Vancvillan

While individual polls might have shown HRC with a double digit lead at some point, I'm pretty sure I saw / heard Nate Silver at 538 saying that Biden's polling average is better than Hillary or Obama (in 2008 at least) ever had. All Biden really has to do is not say anything stupid. The problem is that he's basically their Prince Philip. He'll be ten points up then do an interview with Oprah where he sniffs her hair then tells her she isn't black.

Another in the "impact sub" category, along with Tresz, Connor, AEG, and (at the moment) McGinn. Just a shame we lack attacking-minded players to cover the other 60 or 70 minutes.

At least we now know the "somehow". 3-1 Chelsea.

One of the many reasons the city I live in is approximately two thirds first and second gen immigrants. We come to visit and never leave.

They say bad things come in threes - so far this year we've had a worldwide pandemic, my neighbours to the south (who happen to have more nukes than we have people) are imploding with a mad man at the helm, and on June 17th I exit my 30's. The world's gone to shit. 4-1 Villa, after going a goal down Samatta grabs a hatrick. Davis gets the other.

Ignoring whether he should, can Drinkwater play against Chelsea?

My two year-old loves the Gruffalo movies. I've watched them a bunch of times and almost loved them, but something always seemed a bit off. Just found out that the lead character is voiced by fake lad / talentless chancer James Corden. A dagger to the heart...

Some great shouts already. Would add Benito Carbone as a player I hope would have done a lot better, though he had a couple of great moments.

I remember when we signed him an Egyptian buddy of mine text and said "he's got the potential to be better than Mo Salah". Right now I'm not sure he's better than Mo Johnston. I love his graft but I feel like most of the time he's trying to exploit his pace - an advantage he might have had in Turkey, but that is completely non-existent in the Prem. File under "players you really want to succeed but probably won't". That drawer has gotten pretty full over the last few years. (Edited for rubbish spelling)

I was loading the dishwasher last night and wondering what Ranking Roger was up to. Googled him today and he's dead.

#artofthedeal

I live in Canada and while the a lot of Liberal voters cheer this I don't think it's a victory for anyone. Those on the either end of the gun control debate are massively disappointed - don't equate this to what NZ or Australia did. Keep in mind we already have strict ownership, storage and transportation laws. Things to know: 1. The firearms are banned by name, not any technical specification. If Armalite release the AR16 tomorrow it won't be covered, so cue years of whackamole. Imagine fuel economy laws that only used car makes and models. 2. Many high powered semi-auto guns aren't banned, mostly because they have wood stocks instead of black. The 308 and 300 win mag varients are far more powerful than an Ar15, while the 9mm carbines have less recoil, so there's no good argument to not ban them if that's the goal. 3. The majority of firearms-related crimes in Canada involve hand guns, but the federal government knows banning them would cost a lot of money in buybacks and a lot of votes (a reasonable number of handgun owners live in cities, which is where non-Conservative voters are). Instead the feds suggested that individual cities ban handguns, which passes the buck to mayors who can only ban the sale within city limits, meaning a 20 minute drive to buy one (a lot of big outdoors / gun stores are outside city limits anyway). 4. It's a buy-back, and 95% of people who own these firearms have hundreds or thousands more dollars in related items (gun safes, scopes, cleaning equipment, etc). They are going to take that buy-back money and purchase something else just as lethal, because see 1 and 2. The PM stated that Aboriginal hunters can continue to use the banned firearms for up to two years until they can source a replacement, so this is absolutely the intention and the expected result. Given the above , I don't see this reducing the number of guns in circulation, or taking the guns out of the hands of criminals (the vast majority of whom use illegally imported handguns from the US). I do see something that'll cost well in excess of $1B, and has already created more division between firearms owners (approx 1 in 4 households), the general public and gun control advocates. Sensible discussion is almost impossible. The argument that "at least it gets some guns out of people's hands" or "it's a good start" doesn't hold water. It wasn't debated, it was an order-in-council from cabinet so they could have included anything. If the government truly wanted to get what I think they view as dangerous firearms out of circulation, they would have banned centre-fire semis and handguns. Everyone would have understood what this meant because its like saying "all has powered vehicles with four or more wheels". There would have been a huge financial and political price to pay, but that's the reality of leading by principal instead of posturing.

You spoke too soon. Boris must have been hanging around the 5g towers...

In reverse order: Bye Bye Bye - N Sync Another One Bites the Dust - Queen Staying Alive - Bee Gees I Touch Myself - Divinyls Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Junior Should I Stay Or Should I Go - The Clash U Can't Touch This - MC Hammer Hurts So Good - John Mellencamp Finally - Ce Ce Peniston Rape Me - Nirvana

He's going to be a good player in 2-4 years time, I hope that's with us - i just don't think we can afford to carry him until then.

They probably saw that Poch was suggested as a realistic option and assumed this was just the rantings of a mad man.

A connotation means there is deeper or further meaning attached to the words used. You don't get to say there's no connotation any more than you get to say "my words did not cause offence". It's like me saying "classic Boomer reply" and then saying there's no connotation because you are a Boomer. The splitting of fans / supporters / followers / whatever into distinct groups is a problem. It ignores the fact that everyone's relationship with the club is marked with nuance, and encourages a (frankly toxic) "better fan" narrative. A young kid who can't afford to go to games and whose parents can't afford a Villa shirt shouldn't be made to feel like less of a supporter because of it. You engaged in that, made a huge generalisation and think there's nothing wrong with that. I have zero interest in trying to change your mind. My next click is on "ignore user" - just to save you the time responding.

More puns? I'm out - I haven't got the stomachs for this.

My Canadian wife had all sorts of trouble when we lived over there. Gloucestershire, Bicester, The river Thames, Worcestershire sauce... Though she quickly understood why Paul Tait is pronounced "Massive word removed".

To be fair most of the posts on there have been pretty balanced - and we would have been fuming if the Mings combo of foul (which could have been a straight red) and handball (unpunished) had been their player who was involved in a late winner. I'd wager VT has a small number of reactionary dick heads (though I can't think of any specifically).

It was a game of if and buts, Now Troy Deeney can suck my nuts.

While the chance of him starting vs. Watford is non-zero, it's not much higher. He won't have trained with the team for any meaningful amount of time.

I feel your pain. Pre-season everyone's a mature knowledgeable fan who is expecting ups and downs and can take a high level view, but a handful of poor performances and the toxicity sets in. I don't believe DOL's assessment that Villa fans are uniquely fickle, but a small portion are manic.

I'm with you - this is bonkers. Go back three weeks on the Guilbert thread for a bunch of people saying he was the future, one of their favourite players and integral to the spine of the team. Trez suffers from the fact that he constantly looks like he doesn't know what his feet are doing but he's not a bad player. I'd give Dean the season personally, though I'd imagine that lack of "decisiveness" will not be popular.