Genuine Hibs Fan

Thanks everyone for your thoughts here. Last week was very difficult but we went up to spend the day with my folks yesterday and they are still raw but doing a bit better, although I think my dad and brother, who were there in the moment, have had a bit of a trauma response. The very good news is that someone has been charged under the dangerous dogs act, with a second person being actively looked for. The dog seems to have been moved on but apparently failing to produce it will go against them in court. My brother put a fair amount of pressure on police and councillors but seems to have worked, so some sense of justice there.

I used to have classes with Tony Pollard, who did two men in a trench with him at the start of his TV career as they were pals then. He had a couple of very gentle swipes at unnamed "TV historians", would love to know what Tony thought of him now.

Actually quite worrying how insane someone can go in a couple of years if they're incentivised. The only explanation for a shortage of tomatoes, on a rock in the North Atlantic, in February? Great reset mate

Yeah, not even a bit of curiosity about why a scrum which was getting pulped suddenly has the upper hand, was clear as day the boring in. That and the no yellow card for all those penalties in the 22 my major gripes with the ref today. Thought we obviously started poorly, and were more wasteful than otherwise this winter, but we were superb for 60 minutes today.

Never forward

The interception is a real killer - it's not even the best pass if Ramos isn't eyes on for the interception. That plus a try while we're shellshocked from the red the difference here. They make scary metres in attack but tactically we've been better and finding holes in the Edwards defence. A little more composure and front up a bit more defensively and there's still a slim chance here

In some ways we're actually playing better than our first two games, but not been clinical enough and some of the first up tackling has been shocking

Behave lads, in the other direction we'd be furious if that came up on screen at Murrayfield and nothing was done. No one to blame but Gilchrist

The Equality Act understander has logged on

That's looking like the first torpedo into a stricken battleship as well. Fair play to Jenkins that's a terrific bit of blindsiding as well.

The best Napoleon what if is him becoming Muslim to be made some sort of king or leader in Egypt, a thing he apparently deeply considered. Napoleonic Jihad

The defeat of Napoleon set the entire world back. Trafalgar and Waterloo two of the worst defeats for progress in human history. One of the vanishingly few individuals who give any sort of credence to great man theory, and he was both a good guy and w**k as most truly great leaders have to be.

Unrest aside that Wales team looks pretty honking for Saturday, getting pumped imo. Would have brought Faletau and Jones back, and if you're replacing Biggar after his display/behaviour then Williams is the only replacement, but it looks like he has no idea what the best combo of youth and experience is at the moment.

Blowback is excellent. They are pretty open about their own biases but their analysis is generally hard to argue with. Cuba was particularly good but the Korea and Iraq series were also great, and Afghanistan is up next. The Chapo boys are doing a thirty Years War series just now which is absolutely superb as well, the most recent episode on the scale of the destruction in Germany was absolutely harrowing. Other good History Podcasts for me are Revolutions and History of Rome by Mike Duncan; Fall of Civilisations which gets into speculation a fair amount but is very good; The Age of Napoleon and Tides of History. On that time period a couple of books I've read recently/am reading are The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins, and The Devil's Chessboard. The first covers the anti-Communist movements the US and others set up to undermine the third world movements and the destruction they wrought. The second covers the Dulles brothers and their impact on US foreign policy from pre-WW2 past the Kennedy assassination.

I'm considering applying to the OU this year to do my Masters in History. I've thought about studying some more in the past, even potentially dropping out of work to do it, but I have a job I enjoy now and financial plans/commitments so part time would be the only way to go. We are also planning on moving to my fiancé's hometown which is visa-and-other-timing dependant but probably around two years from now, and as that is in the US this'll be my last chance to do it without dropping probably a good 5 figures, and we'd like to have kids at some point in the next few years so that'd be too much to juggle. My ideal situation would be to be able to do a PhD sometime in the future and make a career move but mainly just keen to study more and maybe to have a new, if not directly relevant, qualification that shows my broader interest and ability to juggle work and studying on my CV. Anyone done a Master's through the OU or part time, what was the workload like, would you recommend it etc? Appreciate any advice.

Not a comment on the suitability of otherwise of Humza Yousaf but the first paragraph of this is utterly deranged (couldn't crop any further). Very disappointing to see organisations like this following the Board of Deputies game plan.

What does it mean for a team's size when they've won 0 cups in 10+ years and have been relegated twice in that time period?

Very very silly stuff but pretty inevitable when your culture norms/standards of politeness have moved away from the past but your actual pop culture is moribund and based around products from the past, managed by the greedy offspring of writers etc. I actually think Pullman has a bit of a point, although I understand that's not how he is thinking of it. Soy Marvel films and "nicer" Roald Dahl books all round please!

This is wee bonnie, my parents dog. She had a really tough early life, multiple owners and time in a home, and was a bit of wreck when they first got her c.5 years ago, always frightened and nervous. She really grew into herself and was a great, incredibly gentle little dog, and especially seemed happy when they moved back to Scotland last year. Unfortunately, yesterday while my folks were loading up the car and she was by them some Pitbull/staffie that had got out from round the corner came into the drive and attacked her. She died on the way to the vets. My parents, and my brother who's up visiting, came to tell us last night and were obviously absolutely distraught. I feel so awful for my brother and dad who were there and tried their best, kicking and stamping it, but these are dogs that once they have a hold of something they don't let go. It must have been very traumatic for them. And poor Bonnie must have been so scared. Getting myself a bit upset just writing this out Police were so far pretty useless, and apparently it's someone's boyfriend who has the devil dog and he's cleared off with it immediately. Have any P&Bers seen the same thing happen or had it happen to them? Should owners of such dogs be fined and have court orders preventing them from owning dogs in the future? While it's vaguely true that "there's no such thing as bad dogs, just bad owners" is there any justification to have breeds of dogs with that level of power and inability to release something they attack as pets.

Truly remarkable, and maybe actually admirable(?), to immediately say "I know you're all wondering and, yes, I do have quite reactionary social views" straight away in a leadership election.

I wouldn't take the opinions around fairness of someone who defended his club signing Goodwillie too seriously tbh lads

Golf course stuff aside that is indistinguishable from something you'd read by a columnist in the Times, Guardian or New Statesman. But our politics is definitely better! I think this captures fairly well why, despite not liking her very much politically, I am a bit deflated at the news. Maybe melodramatic but I just don't see us being allowed a leader of a major party any time soon who doesn't want roaring crackdowns on any non-besuited political representation

While that's true you can't dismiss that it has had an effect on people's perception of the SG. In one respect that's just unfortunate as they simply decided to pursue something which pretty much every party agreed/placed in their manifesto as a small, almost token inoffensive gesture towards inclusion for a tiny minority of people treated shittily by the existing system; before trans people's existence became the disgraceful moral panic it has become in the last couple of years. On the other hand they fannyed around for far too long with consultations and attempts to pander to the worst people in the country, then decided they were pushing it through when we are at probably peak opposition, apparently without having a clear line when the inevitable "this lunatic monster in the jail says they're now trans, what do you say to that Nicola?" shite that donkey brained people care about. I have sympathy for the position they ended up in and some respect for the decision to go ahead (eventually) but politically they've made the policy look bad and weakened their own support and party unity, imo as a bit of an unforced error

Haven't thought much of Sturgeon for a while but I don't think many would fancy keeping going when Scotland and UK's disgusting political press, liberal commentariat and dinner party set decide it's your turn for a good monstering. She was never one of the lads anyway so fair play to her for keeping them off her back that long.

Well well well, that was really something on Saturday. Still haven't had a chance to watch more than the highlights and first 20 back a second time but so much to talk about us doing well in that game. Richie Gray was superb again, solid in the main (as was Gilchrist) but a couple of big interventions with a try saving tackle on Cuthbert just before Biggar chucked into touch, and one carry in the build up to one of the tries where he basically dived through to make 3/4 metres. His work at the lineout, after our focus on overthrows last week, was superb. Funny that a functioning lineout makes us look a lot more threatening team as we can get our strike plays off. One of the big keys to our best play under Townsend has always been the lineout, often (as they showed on ScrumV very well last night) using the maul well to tie in the oppo back row - hitting a strike play and then keeping moving forward with a few carries before Finn spots space. Worked brilliantly yesterday and the new attack coaches, Dalziel (whose work I've been pretty unconvinced by previously) and Townsend deserve a lot of credit for getting it right. Equally, Tandy has shown he can build a defence that doesn't rely on having one of the best defensive 13s in the game playing, and our conditioning looks better than it ever has - no sign of being the first team to fatigue in either of our games so far. Tuipulotu and Jones have been excellent so far - both better than they've been in the past defensively and such a threat. Sione at first receiver is a real game changer. Defenders have to set to tackle as otherwise he'll run over the top but he equally has the option of Jones pretty much always picking a superb line or Russell out the back; after last week they have to worry about a kick in behind as well. The time this is giving Russell is a huge help. 3 assists plus the cross kick for Kinghorn's try is an insane output, one of the great Finn performances. Carrying game was interesting, we seem to have accepted that this is just not our game. We don't have the physicality of France or the ability to interplay in the forwards as much as Ireland so outside of the 22 we mainly use it to back up breaks, set for kicking or to get the ball wide in another phase, or to get all our backs on their feet for another strike move. Was delighted for Fagerson to get his try as he is the king of this underappreciated carrying style. So often, most notably after the cross-kick tap down to Ritchie in the first half on Saturday, he is the guy to take on the first carry after a break or when isolated after a cross kick; and he always does what he has to - either staying on his feet long enough for support to arrive or making a few yards and keeping the defence moving backwards. We still have to make improvements to have a chance in Paris, as good as he was some of Finn's kicking or forcing it could see us punished against better teams; and we are giving up a bit of ground too easily in defence at times. We also can't afford to just not play for 20 minutes again. Fortunately we have plenty of build up to the next two though. You don't want to change a winning team too much but can you leave Watson out if he is fit? His ability to impact games will be huge against France and Ireland you'd feel. White looked a bit shaky at times which is a worry, is Price recall or Horne taking the reins maybe? Graham is he's fit is our forrm back this season but Steyn has been excellent so far. Townsend is getting it spot on so far and delighted for him tbh, seems to be finally putting together all those lessons and tweaks he's made over the years. Still think it's taken longer than it should but really chuffed to support this team again, regardless of what happens over the next 4 weeks. Wales were pretty shit with a few good moments. The young back rowers all look pretty handy but I'm not sure the logic of dropping the older forwards, who all seem like level headed, good leaders, and leaving a petulant child like Biggar as one of the key leaders. The way he treated Dyer when Biggar himself was having a shocker was pretty awful. George North is an absolute ghost of himself now as well. Shame to watch almost - he was definitely knocked out as well.