Oops, I am soon on the list, too. I remembered my turn around the Xmas time, but the next one had slipped out of my memory. I will check my calendar and hope I have it in there already.@forever-dormo I think this is the link that will take you to the roster that @AndyR prepared for this season....at least I hope it is the link, else I will look a bit stupid !! 😉
https://diasboro.club/forum/2024-25/2024-2025-fixtures-and-preview-writers/paged/2/#post-30148
Naemore panic, though. Up the Boro!
PS. It was on my calendar,. Thanks for a reminder, though.
@forever-dormo Some food for thought in your starter.
Boro will wear one-off white kit against Coventry on Saturday at 3 PM kick-off.
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/24686854.middlesbrough-will-wear-one-off-white-kit-coventry/
No to weapons, up the Boro!
At least you'll be glad to hear my next preview is not for a while yet given my record - two previews - two home defeats - Boro goals scored: 0 - goals conceded 7 (SEVEN) 😉
It hurts to say it ,but the reason Sunderland are top , is they are the hardest working team in the division, they never stop battling, I don't know if they can keep it up, but once your on a run , it drives you on.
Ironically they were petrified of us, Carrick is building a team that can compete in the premiership, the type of football he is installing is condusive to that level, obviously a stronger and better talent in some areas would be needed ,
Notice when teams take us on, we usually have success, I don't think many teams will, and that's the issue, it's a cruel division, the best team doesn't always win through.
I'm hoping for more consistent performance ,as we all are, lately apart from beating ourselves, it's looking positive,
@powmillnaemore - EEEEK! I hadn't realised it was as close as THIS SATURDAY for my next Preview. It's a good thing I raised the matter (I wonder why I did that - spooky!) because it would have been embarassing if we'd had an issue over it. I have a few things to do but hopefully will get down to a Preview thos evening or early tomorrow. Mind you, it's the dentist tomorrow morning...
@werdermouth. Any chance you could delay your next one until next season! 😉😎
@powmillnaemore So it looks like I do have a Cardiff game in Jan. No idea how that happened but I’ll take it on.
I was just checking the upcoming fixtures and unbelievably there's another two-week international break due after our game against Luton a week on Saturday 🙁
After that one werdermouth, there is a final international break 17 - 25 March 2025 for the first World Cup qualifiers.I was just checking the upcoming fixtures and unbelievably there's another two-week international break due after our game against Luton a week on Saturday 🙁
Come on BORO.
There may not be much of a venue left in 2026 for the World Cup after the civil war if Trump fails to win next week 🤔
@werdermouth It’s very worrying isn’t it? I still can’t quite believe that he might win another term.
Even if he loses he'll declare victory and insist the election was stolen and then launch hundreds of bogus law suits that tie up enough states from being able to declare a result inside the time required - and even rouse the rabble to prevent many precincts from certifying at their normally ceremonial town hall meetings until he gets to a point where the US constitution allows the House of Representatives to vote on who has won if there's a constitutional dispute that hasn't been resolved.
He'll then hope to have engineered the Republicans holding a slim majority after preventing enough Democrats from being returned by fake legal challenges and demonstrations. It's a strategy that's been 4 years in the making and rather ironically he's gearing up to steal the election by seeding the idea widespread voter fraud has made the result contestable.
Perhaps what is more surprising is that the election is still too close to call for a man that is a convicted felon and fraudster, awaiting trial for insurrection and currently has 26 women accusing him of sexual assault - the rise of the cult of Trump has shown that the far-right playbook works and sadly it is being copied in various forms all over western democracies - the problem it seems that as yet nobody has found the best way to counter it.
The norms of shaming a person doesn't work if that person has no shame and the simple strategy of doubling down and accusing your opponents of the same crimes as they throw at you but louder and with more conviction has proved to work with people who distrust politics in general.
It appears people want a 'strong man' who is one of them to tell them they'll sort out everything and make their lives better - once you cross over and join the cult he can do no wrong.
All sounds like a democracy in decline and somehow the bad guys have managed to convince enough people they're the good guys on the side of the little guys - it would barely make a believable B-movie but we'll soon find out what it means in reality.
Nothing will surprise me anymore as it's already way beyond what I can believe is credible for people to accept - making sense of it will perhaps one day come but by then the damage will have been done!
My brother in law lives in California and he has been telling us for most of the last 4 years that there was a very good chance the orange man would get re-elected, despite that us looking in at their country could scarcely comprehend how he could command so many votes. It is a big concern and something that could have very unhappy consequences for many people across the globe.
Yes, I think too many people who should've known better have been far too complacent as they expected Trump would be barred from running again but he (and those who enable him for their mutual benefit) have been able to delay all the legal cases that would have consequences from being heard until after the 2024 US election - a slow motion car crash that finally saw an unelectable Joe Biden finally being forced to step aside but with not enough time to change the tide significantly and subsequently have the ideal very close election Trump needed to ensure another 'plausible' stolen one can be cried with outrage.
@werdermouth I agree - the Democrats should surely have done enough in the past 4 years to win over a majority in the key states. I’m still hopeful that they will win but like others I’m scared of what will happen then.
Gentlemen, we have a problem in the USA. That such a rich, powerful, country which holds (or used to hold) liberty and democracy so dear should end up with these final candidates for its Head of State, is difficult to believe. On the one hand we have former President Trump with all his rather odd statements, the baggage of criminal allegations (and some court findings against him) following him around like a cloud, the suggestions of involvement with Russia and admiration for Putin, and his behaviour following the election 4 years ago and the subsequent disorder and damage caused within the Capitol. On the other hand we have the current Vice-President who, until weeks ago was insisting that President Biden was the right person and should be elected for a second term, when it was obvious to the whole world that his physical and cognitive abilities had beeen massively reduced in the past few years. There is no question that he could serve as President until 2029. Not unless someone in the background was pulling the strings, and Presidential activities were restricted to some carfully curated photoshoots (a handshake here, a signature to a document there). Kamala Harris appears to find it difficult to speak more than a few coherent sentences so that the phrase "word salad" is frequently used to describe her utterances. I agree that being articulate doesn't seem to be the first quality of either of the two candidates.
You might be forgiven for thinking that it should have been possible to identify a couple of realistic, capable options so that the American voting public could have a proper choice. I am concerned for NATO and for Ukraine. I am concerned about world trade and the effect on it and world security that might result if the China/Taiwan situation heats up to boiling point. The last thing the world needs at this time is an insular USA.
It may well be the case that, when the votes are counted in the vital "swing states", the margins will be very tight. As to the polls, the difference between the Republican and Democratic Parites is often said to be within "the margin of error" in those swing states. It could be "toss-a-coin-time" as the outcome seems very 50/50 to me. I know millions have already voted early and it is difficult to imagine that many voters are yet to make their choice. In Northern Ireland the watchword used to be "vote early, and often". To top it all off, the whole "electoral college" thing is weird. Trump might lose the popular vote yet win enough of the swing states narrowly to win the election.
I think the Labour scheme to send 100+ political workers to the USA to assist with the last push of the Democrats as the election nears was too ridiculous for words. What would people think if China or Russia sent 100+ workers there to "help out"? Or if they sent similar people to the UK before an election? And if it really is 50/50 it follows that there is a VERY real chance that Trump will win a second term. How would Trump then feel towards the Labour Government that had tried to "interfere" with his prospects of re-election? It wouldn't do the UK any good. The office of President of the USA deserves respect. The UK and the rest of the democratic countries in the world will have to work with whoever wins the USA election (even if they don't "like" whoever it turns out to be).
I suspect Kamala Harris might be less damaging for UK and European interests but it's far from a clear cut issue. A half-decent candidate for either side would probably beat either Trump OR Harris. I think if she wins this election, it would be the chance the Republican Party needs to rebuild itself AWAY from Trump influence and to find a credible, younger policitician with "nous" who can unite a fractured nation and win the Presidency four years hence. It might be a "stay up to watch the results night" this time around.
@forever-dormo I don’t think that the Labour supporters who’ve travelled to the USA are the first to do so. Supporters of both our main political parties have regular got involved over there, as have many non-UK eligible political supporters over here. Here’s an interesting article from the Guardian: https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2024/oct/23/why-are-labour-volunteers-causing-a-stir-in-the-us-election-race
Whether it was wise for Labour to get involved this time is a moot point, although I can’t see Trump ever giving the UK (nor Europe) any favours if he wins.
The whole Labour foreign interference thing was just another distraction technique to attempt to push his former political advisor John Kelly's claim that his former boss is a fascist down the news agenda - UK activists going over to America has been going on for donkey's years and even Bill Clinton gave a speech at the Labour Party conference and then there's that MP for Clacton who often acts as Trump's warm up man. Trump doesn't need an excuse to whip up another fake news story if he thinks it will play out well and give him free media coverage.
As for Kamala Harris, well she was the invisible woman for most of the last 4 years and I suppose she had no choice but to back the Democrat endorsed candidate in Joe Biden since she is the vice-president on the ticket. She may have expressed concerns in private but to publicly claim he isn't up to the job is probably not something any leading politician could envisage doing as it would simply give the advantage to their rivals.
I'm not sure US election night will resolve anything unless Trump actually wins as this will be a long ugly drawn out affair that will run until January 6th or even beyond.
@martin-bellamy - I don't expect Donald Trump to do anything that is not in Donald Trump's interests. If that coincides with the interests of the USA then that would be a bonus, but I suspect that Donald's interests Trump all others. The Guardian article was interesting in showing how it works with "help" being given by both of the major UK parties. But I think if Americans or Austrians for example (let alone Belosussians or Russians) were to knock on my front door during an election campaign they'd get short shrift from me. Mind you, I'm not that keen on getting home-grown canvassers either!
With the greatest respect, Dormo, I really don't think there is any comparison to be made between Trump and Harris in terms of their respective suitability for President.
On the one hand we have a psychopathic, misogynistic, narcissistic proven rapist, a serial liar, a fascist, who believes that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of the country" who encouraged a mob to storm the Capitol building, a mob seemingly determined to lynch his Vice-President, and who presents an active threat to democracy in the USA and across the world. A convicted felon who, if defeated, will definitely not concede, and will seek to precipitate his country into a civil war rather than face the lengthy custodial sentence which almost certainly awaits him. A man who, on his own admission, is seeking dictatorial powers which will allow him to use the military for his own political purposes, and pursue and imprison the 'enemy within", that is political opponents who disagree with him. Who will have in his sights "fake media", that is any independent media outlet which is critical of him(ie all of them apart from Murdoch's Fox News). And who prefers conspiracy theories to science with even more disastrous consequences for the future of the planet than it had for US citizens during the Covid pandemic.
And on the other a comparatively young black woman who has reached a position of considerable eminence on the basis not of inherited wealth but of her own abilities in practising and defending the law, and who possesses all of the qualities of compassion, intelligence, humour and self-awareness so conspicuously lacking in her opponent. Lack of articulacy was no barrier to Eisenhower, Reagan, or either if the two Bushes, but it is not a charge that can be laid against Harris. Trump insults her intelligence but refuses to repeat his humiliation when debating with her.
I know that you are not arguing this, Dormo, but there is a widespread tendency to assert that politicians are all the same, and to equate comparatively minor deficiencies on one side with criminal activities and major misdemeanours on the other. Whilst typing this Robert Jenrick, loyal supporter of Boris Johnson has just appeared on my TV screen accusing Rachel Reeves of being " a compulsive liar."
'Nuff said.
So eloquently put Len and impossible to argue against.
The horror of it all is that there are so many people in the good ol' US of A that are going to vote for him.
btw I had thought that the polls running level in the US election presaged a Trump win analogous to the Brexit referendum with large numbers somewhat embarrassed to admit their preference to pollsters. I now firmly believe (andhope) that Harris will be swept to power on a tsunami of women's votes. In a male dominated culture they are the voters most likely to keep their intentions to themselves. Harris could well be elected by a comfortable margin, but there is no margin emphatic enough ever to be accepted by Trump and his supporters
@lenmasterman - You are right: I don't argue that "all politicians are the same". There are no doubt corrupt politicians (and ones who become corrupted by the taste of power) and there are many with other faults and incompetencies. I'd like to think that represents only a small minority of politicians in the UK. Language used to criticse political opponents has recently become exaggerated and extreme. I can only assume that Jenrick has made the comments he is reported to have made because he is in the stressful endgame of a party leadership campaign. Not that this would really be a sufficient excuse. Imagine what he might do if faced with a REALLY painful dilemma as a potential PM! I don't think that most UK politicians lie compulsively though some may be a little "economical with the actualite" when it suits.
I was listening briefly to a programme on Radio4 whilst in the car today. They were discussing podcasts/interviews I think by Michael Gove and during the discussion there was mention of the fact that Gove and the former SNP Leader & First Minister of Scotland Hamza Yousaf got on very well together (in fact good friends) which is not what one might have expected, and I'm aware that a number of MPs have friendships across the House - so not everyone regards MPs from the other side as "scum". They are mostly people motivated to help other people and the country generally by taking part in public life, even though they might have a different view from members of opposing political parties as to how best to achieve those aims. I mean, who'd have thought Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley would have got on so well, or Alastair Campbell and Charles Kennedy? I guess there are some USA equivalents to these.
I think in reading hundreds of reports from Consultant Psychiatrists or Psychologists over 5 different decades I have probably only seen the word "narcisist" a few times, and then in cases which were so obvious that you hardly needed the expert report (it was just a means of dotting the "i" and crossing the evidential "t"). Yet I now see the word "narcissist" used frequently to describe people, politicians and others. I haven't studied psychology or pyschiatry so my views on mental illness or personality disorders would hardly be described as "expert" but I wonder whether, in common usage, "narcissistic" hasn't been greatly diluted in recent years. I might be considered someone with serious problems including possibly a narcissistic personality disorder if I believe and behave as though I were Napoleon. But I WERE Napoleon, one of the greatest generals in history and had destroyed armies up and down Europe, putting various family members on the thrones of European countries, causing the world to change the way it measures distance/volume/mass (though not quite so successful in terms of decimalising the clock and the calendar), then I wouldn't be living in a fantasy world where self-deception props up my ego or any of the other factors that might (in different circumstances) suggest narcissism. I suppose if I were a (former?) billionaire businessman who had been (and might again be) President of the United States, and therefore arguably the most powerful man in the world, I might argue that I am being realistic in the self-assessment of my abilities and power.
Before I go on, and annoy people too much, I suppose I might be raising these matters as a sort of Devil's Advocate. So, before getting back to football on the next thread:
1. Putting aside your Hitlers, Stalins and Mussolinis, the enormous majority of politicians (in the UK or the USA) can hardly be fascists. We might disagree their beliefs or policies but to call so many people fascist often simply means we disagree with them A LOT.
2. If the polls in the USA are neck-and-neck (in the swing states) as we are led to believe, how could so many people have been misled so much that they could't tell the difference between a misogynistic narcissist on the one hand, and a self-made successful lawyer* from a disadvantaged background on the other hand. I read yesterday that the USA was considered in one study to have the best academic system in the world (as a side note it certainly has the most top-ranked universities in the world). Maybe a surprise but the UK was second! I am aware there are other metrics but if you have a country with an educated population you'd think enough people would see through the guff/hype/inaccuracies reported, and be able to make a proper choice.
3. I have heard only bits of interviews on the TV but the VP doesn't seem very articulate to me. Reagan, on the other hand was a very good speechmaker (his timing of jokes was maginificent). No - if I had a vote, I'd not vote for Donald Trump. But if Donald Trump is elected, we'll have to get on with life. In democracy, it's not an option to say "I know the people voted for X, but we are going to ingore that and give the job to Y". Everyone gets a vote who's entitled to vote. They can do with their vote what they want. There are no IQ tests, no checking the educational qualifications before the voter is allowed into the polling booth. Flat Earthers are allowed to vote, people who believe the Apollo moonshots were the result of an elaborate cinematographic hoax are allowed to vote and people who believe the NEXT conspiracy theory also get to exercise their electoral prerogative.
4. When I was younger you could discuss things like this in your local pub. You still can at the Pickled Parrot but I'd be wary of going to a big city or even some towns and doing it. Let's hear if for village Locals! It is possible to disagree without abuse or resorting to violence.
5. Now, maybe you'd like to look at the next thread which previews the BORO v Coventry City game in 2 days time. Otherwise the game will have come and gone. The Preview was certainly prepared in a hurry but apparently it was written by a very successful and popular Adonis of a man, 6ft 3in, luxuriant head of hair and as fit as a decathalete in the prime of his athletic career.**
* I'm always willing to be considered but was born in the wrong country.
** Ooops! Maybe there IS a touch of narcissism floating about here....
One of my favourite cryptic crossword clues: "He saw himself as winning on the pools" (9)
Under four years of Trump ,no child was murdered,in senseless wars .
@forever-dormo and @lenmasterman. You have to love this blog, not only for the football chatter, but the way grown people can elucidate their thoughts on almost any topic so intelligently and so non-confrontationally. Always seeking to be understood, so much as to understand (thank you St Francis of Assissi).
Thanks both for some very good, topical (even if off-topic) posts. I've enjoyed reading them All the same, I remain concerned at the prospect of the Donald getting re-elected.
@gt Although scores of American children died in their own schools at the hand of gun toting fellow students.