CHOULO19

Oh GOD! "EL NINO"??! WHY?!! Please not again!

All 3 of what? The first article is reporting a survey done the Centre for Macroeconomics of 33 top economists and finds that over two thirds believe that austerity has harmed the British economy. But 45% didn't vote for austerity. That was not the campaign, was it? Cameron didn't come out and say "vote for us for more austerity". By far the most influential factors in the election were fear of immigration and fear of Scottish people actually having any power over their future. It's not about personal preference on taxes. Taxes even out, ideally, the wealth gap between people. It's the only thing stopping democracy from turning into a plutocracy and ultimately the destruction of said society. A society made from super rich 1% and super poor 99% is not one that can survive. It's in your own best interest to pay tax, and that's without talking about generally accepted morals such as human equality, the value of a human life, the rights for a decent living for all, human compassion...etc. Also, 'defense' budget! You lot have not 'defended' since the second world war. Just call it what it is: It's a war budget so you can go bomb 'unpeople' in other countries so your corporations can make money from oil and weapons. "Defense"...

"Austerity is the way forward"? Really?! I'm sorry, but that's got to be the most depressing political campaign slogan in history! "Vote for us and your future will be full of cuts on education, health care, social services, pensions, and much more!" Austerity doesn't work in times great debts and crisis. That's not my opinion, it is what the vast majority of economists say. Literally just google "Economists on austerity" and you won't find a single pro-austerity economist on the entire page. Here are the top 3 results: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/two-thirds-of-economists-say-coalition-austerity-harmed-the-economy-10149410.html http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/28/top-economist-attacks-tory-austerity-labours-limp-response-paul-krugman http://www.bbc.com/news/business-32143952 It's not even complicated. Austerity is basically using public money which the majority of is paid by regular working people to pay for the debts created all by the very few rich. There is simply a lot more money in clamping down on tax evasions, on stopping banks crimes, in cutting military budget, in stopping weapons 'aids'. But politics is run by the rich and powerful so they somehow convince you that working people should be the ones to pay for the screw-ups of the rich bankers while those bakers keep getting bigger and bigger bonuses. I'm sure I've posted this before but it's the best thing I've heard on the topic: "Bankers getting bonuses after the financial crisis is like Ben Laden getting air miles for 9/11!"

Actually the SNP is the third most popular party in Britain. UKIP only won a single seat in the UK elections NO. You are very evidently NOT aware of anything, really. You just repeat meaningless rhetoric, scare tactics and lies as you apparently do about any thing. I can actually engage your points like the fact that the 'aid' you speak of is actually Palestinian tax money which Israel routinely uses as a weapon to starve Palestinians, or the fact that there has been ZERO construction material allowed into Gaza in over a year and there are still tens of thousands of houses laying in rubble, or the fact that you're so ignorant about this that you summarize the Palestinians in just Hamas who are a mere footnote in this struggle that is a 70 year long aggression on Palestinians and Arabs in general. But from debating previous issues I know you will simply ignore facts and repeat what you've already said, so instead, I'll just answer your question. Yes, me and every human rights organization and every nation on earth apart from US (look up UN votes on the matter) believe that these Palestinian people living this are the oppressed: And the people who did this: Who use those: to "shoot at random civilians for fun" as IDF soldiers admit are the oppressors.

Was just pointing out how your point was coming across. The reason they did not let Greece go bust was because Greece owed the vast majority of it's initial debt to German and French banks and since those banks actually run European finances and politics there was no way that they would allow Greece to go bankrupt and lose their money. So the Troika gave Greece 'bailouts' so that the German and French banks get their money back and at the same time force austerity measures that ensured that those new loans would be paid back not from the Greek banks and corporations that had the biggest hand in the debt in the first place but from ordinary working people. At no point were the European loans handouts to Greece. They were loans with interest rates. The issue is that because Greece is in the Eurozone they could not deal with problems properly because they could not print out more money which is what they would have done if they had their own currency. Instead, the EU forced the austerity measures which are known to not work during with debts. That is a simple financial fact. The country's economy will always shrink faster than the debts. What should have happened is what I posted on the previous page Iceland has done and proved to work. But the EU did not care about the Greek people from the start. They weren't bailing our the Greek people they were bailing out the Greek bankers as well as their own bankers back home. They bailed them out because the Euro and their own economy is liked to Greece's. It was a continuation of how Europe and the US coped with the crisis: bailing out the rich bankers that caused the crisis with the tax money of the already suffering poor and working people. Finally, yes, Greece did already have a debt, but the largest part of its current debt is due to the 2008 financial crisis that was cause by the American and European banks. So the European governments are not guilt free of this crisis.

Yeah, absolutely, this world is owned by the rich and those undeserving poor should learn who's boss! They need to do as they are told in what benefits the rich and be happy about it because after all they themselves are owned by the rich that 'feed them'. And that applies to all levels: be it poor people inside a country or poor countries inside a union. They shouldn't have a right to choice, they shouldn't have a say in what happens. They're fucking poor which is obviously all their fault and can only mean that they can't run anything. The rich and the powerful are the only ones entitled to decide for every one. Brilliant, mate. Couldn't agree more!

Right wing racist, yes. His whole party is based on the idea of building fear from immigration. He almost literally has nothing else about him. Yes, because Palestinians are chasing Jews around the world to eradicate them right? It's not like Zionists came from all over the world to Palestine to take the lands and eradicate the people. Even forget historical context for a second, your genuine belief is that the people besieging a small over-populated land with jets in the sky and tanks and warships all around are the ones being 'eradicated' while the ones trapped inside with little resources and a lot of destruction are the eradicators?! Do you even think, even for a second, about the rhetoric you repeat...

To be fair, Iva often does very well in big matches, even defensively. He's usually more focused and more restricted in his runs. It's usually the smaller teams with the pacy wingers that he has trouble with.

No, it's undemocratic because the financial policies are being decided by banks and not people. The referendum made it very clear that Greek citizens don't agree with those policies. And the people, and I mean actual people, all across Europe have the same disillusionment with financial policies. If it's not parties like Syriza, it's going to be right wing fascists that oppose austerity and gain the people's support. Let's not pretend that the European loans were some sort of charity towards the Greek people. The Troika was first and foremost bailing out German and French banks that Greece owned money to originally, and they're bailing them out using Greek tax money. Because that's what the bailouts and the austerity measures are: class war. The banks fuck up and working class people have to bail them out. It's a war on the working and the poor to preserve the rich. Austerity and bailouts are not viable financial policies, they are ideological policies to keep the few at the top. You say "Die hard reds" but over 60% of the people refused more austerity measures. This isn't about politics anymore, it's about not wanting to continue to suffer for something that is proven not to work all for protecting the rich and the powerful. Iceland, the only country that jailed the criminal bankers, rejected austerity and accepted inflation is the first European country to beat its pre-crisis peak of economic output.

I think Luis should obviously go and Iva should replace Cahill at CB. Then of course we need to sign at least two fullbacks now that Ake is obviously not going to be given a chance to be backup at LB. I don't mind Azpi staying on the left. Obviously he offers more in attack on the right but I tend to find that because of the way he defends, he's a better 1vs1 defender on the left than he is on the right.

He played 26 matches this season starting 20 of them. This isn't a KDB case. In those matches he had a run of 5 or 6 matches back to back when Azpi was suspended and Luis started in all three EPL matches as well as the CL and cup matches between them. He was just no where near as good as Cesar. The "he was key for Atletico" excuse is no longer valid as well. You can give him the benefit of the doubt for a few months but he's had a full season where he was given more than a fair chance to prove himself and has failed. I think Luis next to Terry is bad idea. JT simply doesn't have the pace to cover for him and is never comfortable when he's drown out to the wing. In fact you can see that in the games that Luis did start this season. Suddenly our impermeable left side becomes the more vulnerable one. Listen, I'm no big fan on Iva at RB. He's a CB having to be played out of position and that's never going to change. But Jose wants at least 3 of his back 4 to be physically strong and good in the air, and Iva's belief that he is actually a striker does often give the opposition something to think about because they have an extra body to deal with. For me, this season has proved that Jose was right all along and that Iva-Azpi are our best fullbacks.

Just entertain our hopeless optimism...only until the revolution, of course!

I refuse to have false hope for Bernie. He would be sooo much better than any of the other candidates but that is exactly why he won't make it despite how much I want him to. Because if there is a possibility that you can choose between having cancer, aids or a cold, you'd want to have that choice. Does any of them fulfill the people's hopes? Of course not. But there are differences, even if small that can have serious impacts on peoples lives.

Iva is always targeted by opposition teams because his positioning and because he plays on the side of the weakest link in our defense: Cahill. Opposition always try to go down our right side when they can. Luis wasn't a starter for us and he got overpowered regularly when he played. If he were a starter he would no doubt be targeted by the opposition as well. Imagine Luis coming up against someone physical like Moses for example. He'd brush him out of the way every time.

They didn't. Juve did not bid 12m for Oscar. THEY DID NOT! It was the MIrror FFS! If everything in the Mirror is 'fact' now we'd have bought half the players in Europe, sold them and then bought them back again...and that's before the window even opens! People will really cling to anything no matter how reliable if it backs their opinion.

It's not that hard to be one of our best fullbacks. We only have 3 of them. So basically he just needs to offer more than Luis, which I think he does... Oh, you and your dirty mind

Varoufakis is a very interesting one. The Europeans asked for his head for the negotiations to continue even though, unlike his replacement, Varoufakis is not originally a leftist. But he's charismatic, is US schooled and speaks English very eloquently and very persuasively. Which just goes to show what the EU actually fears: it's not the Greek debt but the spreading of an anti-austerity movement that can actually make a change to the rest of Europe and beyond. There is a huge anti-austerity anti-capitalist sentiment throughout Europe following the meltdown and the subsequent bailouts and austerity measure which are nothing short of a class war on the poor and working class. But there is no space for actual change inside the political parties and systems in Europe and the US but if a party like Syriza can win for the Greek people, then that would give rise to similar parties all over Europe. Their rise to power has already gained popular support for anti-austerity movements in Spain, Portugal, France...etc. Even Bernie Sanders in the US has been very popular as a result. Who would have thought that a socialist would be a serious presidential candidate in the US?! And if it's not socialists like Sanders or leftists like Tsipras it's going to be right wing fascists and racists like Le Pen in France or Farage in the UK. The Germans have squeezed too hard. The need for a believable promise of genuine change is boiling under the surface. It's just a question of if someone/who can unleash the wave and then ride it.

Funny how the people who have been calling him shit for forever now think he's worth a fortune. Well, make up your mind! Which is it?! LOL Anyway, all those stories are very clearly fake. We're not selling Oscar this summer, it's just not happening and Juve know that now. They just spent 18m on Zaza so if they were bidding for Oscar they certainly would have made a much higher bid than 12m but they aren't because they know that Chelsea won't sell regardless of the price.

He's an excellent player. Good technique, excellent passing. Yeah, he's more of a right winger than an out and out striker. Reminds me a lot of Schurrle but lacks the work rate off the ball. But I just think he maybe still a bit too young to move to a club like Chelsea. No idea why Juve let him go, though. Probably something to do with internal club politics or personal issues with the player himself. As I write this I get a notification that Juve just confirmed the signing of Zaza for 18m Euros. Berardi has a MUCH higher ceiling.

Ten Years After 7/7 London bombings: We have learned nothing Best article I've read on the subject today.

That's a very good question.....@Jim?

Well that's not what you said and what I was trying to debate with that stat. You were shocked that anyone would consider Luis less effective offensively than Iva and Azpi. The stat was to show that is a very normal opinion regardless of whether you agree or not. As for the points you raised, yes, obviously Luis has better technique than both. That's not really debatable. He's also a better passer than both. But in terms of actual offensive ability and effectiveness in the final third, I saw nothing of him this season to suggest that he's as good as Iva or even Azpi. Luis was given every chance to prove himself as a deserved starter; more than practically any player that comes to Chelsea, but he failed. He had his biggest chance when Azpi was suspended and he started 6 consecutive games and even though Luis was playing poorly in the league he retained his place for the CL matches and Azpi did not play. That period did nothing but highlight what a step down he was from Azpi. PS: What the hell is "superior composure in tight spaces"?!

This is pretty awesome:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but he had zero assists in his 26 appearances for us. Azpi had 3 assists just in the league and Iva something like 5 or 6. What exactly is so amazing about saying that Iva and Azpi are more effective in attack than Luis?

:lol: Thanks for making me burst into laughter at work!