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This is an unbelievably disingenuous take. You say "I don't care who wins the war" while advocating for a course of action that could only result in assisting one participant. Either you are being dishonest or stupid. Both could be true I suppose. The assumption you make is that the West had some sort of magic card they could play that would end the war, that there is some magic negotiated solution imposed from above that will end the fighting. Sadly, that isn't the case. The points of de-escalation have come when the Ukrainians have militarily defeated the Russians - the withdrawal from the North of Ukraine around Kyiv came because the Ukrainian forces stopped the Russians and caused them significant losses. The partial reopening of the Black Sea and grain deliveries from Ukraine came as a result of Ukrainian attacks rendering the Russian Navy unable to control that part of the Black Sea (destroying forces on Snake Island, sinking the Moskva, as well as other attacks on Russian warships). Now, in the last few days we are seeing that thousands of square kilometers are being liberated due to the counter offensive. If the West hadn't assisted Ukraine at all the likelihood is not that the war would be over. The first part of the war was disastrous for the Russians and was generally fought without significant Western weaponry or assistance - it was Soviet air defences and artillery that was the most important part of the defence of Kyiv and the battles in the North. Some Western support began to come through after that to assist with the battle for the Donbas but its only really the last few months that it's reached the levels of having a significant impact on the battlefield. This is leaving aside the moral considerations - we know that when Russia occupied towns around Kyiv it carried out numerous massacres of civilians. It was at this point that the Ukrainians stopped negotiating - how can they stop fighting when the enemy is murdering people in this way? Minimising or ignoring this is something that all the crackpot conspiracists, galaxy brained contrarians and bitter ragers on this thread have in common.

It's common knowledge that the sales of TV sets went through the roof at the time of the Queen's Coronation. The same thing is likely to happen with her funeral, because if the blanket coverage goes on much longer I'll be selling mine.

Other half: "are you coming along with us (to see the coffin procession), it's not very often something this big happens near us" Me: "nah, bit of a trek for something I'm not overly fussed about" Other half: "it's 10 mins away!" Me: "exactly."

The whole "She didn't choose to be born into the Royal Family" argument is brilliant. It's as if she spent the next 96 years fighting the institution from the inside, but just ran out of time.

Imagine how much of a hopeless loser you have to be to line the streets for hours to watch a hearse drive past. Absolute maniacs.

Week 37 update Two deaths this week. Up first (sort of) is the actor Marsha Hunt: Marsha Hunt dead: Actress blacklisted in Hollywood dies aged 104 | Metro News In a week of relics from a bygone age, it's sort of surreal to imagine the American attitude to communism in the mid-20th century. Hunt died at 104 so she's worth 21 Base Points for @buddiepaul, @JustOneCornetto and @tamthebam. I have no idea what I'd done to tam's scores on the list but he's fixed now. I'm also glad that Hunt has died, meaning I don't need to ask anyone picking her if they meant the woman who inspired Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones. ============== Second death this week is.... anyone? I forget. I'm looking at the list and seeing nothing. Obituary: Queen Elizabeth II - BBC News I'm not going to add anything else about her specifically. Since I started running... since I started participating in the Dead Pool there are certain names who've always been there. There are probably names which will always pop up every year, and if I knew how to write a spreadsheet I'd be able to catalogue these things properly. The Queen is one of those names so persistent in the Dead Pool I can't really imagine getting in lists without her on them. Lots of people would have been leaving her on their teams without thinking about it. Now her and her man are dead, some others are going to have to step up. The Queen, apparently, was famed for being neutral on political subjects. I have tried to adopt something similar on P&B over the past year or so, attributing to myself a no doubt undeserved and unnecessary level of influence on the board. Something to consider with the royal family in mind I suppose - I'm just the same as you, who gives a f**k what I think. What I will say, however, is that I'm not surprised or put out by anything that's happened since she died. The media is as ghastly as it ever is (or was ever going to be). Charles was in the job about thirty seconds before showing his level of entitlement. The wailing, shrieking Great British Public are a product of themselves and I can't even mock that sort of behaviour. It's like a collective mental illness is suppressed until it can't be held in any longer, and something happens to bring it up. Outside of that, what else did people outraged by the coverage expect? Did you really think the football would be on when the country's greatest symbol of international recognition died? Did you expect her to die and it be forgotten the day after? It's surreal, it's frustrating, it's a stark reminder of inequality in a country that calls itself Great, and it's something unprecedented that was always going to produce this sort of reaction. If nothing else, consider what happened the last time the monarch died. Seventy years ago. You, reading this, do you remember or know what the country was like seventy years ago? Elizabeth Two died at 96, so she's worth 29 Base Points, 44 points for a Vice-Captain bonus and 58 points for a Captain. Those points are awarded as follows: Base Points: @Billy Jean King, @Blootoon87, @Bold Rover, @cdhafc1874, @dagane, @Desp, @djchapsticks, @Duszek, @Enigma, @Florentine_Pogen, @Hedgecutter, @HI HAT, @HTG, @Karpaty Lviv, @Les Cabbage, @LoonsYouthTeam, @paulathame, @pawpar, @Scorge, @scottsdad, @sleazy, @The_Craig, @The Master Vice-Captain: @Amarillo Bairn, @cambozpar, @Mark Connolly, @Melanius Mullarkay, @Moomintroll, @Raidernation Captain: @Aladdin, @ayrunitedfw, @BillyAnchor, @doulikefish, @ICTJohnboy, @invergowrie arab, @mizfit, @Oystercatcher, @pub car king, @smpar, @Soapy FFC, @The DA, @Willie adie As a result of that, the standings (hopefully) look like this: 1. Bishop Briggs 691 2. Indale Winton 635 3. chompmyroot 551 4. Ned Nederlander 496 5. JustOneCornetto 452 6. sparky88 445 7. Billy Jean King 411 8. gkneil 382 9. weirdcal 372 10. Arch Stanton 358 11. psv_killie 353 12. Sweaty Morph 342 13. Savage Henry 338 14. Moomintroll 337 15. mathematics, The DA 321 17. peasy23 318 18. The Master 273 19. The_Craig 266 20. scottsdad 262 21. Arbroathlegend36-0 255 22. pub car king 239 23. lichtgilphead 237 24. Arabdownunder 230 25. microdave 228 26. buddiepaul, thistledo 226 28. senorsoupe 219 29. Raidernation 218 30. Desp 217 31. pawpar 216 32. Melanius Mullarkey 207 33. Aim Here 205 34. Florentine_Pogen 202 35. Fuctifano, jimbaxters 196 37. blootoon87 180 38. tamthebam 168 39. thisal 160 40. cdhafc1874 159 41. Mark Connolly 153 42. gingette 150 43. ayrunitedfw 140 44. Lofarl 127 45. HI HAT 122 46. sleazy 121 47. willie adie 115 48. Scorge 114 49. nessies long lost ghost, The Naitch 113 51. Hamish's Passenger, speckled tangerine 112 53. Les Cabbage 111 54. Miguel Sanchez 105 55. Bully Wee Villa 104 56. djchapsticks, Enigma 81 58. cambozpar 74 59. The Hologram 73 60. ThomCat 69 61. paulathame 63 62. D.V.T., Karpaty Lviv, qos_75 59 65. Aladdin, BillyAnchor, doulikefish, ICTJohnboy, invergowrie arab, mizfit, Oystercatcher, smpar, Soapy FFC 58 74. Cardinal Richelieu, get_the_subbies_on, Lex, RossBFaeDundee 52 78. Ray Patterson 47 79. Amarillo Bairn 44 80. Bert Raccoon, statts1976uk 39 82. 10menwent2mow 34 83. Bold Rover, dagane, Duszek, Hedgecutter, HTG, LoonsYouthTeam 29 89. Everyone else 0 The spreadsheet has also been updated with these scores: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mup1IJllKHs0a47J8G6IXUkvShJrV28Iuc-Kkn7RKuo/edit?usp=sharing

Time for the final league tables. @Insert Amusing Pseudonym lifts his 2nd top league crown with @Arch Stanton 23rd 2nd in line. Exiled are @gkneil @JustOneCornetto and @The Hologram with @peasy23 having to fight to avoid the chop. In Wannabe land @JamesP_81 grabs lifts the coronet for the 4th time with, what's this?. @SlipperyP moving up to top castle along with @Ronaldo Jeremy with @Stringer Bell in the play-off. Guillotined are @senorsoupe, @pleslie99 and @German Jag with @ArmadaleKillie one step away from the axe. Leaving bucket and spade land are tiara winner no. 9 @Spring Onion accompanied by pages @Blootoon87 and @mathematics and @Snobot in a duel for possible promotion. The abdication candidate is @NJ2 who is awarded the wooden spoon for the 7th time.

I heard that proclimation nonsense earlier. Wow. Utter lunacy, with phrases like 'liege lord' and 'defender of the faith' and talk of pleasing 'almighty god' and 'his mercy', as well as talk of realms and 'faith and obedience with humble affection'. Was a massive minter to hear. That sort of garbage belongs in medieval times, not 2022. It was all rather pathetic and quite childish really.

I may be speaking as someone who worked for over a decade in a profession were death was common place and may have become desensitised to it, so I do not mean to sound callous or heartless. However, we need to move away from the idea that death is some sort of tragedy that requires some period of faux-mourning. It is not. It is an inevitable part of the life cycle. Obviously the manner in which some people die is tragic. But death itself is not. And some wealthy woman dying at the age of 96 in comfort and surrounded by her family is no tragedy. In fact, it's how most people would choose to die.

A year to the day of the first game since Hopkins got puntted, loads of highs and lows since then but I think most can agree that we are a better path now.

Not in the slightest. All you have to do is say "as a mark of respect". So far as a mark of respect; I've cut the grass, cleaned out the pond, ordered stuff from amazon, enjoyed a big tasty at mcdonalds, watched bike racing on TV, fixed the shower head, had a beer or two and now, more bike racing on TV. It's what she would have wanted.

You can bet your last dollar that even after this period of mourning that the first games back we will still have a minutes silence. Arthurlie have recently lost two long standing supporters. We were supposed to honour them at our next home game. Nothing against HRH but I hope she doesn't take preference over these guys. These two lived and breathed Arthurlie for years and it would be a disgrace if they were shunted aside.

I once did a piss in my bed, because there was a toilet in my dream. If you are dreaming and you see a toilet, it's a trap. Don't do it.

France is the most visited country on earth. They didn't knock down Versailles when they got rid of its residents. There would be no need for us to do the equivalent either. It's a ridiculous argument that says we need this parasitical nonsense for financial reasons.

If he keeps Forest up maybe.

The media line is that we are all mourning the loss of the queen and the entire country is United with grief. Let's be honest, if the football had been on that illusion would have been massively shattered, and not just at Parkhead, Pittodrie and Anfeild. It's not a mark of respect to cancel the games, it's a move to suppress disrespect. Fucking cowardly one at that. The games should have happened. If the thought was that it would be too much for the sensibilities of certain people to hear folk booing a minutes silence, then don't have the minutes silence.

I'd celebrate Rangers dying again.

These days, if you hold up a sign advocating for the abolition of the monarchy, you get arrested and thrown in jail.

FTFY. Thank you.

I do not understand supporting a team from a place that you have no connection with. I am not from Manchester. I am not from Barcelona. I am not from Liverpool. I am not from London. I am not from Glasgow. Why would I claim to support a team from those places? That would be ridiculous. I support Ayr United because I am from Ayr. Yes, these days it is a shithole. But it is where I am from and I am proud of where I am from. This pride in where you are from should extend to supporting the team of that place. You cannot claim to be proud of your hometown, if you do not support the team of that town. You are part of the reason why many teams outside the two Glasgow Scum Teams struggle. You are part of the reason why attendance figures for many clubs have dwindled with the advent of 24/7 Sky Sports coverage of the EPL and "major" European Leagues. Maybe instead of thinking your local team are shite, consider the fact that you, and all like you, are a shite citizen of your locality.

On my way back into Forfar after a bike ride I passed quite a few folk heading out towards the McDonalds on the A90 presumably to watch the cortege pass. Quite the mix of folk, however my favourite were a family of 5 all wearing black joggers, black t-shirts apart from the dad who was proudly wearing his Sevco top. Magnificent.

Cheers Liz.

And it was good to see you seemingly well and still up to your old bush bothering antics

sotto voce "and now she's passing the fishmonger, the butcher, the baker, Janice's nail salon, the bookies, Greggs, one of six public dog shit bins, a tramp solemnly wanking into a bush"

Attenborough

Bit surprising that Dave was the only one to have had her in the Dead Pool.

Raking in amongst the flowers searching for teddy bears to use as bait IMO.

It's all so bizarre and actually quite sinister. It's not just "folk might feel sad", it's "you will feel sad!". They're trying to engineer a mood. It's a level of conditioning/brainwashing. Only the saddest songs on the radio. TV schedules completely cleared. Not even, "Here's some the songs/music the queen liked"; nah, somehow has taken considerable time to sit down and compose a playlist of only the saddest songs designed to elicit a reaction. Talking of conditioning/brainwashing, the crazies who aren't totally bemused by all of this and are demanding we 'respect' the queen all say the same pish, mainly the nonsense about her being 'a constant'. It was mentioned earlier in the thread, but an explanation of this total pish was not found. These folk all trot out garbage about how she 'served' the country, how she was a 'hard worker', how she 'did her duty'. These comical bits of propaganda fall from their mouths without thinking. Apparently she was apolitical; in that case the question is her flying around the world in unimaginable luxury was at the behest of who exactly? The government of the time? In which case she was jetting around doing the bidding of the Tories for most of her reign. Folk feel that this is somehow worthy of applause? Also, she was a mother and grandmother. So fucking what?! What is the relevance there, unless you're actually in her family? I tuned in to the radio earlier. Wall to wall propaganda. Across numerous stations I didn't hear a single dissenting voice. Apparently she was the greatest person ever and everything she did was 'remarkable'. Did you know she even once put a cushion in a room all on her own?! She also used to drive herself on occasion!!! Remarkable!!!!! Everything about her was great seemingly. Not a single flaw. Not even the tiniest of things was not perfect. Zero dissention allowed. Not a single person on any station I heard even said something as bland as not agreeing with something she did at some point, or not being a fan of something she might have done. The BBC still have the cheek to claim 'impartiality' too. Also, I'm not sure anyone would want to disagree or put forward an opposing view of even the smallest aspect of the queen or what she has done, as the backlash would be immense and they'd surely be sacked. That's not a country I want a part of. It's just extraordinary bootlicking propaganda. Blatant lies and blatant invention of history, whitewashing of events, incredible exaggeration and terrifyingly cheered through by servile, pathetic children. It's so dishonest, immature and pathetic.

I once had a job as a beekeeper where I had to tell Bees that the Queen has died. I used to knock their boxes and say 'Your mistress is dead, but your new master is very kind, be good for him'

Garry O'Connor looking pretty good there. What club's he playing for in that picture?

Managed to get 1.53 which I’m really pleased about, it was looking like I’d get 1.45/46 however the last half was wading through and passing folk which meant you couldn’t really get a clean run going at it. A 5 minute PB for me and also got a 84 second PB on my 10k so pretty chuffed with how it all went. Hope everyone had a great run who took part.

I was fannying about in the house, getting ready to go to my college classes in Phoenix. The free TV stations were shite, so I didn't have the telly on, and hadn't been online by the time I got a panicky phone call from my mum back here. I'd no idea what she was talking about, so switched on the TV and it was on all the channels - the towers had been collapsed for hours and the media had already moved on to apportioning blame and preparing the public for war. I told my maw that I was probably pretty safe on the opposite coast of the continent. I remember feeling that, as horrible as it was, something good could possibly come out of it - surely there'd end up being some kind of national reflection on why this had happened. Maybe people would start to think about all the times America's military waded in to other countries and massacred the natives indiscriminately, even when supposedly there to liberate those people. Perhaps seeing thousands of Americans killed at random would make people question the morality of doing the same elsewhere in the world. I was young. The college was half-empty when I went in, with many students and staff later saying their family had told them to stay at home in case the terrorists attacked the college (an unimportant chain University more than two thousand miles away from New York). Most folk who did go in were in shock at someone having the balls to attack America; this was not something that was supposed to be possible. Did the world not pay attention to what happened to Japan after Pearl Harbor? The following days and weeks were deeply unpleasant, as it seemed like half of the populace (especially the Boomers) stopped being racist about Mexicans and focused their attention on Arabs (or ragheads, as it became entirely socially acceptable to call them). You couldn't avoid hearing, or having people trying to rope you in to, discussions about turning the entire Middle East into glass. It was very obvious that a lot of the people advocating this had been looking for an excuse long before the World Trade Center was attacked. Nobody was terribly fussed about exactly where the terrorists had come from, or their motivations - it was just Arabs. This is what Arabs do. They need to be killed. Eventually the international students were all summoned to a meeting, as colleges and universities across the nation were being given new advice to hand out. Up to then, we'd been encouraged to carry our passports and documentation at all times, as it seemed to be pretty well accepted (and encouraged by people like the Sheriff of Maricopa County) that the police in Phoenix were big on racial profiling and would arrest anyone who couldn't immediately prove they were a legal immigrant when stopped. That advice went out of the window, as vigilante cops across America were seizing documents from immigrants during stops and claiming they'd never been given them, purely out of spite. The advice changed to carrying photocopies of everything - you'd still be arrested but, if the original documents were still locked up safe somewhere, at least you'd only spend some time in jail rather than being deported. Being white and British, none of this directly affected me. Even when people were casually advocating genocide, or calling for immigration to be stopped (which seemed to be the centrist opinion at the time), there'd inevitably be a "not you; you're on our side" thrown in my direction. Nobody ever asked me if I was; it was just assumed. As unpleasant as it was, I kept my mouth shut.

ICTChris handing out a beating there not unlike the UAF currently are.

Here I am, Stuck in the middle with you.

I have been doing some family history research and a relative sent me this photo. My great great Grandfather is Wattie Campbell. Sadly none of his footballing skills were passed down to me.

Best Quiz week I've had. Want to thank all those taking part and all the work that goes in to running this quiz.

She will just turn back time and be just fine.

I live in Forfar / Brechin / Montrose / Arbroath but the atmosphere is too boisterous at these grounds so I prefer to go and watch United at Tannadice.

Regardless of Scotland/England splits, I think it's the juxtaposition of reality in the UK in 2022 against the insidiousness of the monarchy that's grating me. I was in a planning meeting on Wednesday involving the setting up of 'warm spaces' for the winter. Yes, actually making support service provisions for people (vulnerable, disabled, elderly, LTU) who are already regularly visiting a food pantry because they are too impoverished to do a weekly shop, now unable to safely stay under their own roof for chunks of the week because they either won't be able to top the prepayment meter when it cuts off, or are plain frightened of switching the heating on in the first place. 36 hours later, I'm expected at the drop of a hat to feel overwhelming grief for at least two weeks after the peaceful passing of a wealthy, privileged nonagenarian, followed by various orchestrated pieces of glorified (expensive) cosplay to maintain an inherently unfair order of power? No, sorry. Do the minute's silence, pay very basic human respect, then crack on. (This is pretty much what happened at Parkrun this morning.) To a degree, I could maybe understand the mass hysteria of 1997 given the sheer suddenness of it, but with the circumstances this time round, the absolutely relentless onslaught of mawkish uncritical sentiment has felt OTT. The snippets from the Commons yesterday in particular were absolute pass-the-bucket stuff. TLDR: normal island is not normal.

Thanks to the Czechs spreading kick off times throughout the day and weekend. You can go to several games over the course of a weekend, if you wish. On Saturday I managed 3 for the first time (done a fair few double headers in my time, but this was a push. Mainly because of travel) First up in Prague at an early time of 10.15am! was a fourth tier match between FK Aritma Praha and SK Horovice (1-0) A lovely little one tier stand. Ticket on the gate was 50krona (£1.73) worth a free programme. Sausage and bread on a barbecue was 80krona (£2.82) A very competitive match... Which the referee did well to keep a lid on for most of the game. Horovice played the better football (albeit, at a low level) but Aritma were very good defensively. Only one goal which came to the delight of the max 200 in attendance (6 away fans, one with a drum!) For the second match of the day. I got the train from Prague to Usti Nad Labem for their match with Chlumec Nad Cidlinou at 3pm (2-2) in the third tier. Usti were relegated last season and play in a fairly large stadium with a decent support. 512 paid another 50kr (£1.73) to see this local Derby (Chlumec) is a small town just to the north of Usti. No programme available that I could see. But a free team sheet was available. This match started off with both teams trying and succeeding in playing nice one touch football. The match was very open. Both teams having regular shots at goal and a couple of well worked goals as well. Usti went one up before Chlumec then took the lead. Which they held on to until the 89th minute when a free kick from the edge of the box flew into the top corner. Lastly I got a train to nearby Teplice for the much anticipated 7pm kick off with Sparta Prague. Teplice seem to get low crowds in their 19000 capacity ground (less than 3000 turned up for their Derby with Jablonec) but 10555 (3000+ from Sparta) including myself paid 110kr (£3.88) to watch an absolutely fantastic match in a great atmosphere. Teplice in a Brazil style kit took the game to the wine coloured Sparta. And had a couple of chances before Sparta went 1 then 2-0 ahead. A tad unlucky for Teplice. But the home side got one back to go in at HT 1-2. The second half was the same again. And it could have been anything until an 85th minute equaliser from Teplice which would gain them a well deserved draw. Travel in Czechia despite the fairly short distances with slow and irregular. So it was a long but absolutely epic day! Today's triple header will be easier as Zizkov, Bohemians and Slavias grounds are all very close to each other.

"Are you done at telling bees that a 96yr old lady has died or would you like to continue?"

Just noticed today is 60yrs since Celtic lost 3-1 to the Real Madrid of Di Stefano etc. at Parkhead, before 72,000. It was a friendly - the 'Blue & White Trophy' - raising funds for World Jewish Organisation.

Got a Highly Commended in the Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year 2022 as well as overall winner in the Urban category. The winning images will be displayed in Bonnie & Wild in the new St James Quarter in Edinburgh (aka The Turd ). The 2021 images are still up there and on the website. There's usually a book produced too. First time I've entered this. Had to enter up to 7 images and they choose the best 3. I've probably put these up before in this thread but anyway...

Trying to figure out when it'll be funniest to say she's only famous because of her family and isn't getting any points