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I've been very busy lately and I spend very little time at home, but I haven't forgotten you.

It’s easy to feel like you’re not in control, because you’re not. The world is absolutely chaotic at the moment. It’s horrible, it’s depressing, it’s sad. If you find yourself thinking “there’s little I can do about it” then do the little thing. That’s your control over the situation. So make a donation to the British Red Cross or another appropriate organisation. Put together some necessary items for Ukrainian refugees and donate them to somewhere who will handle them responsibly. The small thing is all we can do about things at the moment & anything beyond that, apropos escalation is terrifying beyond belief.

"Indeed. H'es one of our own! Can't imagine he would want to stay at Dortmund over us if offered." "I'm convinced he'll play for us one day." "Could be a cult hero" "If we’re somehow in European football, aye." https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/the-reyna-child.1575074/

Good article just a shame a more senior writer couldn't have written it instead for an even better take..... SKY'S the limit for new man in the Toon! 'Jimmy come lately, there's a new man in toon' might have been the lyrics to the eagles record in the seventies when supermac and Terry Hibbitt were strutting their stuff at the hallowed turf at the cathedral on the hill but now ex-sky supremo James Darroch could be about to transform the club in the same way one of his predesse, predat, err, the bloke who had the same job years ago, one, Frederick Fletcher, the Scottish Rottweiler once did in the Keegan entertainer years when the new kids in toon were the likes of Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand, Tino Asprilla, Alan Shearer and of course the man who would go on to give me many retro stories years later as I managed to get his number once at a clubcall publicity shoot, one Darren 'They shall not pass' Peacock. Lee Ryder

Bayer Leverkusen 1-3 Newcastle United 18 February 2003, Sir Bobby Robson's 70th birthday . Richard Gere there getting friendly with us, the only LGBTQ bar open in Cologne on a Tuesday night

Out of the top six now.....

I genuinely think you couldn’t have come up with that bit if you were trying to take the piss.

I don't know about Milne but I honestly think some people hate the US so much in terms of what it stands for - capitalism rather than freedom - that it blinds them to objective analysis. The fact that Russia has been actively infecting our societies with their bullshit is the thing that really shows this IMO. I mean how do these leftwingers reconcile that, I can't get my head around it. He's literally supporting far right movements in the West that in any other conversation they'd be screaming about. I think the truth actually is that they hate the US more than anything else. They hate white supremacy a bit, but it's mostly a stick to beat the US with. If it was genuine and deep rooted, they'd hate Putin too. But nah, I keep reading about how Putin is just doing to us what we did to him, that the US supports the far right elsewhere etc. And I mean ok, but you condemn the US supporting the far right. You never shut up about it. You condemn the far right in our own countries. Where is your righteous fury for Russia, who are supporting it? The left should despise Putin absolutely. He stands against everything we believe in, if we are true to our principles. They can despise the US too, but consistency of principle demands they must despise Putin. And they don't, and I just don't get it.

I think the free world, despite its flaws, is worth fighting for. It’s the side I pick. And I pick it despite these fact we have supported despots to fight in proxy wars all over the world. Fascism is an existential threat. I applaud the Ukrainians who would rather die on their feet than live on their knees. These are people who want to be included in our clubs. They don’t want to be part of a new soviet empire. NATO saw it coming and chose to let it happen. It gives the lie to all the posturing propaganda we indulge in about promoting and protecting democracy. Where does pragmatic appeasement in the face if authoritative aggression end? Is an invasion of a NATO country the red line. Or would the west react if other non-nato countries such as Finland were targeted?

I think it's almost impossible for any of us to imagine how hard this is for you and your family MF. Thankfully it's something very few of us have to face. And time is strange, 20 years ago for me feels like last week and if you're anything like me you'll easily get dragged back into the moment. Wishing you, your mam, and family, all the best.

Had a meeting today with a Parole Victim Liason officer, regarding the upcoming parole hearing of my brothers murderer. It was, as expected , emotional, frustrating and also, informative. The main takeaways are that he’s extremely unlikely to be released this year, which also means that he’s unlikely to be released within the next 2-3 years. What was also interesting was that we discussed an exclusion area for when he is eventually released, based on places my Mam regularly goes to, so that she never has to worry about bumping into him. It happens that the area he’s not allowed in also includes where his family live, and it was nice to hear the Liason Officer essentially say “ Tough luck for him”. It means that he’ll be monitored more than the norm, and if he’s found to have entered the area… straight back to jail, do not pass go, do not collect £200. Oh dear, what a shame. I’m not going to pretend today wasn’t tough mind, it dredged up memories that I’d long since buried, I’m not ashamed to say that a tear or two might have leaked out. Two that came back to me, which fucking killed me, were my Mam having to be taken to Asda at 4:00am by the police, only 4 hours after it happened, to buy clothes, since hers needed to be taken as evidence, and also the police liason lads coming to see me at the cardiac ward ( my Mam ended up there for over a week in the immediate aftermath), a few days afterwards, to give me the results of the autopsy.… which laid out precisely how brutal his killing was, multiple weapons, multiple (20+) wounds. I’d asked them to tell me the results so that I could “censor” them for my Mam, and tbh I’ve still not told her the true extent of it. Fucking killed me thinking about that again. Anyway, all that misery aside, the upside is that he’s not getting his freedom just yet, so, happy days. I’m glad that’s over and done with

In a 32 team competition Italy not getting through is a disgrace for them tbh Hoping if the game goes ahead that Ukraine beat Scotland in June…..that’ll mean that Wales shoot Bambi, not us…

The mackems have worse sacking record than the vikings

“For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power.” Biden, on Putin. That's some fairly unequivocal language. Rare that you see that, politically.

Big Dan.

Cheers. I went down the allotment for a bit, did me the world of good. I could have just said " just be careful of propoganda, in war time. Especially with the social engineering and AI shit thats now part of our world." Instead I just sit trance like in bed, writing shit for 2 hours in the day. An "interesting time" to be alive, thats for sure. At least there's the footie!

The exact same percentage that voted for Putin, coincidentally, I'm sure.

i stopped reading when you linked to a Seumas Milne oped, sorry.

Perhaps you're right. Or perhaps all Cold War era technology is in the same state of readiness as the Russian armed forces. It looks like nothing has had a service since 1989. NATO intelligence will know. But I think the refugee situation by this time next year, should NATO continue to sit on its hands, will force a change of policy of some description. They'll have to stop the exodus somehow.....

If a NATO ally is attacked Russia has nuclear weapons to threaten Westerm Europe with If a NATO ally isn't attacked Russia still has nuclear weapons to threaten Western Europe with If we let Russia and Ukraine fight it out for the next decade (at least) the population of Ukraine would empty out into Western Europe. 2.5 million have already left in a month. I have no idea what anyone's best move is but I do think that an eventual confrontation between NATO and Russia is inevitable . Get it over with soon. The nuclear trigger isn't physically in Putins hands. Try to destroy the infrastructure that controls it? Hes finished anyway... Destroy all Russian positions in Ukraine from the air. Pilots will obviously die . Better them than 1000s of Ukrainian civilians? At least they know what they signed up for. I'm no military expert but I can't see any other way of stopping a protracted conflict and the resultant tide of human misery washing up across the globe...some nettles need to be grasped at NATO and at the EU

Ukraine is very different to Russia. That isn’t up for debate is it?

And the only common denominator throughout that period has been... the fans.

No words from us will erase things but I sincerely hope you know, and can garner, support from us all on here, mate.

Honestly your drawing huge conclusions there based on nothing. To establish a no fly zone you effectively have to take out all ground based air defence, which would include those on Russian soil. You can't say with confidence that wouldn't escalate things further and you can't be confident it would have deterred Putin who has not been acting intelligently or even rationally. I think the west has played this as best they could so far (I mean the present conflict, I don't know enough about Crimea to even comment. Do any of us, is there even a post on it?).

It’s hard to know where to start with that, MF. It will never go away. I imagine it gets to a point where it doesn’t make a difference if it’s 10/12/14 years but as you say the last thing you want is seeing the cunt walk round free as a bird. You’re pursuing entirely the right line and I hope you have success in getting the right result for both you and the rest of your family.

Heavy stuff that mind, MF. Fair one for you having to deal with all that, especially having to be there for your mother throughout. Get yourself into some ale and some good tunes tonight.

I find it utterly shameful that we ( the West) have done nothing to help Ukraine. We know Putin won’t back down, we know he’ll probably go for Georgia, at the very least, if left unchecked as he is now. Thoughts and prayers do fuck all.

One of my all time favorite football songs is one we used in 2006 against Italy: (To the tune of the Oscar Meyer Wiener jingle) Oh I'd love to be a f***ing diving wanker That is what I'd really like to be For if I were a f***ing diving wanker I could make my home in Italy

At this point we should see if Ukraine can shrug them off, but I'm still not comfortable with the idea truthfully. I am also getting fucking sick of talking to fellow left wingers about this. Every new war crime is "well the US did it first, the US developed that, the US forced this to happen". Shut the fuck up you apologists. We all know fine fucking well that the US has committed war crimes, we all know that we need to be vigilant against such things happening in future. We knew that well before you toddled along and told us. How about calling out the stuff that is literally happening right in front of us, if you actually do care about human life, you hypocrites! Not a blanket statement fwiw, just finding the discourse very tedious now in some circles.

Are Sunderland playing?

They're OK in winter weather but it all turns to shit when it starts to Thor. (sorry) Norse, norse, medication time for Toonpack

The mackems were also great at raping and pillaging to be fair but fucking shite at Luton.

Going to go out on a limb here and guess that one like is himself.

He didn’t even score this season He was supposed “fire them to promotion”. Instead their bizarre need to feel important has derailed their entire season

You just know they'll be crying out for him when Neill is sacked in 3 or 4 months. "He gets the club marra, MLF after all" etc etc. And if it did happen we'd get a re-run of January's nonsense. Has Defoe at any point said anything about a deep affection for Sunderland? They're not mentioned whatsoever in his retirement letter. You'd think he was a born and raised mackem who played for them for about a decade the way they go on. 34 goals in 3 years. For any other club, it's around minimum expectation for a striker. For Sunderland, it's enough to make you a club legend.

Well, he's back home now. On some meds, not sure what yet. I was able to reassure him that there's no medical evidence to say long haul flights are more dangerous to him, and he poses no greater risk on a flight than any other passenger (as long as he's taking his meds). Apparently he can drive if he goes 1yr without a seizure (as long as he's taking his meds).

and we still wont win

Start putting pineapple on pizza again

There’s no way you have an education as expensive as his and aren’t taught to button your jacket when standing. Looking like a bloated scarecrow alongside world leaders is a conscious choice.

What really strikes me with Bruno is how natural he is with the ball, it's hyperbole which I'm normally not a fan of, but it's like he was born with a ball at his feet. The back heel goal wasn't pre-meditated it was an instinctive strike, and there have been several other instances where he has played the ball in untraditional ways but with his natural fluidity. It's unlke anyone I've seen at the club before there's nothing showy or tricky about it and I'm genuinely excited to see what he can achieve here.

Bruno: "The guys here have already made music, shirts with my photo. Shirt with several pictures of me. If I give a backward pass, it’s Bruno! Bruno! Bruno!. When I scored, the guys wanted to invade the field. It’s been too cool, I’m enjoying it too much here."

I've deleted his post in General but I think I'll keep this one because it'd be a shame to lose the reply

One for Stevie