egg

The Israeli state.

Thanks. I don't subscribe to this powers above government/elite stuff. Nobody can point to who they mean. I think that Israel influence is much wider than people can imagine, and their wish for power goes beyond the middle east, and that people find it easier to point to unspecifieds than say Israel. Qatar was BP's point. I thought you were aligned with him, but if you're not on that point, understood.

The penultimate paragraph is particularly interesting, and carefully worded. Does your acquaintance frame it on that way, or more of a lean towards indoctrination/policies of those authorities?

To BP. Have you ever met an asylum seeker? When you do, ask them if they'd have stayed if their country was safe and they could have a reasonable life there. Every one would, and does, truthfully answer yes. Where I'm with you and Turkish is the whole moving to a safe place, then to here. Asylum is about safety and security, not a place of choice.

Where do Qatar fit into that? Who are you suggesting planned this in the 50's as you said yesterday?

I'm surprised the unspecified "elites" haven't had a mention yet. Regardless, I'm scratching my head as to why Qatar could possibly want to see Europe destabilised by a flood of Muslim migrants. Mossad / CIA orchestrating the recent Ceuta nonsense to aggravate the Spanish momentarily I can just about get, but the notion that Qatar is somehow, and for reasons unknown, trying to destabilise Europe as a whole is mental.

How do you know Qatar and Russia are funding any of this? What do Qatar gain by Muslims moving to Europe?

You earlier said there's a "grander plan to flood Europe with Muslims is looking more sensible by the day". I'll also again, who's making this plan to flood Europe with Muslims?

That's not my response, and I'm not from the left. If you say it's a plan, explain who you think is planning it. It's a simple question.

I'm not the one making bold claims. Who's planned in the 50's to overrun Europe with Muslims 70 years later? Who's behind any ongoing plan? It's your claim, so it's for you to explain.

Oh I see. A plan in the 50's to overrun Europe with Muslims 70 years later. Hmm. Sounds a bit MLT.

Who's plan is this?

We've got a campervan and wouldn't go back. Just need to be disciplined about how you use it. We only stay on nice sites with decent facilities, keep daily driving low, have plenty of stops (lunch, sites, bakeries, farm shop, etc), and stay somewhere where we either have peace and quiet and don't want to go far or somewhere we can walk to in the evening for food or whatever. CBA with sleeping on a roadside, shitting in the van, or making hard work of it.

Budapest is great and a good weekender. Easy to get around, both sides very different, good restaurants, the ruin bars are fun, amazing architecture, spas everywhere, reasonable prices but not cheap as say Krakow. We really enjoyed it.

Shovel

The Oman thing is interesting, and if you read his words re bombing them, he didn't mention them getting in the way of a deal to open the strait. That's the wide spread assumption, but not what he actually said. The strait won't open. The South Korea thing is odd, but I think it may just be punishment for their unwillingness to get involved in Iran, and leverage to get them to buy more US oil. Either way, he's nuts, but there's more in play here than appears at first blush.

It won't open. An open strait means no need for an oil pipeline to the med.

On a slightly related theme, I once went on a stag do which started at Northlands Road and was gatecrashed by Aymes, Smith and a couple of others. Absolute carnage.

Exactly this. Him, Woods, and countless others, were the best at that they did despite having various issues. To have achieved what they have against that backdrop is remarkable.

Neither played for the u21's so I'm guessing either injured, earmarked for a loan, or around the squad but didn't make the 2O.

They played Friday so Sunday lunchtime would be too early. That said, Moses Sesay apparently played well, and could be one to breakthrough. Not sure what's happened to Barnaby Williams though.

Some great shouts up there - Woods, Thompson, Maradona, Senna, Calzaghe, Warne, in particular. 3 alternatives: Michael Jordan Steve Redgrave Ronnie O'Sullivan

I was on a ferry. Everyone was out of signal, and when we got in range, hundreds of phones went loopy. When that happens, you assume it's for something serious, not telling us the bleeding obvious.

Yep. The COVID era also had a huge impact. Alas, many people can't or won't recognise conditions that haven't touched them.

Yet retaining the triple lock, even for those without the need. In this AI world, this economy , in a country with minimal manufacturing, I dread to think where we're heading where people are removed from benefits. Without a job to go to, which many of them would undoubtedly struggle to do even if there were jobs, it's going to be a car crash. This needs balance. Remove the triple lock, free up some cash, revise benefits to sift the needy from the greedy, means test PiP and the child equivalent - people are chucking their PiP into an ISA or SIPP!! Madness. We can't have a society where people -pensioners/children/disabled/unwell people are squirrelling away monies from the state - yet hundreds of thousands of people are left without support with the expectation that they get a job that isn't available and/or that they can't actually do.