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sonyc

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Everything posted by sonyc

  1. Ah...but they have a plan! ....By 2030 something. I read that Thames Water are in trouble this morning. I really hope this issue is tackled (by a government) in the next 5 years. It is one of the most basic requirements of society. To poison your own rivers and seas? It's just incredible. Huge respect for the few individuals who are constantly monitoring the levels and trying to pressure the water companies.
  2. I watched the match and the Welsh fans even sang it during the game. On some fans tears were running (and because of the anthem and shared experience not the disallowed goal!). It always gets me too and I realise I discovered the true extent of my Welsh heritage in 2020 and then decided to learn the language - but the emotional effect it has on me is something I cannot comprehend. Same when Calon Lan is sung by a choir. Just what the hell is that about? Born in Norwich and lots of ancestry in the area but almost matched by the Welsh side. That said, sung well I love OTBC as much. Perhaps as small nations there is a pride for both countries? For us, I like Jerusalem. It is sweeping and emotional as a song. I agree about the dirge and royalist nature of our current one.
  3. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2024/mar/27/englands-sewage-crisis-how-polluted-is-your-local-river-and-which-regions-are-worst-hit? Type in your postcode and then you can see exactly where each sewerage outage takes place.
  4. sonyc

    Nature watch.

    They are on the red list unfortunately FF. Fertilisers being a massive issue (nitrogen heavy) and the switch away from mixed farming to pure economic arable land. We get a just a few up north around where I live (you hear them often before seeing them - a lovely sound too) and there are sheep fields everywhere but crucially a there are a few bits of moorland and mixed grassed areas nearby. You'll see foam though in the local gills and streams because of all the fertiliser and feed the farmers use. The higher water table doesn't help over the last few months either in that respect. A lot of ducks and inland seagulls seem to have replaced them.
  5. If he wins he can rightfully claim he is the second coming can't he?😄
  6. Thanks for this link. It underlines exactly what I was trying to say to LYB who either doesn't get the point I was trying to say or is simply being contrarian. Or simply doesn't agree with a point I was making. Or all of the above. It is about bias and impact. Plus, it is damaging to Norwich City and also points yet again at the inadequacy in the governance set up.
  7. There are so many sources about intent and impact. Do look them up as it will be useful I think. Bobzilla has elegantly explained above but here is a very accessible link. You've already posted about Jamal Lewis's family considering legal action. They have experienced Webber's words unfavourably. None of this really needs to be debated does it? Webber himself has acknowledged his own regret. He has realised what his words have meant. What he intended is not, unfortunately (for Norwich City' s reputation and the families names) that relevant. He has said them. Maybe, like you and one or two others have said he isn't a racist person. His comments though have had an impact - so much so that it has reached a national stage. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/culture-religion-and-psychology/202309/intent-matters-but-impact-matters-more
  8. Falling into a trap does rather excuse poor Stuart doesn't it?!
  9. Gosh, that sounds so much like a Liz Trussism....and she was worried about the anti-growth coalition. There's a lyric for a aong in there somewhere for sure.
  10. The thing is there will be folk buying them! ...and this kind of thing reminded me ...
  11. I recall your post perhaps 2 years ago GO and was very struck then by your story, honesty and bravery to front up to lots of challenges. And I've been aware of it every post since (like an elephant I have a very long memory, especially when I'm moved by something). And I wanted to tell you that your posts are often very sharp and further, you have a great sense of humour as well as playfulness. The world needs types like you believe me. I think it was Lao Tzu who talked about folk often being depressed when they live in the past, whilst those who are anxious often live in a future state, whereas really living in the present brings more peace. And I've often felt the power of those words. Yet, your present circumstances feel like another challenge. The present is ever changing though and things will pass and hopefully you can settle again in a new home and get a great job (with much better bosses than I remember you had before). You feel free to PM any time you like if you ever wanted to. I never promise anything but I am a good listener and a confidential one at that. It is often good to speak with a person you just don't know. That therapist sounds great too and will be a great resource. I want to echo Herman's words too and just wanted you to know I enjoy your contributions on this forum. Most posters are far more readers rather than active contributors and I'm 100% confident that there are a lot of folk here truly ready to be so supportive...you'll never need to feel alone in any of it. Life can feel like a fight and I really hope you keep on with that spirit until you don't need to because it all just gradually gets easier anyway, then you won't need to.
  12. He may well have meant those things LDC but the intentions don't hold much weight. Intentions are, in this matter, unfortunately useless. The expression "they wouldn't mind me saying this" is presumptuous too. Splitting hairs? Maybe I am. Nothing to do with a woke brigade however and everything to do with lived experience. It's about power. Whose judgement is it to make? Stuart Webber's? I get the point you are making and have some sympathy for people who get things wrong. He will definitely reflect on this and that will ultimately be a very good thing for him. He has always had this complex of greatness and this episode will have taken him off his own pedestal. Not a bad thing for him. In time.
  13. I think you're right there too. There are some people who look down on others. Maybe youve had similar experiences to me where you feel like a fish out of water. Normally where people have a sense of over entitlement. I think there is a link to where you live though. Thete are places in North Yorkshire for example and I've been on holiday in Norfolk with young family where the holiday business has been run by 'London' types. They talk down to you. That was my point really - there is a connection. Mrs S made a similar point about Stuart Webber and his comments. Her meaning being that somewhere close to the surface of his words was a definite sense that he could talk about such things as he was better. That there was no way he would ever have faced jail of course. Not Stuart. I thought it was a interesting take on the matter. Anyway, to finish my point, I don't actually mind what class or position people hold as long as they are not trying to be someone else, that they are open minded enough and generous in their time for another. Most people fall into cohort but there are ignorant people about. They cannot put themselves into others' shoes.
  14. https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2024-03-25/anti-racism-groups-slam-ignorant-comments-made-by-ex-sporting-director
  15. Have to say Purple, you're one of my favourite posters but I simply can't agree here. I think your points are specious. Norwich City FC is emblazoned against every image of him and in reference to his interview. The club also clearly felt they had to say something, which they have. Maybe if I ever needed a defence lawyer I would be straight in touch with you because you'd make me feel better or that I had done nothing wrong! The technicality argument surely is not a great one to employ is it? That misses the whole point somewhere for me but perhaps I'm responding to the emotions of the footballers who are upset by him rather than damage to our club. I believe damage has been done though. It is very sad we are even discussing it. Right in the middle of a final campaign run in too where we are fighting for a top six place. It is most unfortunate. Wish he had kept his mouth shut or at least waited til after the season. A lot of social media is trending with his name and Norwich City. Even Sky Sports and The Guardian. Edit: now ITV https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2024-03-25/anti-racism-groups-slam-ignorant-comments-made-by-ex-sporting-director
  16. The bread and butter real issues yes. It would be interesting to see what the geographic breakdown is though of that research into attitudes. Living in a leafy area where you never see anyone very different to you might affect you more than in other areas. It's not a high ranking issue for me but is one that needs attention. Which is what Labour has said it will do. And looking at the record under Blair you get a sense of the success. There again, the boats issue has worsened.
  17. And here is the very nub of the governance problem at our club! A right old conflict of interest. Zoe's husband has hit all the papers for the wrong reasons. And it reflects on the club but his wife is a very senior executive. She is her own person and she may actually disagree profoundly with his opinion of the world. She had to drag him through the door in that blanket protest affair. It's all unacceptable...thank goodness when Attanasio finally (fully) arrives.
  18. Indeed yes. His comments about "the Snakepit divorcees" alone told you what he thinks of fans. It was a cover all comment and meant to convey disgust. His further comments about "if 90% isn't good enough" also indicated the way he thinks. His comments now about black footballers is clearly how he thinks. It's not something one can apologise for. You can't take it back as if a slip of the tongue. The Everest thing is another case in point. He wants a challenge. Fine. But why keep talking about it? Just do it. Quietly. He is a brittle man who happens to have done well to become a sporting director at a young age. He has been lionised. Perhaps he is the archetypal alpha male, lording over everyone? I don't know but he clearly has a very big view of himself. That much is undeniable. Yet, that view doesn't appear to have been built on anything solid. Like years of reflection. Some people don't think much of themselves which is unhelpful and caused by many factors. Others think too much of themselves but don't have the ability, yet, to think through that. The wisdom is hard earned. This episode, one of many, may well do him no good in the short term, but after a few years of thinking about himself it will probably do him a power of good. He needs to realise he is like the rest of us. Not much at all at the end of the day. I've never gone with all this praise of the man. Our successful teams did well because of the day to day man management and the players themselves as much as anyone. A SD should be setting the scene in the background, taking a very broad view, like a chairman or senior director in a company. And not front of house explaining how great he is. His comments are a disappointing read (only just got round to reading what this is all about this morning) and I just wish he was a past figure in the club's history. A footnote. But it appears he can't be a footnote.
  19. Yes Bb I can see where you're coming from. Yet, as a few have stated, he has to not upset the chickens too much before the election comes. Don't forget it is a rare event that Labour even gets elected in the last 100 years. He HAS to appeal to the centre ground. Essentially he HAS to appeal in some way to the right of centre press (owned by the billionaires). They still have the ability to influence a national mood. Blair knew that. I posted Will Hutton's view a good while back. I will copy again because it may give you more information? I'm not canvassing here by the way, simply I'm relieved there is what appears to be a decent opposition at last. I liked Corbyn's manifesto better but as a leader I thought he was just not the right person. Possibly a good fit as a lecturer in a university but not leading the country. I'm unaffiliated too, having views that might fit somewhere in every party but not in one. I don't think that uncontrolled immigration for one is a good thing and certainly not where there are vast cultural and religious differences....it may be fine in an academic sense or in an idealist utopia in my head but it doesn't work in practice, in reality. That puts me to the right. I also think we ought to be investing in green energy in a big way and need to re-nationalise in some areas. That puts me to the left. Starmer doesn't seem to inspire but he is likely to be solid. I also think that the last few iterations of the leadership (Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and now Sunak) in the current lot mark some of the worst administrations I have known. Look at all the main economic and social indicators. Everything is in tatters. Water, energy, NHS, trains, local.government, debt levels, pensions, roads, schools, hospitals, international reputation, social care....skills, life expectancy....I posted those 10 graphs recently too. Like you I want not to care too much and just let competent administrators get on with stuff. We had a terrible government that brought in Brexit and then we were unfortunate enough to have them steering us through a pandemic. For these kinds of reason it has made me post more often. It has made me more political and not less. And ultimately I'm for the working man and woman because that's where I have come from and where I feel most comfortable. There have been many decisions and policies that have helped the very well off not the majority of people in the last decade. The country has been sold out. There has been such a lack of investment.Covid didn't help of course but that is just a cover for money being syphoned away. What's worse is the effect over a long period in communities. We've had austerity for far too long and yet look at the national debt, look at defence etc So, in short, I want these bast4rds out. That's me being honest. Sorry for a long reply. Starmer HAS to be an improvement doesn't he? If not, we are in deeper trouble. That article.... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/26/ignore-detractors-keir-starmer-radical-transform-country
  20. The Labour missions are easily researched. I looked a week ago (as I did with Reform's election stuff - plus the Greens) - there are 5 of Labour's main aims. They are costed and they have had to be revised because of the current economic damage caused by the current administration. I agree with both of the posts by Dylan and Creative M. Labour are trying to be electable. They are also presenting as a sobre alternative to what we are currently putting up with. The opinion from the Times I copied is just one view on the managerial approach Labour are taking...given what you've posted before I'm surprised you haven't agreed with the opinion... a serious and cautious approach with very little fanfare and looking at long term change. Or maybe you've liked the boosterism you've seen in this current lot? Though I doubt that too. I'm not sure what you are surprised about really because Labour's approach has been signalled for many, many months. If not longer. Not only that, but posters have many times discussed how Labour are not the radical alternative of old (under Corbyn). Anyway, there is another article from the FT which I also also found interesting (source from the Knowledge, a news aggregator newsletter). Copied below. I guess I have a boring life reading about such stuff, but there we are! This one is about how great the challenges are in tackling big problems. I think on balance I know who I would rather try to tackle them, even though Labour are not perfect.
  21. She is a surprise to meet. She is really tiny in stature and then she has this really strong voice. They make an odd combination really but at the least it makes them interesting. I have never agreed with his views on so many things but on the couple of occasions I have asked him a question by email he replied immediately. In that respect he makes a diligent local MP. As for EM I do like her for her working class roots.
  22. Labour’s plan is deadly dull. I love it. It was encouraging, says Emma Duncan in The Times, to see that Rachel Reeves’s recent Mais lecture drew the ire of both Unite – “one of the most left-wing unions” – and the once-fashionable firebrand Owen Jones. She must be doing something right. The government’s favourite criticism of Labour, echoed by Unite this week, is that they “haven’t got a plan”. But that’s silly. If what’s meant by a “plan” is some “sweeping, radical idea about how to revolutionise the structure of our economy”, that’s not what we need. We have a well-educated workforce, good economic governance and a top-notch services sector. But we’re struggling with threadbare “capital stock” – infrastructure, buildings, factories and so on – and piddling growth. What’s needed is not some grand scheme, but small, sensible – yes, boring – tweaks. The most important part is the “supply side” stuff, designed to free up businesses to grow without increasing public spending. Margaret Thatcher did it by crushing the unions and making it easier to hire and fire. Reeves’s equivalent is making modest reforms to the planning system to let firms “build more stuff” – both houses, to relieve the housing crisis, and commercial space, to let businesses expand. She is also wise to continue Jeremy Hunt’s sensible adjustments to the way pension funds work – to encourage more investment in British firms – and to devolve skills budgets to local authorities who know better than central government what shortages they have. Boring as they are, these suggestions should boost growth while costing taxpayers “not a bean”. That’s her plan. “To me, its very dullness is rather exciting.”
  23. You've posted about a very serious and profound subject TR. I took lost a dear friend 9 years ago...I'm serious when I say that I reckon he was the nicest and best bloke in the whole of the Leeds area. I doubt there was one person who thought differently too. Someone who took interest in others and someone I could never be like because he had all the charm and humanity. But, he was unsettled beneath and his passing will be felt for all the rest of the lives for his two daughters. It's why I harp on (a lot) and have done over the years, about being kind to people. You don't know what is going on. In terms of this forum, there's no point in getting upset about any views expressed by others. Views are nothing, not real in any physical sense. A view doesn't endure. But... it's our judgement about them that can upset us. When I remind myself of that when I need to, I realise the answer is there. Unfortunately some folk can worry forever and the issue becomes a big trouble for them. Our local farmer (getting on now) spent a good quarter of an hour just outlining his life and worries the other day...I've never spoken to him before. It was obviously playing heavily in his mind and I was just on my dog walk. Is it unmanly to wish people were kind? Or to call for it? I think it's the opposite actually, because you're taking on responsibility and a risk. You're showing some balls. People like to label others so they can feel okay in themselves I sometimes assume. I could be wrong. They appear to take on a tribal position and then find an enemy in anyone who thinks differently. That's what I've learned from this forum (20 years in April I will have been a poster). If ever there have been arguments too and I've tried to intervene because I love seeing harmony between people, even those who feel very differently about the world, I've always failed. Yet, I never think of giving up on doing that despite my obvious lack of influence. Anyway, just some thoughts your post has given me and I really appreciate a poster bothering to do it. I see by the reactions also that I'm not alone. Thanks.
  24. I watched this the other day after hearing it on Hannah French's slot. Love the cellos! Julia Kent might be worth a listen too - she sometimes does darker pieces, often using loops. Edit: I will copy one here.
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