Rayvin

The military rule one is surprising tbf. But I think the issue here is that (looking at Britain) you have people on the 'Remain' side who now think democracy is a waste of time as it doesn't offer solutions in the best interests of the people (I sympathise with this but tbf, I thought this about democracy even before the referendum), and Brexiters who think democracy is constantly being perverted by elites and special interests. Which is also a view I can sympathise with. Basically, trust in the centreground is failing/has failed. We also have stable authoritarian states in play whose people do not appear to be subjected to widespread suffering (as far as we can easily see) such as China. I would caveat all of this by adding, for consistency, that I think we're in a sham of a democracy anyway

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/world/americas/western-liberal-democracy.html?_r=2 Belief that it is absolutely imperative to live in a democracy is falling rapidly amongst younger people. In the 1930s it was around 70%. It's now at about 25%. Not that politics, our system, or our parties are failing or anything. 1 in 6 Americans are now happy with the idea of living under military rule...! Compared to 1 in 16 about 20 years ago.

Agreed but he clearly does have time for it. Looking at this honestly, it very much appears that he's going to be a PR president rather than a substance president. Maybe that's a good thing for all of us. Trump with substance might very well derail global affairs.

Maybe all this will dry up when he's sworn in. He surely won't have time for any of it.

I take it you're following him, ewerk What did he go on to say about Streep? I'm actually kind of curious... or did he just leave it like that like that?

I don't see what the big deal about offending people is anyway - I would be mortified if my taking offence at something cost someone their job, and people who think this sort of thing is justified are, in my view, incredibly insecure about themselves. If he's been sacked for recent performances then that's another story of course.

Also true but then, you'd think Rafa would be aware of that. Which would beg the question of why he isn't adapting.

There might be an argument to say that if Rafa deviates from his system, the players will be less well versed in it. If we consider this year as a 'training' season, the more deeply they understand his philosophy, the better it should be applied next year. It probably all comes down to whether or not you think we'll be promoted. If we're not changing the system, presumably Rafa is confident.

Fair enough, does sound like a good reason

What's so appealing about Brentford away, exactly? Is it just nearer for you guys..? Which would be odd since (Fish) you live at a different end of the country now.

I recall someone saying earlier on in the season that Rafa has always been particularly successful against bigger clubs (i.e. those who are prepared to attack rather than sit behind the ball). I'd expect that to be ideal for next year, but there's certainly an unwillingness on his part to really force the issue when we need a goal. That said, one more game and Shelvey is back now, so let's just hope that we can squeak a win against Brentford and then move upwards and onwards.

He isn't going to sell up without his debt repaid. He won't just write it off. And with the debt factored in, we're not an attractive option. We need to go up, pay off the debt, and then he'll finally leave us. That said, I'm not all that bothered about him being here at the moment since he seems to have learned some lessons.

Superb and depressing. To think we passed that up for identity politics and ended up with the right wing fake version ripping off the same ideas without the follow through. The world won't be fucking told, sadly. I'd rather be an idealistic fuckwit than willfully blind

I'm far, FAR too careful for that. I meant more the situation he had with me, rather than one I have. I have no intention of raising any children which then can be weaponised against me

This is going to be a long running thread isn't it?

I dunno, I don't know much about them but given my own situation (and that of my father's) I've always had sympathy.

Tbf that'll just be one guy from their twitter account (F4J I mean). As for Simpson, he sounds like a total arsehole.

Sturgeon with an interesting gambit here - shelving a quick referendum in favour of soft brexit: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/06/nicola-sturgeon-offers-shelve-independence-vote-for-soft-brexit-eu

Don't think we even need to spend £33m... I'd rather most of that was kept back for next year. We could probably get by spending £10m on cover for Shelvey and just leave it there.

Can you imagine having sufficient assets and liquidity to be able to put £33m into a football club on short notice... the guy is beyond wealthy.

...who'd have thought that inbred gay bars and phoenix's would have so much in common.

Not sure... he's local and 'gets the fans'. That seems to count for a lot with club PR departments if nothing else.

Maybe he's minded to sell again.

Who came back and said they wanted £30m £13m for a 34 year old and £30m for a guy who was bought for £500k over the summer. Fucking hell.