One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
It is a real shame that Milosevic's government wasn't properly purged after he was ousted. Then this twat Vucic would be safe in prison where he belongs.
Yet, this Tpyxa account (no blue tick note) wrote this:
"TPYXA ⚡ Middle East @middleeasttime · 20m Close the border between Kosovo and Serbia
Kosovo army plans to attack northern Serbia at midnight"
How? Am I being stupid? Kosovo is to the south of Serbia
We discussed that earlier. Possibly poor translation. Means northern Serb areas (of Kosovo). Where barricades have been set up. Maybe.
Then surely closing the border would make matters worse for ethnic Serbs by trapping them inside?
Honestly, Putin and his minions really do think we're all as stupid as them. But I suppose dealing with the likes of Farage and Cummings might give that impression.
Una Hajdari @UnaHajdari There isn’t a conflict or escalation brewing in Kosovo atm. Kosovo Serbs set up roadblocks towards two main border crossings with Serbia in the north, in opposition to a move by the 🇽🇰 gov’t whereby Serbian citizens need special certificates when entering the country. #calmdown
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
But the men’s game has ALSO improved phenomenally. Last season I went to see a couple of top flight Chelsea UCL games at the Bridge. Major clashes
Probably my first, world class club football in 2 decades (in the flesh). I’ve seen other pro football but not this standard, I’ve seen tons on tv but it ain’t the same
Wow. It is now so fast and so skilful and so competitive. You can’t take your eyes off it
And perhaps it needs someone like me - who hasn’t seen it in many many years - to notice the remarkable improvement
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
9 times out of 10 a professional men's player would have f*cked up the finish for the first goal. Toone took it beautifully.
Labour under Starmer's strategy has turned a 26 point deficit into a 10 point lead.
Why can't people just trust that he might know what he's doing?
I think he is suffering from the sheer incompetence of the government in the last 18 months(at least). Merely by competence and avoiding mistakes (although not totally - very over cautious re covid) he is seen as safe, but not yet a winner.
If it had been RLB in charge, do you honestly think Labour would be ahead now?
Probably tbh. I’m not sure if she would be as centrist as Starmer, but right now the Tories, and Johnson in particular are toxic.
Starmer reduced the deficit from 20+ points to around 5 within a month of taking over. RLB would have been clearly seen as Corbyn's successor, and would have had no chance of making those inroads.
Obviously we don't see as much of her these days, but in the debates with Starmer and Nandy she was also clearly a novice politician. She may have been identified as clever, and the best hope of the left, and she may do well in the future, but she was not even close to those two in terms of political skills at the time.
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
The main difference I could see was the lack of diving, pantomime acts and generally nasty play. Perhaps the men could learn something from this. And as a commentator said, at least this England team went all the way.
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
The skill level will improve over time if more attention leads to more spectators, leads to more income, leads to more training from an earlier age and more youngsters competing to make a go of it.
The one difference that I found noticeable was that the sprinting seemed to be slower.
If women's football does take off in England it will be interesting to see whether that's more sports fans overall, fewer watching men's football, or if other sports suffer from more competition for attention from football: rugby, cricket, etc.
i see (both here and elsewhere) the joyous occasion of winning the Womans Euros has turned into a gender battle (at least within the two football teams) - which is a pity and tedious - it shoudl be a cause for celebration not to be negative about a good mens team .It may also be a bit patronising given I doubt if the men had won the first thoughts were how crap the women's team is .
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
But the men’s game has ALSO improved phenomenally. Last season I went to see a couple of top flight Chelsea UCL games at the Bridge. Major clashes
Probably my first, world class club football in 2 decades (in the flesh). I’ve seen other pro football but not this standard, I’ve seen tons on tv but it ain’t the same
Wow. It is now so fast and so skilful and so competitive. You can’t take your eyes off it
And perhaps it needs someone like me - who hasn’t seen it in many many years - to notice the remarkable improvement
I did tell you many weeks ago when we didcussed.You said the ladies game was rubbish when I said it had much improved, but you didn't believe me. Suggest you take another look at the women's rugby that you also dissed. It is also very good these days.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
The main difference I could see was the lack of diving, pantomime acts and generally nasty play. Perhaps the men could learn something from this. And as a commentator said, at least this England team went all the way.
Actually, I’ve seen plenty of that stuff in this tournament. Russo’s elbow could easily have been red.
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
It is a real shame that Milosevic's government wasn't properly purged after he was ousted. Then this twat Vucic would be safe in prison where he belongs.
Yet, this Tpyxa account (no blue tick note) wrote this:
"TPYXA ⚡ Middle East @middleeasttime · 20m Close the border between Kosovo and Serbia
Kosovo army plans to attack northern Serbia at midnight"
How? Am I being stupid? Kosovo is to the south of Serbia
If you're a Serbian nationalist you would regard Kosovo as South Serbia, and so what we would simply call Serbia would then be called North Serbia.
Seems to be a pretty clear indication that they don't recognise Kosovan independence.
Brexit is almost a direct result of the Blair/Brown Government failing to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Remember: Blair had twice promised a referendum on the EU Constitution. In early October 2007, the European Scrutiny Committee (which had a Labour majority at the time) had found that the treaty was "substantially equivalent" to the rejected constitution - and yet still they ignored the vote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7034052.stm
There was a substantial public majority in favour of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Just as there was for a referendum on the EU Constitution before it. The Liberal Democrats decided to play that by going for a full in/out referendum on the EU (sound familiar?) whilst Labour basically ignored it, and pretended it was both different and that it had got a smashing deal. David Cameron gave a "cast-iron" promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty but it was wholly ratified into EU law by December 2009, well before he took office, so he couldn't offer one when he took power in May 2010 - all he was able to do was to "not let matters rest there."
That's why the mood on the Tory backbenches was so febrile from almost the moment Cameron took office - we'd been done over and they were furious about it. There was a massive loss of trust between the UK and the EU. And the only way out was for the EU to substantially renegotiate with the UK on the basis that the Lisbon Treaty had not yet come into effect here, antebellum c.2007-2008, which they wholeheartedly refused to do.
Labour and the EU are far more responsible for Brexit than they'd care to admit, or ever will admit.
Don't also forget Ed Davey leading a walkout of the Lib Dems in order to stop them having to fulfil a manifesto pledge and vote for a referendum on Lisbon on the highly spurious grounds that there wasn't an in-out referendum on EU membership on offer. Twats.
The LibDems own Brexit.
Thats... a point of view.
Meanwhile on Planet Earth it is the people who wanted and supported Brexit who own it, not the people who predicted the disaster and opposed it tooth and nail.
It is a very valid point of view that Cameron could have won an In-Out EU Referendum early in the life of the Coalition, with both him and Clegg in the rose garden saying it was unthinkable we should leave. Before Farage got his ducks in a row.
But the LibDems were fucked up by their earlier political posturing.
Basically, the UK could have been locked into the EU. But the pathetic politicking of the LibDems robbbed you of that chance.
Heh.
How would the UK have been locked into the EU? If LEAVE won 45% and Farage was on top in the polls, would the EU be policy for a generation?
Because Brit Leavers would have been mature enough to accept a referendum result without agitating for reruns on the same question until they got the result they wanted.
Unlike the Scot Nats who - according to these self same Brit Leavers - can't be granted a 2nd Sindy Ref anytime soon because if we did that they'd just keep on demanding them the whole time until they get the result they want.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
The main difference I could see was the lack of diving, pantomime acts and generally nasty play. Perhaps the men could learn something from this. And as a commentator said, at least this England team went all the way.
My biggest criticism of women's football was it was passionless, I mean when did you see a female footballer take off her shirt when she scored a goal, but I see that criticism is no longer valid.
My biggest criticism of women's football is that some of them feel the need to wear make up. It's just odd. Going out to play a game of football, need to look pretty... Some of the men's team are little better, however. Once upon a time vanity was sort of looked down on.
I'm not really bothered whether they wear make up or not.
Brazilian midfield genera Marta’s bright red lipstick is one of the most magnificent sights in football.
My biggest criticism of women's football was it was passionless, I mean when did you see a female footballer take off her shirt when she scored a goal, but I see that criticism is no longer valid.
My biggest criticism of women's football is that some of them feel the need to wear make up. It's just odd. Going out to play a game of football, need to look pretty... Some of the men's team are little better, however. Once upon a time vanity was sort of looked down on.
When all's said and done you are such a wonderful old fogey @Cookie.
Don't ever change! (Though I expect you'd find it impossible tbh.)
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Let's be honest for a minute - without the subsidy from mens football, womens football would be completely amateur (*).
The revenue top clubs generate from the womens game is far less than they spend on coaching, support, travel, admin etc. Without being subsidised, womens players would all be paid, literally, zero.
(*) In practice, it would be like Olympic sports such as rowing, gymnastics, track cycling etc - it would be funded by UK Sport etc.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
One key thing is that Wiegman is completely ruthless. She dropped the captain of 8 years from the squad because she was not fit, coming back from injury.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
9 times out of 10 a professional men's player would have f*cked up the finish for the first goal. Toone took it beautifully.
It's easier to lob the goalie when they're half a foot shorter.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
9 times out of 10 a professional men's player would have f*cked up the finish for the first goal. Toone took it beautifully.
It's easier to lob the goalie when they're half a foot shorter.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
One key thing is that Wiegman is completely ruthless. She dropped the captain of 8 years from the squad because she was not fit, coming back from injury.
How many similarly crocked male "star" players have we taken to competitions? There seem to be a few every time.
What odds she'll be taking over from, say, Lampard when he get's the boot in December?
It would be great to see how she fares managing a Premiership team or similar.
One thing I have noted is the new female commentators on MALE sports - football, rugby and cricket - are often significantly better than the men. Cooler, smarter, more articulate. I’ve no idea why but I’ve noticed it across the board
So there’s absolutely no reason why a female manager couldn’t run the men’s England footie team - and indeed do better than some of the many duds we’ve had these last decades
Perhaps their different gender allows them to take out the emotion and testosterone and be better analysts?
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
The main difference I could see was the lack of diving, pantomime acts and generally nasty play. Perhaps the men could learn something from this. And as a commentator said, at least this England team went all the way.
Ooo not sure about that. I'd say there was some "professionalism" on display.
Naughty Nadine, an actual UK cabinet minister, retweeting a mock-up image of Sunak dressed as Brutus stabbing Johnson in the Forum…
They’re a happy lot, these Tories
Let's have the picture then:
Well I don't have a vote and if I did I would vote for Rishi anyway, but if that wasn't the case a twit like Dorries posting this crap would be an incentive to make me change my mind to him.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
9 times out of 10 a professional men's player would have f*cked up the finish for the first goal. Toone took it beautifully.
It's easier to lob the goalie when they're half a foot shorter.
Usually they lob the goal too.
Yes, because the target (above the goalie and below the crossbar) they're aiming for is smaller.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
The main difference I could see was the lack of diving, pantomime acts and generally nasty play. Perhaps the men could learn something from this. And as a commentator said, at least this England team went all the way.
Ooo not sure about that. I'd say there was some "professionalism" on display.
Yes. The last five minutes of the match spring to mind
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
The main difference I could see was the lack of diving, pantomime acts and generally nasty play. Perhaps the men could learn something from this. And as a commentator said, at least this England team went all the way.
Ooo not sure about that. I'd say there was some "professionalism" on display.
Yes. The last five minutes of the match spring to mind
It's one of those situations: when it's your team doing it you say 'fair play, well done'; when the opposition are doing it they're 'professional gamesmanship time-wasting bastards'.
I have to say, I've rarely seen it done so effectively as England did at the end there. Fair play, well done!
Brexit is almost a direct result of the Blair/Brown Government failing to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Remember: Blair had twice promised a referendum on the EU Constitution. In early October 2007, the European Scrutiny Committee (which had a Labour majority at the time) had found that the treaty was "substantially equivalent" to the rejected constitution - and yet still they ignored the vote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7034052.stm
There was a substantial public majority in favour of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Just as there was for a referendum on the EU Constitution before it. The Liberal Democrats decided to play that by going for a full in/out referendum on the EU (sound familiar?) whilst Labour basically ignored it, and pretended it was both different and that it had got a smashing deal. David Cameron gave a "cast-iron" promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty but it was wholly ratified into EU law by December 2009, well before he took office, so he couldn't offer one when he took power in May 2010 - all he was able to do was to "not let matters rest there."
That's why the mood on the Tory backbenches was so febrile from almost the moment Cameron took office - we'd been done over and they were furious about it. There was a massive loss of trust between the UK and the EU. And the only way out was for the EU to substantially renegotiate with the UK on the basis that the Lisbon Treaty had not yet come into effect here, antebellum c.2007-2008, which they wholeheartedly refused to do.
Labour and the EU are far more responsible for Brexit than they'd care to admit, or ever will admit.
Don't also forget Ed Davey leading a walkout of the Lib Dems in order to stop them having to fulfil a manifesto pledge and vote for a referendum on Lisbon on the highly spurious grounds that there wasn't an in-out referendum on EU membership on offer. Twats.
The LibDems own Brexit.
Nah, the shitshow is purely a Tory Brexit, and everyone knows it.
And why do Tories keep trying to blame others for Brexit? Do they find it embarrassing?
Well, I'd rather we had pressed the brake at Lisbon and Europe had stopped there. So I'm still quite angry at those parties who prevented that outcome. But I'd rather be out than in as it is now. I'm fine with it. But make no mistake, we are where we are because Lab and LD were so dogmatically pro-European.
So your blaming Lab/LibDems for brexit because they were very pro European? Talk about victim blaming...blame the shopkeeper for shoplifting rather than the shoplifters for stealing? I see we are now at the stage of blame absolutley everyone except ourselves for the shitty bits of brexit?
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
But the men’s game has ALSO improved phenomenally. Last season I went to see a couple of top flight Chelsea UCL games at the Bridge. Major clashes
Probably my first, world class club football in 2 decades (in the flesh). I’ve seen other pro football but not this standard, I’ve seen tons on tv but it ain’t the same
Wow. It is now so fast and so skilful and so competitive. You can’t take your eyes off it
And perhaps it needs someone like me - who hasn’t seen it in many many years - to notice the remarkable improvement
Yes, the men's game is tons better than say 25 years ago. But the women's positive delta is over a shorter period. Low base of course but still.
Sunday evening in Tallinn. As expected by the Estonians, Putin is clearly trying to expand his war into a struggle on multiple fronts. However, this reflects increasing panic inside Russia. The Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted significant damage on the Russians, and the atrocities that have been unleashed by the Putinists reflect an army that is an increasingly degrading into an undisciplined rabble. Here in the Baltic the cut off of gas supplies to Latvia has been greeted with a shrug. Estonia and Lithuania have been able to take most of the strain, and there is no immediate threat to the Latvian economy. A clear lesson to Germany that any point of leverage or weakness will be exploited, no matter what. It is suggested here that the probable attack on Bulgaria could be matched with activity in Belarus that reduces the threat from Lukashenka.
It is certainly now critical that the Russian threats, and indeed actions, are dealt with on our terms and not on theirs. Where he intends to escalate, we should stay cool and where he shows weakness we should match the Russians in ruthlessly exploiting that weakness. A tourist visa ban, as proposed by Estonia, is only a part of the next package of sanctions. Despite the nonsense printed in the UK media this weekend, people should be in no doubt that the Russian economy is at a dead stop. The Ruble is rising *because there has been a total collapse of imports*. Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down.
So, although Putin now wants to watch the world burn, sensible discussions should be taking place within the NATO alliance and also with China. The Putin famine must now be addressed for the sake of the global South and to reduce the blackmail Russia is using in Africa. There should be a measured and proportionate response to the various Putinist provocations.
On the other hand the Russian Embassy in London, which has openly supported war crimes, should now face greater sanctions. Many in the Baltic are outraged that the Embassy twitter account has not been suspended and the press office expelled from London. Indeed given the depravity of the Russian dimplomatic commentary, why is there a Russian Ambassador still in London? The Russian Ambassador in Talllinn is summoned to the Foreign ministry so regularly that he must be getting dizzy. The Russian Ambassador in London should be dealt with similarly.
The only way to stop Putin is to defeat him. That may require a long hard slog, but there is no other way, there is no deal he will keep and no truce he will not break. We must be ready at all levels to stop this evil regime from unleashing a yet worse barbarity. The Estonians do not beleive that the victory will be easy, but they are determined to see this through. Let us hope that the rest of the NATO alliance is equally clear sighted. Putin is evil and evil must be defeated or we may have no future at all.
A tourist visa ban on Russians may have more effect in a Russian winter, but may have an adverse impact on Russian refugees. I suspect a lot of the brain drain, and even ukranian refugees have got out via Russia on tourist visas.
"Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down."
Interesting. Why?
1) After the Russians refused to return the 700 planes they leased, they have no access to real parts. They can bootleg some, but that is not going to last too long. Then planes get grounded or start falling out of the sky. 2) Rail wagons need bearings that the Russians can not make themselves. As these break, no replacements and wagons can not be used. 3) Car and truck production has basically stopped and no imports from anywhere (including China).
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
Mate that was bait, just leave the man on his own
No he's ok (ish) on this so far. But I remain vigilant.
Sunday evening in Tallinn. As expected by the Estonians, Putin is clearly trying to expand his war into a struggle on multiple fronts. However, this reflects increasing panic inside Russia. The Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted significant damage on the Russians, and the atrocities that have been unleashed by the Putinists reflect an army that is an increasingly degrading into an undisciplined rabble. Here in the Baltic the cut off of gas supplies to Latvia has been greeted with a shrug. Estonia and Lithuania have been able to take most of the strain, and there is no immediate threat to the Latvian economy. A clear lesson to Germany that any point of leverage or weakness will be exploited, no matter what. It is suggested here that the probable attack on Bulgaria could be matched with activity in Belarus that reduces the threat from Lukashenka.
It is certainly now critical that the Russian threats, and indeed actions, are dealt with on our terms and not on theirs. Where he intends to escalate, we should stay cool and where he shows weakness we should match the Russians in ruthlessly exploiting that weakness. A tourist visa ban, as proposed by Estonia, is only a part of the next package of sanctions. Despite the nonsense printed in the UK media this weekend, people should be in no doubt that the Russian economy is at a dead stop. The Ruble is rising *because there has been a total collapse of imports*. Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down.
So, although Putin now wants to watch the world burn, sensible discussions should be taking place within the NATO alliance and also with China. The Putin famine must now be addressed for the sake of the global South and to reduce the blackmail Russia is using in Africa. There should be a measured and proportionate response to the various Putinist provocations.
On the other hand the Russian Embassy in London, which has openly supported war crimes, should now face greater sanctions. Many in the Baltic are outraged that the Embassy twitter account has not been suspended and the press office expelled from London. Indeed given the depravity of the Russian dimplomatic commentary, why is there a Russian Ambassador still in London? The Russian Ambassador in Talllinn is summoned to the Foreign ministry so regularly that he must be getting dizzy. The Russian Ambassador in London should be dealt with similarly.
The only way to stop Putin is to defeat him. That may require a long hard slog, but there is no other way, there is no deal he will keep and no truce he will not break. We must be ready at all levels to stop this evil regime from unleashing a yet worse barbarity. The Estonians do not beleive that the victory will be easy, but they are determined to see this through. Let us hope that the rest of the NATO alliance is equally clear sighted. Putin is evil and evil must be defeated or we may have no future at all.
A tourist visa ban on Russians may have more effect in a Russian winter, but may have an adverse impact on Russian refugees. I suspect a lot of the brain drain, and even ukranian refugees have got out via Russia on tourist visas.
"Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down."
Interesting. Why?
1) After the Russians refused to return the 700 planes they leased, they have no access to real parts. They can bootleg some, but that is not going to last too long. Then planes get grounded or start falling out of the sky. 2) Rail wagons need bearings that the Russians can not make themselves. As these break, no replacements and wagons can not be used. 3) Car and truck production has basically stopped and no imports from anywhere (including China).
Thanks.
Can the RU not make bearings? Seems incredible. Not exactly rocket science is it?
Sunday evening in Tallinn. As expected by the Estonians, Putin is clearly trying to expand his war into a struggle on multiple fronts. However, this reflects increasing panic inside Russia. The Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted significant damage on the Russians, and the atrocities that have been unleashed by the Putinists reflect an army that is an increasingly degrading into an undisciplined rabble. Here in the Baltic the cut off of gas supplies to Latvia has been greeted with a shrug. Estonia and Lithuania have been able to take most of the strain, and there is no immediate threat to the Latvian economy. A clear lesson to Germany that any point of leverage or weakness will be exploited, no matter what. It is suggested here that the probable attack on Bulgaria could be matched with activity in Belarus that reduces the threat from Lukashenka.
It is certainly now critical that the Russian threats, and indeed actions, are dealt with on our terms and not on theirs. Where he intends to escalate, we should stay cool and where he shows weakness we should match the Russians in ruthlessly exploiting that weakness. A tourist visa ban, as proposed by Estonia, is only a part of the next package of sanctions. Despite the nonsense printed in the UK media this weekend, people should be in no doubt that the Russian economy is at a dead stop. The Ruble is rising *because there has been a total collapse of imports*. Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down.
So, although Putin now wants to watch the world burn, sensible discussions should be taking place within the NATO alliance and also with China. The Putin famine must now be addressed for the sake of the global South and to reduce the blackmail Russia is using in Africa. There should be a measured and proportionate response to the various Putinist provocations.
On the other hand the Russian Embassy in London, which has openly supported war crimes, should now face greater sanctions. Many in the Baltic are outraged that the Embassy twitter account has not been suspended and the press office expelled from London. Indeed given the depravity of the Russian dimplomatic commentary, why is there a Russian Ambassador still in London? The Russian Ambassador in Talllinn is summoned to the Foreign ministry so regularly that he must be getting dizzy. The Russian Ambassador in London should be dealt with similarly.
The only way to stop Putin is to defeat him. That may require a long hard slog, but there is no other way, there is no deal he will keep and no truce he will not break. We must be ready at all levels to stop this evil regime from unleashing a yet worse barbarity. The Estonians do not beleive that the victory will be easy, but they are determined to see this through. Let us hope that the rest of the NATO alliance is equally clear sighted. Putin is evil and evil must be defeated or we may have no future at all.
A tourist visa ban on Russians may have more effect in a Russian winter, but may have an adverse impact on Russian refugees. I suspect a lot of the brain drain, and even ukranian refugees have got out via Russia on tourist visas.
"Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down."
Interesting. Why?
1) After the Russians refused to return the 700 planes they leased, they have no access to real parts. They can bootleg some, but that is not going to last too long. Then planes get grounded or start falling out of the sky. 2) Rail wagons need bearings that the Russians can not make themselves. As these break, no replacements and wagons can not be used. 3) Car and truck production has basically stopped and no imports from anywhere (including China).
Thanks.
Can the RU not make bearings? Seems incredible. Not exactly rocket science is it?
I thought they just fished them out of the Bearing Strait.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
The main difference I could see was the lack of diving, pantomime acts and generally nasty play. Perhaps the men could learn something from this. And as a commentator said, at least this England team went all the way.
Ooo not sure about that. I'd say there was some "professionalism" on display.
Yes. The last five minutes of the match spring to mind
Taking the ball to the corner flag and guarding ig is perfectly legit games management. It isn't play acting or diving.
Brexit is almost a direct result of the Blair/Brown Government failing to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Remember: Blair had twice promised a referendum on the EU Constitution. In early October 2007, the European Scrutiny Committee (which had a Labour majority at the time) had found that the treaty was "substantially equivalent" to the rejected constitution - and yet still they ignored the vote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7034052.stm
There was a substantial public majority in favour of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Just as there was for a referendum on the EU Constitution before it. The Liberal Democrats decided to play that by going for a full in/out referendum on the EU (sound familiar?) whilst Labour basically ignored it, and pretended it was both different and that it had got a smashing deal. David Cameron gave a "cast-iron" promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty but it was wholly ratified into EU law by December 2009, well before he took office, so he couldn't offer one when he took power in May 2010 - all he was able to do was to "not let matters rest there."
That's why the mood on the Tory backbenches was so febrile from almost the moment Cameron took office - we'd been done over and they were furious about it. There was a massive loss of trust between the UK and the EU. And the only way out was for the EU to substantially renegotiate with the UK on the basis that the Lisbon Treaty had not yet come into effect here, antebellum c.2007-2008, which they wholeheartedly refused to do.
Labour and the EU are far more responsible for Brexit than they'd care to admit, or ever will admit.
Don't also forget Ed Davey leading a walkout of the Lib Dems in order to stop them having to fulfil a manifesto pledge and vote for a referendum on Lisbon on the highly spurious grounds that there wasn't an in-out referendum on EU membership on offer. Twats.
The LibDems own Brexit.
Nah, the shitshow is purely a Tory Brexit, and everyone knows it.
And why do Tories keep trying to blame others for Brexit? Do they find it embarrassing?
Well, I'd rather we had pressed the brake at Lisbon and Europe had stopped there. So I'm still quite angry at those parties who prevented that outcome. But I'd rather be out than in as it is now. I'm fine with it. But make no mistake, we are where we are because Lab and LD were so dogmatically pro-European.
So your blaming Lab/LibDems for brexit because they were very pro European? Talk about victim blaming...blame the shopkeeper for shoplifting rather than the shoplifters for stealing? I see we are now at the stage of blame absolutley everyone except ourselves for the shitty bits of brexit?
But I'm quite happy with Brexit. I think the EU is a shambles. I'm pleased we left. I would rather the EU hadn't accelerated down the superstate route, and I think we could have stopped this, had Lab and LD not been so dogmatically pro-European. I regret the way the EU developed, and I blame Lab and LD for passing up the opportunity to stop it. But now it's developed in that way, I'm glad we're out and I'm glad the Tories developed Brexit. Is it a perfect Brexit? Of course not. There's costs and benefits of any settlement. But they delivered a better Brexit than any other party would have done, which would be no Brexit at all. We're out, and, from my point of view, hooray for that.
I just think had the LDs and Lab been prepared to compromise with the electorate a bit the Brexit they now lament could have been averted. But they didn't, and here we are.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
9 times out of 10 a professional men's player would have f*cked up the finish for the first goal. Toone took it beautifully.
It's easier to lob the goalie when they're half a foot shorter.
Usually they lob the goal too.
Yes, because the target (above the goalie and below the crossbar) they're aiming for is smaller.
You clearly don't understand the principle of a lob! The target is 24' x 8' for both men and women.
Sure, with a male goalkeeper the lob has to clear 8 or 9' but it wouldn't really be a lob if it didn't go at least that high.
If you watch failed lob attempts they nearly always go over the bar or wide, they're not caught be the keeper.
Edit: Toones lob was at least 10' or 12' when it went over the goalkeeper.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
9 times out of 10 a professional men's player would have f*cked up the finish for the first goal. Toone took it beautifully.
It's easier to lob the goalie when they're half a foot shorter.
That was my first reaction. But on watching the replay the lob would have cleared Peter Cech. It cleared the goalie by miles because she was - rightly - crouching to maximise her chances of stopping the ball passing her on the left or right. It was absolutely perfect.
But, to go back to my earlier point, football would benefit from a maximum height for goalies.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
9 times out of 10 a professional men's player would have f*cked up the finish for the first goal. Toone took it beautifully.
It's easier to lob the goalie when they're half a foot shorter.
That was my first reaction. But on watching the replay the lob would have cleared Peter Cech. It cleared the goalie by miles because she was - rightly - crouching to maximise her chances of stopping the ball passing her on the left or right. It was absolutely perfect.
But, to go back to my earlier point, football would benefit from a maximum height for goalies.
Brexit is almost a direct result of the Blair/Brown Government failing to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Remember: Blair had twice promised a referendum on the EU Constitution. In early October 2007, the European Scrutiny Committee (which had a Labour majority at the time) had found that the treaty was "substantially equivalent" to the rejected constitution - and yet still they ignored the vote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7034052.stm
There was a substantial public majority in favour of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Just as there was for a referendum on the EU Constitution before it. The Liberal Democrats decided to play that by going for a full in/out referendum on the EU (sound familiar?) whilst Labour basically ignored it, and pretended it was both different and that it had got a smashing deal. David Cameron gave a "cast-iron" promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty but it was wholly ratified into EU law by December 2009, well before he took office, so he couldn't offer one when he took power in May 2010 - all he was able to do was to "not let matters rest there."
That's why the mood on the Tory backbenches was so febrile from almost the moment Cameron took office - we'd been done over and they were furious about it. There was a massive loss of trust between the UK and the EU. And the only way out was for the EU to substantially renegotiate with the UK on the basis that the Lisbon Treaty had not yet come into effect here, antebellum c.2007-2008, which they wholeheartedly refused to do.
Labour and the EU are far more responsible for Brexit than they'd care to admit, or ever will admit.
Don't also forget Ed Davey leading a walkout of the Lib Dems in order to stop them having to fulfil a manifesto pledge and vote for a referendum on Lisbon on the highly spurious grounds that there wasn't an in-out referendum on EU membership on offer. Twats.
The LibDems own Brexit.
Nah, the shitshow is purely a Tory Brexit, and everyone knows it.
And why do Tories keep trying to blame others for Brexit? Do they find it embarrassing?
Well, I'd rather we had pressed the brake at Lisbon and Europe had stopped there. So I'm still quite angry at those parties who prevented that outcome. But I'd rather be out than in as it is now. I'm fine with it. But make no mistake, we are where we are because Lab and LD were so dogmatically pro-European.
So your blaming Lab/LibDems for brexit because they were very pro European? Talk about victim blaming...blame the shopkeeper for shoplifting rather than the shoplifters for stealing? I see we are now at the stage of blame absolutley everyone except ourselves for the shitty bits of brexit?
But I'm quite happy with Brexit. I think the EU is a shambles. I'm pleased we left. I would rather the EU hadn't accelerated down the superstate route, and I think we could have stopped this, had Lab and LD not been so dogmatically pro-European. I regret the way the EU developed, and I blame Lab and LD for passing up the opportunity to stop it. But now it's developed in that way, I'm glad we're out and I'm glad the Tories developed Brexit. Is it a perfect Brexit? Of course not. There's costs and benefits of any settlement. But they delivered a better Brexit than any other party would have done, which would be no Brexit at all. We're out, and, from my point of view, hooray for that.
I just think had the LDs and Lab been prepared to compromise with the electorate a bit the Brexit they now lament could have been averted. But they didn't, and here we are.
My biggest criticism of women's football was it was passionless, I mean when did you see a female footballer take off her shirt when she scored a goal, but I see that criticism is no longer valid.
My biggest criticism of women's football is that some of them feel the need to wear make up. It's just odd. Going out to play a game of football, need to look pretty... Some of the men's team are little better, however. Once upon a time vanity was sort of looked down on.
My biggest criticism of women's football is that it is football, and therefore intrinsically boring.
Well I might have taken that view. But I'd say to the untutored eye women's football is a lot less boring than men's. I don't know why. Someone suggested to me it might be because there aren't the massive resources devoted to understanding and closing down your opponents. It's like you get when a new young player bursts onto the scene, before the rest of the league works them out - except everyone in the tournament is in that boat. Conclusion: men's football would benefit from having fewer resources.
The quality wouldn't but it might improve it in other ways - eg not so distanced from communities and fans.
Sunday evening in Tallinn. As expected by the Estonians, Putin is clearly trying to expand his war into a struggle on multiple fronts. However, this reflects increasing panic inside Russia. The Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted significant damage on the Russians, and the atrocities that have been unleashed by the Putinists reflect an army that is an increasingly degrading into an undisciplined rabble. Here in the Baltic the cut off of gas supplies to Latvia has been greeted with a shrug. Estonia and Lithuania have been able to take most of the strain, and there is no immediate threat to the Latvian economy. A clear lesson to Germany that any point of leverage or weakness will be exploited, no matter what. It is suggested here that the probable attack on Bulgaria could be matched with activity in Belarus that reduces the threat from Lukashenka.
It is certainly now critical that the Russian threats, and indeed actions, are dealt with on our terms and not on theirs. Where he intends to escalate, we should stay cool and where he shows weakness we should match the Russians in ruthlessly exploiting that weakness. A tourist visa ban, as proposed by Estonia, is only a part of the next package of sanctions. Despite the nonsense printed in the UK media this weekend, people should be in no doubt that the Russian economy is at a dead stop. The Ruble is rising *because there has been a total collapse of imports*. Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down.
So, although Putin now wants to watch the world burn, sensible discussions should be taking place within the NATO alliance and also with China. The Putin famine must now be addressed for the sake of the global South and to reduce the blackmail Russia is using in Africa. There should be a measured and proportionate response to the various Putinist provocations.
On the other hand the Russian Embassy in London, which has openly supported war crimes, should now face greater sanctions. Many in the Baltic are outraged that the Embassy twitter account has not been suspended and the press office expelled from London. Indeed given the depravity of the Russian dimplomatic commentary, why is there a Russian Ambassador still in London? The Russian Ambassador in Talllinn is summoned to the Foreign ministry so regularly that he must be getting dizzy. The Russian Ambassador in London should be dealt with similarly.
The only way to stop Putin is to defeat him. That may require a long hard slog, but there is no other way, there is no deal he will keep and no truce he will not break. We must be ready at all levels to stop this evil regime from unleashing a yet worse barbarity. The Estonians do not beleive that the victory will be easy, but they are determined to see this through. Let us hope that the rest of the NATO alliance is equally clear sighted. Putin is evil and evil must be defeated or we may have no future at all.
A tourist visa ban on Russians may have more effect in a Russian winter, but may have an adverse impact on Russian refugees. I suspect a lot of the brain drain, and even ukranian refugees have got out via Russia on tourist visas.
"Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down."
Interesting. Why?
1) After the Russians refused to return the 700 planes they leased, they have no access to real parts. They can bootleg some, but that is not going to last too long. Then planes get grounded or start falling out of the sky. 2) Rail wagons need bearings that the Russians can not make themselves. As these break, no replacements and wagons can not be used. 3) Car and truck production has basically stopped and no imports from anywhere (including China).
Thanks.
Can the RU not make bearings? Seems incredible. Not exactly rocket science is it?
I thought they just fished them out of the Bearing Strait.
Sunday evening in Tallinn. As expected by the Estonians, Putin is clearly trying to expand his war into a struggle on multiple fronts. However, this reflects increasing panic inside Russia. The Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted significant damage on the Russians, and the atrocities that have been unleashed by the Putinists reflect an army that is an increasingly degrading into an undisciplined rabble. Here in the Baltic the cut off of gas supplies to Latvia has been greeted with a shrug. Estonia and Lithuania have been able to take most of the strain, and there is no immediate threat to the Latvian economy. A clear lesson to Germany that any point of leverage or weakness will be exploited, no matter what. It is suggested here that the probable attack on Bulgaria could be matched with activity in Belarus that reduces the threat from Lukashenka.
It is certainly now critical that the Russian threats, and indeed actions, are dealt with on our terms and not on theirs. Where he intends to escalate, we should stay cool and where he shows weakness we should match the Russians in ruthlessly exploiting that weakness. A tourist visa ban, as proposed by Estonia, is only a part of the next package of sanctions. Despite the nonsense printed in the UK media this weekend, people should be in no doubt that the Russian economy is at a dead stop. The Ruble is rising *because there has been a total collapse of imports*. Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down.
So, although Putin now wants to watch the world burn, sensible discussions should be taking place within the NATO alliance and also with China. The Putin famine must now be addressed for the sake of the global South and to reduce the blackmail Russia is using in Africa. There should be a measured and proportionate response to the various Putinist provocations.
On the other hand the Russian Embassy in London, which has openly supported war crimes, should now face greater sanctions. Many in the Baltic are outraged that the Embassy twitter account has not been suspended and the press office expelled from London. Indeed given the depravity of the Russian dimplomatic commentary, why is there a Russian Ambassador still in London? The Russian Ambassador in Talllinn is summoned to the Foreign ministry so regularly that he must be getting dizzy. The Russian Ambassador in London should be dealt with similarly.
The only way to stop Putin is to defeat him. That may require a long hard slog, but there is no other way, there is no deal he will keep and no truce he will not break. We must be ready at all levels to stop this evil regime from unleashing a yet worse barbarity. The Estonians do not beleive that the victory will be easy, but they are determined to see this through. Let us hope that the rest of the NATO alliance is equally clear sighted. Putin is evil and evil must be defeated or we may have no future at all.
A tourist visa ban on Russians may have more effect in a Russian winter, but may have an adverse impact on Russian refugees. I suspect a lot of the brain drain, and even ukranian refugees have got out via Russia on tourist visas.
"Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down."
Interesting. Why?
1) After the Russians refused to return the 700 planes they leased, they have no access to real parts. They can bootleg some, but that is not going to last too long. Then planes get grounded or start falling out of the sky. 2) Rail wagons need bearings that the Russians can not make themselves. As these break, no replacements and wagons can not be used. 3) Car and truck production has basically stopped and no imports from anywhere (including China).
Thanks.
Can the RU not make bearings? Seems incredible. Not exactly rocket science is it?
Wouldn't China export them loads? That's where most bearings seem to come from these days.
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
My biggest criticism of women's football was it was passionless, I mean when did you see a female footballer take off her shirt when she scored a goal, but I see that criticism is no longer valid.
My biggest criticism of women's football is that some of them feel the need to wear make up. It's just odd. Going out to play a game of football, need to look pretty... Some of the men's team are little better, however. Once upon a time vanity was sort of looked down on.
My biggest criticism of women's football is that it is football, and therefore intrinsically boring.
Well I might have taken that view. But I'd say to the untutored eye women's football is a lot less boring than men's. I don't know why. Someone suggested to me it might be because there aren't the massive resources devoted to understanding and closing down your opponents. It's like you get when a new young player bursts onto the scene, before the rest of the league works them out - except everyone in the tournament is in that boat. Conclusion: men's football would benefit from having fewer resources.
The quality wouldn't but it might improve it in other ways - eg not so distanced from communities and fans.
And perhaps cheaper to watch.
£42 for a season ticket to see the Leicester City Women's side at King Power stadium. About the same cost as a single game ticket for the men. Easier to get hold of too as they don't sell out.
Naughty Nadine, an actual UK cabinet minister, retweeting a mock-up image of Sunak dressed as Brutus stabbing Johnson in the Forum…
They’re a happy lot, these Tories
Let's have the picture then:
Maybe, in future decades, like all those dodgy Churchill attributions, "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me" will be set against Boris's name.
Brexit is almost a direct result of the Blair/Brown Government failing to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Remember: Blair had twice promised a referendum on the EU Constitution. In early October 2007, the European Scrutiny Committee (which had a Labour majority at the time) had found that the treaty was "substantially equivalent" to the rejected constitution - and yet still they ignored the vote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7034052.stm
There was a substantial public majority in favour of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Just as there was for a referendum on the EU Constitution before it. The Liberal Democrats decided to play that by going for a full in/out referendum on the EU (sound familiar?) whilst Labour basically ignored it, and pretended it was both different and that it had got a smashing deal. David Cameron gave a "cast-iron" promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty but it was wholly ratified into EU law by December 2009, well before he took office, so he couldn't offer one when he took power in May 2010 - all he was able to do was to "not let matters rest there."
That's why the mood on the Tory backbenches was so febrile from almost the moment Cameron took office - we'd been done over and they were furious about it. There was a massive loss of trust between the UK and the EU. And the only way out was for the EU to substantially renegotiate with the UK on the basis that the Lisbon Treaty had not yet come into effect here, antebellum c.2007-2008, which they wholeheartedly refused to do.
Labour and the EU are far more responsible for Brexit than they'd care to admit, or ever will admit.
Don't also forget Ed Davey leading a walkout of the Lib Dems in order to stop them having to fulfil a manifesto pledge and vote for a referendum on Lisbon on the highly spurious grounds that there wasn't an in-out referendum on EU membership on offer. Twats.
The LibDems own Brexit.
Nah, the shitshow is purely a Tory Brexit, and everyone knows it.
And why do Tories keep trying to blame others for Brexit? Do they find it embarrassing?
Well, I'd rather we had pressed the brake at Lisbon and Europe had stopped there. So I'm still quite angry at those parties who prevented that outcome. But I'd rather be out than in as it is now. I'm fine with it. But make no mistake, we are where we are because Lab and LD were so dogmatically pro-European.
So your blaming Lab/LibDems for brexit because they were very pro European? Talk about victim blaming...blame the shopkeeper for shoplifting rather than the shoplifters for stealing? I see we are now at the stage of blame absolutley everyone except ourselves for the shitty bits of brexit?
But I'm quite happy with Brexit. I think the EU is a shambles. I'm pleased we left. I would rather the EU hadn't accelerated down the superstate route, and I think we could have stopped this, had Lab and LD not been so dogmatically pro-European. I regret the way the EU developed, and I blame Lab and LD for passing up the opportunity to stop it. But now it's developed in that way, I'm glad we're out and I'm glad the Tories developed Brexit. Is it a perfect Brexit? Of course not. There's costs and benefits of any settlement. But they delivered a better Brexit than any other party would have done, which would be no Brexit at all. We're out, and, from my point of view, hooray for that.
I just think had the LDs and Lab been prepared to compromise with the electorate a bit the Brexit they now lament could have been averted. But they didn't, and here we are.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
Winners v Losers as people categories is brutish Trump talk. It jars with me.
Sunday evening in Tallinn. As expected by the Estonians, Putin is clearly trying to expand his war into a struggle on multiple fronts. However, this reflects increasing panic inside Russia. The Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted significant damage on the Russians, and the atrocities that have been unleashed by the Putinists reflect an army that is an increasingly degrading into an undisciplined rabble. Here in the Baltic the cut off of gas supplies to Latvia has been greeted with a shrug. Estonia and Lithuania have been able to take most of the strain, and there is no immediate threat to the Latvian economy. A clear lesson to Germany that any point of leverage or weakness will be exploited, no matter what. It is suggested here that the probable attack on Bulgaria could be matched with activity in Belarus that reduces the threat from Lukashenka.
It is certainly now critical that the Russian threats, and indeed actions, are dealt with on our terms and not on theirs. Where he intends to escalate, we should stay cool and where he shows weakness we should match the Russians in ruthlessly exploiting that weakness. A tourist visa ban, as proposed by Estonia, is only a part of the next package of sanctions. Despite the nonsense printed in the UK media this weekend, people should be in no doubt that the Russian economy is at a dead stop. The Ruble is rising *because there has been a total collapse of imports*. Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down.
So, although Putin now wants to watch the world burn, sensible discussions should be taking place within the NATO alliance and also with China. The Putin famine must now be addressed for the sake of the global South and to reduce the blackmail Russia is using in Africa. There should be a measured and proportionate response to the various Putinist provocations.
On the other hand the Russian Embassy in London, which has openly supported war crimes, should now face greater sanctions. Many in the Baltic are outraged that the Embassy twitter account has not been suspended and the press office expelled from London. Indeed given the depravity of the Russian dimplomatic commentary, why is there a Russian Ambassador still in London? The Russian Ambassador in Talllinn is summoned to the Foreign ministry so regularly that he must be getting dizzy. The Russian Ambassador in London should be dealt with similarly.
The only way to stop Putin is to defeat him. That may require a long hard slog, but there is no other way, there is no deal he will keep and no truce he will not break. We must be ready at all levels to stop this evil regime from unleashing a yet worse barbarity. The Estonians do not beleive that the victory will be easy, but they are determined to see this through. Let us hope that the rest of the NATO alliance is equally clear sighted. Putin is evil and evil must be defeated or we may have no future at all.
A tourist visa ban on Russians may have more effect in a Russian winter, but may have an adverse impact on Russian refugees. I suspect a lot of the brain drain, and even ukranian refugees have got out via Russia on tourist visas.
"Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down."
Interesting. Why?
1) After the Russians refused to return the 700 planes they leased, they have no access to real parts. They can bootleg some, but that is not going to last too long. Then planes get grounded or start falling out of the sky. 2) Rail wagons need bearings that the Russians can not make themselves. As these break, no replacements and wagons can not be used. 3) Car and truck production has basically stopped and no imports from anywhere (including China).
Thanks.
Can the RU not make bearings? Seems incredible. Not exactly rocket science is it?
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
Note the rate of improvement though.
The main difference I could see was the lack of diving, pantomime acts and generally nasty play. Perhaps the men could learn something from this.
Sunday evening in Tallinn. As expected by the Estonians, Putin is clearly trying to expand his war into a struggle on multiple fronts. However, this reflects increasing panic inside Russia. The Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted significant damage on the Russians, and the atrocities that have been unleashed by the Putinists reflect an army that is an increasingly degrading into an undisciplined rabble. Here in the Baltic the cut off of gas supplies to Latvia has been greeted with a shrug. Estonia and Lithuania have been able to take most of the strain, and there is no immediate threat to the Latvian economy. A clear lesson to Germany that any point of leverage or weakness will be exploited, no matter what. It is suggested here that the probable attack on Bulgaria could be matched with activity in Belarus that reduces the threat from Lukashenka.
It is certainly now critical that the Russian threats, and indeed actions, are dealt with on our terms and not on theirs. Where he intends to escalate, we should stay cool and where he shows weakness we should match the Russians in ruthlessly exploiting that weakness. A tourist visa ban, as proposed by Estonia, is only a part of the next package of sanctions. Despite the nonsense printed in the UK media this weekend, people should be in no doubt that the Russian economy is at a dead stop. The Ruble is rising *because there has been a total collapse of imports*. Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down.
So, although Putin now wants to watch the world burn, sensible discussions should be taking place within the NATO alliance and also with China. The Putin famine must now be addressed for the sake of the global South and to reduce the blackmail Russia is using in Africa. There should be a measured and proportionate response to the various Putinist provocations.
On the other hand the Russian Embassy in London, which has openly supported war crimes, should now face greater sanctions. Many in the Baltic are outraged that the Embassy twitter account has not been suspended and the press office expelled from London. Indeed given the depravity of the Russian dimplomatic commentary, why is there a Russian Ambassador still in London? The Russian Ambassador in Talllinn is summoned to the Foreign ministry so regularly that he must be getting dizzy. The Russian Ambassador in London should be dealt with similarly.
The only way to stop Putin is to defeat him. That may require a long hard slog, but there is no other way, there is no deal he will keep and no truce he will not break. We must be ready at all levels to stop this evil regime from unleashing a yet worse barbarity. The Estonians do not beleive that the victory will be easy, but they are determined to see this through. Let us hope that the rest of the NATO alliance is equally clear sighted. Putin is evil and evil must be defeated or we may have no future at all.
A tourist visa ban on Russians may have more effect in a Russian winter, but may have an adverse impact on Russian refugees. I suspect a lot of the brain drain, and even ukranian refugees have got out via Russia on tourist visas.
"Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down."
Interesting. Why?
1) After the Russians refused to return the 700 planes they leased, they have no access to real parts. They can bootleg some, but that is not going to last too long. Then planes get grounded or start falling out of the sky. 2) Rail wagons need bearings that the Russians can not make themselves. As these break, no replacements and wagons can not be used. 3) Car and truck production has basically stopped and no imports from anywhere (including China).
Thanks.
Can the RU not make bearings? Seems incredible. Not exactly rocket science is it?
I thought they just fished them out of the Bearing Strait.
Only when Sarah isn't looking that way out of her window
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
Another cry bully lunatic with a pretended persecution complex, great.
Pathetic isn't it. Let's abolish men and countries!
Abolishing countries would get my vote!
It's the ultimate 'progressive' aspiration. Keep working towards it, never get there, that's OK. The benefits accrue from the journey.
Adjusts horn rims.
The thing is, if you abolish countries, what replaces them? Limited experience suggests the answer not happy little self-governing communities but massive uncaring empires.
Brexit is almost a direct result of the Blair/Brown Government failing to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Remember: Blair had twice promised a referendum on the EU Constitution. In early October 2007, the European Scrutiny Committee (which had a Labour majority at the time) had found that the treaty was "substantially equivalent" to the rejected constitution - and yet still they ignored the vote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7034052.stm
There was a substantial public majority in favour of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Just as there was for a referendum on the EU Constitution before it. The Liberal Democrats decided to play that by going for a full in/out referendum on the EU (sound familiar?) whilst Labour basically ignored it, and pretended it was both different and that it had got a smashing deal. David Cameron gave a "cast-iron" promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty but it was wholly ratified into EU law by December 2009, well before he took office, so he couldn't offer one when he took power in May 2010 - all he was able to do was to "not let matters rest there."
That's why the mood on the Tory backbenches was so febrile from almost the moment Cameron took office - we'd been done over and they were furious about it. There was a massive loss of trust between the UK and the EU. And the only way out was for the EU to substantially renegotiate with the UK on the basis that the Lisbon Treaty had not yet come into effect here, antebellum c.2007-2008, which they wholeheartedly refused to do.
Labour and the EU are far more responsible for Brexit than they'd care to admit, or ever will admit.
Don't also forget Ed Davey leading a walkout of the Lib Dems in order to stop them having to fulfil a manifesto pledge and vote for a referendum on Lisbon on the highly spurious grounds that there wasn't an in-out referendum on EU membership on offer. Twats.
The LibDems own Brexit.
Nah, the shitshow is purely a Tory Brexit, and everyone knows it.
And why do Tories keep trying to blame others for Brexit? Do they find it embarrassing?
Well, I'd rather we had pressed the brake at Lisbon and Europe had stopped there. So I'm still quite angry at those parties who prevented that outcome. But I'd rather be out than in as it is now. I'm fine with it. But make no mistake, we are where we are because Lab and LD were so dogmatically pro-European.
So your blaming Lab/LibDems for brexit because they were very pro European? Talk about victim blaming...blame the shopkeeper for shoplifting rather than the shoplifters for stealing? I see we are now at the stage of blame absolutley everyone except ourselves for the shitty bits of brexit?
But I'm quite happy with Brexit. I think the EU is a shambles. I'm pleased we left. I would rather the EU hadn't accelerated down the superstate route, and I think we could have stopped this, had Lab and LD not been so dogmatically pro-European. I regret the way the EU developed, and I blame Lab and LD for passing up the opportunity to stop it. But now it's developed in that way, I'm glad we're out and I'm glad the Tories developed Brexit. Is it a perfect Brexit? Of course not. There's costs and benefits of any settlement. But they delivered a better Brexit than any other party would have done, which would be no Brexit at all. We're out, and, from my point of view, hooray for that.
I just think had the LDs and Lab been prepared to compromise with the electorate a bit the Brexit they now lament could have been averted. But they didn't, and here we are.
How would a government and an opposition party have changed the policy of 26 EU countries? When the actual government made a compromise in 2016, did everyone say "okay, let's stay in"? Nope, You own it! It's rubbish, and your fault, so be proud of it!
My biggest criticism of women's football was it was passionless, I mean when did you see a female footballer take off her shirt when she scored a goal, but I see that criticism is no longer valid.
My biggest criticism of women's football is that some of them feel the need to wear make up. It's just odd. Going out to play a game of football, need to look pretty... Some of the men's team are little better, however. Once upon a time vanity was sort of looked down on.
My biggest criticism of women's football is that it is football, and therefore intrinsically boring.
Well I might have taken that view. But I'd say to the untutored eye women's football is a lot less boring than men's. I don't know why. Someone suggested to me it might be because there aren't the massive resources devoted to understanding and closing down your opponents. It's like you get when a new young player bursts onto the scene, before the rest of the league works them out - except everyone in the tournament is in that boat. Conclusion: men's football would benefit from having fewer resources.
The quality wouldn't but it might improve it in other ways - eg not so distanced from communities and fans.
And perhaps cheaper to watch.
£42 for a season ticket to see the Leicester City Women's side at King Power stadium. About the same cost as a single game ticket for the men. Easier to get hold of too as they don't sell out.
Supply and demand, of course. Perhaps that will start to change now - as low as League Two, ticket prices are ridiculous.
On a related thought, I wonder how the viewing figures will compare to the final last year (42 million total - 31m TV plus 11m streams).
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
9 times out of 10 a professional men's player would have f*cked up the finish for the first goal. Toone took it beautifully.
It's easier to lob the goalie when they're half a foot shorter.
That was my first reaction. But on watching the replay the lob would have cleared Peter Cech. It cleared the goalie by miles because she was - rightly - crouching to maximise her chances of stopping the ball passing her on the left or right. It was absolutely perfect.
But, to go back to my earlier point, football would benefit from a maximum height for goalies.
As a short-arse, can I just say that's ludicrous.
It's meant to be reasonably tricky to score in football, so that each goal means something. And there isn't a particular scarcity of goals.
There's also a huge practical issue as you can intervene medically to limit or stop growth in later puberty. There would be a huge temptation to do that with 17 year old academy players close to the height threshold, which is an unnecessary ethical minefield.
Sunday evening in Tallinn. As expected by the Estonians, Putin is clearly trying to expand his war into a struggle on multiple fronts. However, this reflects increasing panic inside Russia. The Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted significant damage on the Russians, and the atrocities that have been unleashed by the Putinists reflect an army that is an increasingly degrading into an undisciplined rabble. Here in the Baltic the cut off of gas supplies to Latvia has been greeted with a shrug. Estonia and Lithuania have been able to take most of the strain, and there is no immediate threat to the Latvian economy. A clear lesson to Germany that any point of leverage or weakness will be exploited, no matter what. It is suggested here that the probable attack on Bulgaria could be matched with activity in Belarus that reduces the threat from Lukashenka.
It is certainly now critical that the Russian threats, and indeed actions, are dealt with on our terms and not on theirs. Where he intends to escalate, we should stay cool and where he shows weakness we should match the Russians in ruthlessly exploiting that weakness. A tourist visa ban, as proposed by Estonia, is only a part of the next package of sanctions. Despite the nonsense printed in the UK media this weekend, people should be in no doubt that the Russian economy is at a dead stop. The Ruble is rising *because there has been a total collapse of imports*. Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down.
So, although Putin now wants to watch the world burn, sensible discussions should be taking place within the NATO alliance and also with China. The Putin famine must now be addressed for the sake of the global South and to reduce the blackmail Russia is using in Africa. There should be a measured and proportionate response to the various Putinist provocations.
On the other hand the Russian Embassy in London, which has openly supported war crimes, should now face greater sanctions. Many in the Baltic are outraged that the Embassy twitter account has not been suspended and the press office expelled from London. Indeed given the depravity of the Russian dimplomatic commentary, why is there a Russian Ambassador still in London? The Russian Ambassador in Talllinn is summoned to the Foreign ministry so regularly that he must be getting dizzy. The Russian Ambassador in London should be dealt with similarly.
The only way to stop Putin is to defeat him. That may require a long hard slog, but there is no other way, there is no deal he will keep and no truce he will not break. We must be ready at all levels to stop this evil regime from unleashing a yet worse barbarity. The Estonians do not beleive that the victory will be easy, but they are determined to see this through. Let us hope that the rest of the NATO alliance is equally clear sighted. Putin is evil and evil must be defeated or we may have no future at all.
A tourist visa ban on Russians may have more effect in a Russian winter, but may have an adverse impact on Russian refugees. I suspect a lot of the brain drain, and even ukranian refugees have got out via Russia on tourist visas.
"Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down."
Interesting. Why?
1) After the Russians refused to return the 700 planes they leased, they have no access to real parts. They can bootleg some, but that is not going to last too long. Then planes get grounded or start falling out of the sky. 2) Rail wagons need bearings that the Russians can not make themselves. As these break, no replacements and wagons can not be used. 3) Car and truck production has basically stopped and no imports from anywhere (including China).
Thanks.
Can the RU not make bearings? Seems incredible. Not exactly rocket science is it?
Ball/roller bearings are actually fairly complex to make. At least, if you make them poorly, your machinery will break down. They are something you need in massive numbers, but need to be of high quality.
German ball-bearing factories were a target of ours during WW2.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
9 times out of 10 a professional men's player would have f*cked up the finish for the first goal. Toone took it beautifully.
It's easier to lob the goalie when they're half a foot shorter.
That was my first reaction. But on watching the replay the lob would have cleared Peter Cech. It cleared the goalie by miles because she was - rightly - crouching to maximise her chances of stopping the ball passing her on the left or right. It was absolutely perfect.
But, to go back to my earlier point, football would benefit from a maximum height for goalies.
As a short-arse, can I just say that's ludicrous.
It's meant to be reasonably tricky to score in football, so that each goal means something. And there isn't a particular scarcity of goals.
There's also a huge practical issue as you can intervene medically to limit or stop growth in later puberty. There would be a huge temptation to do that with 17 year old academy players close to the height threshold, which is an unnecessary ethical minefield.
Yes, to be clear it's not a serious suggestion as a way forward.
Commonwealth Games is back on. While I'm in old fogey mode, there are far too many swimming events. Just swim as fast as you can. Butterfly, Breast Stroke and Backstroke: superfluous. Medleys of these: taking the piss. Mixed medley: just stop it now.
Just to reassure you I'm not totally negative about everything, perfectly happy to enjoy rugby sevens, netball or beach volleyball, which seem the other options right now.
Just to reassure you I'm not totally negative about everything, perfectly happy to enjoy rugby sevens, netball or beach volleyball, which seem the other options right now.
Did you miss the Rollerball, I mean cycling, earlier?
Brexit is almost a direct result of the Blair/Brown Government failing to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Remember: Blair had twice promised a referendum on the EU Constitution. In early October 2007, the European Scrutiny Committee (which had a Labour majority at the time) had found that the treaty was "substantially equivalent" to the rejected constitution - and yet still they ignored the vote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7034052.stm
There was a substantial public majority in favour of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Just as there was for a referendum on the EU Constitution before it. The Liberal Democrats decided to play that by going for a full in/out referendum on the EU (sound familiar?) whilst Labour basically ignored it, and pretended it was both different and that it had got a smashing deal. David Cameron gave a "cast-iron" promise to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty but it was wholly ratified into EU law by December 2009, well before he took office, so he couldn't offer one when he took power in May 2010 - all he was able to do was to "not let matters rest there."
That's why the mood on the Tory backbenches was so febrile from almost the moment Cameron took office - we'd been done over and they were furious about it. There was a massive loss of trust between the UK and the EU. And the only way out was for the EU to substantially renegotiate with the UK on the basis that the Lisbon Treaty had not yet come into effect here, antebellum c.2007-2008, which they wholeheartedly refused to do.
Labour and the EU are far more responsible for Brexit than they'd care to admit, or ever will admit.
Don't also forget Ed Davey leading a walkout of the Lib Dems in order to stop them having to fulfil a manifesto pledge and vote for a referendum on Lisbon on the highly spurious grounds that there wasn't an in-out referendum on EU membership on offer. Twats.
The LibDems own Brexit.
Nah, the shitshow is purely a Tory Brexit, and everyone knows it.
And why do Tories keep trying to blame others for Brexit? Do they find it embarrassing?
Well, I'd rather we had pressed the brake at Lisbon and Europe had stopped there. So I'm still quite angry at those parties who prevented that outcome. But I'd rather be out than in as it is now. I'm fine with it. But make no mistake, we are where we are because Lab and LD were so dogmatically pro-European.
So your blaming Lab/LibDems for brexit because they were very pro European? Talk about victim blaming...blame the shopkeeper for shoplifting rather than the shoplifters for stealing? I see we are now at the stage of blame absolutley everyone except ourselves for the shitty bits of brexit?
But I'm quite happy with Brexit. I think the EU is a shambles. I'm pleased we left. I would rather the EU hadn't accelerated down the superstate route, and I think we could have stopped this, had Lab and LD not been so dogmatically pro-European. I regret the way the EU developed, and I blame Lab and LD for passing up the opportunity to stop it. But now it's developed in that way, I'm glad we're out and I'm glad the Tories developed Brexit. Is it a perfect Brexit? Of course not. There's costs and benefits of any settlement. But they delivered a better Brexit than any other party would have done, which would be no Brexit at all. We're out, and, from my point of view, hooray for that.
I just think had the LDs and Lab been prepared to compromise with the electorate a bit the Brexit they now lament could have been averted. But they didn't, and here we are.
How would a government and an opposition party have changed the policy of 26 EU countries? When the actual government made a compromise in 2016, did everyone say "okay, let's stay in"? Nope, You own it! It's rubbish, and your fault, so be proud of it!
Lisbon needed all 27 countries to agree to it. There was a slow bicycle race not to be the country which held it up. No electorates wanted it, but everyone wanted someone else to be the one to blame.
And I voted Leave, yes, and I'm happy we left, given the binary choice we had. But I recognise many people aren't happy about it. But if the brakes had been put on earlier we could have had a situation which would have got far more support.
Naughty Nadine, an actual UK cabinet minister, retweeting a mock-up image of Sunak dressed as Brutus stabbing Johnson in the Forum…
They’re a happy lot, these Tories
Let's have the picture then:
Maybe, in future decades, like all those dodgy Churchill attributions, "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me" will be set against Boris's name.
Commonwealth Games is back on. While I'm in old fogey mode, there are far too many swimming events. Just swim as fast as you can. Butterfly, Breast Stroke and Backstroke: superfluous. Medleys of these: taking the piss. Mixed medley: just stop it now.
Just to reassure you I'm not totally negative about everything, perfectly happy to enjoy rugby sevens, netball or beach volleyball, which seem the other options right now.
You don't think there are too many rules in those ball sports? Just have a single sport where you can do whatever you want with the ball.
⚡️Ukraine destroys Russian echelon in Kherson Obast with HIMARS.
According to Odesa Oblast Administration, Ukraine hit a 40-car train transporting Russian troops, equipment, and ammunition from Crimea on July 31, killing around 80 Russian soldiers and injuring around 200.
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
Another cry bully lunatic with a pretended persecution complex, great.
Pathetic isn't it. Let's abolish men and countries!
Abolishing countries would get my vote!
It's the ultimate 'progressive' aspiration. Keep working towards it, never get there, that's OK. The benefits accrue from the journey.
Adjusts horn rims.
The thing is, if you abolish countries, what replaces them? Limited experience suggests the answer not happy little self-governing communities but massive uncaring empires.
My vision is countries remain but become ever more entwined and integrated until all conflict between them - other than in sports - fades away. It's how those superintelligent and enlightened Cadbury's Smash aliens would arrange things. But as I say, not an actual feasible endstate, more a guiding spirit to embrace.
Just to reassure you I'm not totally negative about everything, perfectly happy to enjoy rugby sevens, netball or beach volleyball, which seem the other options right now.
Did you miss the Rollerball, I mean cycling, earlier?
Iheard about that! I shall go and look at the clip.
One thing I have noted is the new female commentators on MALE sports - football, rugby and cricket - are often significantly better than the men. Cooler, smarter, more articulate. I’ve no idea why but I’ve noticed it across the board
With football I think it's because they have only ever played the "modern" game with all the conditioning, training, physio, diet, stats etc. Women's professional football doesn't have the baggage, all the top clubs are aping the best new ideas from the men's game.
So when it comes to talking about contemporary football at the top level women commentators who have played the game recently often have more relevant experience of how it is now for men in the Premier League than the ex pros of 20-30 years ago who can often be a bit sniffy about crazy ideas like eating well and keeping fit.
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
Another cry bully lunatic with a pretended persecution complex, great.
Pathetic isn't it. Let's abolish men and countries!
Abolishing countries would get my vote!
It's the ultimate 'progressive' aspiration. Keep working towards it, never get there, that's OK. The benefits accrue from the journey.
Adjusts horn rims.
The thing is, if you abolish countries, what replaces them? Limited experience suggests the answer not happy little self-governing communities but massive uncaring empires.
My vision is countries remain but become ever more entwined and integrated until all conflict between them - other than in sports - fades away. It's how those superintelligent and enlightened Cadbury's Smash aliens would arrange things. But as I say, not an actual feasible endstate, more a guiding spirit to embrace.
A sort of Star Trek vision. Uhuru came from the United States of Africa. Uhuru means freedom in Swahili.
Sunday evening in Tallinn. As expected by the Estonians, Putin is clearly trying to expand his war into a struggle on multiple fronts. However, this reflects increasing panic inside Russia. The Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted significant damage on the Russians, and the atrocities that have been unleashed by the Putinists reflect an army that is an increasingly degrading into an undisciplined rabble. Here in the Baltic the cut off of gas supplies to Latvia has been greeted with a shrug. Estonia and Lithuania have been able to take most of the strain, and there is no immediate threat to the Latvian economy. A clear lesson to Germany that any point of leverage or weakness will be exploited, no matter what. It is suggested here that the probable attack on Bulgaria could be matched with activity in Belarus that reduces the threat from Lukashenka.
It is certainly now critical that the Russian threats, and indeed actions, are dealt with on our terms and not on theirs. Where he intends to escalate, we should stay cool and where he shows weakness we should match the Russians in ruthlessly exploiting that weakness. A tourist visa ban, as proposed by Estonia, is only a part of the next package of sanctions. Despite the nonsense printed in the UK media this weekend, people should be in no doubt that the Russian economy is at a dead stop. The Ruble is rising *because there has been a total collapse of imports*. Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down.
So, although Putin now wants to watch the world burn, sensible discussions should be taking place within the NATO alliance and also with China. The Putin famine must now be addressed for the sake of the global South and to reduce the blackmail Russia is using in Africa. There should be a measured and proportionate response to the various Putinist provocations.
On the other hand the Russian Embassy in London, which has openly supported war crimes, should now face greater sanctions. Many in the Baltic are outraged that the Embassy twitter account has not been suspended and the press office expelled from London. Indeed given the depravity of the Russian dimplomatic commentary, why is there a Russian Ambassador still in London? The Russian Ambassador in Talllinn is summoned to the Foreign ministry so regularly that he must be getting dizzy. The Russian Ambassador in London should be dealt with similarly.
The only way to stop Putin is to defeat him. That may require a long hard slog, but there is no other way, there is no deal he will keep and no truce he will not break. We must be ready at all levels to stop this evil regime from unleashing a yet worse barbarity. The Estonians do not beleive that the victory will be easy, but they are determined to see this through. Let us hope that the rest of the NATO alliance is equally clear sighted. Putin is evil and evil must be defeated or we may have no future at all.
A tourist visa ban on Russians may have more effect in a Russian winter, but may have an adverse impact on Russian refugees. I suspect a lot of the brain drain, and even ukranian refugees have got out via Russia on tourist visas.
"Another few weeks and the Russian transport infrastructure will start to break down."
Interesting. Why?
1) After the Russians refused to return the 700 planes they leased, they have no access to real parts. They can bootleg some, but that is not going to last too long. Then planes get grounded or start falling out of the sky. 2) Rail wagons need bearings that the Russians can not make themselves. As these break, no replacements and wagons can not be used. 3) Car and truck production has basically stopped and no imports from anywhere (including China).
Thanks.
Can the RU not make bearings? Seems incredible. Not exactly rocket science is it?
I thought they just fished them out of the Bearing Strait.
One thing to remember, is while this is great publicity for women's football, there is a strong history of women's football gaining much larger coverage around large tournaments and then this quickly dissipates over the next couple of years, and doesn't translate into actual regular attendances and viewership's increasing that much.
The prime examples of this were the two previous incarnations of the Woman's Major League Soccer in USA. After the huge success of the 1999 women's world cup - The final having a 90,000 attendance, they were quick to establish a pro women's league within months of the world cup. Wages went up to $200,000 a year for top players, a huge amount in 2000. However the post world cup excitement quickly did not last and it folded into bankruptcy after 3 years, the exact same thing happened to the second version around 2007.
The reason women have such tight wage caps linked to turnover now is to prevent these inevitable financial collapses happening again, it's great to see women's football increase but the turnover is still way way below that of the men's, some WSL match's still saw some matches falling to reach 1,000 in attendance for last season.
Those calling for much higher wages is such a strange thought to me, surely if you actually care about women's football becoming a more established sport, then surely you would prefer that money invested in grassroots football to help the game grow, not into a handful of top playing stars, which when this has happened before has lead to women's leagues actually folding and hurting the game.
Yes. I’m genuinely delighted that England have won. And against Germany. In extra time. At Wembley
Hahahahah
Nonetheless I stand by my previous observations that the skill level is seriously low compared to the mens game. Ponderous, clumsy, sometimes comically bad
Women’s football has a charm and grace of it’s own and should probably be seen as an entirely different sport, and it could do well. Can’t ever see it attracting anything like the enthusiasm of the men’s game, however. Not even close
To be fair, they won mate. More than can be said for the men.
Oh indeed. I’d kick out Southgate tomorrow and get that woman manager in. She’s a winner. He isn’t
9 times out of 10 a professional men's player would have f*cked up the finish for the first goal. Toone took it beautifully.
It's easier to lob the goalie when they're half a foot shorter.
That was my first reaction. But on watching the replay the lob would have cleared Peter Cech. It cleared the goalie by miles because she was - rightly - crouching to maximise her chances of stopping the ball passing her on the left or right. It was absolutely perfect.
But, to go back to my earlier point, football would benefit from a maximum height for goalies.
If goalkeepers are a lot taller now than when the size of the goal was last codified it would make sense to increase the size of the goal.
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
Another cry bully lunatic with a pretended persecution complex, great.
Pathetic isn't it. Let's abolish men and countries!
Abolishing countries would get my vote!
It's the ultimate 'progressive' aspiration. Keep working towards it, never get there, that's OK. The benefits accrue from the journey.
Adjusts horn rims.
The thing is, if you abolish countries, what replaces them? Limited experience suggests the answer not happy little self-governing communities but massive uncaring empires.
My vision is countries remain but become ever more entwined and integrated until all conflict between them - other than in sports - fades away. It's how those superintelligent and enlightened Cadbury's Smash aliens would arrange things. But as I say, not an actual feasible endstate, more a guiding spirit to embrace.
I’d quite like to live in Iain M Banks’ anarchist utopian Culture but we don’t have any benevolent super-intelligent artificial Minds to allocate resources for us. Still, Leon’s working on it I understand, so something to look forward to.
Incidentally, since Mrs J took up running, and talking to a female (amateur) triathlete, I've come to understand that sports bras are known as things like 'breastplates', and are in some cases akin to body armour to restrain the forces.
It had never occurred to me before, but running without a proper sports bra is apparently next to impossible.
And with that, I've probably reduced the level of discourse on PB...
Yup, another thing women have to spend money on and test out to do something men can do without much thought.
Otoh, on hot days I have to vaseline up my nipples to avoid horrendous chafing.
Meanwhile. Vucic is addressing the Serbian people.
🇷🇸Serbian President Vučić:
"All I can say is that we will ask for peace and ask for peace, but I will tell you right away: there will be no surrender and Serbia will win. If they try to start persecuting Serbs, bullying Serbs, killing Serbs, Serbia will win!"
Another cry bully lunatic with a pretended persecution complex, great.
Pathetic isn't it. Let's abolish men and countries!
Abolishing countries would get my vote!
It's the ultimate 'progressive' aspiration. Keep working towards it, never get there, that's OK. The benefits accrue from the journey.
Adjusts horn rims.
I'm not really doing much 'working towards it' - I just cheered England on!
But that's the perfect manifestation. We're one United Kingdom with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as England, but despite being one UK we still have separated football teams to play against each other.
Comments
They’re a happy lot, these Tories
Honestly, Putin and his minions really do think we're all as stupid as them. But I suppose dealing with the likes of Farage and Cummings might give that impression.
Una Hajdari
@UnaHajdari
There isn’t a conflict or escalation brewing in Kosovo atm. Kosovo Serbs set up roadblocks towards two main border crossings with Serbia in the north, in opposition to a move by the 🇽🇰 gov’t whereby Serbian citizens need special certificates when entering the country. #calmdown
https://twitter.com/UnaHajdari/status/1553808798896340993
Probably my first, world class club football in 2 decades (in the flesh). I’ve seen other pro football but not this standard, I’ve seen tons on tv but it ain’t the same
Wow. It is now so fast and so skilful and so competitive. You can’t take your eyes off it
And perhaps it needs someone like me - who hasn’t seen it in many many years - to notice the remarkable improvement
Obviously we don't see as much of her these days, but in the debates with Starmer and Nandy she was also clearly a novice politician. She may have been identified as clever, and the best hope of the left, and she may do well in the future, but she was not even close to those two in terms of political skills at the time.
The one difference that I found noticeable was that the sprinting seemed to be slower.
If women's football does take off in England it will be interesting to see whether that's more sports fans overall, fewer watching men's football, or if other sports suffer from more competition for attention from football: rugby, cricket, etc.
@Baddiel
Home. In fact it’s come home. A sentence I thought I’d never write. I’ve gone. Thank you Lionesses.
Seems to be a pretty clear indication that they don't recognise Kosovan independence.
Unlike the Scot Nats who - according to these self same Brit Leavers - can't be granted a 2nd Sindy Ref anytime soon because if we did that they'd just keep on demanding them the whole time until they get the result they want.
It's a cracker!
The revenue top clubs generate from the womens game is far less than they spend on coaching, support, travel, admin etc. Without being subsidised, womens players would all be paid, literally, zero.
(*) In practice, it would be like Olympic sports such as rowing, gymnastics, track cycling etc - it would be funded by UK Sport etc.
It would be great to see how she fares managing a Premiership team or similar.
If by any chance Sunak does win this Tory race, he should use it in his GE campaign. It would earn him a good few votes.
So there’s absolutely no reason why a female manager couldn’t run the men’s England footie team - and indeed do better than some of the many duds we’ve had these last decades
Perhaps their different gender allows them to take out the emotion and testosterone and be better analysts?
I have to say, I've rarely seen it done so effectively as England did at the end there. Fair play, well done!
2) Rail wagons need bearings that the Russians can not make themselves. As these break, no replacements and wagons can not be used.
3) Car and truck production has basically stopped and no imports from anywhere (including China).
Can the RU not make bearings? Seems incredible. Not exactly rocket science is it?
I would rather the EU hadn't accelerated down the superstate route, and I think we could have stopped this, had Lab and LD not been so dogmatically pro-European. I regret the way the EU developed, and I blame Lab and LD for passing up the opportunity to stop it.
But now it's developed in that way, I'm glad we're out and I'm glad the Tories developed Brexit. Is it a perfect Brexit? Of course not. There's costs and benefits of any settlement. But they delivered a better Brexit than any other party would have done, which would be no Brexit at all. We're out, and, from my point of view, hooray for that.
I just think had the LDs and Lab been prepared to compromise with the electorate a bit the Brexit they now lament could have been averted. But they didn't, and here we are.
Sure, with a male goalkeeper the lob has to clear 8 or 9' but it wouldn't really be a lob if it didn't go at least that high.
If you watch failed lob attempts they nearly always go over the bar or wide, they're not caught be the keeper.
Edit: Toones lob was at least 10' or 12' when it went over the goalkeeper.
But on watching the replay the lob would have cleared Peter Cech. It cleared the goalie by miles because she was - rightly - crouching to maximise her chances of stopping the ball passing her on the left or right.
It was absolutely perfect.
But, to go back to my earlier point, football would benefit from a maximum height for goalies.
You are Rishi Sunak and I claim my £5.
Wouldn't China export them loads? That's where most bearings seem to come from these days.
Adjusts horn rims.
A happy thought.
SKF became a huge company (and made loads of money) making bearings.
They bought a steelworks to ensure quality control.
They now sell service plans. If your machine uses SKF bearings they guarantee failure rates with steep penalties.
On a related thought, I wonder how the viewing figures will compare to the final last year (42 million total - 31m TV plus 11m streams).
It's meant to be reasonably tricky to score in football, so that each goal means something. And there isn't a particular scarcity of goals.
There's also a huge practical issue as you can intervene medically to limit or stop growth in later puberty. There would be a huge temptation to do that with 17 year old academy players close to the height threshold, which is an unnecessary ethical minefield.
German ball-bearing factories were a target of ours during WW2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schweinfurt–Regensburg_mission
While I'm in old fogey mode, there are far too many swimming events. Just swim as fast as you can. Butterfly, Breast Stroke and Backstroke: superfluous. Medleys of these: taking the piss. Mixed medley: just stop it now.
Just to reassure you I'm not totally negative about everything, perfectly happy to enjoy rugby sevens, netball or beach volleyball, which seem the other options right now.
And I voted Leave, yes, and I'm happy we left, given the binary choice we had. But I recognise many people aren't happy about it. But if the brakes had been put on earlier we could have had a situation which would have got far more support.
It is only a supply problem if you piss off all the countries that you import from.
https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1553797346584051714?t=X4g57vI_MzpO2nLKj2oWrQ&s=19
⚡️Ukraine destroys Russian echelon in Kherson Obast with HIMARS.
According to Odesa Oblast Administration, Ukraine hit a 40-car train transporting Russian troops, equipment, and ammunition from Crimea on July 31, killing around 80 Russian soldiers and injuring around 200.
EDIT ... once the rugby sevens has finished.
So when it comes to talking about contemporary football at the top level women commentators who have played the game recently often have more relevant experience of how it is now for men in the Premier League than the ex pros of 20-30 years ago who can often be a bit sniffy about crazy ideas like eating well and keeping fit.