El Zen

Went to Berlin last june and managed to sneak away on my own to have a look at their stadium. Their season tickets went on sale that day, and the cues seemed to go into a different post code. Charming club, really happy for them. I’ll have my coffee in this one tomorrow morning:

Only slightly worse than 50cent’s effort at CitiField. I’ll never know how throwing a relatively small ball 60 ft can be made to look so difficult.

Nah, it’s the same here as well.

Given the results of the EU elections, wouldn’t a GE be potentially disasterous for Labour right now?

I’m still struggling to put all the emotions from monday into words. I don’t think I can, not sure I ever could. It was a great day all round. Meeting all the guys from VT was a pleasure - @GarethRDR, @mjmooney, @Stevo985, @StefanAVFC, and the biggest Villa fan ever in Stef’s brother as well - it was lovely meeting you all. If I forgot, thanks again very much for the drink, Mike, you’re a true gentleman. The atmosphere was surreal. Green Man was packed at half ten when we got there. Villa fans everywhere we went. The game, the goals, the win, the celebration, the being back where we belong. After the initial manic jumping and hugging random strangers, by full time I was emotionally drained. What a day.

I was actually going to amend by post to say «wearing nothing but trackie bottoms and trainers»

«Dress like a Brit» I think it’s a trifle harsh to expect a poor immigrant from warmer skies to walk around Hartlepool or Bradford in january without a shirt on, but that’s just me.

Ftfy

As if Cameron put Brexit to a referendum for reasons that have anything to do with democracy.

Seriously? ALL of this is his fault.

So, was there ever any action taken by the EFL/FA against SHA after the Grealish incident?

I’d start Whelan. Our shape works better, the midfield balance looks right, when he plays. Then, you have a potential match winner to come off the bench in Hourihane. For me, it’s a no brainer.

I think the issue here is that there is no, and can’t be, one, simple definition of Europe, not that anyone is necessarily unwilling to accept the usefulnes of having definitions in the first place. Europe isn’t a separate continent, therefore its borders are necessarily blurry and defined by various social constructs - be they political, social, cultural - that are somewhat arbitrary. I don’t disagree with you that it’s slightly odd to define Israel as being part of Europe by any definition I can imagine, but I can’t just say «it’s not in Europe» without first clearly defining what I mean by that.

So am I. I hope everyone won’t think I’m you

Can’t think of many better. Eirik Bakke and Gabor Kiraly, of course, but other than that. I was excited we got him, but I never dreamed he’d be as important as he’s been.

ftfy

What rubbish. I had tapas and red wine just last night. We’re all positively Mediterranean up here now. Hasta la vista, baby!

I genuinely thought he’d be world class. Sadly, I agree, wouldn’t have him back now.

That’s not necessarily true at all. We have PR in Norway, but still have constituencies. I think the same is true for most PR democracies, with a few exceptions (Israel and Netherlands are single constituency PR, iirc.) All Norwegian MPs are elected from, and accordingly represent, their respective counties. My county has 17 MPs, including one from the party I voted for (would never, ever happen under fptp). Constitutionally, they represent me and my county, not their party (political parties are not mentioned in the constitution at all.) If you need convincing why PR is the better option, read Arend Lijphart’s book ‘Patterns of Democracy’. It convincingly argues that PR democracies outperform fptp systems on more or less any relevant metric (equality, growth, trust, public safety etc.)

Only seen him a couple of times for Leverkusen, but he was outstanding. Sounds like a bargain at that price.

Definitely. I thought I’d be watching at home, and didn’t think the nerves would properly kick in until closer to kick off. Suddenly finding myself with a ticket for Wembley and flights booked, I’m a nervous wreck.

You buying the Guinness then, Harry?

The stakes are raised. This game will end up costing me over a grand, flights, hotel and two days off work and all. If we lose I shall be very, very grumpy. If we win, I’d have happily paid double.

Yeah, on second thoughts, I’ll just go to f***ing Wembley instead. Look out, that London, Captain Sensible is coming!

I played for a fairly average boys team, and at 16 we were comfortably better than the club’s womens team who were Norwegian champs. That’s not me trying to belittle the womens game in any way, btw. And I don’t see why a good coach from a womens team couldn’t be a good coach for a mens team.