Honey Honey

White socks on our home kit... Nooooooooo! I'm from the generation that has PTSD when seeing us in White socks

Have I missed something or are you just referring to the non-Executive Chairman of Newcastle United, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, whose name has been on the takeover since day one and was on the pitch at full time? Co-owners Jamie Rueben and Mehrhad Ghodoussi were taking part in a half time challenge on the pitch as far as I am aware. The Saudi state owns Newcastle United via the Public Investment Fund which is headed up by Al-Rumayyan. He's the face of it. In all Western business press all the time. The man cutting the deals. His face is going to be wherever Newcastle's success is because that is the point of it all. To enable business deals, to enable the PiF to grow its fund to over $1trn by softening up businesses to dealing with the PiF. I'm not really sure what is supposed to be covered up? Nothing says he has to hide away. The deal with the Premier League is that PiF are not allowed to control Newcastle United. Not that the Saudi state don't have the ability to. Hence shareholders Amanda Staveley and Jamie Rueben are the executive directors. How you ever prove PiF are running the club is the difficult part. As Masters alluded to. It seems to me that the rules have been specifically written so this should be done like this. As a mechanism of some sort of control over input values. If this was 1996 John Hall would have to plaster Metro Centre branding all over a training kit so we could buy Shearer.

It's great to be back in Europe. The first 15 years of my footballing life we were nearly always in Europe. It was a defining feature of that generation. I'm glad for the poor buggers who've only ever known Mike Ashley that they'll get to see Newcastle in Europe and not be trapped living the Nottingham Forest effect of 16 year old lads clinging onto an identity from before they were born.

I can well see that happening here to some extent. Despite being in power, the ground level, the grassroots, the public conversations have been nothing but miserabilism. What happens to that when it's no longer curtailed by being in power? It will ramp up even more. You've also got parts of this country where the ground level right wing is increasingly talking about things like the so called "war on cars", low traffic neighbourhoods, ultra low emission zones, a slippery slope to climate conspiracy. There's an opening there for a right wing leader, inside or outside the Conservative party. Climate is the new topic, the new immigration. If anyone things the right are bad now, wait till they're not moderated by power. It will be the first time in the social media age that we won't have a right wing government.

They are not set to lose power over policies or being right wing. In the vacuum that will ensue each faction will claim failure is the result of not following their thinking. Promoting their values. This is the story of these coalitions. That part is at least predictable. Who comes out on top I'm not sure. A lot will depend on who survives as an MP. It wouldn't be a surprise if we get culture wars ramped up.

Labour is a coalition of all over the liberal spectrum of the centre and left. The leadership shifts from different factions of that coalition. Conservatives are the flipped mirror image of that, just switch left with right. Both parties hound out authoritarian and social Conservatives. Hence parties like UKIP, Reform or the Social Democratic Party exist separately. Lib dems are a middle class protest party for people who are too uptight to swing between the above two parties. The Greens are left wing activists who don't like having to water down their views in a coalition so go it alone.

Bottom 3 sides aren't dysfunctional for 38 games. No one is, except the rare occasion someone is bottom of the table woeful, thats never all 6 or 7 of the relegation scrap. Performance form, like for every team in every position will ebb and flow throughout the season. You can be ok and still not deserve to have won the game. Chelsea had wins that could have easily been draws. Had they been so then what they have descended into now they'd be in the mix. Before the money disparity a club could win the league and be in the bottom half the next season. And vice versa. Money is not a coincidence here. The money clubs can finish top 6 and everyone say how shit they looked throughout the season. Whereas for Brighton to finish top 6 they're never allowed to be shit for anywhere near as many games. That's the money disparity which causes that. Bailing bad teams out all the time. That's the floor. Whether 2nd or 7th Manchester United seem to always be in or one game away from crisis. Moaning all the time. £1bn spent and in two cup finals but they still want the owners out. This is because they're not actually any good anymore but they can buy being up there. In another era where income didn't cause such disparity they'd be nowhere near the top post fergie as they've never had a good team. Only good teams would make the top in a well balanced league.

Evertons line up is not really an expensive one or tipping money in all the time. Chelsea don't deserve many of their wins. They'd be bottom 3 if not for superior players.

Money provides the floor. Coaching and management provides the ceiling. Our floor has been raised. Manchester United and Arsenal for example should have been bottom half maybe even relegated at least once in the last decade, but their floor won't allow it.

Matt Ritchie gave him a pretty public talking to at the end

A subbed sub. He was taken off to kill time with 30 seconds to go so not sure what his problem is. Weird reaction.

Might be a glitch in the sofa score app but did a Roy Hodgson Crystal Palace really just have 31 shots against you How did Leicester board let it go this far

For me if we get a left back we don't need a centre back. Dan Burn can be next centre back in line. Maybe replace Lascelles with a prospect.

I've been there twice and both times it's been hairy. Stand needs pulling down.

I was in London Bridge Station the other day and there was an automated cleaning robot floor sweep. It was creepily futuristic. Moving about slowly, occasionally telling people to get out of the way.

How do we know that is Kanye West in that mask and not Salford Kel?

Kremlin parrots whatever line these online "truth tellers" come out with. That a questionable kimdotcom tweet can have the Kremlin demand answers and tell everyone the Royal Navy did it is pathetic.

We are currently in the 2008-10 cycle all over again. A global crisis with local nuance, 2 years out of an election. Brown was able to go into the election with the topline figures improving but the reputational damage of being at the wheel was too much. The same should likely be the case here. Our two party state seems to only change hands at a major economic impasse. Could be a coincidence but likely not. A decade of Labour should be coming. An election now might jeopardise that, whilst Labour would win, inflation, currency value and interest rates are likely going to cause further negative headlines in the coming months regardless of what any government does or does not do. Let that fall at the Tories feet to increase liklihood of a long term Labour government.

I don't think this is true so much anymore. Maybe in the 80s when interest rates were 14% back when trickle down theory first came up. In some ways that design flaw became a beneficial feature for topline ecomomic reads given savings takes money out of the economy and the environment was highly inflationary at the time. Now the best ROI for the last decade has been in property and the stock market. I suspect the tax breaks for those who may be on around £150-250k will simply be spent maintaining their existing lifestyle in the face of inflation, nice for them ey. The millionaires, who may get substantial benefits depending on the way they do their accounts will possibly look for investments they think will survive the current crisis. Or should I say their portfolio managers would. Still, it's questionable whether this whole thing is trickle down at all. There's certainly no hard intention for it to be that way in the classical sense. What the Conservative party seeks is topline growth which is seen as the means to a shrinking state "burden" as they put it. In other words if the economy grows they will cut taxes more and more. The premise isn't necessarily bat shit, its the delivery which is morally questionable, the idea that this can and should be delivered by making the rich richer and fracking the shit out of labour areas. That this gamble of state funds should be made in this way. Whilst they do look like a dead party walking, Conservative policies have caused recessions or at least single quarter falls through their policies on at least three occasions in the last 40 years. Two of which they pitched as a necessary hardship. This situation here looks similar. Worst case Labour scenario is we may well have an election during topline GDP figures of +1.5-2.5%. That is the only threat to Labour and even then it likely isn't a big one.

Illegal immigrants can't vote. Even legal immigrants can't vote.

On the surface, to be expected that information wouldn't be shared discussing vision 2030 privately. You'd expect that from any government. It's not the first refusal on the takeover and it won't be the last. That doesn't make something a "cover up" of illicit activity but in this age of conspiracy the most nefarious possibility is automatically assumed. You don't need an FOI to know the takeover is the strategic will of the state.

Think we are also fortunate we didn't sign Botman or Carlos now. Schar has been able to rediscover his form and will now be vital squad member. Centre back in the summer yes, in January might not have went as well

To some extent we've got lucky in January because we were possibly turned down by Dele Alli, Lucas Digne and Donny van de Beek. This summer players like that will say yes, some of them just won't have the right mentality, hard judge. I don't know whether we will sign Matt Targett but he has been as important as any signing. He's given us a defensive stability. We were a side with no confidence and the defensively stability has allowed confidence to come back. Though Targett might be one of those situations where we don't sign him because better become available. Difficult decision.