PaddockLad

Tour of Britain today starting and finishing in my old home town with 100 miles of gorgeous Border scenery to gawp at 👍

Has he run out of swivelled eyed loons to appoint to cabinet then?

Public school, good uni(s), internships, social circles, professional circles. All intertwined, familiar and cosy. Someone in the media needs to use the word liar about Johnson in a very public way. No one will though, it's possibly career ending. And that's one of the main things wrong in the world, not just this country.

Started & finished the move....decent point in the end for Ireland though..

Well if I’ve read this wrong that’s fair enough but I can’t see a gammon vote alone delivering Brexit. The votes in in parliament are only being lost because of arithmetic. The 23 sackings will be replaced with no dealers. If this week is anything to go by the rest of the careerist wankers will follow suit.

Well it’s like the majority (basically Labour & the more sentinent of the tories)in the commons saying they’d like to leave with a deal when they plainly don’t, they want to bin Brexit, but they’ve got to say it. Johnson has to say the same. He’s lied through his teeth his entire career and got away with it. I don’t see it changing because he’s telling his public precisely what they want to hear and no one of any consequence in the media or at Westminster either wants to or is able to lay a fuckin glove on him for it because his public are desperate to have Leave’s myths perpetuated. It’s the world against them. This week will soon be forgotten by these twats.

Depends what Farage's game is...he can't deliver Brexit by a mass vote for his party in a GE. Johnson can though. That's his key card I think. Talk of "punishing" the Tories loses sight of the goal and is pretty fuckin pointless. A GE victory gives Johnson the mandate to bomb us out without a deal, "THATS WHAT THE PEOPLE VOTED FOR!!" Its isn't a "people's vote" as such, but to all intents and purposes it fuckin well is, which will mean Johnson will have no problem getting the entire leave vote out with nobs on. This week has been a lot worse than he and Cummings thought it would be but in the long run its not been disastrous. Far from game over iyam.

I think regardless of when any GE is held the equation remains the same. It'll be framed as remain v leave and Johnson v parliament. I think he'll win.

This is where I am...

Todays bill will go through so he'll have to go to Brussels and ask for and extension to the leaving date. Not quite sure what am extension will produce or acheive to be honest but there you go...

Wonder how the UDA drag act/Enniskillen flat Earthers are feeling tonight?

Not quite, theres fresh blood coming through...

Johnson just achieved the near impossible by making Corbyn sound statesmanlike. He’s fuckin hopeless

As Rayvin said earlier Corbyn would be fuckin mad to go for that. So I fully expect a GE on 14th October...

When it’s all over are you going to do a TT exclusive expose on the innner workings of Boris’s Brexit??

Nice gig Alex.....are you on secondment or are you free lancing?

If he loses the vote tomorrow it’s a GE...which means it’s a a GE. Before or after Brexit? 🤔

I can have a sensible conversation about Ashley and I don't mind anyone going to the games. Theres a significant minority want change though and are willing to do something about it. If we sit on our hands nothing will happen. This is a start. Not sure where it will lead. You're wandering into straw man territory. No one's said Rafa could do no wrong, but if you can't see that ushering him out the door is the final straw for a good few supporters then you're the one with the problem. My knickers aren't in a twist but again, if you can't see Bruce has the loyalty of a steading cat then you need to face some facts, especially if he is, as reported , the lowest paid manager in the league. The novelty will soon wear off if he performs as expected and he gets even worse shit from fans just fed up with the whole situation.

He didn't honour anything at Sheff Weds Or Hull Or Palace Mike Ashley has been an abomination for 12 years but wanting to appear fair minded about him and his latest appointment is the road we should be going down. That's what I call fuckin silly tbh

Some night for Bale

Is there any other way of introducing a new queens speech without poroguing parliament? If there is and one of the groups being heard in court next week can get a judge to look at it then Johnson is screwed. What happens after that probably includes a GE but Brexit is 7 weeks away and the default position is no leaving without a deal.

FORMATTING TASTIC! Carragher in the Telegraph... For the last two years I have made a confident prediction about Newcastle United; they will not be relegated. Rafa Benitez was the reason. This was based on simple logic. He was the best and most successful manager working in the bottom half of the Premier League. It was a natural assumption that over the course of 38 games he would navigate his team to the necessary number of points. Benitez’s departure in the summer - a sadly predictable exit from Tyneside - has removed that security blanket so Newcastle fans have understandably spent the last few months in a familiar state of high anxiety. While Benitez was at St James’ Park those fans had hope. Instead of channeling all their emotions in a negative direction against owner Mike Ashley in the ongoing off-field battles, they had the consolation of believing they were in safe hands on the pitch. Now that glimmer of light has been extinguished it feels like Newcastle are returning to the pre-Benitez era where it was not only the board the supporters could not tolerate, but also the coach. Steve McClaren and Alan Pardew were not wanted when they were appointed and the mood never changed. Pardew could not even shake off the ‘cockney mafia’ jibes when he finished 5th and was named Manager of the Year in 2012. There was a different vibe around the popular Benitez and the disliked Pardew because of what Rafa represented - a sexy, Champions League-winning name with a glowing CV and the promise of things getting better. Yet Benitez was an anomaly in the North East. Look at the list of Newcastle managers since Bobby Robson was sacked in 2004. I could not believe it when Newcastle lured Benitez. Neither could the supporters and they sometimes behaved that way, deferring to his every word as if they dare not question such an esteemed manager. He was empowered to speak in a manner those before him were not and certain performances - certainly the most timid - were tolerated in a way they will not be if another, less prestigious name made his side play in the same way. He left for a mega deal in China with supporters directing their fury at the board for not blinking in contract talks. That is the power of a reputation. For Steve Bruce the opposite is true. Bruce knew he was walking into a hurricane on Tyneside following Benitez. After three Premier League games he probably thinks it is even more tempestuous than imagined. I fear, rather like Pardew, there is nothing he can do to change minds. Bruce enjoyed a timely victory away at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. In fact, it was probably Newcastle’s best away result since their last promotion - not even Benitez won at a top-six venue. At any other club such a result early in a reign would be universally acknowledged as reassuring - the first step in winning over fans. Instead, Bruce’s moment of triumph seemed to be received with as much cynicism as jubilitation. “He won using Rafa’s tactics,” was one of the more ridiculous accusations directed at Bruce after the Spurs win, as though setting up a team to be defensively organised and steal a goal on the counter-attack is some kind of radical blueprint. If managers like Rafa are to be heaped with praise for executing such a plan against the best teams in the country, it is hypocritical not to do likewise for Bruce. Judge the game, not the man. I have sympathy for Newcastle fans who want and demand more for their club. Whenever we discuss Newcastle we explore similar territory, Ashley unable - or more likely unwilling - to do what is necessary to maximise the potential of his purchase When you read about Sunderland on the verge of receiving investment from a consortium led by the world’s 25th wealthiest man, you have to ask why similar bids do not materialise at Newcastle? The accusation Ashley is setting an unrealistic price has merit. But some of the criticism aimed at Bruce since he joined is disgraceful. I read elements of the coverage of the Carabao Cup exit to Leicester City - an unlucky defeat on penalties against a superior Premier League side - and its tone was far more negative than when Newcastle lost to Nottingham Forest in the same round a year ago. When you look at social media it feels like some fans want their team to lose to prove them right. It would be a cliche for me to sit here and write, ‘give Bruce a chance’. Supporters will make their judgement on a managerial appointment and it is pointless to tell anyone to be excited when they evidently are not. If I was a Newcastle supporter I would feel similarly underwhelmed by Ashley’s choice of coach. The 20 Premier League jobs are among the most sought after in the world and - with respect to Bruce - Newcastle fans will have looked around Europe and considered there must be a candidate out there who would have caught their imagination more than an ex-Sunderland manager. Had an up-and-coming manager such as Steven Gerrard or Patrick Vieira been convinced to take on the challenge there would have been a buzz similar to Frank Lampard’s return to Chelsea That does not mean we should entirely dismiss the possibility Bruce can not perform well. The bar is not set amazingly high. Benitez did a good job, not an extraordinary one. What exactly is Bruce following? The target for the last two seasons has been to keep Newcastle in the Premier League. They did so finishing 10th and 13th but they were in the bottom three at the halfway stage in both those campaigns so let’s not pretend it was anything more than a relegation fight. The miserable domestic cup record - which has lasted decades - continued and the style of football was at best pragmatic. I believe the performance we saw from Newcastle against Liverpool at the end of last season should have been more frequent at St James’ Park. Set aside the recent history of Newcastle, the loathing of Ashley and the despair at Benitez’s departure, and it seems those supporters directing vitriol at Bruce before he has been given a fair crack at the job are shooting the wrong target. Bruce’s overall management record deserves respect. Let’s not forget he walked away from a Premier League job at Hull City after leading them to promotion because he could no longer work with the owner. It underlines his integrity. Sheffield Wednesday supporters may argue otherwise given his decision to leave them for his boyhood club, but 99 per cent of managers would have done the same Just as the broader problem at Newcastle was not Benitez, it is not Bruce. Nor for that matter was it Pardew, McClaren, Glenn Roeder, Alan Shearer or Kevin Keegan. Bruce’s appointment reflects where Newcastle are as a club and have been for too long - in that tier of clubs battling to stay in the Premier League that will never challenge for the European places without better and more expensive recruitment. As a shrewd and political football operator, Benitez was able to present himself as a potential cure to the ills of the Ashley reign and the fans went with it. I fear for Bruce because he is already being presented as a symptom of the toxicity of the regime. Most new managers can expect a brief honeymoon period. All Bruce has heard since he was appointed is a section of his own supporters looking ahead to the inevitable divorce.

Oh and errr...