps for Safe Havens somewhere in the West, which would have incidental benefits such as preventing Russia occupying that part of Ukraine should they persist.
Which would give an opportunity for a protected in country NATO footprint - far more practical than an NFZ.
It could be tricky to find an excuse to do it (perhaps UN Motion Vetoed by Russia), and then a coalition of countries from NATO to take action instead. Very dependent on resources.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
You forgot the London Stadium.
They won't have more than two in London. I also doubt they'll have more than 12 in total - I'd guess one each in Ireland, NI and Wales, 2 in Scotland and 7 in England.
Wembley WHL or the Olympic Stadium Anfield Old Trafford St James' Park or Stadium of Light (good luck choosing but I can't see they'll have both) Villa Park St Mary's
plus
Landsdowne Road Windsor Park Arms Park II Murrayfield Hampden (I can't see them choosing Parkhead or Ibrox, too controversial to pick either one)
Pride Park probably unlucky to miss out.
No stadium in Yorkshire? Surely Elland Road, Hillsborough or Bramhall Lane preferred to St Mary's? Otherwise I'm with you on the logic.
Never again shall we allow ourselves to be lectured by Macron or the EU or FBPEers on Ukraine.
Perhaps Carl bildt and the ex Finnish PM could give us their opinion on Renault simply ignoring sanctions. For the pursuit of profit
Still doing that repetition strategy I see. You only need do a few more thousand posts and you will genuinely believe Brexit was not pointless. As Frank Spencer might have put it "Every day in every way I get better and better"
Can you show us how a remainer would criticise Renault and France for this?
I am no longer a remainer, because there is no longer the option, any more than you are a "leaver" unless it that applies to the absence of your brain on occasion. If you are asking *me* I will tell you; it is fucking outrageous. That help you? I was commenting on the ridiculous and monotonous regularity that Leon wants to turn anything negative that a continental government government does into a reason for Brexit, because deep down he knows Brexit was fucking pointless. Same reason as Boris Johnson and his ridiculous parallel that he drew the other day.
You're such a rude bitch.
No, I am just witty and on the ball and you are not. Apologies if you find that offensive.
You're not at all witty.
That is because you would not recognise wit if it came up and slapped you around the face with a jumbo sized haddock.
You're verbose and repetitive. If that counts for wit round your way..
Having a birthday break. At the risk of going all @Leon on you, this is the view from our room. 19 degrees (!) when we left this morning.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
Never again shall we allow ourselves to be lectured by Macron or the EU or FBPEers on Ukraine.
Perhaps Carl bildt and the ex Finnish PM could give us their opinion on Renault simply ignoring sanctions. For the pursuit of profit
Still doing that repetition strategy I see. You only need do a few more thousand posts and you will genuinely believe Brexit was not pointless. As Frank Spencer might have put it "Every day in every way I get better and better"
Can you show us how a remainer would criticise Renault and France for this?
I am no longer a remainer, because there is no longer the option, any more than you are a "leaver" unless it that applies to the absence of your brain on occasion. If you are asking *me* I will tell you; it is fucking outrageous. That help you? I was commenting on the ridiculous and monotonous regularity that Leon wants to turn anything negative that a continental government government does into a reason for Brexit, because deep down he knows Brexit was fucking pointless. Same reason as Boris Johnson and his ridiculous parallel that he drew the other day.
You're such a rude bitch.
No, I am just witty and on the ball and you are not. Apologies if you find that offensive.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
Would you not use the Aviva in Dublin?
Don't think you can use Old Trafford unless it's rebuilt in the interim.
By Landsdowne Road I mean the 'Aviva' – I can't bear to use corporate names. Why no Old Trafford? Eastlands a decent alternative anyway (although significantly smaller).
The Glazers have spent zero money on the stadium since the club borrowed money to buy itself on their behalf, so it's literally falling to pieces now, and they're finally starting to think about what to do to remedy the situation.
Have they got to "sell the club before we get found out" yet?
BBC just interviewed someone from the IFS. “Just think about the next few months” was his message for the chancellor and “come back and do more of things are still bad in October.”
Never again shall we allow ourselves to be lectured by Macron or the EU or FBPEers on Ukraine.
Perhaps Carl bildt and the ex Finnish PM could give us their opinion on Renault simply ignoring sanctions. For the pursuit of profit
Still doing that repetition strategy I see. You only need do a few more thousand posts and you will genuinely believe Brexit was not pointless. As Frank Spencer might have put it "Every day in every way I get better and better"
Can you show us how a remainer would criticise Renault and France for this?
I am no longer a remainer, because there is no longer the option, any more than you are a "leaver" unless it that applies to the absence of your brain on occasion. If you are asking *me* I will tell you; it is fucking outrageous. That help you? I was commenting on the ridiculous and monotonous regularity that Leon wants to turn anything negative that a continental government government does into a reason for Brexit, because deep down he knows Brexit was fucking pointless. Same reason as Boris Johnson and his ridiculous parallel that he drew the other day.
You're such a rude bitch.
No, I am just witty and on the ball and you are not. Apologies if you find that offensive.
You're not at all witty.
That is because you would not recognise wit if it came up and slapped you around the face with a jumbo sized haddock.
You're verbose and repetitive. If that counts for wit round your way..
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
You forgot the London Stadium.
Nah, shit atmosphere for football. The two best London venues are WHL and Wembley.
Yes, I can't see London Stadium or Highbury getting the nod. The challenge to White Hart Lane is Twickenham – as @tlg86 points out.
I think there are enough good association football stadiums in London that they won't call upon Twickenham. They'd want to keep the money within association football.
I would think that it will be the two north London club grounds that are used, unless the police kick up a fuss about it.
Just arrived in a very spring like Cambridge for a Baltic event here.
I came from Tallinn via Warsaw over the weekend and the situation in Poland is quite a bit different from that I had imagined. Firstly there are Ukrainians EVERYWHERE in Warsaw. There are quite a few Ukrainian flags in Tallinn, but in Warsaw they can be seen in every context from car flags to paint designs. Almost everyone is wearing a gold and blue ribbon. Of course there are quite a few Ukrainian registered cars in Warsaw too, hardly a surprise since there are now nearly 3 million Ukrainians in Poland. The news is 100% wall-to-wall on Ukraine, there is almost literally nothing else. The Poles are very emotional about it. I was there when the concert with the little Ukrainian girl was broadcast and I am not sure, but the viewing figures must have been enormous. The pictures of Kharkiv and Mariupol carry a deep and intense resonance for Varsovians in particular. The Poles are angry and not a little scared, but most of all they are contemptuous: "What else can you expect from such barbarians?". Russia, is now hated and despised.The precipitate collapse of the Russian economy has made Poland suggest that it should now take the place of Russia in the G-20, since on several measures it now has a larger economy that the Russian Federation.
Coming to London and seeing the rather insipid displays of support for the beleagured Ukrainian nation has actually been slightly restful, since the intensity of feeling in Poland is so strong that it is almost difficult to take. The calm and phlegmatic Estonians doubtless feel just as stongly, but they are more diffident about showing intense feelings.
The NATO defence planning for the Baltic, despite the poor preformance of the Russian forces has unquestionably been taken to a new level. The idea of "trip wire", token forces has now been comprehensively abandonned and there is little doubt at the Estonian level, there will be full reinforcement. Tallinn expects the NATO/Russia basic agreement ot be denounced, and certainly there rotation of Uk troops will not now be made for many months.
We still cannot tell what the outcome of this shocking and barbaric Russian campaign will be, but for as long as the Ukrainians are in the fight, the propsects for Russia are growing dim indeed. There is little doubt that any Belarusian troops sent into Ukraine would either surrender immediately of even defect to the Ukrainian side, so it is hardly surprising the Lukashenka is looking like a man very much caught between two stools. While Russian passive resistence faces appalling repression, the campaign in Belarus is growing.
In the end I think it may be the fate of the Chechens that decides this. Their troops are hated and feared on their own side, so the loss of so many Chechen troops early in the campaign robbed the Russian commanders of a weapon to drive their troops forward. The Loss of Kadyrov would likewise be a very severe blow to Putin.
Invaluable reportage. Thankyou
Yes, it's good to have Cicero's thoughtful, considered, informative and non-hysterical posts on the situation, isn't it Leon?
@Cicero's posts throw @Leon's into sharp relief. Hysterical panic just isn't the same without a background of calmness....
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
Just arrived in a very spring like Cambridge for a Baltic event here.
I came from Tallinn via Warsaw over the weekend and the situation in Poland is quite a bit different from that I had imagined. Firstly there are Ukrainians EVERYWHERE in Warsaw. There are quite a few Ukrainian flags in Tallinn, but in Warsaw they can be seen in every context from car flags to paint designs. Almost everyone is wearing a gold and blue ribbon. Of course there are quite a few Ukrainian registered cars in Warsaw too, hardly a surprise since there are now nearly 3 million Ukrainians in Poland. The news is 100% wall-to-wall on Ukraine, there is almost literally nothing else. The Poles are very emotional about it. I was there when the concert with the little Ukrainian girl was broadcast and I am not sure, but the viewing figures must have been enormous. The pictures of Kharkiv and Mariupol carry a deep and intense resonance for Varsovians in particular. The Poles are angry and not a little scared, but most of all they are contemptuous: "What else can you expect from such barbarians?". Russia, is now hated and despised.The precipitate collapse of the Russian economy has made Poland suggest that it should now take the place of Russia in the G-20, since on several measures it now has a larger economy that the Russian Federation.
Coming to London and seeing the rather insipid displays of support for the beleagured Ukrainian nation has actually been slightly restful, since the intensity of feeling in Poland is so strong that it is almost difficult to take. The calm and phlegmatic Estonians doubtless feel just as stongly, but they are more diffident about showing intense feelings.
The NATO defence planning for the Baltic, despite the poor preformance of the Russian forces has unquestionably been taken to a new level. The idea of "trip wire", token forces has now been comprehensively abandonned and there is little doubt at the Estonian level, there will be full reinforcement. Tallinn expects the NATO/Russia basic agreement ot be denounced, and certainly there rotation of Uk troops will not now be made for many months.
We still cannot tell what the outcome of this shocking and barbaric Russian campaign will be, but for as long as the Ukrainians are in the fight, the propsects for Russia are growing dim indeed. There is little doubt that any Belarusian troops sent into Ukraine would either surrender immediately of even defect to the Ukrainian side, so it is hardly surprising the Lukashenka is looking like a man very much caught between two stools. While Russian passive resistence faces appalling repression, the campaign in Belarus is growing.
In the end I think it may be the fate of the Chechens that decides this. Their troops are hated and feared on their own side, so the loss of so many Chechen troops early in the campaign robbed the Russian commanders of a weapon to drive their troops forward. The Loss of Kadyrov would likewise be a very severe blow to Putin.
Invaluable reportage. Thankyou
Yes, it's good to have Cicero's thoughtful, considered, informative and non-hysterical posts on the situation, isn't it Leon?
@Cicero's posts throw @Leon's into sharp relief. Hysterical panic just isn't the same without a background of calmness....
Having a birthday break. At the risk of going all @Leon on you, this is the view from our room. 19 degrees (!) when we left this morning.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
Quite. Especially given that where you live in the Lake District is about central in the UK. Which is the DLUHC remit (slightly surprisingly as the HC bit is very definitely devolved in Scotland, Wales, and NI, and the financial and regional policy bit also come to think of it).
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
Would you not use the Aviva in Dublin?
Don't think you can use Old Trafford unless it's rebuilt in the interim.
By Landsdowne Road I mean the 'Aviva' – I can't bear to use corporate names. Why no Old Trafford? Eastlands a decent alternative anyway (although significantly smaller).
The Glazers have spent zero money on the stadium since the club borrowed money to buy itself on their behalf, so it's literally falling to pieces now, and they're finally starting to think about what to do to remedy the situation.
Borrow more money ?
The options are to rebuild in stages, or level the place and rebuild in one go.
Rebuilding in one go will be simpler and make construction cheaper - except for one issue. Where do they play in the interim?
Interesting that Keir Starmer on @BBCWorldatOne wouldn't give his support to the 11 Labour MPs who signed a Stop The War letter on Ukraine standing at the next election.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
You forgot the London Stadium.
They won't have more than two in London. I also doubt they'll have more than 12 in total - I'd guess one each in Ireland, NI and Wales, 2 in Scotland and 7 in England.
Wembley WHL or the Olympic Stadium Anfield Old Trafford St James' Park or Stadium of Light (good luck choosing but I can't see they'll have both) Villa Park St Mary's
plus
Landsdowne Road Windsor Park Arms Park II Murrayfield Hampden (I can't see them choosing Parkhead or Ibrox, too controversial to pick either one)
Pride Park probably unlucky to miss out.
No stadium in Yorkshire? Surely Elland Road, Hillsborough or Bramhall Lane preferred to St Mary's? Otherwise I'm with you on the logic.
I can't see them not having one in the south ouside London, tbh. Do they possibly say Liverpool and Manchester are too close together and only have one of the two cities, and have one in Yorkshire or the East Midlands instead?
Belarus must be a wildcard at the moment. The strength of opinion against Lukashenka, which seems to be spreading into the ranks of the military, must surely be very dangerous for him because during wars people's inhibitions drop. The fact there is open sabotage of Russian logistics within Belarus suggests they are feeling confident and relatively unafraid.
What happens if there is an attempted street revolution in Belarus, or even a palace coup? Putin surely doesn't have the forces to march into Minsk to restore order. They are already at full stretch next door in Ukraine. Do the dominoes then start falling?
If Belarus goes there is no Crimea or Donbass or Transnistria or South Ossetia to keep Russian involvement going. It's a pretty homogenous Russian speaking state with no mini breakaway regions. It becomes a Taiwan - a threat to the Moscow order. Or Italy once they ditched Mussolini. I think that then becomes a dangerous moment for Putin, and by extension a dangerous moment for the world.
All complete guesswork of course, but I've felt since the start of the invasion that Belarus might play a decisive role one way or the other.
Just watched a YouTube video of the Belarusian opposition leader being interview.
Its quite interesting, she climes her supporters are sabotaging the railways to disrupt Russian logistics, and are teaching, young soldiers how to surrender, I assume she means how to say 'I surrender' in Ukrainian.
There is also anecdotal good evidences of Belarusians, mostly exiles, going to Ukraine to fight alongside the Ukrainians.
Lukashenka has promised the Belarusian people that he will not send troops, he probably means it, but mostly because of the risk that his army will surrender rather than fight.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
Would you not use the Aviva in Dublin?
Don't think you can use Old Trafford unless it's rebuilt in the interim.
By Landsdowne Road I mean the 'Aviva' – I can't bear to use corporate names. Why no Old Trafford? Eastlands a decent alternative anyway (although significantly smaller).
The Glazers have spent zero money on the stadium since the club borrowed money to buy itself on their behalf, so it's literally falling to pieces now, and they're finally starting to think about what to do to remedy the situation.
Borrow more money ?
The options are to rebuild in stages, or level the place and rebuild in one go.
Rebuilding in one go will be simpler and make construction cheaper - except for one issue. Where do they play in the interim?
Sharing at the Etihad would make sense but be somewhat unpalatable to the fans.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
They are close enough to have the same Tube network and the same telephone code, the two grounds are only 10 miles apart. They are as near as dammit one city for the purposes of planning a football tournament. No chance they both get the nod – it will be St James' Park as it's in the heart of the city centre and is larger (that is not to denigrate the SoL – it's a fine stadium). But they won't choose two in Greater Newcastle / Tyne & Wear, just as they won't choose two in Greater Manchester.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
Would you not use the Aviva in Dublin?
Don't think you can use Old Trafford unless it's rebuilt in the interim.
By Landsdowne Road I mean the 'Aviva' – I can't bear to use corporate names. Why no Old Trafford? Eastlands a decent alternative anyway (although significantly smaller).
The Glazers have spent zero money on the stadium since the club borrowed money to buy itself on their behalf, so it's literally falling to pieces now, and they're finally starting to think about what to do to remedy the situation.
Borrow more money ?
The options are to rebuild in stages, or level the place and rebuild in one go.
Rebuilding in one go will be simpler and make construction cheaper - except for one issue. Where do they play in the interim?
Belarus must be a wildcard at the moment. The strength of opinion against Lukashenka, which seems to be spreading into the ranks of the military, must surely be very dangerous for him because during wars people's inhibitions drop. The fact there is open sabotage of Russian logistics within Belarus suggests they are feeling confident and relatively unafraid.
What happens if there is an attempted street revolution in Belarus, or even a palace coup? Putin surely doesn't have the forces to march into Minsk to restore order. They are already at full stretch next door in Ukraine. Do the dominoes then start falling?
If Belarus goes there is no Crimea or Donbass or Transnistria or South Ossetia to keep Russian involvement going. It's a pretty homogenous Russian speaking state with no mini breakaway regions. It becomes a Taiwan - a threat to the Moscow order. Or Italy once they ditched Mussolini. I think that then becomes a dangerous moment for Putin, and by extension a dangerous moment for the world.
All complete guesswork of course, but I've felt since the start of the invasion that Belarus might play a decisive role one way or the other.
Just watched a YouTube video of the Belarusian opposition leader being interview.
Its quite interesting, she climes her supporters are sabotaging the railways to disrupt Russian logistics, and are teaching, young soldiers how to surrender, I assume she means how to say 'I surrender' in Ukrainian.
There is also anecdotal good evidences of Belarusians, mostly exiles, going to Ukraine to fight alongside the Ukrainians.
Lukashenka has promised the Belarusian people that he will not send troops, he probably means it, but mostly because of the risk that his army will surrender rather than fight.
Lukashenko is more Franco than Mussolini to Putin's Hitler, then.
Funny how there are patterns to odious dictators, like serial killers.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
Would you not use the Aviva in Dublin?
Don't think you can use Old Trafford unless it's rebuilt in the interim.
By Landsdowne Road I mean the 'Aviva' – I can't bear to use corporate names. Why no Old Trafford? Eastlands a decent alternative anyway (although significantly smaller).
The Glazers have spent zero money on the stadium since the club borrowed money to buy itself on their behalf, so it's literally falling to pieces now, and they're finally starting to think about what to do to remedy the situation.
Borrow more money ?
The options are to rebuild in stages, or level the place and rebuild in one go.
Rebuilding in one go will be simpler and make construction cheaper - except for one issue. Where do they play in the interim?
Sharing at the Etihad would make sense but be somewhat unpalatable to the fans.
Didn't they play at Maine Road for several seasons after the War?
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
You forgot the London Stadium.
Nah, shit atmosphere for football. The two best London venues are WHL and Wembley.
Yes, I can't see London Stadium or Highbury getting the nod. The challenge to White Hart Lane is Twickenham – as @tlg86 points out.
I think there are enough good association football stadiums in London that they won't call upon Twickenham. They'd want to keep the money within association football.
I would think that it will be the two north London club grounds that are used, unless the police kick up a fuss about it.
By "two north London stadiums" I can only assume you mean Wembley and White Hart Lane?
Interesting that Keir Starmer on @BBCWorldatOne wouldn't give his support to the 11 Labour MPs who signed a Stop The War letter on Ukraine standing at the next election.
This is what he needs to do, along with other stuff, if he is to win a couple of million Tory voters to his side. He needs 3.7 million more votes to match the Tories vote in 2019. That's: everyone who voted Labour + everyone who voted LD in 2019. So he needs Tory help. He won't get it if he gives an inch to the NATO hating Russia sympathising left.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
I once stayed in a hotel in Wearside while working at a client in Tyneside - didn't notice passport control between the two!
I'd have thought that any analysis of how people move around the area for work or leisure would see the two as part of a cohesive whole.
Indeed – the fact that they share the same Tube network, have the same telephone code and you can drive 'between' them without ever encountering countryside is something of a dead giveaway...
Having a birthday break. At the risk of going all @Leon on you, this is the view from our room. 19 degrees (!) when we left this morning.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
The last thing regions whose economies are already 70% government spending need is more government. They need larger, flourishing private sectors, not public spending crowding out free enterprise.
I wonder where one should draw the line in terms of what is moral for which Western companies operating in Russia e.g. German chains Globus (a large hypermarket) and Metro (a cash and carry business) still operates there. Is essential food ok, but not fast food or clothes?
M&S brand is still operating in Russia, but apparently that is because it is a licensing deal, unlike the two examples above.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
I once stayed in a hotel in Wearside while working at a client in Tyneside - didn't notice passport control between the two!
I'd have thought that any analysis of how people move around the area for work or leisure would see the two as part of a cohesive whole.
Indeed – the fact that they share the same Tube network, have the same telephone code and you can drive 'between' them without ever encountering countryside is something of a dead giveaway...
Sunderland is the biggest dump I ever visited in the UK.
Obvs the attitude of the locals is “It’s a shithole, but it’s my shithole”.
Belarus must be a wildcard at the moment. The strength of opinion against Lukashenka, which seems to be spreading into the ranks of the military, must surely be very dangerous for him because during wars people's inhibitions drop. The fact there is open sabotage of Russian logistics within Belarus suggests they are feeling confident and relatively unafraid.
What happens if there is an attempted street revolution in Belarus, or even a palace coup? Putin surely doesn't have the forces to march into Minsk to restore order. They are already at full stretch next door in Ukraine. Do the dominoes then start falling?
If Belarus goes there is no Crimea or Donbass or Transnistria or South Ossetia to keep Russian involvement going. It's a pretty homogenous Russian speaking state with no mini breakaway regions. It becomes a Taiwan - a threat to the Moscow order. Or Italy once they ditched Mussolini. I think that then becomes a dangerous moment for Putin, and by extension a dangerous moment for the world.
All complete guesswork of course, but I've felt since the start of the invasion that Belarus might play a decisive role one way or the other.
Just watched a YouTube video of the Belarusian opposition leader being interview.
Its quite interesting, she climes her supporters are sabotaging the railways to disrupt Russian logistics, and are teaching, young soldiers how to surrender, I assume she means how to say 'I surrender' in Ukrainian.
There is also anecdotal good evidences of Belarusians, mostly exiles, going to Ukraine to fight alongside the Ukrainians.
Lukashenka has promised the Belarusian people that he will not send troops, he probably means it, but mostly because of the risk that his army will surrender rather than fight.
Lukashenko is more Franco than Mussolini to Putin's Hitler, then.
Interesting comparison, and yes I think appt.
I understand that the Vargner Group of mercenaries have been trying to recruit in Belorussia, but don't know how successful they have, which is perhaps comparable the 'blue division' of Spanish volunteers that did fight alongside the Germans, but no Belarusian or Spanish in there own uniform as a national army.
Sadly Franko lived a long life and died naturally, hoping that's not the case with Lukashenko.
Having a birthday break. At the risk of going all @Leon on you, this is the view from our room. 19 degrees (!) when we left this morning.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
Another london based talking shop that achieves nothing.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
I once stayed in a hotel in Wearside while working at a client in Tyneside - didn't notice passport control between the two!
I'd have thought that any analysis of how people move around the area for work or leisure would see the two as part of a cohesive whole.
Indeed – the fact that they share the same Tube network, have the same telephone code and you can drive 'between' them without ever encountering countryside is something of a dead giveaway...
Sunderland is the biggest dump I ever visited in the UK.
Obvs the attitude of the locals is “It’s a shithole, but it’s my shithole”.
Perhaps – but the Stadium of Light is a great stadium though!
Having a birthday break. At the risk of going all @Leon on you, this is the view from our room. 19 degrees (!) when we left this morning.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
The last thing regions whose economies are already 70% government spending need is more government. They need larger, flourishing private sectors, not public spending crowding out free enterprise.
Not true though.
The UK government had historically put fuck all R&D or infrastructure spending into the regions…and private sector investment correlates very well with public.
What *is* true is that outside the SE (and Scotland), the regions are effectively subsidised welfare colonies.
Having a birthday break. At the risk of going all @Leon on you, this is the view from our room. 19 degrees (!) when we left this morning.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
Quite. Especially given that where you live in the Lake District is about central in the UK. Which is the DLUHC remit (slightly surprisingly as the HC bit is very definitely devolved in Scotland, Wales, and NI, and the financial and regional policy bit also come to think of it).
Am encouraging husband to apply as they say they want someone expert in housing, planning and local government, which he is. Also someone who can challenge. Apparently-
"The ability to challenge received wisdom, by scrutinising advice and decision making, is the single most important attribute for any candidate".
I'll believe that when I see it, especially with this government.
The head of the interview panel is Sue Gray, whoever she is. I suggested to Himself that he could show the attribute they claim to want by challenging the location of the Board meetings. He laughed.
Belarus must be a wildcard at the moment. The strength of opinion against Lukashenka, which seems to be spreading into the ranks of the military, must surely be very dangerous for him because during wars people's inhibitions drop. The fact there is open sabotage of Russian logistics within Belarus suggests they are feeling confident and relatively unafraid.
What happens if there is an attempted street revolution in Belarus, or even a palace coup? Putin surely doesn't have the forces to march into Minsk to restore order. They are already at full stretch next door in Ukraine. Do the dominoes then start falling?
If Belarus goes there is no Crimea or Donbass or Transnistria or South Ossetia to keep Russian involvement going. It's a pretty homogenous Russian speaking state with no mini breakaway regions. It becomes a Taiwan - a threat to the Moscow order. Or Italy once they ditched Mussolini. I think that then becomes a dangerous moment for Putin, and by extension a dangerous moment for the world.
All complete guesswork of course, but I've felt since the start of the invasion that Belarus might play a decisive role one way or the other.
Just watched a YouTube video of the Belarusian opposition leader being interview.
Its quite interesting, she climes her supporters are sabotaging the railways to disrupt Russian logistics, and are teaching, young soldiers how to surrender, I assume she means how to say 'I surrender' in Ukrainian.
There is also anecdotal good evidences of Belarusians, mostly exiles, going to Ukraine to fight alongside the Ukrainians.
Lukashenka has promised the Belarusian people that he will not send troops, he probably means it, but mostly because of the risk that his army will surrender rather than fight.
Lukashenko is more Franco than Mussolini to Putin's Hitler, then.
Funny how there are patterns to odious dictators, like serial killers.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
You forgot the London Stadium.
Nah, shit atmosphere for football. The two best London venues are WHL and Wembley.
Yes, I can't see London Stadium or Highbury getting the nod. The challenge to White Hart Lane is Twickenham – as @tlg86 points out.
I think there are enough good association football stadiums in London that they won't call upon Twickenham. They'd want to keep the money within association football.
I would think that it will be the two north London club grounds that are used, unless the police kick up a fuss about it.
By "two north London stadiums" I can only assume you mean Wembley and White Hart Lane?
I read "two north London club grounds" as WHL and Ashburton Grove. But I can't see them picking the latter and, of course, Wembley is a certainty.
An Italian magazine is alleging that this is a coordinated French government decision. Do not stop business in Russia
Total, Auchan, Decathlon and multiple other French companies are ignoring the sanctions. Not just Renault
The French never go too long without giving you a reason to despise them
The UK should sanction any company that continues to do business in Russia.
Edit: that would be a Brexit benefit I could actually get behind.
Yup, Renault should be given the choice of continuing their sales in Russia or their sales in the UK (and US). UK companies have taken yes of billions in write downs to do the right thing after state pressure. The French are so predictably treacherous.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
I once stayed in a hotel in Wearside while working at a client in Tyneside - didn't notice passport control between the two!
I'd have thought that any analysis of how people move around the area for work or leisure would see the two as part of a cohesive whole.
Indeed – the fact that they share the same Tube network, have the same telephone code and you can drive 'between' them without ever encountering countryside is something of a dead giveaway...
When I was doing Pharmacy at Sunderland 60+ years ago we had some lectures at Newcastle Medical School.
An Italian magazine is alleging that this is a coordinated French government decision. Do not stop business in Russia
Total, Auchan, Decathlon and multiple other French companies are ignoring the sanctions. Not just Renault
The French never go too long without giving you a reason to despise them
The UK should sanction any company that continues to do business in Russia.
Edit: that would be a Brexit benefit I could actually get behind.
Agreed
It’s quite shocking. To me. I can understand companies that make medicines saying “we have to do this for the Russian people” but supermarkets, cars, perfumes, are not absolute necessities which cannot be replaced
And the fact so many French companies are just ignoring the sanctions suggests this is a planned policy - if they all do it then the reputational damage is shared and diluted. And they can make more profits as other western countries have pulled out!
How nice for them. How very very French
Renault directors were tried in 1945 for collaboration with the Nazis by repairing German tanks
Just pointing out there is a brand new stadium due to open in Liverpool in 2024.
And? It’ll still be 10,000 seats smaller than Anfield.
Can be expanded to 62 k. But capacity alone is but one issue. As we see from the other discussions. Just pointing out that Anfield isn't a nailed on certainty. There may also be a case for the best 2 stadiums in the NW in the same city.
Go Ukraine! Those supply lines are looking long and weak:
Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien A new way of trying to map the war, and one of the most interesting I’ve seen. Shows the contested nature and possible supply problems that could hit the Russians around Kyiv.
Having a birthday break. At the risk of going all @Leon on you, this is the view from our room. 19 degrees (!) when we left this morning.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
Quite. Especially given that where you live in the Lake District is about central in the UK. Which is the DLUHC remit (slightly surprisingly as the HC bit is very definitely devolved in Scotland, Wales, and NI, and the financial and regional policy bit also come to think of it).
Am encouraging husband to apply as they say they want someone expert in housing, planning and local government, which he is. Also someone who can challenge. Apparently-
"The ability to challenge received wisdom, by scrutinising advice and decision making, is the single most important attribute for any candidate".
I'll believe that when I see it, especially with this government.
The head of the interview panel is Sue Gray, whoever she is. I suggested to Himself that he could show the attribute they claim to want by challenging the location of the Board meetings. He laughed.
As long as he doesn't take a bottle to the interview.....
Having a birthday break. At the risk of going all @Leon on you, this is the view from our room. 19 degrees (!) when we left this morning.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
The last thing regions whose economies are already 70% government spending need is more government. They need larger, flourishing private sectors, not public spending crowding out free enterprise.
Not true though.
The UK government had historically put fuck all R&D or infrastructure spending into the regions…and private sector investment correlates very well with public.
What *is* true is that outside the SE (and Scotland), the regions are effectively subsidised welfare colonies.
I agree with your last sentence, and I'm happy with more nationwide infrastructure spending.
But moving the Dept of Leveling Up meetings there isn't exactly building a new railway.
The way to level up is through low taxes, light regulation and good infrastructure. That will bring prosperity to our poorer regions. Yet more welfare spending and yet more empty gestures won't.
An Italian magazine is alleging that this is a coordinated French government decision. Do not stop business in Russia
Total, Auchan, Decathlon and multiple other French companies are ignoring the sanctions. Not just Renault
The French never go too long without giving you a reason to despise them
The UK should sanction any company that continues to do business in Russia.
Edit: that would be a Brexit benefit I could actually get behind.
Yup, Renault should be given the choice of continuing their sales in Russia or their sales in the UK (and US). UK companies have taken yes of billions in write downs to do the right thing after state pressure. The French are so predictably treacherous.
To avoid succour to the general Francophobia, even if warranted in this case, I’d point out that there are also British companies still trading.
Having a birthday break. At the risk of going all @Leon on you, this is the view from our room. 19 degrees (!) when we left this morning.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
Quite. Especially given that where you live in the Lake District is about central in the UK. Which is the DLUHC remit (slightly surprisingly as the HC bit is very definitely devolved in Scotland, Wales, and NI, and the financial and regional policy bit also come to think of it).
Am encouraging husband to apply as they say they want someone expert in housing, planning and local government, which he is. Also someone who can challenge. Apparently-
"The ability to challenge received wisdom, by scrutinising advice and decision making, is the single most important attribute for any candidate".
I'll believe that when I see it, especially with this government.
The head of the interview panel is Sue Gray, whoever she is. I suggested to Himself that he could show the attribute they claim to want by challenging the location of the Board meetings. He laughed.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
I once stayed in a hotel in Wearside while working at a client in Tyneside - didn't notice passport control between the two!
I'd have thought that any analysis of how people move around the area for work or leisure would see the two as part of a cohesive whole.
Indeed – the fact that they share the same Tube network, have the same telephone code and you can drive 'between' them without ever encountering countryside is something of a dead giveaway...
Sunderland is the biggest dump I ever visited in the UK.
Obvs the attitude of the locals is “It’s a shithole, but it’s my shithole”.
“President #Putin: We appreciate the position of those foreign companies who continue working in #Russia despite the brazen pressure from #US and its vassals. They are sure to find additional opportunities for growth in the future.”
An Italian magazine is alleging that this is a coordinated French government decision. Do not stop business in Russia
Total, Auchan, Decathlon and multiple other French companies are ignoring the sanctions. Not just Renault
The French never go too long without giving you a reason to despise them
The UK should sanction any company that continues to do business in Russia.
Edit: that would be a Brexit benefit I could actually get behind.
Agreed
It’s quite shocking. To me. I can understand companies that make medicines saying “we have to do this for the Russian people” but supermarkets, cars, perfumes, are not absolute necessities which cannot be replaced
And the fact so many French companies are just ignoring the sanctions suggests this is a planned policy - if they all do it then the reputational damage is shared and diluted. And they can make more profits as other western countries have pulled out!
How nice for them. How very very French
Renault directors were tried in 1945 for collaboration with the Nazis by repairing German tanks
Despite the brief moment of unity from the EU, the medium term effects of the crisis could be very bad for its coherence as a political actor. Ukraine noticed that in their hour of need, Germany was happy to sit back and watch Russia create new facts on the ground, while France wanted to get them to come to terms with Putin so that Macron could pose as a great statesman. The EU's dirty secret is that the Franco-German core doesn't want another large member state to the east diluting their influence even further.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
I once stayed in a hotel in Wearside while working at a client in Tyneside - didn't notice passport control between the two!
I'd have thought that any analysis of how people move around the area for work or leisure would see the two as part of a cohesive whole.
Indeed – the fact that they share the same Tube network, have the same telephone code and you can drive 'between' them without ever encountering countryside is something of a dead giveaway...
Sunderland is the biggest dump I ever visited in the UK.
Obvs the attitude of the locals is “It’s a shithole, but it’s my shithole”.
Lovely beaches, mind.
When I was there, people used to go on holiday there, for the beaches and the weather. And the beer.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
I once stayed in a hotel in Wearside while working at a client in Tyneside - didn't notice passport control between the two!
I'd have thought that any analysis of how people move around the area for work or leisure would see the two as part of a cohesive whole.
Indeed – the fact that they share the same Tube network, have the same telephone code and you can drive 'between' them without ever encountering countryside is something of a dead giveaway...
Well yes, but my quibble is with 'Greater Newcastle'. You wouldn't call Bradford part of Greater Leeds, or Coventry part of Greater Birmingham. Greater Manchester is ok because Manchester City Centre (or in planning speak 'the regional centre' so that we also include Central Salford, Salford Quays and a bit of Trafford) outweighs Oldham, Stockport, Rochdale etc to a much bigger degree than Newcastle does to Sunderland, Leeds does to Bradford or Birmingham does to Coventry.
EDIT: Travel to Work Areas show Sunderland separate from Newcastle in a way that Greater Manchester's outlying towns are not separate from Manchester.
Just pointing out there is a brand new stadium due to open in Liverpool in 2024.
And? It’ll still be 10,000 seats smaller than Anfield.
Can be expanded to 62 k. But capacity alone is but one issue. As we see from the other discussions. Just pointing out that Anfield isn't a nailed on certainty. There may also be a case for the best 2 stadiums in the NW in the same city.
I would expect Anfield to be the choice within Liverpool simply because of UEFA bigwigs' familiarity with it.
(Tried desperately to make that not sound condescending to Everton, and probably failed...)
Having a birthday break. At the risk of going all @Leon on you, this is the view from our room. 19 degrees (!) when we left this morning.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
The last thing regions whose economies are already 70% government spending need is more government. They need larger, flourishing private sectors, not public spending crowding out free enterprise.
Not true though.
The UK government had historically put fuck all R&D or infrastructure spending into the regions…and private sector investment correlates very well with public.
What *is* true is that outside the SE (and Scotland), the regions are effectively subsidised welfare colonies.
I agree with your last sentence, and I'm happy with more nationwide infrastructure spending.
But moving the Dept of Leveling Up meetings there isn't exactly building a new railway.
The way to level up is through low taxes, light regulation and good infrastructure. That will bring prosperity to our poorer regions. Yet more welfare spending and yet more empty gestures won't.
We already have (give it or take) low taxes and light regulation. We’ve had it for 40 years. World beating even.
That’s why it’s so farcical that Rishi has suggested that it’s how he’s going restore prosperity.
What we haven’t done is pursue any kind of industrial / regional policy.
Just pointing out there is a brand new stadium due to open in Liverpool in 2024.
And? It’ll still be 10,000 seats smaller than Anfield.
Can be expanded to 62 k. But capacity alone is but one issue. As we see from the other discussions. Just pointing out that Anfield isn't a nailed on certainty. There may also be a case for the best 2 stadiums in the NW in the same city.
But Everton would have to pay for the expansion, whereas Sheff Wed/Leeds/Villa may get help from the government. Why would the government help Everton when they can just use Anfield?
Just pointing out there is a brand new stadium due to open in Liverpool in 2024.
And? It’ll still be 10,000 seats smaller than Anfield.
Can be expanded to 62 k. But capacity alone is but one issue. As we see from the other discussions. Just pointing out that Anfield isn't a nailed on certainty. There may also be a case for the best 2 stadiums in the NW in the same city.
I would expect Anfield to be the choice within Liverpool simply because of UEFA bigwigs' familiarity with it.
(Tried desperately to make that not sound condescending to Everton, and probably failed...)
Not at all. That is perhaps the case. It does have the advantage of already existing, too. Btw. Who knew Goodison hosted a WC semi final? Was the second most used ground in 1966.
Just pointing out there is a brand new stadium due to open in Liverpool in 2024.
And? It’ll still be 10,000 seats smaller than Anfield.
Can be expanded to 62 k. But capacity alone is but one issue. As we see from the other discussions. Just pointing out that Anfield isn't a nailed on certainty. There may also be a case for the best 2 stadiums in the NW in the same city.
I would expect Anfield to be the choice within Liverpool simply because of UEFA bigwigs' familiarity with it.
(Tried desperately to make that not sound condescending to Everton, and probably failed...)
Not at all. That is perhaps the case. It does have the advantage of already existing, too. Btw. Who knew Goodison hosted a WC semi final? Was the second most used ground in 1966.
True. But I visited it for an FA Cup game in 1996 and there's a reason it wasn't chosen for Euro 96...
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
I once stayed in a hotel in Wearside while working at a client in Tyneside - didn't notice passport control between the two!
I'd have thought that any analysis of how people move around the area for work or leisure would see the two as part of a cohesive whole.
Indeed – the fact that they share the same Tube network, have the same telephone code and you can drive 'between' them without ever encountering countryside is something of a dead giveaway...
Well yes, but my quibble is with 'Greater Newcastle'. You wouldn't call Bradford part of Greater Leeds, or Coventry part of Greater Birmingham. Greater Manchester is ok because Manchester City Centre (or in planning speak 'the regional centre' so that we also include Central Salford, Salford Quays and a bit of Trafford) outweighs Oldham, Stockport, Rochdale etc to a much bigger degree than Newcastle does to Sunderland, Leeds does to Bradford or Birmingham does to Coventry.
EDIT: Travel to Work Areas show Sunderland separate from Newcastle in a way that Greater Manchester's outlying towns are not separate from Manchester.
Surely Bradford is effectively part of Greater Leeds? So much of your issue is just the name. There's not much difference in the Manchester Derby and Tyne Wear Derby in terms of proximity/support/geography. In both cases, the grounds are surely too close to both be given the nod?
An Italian magazine is alleging that this is a coordinated French government decision. Do not stop business in Russia
Total, Auchan, Decathlon and multiple other French companies are ignoring the sanctions. Not just Renault
The French never go too long without giving you a reason to despise them
about 2 weeks ago when lots of European nations started to offer weapons to the Ukrainians, I pointed out that the UK, Germanys, US and most others where giving weapons, where as the French where opening a line of credit for Ukraine to Buy French weapons.
After pointing that out I was informed on here that, the French offer was as good if not better than the UK and others, I did not understand that then, or now.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
I think ROI probably deserve another stadium. Cork or Galway, perhaps?
Also, Villa Park. You can’t leave out Britains second city…
Stupid mistake by me! Now added...
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe) • Villa Park, Birmingham
Nailed on:
Wembley Old Trafford (assuming it isn't being rebuilt...) Aviva (Dublin) Principality (Cardiff) St James's Park Villa Park (hopefully this will be 50,000 by 2028)
And at least one in Scotland. I suspect Hampden would get the nod and then hopefully Murrayfield is also used.
I think it would be fair enough to use another venue in London given it serves a big population. Could Twickenham be an option given it has 20,000 more seats than WHL?
And I wouldn't rule out the Etihad being used and I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium of Light is used.
Elland Road and Hillsborough need some TLC, but I'd like to see both used. If they rebuild the Leppings Lane End at Hillsborough, they can get that up to 45,000.
East Midlands is tricky. I think Leicester is more likely than Nottingham. It wouldn't be too difficult to add a second tier to some of the ground to make it 40,000+. Same goes for Southampton.
The City Ground should have 38,000 seats by then and will be bigger than the King Power. And Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester so I think it might get the nod again (as in 1996) assuming Forest confirm that the redevelopment will be complete by 2028. But it's a close call, as you say.
Re: Stadium of Light, do you think they will have two in Greater Newcastle? As you say St James' Park is a certainty.
Good point about Twickenham, but sure WHL will be in there? London could probably have three as they are all far enough apart from each other?
Anabobz being uncharacteristically uncaring of provincial sensibilities here - *Greater Newcastle*? I can hear the splutters of Mackem indignation from here. And 'Nottingham is a far better city than Leicester'? FWIW I probably agree, but that's a casually lobbed hand grenade if I ever I saw one.
Both are simple statements of fact.
The Metro area which includes both Sunderland and Newcastle is 'Tyne and Wear' - it has certainly been true in my lifetime that Sunderland was bigger than Newcastle (though Tyneside, the core of which is Newcastle, has always been bigger than Wearside). Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
I once stayed in a hotel in Wearside while working at a client in Tyneside - didn't notice passport control between the two!
I'd have thought that any analysis of how people move around the area for work or leisure would see the two as part of a cohesive whole.
Indeed – the fact that they share the same Tube network, have the same telephone code and you can drive 'between' them without ever encountering countryside is something of a dead giveaway...
Well yes, but my quibble is with 'Greater Newcastle'. You wouldn't call Bradford part of Greater Leeds, or Coventry part of Greater Birmingham. Greater Manchester is ok because Manchester City Centre (or in planning speak 'the regional centre' so that we also include Central Salford, Salford Quays and a bit of Trafford) outweighs Oldham, Stockport, Rochdale etc to a much bigger degree than Newcastle does to Sunderland, Leeds does to Bradford or Birmingham does to Coventry.
EDIT: Travel to Work Areas show Sunderland separate from Newcastle in a way that Greater Manchester's outlying towns are not separate from Manchester.
There’s no right or wrong on these things. I could counter your argument on TTWA by proposing that a lack of joined up transport infrastructure has prevented what should be - geographically - a single travel to work area.
I personally tend toward a “Greater…” approach because I think the branding helps the push toward joined up devolution etc.
I could go Newcastle-Sunderland at a push, although that would presumably piss off Gatesheaders.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
You forgot the London Stadium.
Nah, shit atmosphere for football. The two best London venues are WHL and Wembley.
Yes, I can't see London Stadium or Highbury getting the nod. The challenge to White Hart Lane is Twickenham – as @tlg86 points out.
I think there are enough good association football stadiums in London that they won't call upon Twickenham. They'd want to keep the money within association football.
I would think that it will be the two north London club grounds that are used, unless the police kick up a fuss about it.
By "two north London stadiums" I can only assume you mean Wembley and White Hart Lane?
I was thinking of New Highbury and New White Hart Lane in addition to Wembley.
Would be absolutely fantastic news. It's likely to be 32 teams so we'll need a lot of stadiums in great cities. Here's my recommendations:
• Wembley, London • White Hart Lane, London • Old Trafford, Manchester • Parkhead, Glasgow (preferred to Hampden, better stadium) • Murrayfield, Edinburgh • Anfield, Liverpool • Millennium, Cardiff • Lansdowne Road, Dublin • City Ground (extended), Nottingham • St James' Park, Newcastle • Windsor Park, Belfast • Elland Road, Leeds • Bramhall Lane, Sheffield (preferred to Hillsborough as closer to city centre?) • Falmer, Brighton (maybe)
You forgot the London Stadium.
Nah, shit atmosphere for football. The two best London venues are WHL and Wembley.
Yes, I can't see London Stadium or Highbury getting the nod. The challenge to White Hart Lane is Twickenham – as @tlg86 points out.
I think there are enough good association football stadiums in London that they won't call upon Twickenham. They'd want to keep the money within association football.
I would think that it will be the two north London club grounds that are used, unless the police kick up a fuss about it.
By "two north London stadiums" I can only assume you mean Wembley and White Hart Lane?
I was thinking of New Highbury and New White Hart Lane in addition to Wembley.
I know, I was pulling your leg –– I think London will only get two due to the mathematics @taz cites up thread. So probably White Hart Lane and Wembley.
Comments
https://twitter.com/billbrowder/status/1506148554083033093?s=21
“Wait, what??? French retail giant Leroy Merlin looks to expand its Russia business and increase products in stores after other brands pull out”
Puts a whole new spin on all those phone calls between Macron and Putin
UGH
Or is it a For + Remain portmanteau?
If so it's a fucking stupid name for someone who cries and bitches about being called a remainer to have.
The Treasury have released some photos of "Photographs of the Chancellor preparing for Spring Statement 2022" featuring this picture of Rishi Sunak reading a Mail on Sunday interview with himself. https://twitter.com/harry_horton/status/1506293444142116873/photo/1
Wembley
WHL or the Olympic Stadium
Anfield
Old Trafford
St James' Park or Stadium of Light (good luck choosing but I can't see they'll have both)
Villa Park
St Mary's
plus
Landsdowne Road
Windsor Park
Arms Park II
Murrayfield
Hampden (I can't see them choosing Parkhead or Ibrox, too controversial to pick either one)
Pride Park probably unlucky to miss out.
And I say that as a West Ham fan who agrees that the London Stadium is shit.
Agree there is sense in EU doing relief and sanctions, and NATO military, since even with the new Military Strategic Compass the main hard proposal is for a RRF of 5000 by 2030 with Germany providing the backbone (which makes sense).
I think there will be a NATO intervention at some point, perhaps for Safe Havens somewhere in the West, which would have incidental benefits such as preventing Russia occupying that part of Ukraine should they persist.
Which would give an opportunity for a protected in country NATO footprint - far more practical than an NFZ.
It could be tricky to find an excuse to do it (perhaps UN Motion Vetoed by Russia), and then a coalition of countries from NATO to take action instead. Very dependent on resources.
Just some thoughts.
BTW Gove's department is looking for a non-executive director. The Department for Levelling Up says -
"Location: Board meetings are usually held in London and recently have followed a hybrid model, with some attendees being present in person and others joining remotely. In future they may also take place outside London depending on wider circumstances."
Honestly. They may as well say "Outside London Here Be Dragons".
If they're serious about levelling up, basing people in the places that need levelling up might be a start, you'd have thought.
The IFS really is full of morons.
I would think that it will be the two north London club grounds that are used, unless the police kick up a fuss about it.
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1506283631517618177?s=20&t=PsFswIFhVT2oPNto6cTMEw
Now I'm not aware that there is any definition of 'Greater Newcastle' in the UK (though there is one in Australia) - but surely Greater Newcastle = Tyneside urban area. And Tyneside urban area does have a(n ONS) definition. And it doesn't include Sunderland.
This list is relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom
This isn't my fight, by the way, except in the sense that all quibbles of geographical pedantry are my fight.
Rebuilding in one go will be simpler and make construction cheaper - except for one issue. Where do they play in the interim?
Full story here. May well ruffle some feathers.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/keir-starmer-john-mcdonnell-diane-abbott_uk_6239ddc9e4b0f1e82c4f11f6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGepNb0VvlE
Its quite interesting, she climes her supporters are sabotaging the railways to disrupt Russian logistics, and are teaching, young soldiers how to surrender, I assume she means how to say 'I surrender' in Ukrainian.
There is also anecdotal good evidences of Belarusians, mostly exiles, going to Ukraine to fight alongside the Ukrainians.
Lukashenka has promised the Belarusian people that he will not send troops, he probably means it, but mostly because of the risk that his army will surrender rather than fight.
Total, Auchan, Decathlon and multiple other French companies are ignoring the sanctions. Not just Renault
The French never go too long without giving you a reason to despise them
I'd have thought that any analysis of how people move around the area for work or leisure would see the two as part of a cohesive whole.
Eastlands?
Funny how there are patterns to odious dictators, like serial killers.
May even be the best in league one by then.
Edit: that would be a Brexit benefit I could actually get behind.
M&S brand is still operating in Russia, but apparently that is because it is a licensing deal, unlike the two examples above.
Obvs the attitude of the locals is “It’s a shithole, but it’s my shithole”.
No don't worry you will be fine, not sure we will be.
I understand that the Vargner Group of mercenaries have been trying to recruit in Belorussia, but don't know how successful they have, which is perhaps comparable the 'blue division' of Spanish volunteers that did fight alongside the Germans, but no Belarusian or Spanish in there own uniform as a national army.
Sadly Franko lived a long life and died naturally, hoping that's not the case with Lukashenko.
The UK government had historically put fuck all R&D or infrastructure spending into the regions…and private sector investment correlates very well with public.
What *is* true is that outside the SE (and Scotland), the regions are effectively subsidised welfare colonies.
"The ability to challenge received wisdom, by scrutinising advice and decision making, is the single most important attribute for any candidate".
I'll believe that when I see it, especially with this government.
The head of the interview panel is Sue Gray, whoever she is. I suggested to Himself that he could show the attribute they claim to want by challenging the location of the Board meetings. He laughed.
It’s quite shocking. To me. I can understand companies that make medicines saying “we have to do this for the Russian people” but supermarkets, cars, perfumes, are not absolute necessities which cannot be replaced
And the fact so many French companies are just ignoring the sanctions suggests this is a planned policy - if they all do it then the reputational damage is shared and diluted. And they can make more profits as other western countries have pulled out!
How nice for them. How very very French
Renault directors were tried in 1945 for collaboration with the Nazis by repairing German tanks
But capacity alone is but one issue. As we see from the other discussions.
Just pointing out that Anfield isn't a nailed on certainty.
There may also be a case for the best 2 stadiums in the NW in the same city.
Phillips P. OBrien
@PhillipsPOBrien
A new way of trying to map the war, and one of the most interesting I’ve seen. Shows the contested nature and possible supply problems that could hit the Russians around Kyiv.
https://twitter.com/PhillipsPOBrien/status/1506283008407523342
But moving the Dept of Leveling Up meetings there isn't exactly building a new railway.
The way to level up is through low taxes, light regulation and good infrastructure. That will bring prosperity to our poorer regions. Yet more welfare spending and yet more empty gestures won't.
They too should be sanctioned.
From the UK Russian Embassy
“President #Putin: We appreciate the position of those foreign companies who continue working in #Russia despite the brazen pressure from #US and its vassals. They are sure to find additional opportunities for growth in the future.”
https://twitter.com/russianembassy/status/1506222171378655233?s=21
It was from Scotland, though.
EDIT: Travel to Work Areas show Sunderland separate from Newcastle in a way that Greater Manchester's outlying towns are not separate from Manchester.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_to_work_area
(Tried desperately to make that not sound condescending to Everton, and probably failed...)
@FrontCnot
Traktor staranował Renault.
Ku przestrodze.
(translated from Polish)
The tractor rammed a Renault.
As a warning.
https://twitter.com/FrontCnot/status/1506299519398559744
That’s why it’s so farcical that Rishi has suggested that it’s how he’s going restore prosperity.
What we haven’t done is pursue any kind of industrial / regional policy.
That is perhaps the case. It does have the advantage of already existing, too.
Btw.
Who knew Goodison hosted a WC semi final?
Was the second most used ground in 1966.
French companies are not going to be popular in Eastern Europe
NEXTA
@nexta_tv
·
46m
Anonymous hackers leaked Nestle database that refused to leave #Russia
It is 10 GB of data of e-mails, passwords and clients of one of the largest food company in the world.
After pointing that out I was informed on here that, the French offer was as good if not better than the UK and others, I did not understand that then, or now.
Sticking to Lidl's own brand now.
I could counter your argument on TTWA by proposing that a lack of joined up transport infrastructure has prevented what should be - geographically - a single travel to work area.
I personally tend toward a “Greater…” approach because I think the branding helps the push toward joined up devolution etc.
I could go Newcastle-Sunderland at a push, although that would presumably piss off Gatesheaders.
Pics required or permanent internet teeny tot status conferred.