RandoEFC

They identify as the other gender.

I agree with this. I taught some trans gender pupils last year and they're like 12 years old. Nobody in my generation was trans gender at that age. It's just exposure to it that is different nowadays and exposing kids to the possibility of changing gender at that age is not helpful. Some of them might already know but many of them are nowhere near prepared enough to decide to start putting themselves through such a change at that age.

Leclerc is nailed on for F1 next year. It will be a seat at Sauber now that they've announced the engine deal and Ferrari have said it'll be like them having a junior team. Mercedes could do with a "junior team" as well but it'd have to be a new team as there's no way McLaren, Williams or Force India would accept those circumstances and Haas, Sauber and Toro Rosso are already affiliated with Ferrari or Red Bull.

Jagielka signs a one year extension to 2019

Kubica fastest this morning in testing. No doubt they took some of the fuel out and did a fast run just to grab the headlines. The more positive publicity this move gets, the more they can justify putting him in the car next year or even as soon as Belgium.

More importantly can someone not fix the title of the thread?

It's understandable for Jaime to be a strong military commander and Euron to be this excellent pirate. Those two were responsible for the two major victories over Daenerys, not Cersei, so I can accept it. The Lannisters seeming to have so many men bothered me because they took several losses to Robb Stark, would have lost several more men at the Battle of Blackwater but overwhelmed Stannis because the Tyrells joined Tywin. The Lannisters needed those men so much they agreed to make Margaery queen so the Tyrell army must have been at least nearly as big as what the Lannisters had left. However, if we accept that Randyll Tarly and his men made up a big chunk of that army that perhaps explains why Jaime led so many men to Highgarden this episode and the Tyrells had next to no men left. What still bothers me though is how Cersei has faced no consequences politically from blowing up the Sept of Baelor. This is a programme of "actions have consequences" which is what makes it great. Saying that everyone in Kings Landing and the Lannister army follows Cersei out of fear is fine but I don't buy the fact that there are no council members, nobles, not even Jaime questioning Cersei in any way, or plotting against her. For someone who got her power by blowing up what is effectively the Vatican of Westeros before her son the King committed suicide because of her actions, she has far too stable a hold over her people for it to make sense and that's before you even factor in the fact that she has no claim to the throne anyway and the seven kingdoms have never been ruled by a woman before.

I watched Designated Survivor as well, the typical Yank dramatic music made it seem as if it was going to be overly dramatic and silly/cheesy at the start but it was actually an enjoyable watch, looking forward to the next season. Very tempted by Ozark, I liked Breaking Bad and be nice to have the next show lined up when I'm up to date with Mad Men. Would you recommend based on what you've watched?

Can't believe there's only 5 weeks left of the Summer holidays

£4.5k each. That'll teach yas.

My gut feeling based on Ferrari generally being better at high downforce circuits and Mercedes stronger on long straights.

I don't remember Varys saying that. It definitely wasn't him. Baelish got the drunk fool Ser Dontos to give Sansa a hairnet to Joff's wedding but one of the jewels in it was deadly poison. Olenna removed it from the hairnet when she played with Sansa's hair and plopped it in Joffrey's wine when nobody was looking. Baelish also encouraged Joffrey to hire the dwarves dressed up as the five kings to make it look more likely that Tyrion would have done it. Varys wasn't involved.

SpoilersSpoilersSpoilersSpoilersSpoilersSpoilersSpoilersSpoilersSpoilersSpoilers Sadly, I have to agree at least partially with @Harry on this. I'm trying to ignore stuff that seems unrealistic compared to previous years, such as Euron's omniscience and the fact that the people of King's Landing suddenly seem to worship Cersei and her squad forgetting how she was marched through the streets naked, she blew up the Sept of Baelor, she has no heir, no claim to the throne and she's now making no effort to cover up her incestuous relationship with her brother. If you pick away at these things you just won't enjoy what's a great show and a great story but some things from this mostly good season so far are making it hard. There were loads of good scenes in this one, good dialogue between Jon/Dany/Tyrion/Davos, between Olenna and Jaime, between Jorah and Sam, not so much between Bran and Sansa, but I do have some issues. The way Daenerys and Tyrion are getting absolutely schooled by Cersei and Euron is bullshit. Game of Thrones used to be that the good guys wouldn't just win unrealistically, but between some of Ramsay's omnipotence in the last couple of years and the way this season has gone, they just seem to have made it now that the bad guys will win regardless of what makes sense in the story. How the Lannisters have that many men left after being constantly at war for years makes no sense, but what's worse is Euron. I could accept his victory over Yara and co. last week, but how did his fleet arrive like one hour after the Unsullied to Casterly Rock when, since the Unsullied set off from Dragonstone, Euron has been from King's Landing, to wherever Yara's fleet was, back to King's Landing, then all the way round to Casterly Rock. Also, why the hell was Olenna back at Highgarden? The other thing that bothered me mainly was Bran being all weird with Sansa. I get that he would be scarred and everything by seeing all the past and what's happened to his family and the white walkers and stuff, but he acted normal when he met Benjen so why is he so creepy now and why did he bring up Sansa getting raped to prove that he has seen everything, surely there are less PTSD-inducing ways to secure her trust. The preview for next week showed Brienne swinging a sword at Winterfell so hopefully Bran redeems himself by revealing to Sansa Littlefinger's role in Ned's downfall so that Baelish, who has become an annoying background character with no real power somehow, can finally be dismissed. Not moaning about the whole thing though, I really enjoyed the scenes on Dragonstone even if Daenerys got a bit preachy and Sam's story so far at the Citadel is a highlight, Jim Broadbent has been great as the Archmaester too.

The SNP lost loads of seats in the general election, any talk of Scottish independence is on the back burner for a while.

We'll see how it goes. We have Belgium and Italy next which should both play to Mercedes' strengths. Apart from the first few flyaway races, Mercedes have had the edge on speed at pretty much every track besides the full-downforce tracks Monaco and Hungary. Someone quite rightly said today though that Ferrari and Red Bull were both competitive at Austria which should have been a Mercedes track too, so we don't know. The remaining races should suit Mercedes - Belgium, Italy, Malaysia. Ferrari - Singapore, maybe Japan and maybe Abu Dhabi. Hard to say - United States, Mexico, Brazil. It's worth noting that Red Bull are likely to be close to the front at Singapore and probably Japan too.

https://streamable.com/3sqvx Alonso

Dramatic start, tense race, anti-climactic. Hamilton did well to let Bottas back through because with the gap there he could have got away with not doing it.

Decent qualifying session. Hamilton could have a problem starting from the dirty side of the grid. Last thing he wants is to be stuck behind a Red Bull while Bottas and the Ferrari's clear off.

From what I read I think it's a different team each year.

If anyone else is interested, I've just read an interesting post on reddit about how the fixtures are generated in La Liga and why teams always play each other in the same order apart from one special team, Valencia.

Looks like a Ferrari weekend going off Practice Three. Red Bull seemed competitive yesterday but appear to have drifted slightly. Big opportunity for Vettel then. Massa is ill, took part in practice this morning but it now looks like Di Resta will be stepping in to replace him. Straight into qualifying with no practice, should be fun for him.

Looks like it barring an incredible U-turn from player and club. This is why unfortunately we have little bargaining power as its a cut price move now or a free transfer next summer without us even getting the benefit of a player for an extra season.