@BBCNewsnight: .@bbclaurak finds leader of PIE was also on NCCL's gay rights committee, so seemingly more involved than @HarrietHarman said on #newsnight
BBC Newsnight @BBCNewsnight · 46 secs .@bbclaurak finds leader of PIE was also on NCCL's gay rights committee, so seemingly more involved than @HarrietHarman said on #newsnight
Theres a NEW diplomacy game up - it is great fun, the password is OGH to join. Come one, come all. Me and Lucian Fletcher (DJDave1979) have joined as unfortunately the last one has been turned from a great battle of misorders and stabs to a bad situation as a player has surrendered in a very viable position.
Twice in a row I misjudged the move deadline and therefore got auto-binned. I am deeply sorry for buggering up the game.
Theres a NEW diplomacy game up - it is great fun, the password is OGH to join. Come one, come all. Me and Lucian Fletcher (DJDave1979) have joined as unfortunately the last one has been turned from a great battle of misorders and stabs to a bad situation as a player has surrendered in a very viable position.
Twice in a row I misjudged the move deadline and therefore got auto-binned. I am deeply sorry for buggering up the game.
I'm almost out of that one ! Nick, Phil and Monty are the main players now.
The Max Hastings WW1 programme is somewhat disappointing he spends lots of time recounting events and not enough analysis on what the players options were. I hope Niall Ferguson is more interesting on Friday.
It was disappointing, seemed like Hastings was tried to cram in every contrarian position on the GW he could find. I kind of lost track of whether his position is revisionist, orthodox or revisionist-orthodox. Footage (which for me is usually the main attraction of these kind of progs) was a bit cliched as well.
The Max Hastings WW1 programme is somewhat disappointing he spends lots of time recounting events and not enough analysis on what the players options were. I hope Niall Ferguson is more interesting on Friday.
It was disappointing, seemed like Hastings was tried to cram in every contrarian position on the GW he could find. I kind of lost track of whether his position is revisionist, orthodox or revisionist-orthodox. Footage (which for me is usually the main attraction of these kind of progs) was a bit cliched as well.
The Max Hastings WW1 programme is somewhat disappointing he spends lots of time recounting events and not enough analysis on what the players options were. I hope Niall Ferguson is more interesting on Friday.
It was disappointing, seemed like Hastings was tried to cram in every contrarian position on the GW he could find. I kind of lost track of whether his position is revisionist, orthodox or revisionist-orthodox. Footage (which for me is usually the main attraction of these kind of progs) was a bit cliched as well.
For balance, it might be worth posting this comment in the article others are cherry picking from. It really seems like some on here actually want this story to be more than it is. I find that utterly bizarre, depressing.
"Documents seen by the Guardian appear to back up [Harman's] claim that the NCCL executive banned PIE from bringing a motion complaining about the harassment of paedophiles. A PIE leaflet from the time criticised the NCCL executive's typical "oppression of minorities"."
Grey's Anatomy episode 22, series 9, has a scene with the nice serious doctor playing soccer with the sweet tragic boy with dying parents.
Prediction: soccer overtakes baseball in the USA by 2020
When a sport invades a nation's soap operas, that sport is heading for national supremacy.
Too fast for that kind of prediction.
They'll keep growing, but overtaking ice hockey will come first, probably in the 2020s
They should also change their season to compete with baseball/ice hockey rather than NFL and College football.
I'm sure by many metrics (youthful participation?) soccer has ALREADY overtaken ice hockey, by a distance.
Baseball is the much harder target, but it is vulnerable. Basketball and gridiron are probably secure, for now.
Soccer very popular for young kids up to early teens in America (buoyed a lot by a comparatively high number of girls playing it, and it's there that might be soccer's secret weapon in US growth) but has a lot of trouble retaining people as players and fans after that. (They go to high school and get drawn into the more established school sports there).
To take a crass generalisation, hockey still generates more money than soccer, but the gap's been closing. Alongside that adults rating their sports preference have soccer rating pretty low.
Part of it is a generational shift, older generations have 0 interest in soccer while baseball holds a lot of interest for them. Soccer's growth is in some ways time limited to generations working their way through.
As you are suddenly playing whack a mole on this, having dismissed everybody on here as suffering from spring madness, you might like to know that the telelgraph has some new evidence that casts doubt on the Harman version (according to them).
Alex Salmond’s claim that Scotland’s public finances are in better shape than the UK’s is set to evaporate because of a plunge in oil revenues.
new figures on oil taxes show that last year Scotland’s apparently healthier balance of taxes raised and public money spent worsened and is now in a poorer state than the UK’s.
Angela Merkel ready to offer Britain limited EU opt-outs
Berlin's stance revealed before chancellor's visit and compromise is likely before possible referendum
Angela Merkel is prepared to grant David Cameron special assurances in a revised EU treaty to ensure that the interests of Britain and other non-euro members are protected in the European single market.
In a sign of the lengths the German chancellor is prepared to go to to ensure Britain remains in the EU, authoritative sources in Berlin say Merkel is also prepared to grant "limited opt-outs" to Britain and to ensure that EU regulations are enforced in a more flexible way.
That's very interesting. I hope some of the more enthusiastic europhiles on here that said Germany wouldn't negotiate have taken note.
Lol, read the specifics. They shot the whole thing down. The whole point of the strategy was going to be that there was supposed to be a treaty of the 28, because Germany wants one and Merkel secretly runs all 28 countries. But Germany just came right out and said even they don't want a treaty.
The only specific thing there is an opt-out from the working directive, which might be the one thing other member states wouldn't mind giving Cameron, as the UK had an opt-out originally so it's not really a quid-pro-quo for anything. But even there Germany (who, remember, are supposed to be Cameron's big ally here - everyone else will be less enthusiastic) only suggest doing that for the NHS...
Laura Kuenssberg on Newsnight before inadvertently summed up just why politics is held in such disdain. She said something like, in practice, neither Labour nor the Conservatives would rule out a coalition with the Lib Dems because "at the end of the day, they all want to become ministers".
Whatever happened to politicians fighting to promote ideas and to change people's minds, rather than than naked personal ambition? That's why, in a weird way, I actually kind of admire the batshit crazy Tory backbenchers -- they openly say they care more about promoting their views and ideas (as repellent and extreme as many of those views and ideas are) more than the illusory goodies that come with being "in power" and the thrill of being on the winning side. An attitude which is painfully lacking in most other politicians today.
For balance, it might be worth posting this comment in the article others are cherry picking from. It really seems like some on here actually want this story to be more than it is. I find that utterly bizarre, depressing.
"Documents seen by the Guardian appear to back up [Harman's] claim that the NCCL executive banned PIE from bringing a motion complaining about the harassment of paedophiles. A PIE leaflet from the time criticised the NCCL executive's typical "oppression of minorities"."
For someone who thinks this story shouldn't be commented on you are doing a whole lot of commenting
Just like old Bobajob, " oh guys, can we change the record?" "Oh guys this is sooo depressing can we talk about something else.."
What comment on it all day if you're not interested?
Laura Kuenssberg on Newsnight before inadvertently summed up just why politics is held in such disdain. She said something like, in practice, neither Labour nor the Conservatives would rule out a coalition with the Lib Dems because "at the end of the day, they all want to become ministers".
Whatever happened to politicians fighting to promote ideas and to change people's minds, rather than than naked personal ambition? That's why, in a weird way, I actually kind of admire the batshit crazy Tory backbenchers -- they openly say they care more about promoting their views and ideas (as repellent and extreme as many of those views and ideas are) more than the illusory goodies that come with being "in power" and the thrill of being on the winning side. An attitude which is painfully lacking in most other politicians today.
Do you care about promoting your views or making a difference?
Batshit crazy Tory backbenchers mouth off a lot and don't get much done.
If you believe your ideas are good, you want them to happen. If you want them to happen, your best bet is to get into power.
The rise of our football in the US is stunning. When I first went there you'd struggle to get the scores from England anywhere. They might be hidden in the sports section of USA Today if you were lucky. Now they have live updates on the ticker tape on ESPN and you can watch a PL game on your hotel telly every weekend. Walk into a bar and there's football on; people talk about it as an icebreaker in meetings; they follow English teams; and they know the American players in Europe. Everyone's kids play. It's a sea-change from just a decade ago.
That said, the domestic league is nowhere near to Ice Hockey in terms of strength of following, sponsorship, player salaries etc. and moving onto the other big three it's no contest. American football - college and NFL - is way out on its own, but the other two are also huge. I can't see US football ever competing seriously with any of them as a commercial sport. But I can see it being a sport that everyone will understand and enjoy. The big money will be in equipment and European team shirt sales.
One of the worst Man U performances I've seen in two decades. Moyes looks wounded, maybe fatally.
A fascinating insight into the importance of The Right Leadership.
David Moyes = Ed Miliband?
Ed took over from Brown. Moyes took over from Ferguson.
Succeeding Ferguson was always going to be virtually impossible. Mourinho might have managed it, but it's hard to think of another big name who'd have risked their reputation. They'll be banging down the doors, though, once poor old Davie is put out of his misery. He looks haunted. And he is.
This time yesterday I was in San Francisco having a pre-flight beer. Now I'm back in the UK talking to myself on Political Betting. The lag is cruel. Maybe I'll take a sleeping pill!
The rise of our football in the US is stunning. When I first went there you'd struggle to get the scores from England anywhere. They might be hidden in the sports section of USA Today if you were lucky. Now they have live updates on the ticker tape on ESPN and you can watch a PL game on your hotel telly every weekend. Walk into a bar and there's football on; people talk about it as an icebreaker in meetings; they follow English teams; and they know the American players in Europe. Everyone's kids play. It's a sea-change from just a decade ago.
That said, the domestic league is nowhere near to Ice Hockey in terms of strength of following, sponsorship, player salaries etc. and moving onto the other big three it's no contest. American football - college and NFL - is way out on its own, but the other two are also huge. I can't see US football ever competing seriously with any of them as a commercial sport. But I can see it being a sport that everyone will understand and enjoy. The big money will be in equipment and European team shirt sales.
Ice hockey I can see it overtaking in the foreseeable long term future. Because that tends to be quite a niche sport and takes a lot more commitment to play. It may take a while as you get generations moving through who grew up playing soccer etc
It's made a little trickier/stranger that the others are essentially the major league for that sport while US soccer has to compete against European soccer and so you get money going different directions. How big MLS is vs how big soccer is are very different things. But the way it's churning out a base, it's going to keep catching ice hockey.
This time yesterday I was in San Francisco having a pre-flight beer. Now I'm back in the UK talking to myself on Political Betting. The lag is cruel. Maybe I'll take a sleeping pill!
Hello Southam! other time zones are available! Hope you had a good trip
Remember that in the USA the sporting hierarchy is thus -
1 NFL - the behemoth, larger than all other sports combined and still growing rapidly 2 MLB - in a slow long term decline, and several franchises in trouble financially 3 NBA - holding its own, but with major financial problems, including some franchises league owned 4 NHL - over expanded in the US, but now consolidating somewhat thanks to the Stadium Series and improved marketing and TV coverage. 5 WNBA - I didn't even know Atlanta had a WNBA franchise until I worked a golf tournament with the franchise owner. The WNBA standing was a surprise to me. 6 - the rest - lacrosse, softball, soccer etc.
There's no doubt about it though - soccer is here to stay. It remains a niche sport, but it is a secure and growing niche, skewing male, hispanic, 18-34.
NBCsn, a cable channel not on the basic tier of some cable companies. has the EPL contract, and pays something like $80 million a year. If you seek it out, it's there, but it's not ESPN by any means. By contrast ESPN pays $115 million PER GAME for NFL Monday Night Football.
Bars and restaurants love things like the epl - most sports bars these days have in excess of 50-100 flat screens, and any content they can use to drive business is welcome. In Atlanta, if you are a Man U fan there are bars full of their fans, ditto for most epl teams. It's actually fun to go watch a game there. Ditto for other sports leagues. I've been to bars where you have the NFL in one area, hockey in another, NBA in another, and soccer in another.
A measure of the problem soccer faces - it is a popular high school sport, mainly girls, and both male and female can get a soccer scholarship to college. Then it stops. MLS is an utterly inferior product.
For soccer to succeed here we need to have a viable domestic league. Imported games will not capture a critical mass.
Speaking of US sports, today is a major milestone.
25 years ago today (2/25) Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys from Bum Bright for $140 million - almost every penny he had.
25 years ago tomorrow, (2/26) Jones fired Tom Landry, the only head coach the Cowboys had in their 29 year history. To this day, among Cowboys fans it is called the Saturday Night Massacre.
Today the team is worth $2.3 billion, the most valuable sports franchise in the world, and owns its own $1.2 billion stadium.
From a business aspect, America's Team is a stunning success.
On the field, since 1997, the Cowboys are 136-136: the archetypal .500 team.
Comments
.@bbclaurak finds leader of PIE was also on NCCL's gay rights committee, so seemingly more involved than @HarrietHarman said on #newsnight
I am deeply sorry for buggering up the game.
"Documents seen by the Guardian appear to back up [Harman's] claim that the NCCL executive banned PIE from bringing a motion complaining about the harassment of paedophiles. A PIE leaflet from the time criticised the NCCL executive's typical "oppression of minorities"."
To take a crass generalisation, hockey still generates more money than soccer, but the gap's been closing. Alongside that adults rating their sports preference have soccer rating pretty low.
Part of it is a generational shift, older generations have 0 interest in soccer while baseball holds a lot of interest for them. Soccer's growth is in some ways time limited to generations working their way through.
As you are suddenly playing whack a mole on this, having dismissed everybody on here as suffering from spring madness, you might like to know that the telelgraph has some new evidence that casts doubt on the Harman version (according to them).
Since LauraK joined, this programme has got livelier.
The only specific thing there is an opt-out from the working directive, which might be the one thing other member states wouldn't mind giving Cameron, as the UK had an opt-out originally so it's not really a quid-pro-quo for anything. But even there Germany (who, remember, are supposed to be Cameron's big ally here - everyone else will be less enthusiastic) only suggest doing that for the NHS...
Whatever happened to politicians fighting to promote ideas and to change people's minds, rather than than naked personal ambition? That's why, in a weird way, I actually kind of admire the batshit crazy Tory backbenchers -- they openly say they care more about promoting their views and ideas (as repellent and extreme as many of those views and ideas are) more than the illusory goodies that come with being "in power" and the thrill of being on the winning side. An attitude which is painfully lacking in most other politicians today.
Just like old Bobajob, " oh guys, can we change the record?" "Oh guys this is sooo depressing can we talk about something else.."
What comment on it all day if you're not interested?
Batshit crazy Tory backbenchers mouth off a lot and don't get much done.
If you believe your ideas are good, you want them to happen. If you want them to happen, your best bet is to get into power.
That said, the domestic league is nowhere near to Ice Hockey in terms of strength of following, sponsorship, player salaries etc. and moving onto the other big three it's no contest. American football - college and NFL - is way out on its own, but the other two are also huge. I can't see US football ever competing seriously with any of them as a commercial sport. But I can see it being a sport that everyone will understand and enjoy. The big money will be in equipment and European team shirt sales.
Succeeding Ferguson was always going to be virtually impossible. Mourinho might have managed it, but it's hard to think of another big name who'd have risked their reputation. They'll be banging down the doors, though, once poor old Davie is put out of his misery. He looks haunted. And he is.
It's made a little trickier/stranger that the others are essentially the major league for that sport while US soccer has to compete against European soccer and so you get money going different directions. How big MLS is vs how big soccer is are very different things. But the way it's churning out a base, it's going to keep catching ice hockey.
1 NFL - the behemoth, larger than all other sports combined and still growing rapidly
2 MLB - in a slow long term decline, and several franchises in trouble financially
3 NBA - holding its own, but with major financial problems, including some franchises league owned
4 NHL - over expanded in the US, but now consolidating somewhat thanks to the Stadium Series and improved marketing and TV coverage.
5 WNBA - I didn't even know Atlanta had a WNBA franchise until I worked a golf tournament with the franchise owner. The WNBA standing was a surprise to me.
6 - the rest - lacrosse, softball, soccer etc.
There's no doubt about it though - soccer is here to stay. It remains a niche sport, but it is a secure and growing niche, skewing male, hispanic, 18-34.
NBCsn, a cable channel not on the basic tier of some cable companies. has the EPL contract, and pays something like $80 million a year. If you seek it out, it's there, but it's not ESPN by any means. By contrast ESPN pays $115 million PER GAME for NFL Monday Night Football.
Bars and restaurants love things like the epl - most sports bars these days have in excess of 50-100 flat screens, and any content they can use to drive business is welcome. In Atlanta, if you are a Man U fan there are bars full of their fans, ditto for most epl teams. It's actually fun to go watch a game there. Ditto for other sports leagues. I've been to bars where you have the NFL in one area, hockey in another, NBA in another, and soccer in another.
A measure of the problem soccer faces - it is a popular high school sport, mainly girls, and both male and female can get a soccer scholarship to college. Then it stops. MLS is an utterly inferior product.
For soccer to succeed here we need to have a viable domestic league. Imported games will not capture a critical mass.
25 years ago today (2/25) Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys from Bum Bright for $140 million - almost every penny he had.
25 years ago tomorrow, (2/26) Jones fired Tom Landry, the only head coach the Cowboys had in their 29 year history. To this day, among Cowboys fans it is called the Saturday Night Massacre.
Today the team is worth $2.3 billion, the most valuable sports franchise in the world, and owns its own $1.2 billion stadium.
From a business aspect, America's Team is a stunning success.
On the field, since 1997, the Cowboys are 136-136: the archetypal .500 team.
Somewhat less stunning.