Winnersaint

I'm not so sure now. I suppose that ship has long sailed and on a personal level I still have EU citizenship so in my bubble I think its become less important.

I enjoyed the Battle of Britain series and the Operation Pedestal video. They also did a two parter on Taranto which was fascinating. My dad was Fleet Air Arm, joined up on VJ Day so I grew up hearing stories about aircraft carriers and they were of particular interest. Currently pinging between their Hood/ Bismarck story and Joanne of Arc on the Rest is History.

The War in the West Vol 1 by James Holland. Challenges the narrative of the early years of the war that Britain was on its knees and a German victory was inevitable. Particularly after the rapid fall of France. Others have written similarly about this, for example Julian Jackson but James Holland takes the jigsaw pieces of other works and connects them up. Some interesting nuggets I did not know. Car ownership, despite Hitler building the Autobahn network, was significantly lower in Germany than in France or Britain. 1 in 47 compared to 1 in 14 in Britain in 1939 and 1 in 18 in France. "The fewer vehicles there were meant there were also fewer factories than in say, France or Britain, making them. The fewer factories there were, the fewer people there were with the know-how to make vehicles, and the fewer mechanics there were to repair them; it meant there were also fewer people who knew how to drive them, and fewer petrol pumps to fill them. This shortfall in expertise could not be magicked out of thin air. It took time to build up." "Germany ate proportionally more pork than any other country, but the problem with pigs was that they competed with humans for foodstuffs, in contrast to sheep, which ate grass. The solution was to reduce the number of pigs, but that then meant less fat was available, which in turn meant people ate more sugar beet and potatoes; this in turn led to less fodder for what pigs there were. British people, on the other hand, ate a higher proportion of mutton, which was a more practical meat source because sheep only required grass and their wool could be made into uniforms". Also if you're interested in this sort of stuff the We Have Ways of Making You Talk pods with Holland and Al Murray are very good too.

Haunting blend of narrative early photos and music, brilliant!

That's a bit harsh on Soggy to be fair.

Tiger Tom

And teachers etc, they can fuck right off. They're not having my 'gold plated' pension.

Be interesting to see if either starts tonight.

I've got a Kinesis gravel bike which can double as a winter road bike if I swap my spare set of road wheels on to it. Likely N+1 will be an e-bike for the road. Canyon have a sub 10kg one, only issue is its £9k+.

I remember having a Year 11 tutor group and trying to get them to do them was a pain in the arse.

Bike wise it does depend on what you want to pay as far as 'cheap-ish' is concerned. It also depends on what sort of bar set up you would prefer. Basically it would boil down to either a hybrid or an entry level drop bar bike. For the latter I'd be more inclined to look at a gravel bike simply because of its extra versatility. Decathlon might be a good bet here. https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/gravel-bike-aluminium-frame-discovery-microshift-acolyte-1x8s/348757/c261m8817948 On the hybrid side this seems like a good deal. https://www.halfords.com/bikes/hybrid-bikes/boardman-mtx-8.6-mens-hybrid-bike-2021---s-m-l-frames-366006.html?stockInventory=undefined&_gl=1*1kd5f3c*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAiA7LzLBhAgEiwAjMWzCHtkYDYZsdBO_5fHYUBxPIedij0N84kLFMeLMH4YM0bAspdL39wQuBoCoeoQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&gbraid=0AAAAADrJx6x_8zxfiHDgApKnnh65Xupkj Hydraulic discs and decent Shimano gearing. For a turbo you've got two choices, wheel off or wheel on. If you go wheel on they tend to be more affordable e.g. TACX Flux S for example or Wahoo Kickr Snap. Wheel off means removing your rear wheel every time you use it and buying another cassette as most don't ship with one, however you don't wear your rear tyre out. Wahoo Kickr Core and Van Rysel D900 for example. Factor in a sub to Zwift or similar, I use ROUVY which is real life routes rather than Zwift's computer generated courses, but as with everything there are plusses and minuses to both. Personally I have a Wahoo Kickr trainer. Hope this helps, feel free to ask anything if not clear.

80% chance quoted today of the Democrats having the House post mid-terms and of course they have sole power to impeach. 33 senate seats up for grabs too in November so the balance of power to try and convict might shift also. He's between a rock and a hard place a bit like Netanyahu has been in Israel.

Never forget the promotion celebrations where he shouted 'Irons, Irons' as he waved to the crowd. Maybe he thought it was his way back to WHU and that it didn't happen coupled with the departure of RM has meant that we've been carrying a midfield recycler for over a year. Reminds me of a lad I was in a team with back in the day who just couldn't handle things when the going got tough as it was all about him.

Read a rather ridiculous tweet that Trump was reigning (sic) MAGA in and we ought to be really worried about what follows on.

Unlike you to use 'socialist' as a pejorative.

Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, plus a shout out for the rather oddly cast Stephen Graham as Al Capone.

Tranmere here we come!

Here's a thing The closest point in the UK to Greenland is 879 miles border to border. The USA is 1226 miles from Greenland using the same calculation. Somebody probably showed Trump a Mercator projection of the world which distorts the size of land masses the further away from the Equator you go, and his eyes lit up at how much he could increase the size of the US.

Overcast, cool and fairly calm here in the Thames Valley. F****** horrible out with dogs a couple of hours ago mind. We rarely get snow here what with the Hampshire and Berkshire Downs to the south and west respectively and the Chilterns to the north. If it comes from the east we're too far west and vice versa.

My dad took me to The Dell in October 63, a few weeks short of my 6th birthday. It was against Leeds. Bremner, Giles, Collins etc. We lost 4-1, they got promoted under Don Revie, and I was hooked from that point. I went sporadically after that. My dad was in the Fleet Air Arm and was stationed at Boscombe Down we were living a fair distance the other side of Salisbury at the time so it was a bit of trek. Went a few times in our promotion season, but the old man was away on HMS Eagle for three months of it, although I was at Mick Channon's debut game. The 66 World Cup followed and by that point I was a confirmed Saints fan. By this point my dad was stationed largely at Daedalus and we were in North Baddesley so I went more regularly and then the lifetime of the ups and downs of being a Saints fan truly began. 60 odd years later the ups and downs continue.

RIP. Was at this game which secured our survival at the end of our first season in Div 1. Great header from Chivers to open scoring and remember the penalty incident. i was 9 so not tall enough to see it hit the net. https://www.google.com/search?q=southampton+v+nottingham+forest+1967&sca_esv=2abb81a9f80b289a&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1081US1081&sxsrf=ANbL-n5jtivCmTxUkTnT2GsYYG-1HCI7Sg%3A1767811824400&ei=8KpeadzmF8eYhbIPgp_BwQ4&oq=Southampton+v+Nott+1967&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiF1NvdXRoYW1wdG9uIHYgTm90dCAxOTY3KgIIADIKECEYoAEYwwQYCjIKECEYoAEYwwQYCjIKECEYoAEYwwQYCjIKECEYoAEYwwQYCki8O1CRCFi_J3ABeACQAQCYAXWgAZsIqgEEMTMuMbgBAcgBAPgBAZgCDqACpAjCAg4QABiABBiwAxiGAxiKBcICCBAAGLADGO8FwgILEAAYgAQYsAMYogTCAgcQIxiwAhgnwgIFEAAY7wXCAggQABiABBiiBMICBhAAGAgYHsICCxAAGIAEGIYDGIoFwgIIECEYoAEYwwSYAwCIBgGQBgaSBwQxMi4yoAeWP7IHBDExLjK4B50IwgcFMS44LjXIByiACAA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:fc5e332c,vid:oPOAsWjKyiY,st:0

Downes, Harwood Bellis, Bazunu, Manning, Arma, Wood, Stephens they're all part of the rotten core from last season and just need to do one. No sooner was RM out the door they threw their football toys out the pram. Did for Juric and Still and now seemingly for Eckert. This is on the players.

Joan?

Happy New Year to you too. Its not the message or the politics. I saw him interviewed recently. His rudeness and capacity get 'shouty' is only equalled by Mohammed Yusuf Zia. That's what I found objectionable.

That Mark Littlewood formally of the right wing IEA Think Tank is a Saints fan. He can fuck right off. Is he St Ralph ?