England v Netherlands
Have not got a good feeling about this one!
One can dream ....
War Crimes and Genocide in Gaza?
Back in May 2024, the question was posed: Has Israel lost the war against Hamas? To recap: Israel’s original intention for counter attacking Hamas - its “jus ad bellum,” - i.e. the conditions under which states resort to war - was to recue the hostages and also to eliminate Hamas because of its ongoing threat to Israel. It was not revenge for the horrors of October 7 th , 2023, although that was the immediate cause. It was about the damage that Hamas could do in the future given it stated intent to annihilate Israel. Is Israel aiming for a realistic, achievable goals? Rescuing hostages is a clear and potentially achievable end. But is eliminating Hamas possible? How do you reduce civilian casualties in the face of Hamas tactics? Is her present strategy producing more chaos? Is her approach encouraging future terrorist attacks on her. Is there an alternative approach? As the war goes on and civilian deaths rise, questions increasingly surface about Israel’s conduct ...
Clear penalty!
ReplyDelete1-1 at halftime. What's your forecast now, Jack?
ReplyDeleteWill it go into extra time? Looks like it
ReplyDeleteNah .... England to win!!!!
DeleteSurely Ollie Watkins' goal has wrapped it up
ReplyDeleteSo that's it! Next, England v Spain. Like you, Jack, I hadn't been feeling at all confident about today's game.
ReplyDeleteWell, that explains all the drunken screaming and running around late into last night.
ReplyDeleteI do wish the English would invent a game that could be enjoyed sober...
Scrabble
DeleteI said enjoyed sober... 😎
DeleteGreat game Scrabble. It can be vicious though.
DeleteParticularly if women are playing!
@Clive, you have reminded me that I was once playing Scrabble with a friend who is a psychologist by profession. She wouldn't allow me to play the word "id", on the grounds that the id doesn't exist. I argued that, even if the id doesn't exist, the word "id" exists, just as the word "ghost" certainly exists even if ghosts don't exist. To no avail. It was her board and her tiles. I had no choice but to submit.
DeleteI wonder how she would have reacted if G.O.D was spelt?
DeleteNo problem, she's a Catholic!
Delete@ Clive - You must be playing with the wrong women; I'm gentle as a dove, magnanimous in victory and (presumably, as it's yet to be tested) gracious in defeat.
DeleteIt is a great game until you get a rack of QZW and 4Es. I'm just not wired to enjoy games where chance plays such a large role. Don't get me started on Monopoly...
@ Ray, 'id' is on the official scrabble list of two letter words.
https://scrabble.collinsdictionary.com/word-lists/two-letter-words-in-scrabble/
Lain
DeleteI think we are in accord with regards monopoly. My antipathy to it nearly led to our divorce. My wife loves. I have a single strategy, and that is to lose in the quickest possible time.
I absolutely hate it!
Ray Sunshine,
DeleteSorry what has Catholic got to do with belief in a deity?
Dons helmet and hides!
I have a single strategy, and that is to lose in the quickest possible time.
DeleteThat's the thing. You just can't lose quickly. You think you're almost bust, and then someone @!%&* lands on your hotel and gives you a bundle of cash and so it goes. I had a group of 'friends' in uni who liked to play, and they used the awful house rule where the money you pay in taxes and fines goes on the free parking square, and whoever lands there gets to take the pot. That means the game never, ever, ever, ever ends.
Monopoly is a Sisyphean punishment, moving a boot around the board at 2am, waiting for the end of the game or the end of the universe, whichever comes first.
Only game worth playing - 7 card stud poker and chess.
Delete7 card stud poker and chess sounds like a complicated game!
DeleteI thought you preferred strip poker!
DeleteMy above comment was for HJ!
DeleteWhat is this game "strip poker" Clive? Does it have anything to do with wallpaper? HJ has never heard of it.
DeleteWell, I can't play poker, so I'd either be a terrible or great opponent depending on your point of view ☺️
DeleteBiden congratulated Starmer on the 2-1 semi-final victory over the Netherlands.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking to reporters in the Oval Office he asked: “Is football coming home?”
“It looks like it,” Sir Keir answered, to which Mr Biden added: “It’s all because of the Prime Minister.”
The Labour leader replied: “Not lost a game under the Labour Government.”
Sir Keir gave a convincing demonstration that he is quick-witted and good at repartee, at least in comparison with Joe Biden ...
DeleteBiden introduced Zelensky as 'President Putin' at the NATO press conference, so that's all going swimmingly.
DeletePresident Biden: “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president [if] I think she’s not qualified to be president,”
DeleteHow bad does it need to get before they make up their minds?
DeleteHe only LOOKS quick witted and good at repartee when he's standing next to Biden, Ray.
DeleteYou're dealing with the left here. It doesn't matter how bad it gets, everything is still lollipops and rainbows once we get rid of Donald Trump/the Jews/the bourgeoisie/insert group or individual of choice.
DeleteBiden was elected to the Senate just before his 30th birthday, and had to wait to turn 30 before he could serve. In this 1972 news clip, he says 'I expect these fellers [senators] are going to eventually judge me on my merit and not on my age'. We've come full circle.
Deletehttps://youtu.be/cCZ5_XwqchE
A new pundit has weighed in on the really important aspect of the forthcoming kickabout between England and Spain https://x.com/carolvorders/status/1811380676270108771
ReplyDeleteAh yes, Harry Kane immigrated from Walthamstow. Jude Bellingham immigrated from Stourbridge. And Wednesday's star goalscorer, Ollie Watkins, immigrated all the way from Torquay.
DeleteOne notices there are very few, if any, Muslims in the English team. Pure racism and Islamophobia!
DeleteThe priest in my local church has offered prayers for a Spanish victory tomorrow. As I've said here many times, I don't have a problem with the Novus Ordo.
ReplyDeleteDoes that not somewhat devalue the idea of intercession?
DeleteLike I said, Novus Ordo. Never would have happened at TLM.
DeleteWhat words were used for the prayer?
DeleteAssassination attempt on Trump last night. This is what almost a decade's worth of rhetoric that dehumanises your opponents, paints them as 'extreme and dangerous', and normalises political violence ends with. As one commentator put it, America was 'three inches away from civil war'.
ReplyDeleteLord, help us. May the spectator who lost their life rest in peace.
Politically, in terms of votes, it can only do him good. He's now a martyr to the cause.
DeleteAnd now we wait for the conspiracy theories to start.
DeleteStarting in just an hour from now
ReplyDelete"World class players afraid to lose rather than pushing to win." Good comment on the first half by someone on the BBC
ReplyDeleteNervy time .... time to replace Harry!
DeleteHello, Jack. So it's the same question again. Is it going into extra time?
DeleteHello, Jack. So it's the same question again. Is it going into extra time?
DeleteNo sooner had I posted that than ... England are a goal down again
DeleteIt looks like Bell's local priest has some sway with the Almighty, although as I don't think that England have won a major tournament in my lifetime, the odds were against them from the start.
ReplyDeleteIt now just remains to be seen how much of the local glasswork survives the sports connoisseurs who've been drinking since six...
Happy Jack blames the Labour government.
ReplyDeleteSpain were the better team and deserved the win.
Looks like Labour's winning streak didn't last long ...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I heard that the leading goalscorer is Own Goal!
Today is St. Swithun's Day, bishop of Winchester from 852 until his death on 2 July 863. The sky looks gloomy, we have a yellow weather warning for rain and, as folklore has it:
ReplyDeleteNow if on Swithin's Feast the welkin lours,
And ev'ry pent house streams with hasty show'rs,
Twice twenty day shall clouds their fleeces drain,
And wash the pavements with incessant rain.
Appropriately, given recent events, today is also the feast day of St. Donald (of Olgivy and his Nine Daughters).