Vesper

we are a clown show

that is going to be a red card

no one of any remote import dubbed him that he was demoted to THIRD string at Brighton because he was shit with the ball

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Donald Trump warns World Cup games may be moved from ‘dangerous’ cities US president’s threat focused on Seattle and San Francisco Draw for 2026 tournament takes place on 5 December https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/sep/26/donald-trump-warns-world-cup-games-may-be-moved-from-dangerous-cities Donald Trump has warned that he will move matches from next summer’s World Cup away from host cities he deems to be dangerous. The US president said he was going to make sure San Francisco and Seattle were safe, adding that the cities were “run by radical left lunatics who don’t know what they’re doing”. Seattle’s Lumen Field is due to host six matches at the finals, with Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara – an hour away from San Francisco – doing likewise. Trump has again threatened to send federal troops into Chicago, having done so in Los Angeles and Washington DC. He pledged that Chicago would be made safe for the World Cup. The city is not hosting games. “If any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup ... because they’re playing in so many cities, we won’t allow it,” said the 79-year-old. “We’ll move it around a little bit. But I hope that’s not going to happen.” The draw for the World Cup – which will be co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico – takes place in Washington DC on 5 December.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6651432/2025/09/26/premier-league-predictions-md6/ Chelsea vs Brighton & Hove Albion If you’re a Brighton fan, do you resent Chelsea for continually raiding you in the transfer market? Do you take pride in seeing your players move on to — in theory — bigger and better things at Stamford Bridge? Or do you find it funny? It’s probably a combination of all three, but closer to amusement. Even though Moises Caicedo has lived up to his billing as one of the best defensive midfielders around, Marc Cucurella has rediscovered his rhythm and Joao Pedro has shown flashes of his obvious talent, those three sales alone earned Brighton a minimum of £220million. That’s before you look at £25m for Robert Sanchez (back from suspension after his wild red card at Manchester United), the mystifying loan signing of Facundo Buonanotte (ineligible to face his parent club) and £20m-plus compensation for Graham Potter and his staff. (Hang on, did Potter really manage Chelsea?). It’s real “Ah, how is my favourite customer today?” stuff. There are people who admire Chelsea’s hyperactive approach to player trading. I’m not among them. Chelsea 1-1 Brighton

Gianfranco Zola: Why is the former Chelsea player driving a buggy at the Ryder Cup? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6657852/2025/09/24/gianfranco-zola-ryder-cup-buggy/ There was a surprise famous face featured on Team Europe’s official 2025 Ryder Cup photograph at the Bethpage Black course this week. The former Italy and Chelsea striker Gianfranco Zola squeezed onto the end of the line-up as visitors Europe stepped up their preparations for the event, which starts on Friday a few miles east of New York City. Zola, a keen single-figure-handicap golfer having retired from football, has landed an unusual role as the official buggy driver for Europe’s vice-captain Francesco Molinari, a fellow Italian. The 59-year-old will be on the course during the three days of the tournament to offer support as the Europeans attempt to win the Ryder Cup on American soil for the first time in 13 years. For those who don’t know… who exactly is Gianfranco Zola? Zola is a Premier League icon from his time at Chelsea, where he spent seven years between 1996 and 2003, helping the west London club win two FA Cups, a League Cup and the now-defunct UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. The diminutive 5ft 6in (168cm) forward was one of the most glamorous of the league’s early foreign imports following its launch in 1992, having made his name in Italy’s Serie A at clubs including Napoli and Parma, as well as with his homeland’s national team. Zola was a hugely popular figure at Chelsea (Ben Radford/Getty Images) He was part of the Italy squad who lost the 1994 World Cup final to Brazil in a penalty shootout and made 35 appearances at international level from 1991-97. Zola finished his playing career back on his home island of Sardinia with Cagliari from 2003-05 before retiring and becoming a manager. In England, he managed West Ham United, Watford and Birmingham City, as well as brief spells back at Cagliari and Qatar’s Al Arabi, but has been out of football since leaving his role as Chelsea assistant manager after a year in summer 2019. What is his job at this year’s Ryder Cup? Zola’s designated task is to drive the buggy for Molinari, who himself made history in 2018 when he won The Open to become golf’s first Italian major champion, around the course on Long Island, New York state. Molinari, 42, has been a member of three Ryder Cup-winning teams as a player and is one of five vice-captains selected for this event by current skipper Luke Donald, a list that also includes his elder brother Edoardo. Francesco also held a vice-captain’s role at the previous Ryder Cup in 2023, when Europe defeated the Americans 16½ 11½ near Rome. It was the first time the event has been played in Italy. Over the years, Ryder Cup vice-captains — usually veteran pro golfers who act as mentors to the younger players on the current roster and keep the captain up-to-date with on-course developments across its three days of often dramatic action — have been mocked as glorified buggy drivers themselves, so the fact they now have drivers to do that for them is another quirk of the modern tournament. Zola, right, prepares for his duties at Bethpage (Carl Recine/Getty Images) As no more than a keen amateur golfer, Zola will simply be there to drive his compatriot around the 18 holes at Bethpage, although it would be no surprise if some of the football fans on the Team Europe squad seek him out during the week for advice. How did he get the job? Purely through his connection and friendship with Molinari. The pair got to know each other in 2009, when Molinari moved to London and Zola was managing West Ham, who play their home games in the east of the UK capital. “Zola is a really nice guy, so I got attached to West Ham when he was managing there,” said Molinari in a 2010 interview. Though Molinari has since relocated to the U.S. state of California, the two have remained close. “He is a good friend of mine and there was no other choice,” Molinari said. “He has moved on but I have stuck with the Hammers.” The pair have previously reunited at Ryder Cups in an informal capacity, but this week Zola takes on a more involved role, inside the ropes separating the teams from fans and media, alongside Molinari. Is Zola a good golfer himself? He’s played to a single-figure standard since retirement and is a regular at Pro-Am tournaments and charity days. He played in last year’s Icons of Football golf series in a Team World vs Team England event in Bangkok, Thailand. Zola is a good golfer himself (Phil Inglis/Getty Images) Is this the first example of a footballer getting involved in the Ryder Cup? No, a number of figures from the game have cheered on the golfers in previous years and some have even been granted access to the team room. In 2014, Sir Alex Ferguson, the legendary former Manchester United manager, gave a pep talk to Team Europe’s players ahead of the match at Gleneagles in his native Scotland. “For me, being a Manchester United fan, it was the highlight of the week so far,” said Rory McIlroy, a member of the European team then and now, at the time. Two years ago in Rome, Welsh hero Gareth Bale and Ukraine great Andriy Shevchenko — both low-handicappers — played in the curtain-raiser to the main event, a celebrity all-star match, and interacted with the players. Several Ryder Cup golfers have formed friendships with footballers, most notably Tyrrell Hatton, who makes his fourth straight Ryder Cup appearance this year, and former Liverpool and Manchester City player James Milner, with the two Englishmen being mutual supporters of each other’s sporting careers.

Cole Palmer to miss Chelsea’s next three games due to groin injury https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6664770/2025/09/26/cole-palmer-injury-Chelsea-tosin-fofana/ Enzo Maresca has revealed Cole Palmer will not play again for Chelsea until after the international break due to his groin problem. Palmer aggravated the injury, which also ruled him out of two games last month, during the 2-1 defeat at Manchester United on Saturday and was substituted in the 21st minute. Maresca has confirmed he will not have an operation, but it means Palmer is going to miss Premier League games at home to Brighton and Liverpool as well as the Champions League fixture against Benfica. “We decided to protect Cole a little bit in terms of not making the injury worse,” Chelsea’s head coach said on Friday. “We have decided to rest him for the next two, three weeks, probably until (after) the next international break just to see if, with rest, he can be able to recover 100 per cent and be completely fit after the international break. “I don’t think he needs surgery, it is just about managing the pain in his groin. With the amount of games it is something that can happen, it is the reason why we are trying to be a little more conservative with him. “We said that with Cole we are a better team but we also said we need to play games without him. We are going to find a solution. We are not going to play with 10 players for sure! We will find a different solution.” What You Should Read Next No Cole Palmer is no longer a problem for Chelsea Enzo Maresca now has a wealth of attacking options available - he should be able to keep Cole Palmer fresh for the season ahead Maresca also revealed Axel Disasi will not be called into the squad despite Tosin Adarabioyo and Wesley Fofana adding to Chelsea’s injured centre-back list. Disasi has been told to train away from the main group, along with Raheem Sterling, after failing to get a move in the summer. Tosin has sustained a calf injury that will keep him out until after the international break, while Fofana is out for 12 days because of concussion and will not feature in the next three matches either. Levi Colwill is already on the sidelines for several months due to an ACL injury in his left knee. When asked if he will turn to Disasi to help fill in, Maresca replied: “There is not any information from the club to consider that so at the moment he is not an option.” Fofana was accidentally punched in the face by goalkeeper (and teammate) Filip Jorgensen within the first few minutes of the 2-1 victory over Lincoln City on Tuesday night. Chelsea followed concussion protocols and Fofana played the rest of the match, however, the Frenchman felt the symptoms following the final whistle. How Chelsea might cope without Palmer Being without Palmer is always going to be a blow for Chelsea. For starters, he scored four goals in the corresponding fixture at home to Brighton last year, when they won 4-2. Breaking down Benfica, who are bound to set up defensively with former Chelsea head coach Jose Mourinho at the helm, will not be easy on Tuesday night. Then comes the visit of champions and current Premier League leaders Liverpool. You always need your best players against them. Maresca obviously says he will find a solution, but that is easier said than done. Joao Pedro likes to operate there but with Liam Delap unavailable due to a hamstring injury, there is a question over who would then play up front. Enzo Fernandez has operated as a No 10 for Chelsea, while Brazil international Estevao Willian spoke openly before completing the move from Palmeiras in the summer that he wants to play there. Estevao, 18, is an option to replace Palmer in Chelsea’s line-up (Visionhaus/Getty Images) Facundo Buonanotte is on loan from Brighton so cannot play against his parent club, but will be available for the next two matches. One of the reasons he was signed was to provide cover for Palmer. Finally, Andrey Santos can be pushed further forward, although is more likely to play in a deeper position to allow Fernandez to play further up the pitch. Maresca has used Palmer in some different positions to the side of No 10 so it is not totally unusual for him not to be there specifically. Chelsea will still hope they come through this schedule unscathed and that Palmer will be over his issue once and for all next month.

Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen have both had tough weeks. Do Chelsea stick or twist? https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6661754/2025/09/26/Chelsea-goalkeepers-robert-sanchez-filip-jorgensen-analysis/ With a growing outfield injury list including Cole Palmer, Liam Delap and Romeo Lavia, Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca could really do without questions over his goalkeeper. Unfortunately for him, Robert Sanchez put paid to that when he was sent off after just four minutes for taking out Bryan Mbeumo in Chelsea’s 2-1 loss to Manchester United on September 20. It was the earliest red card a Chelsea player has ever received in the Premier League. The Spain international can be a fantastic shot-stopper and was named the tournament’s best goalkeeper when Chelsea won the Club World Cup this summer. But the 27-year-old’s errors — including five that led to goals in the Premier League last term — can be costly. “On his day, Sanchez is the best of the best,” The Athletic’s goalkeeping expert Matt Pyzdrowski says. “It’s just his consistency. Once you get labelled as a goalkeeper with a mistake in you, it sticks — whether it’s true or not.” His errors have already cost him the trust of some supporters. The question is whether they could cost him his place in this Chelsea team. Last season, after poor positioning saw Sanchez lobbed by Erling Haaland in January’s 3-1 defeat by Manchester City, back-up Filip Jorgensen played the next four league games. On Saturday, Chelsea face Sanchez’s former club Brighton & Hove Albion. With Sanchez serving his one-match suspension during Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie at Lincoln City, Jorgensen had a free chance to audition for that league clash. Sanchez fouls Mbeumo at Old Trafford (Alex Livesey/Getty Images) It was unconvincing. Jorgensen fumbled several high claims, the most notable coming after 31 minutes when he missed a punch in the box and only an accidental block by Lincoln’s Sonny Bradley stopped team-mate Freddie Draper from opening the scoring. Chelsea came back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 and progress to the third round, but Jorgensen saw multiple errors go unpunished. It served as a reminder to Sanchez’s naysayers that, as frustrating as he can be, replacing him is difficult. Chelsea are unlikely to pursue a goalkeeper in January. They are reluctant to block the pathway of Mike Penders, who is on loan at Strasbourg and held in high regard at Stamford Bridge. There was interest this summer in a potential cut-price deal for Mike Maignan as he entered the final year of his AC Milan contract, but Chelsea walked away over the valuation. Maresca’s system demands a goalkeeper who is comfortable on the ball, capable of stepping up to help build-up play, and happy sweeping behind a high line. This season, that person needs to be Sanchez or Jorgensen. “Both are extremely athletic,” says Pyzdrowski. “Both of them can make some ridiculous saves, with really good reflexes. “The biggest difference is that Sanchez is much more offensive in his play. This does not just mean with the ball at his feet — it’s the positioning that he takes. “He is someone who likes to come and command his box. Even with free-kicks that are launched into his box, he loves claiming them. Jorgensen is much more conservative.” Jorgensen, 23, developed at Villarreal, where Pyzdrowski says box dominance is less important. He has had to adapt significantly since arriving at Chelsea in the summer of 2024 for €24.5 million (then £20.7m, $26.6m). He has had only one full senior season as No 1, and that showed against Lincoln. “There was a lot psychologically going on because he wanted to show in this game that he’s the guy, because he wants to play against Brighton,” Pyzdrowski says, “and it was a little bit of wanting something too much. You saw that in some of his decision-making.” Below, late in the game, he makes an ambitious leap to intercept the ball before Justin Obikwu can reach it. He fails to punch it clear and is fortunate that Francis Okoronkwo, who is left facing an open net, cannot get his shot on target. “He had almost made up his mind before the ball was served that he wanted to go out and try to attack it, and mistakes earlier probably played a role in that,” says Pyzdrowski. “He wants to prove he can do the job.” “I don’t know how many balls they put into the box — throw-ins, free-kicks, crosses — so I think it was not easy for any goalkeeper,” Maresca said after Tuesday’s match. “For Filip, it was the first (full) game of the season, so not easy.” Maresca confirmed on Monday that the Denmark international was promised minutes in all competitions this season. Last term, three of Jorgensen’s league outings were against struggling Southampton and Ipswich Town, indicating Maresca is willing to build his experience against weaker teams. However, Jorgensen’s performances to date — which included a mistake to allow Aston Villa a late winner in February — cast doubt on his suitability to replace Sanchez. Some fans see having Sanchez in the net as an inherent risk. But it is a risk they have to take. Pyzdrowski says: “Sanchez needs the backing: ‘You’re our guy, regardless of what happens. Go out and play your game.’ “He’s very much a Premier League starting goalkeeper. You can question whether or not he’s good enough for Chelsea, and that’s a question that Chelsea are going to have to answer themselves.”

Fan View: I was a HUGE backer of the model until the summer window This is a big turnaround, let me explain why.... https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/fan-view-i-was-a-huge-backer-of-the A couple of fan view articles today written by myself but honing in on some very important comments written by community members on our site. Last season, one community member called Billy was always a very positive voice in the the fan base. I often had disagreements with him and I know many others did too. He was even positive throughout our really bad period after Christmas last season. I’m never here to tell people how to think and I will always welcome other opinions to my own. But for me at that point, I could only see gloom. I prefer to be more balanced myself but I will forever respect all views, especially on this site. Billy has done articles for this site before as well and he is someone I fully respect. Well, fast forward almost a year, and Billy’s views are changing - something I never thought I would see and something that the ownership should be VERY concerned about. Because when backers of the project, even those who had been backers through the toxic times, are now having more than doubts about it all, you have to be worried. Billy replied to a comment on the live blog yesterday… He said: “I was a huge backer of the model/project until this summer, I really really thought this summer would be different but it wasn’t. The hype around the club hadn’t been that high since we won the CL in 2021, we’re the current world champions. Chelsea needed to sign a few needle movers & depth but instead just reverted back to signing the same types of players & ultimately replacing players further along in their development with rawer/younger players - it’s like the directors constantly think we have to move backwards to move forwards - every summer feels like an overhaul & we’re going nowhere fast with the constant amount of business we do, especially when you’re not really improving the squad in terms of quality. Just feels like they’re constantly gambling... “How anyone can say with their chest they’re confident the likes of Gittens, Garnacho, Delap, Hato etc will still be here in a year or 2 years time I don’t know - will probably just be replaced with another player with potential. Whose making way for Quenda in the summer? Neto? Means he only managed 2 years before being shipped off... “I just want a bit of continuity in the squad, we have an entire new crop of attackers this summer so i’m not surprised we look blunt going forward.” Billy, I concur! I didn’t think I’d ever agree as much with a comment you have posted, but this is spot on and what I have always feared and doubted about this project. Whether it comes good or not, and I still think it will eventually, nobody can doubt what Billy and others are thinking with these points above, in my view. Why couldn’t we do both, the here, now, and the future? I’ll never understand it.

Reform on brink of outright majority at next election, major new poll says Disastrous polling for Labour comes amid growing questions over Keir Starmer’s leadership of the party https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/reform-uk-nigel-farage-keir-starmer-polling-b2834138.html Nigel Farage is on track to become Britain’s next prime minister, with a major new poll showing the party is close to having enough support to form a majority government if an election were held today. The seat-by-seat YouGov poll, the second such poll since the election, indicates the party has extended its lead over Labour, significantly increasing Mr Farage’s chances of entering Downing Street in 2029. It suggests Reform would increase its MPs from just five to 311, making it the largest party in a hung parliament and just 15 seats short of the 326 needed for an outright majority. In June, the last time YouGov conducted a seat-by-seat poll, it put Reform on track to have 271 MPs. The multi-level regression and post-stratification poll (MRP) showed Labour would lose 267 of the seats it won in 2024, putting the party on just 144 MPs. This is down from the 178 MPs YouGov predicted they would win in their last MRP poll. There would also be a significant number of cabinet casualties, with ministers Bridget Phillipson, Ed Miliband, Lisa Nandy, John Healey, Jonathan Reynolds, Emma Reynolds, Pat McFadden, Wes Streeting and Yvette Cooper all at risk of losing their seats. Writing in The Times in the wake of the polling, pollster Sir John Curtice issued a stark warning, saying Labour MPs have “every reason to fear being swept away in a tsunami of unpopularity that would be every bit as damaging as that which engulfed the Conservatives last year”. The poll shows that 231 Labour seats would be lost to Reform, 26 would be lost to the SNP, and the remaining 10 would be split between the other parties. The Tories would also face a disaster scenario, being left with just 45 MPs, the poll showed – putting them behind Reform UK, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, which the poll put at 78 MPs. This is a marginal improvement from the 72 seats they won at the general election. Meanwhile, the SNP would win 37 seats, the Greens would win seven, and Plaid Cymru would win six. The disastrous polling for Labour comes amid growing questions over Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership of the party, with voters increasingly feeling that Labour has so far failed to get a grip on the problems facing the country. There are now an increasing number of Labour MPs looking to Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham as a possible successor to the prime minister. This week, Mr Burnham said Labour MPs are privately urging him to challenge for the Labour leadership, accusing Downing Street of creating a “climate of fear” and that “wholesale change” was needed to see off the “existential” threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. It came as Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who has been an outspoken ally of Sir Keir since he took over as leader, refused to say he has full confidence in the prime minister. But speaking to regional media, Sir Keir insisted he would lead Labour into the next election, saying he has been “very clear that this is a project of national renewal”. “I’m very clear that that is a 10-year project. I led from the front into the last election. I’ll lead from the front into the next election,” he told ITV Meridian. The PM also dismissed the “personal ambitions” of Mr Burnham and seemed to attack his potential leadership rival’s economic agenda by drawing parallels with Liz Truss. Speaking to BBC North West, Sir Keir said: “I’m not going to get drawn into commenting on the personal ambitions of the mayor, but I do want to be really clear about our fiscal rules because economic stability is the foundation stone of this government. “It was three years this week ago that we had the Liz Truss experiment where she abandoned fiscal rules, in her case for tax cuts, and the result was a disaster for working people. “The same would be true if you abandoned fiscal rules in favour of spending. And I’m not prepared to ever have that inflicted on working people again.” If the latest YouGov polling materialised at an election, it would leave Reform able to form a majority government with the Conservatives. But Labour would be unable to form a majority even if it were to agree a pact with the Liberal Democrats, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens. Mr Farage has previously said Reform has “no intention in forming coalitions with the Tories at any level” because “the Tories broke Britain nationally for 14 years, and their councils continue to break local communities with the highest taxes ever and worst services”. The MRP poll, which surveys political support at a constituency level, was based on a survey of more than 11,000 people.

Chelsea are suffering from a very specific defensive tactic by their opponents https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6656268/2025/09/24/Chelsea-tactics-enzo-maresca-problem/ The sluggish start, followed by a second-half spark. Long throw-ins, pedestrian approach play, even the red and white stripes. Chelsea fans had seen this film before. An unconvincing 2-1 win over League One Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday presented some alarming similarities to a disappointing 2-2 draw with Brentford in the Premier League earlier this month, as Enzo Maresca once again tasked his young, second-string side to get the job done. He could have few complaints after a poor opening 45 minutes, comprehensively out-shot and out-fought by Michael Skubala’s third-tier side. Maresca accepted as much in his post-match press conference, claiming that he was “worried” about Lincoln’s set-pieces and aerial ability before the game. “We already knew exactly what to expect; long balls, free kicks, throws into the box. We struggled a bit in the first half.” But a more pressing concern will have emerged from ongoing issues in their in-possession shape, with Chelsea once again finding it difficult to navigate a recurring defensive ploy designed to block out their preferred route up the pitch. Much like at Brentford, where Igor Thiago followed Moises Caicedo across the pitch during build-up, Chelsea were faced with a towering centre-forward, Freddie Draper, man-marking their deepest midfielder when their centre-backs had the ball. Andrey Santos found himself in that No 6 role at Lincoln, and while the Brazilian did little wrong when the ball came his way, often keeping it moving as neatly as he could, he frequently found himself crowded out and unable to progress the ball effectively to his more advanced teammates. It required more movement into space from Facundo Buonanotte, Enzo Fernandez and Malo Gusto higher up the field. But they struggled for long periods of the first half to shake off their own markers, often wide centre-backs jumping from the Lincoln back five and applying pressure as the passes came in. “We had a 5-diamond-1, and we made sure Freddie looked after their holding midfielder,” confirmed Skubala after the game. “Our No 8s had to be really aggressive and when they jumped, our centre-backs did so at the same time.” It’s a template that teams are using repeatedly to frustrate Maresca’s team — Crystal Palace operated similarly in their 0-0 draw on the opening day of the Premier League season. It begs the question; what can Chelsea do differently to help them create space against compact, back-five sides? At Brentford, it was a raft of half-time substitutions that helped to turn the tide. In their maiden Premier League starts for the club, both Buonanotte and Jorrel Hato seemed hesitant to drift too far from their positions within Maresca’s structural framework in the first half, making it easy for the opposition to block the passes into them, as shown below. Marc Cucurella’s introduction at the break — a dynamic mover when he tucks into midfield, happy to dart out wide or stretch play with runs in behind — helped hugely. As did that of Cole Palmer, Chelsea’s talisman and best player when it comes to finding pockets of space. More adventurous off-ball movement will come with the likes of Hato and Buonanotte, as they grow in confidence and gain precious experience in their new roles against high-physicality sides. But for now, as Palmer grapples with a groin injury, and Maresca looks to keep the team fresh, Chelsea may continue to look a little stale against teams who man-mark the deep midfielder, simply due to some of their more inexperienced players needing time to find their feet in such demanding roles further up the pitch. Though Maresca did find a solution at Lincoln it remains to be seen if it can translate to the Premier League. Chasing the game, Chelsea took a risk and committed an extra man to midfield, pushing both Gusto — as they did in the first half — and Hato further forward during build-up. It left only two defenders back if Chelsea lost the ball, but against a lower-quality side, it was a chance that Maresca was willing to take. We can see the confusion it caused in the Lincoln press below. While in the first half, Draper simply had to stick to Santos while his teammate pushed on, he now needed to ask for support from his midfield with an extra player between the lines to pick up and no-one available to put pressure on the ball. In those moments of hesitation, Fernandez dropped into midfield to offer for the pass, before whipping a pass into the space created by the Lincoln midfielder pushing on. In the end, the solution was a logical one, as Maresca brought another player closer to the man-marked Santos to give the opposition more to think about between their defensive lines. That said, it did leave Maresca’s side even more vulnerable to the counter, and were it not for the game state — trailing in a contest that they ought to be winning — the manager may not have been so bold. Another solution for Chelsea to stretch the opposition is to ask their forward players to make more runs in behind the defensive line. With Liam Delap in the side, a strong, direct centre-forward who thrives when it comes to channel running and powerful off-ball movement, Chelsea can look longer and bypass the blocked-up midfield. Without him, there is Joao Pedro, who more often likes the ball to feet, while Tyrique George was unable to trouble the Lincoln centre-backs in the first half with any darts into the space in behind. It all leaves Maresca in a slightly vulnerable position going forward. With Palmer struggling for consistent minutes, and a supporting cast still needing time to familiarise themselves with the system, there is a pretty robust defensive blueprint to keep this Chelsea side at bay. Not every team will go about it in the same way — Fulham pressed more aggressively when they visited Stamford Bridge before the international break, often locking on man-to-man and cutting off that simple pass into the deepest midfielder with more aggression. However it happens, the point still stands: Chelsea will need to find some more creative routes through the opposition when their favourite supply line into Caicedo or Santos is blocked.

Why Raheem Sterling didn’t leave Chelsea – and what’s happening now https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6651696/2025/09/25/raheem-sterling-Chelsea-where-what-transfer/ A picture on social media goes viral. The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) gets involved. Enzo Maresca talks about his father’s career as a fisherman. Raheem Sterling’s situation at Chelsea has certainly been getting a lot of attention lately. When the transfer window shut in England on September 1, Sterling was still a Chelsea player. This remained the case after deadline days in the Netherlands (September 2), Turkey and Mexico (September 12) and Portugal (September 15). A final possible option — the Saudi Pro League — ended when its window closed yesterday. It did not come as a surprise to either party. Neither the club nor Sterling wanted it to come to this. Yet the 30-year-old is now facing over three months of training away from the first team at Cobham. Centre-back Axel Disasi is going through the same thing. A further sign, if needed, of just how far out of the picture Sterling (and Disasi) is came on Wednesday when the club published their official squad photograph for the 2025-26 season on their official website/app and he was not in it. Understandably, the focus is centred on Sterling. This was Chelsea’s ‘marquee’ signing of the 2022 summer window, bought from Manchester City for £47.5million (then $57m) and made the highest-paid player at the club with a salary in excess of £300,000 a week. Not so long ago, he was one of the biggest names in English football, having won 10 major honours at Manchester City. He was also probably England’s best player as they reached the final of Euro 2020 (played in 2021 because of Covid-19 restrictions) and voted Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year in 2019. Another measure of his impact came four years ago, when he was awarded an MBE for his work to promote racial equality in sport. Sterling was the marquee signing when he arrived in summer 2022 (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images) So what is going on? Let’s start with Sterling posting a picture on his official Instagram account of the training ground and writing ‘20.21’ (using the 24-hour clock) as a caption to indicate what time he was there. Within a few days, reports then emerged that the players union, the Professional Footballers’ Association, had contacted Chelsea about how Sterling and Disasi were being treated. This is not an unusual step for the PFA to take when players find themselves on the periphery at a football club. It is actually a very common occurrence with the PFA representing players in the Premier League, EFL and the Women’s Super League. But when a player as big as Sterling is involved at such a newsworthy club as Chelsea, it inevitably gets much bigger attention. Nor is the PFA interaction very confrontational. Conversations are cordial, and if anything, the PFA sees its role as just being there to advise on the regulations and check clubs are staying on the right side of them as far as player care is concerned. As Chelsea were providing the duo with coaching sessions and access to facilities at the club’s training ground, there were no major concerns in this department. Perhaps the most significant thing that has taken place since then is that the duo have had a few training sessions with the under-21s. Sources speaking anonymously to The Athletic to protect relationships say that this is all part of a plan put in place to keep the players in shape before trying to secure them a move in January. Chelsea head coach Maresca then had his say on the situation last Friday, saying that real strife was his dad working long hours as a fisherman. While you can understand the point he was trying to make — and there will be fans who will not have too much sympathy for what Sterling and Disasi are going through, given the riches they earn — it did not help defuse the situation. Sterling has been here before. He was part of the fringe group last year, too, after Maresca decided the winger was not part of his plans following the 2024 pre-season tour of the United States. On both occasions, he had to train away from the senior squad along with others who were up for sale or loan. This summer, the group was overseen by loan technical coach Carlo Cudicini, with former under-18s youth coach Ed Brand taking the sessions themselves. Sources speaking anonymously to protect relationships say many of those involved felt there was a better setup to help this time compared to 2024. Many internationals, including Joao Felix, Ben Chilwell, Renato Veiga and Armando Broja, were involved, so standards were high. But that group has since been sold. It was always going to be harder for the individuals left behind. In saying that, Sterling is continuing to work with his own team, as he has done for many years. This includes England’s former lead physical performance coach Ben Rosenblatt. They concentrate on strength and conditioning, ball work and fitness. Sterling has facilities at his London home to do various exercises as well. The extra spare time on his hands means he can be around his children a lot more, watch his eight-year-old son, Thiago, at Arsenal’s academy, and attend the academy sessions at the RS7 Academy that he has set up for young players aged six to 11 in Tolworth. Still, the obvious query football fans will have is why the club or Sterling have not been able to come to a solution to avoid all this. Well, it was never going to be straightforward. The cost is one reason. Even if Chelsea pay a proportion of Sterling’s wages for a loan, like they did at Arsenal last season, it would still be an expense that would put off teams. Indeed, Sterling is one of the reasons the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium soon changed to offering incentivised rather than guaranteed contracts. What You Should Read Next The BookKeeper: Projecting how close Premier League teams are to UEFA’s spending limits Nine Premier League teams are playing in Europe this season which means they must adhere to UEFA's rules or face fines or even a ban Sources close to Sterling, kept anonymous to protect relationships, say the forward did not want a repeat of last summer, when a season-long loan to Arsenal was organised in the final 48 hours before the deadline. There was little time to speak to head coach Mikel Arteta about how he would be used. Of the 28 appearances he made, totalling a mere 1,143 minutes, only 13 were from the start. His form was not great, as a tally of one goal and five assists suggests, yet he did not play consistently. Some European clubs did come in for Sterling earlier in the recent window, although mainly over a season-long loan. But sources close to Sterling say the biggest factor was that he wanted to remain in London, where his family live. Bayern Munich made a late attempt to convince Sterling to join them. It is perhaps not that surprising, given another former Manchester City team-mate — Vincent Kompany — is the head coach. A move for Sterling was raised during discussions with Chelsea over the loan deal for Nicolas Jackson. Some will inevitably question how Sterling can say no to a club that will provide a great opportunity to compete for major honours. But the sources close to Sterling point out that he was reluctant to move his family to Germany, or be away from them, for what could be nine months, especially with little guarantee of featuring regularly. He had a good relationship with Arteta (who worked as Pep Guardiola’s assistant from 2016-2019) from their time together at the Etihad Stadium, yet that did not make a difference regarding game time while at Arsenal. As for a switch to another team in London, there was interest over a loan at various points, but it was never close to formal discussions. Raheem Sterling struggled for game time with Arsenal (Alex Davidson/Getty Images) Sterling will feel he has done nothing wrong because a club that suited his circumstances never materialised. Chelsea will believe they are not the bad guys either, with Sterling having the possibility to join some big clubs and turning them down. So what now? Given that Sterling turns 31 in December and will have gone seven months without a competitive game when the January window opens, the possibility of getting a move then certainly will not be any easier. One option, of course, would be to reach a settlement over his contract, which expires in 2027. The problem here is that Sterling is not going to walk away from around £30m he is due to earn in wages. Who would? That is money that can benefit Sterling’s family for generations. Chelsea are not going to pay him off in full to get rid of him, either, just so he can join someone as a free agent — and benefit from another contract. What club would? Clearly, a compromise has to be reached for that to happen. This is a scenario where neither is the victim nor the villain. Until a resolution is found, there are no winners either.

The Sneakersnstuff x adidas SNS GT II Channels Stockholm’s 90s Rave Flyers https://www.sneakerfreaker.com/releases/sns-adidas-gt-ii-6th-edition-neon-rave/ https://www.sneakersnstuff.com/en-se/products/adidas-sns-gt-ii-jr0263 Sneakersnstuff (SNS) and adidas Originals are back in the booth, dropping the 6th Edition remix of the SNS GT II. Born in 2024, this hybrid model splices the airy netting of the Malmö with the terrace tooling of the Handball Spezial in a mashup that's totally rave-ready. For Fall 2025, the tempo spikes again. The latest GT II pulls its palette straight off Stockholm’s flyer walls of the 90s, where neon gradients and grainy Xeroxes once ruled the night. Purple mesh forms the base, with suede overlays on the T-toe, forefoot and heel counter giving that premium bounce. Leather stripes cut clean across the sides, while the gum sole underneath keeps things grounded like a bassline rumbling through concrete. Comfort doesn’t get left behind either – a padded Eco-tex tongue makes sure your feet survive the sunrise shuffle, and co-branded hits from SNS and adidas pop up everywhere from the tongue to the heel to remind you who’s running the party. Shot by Louis Flashman and styled by Charlotte Moss, the campaign dials into everyday London energy, showing the GT II’s versatility from the rave floor to the high street. As SNS like to say, ‘Great Trainers, Great Tunes' – and we consider this one another banger in the discography. The Sneakersnstuff x adidas Originals GT II 6th Edition lands September 26, exclusively at SNS stores worldwide and online. This fall, it's all about Great Trainers, Great Tunes as we reunite with adidas Originals for the 6th Edition of the SNS GT II. With its hybrid DNA, '90s Stockholm rave scene influence and vibrant colorway, this edition pairs a breathable mesh base with suede overlays on the T-toe, forefoot, and heel counter. A padded Eco-tex tongue and leather detailing on the 3-Stripes and heel accents add contrast, while a durable gum sole grounds the hybrid silhouette. Signature co-branded logos and gold foil branding finish off the bold design. adidas SNS GT II 6th Edition Regular fit Mesh, suede & leather upper Eco-tex tongue Lace closure SNS & adidas co-branding Rubber outsole Article no JR0263 Gender Unisex Color glow pink/bahia glow/glow pink

https://archive.ph/CeiJr

Whilst violence can obviously committed by anyone for any reason, over the past few decades, the right wing side of the political aisle has been the one consistently radicalizing people to believe that the answer to political problems is "Second Amendment solutions," or "the bullet box not the ballot box," or that the way to deal with government overreach is to threaten the government with gun violence. Sharron Angle Floated '2nd Amendment Remedies' As 'Cure' For 'The Harry Reid Problems' Angle: I feel that the Second Amendment is the right to keep and bear arms for our citizenry. This not for someone who's in the military. This not for law enforcement. This is for us. And in fact when you read that Constitution and the founding fathers, they intended this to stop tyranny. This is for us when our government becomes tyrannical... Manders: If we needed it at any time in history, it might be right now. Angle: Well it's to defend ourselves. And you know, I'm hoping that we're not getting to Second Amendment remedies. I hope the vote will be the cure for the Harry Reid problems. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sharron-angle-floated-2nd_n_614003 Catherine Crabill, VA GOP Candidate: We May Have To "Resort To The Bullet Box" Catherine Crabill, the Republican Party's nominee for Virginia's 99th District in the House of Delegates, gave a speech at a recent Tea Party event suggesting that Second Amendment rights could be used to defend the anti-tax movement. The strange assertion was picked up by Virginia political blogger Not Larry Sabato. "We have the chance to fight this battle at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box," Crabill said. "That's the beauty of our Second Amendment rights ... Our Second Amendment rights were to guard against tyranny." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/catherine-crabill-va-gop_n_235459 Trump Says Maybe '2nd Amendment People' Can Stop Clinton's Supreme Court Picks Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump raised eyebrows Tuesday when he suggested there is "nothing" that can be done to stop Hillary Clinton's Supreme Court picks, except "maybe" the "Second Amendment people." "Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment," Trump said to the crowd of supporters gathered in the Trask Coliseum at North Carolina University in Wilmington. "If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know." https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-2nd-amendment-folks-stop-clintons-supreme-court/story?id=41239648 "As the climax of the confrontation approached, militiamen and other Bundy supporters trained their weapons on federal and Las Vegas law enforcement officers." -- SPLC 4 In 10 Republicans Say Political Violence May Be Necessary The mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol may have been a fringe group of extremists, but politically motivated violence has the support of a significant share of the U.S. public, according to a new survey by the American Enterprise Institute. The survey found that nearly three in 10 Americans, including 39% of Republicans, agreed that "if elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves, even if it requires violent actions." https://www.npr.org/2021/02/11/966498544/a-scary-survey-finding-4-in-10-republicans-say-political-violence-may-be-necessa Only the GOP Celebrates Political Violence In March 2020, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives posted a video message addressed to two Democratic political candidates that issued a threatening challenge if they passed laws he did not like. Standing in his Capitol Hill office, Ken Buck of Colorado’s Fourth District gestured toward a rifle mounted on the wall. “I have a message for Joe Biden and Beto O’Rourke. If you want to take everyone’s AR-15 in America, why don’t you swing by my office in Washington, D.C., and start with this one.” At this point, Buck reached for a stars-and-stripes-decorated rifle mounted on the wall. He brandished the weapon, smiled what he must have imagined was a tough-guy smile, and said, “Come and take it.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/pelosi-republicans-partisan-political-violence/671934/

Why MAGA Evangelicals Can Cheer Love and Hate at the Same Time https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/opinion/erika-kirk-charlie-trump-miller.html On Sunday afternoon, Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on Sept. 10, stood in front of tens of thousands of mourners in the State Farm Stadium and millions of others on TV and online and did something breathtaking: She forgave the man who murdered her husband. “I forgive him because it was what Christ did and is what Charlie would do,” she said. “The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.” The crowd cheered. Watching at home, tears came to my eyes. Erika Kirk personified what it means for a Christian to imitate Christ, and she did so in a moment of maximum stress and pain. Much of the rest of the rally was a worship service — full of Christians expressing love for the Kirk family, grief at his death and hope for eternal life in the world to come. But not all of the rally was the same. When President Trump and Stephen Miller, his deputy chief of staff, spoke, the message was different. Speaking of Charlie Kirk, Trump said, “He did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry. I am sorry, Erika.” Miller, for his part, had his own message for his enemies. Addressing those he said were trying to “foment hatred against us,” he said, “You are nothing. You are wickedness. You are jealousy. You are envy. You are hatred.” “You are nothing,” he repeated, “You can build nothing. You can produce nothing. You can create nothing. We are the ones who build.” It wasn’t as though the crowd cheered Erika Kirk and booed or sat silently when Trump and Miller uttered words of pure hatred. The crowd cheered their comments, too. Particularly disturbing was the crescendo as Miller repeatedly declared other people — human beings whose lives are every bit as precious as those of every person in that stadium — to be “nothing.” Many people who saw or read about the rally were puzzled by what they perceived as a contradiction. How can you cheer love and hate at the same time? How can you worship Jesus and cheer such a base and gross description of other human beings, people who are created in the image of God? My reaction was different. Finally, I thought, curious Americans who tuned in got to see MAGA theology more completely — and what they witnessed was the best and worst of MAGA Christianity. The good is still very good. Erika Kirk’s act of forgiveness should be remembered for a very long time. But MAGA Christianity is also rooted in a dangerous distortion of Christian theology, one that motivates otherwise good people to walk a dark and dangerous path. To explain, let’s discuss two of the most famous passages in the Bible — Matthew 5 and Romans 13. Matthew 5 contains the beating heart of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. This is where you find the Beatitudes, such as “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” and “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The Sermon on the Mount contains the command that Erika Kirk repeated on Sunday, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven.” Romans 13 is quite different. In that passage, Paul describes the role of the ruling authorities, and his language is vivid. A ruler, Paul says, “is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” As a result, when you watch MAGA Christians cheering Kirk and Trump, they’ll argue that there’s no contradiction at all. Kirk and Trump occupy different roles, and they’re each fulfilling the roles that God intends. Kirk — as an individual — is loving her enemies. Trump and Miller — as the president and one of his chief advisers — are playing their divinely appointed roles as avengers. There is a kernel of truth here. Properly understood, the passages from Matthew and Romans work together to provide room for both grace and justice. The fact that Kirk forgave her husband’s killer doesn’t mean that the State of Utah should drop murder charges against him. The reality of personal grace does not relieve the state of the obligation to impose punishment and protect its citizens from a dangerous man. Or, in the context of wartime, there is no inconsistency between a soldier, say, forgiving the Japanese officer who mistreated him when he was a prisoner and yet still believing that the United States of America had no choice but to confront and defeat imperial Japan. But to look at Romans 13 as excusing Trump is to make what amounts to an astonishing category error, in two ways. First, Scripture could not be more clear that a ruler is obligated to do justice and that the sword (to the extent it should be wielded) exists to protect the innocent, not to punish your enemies. Consider, for example, the prophet Jeremiah’s admonition to the king of Judah, his officials and even the people who pass through the palace gates: “Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.” Those same themes are present in other verses. For example, in Deuteronomy, Moses describes a God “who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” The objection to Trump isn’t so much that he’s aggressive — Abraham Lincoln was aggressive against the Confederacy, just as Franklin D. Roosevelt was aggressive against the Axis powers — but that he’s malicious and unjust. And when Trump says that he hates his political enemies, it’s a confession that he’s governing through his basest desires. There are endless examples of Trump’s malice, including a recent Truth Social post in which he declared Senator Adam Schiff, Attorney General Letitia James of New York and James Comey, a former director of the F.B.I., “guilty as hell.” He bragged about firing a U.S. attorney who didn’t do his bidding, calling him “a Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job.” But God commands both individuals and nations to care for the poor and to treat foreigners with dignity. From start to finish, the Bible condemns corruption and favoritism. Think of these biblical commands in light of Trump’s actions. Politically biased prosecution decisions and pardons are anathema to any conception of biblical justice; so are brutal deportations without due process; so are violations of constitutional rights; so is killing people without legal justification; so is the abuse of political power for financial gain. Cheering Trump’s hatred is tantamount to cheering Trump’s corruption and abuse because hatred is at the root of his administration’s poisonous tree. But that’s not the only theological mistake. You can’t apply Romans 13 to an American president because an American president is not a Roman emperor. He is not our ruler. Yes, he exercises authority, but the sovereign ruler of the American nation is the American people, and our rule is expressed through elections and — crucially — through constitutional law. Our founders intentionally created a republic that was as different from the Roman Empire as day is from night. When it comes to the obligation to act justly, the buck doesn’t stop with Trump; that responsibility extends to the crowd that cheered for his hate and roared its approval for Miller’s dehumanization project. If MAGA evangelicals cheer Trump’s hate, if they welcome it, if they adopt it and if they vote for it, then they are responsible for it. His malice becomes theirs. The bottom line is that American Christians inherit both Scripture’s individual obligation to love their enemies and the national obligation to do justice. That is a high moral calling. Hatred and dehumanization are not viable moral options for us. There is no scenario in which we can cheer for or empower either one. The opposite is the case. As coequal rulers of this republic — along with people of other faiths or no faith at all — we are not to sit idly by when a president abuses his power. The citizens, including evangelical citizens, have the responsibility to hold Trump accountable for his many grave wrongs. And the singular failure of MAGA Christianity to uphold this biblical obligation has helped unleash Trump’s hatred on our nation. I hope the lasting legacy of Charlie Kirk’s memorial service is found not in Donald Trump’s hate but in Erika Kirk’s grace. But when grace is relegated to the individual sphere while hate is an element of the political project itself, the results will always be dire. And so it is today. Countless Americans are enduring Trump’s vengeance. Far too few experience Christian kindness. It is a great tragedy of our time that so many Christians see Trump’s malice as an instrument of God’s divine plan.

Fascistic Dream Machines: far right supporters know it's AI, but claim it shows a "greater reality" https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/september/fascistic-dream-machines A video making the rounds on far-right Telegram channels begins with the sound of bagpipes and a view of the Scottish countryside as three stern-looking white men in kilts wave the St Andrew’s Cross. The frame cuts to the streets of London, kilts are swapped for trench coats and bowler hats, St Andrew’s flag for St George’s. A red bus rushes past and now we’re on a Welsh moor, the bankers are farmers, and a Red Dragon flag and a herd of sheep trail along behind them. A woman with flaming red hair walks between rows of terraced houses as her male companion waves the Ulster banner. ‘Braveheart girl’, a disembodied voice sings, as a white child is shown wielding an axe in one hand, a knife in the other. (A twelve-year-old Scottish girl was charged with weapons possession in late August. Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk amplified false claims that she was defending herself against ‘migrants’.) Black men, their faces contorted with rage, speed towards the white cliffs of Dover as the voice sings: ‘arrive by boat, demand four star.’ A man with the flag of Pakistan on his shirt reclines in an armchair enjoying a feast. Outside, a homeless white man and his dog are begging on the street. None of these scenes are real and none of these people exist. Everything – the landscapes, the characters, the music – are AI-generated. The people sharing the video and dozens like it are clear-eyed about this. No one is duped: the comments praise the quality of the AI, and users marvel at how well a fake video can represent what they believe. It wasn’t so long ago that experts and media commentators were warning that deepfake technology was becoming so advanced that soon no one would be able to tell fact from fiction. Bad actors would flood information spaces with fake content so convincing that it would lead to violence and stolen elections. False information can lead to real-world harm. When an AI-generated ‘recording’ of Sadiq Khan appeared in 2023 – in which the mayor of London supposedly says ‘I don’t give a flying shit about Remembrance weekend’ – the mayor said it could have led to ‘serious disorder’. The clip was quickly debunked. When the BBC confronted an influencer who spread the recording, he accepted that it was fake but maintained that the clip conveyed some essential truth: ‘It’s what we all know Sadiq thinks.’ Ahead of the far-right rally in London on 13 September, I watched an AI-generated video of Elon Musk discussing the ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory and urging white British people to ‘fight back’. Everyone in the comments knew the video was AI-generated, but they engaged with it and shared it with others, most of whom also knew it was fake. ‘It actually does not matter if this is AI-generated,’ one user wrote. ‘It is describing exactly what is happening in Britain right now to a tee.’ Debunking would have been of little use when, days later, the real Musk was beamed into the march to say more or less the same thing. Last summer, I spoke to dozens of right-wing rioters who took to the streets after the Southport murders. I wanted to see if the Daily Mail – which has spent decades vilifying migrants – was correct in blaming an alleged piece of ‘Russian disinformation’ for the riots. No one I interviewed believed the false narrative that the attacker was a Muslim ‘illegal immigrant’. They correctly identified him as a British-born son of legal immigrants. They wanted all migrants gone. This year, in the run-up to the 13 September rally, I spoke to new recruits on far-right Telegram channels. A woman from Norfolk explained that she shared AI images of young white women cowering under the gaze of leering migrants because ‘you can’t photograph them, or they’ll call you racist.’ A man in Leeds said he was creating images of blonde children smiling and holding signs that read ‘send them back’ because ‘this country belongs to our children, and they can’t speak for themselves.’ A Londoner spreading deepfakes of white women saying they don’t feel safe ‘because of migrants’ told me impatiently that everyone knows the videos aren’t real, but I was missing the point: ‘It’s about us showing everyone what’s really happening.’ (It’s worth noting that for all the talk of women’s safety, these networks get served a shocking number of ads for AI-generated sexbots. Docile and dead behind the eyes, feminised AI bots offer to transform themselves into ‘crushes, exes or colleagues’, inviting users to prod, poke and abuse them.) As Deleuze and Guattari wrote in Anti-Oedipus, fascism in the 1930s was not fundamentally a problem of ignorance: ‘The masses were not innocent dupes; at a certain point, under a certain set of conditions, they wanted fascism, and it is this perversion of the desire of the masses that needs to be accounted for.’ Part of the misunderstanding of the deepfake threat stems from the idea that it is a problem of bad information, rather than a problem of desire (or the material conditions that shape desire). The deepfakes proliferating across far-right social media, some of which were printed off and displayed on banners on 13 September, are fascistic dream machines. They offer clear, illustrative diagnoses of Britain’s alleged problems (Islam, people of colour, migrants), a theory of change (sealed borders, mass incarceration, deportations), and a vision of the future (hegemonic white masculinity, Christian revanchism). This vision is as ugly as the AI images – but it is at least a vision. Keir Starmer, who ran on an ill-defined slogan of ‘change’ and now enjoys a 174-seat majority, seems unable or unwilling to offer a diagnosis of Britain’s current condition or a vision of a better future. A speech is promised later this week, but it’s difficult to imagine the prime minister making a new commitment to more radical change. Ideologically and intellectually impoverished, the Labour Party’s neutrality on the racism of migration debates has allowed the right to set the terms. Perhaps this is why Starmer described his Immigration White Paper, which borrows Brexit sloganeering, as ‘absolutely central to my Plan for Change’. Or why the Home Office is conjuring phantasmic lists of ‘luxury goods’ that asylum seekers, who receive £9.95 per week, are ‘banned’ from buying. Or why Starmer told reporters that he, too, proudly flies the St George’s Cross as an ethnonationalist flag campaign swept across England. It would be easier if the march on 13 September and the affective infrastructure behind it were a problem of bad technology and bad information. But, as the far right’s use of deepfakes shows, fact-checking and correcting discrete lies is as unlikely to push back fascism as ‘stopping the boats’ is to fix the NHS. A more courageous Labour government could have helped with what might be called structural fact-checking: calling out the lie that migration is to blame for Britain’s declining social services and widening wealth gaps; insisting on a more accurate (and necessarily complex) diagnosis; and offering a vision for a better world that takes the need for change seriously. Instead, it chose to pander to fascist aesthetics, which – as Walter Benjamin argued – redirects discontent with the status quo into activities that do nothing to challenge existing configurations of power. Until Labour (or a left alternative) offers a different vision for the future, fascistic deepfakes will continue to be an affective conduit for feelings that do not care about the facts.

Hell NO!

He should be! BlueCo have ratfucked him hard.

ugly win

Jørgensen is shit in the air shambolic

never seen a player with a higher pecentage of moon-shots than Gusto