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Guessing all of that is news to most of us on here? First of all, sorry you lost a brother especially this way, secondly, I can imagine it's the last thing you'd want your mam having to go through at her age. Just try to be as clear as possible how much he impacted your lives and how he shouldn't be let out without considerable time and proven remorse and stress how much he needs to be out of everyone's way. There's not much else you can say but obviously you're going to have to take it all in first and have as cool a head as you can. He sounds a shiting it, coward who obviously thought taking a life was better than getting a hiding. Scum basically. Good luck, MF.

A bit fucked up tbh. I got an email from the Parole Board today informing me ( very sympathetically, it must be said), that my brother’s murderer is eligible for release in a year. That doesn’t mean he’ll be strolling out carefree a year from now, but he can apply and must be heard.) I think most of you would be very surprised to find out how little we, as the family of his victim, are entitled to know about his spell in Her Majesty’s holiday camp- I can’t even know where the fucker has spent his time. ( I realise why I can’t be told that, obvs, but it’s fucking infuriating). I’ve been told I can submit a Victim Statement to be read at any Parole hearings prior to his release, where requests from us will be considered- clearly, “ Keep the cunt locked up” won’t get very far, so I’m thinking of conditions we can request to his License. ( A lifer’s license means that whatever conditions are stipulated for his release, any breach will see him back inside). First and foremost, I don’t want the fucker anywhere near my mother, and then, I’d like the chance of me and my brother running in to him on a night out to be virtually zero, more for his benefit than anything else. I’m therefore going to request that he isn’t allowed within 20 miles of Newcastle city centre, which will mostly cover that. I have no idea, as yet, how likely this is to fruitful. My second request is going to be slightly more difficult, I think- I want to know if he’s ever expressed remorse. By that, I don’t mean self-pity at the result of his actions on his life, I mean whether he understands the massive affect his decisions made to my family? I haven’t yet replied to the email, because I want my reply to be balanced and well considered, which this post clearly isn’t 😄 ) but I also want information that I suspect they aren’t allowed to give me, as laid out above- has he been a “good” prisoner, where will he be living etc- whilst I understand privacy rights etc, I hope that they can answer at least some of my questions However, I think the person tasked with communicating with “the family”, via me, is possibly dropping hints- she made a point of stressing that he’s “still” a Category B prisoner. Some basic Google-Fu tells me that most lifers are downgraded to C or even D in the year or two leading up to their release. I’m not particularly au fait with the whole shebang, but I’m getting the impression he hasn’t been a model inmate. My best guess ( and it is a guess), is that he hasn’t, still, accepted his guilt- he, initially, tried to say that he’d acted in self defence ( after going to my brothers house, armed with a cleaver and 10inch chef knife, and all of my brother’s major injuries being indicative of an attack from behind), and he only eventually plead guilty after some bullshit negotiations, and being told he was going away for a very long time otherwise. Sorry- I’m ranting a bit here, I just want to make sure this cunt never impacts on our lives again, even in the most minuscule way. Otherwise I’ll fucking kill him 😉

Latino with big tits did you say, @Monkeys Fist? "Weech one ees Monkey Feest? You like Juan's leetle titties? You know the dreell, what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico! Arreeeba madre fucka!!!!"

Good to see the party of personal responsibility continuing to blame everyone else for the mess they created.

Bye the way lads, I know you’re all decent blokes, and I know this is an extremely awkward subject. So, don’t worry yourselves about replying or anything, I’m purely using this as an opportunity to vent shit that I want to say, and writing it out actually helps me quantify exactly what it is I want to say to Mrs. Parole. Having said that, Tits would help here’s the link- large, Latin and lovely thanks

I'd expect nothing less.

Not ranting at all there MF, I've always been massively impressed how you've handled this. I've no advice or knowledge of this type of thing, nobody I know has been the victim of serious crime. I did think lifers actually had to show genuine remorse to be released though? Hopefully the cunt will fail the parole board and stay locked up forever or til he's geriatric.

More parody.

But it's already being well spent if you live up North. Thank you Mr Shapps, you're so good to us. It's beyond parody now.

I would be happy enough with that. The thing is about that argument for Bairstow as a wkt v specialist batsman average is it’s completely skewed by that freak spell when he got 1400+ runs in a calendar year in that position. Either side of that he has a poor record as a specialist batsman and as a wicketkeeper. It’s a classic case of a purple patch misrepresenting the true picture. It’s 5 years ago now too

That's horrendous mate. I think everything you have said and everything you are feeling is totally fucking normal. I've got no doubts you will be able to eloquently explain the same to the parole board.

Bloody hell mate, I had no idea. How absolutely awful for you and your family. I’m so sorry. I can’t offer much in the way of advice so enjoy this Latin rear view. Onwards and upwards

Free Trade is a tremendous pub mind. Would have suggested The Fighting Cocks over the road had it still existed.....

The Free Trade is nice, doesn’t have a TV which will only make it better

The email stated that he’ll have reached his “tariff” in Oct 2022. He was given life with a minimum of 15yrs- his tariff. He killed my brother on sept 26th 2007, but wasn’t sentenced until May 2008, and I’d always thought his time was from the day of sentence- they’ve clearly measured it from day of offence. I’ll be questioning that. As you say, I think we can put reasonable requests on his license conditions, I already know what I’ll be asking for- what I want to quiz Mrs. Parole on is his continued Cat B status. Everything I can find online indicates that a well-behaved, rehabbed lifer will be downgraded to C as a minimum at least a year or two before release, so I want to know why he’s still Cat B. This explains the differences between the different categories and if he’s still B after 14 years, then I have concerns. Ultimately, as I understand it, that means he’ll not be getting out in a year’s time, which is fine by me. I need to call Mrs. Parole tomorrow and clarify some shit. It’s just shit I could really do without, but I don’t really have a choice. Also, thanks @Howmanheyman for those lovely Latin jubblies. Really helped

Ay caramba!

Didn't even see that picture when I put mine up!

I don’t know much about the parole system or how much weight is given to victim’s family statement on whether he’s released but it should definitely influence the restrictions imposed on him such as where he can live/visit. How long has he served? Most murderers do about 16 years so if it’s less than that then the odds may be against him getting out. Given that you obviously haven’t received any statement of remorse from him will probably go against him as well.

Cheers gents. As you say HMHM, the biggest thing ( other than just letting him fucking rot, which isn’t happening), is ensuring that my mother, who’s now on her 80s, doesn’t even need to think about the possibility of ever bumping in to her son’s murderer on the street. I think they’ll be on the same page on that score. A secondary concern is that, if he isn’t kept away from Newcastle, as opposed to just our little bit of it, then there’s a chance me or my older brother could bump in to him, even after my Mam has gone. God help him if that happens, and he wants to hope it’s me he meets and not my brother, as I won’t actually kill him … much. 😉 I think also, when it happened, and for a good while afterwards, it was pretty fucking raw- didn’t take much to remind us of it and set us away on a bit of a downer… that becomes less of a likelihood over time, and eventually the loss becomes manageable, but this has hit me like a sledgehammer, and brought everything back with the original rawness of when it first happened. Ultimately, I know that there’s not a lot I can do to stop him getting out, and, on a point of principle, if he’s truly rehabilitated, then I wouldn’t want to stop it. I just haven’t been given the info I want to justify it to myself… yet. ( As you can probably tell, I’m swinging from lefty forgiveness to pure hatred, and it’s doing me in a bit. I know that, given the info I want, I’ll probably be a good little lefty, but I fear that getting to that point will be a ballache of the highest order.).

There were warnings about a shortage of vets as a result of brexit et voilá…

‘Here lads, take this shit we’ve finished with while we play with our shiny new ones.’

vince hasn't had loads of chances - a dozen or so tests, was it? but he's another in a long list of impressive ODI players who just didn't look cut out for tests when given the chance. i'd love to see buttler come good but you can see he's overthinking it - trying so hard to be a test batsman and curbing his natural game. it isn't easy to be a effective across all formats of the game, but he is one that could be so valuable to the test side were he able to find a way to get the balance right between attack and defence. he hasthe ability to take the game away from the opposition quickly, like how flintoff and gilchrist both used to do, but he hasn't done it enough in tests. i still think he's worth persevering with a bit longer. bairstow averages 27.41 as a specialist test bat, which is piss poor, but 37.83 when keeping wicket. buttler averages 31.65 with the gloves, and 35.68 without. interestingly, he averages 47 in the few games he's played at number 6. foakes averages over 40 at 7. based on those stats, i'd be tempted to bin bairstow, give foakes the gloves and give buttler a go at 6 down under.

I don't know why I put myself through watching live parliament. Johnson doing his social care announcement, and a bunch of Tory bellends doing the "Does he agree with me..." questions. "Does the Prime Minister agree with me, that if he and I went out to the pub tonight, all the ladies in attendance would want to suck us off?" "I'd like to thank my right honourable friend for his support, and let me confirm that we would indeed be on the receiving end of some good British suck-jobs, were we to hit the pubs of his wonderful constituency tonight."

We are missing a lot of key players in this series (Broad, Archer, Stokes) but really we just don't have the batting quality. At the moment there's only Root and Stokes who would get into the teams of any of the other top test sides.

Happy to see Leach back in, the four seamers works well at times but can also be canny limited when India’s middle order start ticking

Because the club went ‘above and beyond’

Think Vince ahead of Buttler personally if the latter isn’t wicket keeper. Buttler has never found the right balance in his batting in tests. He’s only looked good in a run chase really, effectively an ODI situation. Leach has been unlucky. Moeen fills the Stokes role / balances the batting. Not saying I agree but that’s the rationale at least.

bairstow is so frustrating because he has shown he is capable of scoring runs at this level but how many times does he make a nice-looking 20 or 30 before gifting it away? he did get a good one from bumrah in their second innings. wouldn't fancy facing a yorker like that first ball. the fact he keeps getting so many chances says a lot about the lack of genuine test batsmen

Don’t get me started on this shite about Root being England’s most successful captain either. No Ashes series wins, one overseas series victory of note. It’s like saying he’s better than Sobers because he’s scored more test runs

All three are countries that have managed to have consistently good white ball teams without sacrificing the best interests of their test sides though. The point still stands about England’s first innings. Good batsmen set, in benign conditions in a position to bat India out of the game getting out playing T20 shots. That’s mentality and preparation more than a lack of talent. India batted brilliantly and our bowlers lacked penetration. But India don’t make as many runs with the scoreboard pressure if they’re 200 behind. Ditto Bumrah isn’t as likely to bowl that spell if we’re chasing 200. Like we should’ve been. A good opening partnership and the field spreads etc and the pressure on the batting eases. India knew they just had to stick to plans because even when England were 100-0 India winning or the draw were far more likely. It’s more nuanced than best team won. I do think India are the better team mind, especially without Stokes, Archer, Wood, Broad etc. Bairstow can fuck right off too. The luckiest player ever to get that many test caps for England

i'm not going to defend england's fielding, which hasn't been good enough and contributed to the result, but i genuinely think the indians are better than us at the minute, the aussies and kiwis too. we can still be competitive at home, in the right conditions, but we used to regularly win home series against the top sides. england used to be as difficult a placer for touring sides to visit as australia or the subcontinent. that isn't the case anymore - we're on course to lose or draw this series, the aussies retained the ashes on their last visit and cained us at their place, NZ dispatched us at home earlier in the summer. you're right that's it's all about the moolah. the ecb prioritised the white ball - to good effect with the world cup win - but we have consistently struggled to develop test players as a result. it's a shame as for me it's still the best format. in this game, as at lords, india went through the gears when they needed to despite being under pressure at various moments. we depend too much on root's batting and lack the character to bat when the pressure is on. we've seen it time and time again - england look alright when they're ahead in the game but you always feel a collapse is on the cards when they're up against an imposing total. despite all this, i think you have to applaud india yesterday. that spell by bumrah would have troubled the best batting in the world and he managed to produce it on the most benign pitch of the summer.

Up (or down) there with ‘staycation’

It’s a one dimensional attack when there’s no movement but England were on top for most of the match. How many catches were dropped and run outs missed? Must’ve been in excess of of 6 for the former alone. Ditto dismissals from poor shots in England’s first innings when batting was easy. The argument they were simply outplayed by the better side isn’t really representative of the way the match unfolded imo. Totally accept what you say about Bumrah and Jadeja like. When you look at the last few years though England have struggled at home with bits of individual brilliance papering over the cracks rather than there being good team performances. A good hiding in a series has been in the post and it might be what it takes for the authorities to adjust their priorities a bit. Especially if it’s followed up by another heavy defeat down under. Although that’s probably wishful thinking. The ECB have been taking the piss for years with the odious Giles Clarke setting the tone when he gave up the pretence that anything other than money mattered. But this summer has been utterly ludicrous. The Hundred had lots of good things about it but playing it alongside other shorter formats with no first class cricket for weeks and weeks is a recipe for disaster in terms of test batting in particular. It also marginalised some counties to the extent they did play a single match for the best part of a month in the height of summer. I could go on...Sorry about the rant but it boils my piss. Tl:dr - the ECB are greedy cunts

And thick end of 100 runs from Rohit being dropped. catches win matches