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Putin & Russia

Lost Mango said:
Here is a list of the amount of school playing fields sold off by previous governments. According to The Daily Telegraph:
  • The Conservative government between 1979 and 1997 sold off around 10,000 playing fields.
  • The Labour government between 1997 and 2010 sold off 226 fields.
  • Between May 18, 2010 and July 22, 2012, the coalition government received 35 applications to sell school playing fields - 30 were approved.
Labour set-up an independent panel in 1999 to slow down the sale of school playing fields.


there are approximately 29,000 schools so 10,000 is a fair wedge.

(but would also agree that a lot of it comes down to staffing as you say as any sport beyond the basic PE expectation is done on staff goodwill rather than funding)
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Some schools had room for about 15 football/rugby pitches, of which 2 or 3 would be used simultaneously, so they sold off 8 and kept 8 or whatever i.e. still plenty of room for kids to play sports. And often times that money would be used to improve the other sports facilities e.g. the sports hall, gym, equipment, tennis courts, netball/basketball etc.
 
Bullet said:
Thanks for the link, it's an interesting article and I can see how murky this all is.
I feel that 20 years ago there was zero chance of Ukraine becoming aggressive and invading Russia or Moldova or Belarus as they were just trying to be a "normal placid country" but then they got squeezed hard between Russia and The West... for me the huge difference between these 2 actors is that Russia fired rockets and phosphorous weapons into civilian areas, raped women, stole children, shot innocent people in the back, and deserve to be punished for that and thrown out; this is a normal response from me. You can't let Russia get away with that behaviour. So of course I am pro-western-style-Ukraine.

Putin is an animal; he wants to kill all Ukrainians, take the whole country and keep expanding.

PS I asked if you agree or disagree with the Pole and you gave me/him a thumbs down disagree... then said in your post that you completely agree with the Pole.
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It's interesting but as with any war we are living through a period of unrelenting propoganda from both sides and their allies. That includes our "own" side. In terms of Russia consistently firing weapons into civilian areas, Amnesty International early in the war issued a report that was highly critical of the Ukrainian military for using civilian infrastructure as military bases, which put civilians at risk. Amnesty was roundly criticised in the west and issued an apology for the strong feelings the report provoked.

Incidentally, in terms of the west's claims that Putin's stated justifications for the conflict are unfounded propoganda, Amnesty have issued several reports prior to the Russian invasion, between 2012 and 2022 highlighting concerns over neo-nazi brigades fighting for the Umrainian military against separatists in eastern Ukraine, accusing them of war crimes against Russian-speaking civilians.

Pre-Russian invasion, it should be noted that western sanctions applied to these far right and neo-nazi brigades, prohibiting, e.g. the supply of western weapons or assistance to these brigades.

The sanctions were quietly lifted post-invasion and western media have quietly gone about washing their own mouths out with soap. For example, the BBC reported in the immediate aftermath of the invasion that Putin's claims that neo-nazis are operating in Ukraine was "baseless", when the BBC had been covering Ukraine's neo nazi militias just months prior....

A particular fact that is "inconvenient" in relation to western government and media positioning of Russia's claims (that Ukraine harbours and arms neo-nazi groups) as "baseless" is the case of one of Ukraine's less well publicised neo-nazi groups, The Wotanjugend. This group is actually a Russian neo-nazi group that were banned in Russia and fled Russia to Ukraine rather than face Russian criminal charges. Once in Ukraine they set up a headquarters in Kiev and published a Russian language version of the Christchurch shooter's manifesto. The Wotanjugend are anti-Putin and have like other neo-nazi brigades in Ukraine been fighting for Ukraine against Russia as one of their aims is to overthrow the Putin regime. The facts around this are freely available for you all to research to counter our own government and media's misinformation.
 
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Bullet said:
Some schools had room for about 15 football/rugby pitches, of which 2 or 3 would be used simultaneously, so they sold off 8 and kept 8 or whatever i.e. still plenty of room for kids to play sports. And often times that money would be used to improve the other sports facilities e.g. the sports hall, gym, equipment, tennis courts, netball/basketball etc.
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My school (secondary modern) had about fifty acres of grass field and there were no field sports because of a long running strike that lasted my entire four years.

Eventually the entire school was scrapped and built over.

We have much fewer kids now so I would expect more schools to close. The primary school (outstanding) in my village is already short of pupils.
 
johnola said:
My school (secondary modern) had about fifty acres of grass field and there were no field sports because of a long running strike that lasted my entire four years.

Eventually the entire school was scrapped and built over.

We have much fewer kids now so I would expect more schools to close. The primary school (outstanding) in my village is already short of pupils.
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Been a trend for a while, not sure its an agenda as made out on here.

Our school had a swimming pool which was filled in year before I joined and our year was last "great" sporting year the school saw before it closed. Finances put pay to loads of issues the school had but we had two original Arsenal women come from our school so Sports shortly spiked again before it died.

Like someone else said, birth of the screens has killed sports more than "lefties"
 
Rorschach said:
NATO is done. Not officially but for all intensive purposes it is over.

I highly recommend this episode of Snell's podcast where he is talking to Mike Martin about the post-Munich fallout (recorded before the Zelensky/Trump debacle) and what next for NATO

This Gavin Esler interview is good too.
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I've been listening to some of these BUT episodes from the new year onwards.

So interesting listening 2 months later on from their release (and it has always been a very good podcast) to well informed, well placed guests giving opinions/views on the USA/trump and the geopolitical situation at that time.

What has gone on has made a mockery of much of it.
 
dingdongo said:
I saw someone claiming the the US admin are freaking out behind the scenes about how this has backfired. They thought they would be considered the heroes for trying to put Zelensky in his place! Apparently a lot countries are discussing scrapping large military contracts with the US etc. Could be all gonads but I could see it happening.
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I know this is an old post so if you don’t I worrier, but do you have sources? Any kind of article that says this? I would be interested in reading myself
 
Gutter Boy said:
NATO has 31 other members. It'll be a bit like the EU after Brexit. America will be back next time they get a sane president too
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Yeah US will be back… once the next president assumes office.

Obviously dependent on whether Trump stands down. I could see him arguing to the Supreme Court that Roosevelt had more than 2 terms and that it creates a precedent. I can legitimately see that being approved further down the line.

But Trump has a brick diet - and doesn’t know how to properly relax… I would expect he is due a heart attack from it sooner rather than later


Either way (Trump finishing his second term or dying) I don’t want to make any absolute concrete predictions about what the future holds - because Trumps winning of a first, then second term, shows us surprises can and will happen.

But I struggle to see MAGA surviving post Trump. I feel Trump supporters just want Trump and not any posers. I struggle to see anyone filling his shoes and pulling of his approach in the same way.
 
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ricky2tricky4city said:
I've been listening to some of these BUT episodes from the new year onwards.

So interesting listening 2 months later on from their release (and it has always been a very good podcast) to well informed, well placed guests giving opinions/views on the USA/trump and the geopolitical situation at that time.

What has gone on has made a mockery of much of it.
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That's fair. There is a collective lack of imagination that has a hold on even the most well informed as to how bad this could get. However bad you predict, it will get worse.
 
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Jordinho said:
No, he's just playing 4D chess. Here's something he shared on his social network:

Many of you probably watched what took place between Donald Trump and Zelenskyy tonight. Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, you might be thinking to yourself, Oh my GHod, Donald Trump just screwed up.
However, let’s look at the difference between what you believe you witnessed and what actually happened.
Donald Trump has been under constant political persecution since the beginning of his first term. Over time, he has learned to be patient and calculated.
Tonight, Zelenskyy was invited to the Oval Office. However, both Trump and JD Vance knew exactly what Zelenskyy was going to do—he would use this opportunity, in front of the American people, to make a power play. Both Trump and Vance anticipated this.
When Zelenskyy began appealing to the emotions of the American people, JD Vance stepped in, accusing him of disrespecting Donald Trump. This was brilliant strategy. It’s important to understand that Zelenskyy is trying to gain access to NATO.
Trump knew this but could not allow it to happen. If Ukraine joins NATO, the U.S. would be bound by NATO’s collective defense agreement—an attack on one is an attack on all.
Now consider the larger implications: Ukraine and Russia despise each other. If Ukraine were to become a NATO member, any future skirmish between them would obligate the U.S. to enter into direct conflict with Russia. This would mean World War III. And if that happened, China would have to choose a side—they would almost certainly align with Russia.
So what you witnessed tonight was a setup. Trump and JD Vance knew that the only way to achieve peace was to strategically align, at least on the surface, with Russia. Why? Because Russia would never sign a peace treaty if Ukraine were admitted into NATO.
This is why Trump dismantled Zelenskyy’s argument. And when Zelenskyy, seeing his play failing, tried to backtrack and offer a treaty, Trump refused.
Zelenskyy’s real intent was clear—he would not agree to peace unless security guarantees were in place. But what was he actually saying? That NATO must accept Ukraine. However, Russia would never agree to peace, knowing that NATO, their historical adversary, would surround them.
Zelenskyy, Putin, and Trump all knew this. Zelenskyy, thinking he had Democrats' support, believed he could make this bold move on live television. But Trump and Vance saw right through it and outmaneuvered him.They knew that, in the short term, Democrats and the media would try to use this moment against them. But they also knew they had two years before midterms to prove their strategy was the right one. So they held their ground—brilliantly so.
Now, Zelenskyy will have no choice but to back down and accept Trump's terms. But here’s the genius part—Trump is actually protecting Ukraine without dragging the U.S. into war.
By negotiating a mineral deal, Trump ensures that Americans will be involved in Ukraine’s mining industry. This prevents Russia from launching an invasion, because attacking Ukraine would mean endangering American lives—something that would force the U.S. to respond.Trump played both sides like a master chess player. In the end, Zelenskyy will have no choice but to concede, because without U.S. support, Ukraine cannot win a prolonged war against Russia. And once U.S. companies have mining operations in Ukraine, Putin will be unable to attack without triggering massive international consequences.
Don’t underestimate Donald Trump. In this game of chess, he’s 10 moves ahead of everyone.
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10 moves ahead of everyone else. But helpless to prevent election rigging when he holds power

I.e., his leadership is so brick that he cannot run a free and fair election

He needs the democrats in power to ensure a non-rigged vote
 
Silly McSilly Face said:
It's interesting but as with any war we are living through a period of unrelenting propoganda from both sides and their allies. That includes our "own" side. In terms of Russia consistently firing weapons into civilian areas, Amnesty International early in the war issued a report that was highly critical of the Ukrainian military for using civilian infrastructure as military bases, which put civilians at risk. Amnesty was roundly criticised in the west and issued an apology for the strong feelings the report provoked.

Incidentally, in terms of the west's claims that Putin's stated justifications for the conflict are unfounded propoganda, Amnesty have issued several reports prior to the Russian invasion, between 2012 and 2022 highlighting concerns over neo-nazi brigades fighting for the Umrainian military against separatists in eastern Ukraine, accusing them of war crimes against Russian-speaking civilians.

Pre-Russian invasion, it should be noted that western sanctions applied to these far right and neo-nazi brigades, prohibiting, e.g. the supply of western weapons or assistance to these brigades.

The sanctions were quietly lifted post-invasion and western media have quietly gone about washing their own mouths out with soap. For example, the BBC reported in the immediate aftermath of the invasion that Putin's claims that neo-nazis are operating in Ukraine was "baseless", when the BBC had been covering Ukraine's neo nazi militias just months prior....

A particular fact that is "inconvenient" in relation to western government and media positioning of Russia's claims (that Ukraine harbours and arms neo-nazi groups) as "baseless" is the case of one of Ukraine's less well publicised neo-nazi groups, The Wotanjugend. This group is actually a Russian neo-nazi group that were banned in Russia and fled Russia to Ukraine rather than face Russian criminal charges. Once in Ukraine they set up a headquarters in Kiev and published a Russian language version of the Christchurch shooter's manifesto. The Wotanjugend are anti-Putin and have like other neo-nazi brigades in Ukraine been fighting for Ukraine against Russia as one of their aims is to overthrow the Putin regime. The facts around this are freely available for you all to research to counter our own government and media's misinformation.
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I have liked your post because I appreciate you naming the Ukranian neo-Nazi group. I appreciate the directness of information you have shared.

However, I find it very difficult for my view that supporting Ukraine is morally justifiable when it is Ukraine who have been attaked... And unlike Ukraine there is no one neo-nazi battalion but a complete nation of fascists being fought for by an army of fascists.

Maybe the Ukrainain's had a neo-nazi battalion. It is certainly something the whole world should conemdn. But realisitcally are these people even alive still? It is old news from years ago.

1741272215720.png

For me in the midle of this tank is the symbol of modern fascism and nazism. There is no lone battalion. The Russian army does not discriminate. It is all facist to the core.

Slava Ukraini
 
Craig_J said:
Fantastic Mikey!

To be honest I do feel this forum has more than one Russian plant

I am struggling to understand how a forum whose membership is pretty stagnant and suddenly has additional members who seem to toe the Kremlin line

Like I obviously do not except any disinformation activist to care about GG in the slightest. Who would?

But here we are
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maybe Levy is a Russian asset and they are infiltrating THFC fan forums to protect their man?
 
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