Liverpool    H
Brighton     A
Manchester United    H
Sheff U       A
Bournemouth    H
Spurs         A
Chelsea      H
Wolves       A
Leicester     H
City             A
Everton       H
Aresenal     A


now thats what i call a fixture list to get a manager the sack

Even we were bottom at Chstimas, he wouldn't get the sack.

Everyone recognises what a top class coach he is. It's a miracle we actually got him to the club.

He has also now taken complete control of everything (much in the same way that Koeman was given complete free reign at the time). I.e. he chose a new team bus, has had the dressing rooms re-designed etc. Complete belief in his ethos to keep him at the club as long as possible.

Good start, forgot the draft last night! Doh

Saved a draft list to auto pick for you?

Nope.

It's fine. Last year, I got pretty close to winning and was changing my complete team every week. I got a few decent players to work around by luck and swap out the rest.

Good start, forgot the draft last night! Doh

Big +1 to the draft.

It's reasonably hands off compared to the main game as you don't have to worry about player values and you are working with a fairly limited pool of transfers after the initial draft.

Unless someone high rolls then it tends to be close run to the end.

Thanks for sorting everything Dino. PM'd you my entries.

A basic Remainer position at present is that they have a moral obligation to stop Brexit because nobody voted for a WTO-only or a so-called “No Deal” Brexit.

The democratic ideal, they say, is therefore on their side now.

I give this pretty short shrift.

We weren't asked to vote for any specifics on any type of deal - that doesn't give any group a democratic pedestal to stand on when the deal is one they don't like.

It's one of the reasons I have never been able to understand the calls for a second referendum. I haven't heard an impartial genuine argument for a second referendum that is not overshadowed by simply wanting to change the result rather than a referendum being actually required.

Has anyone read Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life?

I have had limited exposure to JP but don't agree with much of his political stuff and have issues with some of his more recent social commentary stuff. I do keep hearing that his self help stuff is actually really good though.

I've read it and enjoyed it but I read it as someone who had enjoyed quite a lot of his work. I don't know if it's good from a self help point of view but it did make me spend some introspective moments to reflect on who I am, what I value and how i should spend my time.

I think there is enough in there that is well argued/reasoned and shows insight in areas that I don't know much about to make it a recommend from me. It is inseparable from political (and to some extent religious) thought and so I would find it hard to imagine anybody who is completely anti religion or who has a predominantly socialist outlook finding much worth in it.

Thanks, I am not totally anti religion or a socialist so have no issue there.

I just don't agree with a lot of his stuff on political correctness, family values and some of his masculinity stuff. I think I will give it a go.

Has anyone read Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life?

I have had limited exposure to JP but don't agree with much of his political stuff and have issues with some of his more recent social commentary stuff. I do keep hearing that his self help stuff is actually really good though.

[Overall poverty:]

There was some interesting chat on here a while ago about poverty - how it is defined and what the reality is in this country.

"The Social Metrics Commission are an organisation that came together with the intention of developing a new approach to poverty measurement."

They published their report today. The link to the full report is on this page - https://socialmetricscommission.org.uk/new-report-on-poverty-from-independent-commission-highlights-scale-of-challenge-facing-new-prime-minister/

The report is really long, they summarised their key findings:-

Overall poverty: There are 14.3 million people in poverty in the UK. This includes 8.3 million working-age adults; 4.6 million children; and 1.3 million pension-age adults.

Depth of poverty: On average, those in poverty have moved closer to the poverty line now than would have been the case in 2000/01. However, a third (31%) of people in poverty – 4.5 million people – are more than 50% below the poverty line, and this proportion has not changed since the millennium.

Persistent poverty: Just under half (49%) of those in poverty are in persistent poverty, meaning they are in poverty now and have also been in poverty for at least two of the previous three years. This totals 7 million people, including 2.3 million children, 1.2 million people living in lone-parent families, and 1.8 million of those living in workless households.

Depth & persistence of poverty: Poverty persistence is particularly high for those in deep levels of poverty. Three fifths (59%) of those living more than 50% below the poverty line are also in persistent poverty, compared to just over a third (36%) of those living within 5% of the poverty line.

Does anyone know how we can find how this data compares to other European countries + America? I guess it won't be exact as their definition of poverty will not be the same. FYI - the commission talk about how they define poverty on pages 13-17 of the report. Interesting read.

Not commenting on the actual findings but I looked through 3 or 4 of their reports and couldn't find anywhere which actually reported on their methodology. The closest I could find was where they mentioned a couple of tweaks, if they're so proud of their new way of measuring poverty you'd have thought they'd have made it easier to find.


EDIT: okay there's an overview in the commentary of the reports - I might have been a bit focussed on the data

For anyone who wants to dig into this a bit more, this is a good summary of how poverty is measured and the issues with defining what poverty actually means in this country:-

https://fullfact.org/economy/poverty-uk-guide-facts-and-figures/

A useful overview rather than just taking data at face value.

Just to add to the above, Eurostat publish this:-

Click to see full-size image.

It's a bit old, and their measurement of poverty is going to be different but it's good for a ball park. It also brings the UK out at a very similar percentage to the Social Metrics Commission report so gives us an idea of how Europe are doing.

Bulgaria, Romania, Greece all above 30%.

The Nordics, France & Germany do well at less than 20%.

We sit in the middle.

[Overall poverty:]

There was some interesting chat on here a while ago about poverty - how it is defined and what the reality is in this country.

"The Social Metrics Commission are an organisation that came together with the intention of developing a new approach to poverty measurement."

They published their report today. The link to the full report is on this page - https://socialmetricscommission.org.uk/new-report-on-poverty-from-independent-commission-highlights-scale-of-challenge-facing-new-prime-minister/

The report is really long, they summarised their key findings:-

Overall poverty: There are 14.3 million people in poverty in the UK. This includes 8.3 million working-age adults; 4.6 million children; and 1.3 million pension-age adults.

Depth of poverty: On average, those in poverty have moved closer to the poverty line now than would have been the case in 2000/01. However, a third (31%) of people in poverty – 4.5 million people – are more than 50% below the poverty line, and this proportion has not changed since the millennium.

Persistent poverty: Just under half (49%) of those in poverty are in persistent poverty, meaning they are in poverty now and have also been in poverty for at least two of the previous three years. This totals 7 million people, including 2.3 million children, 1.2 million people living in lone-parent families, and 1.8 million of those living in workless households.

Depth & persistence of poverty: Poverty persistence is particularly high for those in deep levels of poverty. Three fifths (59%) of those living more than 50% below the poverty line are also in persistent poverty, compared to just over a third (36%) of those living within 5% of the poverty line.

Does anyone know how we can find how this data compares to other European countries + America? I guess it won't be exact as their definition of poverty will not be the same. FYI - the commission talk about how they define poverty on pages 13-17 of the report. Interesting read.

The Lion King came out when I was 7 years old. I must have sat and watched the VHS with my brother >100 times.

I have not been a fan of the Disney remakes so far but The Lion King feels like a film that has been made just for me.

It follows the original almost scene for scene. The CGI is breathtaking, I mean I have never seen anything like it before. Voice acting is great, story is obv perfection and no deviation which is exactly what I wanted. Took me back to being a little kid again, it's fantastic.

Brilliant (but ultimately depressing) read from Marina Hyde

Includes an all time great less/fewer joke

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/12/country-beta-males-alphas-latin-president-tweeting-enemies

It was rather good.

For those who can't be bothered to click the link.....

"If the Tory leadership election unfolds as widely expected, the UK will basically be ruled by a Fathers4Injustice activist. Boris Johnson is the kind of guy who’d don Spider-Man pyjamas and scale a building in order to see less of his kids. Sorry, fewer."

I dont actually mind this. If his actions shows he will care, not like TM, faux pretend she is behind something, then we are moving in the right direction.

It must be really difficult for Journos to keep the same old drivel coming, just wrapped up in a way to make half the population happy. Fair play.

Not read the article but my only worry is does he actually care? It's probably unfair to keep dredging it up but Boris's original article that he wrote before coming out for Vote Leave:-

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnsons-article-backing-britains-future-in-the-eu-a3370296.html

"Why are we so determined to turn our back on it? Shouldn't our policy be like our policy on cake - pro having it and pro eating it? Pro Europe and pro the rest of the world?"

As it been proved time and time again, Boris does what is good for Boris. Don't be surprised when he keeps doing that.

He might be Mr Pro Brexit right now but, if the wind changes, watch him follow. He is not Farage.

Aaron, I’ll buy you a beer minimum. Let’s find a way to shout each other up and say hello 😊

Please do this and post a pic :-) Glad you got a ticket

Midsommar is nuts.

I wasn't a huge fan of Heriditary but this is a big step up imo.

This is not your usual horror film, in fact, it's not really a horror film at all. My partner really hated it.

I really liked it. Will watch anything Ari Aster makes now. Some top performances and a nice slow build throughout to a satisfying ending. Will be worth another watch as lots to pick up on. The sort of film that gnaws at you for days afterwards.

Kim Darroch resigns, a selfless decision given that he has done nothing wrong

Boris presumably appoints someone Trump friendly for our "special relationship"

Hmm don’t agree. Think his opinions were scathing and personal full stop rather than communicating the key to a successful approach. So rather than this guy is terrible, which offers nothing progressive, notes about how to achieve objectives with a certain type of character is helpful. In addition if your use of such terminology and the exposure of it jeopardises successful relationships then you are the catalyst for deterioration of relationships, the very opposite of what you’re paid to do.

His emails were doing exactly that - communicating they key to a successful approach.

- Get as many influencers around Trump as possible
- Get the PM to ring Trump 2-3 times a month
- Get members of parliament to praise Trump at every opportunity

Within those points he was outlining why they are the right approach - Trump administration is dysfunctional and insecure.

Whoever leaked this is a disgrace.