A lot of people see it as needlessly dragging a conflict on, but NATO (probably) knows what it’s doing, and has had plans for scenarios like this for years. Russian escalation in the region isn’t exactly new, and it’s the sort of campaign that NATO as a group will define its legitimacy on.

I’m sure that if both sides wanted to hurt the other they’d do so, NATO especially so - but to both sides it’s ultimately a game. NATO will flirt with weapons, and Russia will throw citizens at the problem and use grief/loss to restore the “fatherland”. It’s why I don’t see an end to the conflict for as long as Putin is in power.

I don’t like weed. I’ve tried it throughout my teens, but left it there.

With that said, it’s amazing to me that we’re still having the same conversations around drugs. Decriminalise EVERYTHING! Ensure what is on the market is clean, drive the costs down to remove criminals from the market, and dedicate every police force to protecting those on the bottom rung of the drug ladder.

I read a book from a former officer a while back, where he’d spent two years working on infiltrating a drug network. It was successful, and they not only shut down a major network of drugs, but arrested around 100 people, and removed tons of illegal weapons from the market, and arrested several people in the network known to police for being involved in several murders. They believed that the drug market in the UK during this time had been disrupted “for three hours”. That was all it took for another gang to take over, and apparently it’s those successes that cause a lot of people to leave drug enforcement - after all, what’s the point?

There almost seems to be zero benefit to drug criminalisation, other than “old conservatives hate it”.

Japan are not world-class. They’re a solid team, but despite being ranked in the top 20 they’re probably still considered weaker than many of the teams below them.

With that said, I always have a soft spot for countries that push players that play domestic football outside of Europe and in their own country. I’ve been on a Japan kick since Yu Hirakawa joined Bristol City on loan.

Be that as it may, the man has influence and it would be incredibly foolish to discount this because he’s a fucking moron. Sadly, the world is full of extremely incompetent billionaires, and they hold a shocking amount of influence over the world, whether it’s through collusion on layoffs, enforcing RTO in tandem, cutting green initiatives within a month of each other, etc.

TSA (obviously) isn’t a thing outside of the US. Airport security does suck, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it is when flying to America.

If flying during a quiet period, with all the right checks and few queues you can get through security in 5 mins. When it really fucking sucks is when it’s busy, something airports should be able to deal with easily.

We can do that while we’re waiting at the bar for our next pint.

In many ways this gives Putin an out from this incredibly stupid war that he created.

Agree terms with Ukraine, peacefully take back the land they lost, declare victory, and stop this war for good. He can save face and maintain power until he dies while Russia stays a pariah to the world. Ukraine will still naturally join NATO, but without the threat of war Russia can just sit on what it owns.

IMO, this is the ideal time for some final sanctions on Russia by heavily fining all western companies that don’t leave within 30 days. Cut them off entirely, and then bring them to the table to negotiate the return once Putin is gone. I don’t see a progressive candidate entering Russian politics any time soon, but a non-KGB candidate without ties to the Kremlin might find power by having the west on their side - they just need to stay away from radiation and balconies.

But that’s not where the average voter is. It’s not really where any of their constituents are.

Boxing is a combat sport. While she is a fucking idiot for suggesting anything was incorrect, if there is anything she is it’s not a coward.

She is just not very good at boxing. She got beat handily by a woman, and a woman that will likely go pro and absolutely dominate for as long as she wants.

Same in Bristol. This was their second attempt to try, and this time most of them just got back on the coach/train after seeing 1500 anti-fascists out in song.

Admittedly, it was petrifying to see part of town boarded up in the morning out of fear of damage, but ultimately what we saw was a symbol of defiance against the right.

I switched from .local to .honk and I’m never looking back.

Cool, thanks for sharing. I know that the criteria is sketchy at best, but interesting to see where the line is drawn, and how this is still a “problem” that the IOC are facing.

The police have a lot to answer for here.

During peaceful protests they are happy to storm in and arrest people for simply protesting, whereas people looking to destroy property and attack people are being greeted by half a dozen officers. Here in Bristol protestors were held back by a counter-protest, because there were THREE officers at the scene.

Counter this with the riots that took place here after the police stormed a peaceful protest, and the police worked tirelessly to find anyone and everyone involved - in some cases rightly so. If the same effort isn’t placed here then something is fundamentally wrong.

Who have they disqualified?

Alongside the rest of the comments…imagine being an elite-level volleyball player, being told that you’re going to represent your country, and then being asked to partner up with a nonce.

Afraid that I have to agree. It’s nowhere near as extreme an example, there was a case brought against the West Midlands Police a few years ago where the cops intimidated a bunch of fans from Bristol, detained them, and forced them back on the train to Bristol. It took four years to settle the case, and the only way they were able to be taken seriously at all was because a serving policeman in Bristol felt inclined to back them, despite warnings not to do so by his peers.

It’s the classic “who polices the police” scenario, and sadly the charges are often so painfully low that it feels like the best way to commit a crime and get away with it is to join the police…

I remember when Biden was picked as Obama’s VP, and everyone laughed because he’s known to make gaffes like this.

Obviously, there’s a lot of scrutiny on him, but let’s not pretend it’s all because he’s too old. It’s just Biden being Biden, and while he’s probably too old for the job, that’s what happens when you don’t impose upper age limits…