Donathan

How incredibly convenient.

Former Israeli diplomat Dan Gillerman doesn’t hold back on Sky news.

Scot* His full name is Scotland Gemmill.

Not necessarily, no. If you wanted to criticise the Israeli government for its bin collection rota or the lunch menu at the Knesset canteen, that would not constitute anti-semitism. Criticising Israel for defending itself against local populations who post an existential threat is where the anti-semitism comes into play.

Just to provide some context to the bolded part https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/10/22/braverman-metropolitan-police-palestine-rally-jihad-chant/

It’s these sort of attitudes that are allowing our streets to be filled with protestors openly calling for Jihad. Low level anti-semitism is abhorrent in itself, but we’ve already seen one terrorist attack carried out in the name of Palestine in the UK as the telegraph reported the other day. We don’t want any more of this happening.

You have been repeatedly anti-Israel on this very thread, among other posters.

Today in “definitely not anti-semitism, just legitimate criticism of Israel”

Kosovo however could get proper naughty

Is there a case to be made for scrapping the European points list element for the Ryder cup and having the six automatic berths decided purely by world ranking? If the DP world tour is falling further behind the PGA tour, it could hamstring future European sides. In practice: 2023 - Fleetwood gets in automatically over McIntyre. 2021 - Lowry gets in automatically over Weisberger 2018 - No change 2016 - No change

17’s managed to beat Kazakhstan 2-0 so there’s something.

Rumours swirling online that Bill Kenwright has eaten his last toffee.

Men’s under 17s easily beaten by Belarus at the weekend and now women’s under 19s getting thrashed by Iceland. Is it at all concerning to see our youth sides struggling whilst the senior team enjoy their best era in decades?

This new world league is going ahead then. What they should do IMO is turn the six nations and the rugby championship into two identical six team tournaments on a single round robin basis where you alternate playing each opponent home and away (i.e., the current six nations). Then the rugby championship teams each play three six nations teams at home every summer and the six nations teams play three rugby championship teams at home every autumn. By the end of a two year period you’ve played everyone home and away and the top team (based on overall results) is the winner, and then you relegate one team from each side based on performance in their own local tournament only over the two year aggregate period.

I’ve never understood why more subs aren’t made either at half time, or at least around the 50th-55th minute. Too many managers think a 15 minute cameo is sufficient to change the outcome of a match.

Good luck with the second choice ballot after the draw. Got to be a better bet to get the tickets now and get rid of unwanted ones post draw I reckon.

I think Hendry, Hanley, Porteous and McKenna are a pretty clear top 4 either way. If fit I’d be shocked if any of them doesn’t make the plane. Cooper and Souttar will depend on numbers.

I think there’s a chance that Cooper and Hanley both make it, at the expense of John Souttar. Hendry, Porteous and McKenna seem like they’ve already punched their ticket (plus Tierney who is effectively a centre half for us). There will be at least one more of Cooper, Hanley or Souttar but it wouldn’t shock me if there’s room for 2. I think a fit Hanley is absolutely on the plane and I actually would suggest that Hendry-Hanley-Tierney would still be our first choice back three. I know Ryan Porteous has started every qualifier but it’s worth remembering that Hendry missed the March games through injury and Hanley missed the rest of the campaign. Scott McKenna gets in as the second choice LCB to Tierney. Cooper and Souttar are both 2+ injuries away from getting on the field and when squad numbers are limited it’s hard to carry guys like that.

Israel will play four matches in November. Their trip to Kosovo has been scheduled for Sunday 12th November, which is the weekend before the international window and sets up a potential club vs country row. They will play their “home” matches against Switzerland and Romania on Wednesday and Saturday respectively (neutral venue TBC) before finishing in Andorra on Tuesday 21st November.

This really shouldn’t come into the thinking but I can’t see Clarke leaving McLean (who’s always been a favourite of his) at home after he got injured and missed the last euros, especially given he scored the winning penalty against Israel in the semi-final, the penalty that set up David Marshall’s winning save in Belgrade, and then the winner in Oslo as well. McLean is close to a lock for me.

Wasn’t sure if this was for the travel thread so thought I’d make a separate one for match tickets. Currently entering the UEFA ballot with the deadline on Thursday. The FAQ’s state that you must either buy all tickets you successfully win in the ballot, or buy none at all. This is putting me off applying for a match every single day in the tournament for fear of ending up with a huge bill. Is it possible to buy the tickets and then resell any unwanted ones through official channels?

I’m not sure it would take something “spectacular” to be honest because they don’t need to get ahead of Dykes or Adams, they just need to force their way ahead of Brown/Nisbet/Shankland. Ross Stewart was already pretty much there the last time he was fit. Dykes and Adams are both somewhat injury prone so although we’ve been lucky enough over the past three years to always have at least one of them available, I’d be surprised if a 3rd CF isn’t taken to Germany. At the moment I’d say Nisbet and Brown are the joint favourites to take that role but any of Stewart, Shankland or Cooper could easily snatch it with a good run of form.

I see the under 17 team which lost to Belarus at the weekend included the terrifically named “Lancelot Pollard”

Right, but worth remembering this was during the days of conscription. The soldiers were just men that had been drafted into the army rather than the current situation where anyone in the army has actively chosen to be there. Besides, you’re talking about enemy civilians versus your own soldiers. This source actually suggests that the American soldier death toll would have gone into seven figures (and also that a ground invasion would have killed many times more Japanese people than the nuclear bombs did)

Unless there’s any kind of polling bounce for the Conservatives they’ll just run it right down to the end. The last possible Thursday is 23rd January 2025 so I’d assume that might be it. If the economy is looking good and the winter weather is bad (which will lead to fewer small boats crossing the channel), that could drive a bit of a polling boost for the Tories which could motivate a snap election in the spring. I can’t see it though. Sunak will only go early if he thinks he can win and absolutely nothing about the Conservative Party at the moment suggests anything other than them being resigned to defeat and a spell in opposition.