Sheaf Saint

Reminds me of that famous quote "when someone shows you who they really are, believe them the first time". Alexander Johnson showed us 20 years ago who he really is. Too many people didn't pay attention and here we are.

Might as well lock this thread now. With the coaches being let go but Ralph not, he's obviously here to stay for the foreseeable.

One hit wonder? You do know she is still only 19 and has had injury problems recently, right?

Fabricant on BBC news now trying to defend Johnson. Apparently it's all due to the civil servants giving him bad advice. I still refuse to believe he's a real person. I'm sure he only won his seat because people genuinely thought he was a comedian in a wig on a wind up.

I think he misspelled "rumbled".

Yes, fair point.

Yes, I imagine after the coming winter when a record number of people have frozen or starved to death because the government didn't have a clue what to do about it (and don't care because it won't affect them), people will have more pressing things to worry about. The party is dying a slow and painful death. They tore themselves apart over Brexit and purged all the decent, moderate MPs in favour of vacuous, loyal Brexit cheerleaders, leaving themselves with a serious intellectual deficit as a result. As the circulation of their supporting newspapers dwindles and their older generation of traditional voters die off, they are going to find it harder and harder to get support among the general public who see them for what they are now - a bunch of self-serving, morally bankrupt, corrupt, entitled shysters with zero shame in supporting a talentless, bloviating charlatan as their leader. Even my old mum - a lifelong Tory voter - voted against them for the first time ever in the recent local elections because she is embarrassed at what they have become under Johnson.

Every day he clings on in there and his fellow ministers continue to support him, the credibility of the Tory party is further eroded, increasing the likelihood of them being obliterated at the next GE. That's the silver lining I'm focussing on here.

Fucking hell he is floundering in there. Just answering every question with "I refer him/her to what I've already said". Just look how many Tory MPs have abandoned the chamber and left him to it. What a pathetic excuse for a human being and a spineless bunch of cowards enabling him.

So the Sue Gray report lands, and to nobody's surprise it details a culture of total disregard for the rules at the time. Pre-planned events, karaoke machines, people so drunk they were sick, and even a drunken altercation between two attendees. But there were absolutely definitely no 'parties'.

Oh what so that's yet another mass shooting where a 'good guy with a gun' wasn't there to stop it? Maybe next time then. Fingers crossed. Bound to happen sooner or later.

I'm sure he will try and use that defence, but it wouldn't stand up in court when you look at the dictionary definition: No way you could argue it doesn't fit with #1.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin: Everton striker says talking about mental struggles 'saved my life' - https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/61559088 Very interesting, and powerful. It's all too easy to criticise footballers for not having the right mindset, but they are still only human after all. Many dismissed DCL this season as not being focused and eyeing up his next move, but this puts his season in a completely different perspective.

He's a very high ranking officer in the Met, but it's not certain whether he was involved in the investigation or not.

Absolute carve up.

So he allowed someone to take photographs and didn't even think to make sure they were deleted. This leads to one of two possibilities: 1. He genuinely didn't believe they were breaking any rules, or... 2. He knew, but he didn't consider or care about the consequences because he thinks he's untouchable. I know which one my money is on.

I watched that game and I can see why it wasn't given. The ball span a bit as it bounced up off a bobble and changed the trajectory of it at the last moment. There was no deliberate movement of the arm towards the ball so that's why they said no penalty. It's not like it was going in and he stopped a certain goal though, and there's no guarantee Everton would have scored the penalty or City wouldn't have scored again if they did. And although I can't bring any to mind immediately, I'm sure there were numerous occasions when Liverpool benefited from some suspect refereeing decisions (probably involving Salah going down far too easily).

Did he really want them all or were they just the most affordable options at the time? I seriously doubt any of those players would have been his first choice if he had more funds and thus better options available.

This. We can moan all we like about his starting lineups and his substitutions, but whatever he does is just like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Every week he is forced to start games with 5 or 6 players who wouldn't get into any other PL team, because the alternatives are even worse. I just don't see what difference sacking him would make. Not even Pep could make Ely, Redmond and Djenepo into better attackers, or Bednarek and Stephens into better defenders, or McCarthy into a competent keeper.

City 2-2 now!

Cool. Where is it and when can I collect the keys?

Meh. Game over. As if it wasn't already. This season can just fuck the fuck off now.

When he was hung out to dry by being given his debut in a completely second string back four you mean? I do find it baffling that Redmond would be chosen to play LWB ahead of him.

I reckon that would be best all round (except the burning down bit). The Palace of Westminster may be a grand old piece of magnificent architecture steeped in history, but is it really fit for purpose in this day and age? The HoC doesn't even have enough seats to accommodate all 650 MPs FFS, let alone allow for other modern things like electronic voting (that pretty much all other countries use). The desire of many to stay there stems purely from tradition and sentiment rather than practicality. It's just another representation of how our entire political system is stuck in the past. Build a new parliament building that's fit for purpose and open it up as a tourist attraction to recoup the costs. Seems the obvious course of action to me.