Reluctant Striker

For me, whoever runs world tennis is getting it wrong. Unvaccinated Djokovic ok to play Wimbledon. Players from Russia & Belarus banned from Wimbledon. Wimbledon has no ranking points. Fairly sure all the above is the opposite way around for the US Open.

It does all stem from the bible, with its comments about being fruitful. I think mostly in the more restricted Old Testament. Most Christian nations have long since moved beyond literalism. And burning or drowning of witches. In my mind the only people who want religious rule are anti democratic & xenophobic. It is times like these I realise America is quite possibly just 1 civil war from being the Russian Federation.

I did read 1 line somewhere that 13 states had total bans lined up for immediate effect. Expected to be half the states very soon. I saw 1 news crew where an Arkansas clinic was having to instantly close down. Complete with its black out of state physician & some crowing white male weirdo outside the grounds. And as for the multiple tearful women outside the court, happy that the murders will stop. Well, I guess let's hope it's the ones celebrating that have all the problematic scenarios to deal with. They've apparently thought them all through & feel ok with it. More likely they're the type that assume some things just don't happen to nice women like them.

Not sure how to attach links, but New Zealand have just celebrated Matariki, the Maori new year. With their first ever national holiday for it. I was watching the YouTube stream of the New Zealand TV coverage & found it quite moving that 1 of the singers had tears streaming down her face. It was nice to find somewhere that seems to be in its own positivity bubble. A refreshing change from Russia-Ukraine, Brexit Britain, Indian diggers, Chinese education of citizens, or keep the rapists babies USA.

It's amazing to think such a large Brexit General Election majority could be lost & we get Unity PM Keir Starmer, at the very next election. I don't think too many Brexit voters were expecting the Boris Johnson government to sign up to a deal. Then decide it was not the right deal. And be trying to break international treaty law. Again. Make no mistake, we are essentially teetering around the edge of being treated & thought of barely a notch or 2 above how most nations are treating Russia. And the longer that goes on, the more people will vote for anything else, because I don't there is any sort of desire for that. But having said all the good stuff, I will risk alienating half the population of this forum, as there is a flip side, to ponder all the non English political & societal dislike for the Conservatives. Are they actually in some way geared up just purely to see the UK or Britain as bad, or wrong. And in itself a horrible English 'right wing' concept. Perhaps because it has a token monarchy, or because it's 1 person 1 vote, similar to the fiercely Independent USA. Rather than 1 flag 1 vote, as in the EU. Which obviously sells extremely well to smaller nations & those who favour keeping the smaller nations extra sweet. It's European Influence that is I feel undeniably far more divisive than anything Russia or China could muster. The 1s we're supposed to have been concerned about for that sort of reason. And I can not lie, Deputy PM Ian Blackford would turn my stomach. He is a smiling Scottish right winger, who feels he's utterly untouchable because of the Scottish bit.

Not sure how the topic got here.. but, the 1s you refer to would basically be the right wing working class. The lost red wall voters. The 1s that feel done over by the perceived white European immigrant influx. Labour was originally about representing the under represented. i.e. A political party for the working class. And obviously minority groups would have perhaps easily found home with the more socially left parties. The slightly odd thing I tend to notice is that MPs like Rishi Sunak & Priti Patel are derided as some kind of race traitors, which seems to me equally as odd as anything the apparently anti minorities, right wing inclined, white working class could do. While the Lib Dems, as the much more clearly defined middle to upper class regions left option vs the Conservative right, do seem mostly white Brits. Oddly more so than the allegedly racist Conservatives. In itself it's probably likely a high portion of ethnic minorities would find home with Labour, purely as working class. But the left-right divide of white voters seems less confused among the wealthy. I think that's perhaps the class-race point of curiosity, if there is 1.

It just gets worse doesn't it. This whole idea of sending people escaping from France onto Rwanda is something we can only be seen as the bad guys in. Especially given the nation's dubious hidden history of relocating people. The whole drama over getting goods into Northern Ireland, for use in Northern Ireland.. I can't help but partly think there is a point there, but from day 1 there were more people pulling for outcomes the non Unionists want, this Government were being this Government, and we will just constantly be seen as the bad guys, until a United Ireland is in the EU as 1 full entity. If Scotland do their exit & get back to the EU, then Britain will not be any easier than Ireland. Australia & New Zealand I think are willing to do trade deals. With anyone. English. British. European.

They are almost the forgotten club of the West Midlands. West Brom have had their time as a yo-yo club. Wolves have top halved a few times & been in European competition. Villa are Villa. But the last West Midlands side to win an elite trophy? Birmingham City, the league cup in 2011..

I'm never sure what to make of this kind of story. I'm not especially Christian other than celebrating Christmas & Easter. But when I see Christian movies, whether it's Ten Commandments, Greatest Story Ever Told, or through to more recent Noah, Exodus, etc.. and even the more silly ones like Bedazzled, Bruce Almighty or that 1 with Alanis Morrisette as God, I always tend to think: oh well it's an interesting, thought provoking movie for anyone of any level of interest. I guess stories like this do make me feel a bit sad. Because I'd be open to see & enjoy similar movies of other religions stories. And I feel there would be more cultural benefits than any negatives if there were a few such movies TV channels could show at certain times of year, etc.

The other day I stumbled on an article on a Bill Clinton podcast he did with Tony Blair. An American Democrat President & British Prime Minister of the 90's, that both suffered somewhat tarnished reputations. They did apparently touch on the modern day being best advised to explain clearly why they think their alternative is better for people. Why people should not vote for what they may be entitled to, if that is what they really want. But put more focus & emphasis on why the alternate is better. Rather than what they were perceiving to be a bit preachy & often losing the open middle ground. The essential middle ground as one of them put it.

Delph was always extremely average at Villa. Ok, an especially poor Villa side overall. But it did always bewilder me how he went on to Manchester City. And to be an England squad regular.

Boris Johnson really should step aside. But I suspect he somehow sees it all as some part of his character led sales pitch. I'm not sure the 'Brexit' thing is going anywhere any time soon. It is obviously a problematic aspect of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland. That was not entirely stable anyway. If anyone hasn't yet noticed & realised, it is all too easy to replace UK & EU with CoE or Protestant & Catholic. The Irish peace process is near 1 & the same with Irish reunification. I'm not at all against it, but it will always place an oddly unique burden on the Irish of the North who are of the Protestant, or UK line. With their most 'reliable' allies the overly UK patriotic English right & the who cares as long as it seems democratic American right. For the Irish who arguably have the longest recent history of being open internationalists. It is a mess. It is embarrassing. It is an unseemly spectacle that had just faded somewhat in recent years. But much like the Russia, it had never been entirely resolved.

I'm not sure how competitive Villa's finances are exactly right now. Just know it's the most that's been splashed around since 2008-ish. And the most potentially competitive on the field they've been since then. It does seem a slightly strange set of goings on with the assistants. Michael Beale off to QPR to be the manager. Yet Neil Critchley making the opposite choice.

Yes, if Coutinho is counted, then Boubacar Kamara, 22, French international squad CDM was 2nd & Diego Carlos, 29, Brazilian CB, is 3rd. Don't know too much about Kamara or Carlos. For certain, the aim within Villa is top half & a cup run. Top 6 does seem very strong. With a distinct 2 tier split within that. Then you have the question marks on West Ham, Leicester & Wolves. What can Newcastle do. Can Everton bounce back up. It does increasingly seem a tough division to move upwards in. But it is the genuine owners intent with Villa right now.

Sport washing is like the other side of the Olympic spirit coin. Often in sport people gain respect & admiration. In the Olympics, it is kind of the idea that everyone celebrates everyone taking part. The issue can be when it shouldn't be putting a false gloss on someone or some group. And if 1 group should not be celebrated, who else should not be. And who decides where it ends.

On one hand, every club with any ambition will be looking around wondering if this will open a vacancy. A vacancy Chelsea did rather obtain in mirror circumstances. On the other, you would imagine a new owner will take over soon. This is after the wheels had started turning for that to happen. It surely can't block that actually happening? Most ambitious owners have to start from much, much lower than recent Champions League winners & World Club champions. But, unchanged by this latest development, is that it must be questionable exactly how many can 'do a Roman'. Even Newcastle's owners down played how much they think they will achieve with the club.

Not sure the context El Professor was intending it, but many points do apply to how Putin is selling the war to his own nation. On 1 & 2, Russia are performing a special military operation as Ukraine is led by pro-EU Nazi's. Quite openly stated on Russian TV by Putin. And some part of that is working to some extent on the older generations. I did see one individual on BBC News describing difficult family conversations as the Russian based relatives genuinely believe Ukraine is causing all the fighting & is the one that needs to back down. The RT (Russia Today) News channel in the UK is finally off air. On point 3, they had started showing archive documentaries on the evils of the WWII Nazi's. I was losing my will to try to see what the Russian view was at that stage. WWII actually being used as a modern day reason for Russia invading pro-EU & pro-democracy Ukraine. On point 5 RT was also broadcasting a Russian expert describing how footage of a rocket impacting a residential block of flats was actually (quite clearly) a misfired Ukraine anti aircraft missile. The Ukrainians are also apparently guilty of using human shields around military targets. They are committing genocide on the Russian leaning citizens of Ukraine. etc. On point 10, it is now illegal in Russia for the Ukraine violence to be described as a war or an invasion on Russian TV. And the 1 independent non-state controlled channel has stopped broadcasting. Go back further before interpreters were a common thing, let alone the internet & much of this would have probably been the normal rhetoric around many wars.

BBC News scared the crap out of me the other day. On screen headline when I got back from work that Russia had made a nuclear attack on Ukraine. Then turned out to only be a power station when I double checked on Sky News. I'd certainly agree there are confused morals to see & contemplate. In fairness, it can't come as a surprise that some casual observers see the NATO nations, and USA & UK in particular, as arrogant with superiority complexes. But with Russia right now, there's no rhyme or reason at all other than Russian power & influence by sheer might. Yet if a similar 'civil' war had broken out in some middle eastern region, all the good people of all the NATO countries right now would be 100% against any intervention of any kind. And all the 'In Europe!? In this century!?' comments are total cringe. Pretty much saying 'in some lesser countries, yes, you expect it, who cares then' I think it is Russia's giant super power status & James Bonds fairly accurate perceptions that are hyping people. Hopefully many are just too stupid or in too much shock to articulate that.

Less than 2 years ago Putin was sending a support convoy to early Covid Italy. Now warning all us nations being 'unfriendly' to Russia the invading war bully, that they have nuclear weapons. 1 act was clearly bs. Only difference between now & Iraq--Kuwait in the early 90's is Russia's well known, long standing nuclear capabilities. I'm partly for sending armed forces into Ukraine, after Putin himself, with a statement that we have similar stuff..

Perhaps a slight mix of the 2? One of Putin's widely stated views long before this week was that he saw the break up of the USSR as a big mistake. So yes, many of the former states not keen for the reunion would seek NATO, European allies as strong as possible. It seems a perfectly natural & obvious path for them to be following. On the other hand, as others were suggesting toward earlier, if a historic (and current?) enemy of England was recruiting all the other 'home' nations of Britain & the UK, I'm sure there would be many being triggered by that. And yes, almost certainly the Farage, far right Tory type people & those that listen to them & their working class translators most keenly. The real test would be whether Putin's Russia would ever align itself to a new non-NATO defence agreement. He does say that Russia sets the red lines on NATO. I do doubt he would move from that stance on any entity. NATO, EU, any new entity yet to be conceived. And whether the current NATO nations could contemplate making it clear they would welcome Russia itself as an ally as equally as their former Union nations.

I'm not an expert, but I'd suggest a good place to start is the RT News channel, if you receive it. It does have a neutral to pro-Russian slant of anaysis, which I'd noticed during Covid. I have taken a few brief looks recently for the sort of reason you seem to be asking for details. Right now it has plenty of translated Putin rather Boris, Biden or various western world representatives. The leaders of Ukraine are, according to Putin, on Russian state TV addresses; drug addicts & nazi's. Which I think further translates as being pro Europe rather than pro Russia. Which I believe is opposite to the mutal neighbour Belarus leader & Ukraine's own political opposition. I have heard 1 brief mention on mainstream news channels that Europe or Russia leanings has been a key political divide for many years in Ukraine & similar countries. And Putin further accuses the Ukraine leaders of genocide. Which in the west we know to be patently untrue. It does perhaps seem a test of his grip of Russia itself. But NATO was Russia's cold war enemy. I guess to some portion of Russians, people wanting to join up would seem like they are on drugs. Or at least being offensively/aggressively anti Russia. And it is, purely pragmatically, a somewhat limited number of nations NATO applies to. I can sadly imagine Putins messages having some traction in a huge dictatorship that sees its past enemies attracting support.

I really don't see how the financial sanctions are going to have this medium to long term effect people are hoping for. I hate to use the word Brexit, but a certain group of people voted for a certain amount of less favourable trading conditions due to idealistic world views. Putin doesn't strike me as someone who places great value on open global markets. Certainly not above his apparent desire for a return to the Soviet Union era.

Horrible few days. Really feels awful that the best people are doing are financial sanctions. But intervening/war with Russia would surely start or end with nukes. Scary times. Closest to armageddon it's ever felt in my lifetime.

I think Frank Lampard is a good choice. If he is 100% confirmed. IMO, Everton need a manager who is fresh, enthusiastic, super keen to succeed & will instantly have the respect of players who watched him play when they were still kids. If Lampard had been in charge at Chelsea this season I doubt he'd still be there right now. I don't see it as huge point against him that it went 'badly' there.

Not sure what to make of Philippe Coutinho arriving on loan. He's probably got every chance to look a bit special in Villa's side at the moment. Kind of assuming Coutinho will be used as a wide man in a front 3 rather than a Number 10 behind a front 3. Especially as the later hasn't worked too well with Buendia. Or even further back Grealish. Trezeguet & El Ghazi are probably nearing the end of their time at Villa. Buendia & Bailey not producing week in, week out as yet.