That article seems to suggest the reason for not accepting the UK application is a pretext, that is, phoney. So it certainly does seem concerning from that piece but there seems nothing that can be done if false reasons are being given for rejection.
As far as I can tell from reading Twitter (I know), this is the EU being spiteful in a way that hurts both U.K. and EU citizens.
There is some modest collateral damage to the U.K. legal industry.
I presume this is being done in retribution for the U.K. fucking about with our international treaty making.
Stupidity and spite begets stupidity and spite.
Yes, all it really does is make it more difficult for contracting parties in both territories seek recompense from the other jurisdiction. The exclusion of the UK really helps no one, c'est la vie, this is the relationship the EU wants with the UK. The world will keep turning afterwards and this will turn out to be yet another thing that doesn't drag the UK back into the EU or into some kind of unilateral alignment.
Wrt to banking and finance there is currently a pretty wide ranging review of regulations now that equivalence is off the table. One does wonder whether the EU will regret not working harder to bind the UK to a very narrow lane of similarity on financial regulations by granting conditional equivalence for at least 2-4 years. Having a gigantic competitor with the market makers outside the bloc and outside of the regulatory sphere is not ideal. I fear that this is what they're doing in the legal sector right now and will repeat the mistakes in finance.
The U.K. should have left Gibraltar in the Single Market and positioned it as a hub for European banking on a bedrock of English law.
Crown green bowls is a completely objective sport but I'm not sure it should be in the olympics ahead of the rings in the gymnastics.
Or darts. Instead of watching obsessional types poncing around and pushing the outer limits of what the human body can do we could be seeing the likes of Peter "snakebite" Wright slamming the 180s and then finishing on double top like a dead eyed assassin.
I've never really taken to snooker or darts as they are pub games.
Have to admire the mathematical abilities of snooker and darts players though.
Never seen them screw up a finish like say South Africa in 2003.
Yes, they are played in pubs. I'm happy to call them sports - and indeed I'm a fan of both - but I don't think they're a fit for the Olympic Games because of that. Same reason I'd oppose the inclusion of dominoes or cribbage.
The court in Gaobeidian near Beijing said Sun was found guilty of crimes including "gathering a crowd to attack state organs," "obstructing government administration" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," a catch-all term often used against dissidents.
He was detained by police in November along with 19 relatives and business associates after his firm was embroiled in a land dispute with a state-owned competitor.
The charismatic Sun built one of China's biggest private agriculture companies with his wife from a few chickens and pigs in the 1980s.
He has also been a vocal champion of rural reforms and a whistleblower during a devastating swine fever outbreak in 2019, posting photos of dead pigs online after local officials were slow to respond to the disease....
Crown green bowls is a completely objective sport but I'm not sure it should be in the olympics ahead of the rings in the gymnastics.
Or darts. Instead of watching obsessional types poncing around and pushing the outer limits of what the human body can do we could be seeing the likes of Peter "snakebite" Wright slamming the 180s and then finishing on double top like a dead eyed assassin.
I've never really taken to snooker or darts as they are pub games.
Have to admire the mathematical abilities of snooker and darts players though.
Never seen them screw up a finish like say South Africa in 2003.
Yes, they are played in pubs. I'm happy to call them sports - and indeed I'm a fan of both - but I don't think they're a fit for the Olympic Games because of that. Same reason I'd oppose the inclusion of dominoes or cribbage.
The court in Gaobeidian near Beijing said Sun was found guilty of crimes including "gathering a crowd to attack state organs," "obstructing government administration" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," a catch-all term often used against dissidents.
He was detained by police in November along with 19 relatives and business associates after his firm was embroiled in a land dispute with a state-owned competitor.
The charismatic Sun built one of China's biggest private agriculture companies with his wife from a few chickens and pigs in the 1980s.
He has also been a vocal champion of rural reforms and a whistleblower during a devastating swine fever outbreak in 2019, posting photos of dead pigs online after local officials were slow to respond to the disease....
One should not upset the Emperor or the Imperial Officials, history should have taught him that.
Crown green bowls is a completely objective sport but I'm not sure it should be in the olympics ahead of the rings in the gymnastics.
Or darts. Instead of watching obsessional types poncing around and pushing the outer limits of what the human body can do we could be seeing the likes of Peter "snakebite" Wright slamming the 180s and then finishing on double top like a dead eyed assassin.
I've never really taken to snooker or darts as they are pub games.
Have to admire the mathematical abilities of snooker and darts players though.
Never seen them screw up a finish like say South Africa in 2003.
Yes, they are played in pubs. I'm happy to call them sports - and indeed I'm a fan of both - but I don't think they're a fit for the Olympic Games because of that. Same reason I'd oppose the inclusion of dominoes or cribbage.
The court in Gaobeidian near Beijing said Sun was found guilty of crimes including "gathering a crowd to attack state organs," "obstructing government administration" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," a catch-all term often used against dissidents.
He was detained by police in November along with 19 relatives and business associates after his firm was embroiled in a land dispute with a state-owned competitor.
The charismatic Sun built one of China's biggest private agriculture companies with his wife from a few chickens and pigs in the 1980s.
He has also been a vocal champion of rural reforms and a whistleblower during a devastating swine fever outbreak in 2019, posting photos of dead pigs online after local officials were slow to respond to the disease....
I was reading a briefing on the new Hong Kong patriot act.
Basically as a Brit in the UK and I criticise China and/or their handling of Hong Kong the next time I visit China or Hong Kong I will be arrested and face a severe multi year prison sentence,
The headline is slightly out of context, as she does say Greenpeace, the Green or the Tories, but still, that's way off message. Obviously you expect her to say the Tories are the only ones who can deliver yadda yadda yadda.
The court in Gaobeidian near Beijing said Sun was found guilty of crimes including "gathering a crowd to attack state organs," "obstructing government administration" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," a catch-all term often used against dissidents.
He was detained by police in November along with 19 relatives and business associates after his firm was embroiled in a land dispute with a state-owned competitor.
The charismatic Sun built one of China's biggest private agriculture companies with his wife from a few chickens and pigs in the 1980s.
He has also been a vocal champion of rural reforms and a whistleblower during a devastating swine fever outbreak in 2019, posting photos of dead pigs online after local officials were slow to respond to the disease....
I was reading a briefing on the new Hong Kong patriot act.
Basically as a Brit in the UK and I criticise China and/or their handling of Hong Kong the next time I visit China or Hong Kong I will be arrested and face a severe multi year prison sentence,
Which signals the death knell for Hong Kong as anything but a Chinese entrepôt.
That article seems to suggest the reason for not accepting the UK application is a pretext, that is, phoney. So it certainly does seem concerning from that piece but there seems nothing that can be done if false reasons are being given for rejection.
As far as I can tell from reading Twitter (I know), this is the EU being spiteful in a way that hurts both U.K. and EU citizens.
There is some modest collateral damage to the U.K. legal industry.
I presume this is being done in retribution for the U.K. fucking about with our international treaty making.
Stupidity and spite begets stupidity and spite.
Yes, all it really does is make it more difficult for contracting parties in both territories seek recompense from the other jurisdiction. The exclusion of the UK really helps no one, c'est la vie, this is the relationship the EU wants with the UK. The world will keep turning afterwards and this will turn out to be yet another thing that doesn't drag the UK back into the EU or into some kind of unilateral alignment.
Wrt to banking and finance there is currently a pretty wide ranging review of regulations now that equivalence is off the table. One does wonder whether the EU will regret not working harder to bind the UK to a very narrow lane of similarity on financial regulations by granting conditional equivalence for at least 2-4 years. Having a gigantic competitor with the market makers outside the bloc and outside of the regulatory sphere is not ideal. I fear that this is what they're doing in the legal sector right now and will repeat the mistakes in finance.
I'm not convinced by the argument on Lugano. The EU decision has made it a fortress Europe thing.
None of those articles reflect on the balance between intra-EEA legal influence and the wider world. And how much UK legal-forum external-to-UK business is EEA or not-EEA. They are all about external parties vs internal parties.
UK - esp English - legal forums are far more important in the worldwide legal world than any EU ones aiui.
What is to prevent in the short term bilateral agreements being created which replicate it outside EU structures, and recognise each other? It is only a thing across a small number of countries in one small part of the world.
Might the longer term impact simply be the EU marginalising Europe in a larger world?
Is this another one of the EU overimagining its own importance?
So pleased to see Primož Roglič winning gold in the ITT. That solidifies the European Union lead in the medal tallies.
Sorry? The highest EU team is France, who are 8th.
Huh? The EU has won 63 medals so far, including 16 golds, easily beating China, Japan, England etc.
Wait - are we saying that the EU should be treated as a single entity that's allowed to enter 27 separate teams into every event? Hardly a level playing field. Should the US be allowed to enter 50 teams (one for each state)? Or at least 27 teams to be fair. The UK as well? Should every country be allowed 27 entries?
Wait till you see how many teams 'Oxford' and 'Cambridge' are allowed to enter into University Challenge!
I reckon Oxford or Cambridge would win Uni Challenge every year if they entered single teams.
Ah, so it's to give the thickos a chance! Dashed sporting of them..
Which one rejected you out of interest?
Oxbridge art schools weren’t much cop when I were a lad.
It was possible to mix art and Oxbridge. Anthony Blunt proved that.
Eh? He was a mathematician turned modern linguist.
Yes. But then into Fine Art, starting there.
But no different from any other sideline. He could have ended up doing drama or tortoise racing or whatever for a living, but the basis of his official studies and presence was not art. There was no art school (and Blunt was a historian of art AFAIK).
Well his graduate research was in French art history, then parleyed into a career in that field. No actual art school, no, but he did "mix art and Oxbridge" so I think my comment was technically accurate.
Okay then! Though it's no different in my view from doing a PhD on 'Tortoise racing and the court of the Sun King' IMV.
The court in Gaobeidian near Beijing said Sun was found guilty of crimes including "gathering a crowd to attack state organs," "obstructing government administration" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," a catch-all term often used against dissidents.
He was detained by police in November along with 19 relatives and business associates after his firm was embroiled in a land dispute with a state-owned competitor.
The charismatic Sun built one of China's biggest private agriculture companies with his wife from a few chickens and pigs in the 1980s.
He has also been a vocal champion of rural reforms and a whistleblower during a devastating swine fever outbreak in 2019, posting photos of dead pigs online after local officials were slow to respond to the disease....
I was reading a briefing on the new Hong Kong patriot act.
Basically as a Brit in the UK and I criticise China and/or their handling of Hong Kong the next time I visit China or Hong Kong I will be arrested and face a severe multi year prison sentence,
Which signals the death knell for Hong Kong as anything but a Chinese entrepôt.
Buy Singapore, then buy again.
Indeed, have to admit I think we might end up seeing HSBC being placed in awkward position.
Honestly close down any HSBC or First Direct accounts and product you hold.
Dressage should really not be at the Olympics. It is not a sport. Even though we seem to be quite good at it.
Genuine question though. *Why are there separate mens and womens events for it? Does being one gender give a significant advantage? What about the horse's gender? Does a male rider have to compete on a male horse and female riders on female horses? If not, why not?
To my eye it looks like the horse does all the hard work and the rider just sits there. It is like figure skating for horses. **Might as well give Olympic medals for choreography. That would at least be honest.
It is even worse than having all the umpteen different swim medals for swimming with different strokes. Should just be freestyle. ***Otherwise why aren't there skipping, hopping and running backwards competitions on the track?
* There aren't ** The choreography is scored in the individual competition. *** Walking is included in the program of events.
* Good ** Should give the performance medals to the horses then *** Walking shouldn't be an event
Pace Stephen fry, walking is like a competition to see who can whisper the loudest... Had the swimming debate yesterday with the wife. I think it could be restricted to who can go the fastest (which would be freestyle). Always thought it a bit unfair how many medals swimmers can amass. Also think that the distances are odd too. 100 m athletics is very different to 200, 400, 800 and 1500. Are the equivalent in swimming so different? I’d argue not.
Makes me smile to see the BBC get so excited about the sprinting ability of Adam Peaty - of course as a breaststroke specialist he's one of the slowest swimmers at the Olympics with even alsorans in the other events quicker.
Adam Peaty I believe has some freak genetic double-jointedness which makes him naturally pre-disposed to being great at breast stroke. He clearly won the genetic lottery when it comes to all the characteristics needed to be good at that specific stroke.
To give you an idea of how good he is as a result, Adrian Moorhouse set a WR for 100m breaststoke in 1990 of 1:01.49. Peaty's WR is now 56.88. That is 5 seconds, or 7.5% faster. If they had been in the same race when setting their WRs, Moorhouse would have been 7.5m behind Peaty.
The 100m freestyle WR is 46.91 (interestingly set way back in 2009) and so breaststroke is nowhere close to that. Peaty's breaststroke would be competitive with the Peter Fick in freestyle. Peter Fick set the freestyle WR in 1934, 1935 and 1936!
I do think there should be different distances in swimming. I just don't think there should be all the different strokes, just freestyle. Don't get me started on the medleys! That would be like getting a track competitor to cover 400m - 100m hopping, 100m skipping, 100m running backwards and 100m normal running. Frankly ridiculous.
Triathlon? Any -athlon?
The "thlons" mostly (modern pentathlon aside) are all genuine sporting endeavours using higher, faster or further. Now if the triathlon started introducing different events where they had to swim butterfly and ride a unicycle then I think I might lose it.
Triathlon isn't a test of cycling ability. The good swimmer/runners can just ride behind a domestique or a rival.
I'm with @AlistairM above here. There are far too many swimming events based on making things unnecessarily difficult for yourself. Medleys is doubly ridiculous. You don't have a 400m medley in which you have to walk the first 100m, run the second 100m backwards, jump the third 100m and run the fourth 100m normally.
Also anything including points for artistic impression is not a sport e.g ice dancing.
I'm fairly sceptical of the place of gymnastics to be honest.
Andwhy no tug of war? That's a proper sport.
Simple rule: get rid of all "sports" where scores are assigned by judges. If it can't be measured objectively, it's an art form, not a sport.
You've just taken Tom Daley's gold away.
He can still have a gold medal for being best at something. It just isn't something that I recognise as competitive sport.
Melt down his medal and reshape it into an Oscar, for all I care.
If you're into the diving you can tell who's good and who isn't. Eg Tom and partner's final dive, obvious it was going to get a massive score. Perfectly in synch (the two became one), vertical entry, no splash.
If you're ito Strictly Come Dancing you can tell who's good and who isn't. Doesn't make it a sport though.
I'm not saying being able to tell who's good and who isn't is my definition of a sport. That would really open the floodgates.
The court in Gaobeidian near Beijing said Sun was found guilty of crimes including "gathering a crowd to attack state organs," "obstructing government administration" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," a catch-all term often used against dissidents.
He was detained by police in November along with 19 relatives and business associates after his firm was embroiled in a land dispute with a state-owned competitor.
The charismatic Sun built one of China's biggest private agriculture companies with his wife from a few chickens and pigs in the 1980s.
He has also been a vocal champion of rural reforms and a whistleblower during a devastating swine fever outbreak in 2019, posting photos of dead pigs online after local officials were slow to respond to the disease....
I was reading a briefing on the new Hong Kong patriot act.
Basically as a Brit in the UK and I criticise China and/or their handling of Hong Kong the next time I visit China or Hong Kong I will be arrested and face a severe multi year prison sentence,
Which signals the death knell for Hong Kong as anything but a Chinese entrepôt.
Buy Singapore, then buy again.
Indeed, have to admit I think we might end up seeing HSBC being placed in awkward position.
Honestly close down any HSBC or First Direct accounts and product you hold.
Dressage should really not be at the Olympics. It is not a sport. Even though we seem to be quite good at it.
Genuine question though. *Why are there separate mens and womens events for it? Does being one gender give a significant advantage? What about the horse's gender? Does a male rider have to compete on a male horse and female riders on female horses? If not, why not?
To my eye it looks like the horse does all the hard work and the rider just sits there. It is like figure skating for horses. **Might as well give Olympic medals for choreography. That would at least be honest.
It is even worse than having all the umpteen different swim medals for swimming with different strokes. Should just be freestyle. ***Otherwise why aren't there skipping, hopping and running backwards competitions on the track?
* There aren't ** The choreography is scored in the individual competition. *** Walking is included in the program of events.
* Good ** Should give the performance medals to the horses then *** Walking shouldn't be an event
Pace Stephen fry, walking is like a competition to see who can whisper the loudest... Had the swimming debate yesterday with the wife. I think it could be restricted to who can go the fastest (which would be freestyle). Always thought it a bit unfair how many medals swimmers can amass. Also think that the distances are odd too. 100 m athletics is very different to 200, 400, 800 and 1500. Are the equivalent in swimming so different? I’d argue not.
Makes me smile to see the BBC get so excited about the sprinting ability of Adam Peaty - of course as a breaststroke specialist he's one of the slowest swimmers at the Olympics with even alsorans in the other events quicker.
Adam Peaty I believe has some freak genetic double-jointedness which makes him naturally pre-disposed to being great at breast stroke. He clearly won the genetic lottery when it comes to all the characteristics needed to be good at that specific stroke.
To give you an idea of how good he is as a result, Adrian Moorhouse set a WR for 100m breaststoke in 1990 of 1:01.49. Peaty's WR is now 56.88. That is 5 seconds, or 7.5% faster. If they had been in the same race when setting their WRs, Moorhouse would have been 7.5m behind Peaty.
The 100m freestyle WR is 46.91 (interestingly set way back in 2009) and so breaststroke is nowhere close to that. Peaty's breaststroke would be competitive with the Peter Fick in freestyle. Peter Fick set the freestyle WR in 1934, 1935 and 1936!
I do think there should be different distances in swimming. I just don't think there should be all the different strokes, just freestyle. Don't get me started on the medleys! That would be like getting a track competitor to cover 400m - 100m hopping, 100m skipping, 100m running backwards and 100m normal running. Frankly ridiculous.
Triathlon? Any -athlon?
The "thlons" mostly (modern pentathlon aside) are all genuine sporting endeavours using higher, faster or further. Now if the triathlon started introducing different events where they had to swim butterfly and ride a unicycle then I think I might lose it.
Triathlon isn't a test of cycling ability. The good swimmer/runners can just ride behind a domestique or a rival.
I'm with @AlistairM above here. There are far too many swimming events based on making things unnecessarily difficult for yourself. Medleys is doubly ridiculous. You don't have a 400m medley in which you have to walk the first 100m, run the second 100m backwards, jump the third 100m and run the fourth 100m normally.
Also anything including points for artistic impression is not a sport e.g ice dancing.
I'm fairly sceptical of the place of gymnastics to be honest.
Andwhy no tug of war? That's a proper sport.
Simple rule: get rid of all "sports" where scores are assigned by judges. If it can't be measured objectively, it's an art form, not a sport.
You've just taken Tom Daley's gold away.
He can still have a gold medal for being best at something. It just isn't something that I recognise as competitive sport.
Melt down his medal and reshape it into an Oscar, for all I care.
If you're into the diving you can tell who's good and who isn't. Eg Tom and partner's final dive, obvious it was going to get a massive score. Perfectly in synch (the two became one), vertical entry, no splash.
I can also tell who's a good actor and who isn't. I just have no way of knowing who's the best in the world right now, and by how much.
I grant diving is less subjective than acting, and also than many of the more obviously judgment-based Olympic events. But, one has to draw a line somewhere, and it seems to me simplest to draw it between "no subjectivity" and "some subjectivity".
Too doctrinaire. We'd lose iconic Olympic moments - eg in boxing and gymnastics - and for what benefit?
Well the Guardian has reported today's case numbers with "after falling for seven days in a row, the daily number of new cases is starting to rise again." Nice to see journalists still struggling with this.
Well the Guardian has reported today's case numbers with "after falling for seven days in a row, the daily number of new cases is starting to rise again." Nice to see journalists still struggling with this.
You'd think that after 18 months they would have learnt a thing or two.
Well the Guardian has reported today's case numbers with "after falling for seven days in a row, the daily number of new cases is starting to rise again." Nice to see journalists still struggling with this.
Its as predictable as finding out Wayne Rooney is shagging around in £50 a night hotels again...
The court in Gaobeidian near Beijing said Sun was found guilty of crimes including "gathering a crowd to attack state organs," "obstructing government administration" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," a catch-all term often used against dissidents.
He was detained by police in November along with 19 relatives and business associates after his firm was embroiled in a land dispute with a state-owned competitor.
The charismatic Sun built one of China's biggest private agriculture companies with his wife from a few chickens and pigs in the 1980s.
He has also been a vocal champion of rural reforms and a whistleblower during a devastating swine fever outbreak in 2019, posting photos of dead pigs online after local officials were slow to respond to the disease....
I was reading a briefing on the new Hong Kong patriot act.
Basically as a Brit in the UK and I criticise China and/or their handling of Hong Kong the next time I visit China or Hong Kong I will be arrested and face a severe multi year prison sentence,
If "provoking trouble" is a thing, then I think quite a few of us ought to avoid visiting China any time soon.
Well the Guardian has reported today's case numbers with "after falling for seven days in a row, the daily number of new cases is starting to rise again." Nice to see journalists still struggling with this.
You'd think that after 18 months they would have learnt a thing or two.
I find the BBC headline on Biles rather weird...Why 'superhuman' Simone Biles could change attitudes
Isn't the whole issue being that she isn't superhuman, she isn't a robot that can perform perfectly 100 times out of 100 regardless of everything else.
The superhuman is in inverted commas, which I think is the point being made.
Dressage should really not be at the Olympics. It is not a sport. Even though we seem to be quite good at it.
Genuine question though. *Why are there separate mens and womens events for it? Does being one gender give a significant advantage? What about the horse's gender? Does a male rider have to compete on a male horse and female riders on female horses? If not, why not?
To my eye it looks like the horse does all the hard work and the rider just sits there. It is like figure skating for horses. **Might as well give Olympic medals for choreography. That would at least be honest.
It is even worse than having all the umpteen different swim medals for swimming with different strokes. Should just be freestyle. ***Otherwise why aren't there skipping, hopping and running backwards competitions on the track?
* There aren't ** The choreography is scored in the individual competition. *** Walking is included in the program of events.
* Good ** Should give the performance medals to the horses then *** Walking shouldn't be an event
Pace Stephen fry, walking is like a competition to see who can whisper the loudest... Had the swimming debate yesterday with the wife. I think it could be restricted to who can go the fastest (which would be freestyle). Always thought it a bit unfair how many medals swimmers can amass. Also think that the distances are odd too. 100 m athletics is very different to 200, 400, 800 and 1500. Are the equivalent in swimming so different? I’d argue not.
Makes me smile to see the BBC get so excited about the sprinting ability of Adam Peaty - of course as a breaststroke specialist he's one of the slowest swimmers at the Olympics with even alsorans in the other events quicker.
Adam Peaty I believe has some freak genetic double-jointedness which makes him naturally pre-disposed to being great at breast stroke. He clearly won the genetic lottery when it comes to all the characteristics needed to be good at that specific stroke.
To give you an idea of how good he is as a result, Adrian Moorhouse set a WR for 100m breaststoke in 1990 of 1:01.49. Peaty's WR is now 56.88. That is 5 seconds, or 7.5% faster. If they had been in the same race when setting their WRs, Moorhouse would have been 7.5m behind Peaty.
The 100m freestyle WR is 46.91 (interestingly set way back in 2009) and so breaststroke is nowhere close to that. Peaty's breaststroke would be competitive with the Peter Fick in freestyle. Peter Fick set the freestyle WR in 1934, 1935 and 1936!
I do think there should be different distances in swimming. I just don't think there should be all the different strokes, just freestyle. Don't get me started on the medleys! That would be like getting a track competitor to cover 400m - 100m hopping, 100m skipping, 100m running backwards and 100m normal running. Frankly ridiculous.
Triathlon? Any -athlon?
The "thlons" mostly (modern pentathlon aside) are all genuine sporting endeavours using higher, faster or further. Now if the triathlon started introducing different events where they had to swim butterfly and ride a unicycle then I think I might lose it.
Triathlon isn't a test of cycling ability. The good swimmer/runners can just ride behind a domestique or a rival.
I'm with @AlistairM above here. There are far too many swimming events based on making things unnecessarily difficult for yourself. Medleys is doubly ridiculous. You don't have a 400m medley in which you have to walk the first 100m, run the second 100m backwards, jump the third 100m and run the fourth 100m normally.
Also anything including points for artistic impression is not a sport e.g ice dancing.
I'm fairly sceptical of the place of gymnastics to be honest.
Andwhy no tug of war? That's a proper sport.
Simple rule: get rid of all "sports" where scores are assigned by judges. If it can't be measured objectively, it's an art form, not a sport.
You've just taken Tom Daley's gold away.
He can still have a gold medal for being best at something. It just isn't something that I recognise as competitive sport.
Melt down his medal and reshape it into an Oscar, for all I care.
If you're into the diving you can tell who's good and who isn't. Eg Tom and partner's final dive, obvious it was going to get a massive score. Perfectly in synch (the two became one), vertical entry, no splash.
If you're ito Strictly Come Dancing you can tell who's good and who isn't. Doesn't make it a sport though.
I find the BBC headline on Biles rather weird...Why 'superhuman' Simone Biles could change attitudes
Isn't the whole issue being that she isn't superhuman, she isn't a robot that can perform perfectly 100 times out of 100 regardless of everything else.
The superhuman is in inverted commas, which I think is the point being made.
Its been changed now, so clearly an editor at the BBC thought the same.
Well the Guardian has reported today's case numbers with "after falling for seven days in a row, the daily number of new cases is starting to rise again." Nice to see journalists still struggling with this.
Its as predictable as finding out Wayne Rooney is shagging around in £50 a night hotels again...
To be fair - Wayne Rooney occasional doesn't shag around etc etc...
I find the BBC headline on Biles rather weird...Why 'superhuman' Simone Biles could change attitudes
Isn't the whole issue being that she isn't superhuman, she isn't a robot that can perform perfectly 100 times out of 100 regardless of everything else.
Dressage should really not be at the Olympics. It is not a sport. Even though we seem to be quite good at it.
Genuine question though. *Why are there separate mens and womens events for it? Does being one gender give a significant advantage? What about the horse's gender? Does a male rider have to compete on a male horse and female riders on female horses? If not, why not?
To my eye it looks like the horse does all the hard work and the rider just sits there. It is like figure skating for horses. **Might as well give Olympic medals for choreography. That would at least be honest.
It is even worse than having all the umpteen different swim medals for swimming with different strokes. Should just be freestyle. ***Otherwise why aren't there skipping, hopping and running backwards competitions on the track?
* There aren't ** The choreography is scored in the individual competition. *** Walking is included in the program of events.
* Good ** Should give the performance medals to the horses then *** Walking shouldn't be an event
Pace Stephen fry, walking is like a competition to see who can whisper the loudest... Had the swimming debate yesterday with the wife. I think it could be restricted to who can go the fastest (which would be freestyle). Always thought it a bit unfair how many medals swimmers can amass. Also think that the distances are odd too. 100 m athletics is very different to 200, 400, 800 and 1500. Are the equivalent in swimming so different? I’d argue not.
Makes me smile to see the BBC get so excited about the sprinting ability of Adam Peaty - of course as a breaststroke specialist he's one of the slowest swimmers at the Olympics with even alsorans in the other events quicker.
Adam Peaty I believe has some freak genetic double-jointedness which makes him naturally pre-disposed to being great at breast stroke. He clearly won the genetic lottery when it comes to all the characteristics needed to be good at that specific stroke.
To give you an idea of how good he is as a result, Adrian Moorhouse set a WR for 100m breaststoke in 1990 of 1:01.49. Peaty's WR is now 56.88. That is 5 seconds, or 7.5% faster. If they had been in the same race when setting their WRs, Moorhouse would have been 7.5m behind Peaty.
The 100m freestyle WR is 46.91 (interestingly set way back in 2009) and so breaststroke is nowhere close to that. Peaty's breaststroke would be competitive with the Peter Fick in freestyle. Peter Fick set the freestyle WR in 1934, 1935 and 1936!
I do think there should be different distances in swimming. I just don't think there should be all the different strokes, just freestyle. Don't get me started on the medleys! That would be like getting a track competitor to cover 400m - 100m hopping, 100m skipping, 100m running backwards and 100m normal running. Frankly ridiculous.
Triathlon? Any -athlon?
The "thlons" mostly (modern pentathlon aside) are all genuine sporting endeavours using higher, faster or further. Now if the triathlon started introducing different events where they had to swim butterfly and ride a unicycle then I think I might lose it.
Triathlon isn't a test of cycling ability. The good swimmer/runners can just ride behind a domestique or a rival.
I think I disagree with that. Although of the three disciplines, I'd argue swimming requires much more technique to go fast than running and cycling.
I love triathlon; could never do one though, unless the swimming section was the three metre sink. Which I'd win.
Once.
Some perv came up with a way to watch women cycling and running in swim suits. That's triathlon.
If I were attracted to blokes, I would be glued to the Men's "synchro". Bleedin' heck all those abs and whatnot and teeny tiny trunks.
Ooh-er.
Speaking as one who is I prefer more clothes and more imagination..
The Innova scandal ought to be fatal for Johnson and his government?
Yes, because we should have done tests and due diligence for a couple of years on vaccines and tests before ordering initial samples for a wider phase-II trial. Then, in 2025, we should have ordered a few million tests.
Comments
Incoming media stories of is the wave taking off again.......risky opening up.....etc etc etc
China court jails billionaire Sun Dawu for 18 years for 'provoking trouble'
https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/world/china-court-jails-billionaire-sun-dawu-for-18-years-for-provoking-trouble/ar-AAMEwS3
A Chinese court sentenced agricultural tycoon Sun Dawu to 18 years in jail on Wednesday for a catalogue of crimes including "provoking trouble" after the outspoken billionaire and grassroots rights supporter was tried in secret.
The court in Gaobeidian near Beijing said Sun was found guilty of crimes including "gathering a crowd to attack state organs," "obstructing government administration" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," a catch-all term often used against dissidents.
He was detained by police in November along with 19 relatives and business associates after his firm was embroiled in a land dispute with a state-owned competitor.
The charismatic Sun built one of China's biggest private agriculture companies with his wife from a few chickens and pigs in the 1980s.
He has also been a vocal champion of rural reforms and a whistleblower during a devastating swine fever outbreak in 2019, posting photos of dead pigs online after local officials were slow to respond to the disease....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5WJOPeWczM
Edit: actually, looking at the boxing bit they are both shite. Are you a chess player I'm sure you could beat either of those two (of the first bout).
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-07-28/innova-pasaca-covid-17-antigen-test-british-uk-government
The Innova scandal ought to be fatal for Johnson and his government?
Basically as a Brit in the UK and I criticise China and/or their handling of Hong Kong the next time I visit China or Hong Kong I will be arrested and face a severe multi year prison sentence,
Join the Green Party to save planet, says Boris Johnson’s climate spokesperson
https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/boris-johnson-stratton-green-party-b1892060.html
The headline is slightly out of context, as she does say Greenpeace, the Green or the Tories, but still, that's way off message. Obviously you expect her to say the Tories are the only ones who can deliver yadda yadda yadda.
Buy Singapore, then buy again.
None of those articles reflect on the balance between intra-EEA legal influence and the wider world. And how much UK legal-forum external-to-UK business is EEA or not-EEA. They are all about external parties vs internal parties.
UK - esp English - legal forums are far more important in the worldwide legal world than any EU ones aiui.
What is to prevent in the short term bilateral agreements being created which replicate it outside EU structures, and recognise each other? It is only a thing across a small number of countries in one small part of the world.
Might the longer term impact simply be the EU marginalising Europe in a larger world?
Is this another one of the EU overimagining its own importance?
Honestly close down any HSBC or First Direct accounts and product you hold.
The England only figure is: 24367
Extrapolating the May 1st to June 14th Exponential best fit to today would give you: 25733
EDIT: Can't read my own spreadsheet.
https://www.worlddancesport.org/
NEW THREAD AND IT WORKS THIS TIME
https://www.espn.co.uk/olympics/summer/2012/story/_/id/8133052/athletes-spill-details-dirty-secrets-olympic-village-espn-magazine
Witness also the vaccines.
But why Marcus Antonius?