diable rouge

It was the constant griping from players/managers/fans/pundits and TV slo-mo analysis about refs/assistant refs getting 'naked eye' decisions wrong that brought about VAR in the first place. Asking VAR to make the same 'naked eye' decisions surely defeats the purpose. Once you bring in an arbitrary rule you get lots of inconsistencies, which leads to lots of griping. You will always need some 'line in the sand' that can't be crossed. If it shouldn't be down to a few mm's, how far should it be for it to be called offside? Goal line technology works because it's quick, it's easy to monitor as you're dealing with fixed points in a confined zone, unfortunately that can't be transferred to the vast open pitch...yet. I'm in favour of scrapping VAR but everyone then needs to accept refs will make mistakes...

So much to love about yesterday's FA Cup final. The romance of the Cup was back with Leicester winning it for the first time. A world class goal and save, and even VAR played its role. The 'good' guys beating the 'bad' guys, especially apt as is was against one of the ESL 6, greedy owners that sought to deprive clubs like Leicester from achieving their dreams. Proof that a club can have foreign ownership yet connect with its fanbase, furthering its role at the heart of a community, a club that can be well run and successful without sportswashing or leveraged debt. And of course, fans being back, something we took for granted and underestimated how important they are to the spirit of the game. Football is nothing without the fans...

Yep, and the Gov deliberately delaying the start of a Covid public enquiry and its expected negative ramifications, could also be tied-in with their electoral planning. If starting next year or later, doubtful it would be completed by the time of the next GE...

Although I don't disagree with what you say Alex, I'm not convinced it's solely a continuation of the cultural war. For a start I don't think it sticks along party lines as say something like 'statuegate' did, as there are plenty of Tories who are opposed to ID cards in principle, likewise there are 'progressives' who aren't. And as has been said, there is no significant electoral fraud to speak of. If Labour can't bat that away then they might as well give up. I'm thinking this is more about the Gov preparing the electoral ground for when the proverbial hits the fan economically, and eventually the cost of Brexit/Covid takes effect. The 'vaccine bounce' will be a distant memory by then...

alex_b Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Where I take an even more cynical view that > Johnson is genuine in his opposition to ID cards, > but sees imposing voter ID laws without doing > anything about the ID infrastructure in this > country as a cheap and consequence free way of > suppressing the rights of Labour voters. My take is even more cynical. Why would a Gov with a recentish won large parliamentary majority, that is still doing well in the polls despite it's abject handling of lockdowns etc, and has just convincingly won a by-election in a seat it hasn't held for 50 odd years, plus throw in boundary changes at the next GE that work in their favour, feel the need for voter suppression? I get why Trump and the GOP went down this road, he knew he was going to lose so his voter suppression tactics were a response to that, as well as laying down the narrative of the 'big steal'...

Safe to say Parky has romped away with the title this year, and he's also doing very well in the overall league, third place, eleven points behind the leader. Keep going Parky!...

Week 32 points... Week 32 table...

100...

*Waves at Hammy/Trinny/et al...*

''They also know that people are not necessarily voting this time simply along yes/no lines ? it was an election and not a referendum so support for staying or leaving cannot be extrapolated.'' I disagree, this election was very much a vote for or against another referendum, just like the last general election was whether you were for or against Brexit. The difference being the Scottish system is more proportional and representative. ''More votes went to unionist parties and certain parts of Scotland are very unlikely to support leaving the UK, meaning a broken up Scotland itself could come about.'' Do you mean more votes in total, i.e. > 50% of the total vote, or do you mean more votes than they achieved at the previous Scottish election? I can't remember whether you were in favour of Brexit or not, but I've heard similar 'warnings' about the disunity independence would cause in Scotland by Brexity types, oblivious that it's Brexit* that has brought about division in the UK as a whole as well as an increase in support for an independent Scotland, and the possibility of a united Ireland too (the DUP are currently in the process of electing a new leader as a pre-cursor to a future border poll, something I'd never thought I'd be writing a few years ago). This is yet another example for the Indies to turn around and say if Brexit was good enough for you, independence will be good enough for us despite the downsides. ''Sturgeon is a good politician but her supporters are in part just not willing to scrutinise the party?s claims because her (allegedly ?civic?) nationalism sings to their souls.'' This also equally applies to Brexit and it's supporters. It's going to be very difficult to criticise Scottish nationalism when the UK itself has gone down the nationalist road by leaving the EU. *I wasn't in favour of any form of Brexit, but it was possible to end up with a Brexit deal that didn't cause huge division within the UK, thus undermine the Union and further the nationalists' cause. But here we are...

Gove saying that focus should be on Covid recovery not independence, while forgetting that his Gov ploughed on with Brexit and the TCA last year, refusing to ask for an extension so the Gov could focus on Covid and saving people's lives. Another example of this Gov's Brexit tactics about to be thrown back at them...

Football has felt souless without fans and it would be the same for the Olympics. Seph is right that the Olympic spirit is all about nations coming together, much better to wait another year until we're on top of the virus globally, so we can celebrate that coming together properly...

Worth remembering that at the start of the pandemic we were told that 20,000 deaths would be ''a good outcome'', so there's every right for people to question why we ended up with 110k more. It's no coincidence that this Gov is avoiding a public enquiry, as it's fairly obvious where the blame for a large proportion of those extra deaths lie, the repeated mistake of late lockdowns. Whereas the success of the vaccine is a collective effort where the majority of the plaudits should go to science and the NHS, the reason for the late lockdowns stops at No 10's door. Let's see if Dominic Cummings is true to his word when he's interviewed by MPs later this month, and spills the beans as to how those late lockdown decisions came about...

Another factor to throw in to the mix, albeit a very general one, is that the incumbent governing parties have all done well, the Tories in England, SNP in Scotland, and Labour in Wales. Which kinda suggests they've all benefitted from being centre stage in their respective parts of the UK during the pandemic. It's been a very difficult position for opposition parties as they can't be seen to be undermining the collective effort to get through this crisis. So perhaps I was too harsh on Starmer earlier, the past year hasn't been the right time to promote a party manifesto and vision, that time will come when we're on top of Covid. I still reckon he needs a charisma transplant though...:)

Worth adding to alex's points that home ownership has increased in redwall seats adding to that social conservatism, along with home ownership they see voting Tory as an aspirational thing to do. My own parents were very much of this mindset...

When Starmer took over it felt like the right move, a safe pair of hands to steady the ship after the disaster of Corbyn, but I've been disappointed by his lack of drive and not having a clear vision. He should be given more time to try and turn things around, but if no improvement then look towards Andy Burnham. He certainly has plenty of drive and passion, so I can see him giving Johnson a contest on that level. He won a lot of plaudits when he stood up to the Tories over the Tier system, and I can see him naturally appealing to Red Wall voters but not to the extent of alienating the electorate elsewhere...

Week 32 fixtures... Friday 7th May Leicester City v Newcastle United Saturday 8th May Leeds United v Tottenham Hotspur Sheffield United v Crystal Palace Manchester City v Chelsea Liverpool v Southampton Sunday 9th May Wolverhampton Wanderers v Brighton & Hove Albion Aston Villa v Manchester United West Ham United v Everton Arsenal v West Bromwich Albion Monday 10th May Fulham v Burnley Tuesday 11th May Manchester United v Leicester City Southampton v Crystal Palace Wednesday 12th May Chelsea v Arsenal Thursday 13th May Aston Villa v Everton Manchester United v Liverpool

A balmy 20C in the living room at the moment, but that's due to the morning sunshine which it catches. Where I work is cooler so I keep doors open to help distribute any heat gain and keep temps even. It's also the room with the least external wall area, which along with windows is where coldness permeates through...

An election wouldn't be an election without... https://twitter.com/hashtag/dogsatpollingstations?src=hashtag_click

''Nationalist parties (and to an extent the Lib Dmes) block any route to a Labour majority as England has an inbuilt Tory majority.'' For this reason I've long thought that the Tories wouldn't be that upset if Scotland went Indy, it basically guarantees them power for the foreseeable future. ''the evaporation of BXP/UKIP/etc has United the vote on the right while the centre/left remains fragmented.'' It's something when an egotistic chancer like Farage could see how standing down at the last election would help the Brexit cause, yet Corbyn and Swinson despite numerous chances to do likewise in parliament and at the election, remained blinkered and wouldn't form a similar pact. If anything good can come out of the expected Hartlepool result, it's that it finally gives Starmer the kick he needs to look into a formal alliance with other progressive parties...

Week 31 points... Week 31 table...

''It?s hard to separate BJ and this Tory government AND B****T'' Quite, when Cummings and his mates were in No 10, we literally had the Vote Leave campaign running the country. This article by Chris Grey highlights how connected Brexit and the subsequent actions of Gov's post-referendum have been...https://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-brexit-roots-of-scandals.html

Sephiroth Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ?If Brussels and Dublin ? > > F@@k me. Where were you people when people like > me were saying Brexit would lead to this. > > England has forced this situation. Not Dublin. > Not Brussels It's like listening to an arsonist who has deliberately set fire to his home, who then blames the fire brigade for not putting it out. Always the victim, it's never their fault. *Waves at Hammy/Trinny/et al...*

You're certainly a gambler Cat, and a reckless one at that. I'm afraid you're going to have to dismiss the first 5 years of that 5-10 year plan of yours, given that the 'muppets' that delivered Brexit are, surprise, surprise, still in charge, and might well be for the full 10 years. Then what? I note no mention of the social impact Brexit is having, in particular as Seph alludes to, Northern Ireland and the peace process, all foreseen. Is that a price worth paying for your concept, acceptable collateral damage (no pun intended)? Which reminds me, you wouldn't have been living here during the Troubles, it wasn't nice, even on the Mainland. Will it need a couple of terrorist bombs to go off in London to make you sit up and notice? I thought that you could've at least pointed me in some direction beyond a simplistic 'concept', say a Norway style deal that would've at least addressed the issue of NI. A half-way house reflecting the closeness of the vote, gave both sides the opportunity to either later form closer ties with the EU or pull further away, depending how things went. Surely that's more in keeping with a 5-10 year plan than living in hope that one day a more competent Gov might or might not rock up...