Rayvin

You know me

They're entirely correct on that front.

Has he actually done anything of note this year? I was under the impression that he's been barely visible even when he has played.

I don't think they consider us assets. Maybe you could argue somewhere between the two.

Bizarre to think we're turning our backs on people who genuinely seem to consider us 'friends' as opposed to the Americans who probably consider us 'assets'

Leazes running the US

All known associates maybe? It is strange though - unless he was already on their radar I guess.

It was. It wasn't a big debating point though, I was just musing.

This isn't something I was going to make a massive point over, but it does seem that the harder you curtail freedoms, the less probable stuff like this is. Presumably it follows that you reach a point where things like this can't happen, even if it's just a nutter in a car. Presumably we consider that we have the balance about right, which I guess is encouraging? We do have a good record on preventing this stuff.

You could take away the ideology, the access to dissenting opinions, you could persecute people and curtail individual freedoms. There is no way to prevent it while staying true to Western values though.

Genuinely not much. Sounds like MI5 have to make a call on which 'possible' terrorists are most likely to go for it, and you can't expect them to always get it right. I imagine there's a point at which cracking down on civil liberties would reduce this sort of thing to a point where it's not possible, but we'd probably be talking about some incredibly extreme situation.

There is surely no chance we'll get Rooney. Doesn't fit Ashley's model for starters, and that's before all the financials.

What an absolute cunt that guy is. Couldn't show any less remorse if he tried.

What the fuck is she on about. How are people cowed and disunited? Looked to me like all the MPs went back to work this morning, along with the police. If anything shit like this superficially brings people together. Even I have to accept that the Tory who tried to save that police officer now has the rare honour of being a Conservative MP who I have some respect for. He joins Ken Clarke to take the total number to 2.

Whatever is in the interests of the greater good is ok by me. Although I understand torture yields little information of any positive value. Well, old school torture anyway - maybe they're better at it these days.

...I get the feeling that you're saying this as a joke but that's very literally what I'd suggest is ideal. The goal is to protect as many lives as possible, and information saves lives.

Me neither, morally. What kind of an idiot thinks he can storm parliament in any effective way with a knife, mind. Any chance this was a lone nutjob?

I'm not suggesting he'd be reasonable... I'm merely suggesting that we might understand if he's working with a larger group, if there's anything further he can tell us about why he's done it, etc. Always best to take them alive if possible, surely.

Actually think it'd be interesting to take him alive...

Now that's a controversial opinion. True, though.

That's why I selected Armstrong from that list Bit harsh on the lad but of all of them he's probably least ready for the PL.

I'm just saying it's because people are nervous - because this isn't straightforward, we're dropping points at the moment, and other teams are quite close to us. If Huddersfield had beaten Bristol and, as we assume they will, won their game in hand - wouldn't that change the complexion of things a bit? Finer margins at play than some are prepared to admit here. And while yes, I think we're odds on for a fairly comfortable promotion (and probably also the league), it's going to be partially down to huddersfield dropping off at the same time as us, not our invincibility.

There's nothing we can do about their games no - but we can win ours, and at the minute we're dropping easy points. To be quite honest, had we managed to beat Bristol and Birmingham, we'd be absolutely untouchable by now. We didn't fail to beat them because they have better sides than we do, which suggests that the underlying reason is more likely complacency or struggling under pressure. Both of those two things would be a worry in a tight run in - which is what we're lining up for. I'd suggest it's more likely to be complacency than anything else given how we despatched both Brighton and Huddersfield, and that's the scenario in which you'd expect fans to get angry.

We clearly are good enough to do that, yes. But we are also being quite fortunate with results going in our favour elsewhere. Huddersfield losing 4-0 to Bristol was not something I expected. Brighton's loss was more predictable but even so, if we accept that Leeds 'should' have beaten them, we must accept that they 'should' also give us a game. I think if it was just us and Brighton clear at the top no one would care. It's definitely Huddersfield that have people worried - though I do take your point that they're not exactly capitalising on our wobble.