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57 minutes ago, Jonesy7211 said:

Most people who have significant stomach surgery lose weight simply because they can't eat solids at first, then have to build it back up. This may account for the extra weight loss, and not anorexia. It's an awful label to put on someone.

(while I appreciate this isn't the point you're making, I'm merely segueing)

Do people who have had significant stomach surgery comfortably saunter around a few weeks later while swinging apparently-heavy shopping bags that a husband or nearby servant could easily have taken from them?

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

But in this case that's not a dig at his ability, it's a dig at how blind Southgate is to players who play at other clubs.

I'd bet money that the variety of clubs that Southgate has picked players from is more diverse than any other England manager in decades. The current squad has fifteen different clubs represented. In the time he's been England manager he's picked five different players from Burnley, seven from Southampton, three from Bournemouth, two from West Brom (!) and six from Crystal Palace.

He has plenty of failings, but selecting players from a wide range of clubs isn't one of them. 

On 16/03/2024 at 11:16, villa4europe said:

I disagree I think you can when you have a manger like Southgate who picks and chooses when he calls him up

Southgates shown he's got no real interest in playing him, if everyone is fit he's not making the squad let alone the pitch

so why should white now be interested? 

As others have said, he's not wanted to be selected since pulling out of the Qatar squad in November '22. So it's impossible for him to know how he would have been used in any of the squads since.

When he pulled out (Kenneth.gif) he'd had a decent season at Brighton (finishing 16th) followed by a decent first season at Arsenal (finishing 5th). He then found himself shunted out to right-back at the start of the '22-'23 season to make room for Saliba and he'd been playing there for three months when the Qatar squad was announced.

So given he wasn't playing at centre-back for his club, and he had Kyle Walker and Trent Alexander-Arnold also competing with him at right-back (a position he'd only just started playing for his club) I don't really see why he gets to dictate terms about his position in the team.

Unless he wants to make the argument that his three months at right-back meant he should have been ahead of both of the two above, or he's so good at centre-back that he should be playing for England in a position his club don't consider him good enough at to play for them, then he was being used about as much as was appropriate. A very useful option to have covering two positions in the squad, but not in the team.

It's not like Southgate's ignoring Kane or Bellingham here, he's treating the third or fourth best English right back as third or fourth choice right-back.

If he's not bothered about playing for England, that's fair enough. Some players aren't fussed about having extra matches and it's not what he's paid to do. However if he does want to play for England and he's just in a strop about how he's being used, then he's a bell-end.

I think if you've got to the stage where you're banking on 14/1 Susan Hall to win in London as the thing to launch your latest reset, it's safe to say that things are pretty bad.

On 13/03/2024 at 12:05, MakemineVanilla said:

I think a better definition of "conservative" would be the "silenced majority" who have learned to keep their traps shut.

You're projecting a level of political engagement and interest amongst the wider population which just doesn't exist. At most recent polling around 10% of British adults didn't know who Rishi Sunak is and nearly a quarter didn't know who Keir Starmer is. 

The idea that there is a "silenced majority" who have "learned to keep their traps shut" makes the daft assumption that the average person is online following every twist and turn of culture war Twitter. I can promise you, they're not. 

3 minutes ago, bickster said:

Yep, like I said yesterday, I'm prepared to wait a few extra months, the longer this goes on just speeds up their ultimate demise. More of their core voters will also be dead by the autumn plus more younger non-tory voters will also be eligible to vote. Those on their own should give a back of the fag packet estimate a further swing to Not-Tory of about 450,000+ (death rate for 6 months is about 300,000 , people reaching voting age about 500,00 in 6 months)

The one argument in their favour that I can think of for September is if you time it for the period when students are a bit in flux between being away / at home then you might wipe out a few tens of thousands of votes. But if they are losing a few thousand votes in University towns and cities, that's unlikely to be the difference between holding many of those seats or not. 

5 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

Autumn, not so slippery they daren’t go out, not too hot to rile up the liver spots.

But right after the height of the latest summer of small boats not being fixed, leading to more Tory --> Reform switchers. And not shortly after a local election bloodbath which gives a narrative of "Tories are being elecotrally smashed everywhere".

May was probably his best opportunity. 

23 minutes ago, Genie said:

How much notice do they realistically need to give? I’d have thought a 2-3 months at least.

About five weeks I think is the time needed. 

5 minutes ago, Genie said:

Rishi ruled out 2nd May. It’s going to be as late as they can get away with.

I'm becoming more of the opinion that something snaps somewhere which stops it being completely in Sunak's control. 

And another one.

"We want people to keep killing each other because it might make thing politically harder for our opponents"

8 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Labour proposing to stop ticket re-sellers by imposing a 10% max profit on their face value. Seems like a great policy. They have however 'teamed-up' to announce this, with Will Young.

If I didn't know better, I'd say they've been rummaging around in the big box titled "things that will be universally popular and grab some headlines that won't cost any money, to distract from how little we can do straight away about the important stuff".

(not a criticism by the way, seems like a pretty sensible way to get through the next couple of years)

25 minutes ago, bickster said:

I think that's technically possible up to today if my maths is right but being as the local elections are May 2nd, I think the deadline for that is around 20th March

See though, I'm torn, as much as I want them gone, I want them gone as an electoral force for good so I may be prepared for a few more months of death spiral if I'm completely honest

Yup, there's talk for the "it'll be a May election" faction that he'll do PMQs next week then at 3pm announce the election for May 2nd. So at least by this time next week the May / Autumn / January thing will be a bit clearer.

18 minutes ago, blandy said:

No, I don’t think so. A sizeable minority, nationally, sure, and in safe Tory seats, maybe even a (local) majority, but absolutely no way a majority of the uk. Good description, mind.

Silent plurality then. But unfortunately that's not an overused and easily borrowed phrase. 

The editors at the Mail were clearly in the mood for a bit of a laugh when they put the front page together 

Heart of stone not to laugh etc.

Lee Anderson set to become the first Reform UK MP today apparently.

1 hour ago, sne said:

I've not watched this stuff since the mid 80's but in Sweden it's pretty much a small group of people who write almost all the entries to the Swedish qualifiers. 25 songs or so ( we have 4 or 5 or 6 qualifying competitions and then a final) a year and it's 5 people behind at least half of them. It's big business in Sweden and they have a monopoly thanks to friendship corruption. Same with the artists, it's 20 names that are in it at least every other year and then some famous people that are in it for the publicity and media clicks they generate. You know before the competition starts who is going to qualify for the final without hearing the songs. Same with who is going to qualify. It's always someone who have a large fan base and is popular with kids and the song always sounds like a dumbed down version of a previous hit. Always.

On the other hand, they're the most successful country in it of the last twenty years, and are rarely outside the top three or four.

So until that changes, maybe all of that isn't actually a problem.

*narrator* 

Yes they will. 

4 minutes ago, sne said:

As always these days the Swedish (and a lot of others) entry is a partial rip off of some previous hit.

Sweden this time represented by some Norwegian former kids stars.

Feels very brave to call your song Unforgettable and write something so forgettable. 

7 hours ago, omariqy said:

I mean BDS and protesting are two very real things that can be done 

I guess it's the risk that you might end with a bunch of nipples like this that might put someone off the idea of joining a protest. 

The level of Tory media cope over the next few months is going to be hilarious to watch. 

9 minutes ago, Jareth said:

I regularly hurl cous cous to an unreachable shelf too

There we go, sensible, targeted direct action. That's the sort of thing I can get on board with.

1 minute ago, Jareth said:

Happy to. Give a shit. 

We're still just in "be sad and angry" territory though. Which apparently is "just not good enough".