This feels like a very good allegory for a lot of modern technology

How is it possible to literally fill a very large family car with charity donations of clothes and goods, yet appear to have cleared literally zero additional space at home having done so?

Fair enough.

Hope you have a good Christmas, though, old chap.
Hope the new business is going well too.

You still knocking around this general area?
There's an amusing, very mixed standard, 7s nearby on a Monday night if you fancy dragging your toes down my achilles and me not calling a foul 😀

Yes, and as I say, too much load overall.
Not sure why wanting to play football at school, or not, has much to do with anything.

If you want back on topic, again I don't mind the Ekitike goal, but in context how the hell was Spence on Bradley given as anything in the opening minutes?

Caused me HUGE burnout as a late teen and early adult too and has had quite an impact on my adulthood where I've tended to end up overly focused on a single sport until I burn out and do another exhaustively for a while, mostly rotating football, golf and cycling.

Not really mysterious.

I was expected to do football, tennis, badminton, judo, running and kayaking across the evenings and weekends every week. My mother kept me driven across a bunch of sports in my evenings so you'll forgive me if I wasn't exactly driven to school football during my school day.

There's a reason for the wink with Frontier and Jagex (though Jagex was at least 11s)

I'm not sure playing for Melbourn college will ever be a benchmark for much of anything

School was just school for me, I was doing sports elsewhere pretty much every evening.

Anyway, as you say, have a good Xmas

No, I'm happy to do both.

I don't think Romero's deserved a second yellow either, but I'm completely okay with it being given.
I don't like the inconsistency with Ekitike's hands into Romero, but I'm okay with it being given.

I just don't like the Simons one because it's a poor read

Played for a PL academy as a youth prior to injury and have won pretty much everything going both as a player and manager at amateur level along with running both Frontier and Jagex's football teams 😉

Qualified coach and referee.

Not Premier League, I'll give you, but played more matches than most

Well, no, because that link you posted at the start has plenty of people who say it wasn't, Richards during the half time chat seemed embarrassed to have to discuss it and I can find plenty of others.

The problem with that one is that as soon as you call that a red you can find 3 in most games

Is that, as I pointed out, it doesn't actually meet ANY of the standards for "Serious Foul Play".

I genuinely give very little of a toss about Spurs these days (or televised football at all), but I do care for the game and when THAT is how we start refereeing it... "game's gone"

I'm barely a Spurs supporter these days and have always been more interested in the game (primarily playing) than "supporting".

It just is barely a foul at all unless you start watching slow motion snippets and wanting to create a talking point.

Not as a Spurs fan, as a player.
And the key now 2/3

Yes, but most of those people are paid to create discussion, nothing more.

As I said, I don't disagree with the decision for the second goal, what I disagree with is the inconsistency despite VAR existing. That shouldn't happen and should be damning for the tech.

Simons, though. Just no... 1/2

At least one other goal will be disallowed for the same thing.

My primary complaint is just that. VAR has killed the flow of the game and really improved absolutely nothing.
Football is no more accurate and far less enjoyable because of it.

Trying to make it one.

As for the second goal. I agree, the decision is correct, BUT...
Again, VAR, we see that given as a foul at least 50% of the time and hands in the back were clear.

I agree, the goal should stand BUT then so should every other similar instance and we know that by next week...

Possession stays with my team.

Beyond that, for it to be a red then it needs either reckless speed (no), reckless force (no), intent (no) or serious endangerment (the weight was in his heels, the contact in his toes and he's tiny compared to VvD, so no).

It just isn't a red without VAR and...

That is what you see.
When you then slow it down and watch only a small segment it looks a lot worse and like the contact was the intent. It wasn't.

As a *player* I don't want that being a red card. I receive similar almost every game and I don't even really want it given as a foul as long as the..

I disagree, actually.
The Simons one is only a red with VAR when you want it to be, and I don't say that as a Spurs fan but as someone who sees himself more as a player than a viewer of football.
His intention was to plant his foot outside Virgil's as he'd read VvD turning inside and in real time...

I used to love watching football and, yes, mistakes were made but they were (mostly) "honest" mistakes and you could see why.

Now we have VAR, long waiting breaks to still get inconsistent decisions, sometimes in the same match, and it ruins the flow of the game while not improving outcomes. Dull.

I'm not reading that thread and I think Spurs at the moment are terrible, but the refereeing standard in that game was appalling.
What really needs to be taken from that, though, is that the refereeing in the league altogether, especially in conjunction with VAR is terrible and ruining the sport 1/2

Trump: “…an alcoholic’s personality”

Vance: “…a conspiracy theorist for a decade”

Vought: “…right wing absolute zealot”

Musk: “…an avowed ketamine user”

These aren’t the wild opinions of a Twitter troll.

It’s coming from the White House Chief of Staff.

They are who we think they are.

If they're so firm on wanting to show "masculine justice" then can we not implement a system where an accused criminal can request trial by combat specifically against a billionaire?

They think that all crime is a sign of weak people and they achieved through their ability.
Show us!

At least 10 of them are regularly caught wearing red on a Saturday... 😉

I kid, I kid 🙂
Amazingly messy run currently, though.

I'm good, thank you.
Been super-busy for the last 6 months and trying to avoid social media as much as possible because, honestly, the outside world and news is a little difficult to bear every day, isn't it?

How are you?
Still looking for the perfect ginge? 🙂

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D6GR38X...

This is by a lady I know from many years ago. She is also a London-based relationship/dating consultant/therapist.

She was lovely, might be worth looking at, at least.

I was at an event recently and a little girl had found a finishers medal, looked proud of it but was asking people if they'd lost one.
A lady approached her and asked for it back.
Seeing that, another finisher gave their medal to the little girl, and another gave his to her sister.
Some good still.

Mark Wolf

Mark Wolf, a federal judge appointed by Reagan, is resigning after 40 years on the bench.

In an essay published by The Atlantic this week, he wrote, “The White House’s assault on the rule of law is so deeply disturbing to me that I feel compelled to speak out. Silence, for me, is now intolerable.”

When Obama was president the right wing acted like masked government agents were coming to kidnap them and take all their rights away.

Then Republicans get elected and actually do that shit for real.

"I'm pretty sure no-one reads these things.
As a poll, if you do, please swipe right and tell me you did"
😉

Also, that bio is awful, but so is trying to sell yourself without looking an ass.