Sheaf Saint

Yes, but he has been available for selection for a while now. He's clearly our most experienced and most reliable defender, so it's criminal that he hasn't come back in to the starting 11 yet.

Point taken, but when the foreign secretary is doing TV interviews and claiming that our evidence is based on our chemical weapons experts telling him directly that there is no doubt the agent came from Russia, and those experts then go on TV to refute that, do you not see that as a cause for concern? Watch the video where Johnson made that claim, and look at him squirming and stuttering while he is trying to answer the question. You don't need to be any kind of psychologist or body language expert to deduce that he isn't being entirely honest.

Apparently, not as strong as Boris Johnson claimed last week, when he said that the guys at Porton down had stated 'categorically' that there was 'no doubt' that the agent came from Russia. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/salisbury-poisoning-russia-novichok-nerve-agent-porton-down-proof-evidence-mod-latest-a8286761.html

It's not just what Puel knew, perhaps Pellegrino knew it too. He often said that controlling the game was the most important element on which to build a platform to win games, and looking at the way we surrendered the midfield on saturday and let WHU roll over us, I'm inclined to believe he knew what he was talking about in this respect. Although I'm not suggesting we shouldn't have sacked him, because he was clearly out of his depth and lacking in awareness in many other areas.

Quite. And I find it astounding how those who are claiming that this group are the wrong type of Jews are themselves being openly and blatantly antisemitic. It's pathetic. The BBC news are running with this as their lead story today, as if there is nothing more newsworthy going on in the world right now, and are describing this group as non-mainstream Jews. WTAF? It is not the place of the BBC to decide what is mainstream and what is not, and to effectively de-legitimise a certain group of Jews. Their lack of impartiality on this issue is a f*cking disgrace.

Season 3 of The Expanse starts next week - 11th April. Really looking forward to this.

I saw this posted elsewhere the other day. Pie is brilliant. I went to see his live stage show last month and it was true genius. Coincidentally, he touched on what you mentioned in your previous post in response to suewhistle, by having a pop at the idea of mansplaining. He told the audience "If you ever find me talking to you in a condescending and insulting manner, rest assured it will be nothing to do with your gender and will most likely be because you're a f*cking cretin!"

Aaaah, so what you actually meant to say was 'There are some on' the far left that demand that all Jews take responsibility and apologise for the Israeli state's murderous behaviour against Palestinians. I'm not going to disagree with that, because it's obvious there are a few. My point was that you can't tar the entire far-left with the same brush because, well, that in itself is just as moronic as blaming all Jews for the actions of the Israeli government, which is what this is all about. While not sitting on the far-left myself, I know a few people who do, and I can tell you that your blanket generalisation absolutely does not apply to them. I have not at any point denied that there are some issues that the Labour party need to address. The Michelle Grant case, which I don't doubt is not an isolated one, was obviously handled very badly, but in the end they did the right thing and expelled the guy who she complained about, even if they went the very wrong way about it. It would be interesting to know the timeline of events in this case though. You are right in saying that Corbyn supporters now control many of the key institutions within the party, certainly since John Lansmann and two other Momentum members were elected to the NEC in January. But he hasn't always had the full support of the NEC - let's remember that they tried to block him from winning his second leadership election by changing the rules and banning new members from voting. So it's a little unfair to be chastising him for the actions of a group within his party who have actively tried to shaft him in the past.

I don't know what's happened to you Verbal. I used to enjoy reading your posts, but this is one of the most ridiculous and dismissive loads of total codsh!t I have ever seen anybody post. And I'm not just saying that out of personal offence because I don't consider myself to be far-left.

Yes, on watching that video it seems this lady had a horrific experience and the whole complaint was handled in an appalling manner which reflects very badly on the NEC, and I'm not going to try and defend it. The guy in question was expelled from the party last September though. As to your claim that the Labour party is in danger of becoming institutionally antisemitic, how do you explain the results of a yougov poll which show that antisemitic attitudes have actually decreased since Corbyn became leader in 2015? https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/921pn4p2fh/CampaignAgainstAntisemitismResults_MergedFile_W.pdf https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/bs0i5dmt7s/CampaignAgainstAntisemitismResults_170803_JewishOpinions.pdf Yet more actual evidence, rather than hearsay and rumour, that antisemitism is a bigger problem in the Conservative party than it is in Labour. To add to the long list of provable instances of overt racism and discrimination among their ranks in the last week which, for some very strange reason, aren't having front page headlines printed about them. Why isn't this story getting splashed all over the front pages of the tabloids like it would if it was about a Labour MP, for instance? I've been reading a lot of debate and comment about this whole story recently, trying to cut through the hyperbole and find some actual facts to make my own mind up, and one thing I have noticed a lot of has really troubled me. When the fact that numerous studies and evidence show that antisemitism is a bigger problem in the Tory party than it is in Labour gets highlighted, I'm seeing a lot of comments in online circles defending this by stating that it's because Labour are being hypocrites by claiming to be the party of anti-racism. What people who use this defence seem to be willfully ignorant of is that it is essentially saying that racism and antisemitism in the Tory party (you know, the ones who are actually in government) is perfectly OK because they never actually claimed to be against it in the first place.

He's not been great all season. He's certainly not what I consider to be captain material.

If we're going to give a player like Arnautovic that much time and space in our box then we deserve to be relegated. F*cking pathetic defending.

So do you think Boris Johnson should be deselected then? ?

Well well well, what a surprise... Turns out that Jonathan Goldstein, the chair of the Jewish Leadership Council who orchestrated the anti-Corbyn protest on Monday, is listed as a director of M&C Saachi, alongside Maurice Saachi - the FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY! But I'm sure that's just a coincidence

So why haven't the Tories set up their own internal inquiry after the findings of the home affairs select committee in 2016 that the issue of antisemitism was no more or less prevalent in the Labour party than in other parties? I fully acknowledge that the Labour inquiry could and should have been handled better, but at least they carried one out. Did the Tories? No, they just swept the report under the carpet and ignored it, probably with their fingers in their ears going "LA LA LA!!!". Corbyn has obviously f*cked up big time by accepting Chakrabati's findings then climbing down and admitting that there is still an issue within his party, but that doesn't exonerate the Tories. God help them if they ever actually did hold a full and thorough inquiry into racism in the party; on the available evidence they would probably end up having to expel half the party. How the actual f*ck can a serving foreign secretary get away with describing African people as "Picaninnies" without being sacked? Again, can you imagine the outrage in the press if one of Corbyn's shadow cabinet did that? Oh and if you want to bring up the issue of having racist friends and keeping the company of people with questionable views, then does this not count?... I can't be certain that she ever actually used the word 'friends' to describe them, but inviting the Saudi royal family to Chequers for dinner and doing an arms deal with them that enables British firms to profit from the murdering of civilians in Yemen is still pretty tasteless IMO. These people are about as antisemitic as it is possible to get (Jewish people aren't even allowed into the country), so it's pretty hypocritical for the Govt to be complaining about Corbyn associating himself with unsavoury types while cosying up to one of the most authoritarian regimes in the world. But I'm sure this can all be dismissed as just whataboutery

I know this will attract more claims of whataboutery but I'm going to post it anyway because it is relevant to the current discussion about media bias... In the last few days, an aide to Theresa May has publicly outed a gay man against his will in revenge for blowing the whistle on potential breaches of campaign spending during the Brexit referendum. And instead of apologising to the victim of this outing, May has issued a statement giving the aide her full backing and confidence. Where is the media outrage about the PM endorsing homophobic bullying in her party? Can you imagine the field day they would all be having if it were Corbyn who had done this?

Oh come on. The EDL isn't even a political party. It's just an irrelevant bunch of hate filled thugs who somehow seem to get a lot more attention than they deserve. "Right wing parties" also includes the Tories. They got more of the vote in the last election, which makes them currently the biggest party in the UK, so why is racism in their ranks not more newsworthy than it is in Labour?

In fairness, if you read some of the comments on Twitter and Facebook, you'll see there is a lot of genuine hatred towards JC from large sections of a certain demographic. Of course, it's wrong to tar them all with the same brush, but it must be acknowledged that that hatred exists.

The investigation by the Institute for Jewish Policy last September concluded that instances of "jew hating" are more prevalent in right wing parties than in the Labour Party. So why is it perfectly OK for the entire country to be discussing antisemitism in Labour, but when someone quite rightly points out that it is just as rife, if not more so, in other parties it can be just dismissed as whataboutery?

I agree with this too Shurlock. Clearly there are elements on the left that have a problem with antisemitism and I don't see anybody claiming that such a problem does not exist. But there is simply no real evidence that it is any more prevalent in the Labour party than in any other party currently... Last autumn, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research carried out a comprehensive study which concluded that the level of antisemitism on the political left is consistent with the general population. In 2015, a home affairs committee consisting of predominantly Tory MPs investigated allegations of antisemitism in the Labour party and concluded that "Despite significant press & public attention on the Labour party and a number of revelations regarding inappropriate social media content, there exists no reliable, empirical evidence to support the notion that there is a higher prevalence of antisemitic attitudes within the party than any other party". With regards to the mural which has apparently sparked this latest 'outrage', even the Jewish Chronicle weren't convinced that it was even antisemitic when Corbyn's support for it was reported in 2015, describing it as simply depicting “a group of businessmen and bankers sitting around a Monopoly-style board and counting money” - no mention of any of them being Jewish at all. Both the Jewish Voice for Labour and the Jewish Socialists have come out in support of Corbyn over the last 24 hours, which they undoubtedly would not do if the claim that antisemitism is rife and allowed to propagate in the party was true. Even the picture of the demonstrators outside parliament shows many of them actually supporting Corbyn rather than criticising him. It's so obvious to anybody without blue tinted blinkers that this latest round of outrage is just another orchestrated attempt to smear and discredit Corbyn ahead of the upcoming local elections. One Tory activist was crowing on Twitter this morning (before strangely deleting his account) that it was a stroke of genius that they have been able to pull this off in the run up to the elections... So, while I acknowledge that antisemitism is a problem throughout society, and I believe it needs to be tackled alongside all other kinds of racism/discrimination in all corners of society, forgive me if I'm not going to allow myself to be swept up in the current whirlwind of anti-Corbyn propaganda.

The Porton Down analyst swore evidence to the court that the nerve agent used was a "novichok class or a closely related agent". So, possibly not actually a novichok then. Johnson claims that they told him they had no doubt it was definitely a Russian Novichok. One of these statements is not true, as they can't both be. Which one do you think it is?

I assume you are referring to Jess Phillips. Well then I'm sold - it's not as if she's a disgruntled Blairite with an axe to grind against Corbyn is it. Oh, hang on..... FFS this flaming of Corbyn over whatever they choose to smear him with this week is just getting so tired and predictable now, really it is. Three weeks ago he was a Czech spy, but they couldn't make that accusation stick because the 'source' was a deluded fantasist who claimed that Corbyn told him what Maggie Thatcher ate for breakfast each day and that he was also responsible for organising Live Aid. Then, paradoxically, he was a communist who was also a sympathiser for the authoritarian dictator of a corporate oligarchy. But, again, couldn't get that mud to stick because it's clearly a load of contradictory bullsh*t and it turns out he was actually just doing his job as leader of the opposition byt holding the govt to account. Oh he's an anti-semite again this week is he? Funny that Jewish Voice for Labour doesn't think so isn't it, hmmm? I wonder what scandal the government are trying to distract us from this time? Could it possibly be the revelations of their ties to Cambridge Analytica, and the fact that they were given pre-warning of a warrant being granted so they could destroy all the evidence first?

Actually, yes it is. Despite what Verbal claims about the background of this guy - I had no idea who he was until last week so I can't comment on his history - the evidence he presents here is concrete. If you follow the link to the report of the Royal Courts of Justice ruling here (page 10), you'll see it in black and white. What Boris Johnson has been claiming about the certainty of the evidence that it is a novichok of Russian origin is completely at odds with the testimony of the Porton Down analyst to the RCJ... "Blood samples from Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal were analysed and the findings indicated exposure to a nerve agent or related compound. The samples tested positive for the presence of a Novichok class nerve agent or closely related agent. " Johnson's interview yesterday... "You argue that the source of this nerve agent, Novichok, is Russia. How did you manage to find it out so quickly? Does Britain possess samples of it? Let me be clear with you … When I look at the evidence, I mean the people from Porton Down, the laboratory … So they have the samples … They do. And they were absolutely categorical and I asked the guy myself, I said, "Are you sure?" And he said there's no doubt." Somebody here isn't telling the truth. And I know who my money is on.

I can't take credit for this, it's from a satirical page on Facebook, but it's a really good read... I see you, Gavin Williamson. I see you puffing out your chest, concentrating super hard on squinting out your meanest possible stare, clenching your fists and tightening your bumhole right up in an attempt to make your face turn red. You’re absolutely bloody livid, aren’t you, Gavin Williamson? Those horrible Russians have come over here and taken your lunch money and your dad’s definitely harder than their dad so they’re going to be super bloody sorry. This could be your Darkest Hour moment, couldn’t it? An indignant shaking of the fist to bloody the nose of the evil interloper, a rattling of sabres for the ages. It’s your big chance to intimidate and impress, to silence the naysayers who think you’re too politically immature for your new position. You’ll show them, won’t you, Gavin Williamson? You’re a big boy and you’ve got your big boy pants on and it’s time to kick some olig-arse. What a ****ing embarrassment you are. I mean, seriously, who can’t even get “shut up and go away” in the right order? You looked like a schoolboy panicking after he accidentally called the teacher ‘mum.’ You’re supposed to be the hard man, the steely-eyed maverick who once kept a tarantula in his office just to intimidate his enemies. Instead you’ve come across like a bumbling dork on the verge of wetting his pants. At least Michael Fallon would’ve given Russia a verbal spanking on a par with the literal ones he gave his creeped-out interns. After another week of Spygate 2: The Re-Murdering, just about every player in the game has been trying to work it to their advantage. Theresa May’s doing her damnedest to turn it into her Falklands moment, even though she’s less Iron Lady and more a bundle of off-brand Twiglets crumpled into a scarecrow. After weeks of the catastrophic ****storm of Brexit she finally gets to impersonate a leader, hammering Corbyn on his perceived weakness. In a national security crisis JC’s softly-softly approach is never going to play well with a huge chunk of the electorate, even if caution in a ****-storm is a far more prudent approach than opening your mouth above the parapet. If it turns out to be true that the Tories deliberately shut him out of the highest level of intelligence briefing regarding the attack, he’s walked straight into their trap. If there’s evidence he wasn’t privy to that indicates Russian state involvement more clearly, then it’s one of the most nauseatingly Machiavellian plays we’ve seen from May and her clutch of ******s; to use his own integrity against him, knowing full well that he wouldn’t blindly support condemnation of Russia without seeing enough evidence. So now we’re back to Corbyn being a communist and a stooge for a foreign power, even though his politics have about as much in common with Russia’s post-Soviet corporate oligarchy as Kim Kardashian has with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Tories can put red flags in voters’ minds just by suggesting that they’re red in the first place, even though their own party has far more links to suspicious Russian money than Labour. When the wife of a Putin loyalist can pay £160,000 to play tennis with Boris Johnson the only rackets involved aren’t going to be strung with catgut. If it wasn’t about influencing policy and extending Russian influence she could’ve saved the money by staying at home and slapping a few balls into a racist haystack. This can’t be much fun for you, Gavin Williamson. A diplomatic face-off with an emboldened and brazen Russia is about one of the most complicated defence situations I can imagine and you’ve barely been in the post five minutes. Five years ago your official job was to nod your head and carry other people’s notes about, to the point where John Bercow was actively taking the **** out of you for it when you piped up in the Commons. Now you’re representing Britain on the world stage, standing up to threats for all of us, and how on Earth are you supposed to intimidate a man like Putin? If it worked back then it can work again, right? I see you, Gavin Williamson, your hands shaking as you smooth your hair in the mirror and fuss at the knot of your tie. I see you walk around the desk of your office, carefully turning the terrarium to the optimum angle. Now the first thing he sees when he walks in will be Cronus the tarantula and who wouldn’t be scared of that? You’ve got to be dead hard to have a pet spider. You’re Gavin Williamson, dead hard absolute legend, and when the Russian ambassador walks in to your office you’re going to scare the **** out of him and tell him what for. I hear the buzzer sound as an external door opens, Gavin Williamson. I see you rush to your chair, sitting yourself down, swallowing hard and practising your meanest scowl. It’s time for the big show, isn’t it? You and Cronus are fearless and ready for him. I see the wooden doors burst open, Gavin Williamson, and I hear you yelp as the frame splinters, the hinges flying free and clanging against the floor. I see the shadow envelop you as you shrink into your chair, the bare-chested figure looming over you. It’s not the ambassador, is it? I see you cover your face with your arms, wrapping yourself up into a foetal position. I hear the draw of a zipper and the shattering of glass as something huge and meaty is slammed into the terrarium. I see a spurt of spider innards splash across your shrieking body. This is why it’s all happening, Gavin Williamson. This is why it all makes sense. Putin’s reinforced his position by playing the narrative that only he can secure Russia against its enemies. Only he can prevent another collapse like the nineties. Only he has what it takes to represent Russia on the world stage and stand against the mud-raking West, determined as they are to paint his entire country as the villains. This is Salisbury in a nutshell, really. Putin’s slapped his **** down on your desk for no other reason than to prove he can. And your ****y little spider doesn’t frighten him one bit. Just look at his margin, Gavin Williamson. He’s got even more girth than in 2012. I see you, Gavin Williamson. I ****ing see you.

You do realise there's no such thing as genies and it's just a bit of fun, right?