Waylander

I wouldn't be surprised to see 'fireworks' going off in Iran next year though I also think the Mullahs will hold on.

And of course tv revenue form the US.

Think shirt sales, it's not every week you can buy Captain America.

Reading Dad's Dailymail and a very interesting point from sports writer Martin Samuel said Gullit claimed England got the South American ref in the Qtrs because of the media attack on the human rights issues. He was not sure if Gullit was serious, I think he was after recalling some of those decisions or lack of them.

James Bond for the gadgets

Aha the price of my first car bought privately in 1985, a Ford Cortina MkIII. Hopefully you a have more than a few months before needing a new MOT.

I think that was the one where the US also identified UK judge, MPs, RAF and Army were implicated. I can't remember how it ended.

Yet I thought they were still building new coal mines?

The rain forest destruction is still going and has been for at least 300 years yet no-one wants to talk about this as it is tied in with population growth yet rain forests are natural carbon sinks. So as rain forest destruction continues and while too little is done to reduce fossil fuel consumption. then expect more natural disasters and climate emergencies. A grim situation. Nuclear is not the answer either due to the Carrington effect that can melt reactors and no-one can predict where they will land. I believe this is why Germany stopped them though they will not go public. France had two problems this year one was flooded and the other they blamed on malfunction............

That's unlucky, was it an old car and also regularly serviced? How long did you have to wait before car emergency crew turned up?

Surprise, surprise, businessman Radcliffe says he is interested in buying Utd. How long before he says not at that price.

There is history with this in regards to Syria and Iraq, when protest breaks out the politically minded Kurds then act to try and take advantage to push for independence. Iran will be aware of what happened in Syria when the protests took place and led to civil war. So I would not surprised to see them act aggressively. That may backfire. On the alternative press never mentioned in the mainstream press over 120 Syrian troops were allegedly killed in the Syrian Kurdish area. As well as the protests in Damascus where snipers were allegedly operating so they decided to ban the protests. That did not end well there is still fighting though little reporting now Ukraine is in the news. Watch Turkey become very uncomfortable if the Kurdish area in Iran becomes active, Turkey has the biggest Kurdish population at around 12m and were attacked by the Turkish state in the 90s with villages being destroyed. The West was largely silent as Turkey is in NATO and also conspired to help the Turks get Ocalan the PKK leader kidnapped from a neutral country. I occasionally watch some of the US fictional tv programs about 'CIA' kill teams being flown into third party countries with snipers and RPGs with high power telescopes and helicopters ready to extract their teams. Although fictional I think this may actually be based on real covert military action. in 2003 I used to wake to BBC radio 4 on my radio alarm and remember them discussing reports of British specialist forces working the Peshmerga to attack Iraqi military outposts. BBC person 2 - We have not declared war on Iraq it can't be true! BBC person 1 - That is what the report says. Later I caught a senior military chap on a BBC Sunday talk show saying the Treaty of Westphalia does not mean anything now. I was shocked by this. Machiavellian policy never went away it just went underground.

Cahill was one of our best signings from the Winter window and often an unsung hero being n the shadow of JT and then the man with the big hair, David Luiz.

I think something happened about 3 weeks ago, none of the senior Dems were making any comment it was like they had run off to the nuclear bunkers......... Biden has down played this missile event in Poland and that must annoy Zelensky as I think he was expecting a lot more US support. The BBC news has taken a more moderate nuance recently which surprised me, Yesterday they interviewed a shop owner in Kherson saying, 'you have Russian wafer biscuits' she acknowledged this and said a lot of Russian soldiers had used her shop. On being asked how they behaved said most were ok and paid with just a few taking things without paying, She hoped for peace. Later they made the point that Lavrov said the Russians were happy to talk about a peace agreement though no details.

Interesting it sounds good and you have to applaud Boehly's ambition.

I don't know any of these names, do you think this is a good move?

Dr, David Kelly once coined the term dark actors just before his strange death so perhaps mercenaries or agent provocateurs go to places off the tourist map to either spy or assassinate or plant bombs to effect political change. No state would ever publicly admit to this.

Back when I was working in Banking I was talking with the department manager and he had his way of looking at life, he had a bucket list of 50 things to get through or do each year. He found sky diving and after talking about world politics talked about one of his fellow sky divers. He wouldn't exchange names and said he worked for government and said no point getting too friendly as he may never see him again. On pushing he said he worked abroad and had to cut labels off of clothes and in some places bag up his poo. The manager said he did not know if he was on the level or not.

England's opener against Iran will be interesting I recall last time around the Iranians worked hard and were defensively hard to breakdown yet had speed on the counter. Four years later and still under Queiroz will be interesting to see how they have improved.

I wondered about this too as religious groups normally claim responsibility to get more recruits. Yet if not them then likely a super power as you say they hold a strategic position between the Black Sea and Mediterranean. Yet Turkey is also a player in the Syrian situation so difficult to interpret.

I certainly agree on poor recruitment, it will be interesting to see who we get under Potter,

I agree on the dirty game.

Not so sure since the late 90s interest rates fell so low and property prices ballooned so much which led to many working class women only having one child as they could afford decent houses. What is happening by letting in migrants to do low paid jobs is when they have kids and they can't get on they blame racism when it is more likely coming from a modest background is holding them back. I say this as many of my own friends only got on the housing ladder as parents or other family members gave them money.

It is almost like you can see the headlines, James recovers for World Cup and then James injured again as England crash out.

Recall that bizarre football final between us and Arsenal in Baku to which both teams fans struggled to get flights. Azerbaijan was allegedly meant to supply oil to central Asia via Afghanistan and into Pakistan and India and prices in $, Russia imports Russian fuel and Imran Khan was deposed for wanting the same. The Taleban had other ideas so guess that is now dead in the water. Qatar and the World Cup, Qatar has been close to Iran at times so i guess this is an attempt to pull them towards the West and to isolate Iran further. This is a dirty game of world power and politics.