Sheaf Saint

Oh my!

Seeing as the players are evidently being coached to just pass it around aimlessly in our own half, maybe need to bring on Archimedes to liven things up going forward...

Ashley Young sent off for Everton at Anfield.

The A1 is closed in both directions near Newark, so anyone travelling up by car is likely to face delays as well.

Where is that?

It's not just the ground itself though. We've had some severe flooding in Sheffield with over 120mm rainfall (more than a month's worth) recorded in 24 hours. It's caused major disruption to the A1, and the train lines between here and Leeds, Nottingham and Doncaster are all closed, which will affect services to Hull. Wouldn't surprise me at all if this game gets called off.

Yeah I don't doubt it. Can't see England winning tomorrow. SA were outstanding against France in the QF.

Did I say smashed? I take it back. Humiliated is more appropriate.

Seeing the Argies getting smashed in a WC semi final.

My beef with the examples on this list is the penultimate one. It basically gives the Israeli government a free pass to implement really fucking awful policies similar to those passed by the Third Reich in the 1930s (like, say, a law that literally renders Arabic people second class citizens in their own homeland), safe in the knowledge they can just use accusations of antisemitism against anyone who criticises them for it. It's a massive deflection tactic, and a load of horseshit as far as I'm concerned. It contradicts the previous example about not applying double standards and requiring of it behaviour not expected of other nations. I expect all nations to not act like Nazis, and Israel are not exempt from this. If they do act like Nazis, then people should be free to call that out without being accused of antisemitism.

Wonderful. Every vote for Reform in the GE is a wasted vote that just reduces the Tories' chances of defeating Lab/Lib Dem.

Crushing defeats for the Tories in the Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire by-elections yesterday (the latter has been held by them since 1931!) Tick tock.

Sorry but I have to pick you up on this. That's actually the correct and respectful way to pronounce it.

And I'm still not going to answer that because it's a stupid question. You know full well that's not what I meant when I used the word compromise. Hamas may desire the eradication of Israel, but Netenyahu has openly said he wants to turn Gaza into a deserted pile of rubble. How is that any less sinister than what Hamas want?

I'm not saying they shouldn't do that. But there must be better ways of achieving it that don't result in the near destruction of Gaza city.

I'm not so naive as to believe that would instantly solve all the problems and end the attacks, but in line with what I said previously, it would go some way towards weakening support for Hamas. This isn't going to be solved overnight. If their response to every Hamas attack is to wade in heavy handed, not caring how much collateral damage they cause in the process, the cycle of hatred will never end. It's a fucked up mess of a situation and I dont presume to have all the answers. But doing the same thing over and over and expecting things to change is insanity.

That's an absurd generalisation. Hamas does not represent all of Palestine. The kind of compromise I'm talking about is, say, ending their illegal occupation of the West Bank. As long as they stick rigidly to their current policies, there is no chance of any compromise from Hamas. I'm not saying that's right, but if you want them to back down from their current stance then there has to be some sort of reciprocation. You can't possibly expect them to back down if the other side just continues with the status quo.

So the onus to compromise is all on Hamas is it? None whatsoever on Israel?

Extremist organisations like Hamas need continuing injustice in order to recruit new members. If the vast majority of Palestinians were living freely in an independent state, free from Israeli occupation and oppression, then Hamas will find their recruitment much more difficult and over time their power and influence will become a lot more limited. It would take time to achieve, but ultimately would be worthwhile. Taking the quicker and easier option of just carpet bombing Gaza and continuing to occupy the West Bank will only have the opposite effect.

Coming back to the point I made to Whelk in a previous post, it's not a simple binary choice between what they are currently doing or 'nothing'. There are a whole range of options in between those extremes. I'm not going to start suggesting exactly what they should have done, because I'm not a military strategist, but I do believe that the destruction they have rained down on Gaza so far is way too excessive.

But they're not preventing it from happening again though. Their current actions are just perpetuating the cycle of hatred and violence, and breeding a whole new generation of Hamas supporters who will want to take revenge at some point in the future.

"Israel must have the right to defend itself". While I dont disagree with that statement, it doesn't really describe the situation does it. if someone tries to attack me in the street, blocking his punches and putting him on his arse is self-defence, burning down his house and murdering his family is not.

Interesting hearing the IDF spokesman saying that other countries are "looking carefully at what the BBC says" when asked why people should believe their claim about the misfired rocket causing the hospital blast. I can't find a link, but I remember many years ago reading a very frank interview with someone who worked in the BBC newsroom for many years. He recalled how every single time they printed a story about the Israel-Palestine conflict they would immediately get a call from irate Israeli government officials complaining that the language used was misleading and demanding that they alter it to portray them more favourably. They would then inevitably get a call from the director's office with strict instructions on the exact changes to the text that they required. He showed a couple of examples, where a very balanced article had been heavily edited to show the Palestinians as being the perpetrators and Israel as the innocent victims. It was pretty shocking, and highlighted how much power the Israeli foreign office has over Western media. To counter this though, I will also add that Hamas have also been caught out faking videos of people being injured in Israeli attacks in the past (Google 'Pallywood' to see for yourself), so both sides are guilty of manipulating the media for their own benefit.

That second half from England was as good a performance as I have seen in a very long time. I'm actually looking forward to the Euros now.

Lovely goal. Great work from Bellingham and a sweet finish from Rashford.