Recent posts

#21

Off the Record / Re: Football (Soccer) Thread

Last post by Norgy - Today at 03:45:38 AM

I think it was the first time Igor Jesus got a free kick given for him. He's been fouled quite a lot.

What strikes me is that despite all the VAR decisions, some referees are remarkably inconsistent in what constitutes a foul. Don't get me started on what is a handball or not. The offside rule and interference with play seem to be another few rules that have a very wide room for interpretation.

Now, I don't want to roll back VAR. But I would like a bit of consistency. The wrestling matches on set pieces inside the box? 20 years ago they'd all be penalties.

#22

Off the Record / Re: The EU thread

Last post by Zoupa - December 06, 2025, 10:13:22 PM

"The Left" is in shambles everywhere across the West. My 2 cents is that every generation post Boomer feels they are worse off than their parents. Economic indicators lean that way. The left does not propose a clear vision to solve that, apart from a brief interlude with Obama's Dream and Hope, which turned out to be bullshit. The Right promises to turn back the clock and does politics of nostalgia. It resonates a lot more with ppl these days.

My crystal ball tells me a worldwide conflagration is gonna happen in the next 20 years, after which a reset on income inequality is due to emerge.

#23

Off the Record / Re: The EU thread

Last post by Valmy - December 06, 2025, 08:16:09 PM

You have made this point about the international brotherhood of xenophobes for a long time. The key is these are all populist movements with general complaints for their compatriots in other countries can get with. For technocratic mainstream center left parties like Labour what they have to say doesn't even make sense to Americans, even those who support the center left mainstream technocratic parts of the Democratic Party. Because you really have to understand the British system and their specific issues to understand or care.

If they had a bunch of powerful ideological points about social values or whatever then some Democratic voters might feel solidarity and start working closely with British center leftists. But they don't so there is nothing really to attract their attention.

#24

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Grey Fox - December 06, 2025, 07:15:39 PM

Soccer is the right way to name the sport.
It's a clever shorthand of association.

#25

Off the Record / Re: Football (Soccer) Thread

Last post by Sheilbh - December 06, 2025, 06:10:51 PM

Oh yeah - I just think that's why he gets away with it. It's like the defender equivalent of those attacking players who refs seem convinced are always diving/playing it up for the foul but are actually fouled a lot.

#26

Off the Record / Re: The EU thread

Last post by Sheilbh - December 06, 2025, 06:00:22 PM

What does the highlighted one even mean.
What it clearly doesn't mean though the best interpretation would be Europe needs support to resist the far right slide. That's the reality. Not whatever delusion fox news tells them

It's the right-wing American obsession with the Islamisation of Europe/immigration in Europe. I wouldn't even describe it as far-right because this has been something circulating within the more mainstream right particularly on the Islamophobic front in the US for a very, very long time (see Christopher Caldwell's Reflections on the Revolution in Europe).

I think what's emerged recently that is new is the emphasis on more blood and soil nationalism on the American right. So you have this weird combination of European countries constructing civic national identities that look a lot more traditionally "American" (an imperfect work in progress), while from the US there is a huge push with the Christian nationalist focus on "Christendom" v Islam on Europe as a sort of heimat of white folks.

So I think that point is tied to the point about building up relations with the "healthy" nations of Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. Which I'd interpret as Hungary, Italy under Meloni, I think even with Tusk Poland (American right-wingers seem weirdly obsessed with Poland) etc. This ties into the civilisational perspective of Europe which is increasingly common here - that can go from more soft/liberal versions like Macron's, but there is a hard-edged version from someone like Meloni. What's very weird is seeing that picked up in the US which notes "over the long term, it is more than plausible [fantastic weasel words to avoid probability or statistics] that within a few decades [...] certain NATO members will become majority non-European". They consider this as a "real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure". But it's Vance in Munich or joking that the first Islamist country with nukes is Britain with a Labour government - it's that world view on steroids.

And as I say it's not one that is absent from Europe or necessarily opposed to the European project. This is what I'd warn against in civilisational language. But there is a specifically far-right version of it - I think Meloni is key the way she talks about "our nations" when she talks about Europe is very striking. The French election is less than 18 months away and from what I've seen Bardella is now leading in the polls (on second round) v all candidates. It's clear the US government is going to explicitly support those forces. Even aside from that sort of support while there are often fights (Meloni and Le Pen hate each other for example) it is really striking how, across Europe, arguably the most European parties are the Nationalist International - they learn from each other, there are networks to support each (for example I think Vox might not matter as much in Europe but is essential in the rise of the far-right in Latin America). I feel like there's a lot the mainstream parties could learn in that openness to change and interest in and learning from each other.

Edit: What is really weird and new is that I think the American right used to have that strand of Islamophobia and condescension to Europe - of the "Islamisation of Europe" etc. But I think they saw it as their problem. The more robust, open and successfully diverse US was the model they were behind. I think with some of the new right on America becoming a lot more blood and soil, bringing back scientific racism they view their perception of what's happening in Europe as their problem far more than something just going on over here.

#27

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by grumbler - December 06, 2025, 06:00:01 PM

Nobody calls rugby football.

Well they don't now. But back when Victorian Britain was the cultural leader of the English speaking world they did so we did. And now we are stuck with it. Blame the Empire.

OK I concede that I was ignorant of the history, but I maintain that calling games where you predominantly carry the ball "football" is silly.

#28

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by mongers - December 06, 2025, 05:59:54 PM

Nobody calls rugby football.

Well they don't now. But back when Victorian Britain was the cultural leader of the English speaking world they did so we did. And now we are stuck with it. Blame the Empire.

OK I concede that I was ignorant of the history, but I maintain that calling games where you predominantly carry the ball "football" is silly.

Yeah Rugby should be renamed Handball.   

#29

Off the Record / Re: Elon Musk: Always A Douche

Last post by Valmy - December 06, 2025, 05:17:38 PM

Elon Musk and the other billionaires should be abolished and the sovereignty of the United States restored to its people.

#30

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Tamas - December 06, 2025, 04:14:40 PM

Nobody calls rugby football.

Well they don't now. But back when Victorian Britain was the cultural leader of the English speaking world they did so we did. And now we are stuck with it. Blame the Empire.

OK I concede that I was ignorant of the history, but I maintain that calling games where you predominantly carry the ball "football" is silly.