Rooney

Except we've already borrowed a load of money and can't pay it back, unless the money is properly accounted for with guarantees of how we will raise it, the Markets will have a field day and crash our economy again. This whole "oh we will tax the rich even more" policy is so dumb. Yes in theory it works, but how many people do we really think will stick around and not find a tax loophole, rendering the whole thing pointless.

There's evidence floating about that Sunak was not even going to attend Normandy in the first place! Such a bad look, and an easy open goal for Labour/Reform here. I don't know who is advising Sunak, but this is just another example of showing how out of touch he is. Anyone watch QT last night? Thought it was a pretty poor performance from everyone. Labour struggled, the Tories did terrible and The Greens have seemingly moved on to the magic money tree.

Out of form, who knows really. He's a good player, but he is so streaky and I don't think he's ever performed at the top level consistently.

Hmm, won't lie I can't believe Southgate took Dunk over Branthwaite/Quansah. Maybe he wants him as a Conor Coady role, and in the grand scheme of things I don't think it's too big an issue as I suspect he will be 5th choice. Suddenly our defence looks really weak and inexperienced though - we're going to be playing Guehi & Stones as our first choice CB, which is a bit mad.

And if anyone did want evidence that City were guilty, their attempts to counter sue to the Premier League guarantee whatever they are doing is not above board..

This also shows why it’s counter productive for people to vote for other parties and ignore voting for Labour as “they’ll win” such as Owen Jones and the ilk. Nobody is under any illusion that a Starmer government will make things better immediately, but it will be better than the Tories. And we will have capable politicians in offices of the State. Not seen anything to do with the debate and tbh I think there’s so much time to go it doesn’t really matter. But if people really want change then no matter what your beliefs, you’re far more likely to get it under a Labour government than a Tory one with the current politics.

Feel they’re trying small bits to freshen it up- I actually quite liked the cast, although throwing Joey Essex in there feels like a proper jump the shark moment imo. Huge cast already though with 13, then undoubtedly some more bombshells later in the week.

RIP Rob Burrows. I got a little teary when I saw the news earlier - those poor children of his been robbed of a father by this horrible disease. What an extradinary man who will leave a legacy.

I've gone with Germany - home tournment, in good form and I think they will do well. As for England, I've gone for elimination in the semi-finals. I think Southgate is too reactive a manager for us to win a major tournament. Dark horses.. Hungary!

Would love Dortmund to win, if only for the narrative, but I can't see anything other than an easy Real Madrid win.

Yeah they will be parachuting themselves in as candidates, but what's new? The same happened under Corbyn's leadership too when the likes of Begum and Tarry were parachuted in. I totally agree the leadership behind the scenes got this one wrong and it was becoming a political sideshow. I still stand by they tired to get rid of her as she is a liability to the Party, not sure keeping her on out of sympathy is the right move! But I also respect that she should make her own decison. I'm not sure it was totally faction motivated though.. I think if that was the case there was other people they would have got rid of (RLB, Burgeon etc.). Mix of some faction, but definitely something to do with capability too. The Akehurst one is fecking weird though, so I can see why people can connect a narrative.

Doesn't this all have nothing to do with Starmer though and all to do with the NEC? Thought that was a ruling and the Leader was banned from selecting/de selecting candidates. Personally, still think Abbott should have been moved in the Lords and they should have stuck by the decision. Nothing to do with her faction wing, she is a liability, there's no way she still has the Labour whip by 2029. I think this great "left-wing purge" never really took effect, loads of left-wing candidates being allowed to stand and so they should! All that being said, it was definitely becoming a big distraction, so can understand the decision.

Yeah I reckon at the moment it will be a 2025 Q2 premiere. I'd imagine it's probably a 6 month filming but I can't imagine it being a quick edit, so I'd say April or June 2025 at this stage.

I think Walker will keep on going to the World Cup at least. A different manager would play Trent at right back too. Is funny though when we could have had a team of right backs 2 years ago. Well with Wharton, it's very similair to Mainoo :lol: Probably just shows the dearth of midfielder options we have.

Trent is not a midfielder, but he can play there. The problem is against a team we will struggle to dominate possession, we might struggle. But no matter who the personnel is, we struggle to dominate the midfield often for long periods, which is a tactical thing imo. Wharton plays as a 6, I think he definitely goes if he performs in the friendlies. As for the attackers, I can see all of them coming off with the exception of Kane in the big games, maybe Bellingham too. Foden and Saka regularly get substituted and in these tournaments, unsung heroes often come in to play. At the moment we have a really good squad of players, but we can't just shoe-horn players in because they are big names. Outside of Pickford, Walker, Bellingham, Rice and Kane (which is essentially the current core spine) I think everyone's places are up for grabs.

I think our attacking line up is pretty set. Kane, Bellingham and Saka all play. Then Foden likely does too. Even though our problem at the moment will be down the left side which will be blunt as an attacking force with the lack of width/pace. Reckon he will use the friendly games to try out whether we play Trent in midfield, try out Wharton and Jones too. He might also move Bellingham further back in midfield too.

Our big problem is going to be down the left. I actually think Gomez or Trippier are good options, but if we play with Foden on the left we’re going to be very predictable and have zero width. Controversial but we really need to be trying out Gordon on the left imo. Otherwise this feels eerily similar to Germany 2006..

Morally questionable Labour in 2024.. there’s plenty of morally questionable people in politics. You’ve got plenty of people in one wing of Labour who deny massacres in former Yugoslavia. Point is, politics is full of people with questionable views, you’ve just got to support the best of the bad bunch. The U.K. has been centrist for 80 odd years and the moment a party battles further to the right or the left they lose a lot of votes.

Broken loads of rules, liked racist material, already on a warning allegedly and decides to endorse Green candidates. I don't think it matters what your political views are, you can't endorse other Party candidates. I'd say it's either incredibly stupid from her or she knew what she was doing and she's looking for something else or become a political martyr.

It will all be forgotten about shortly. To be honest, this just shows why Labour HQ have decided to not select Abbott. Leaked her side to the media to cause hostility. Why would you have someone as an MP who is vocally hostile to the current leader and breaks protocol on a regular basis? No doubt she has had a great career and to be the first elected black MP is fantastic, but her views are so out of sync with the Labour Party at times, she's a liability unfortunately. Not sure they are alientating the views on the Left, I'd suggest they're more alienating the Corbyn loyalists. Not sure her de-selection has been handled in the best way, as it appears someone has leaked something, which is what is causing the backlash now rather than the retirement and seat in the Lords.

Not sure really- the definition of working class doesn’t really exist anymore and neither does the middle class. It’s such a broad spectrum these days, you’ve lots of people on traditional working class jobs that comfortably earn near 40% rates and likewise you have plenty of traditional white colllar office jobs that pay just above the Living Wage. I think this whole “not working for the working class” is nonsense, they clearly do, but they’ll clearly let corporate business influence them too, hopefully leading to the best of both worlds allowing the economy and quality of life to flourish. Feels stupid to pick on Rishi for his football skills too, agree, that’s not needed and no need to stoop to that level imo.

So in a coup Jeffrey Wright is taking his role from the game to play Issac in season 2. Looks like they’ve cast The Salt Lake Crew but haven’t cast Lev or Yara yet, so definitely appears as if Part II is being split up in to different seasons. Still no idea how they’re going to do Season 2, but I wonder if we’re going to see Abby and her crew fleshed out way more in the show.

I’m classing groups and bands as different bits here. I just don’t feel guitar bands have ever done consistently well for singles, sure there are outlining examples, but certainly since the download era from 2005, bands on the whole have really struggled in the singles charts when you compare their relative size. Always a market for physical copies, but in this current climate they have struggled, but the music is seemingly as popular as ever judging by the amount of festivals going on and tours!

RAYE getting the headline slot of Saturday, felt a bit like one of those 'finding the next headliner' moments, which sometimes you have to be brave with from the bookers. I'm not a huge fan, but her set up is incredible, a bit of a lazy comparison, but definitely Winehouse vibes. As long as the material is good, I'd say she's got all the tools in the locker to have an absolutely huge next era and take festival headliner slots.

As a few people have said, these things come around in cycles. Bands have never really done that well in the singles charts and even when they did, it was very front loaded. Someone said Coldplay are coming back shortly.. I think the days of them having #1 hits are long over (unelss it's a TikTok song and reaches Gen-Z). You'll have bands which will sell out festivals and satdiums, but they couldn't score a Top 20 single if they tried - again, I think there is a lot of nostalgica attached to acts, which sells show tickets but less so new material. The music industry, if nothing else is very adaptable though. They always need the next big thing or the next big artist, sometimes they get lucky (Arctic Monkeys) and sometimes they are more of an industry plant (The Last Dinner Party). There's clearly a gap in the Market for groups though.. the industry will find something because they always do, and when they don't, they will be brutal. Around 2009 there was a complete lack of groups, the UK industry was riding off of the wave of success of Take That MKII, then The Wanted broke through and it started a boyband/group fad for 2-3 years.