Vern's got a new girlfriend, turns out she's a titled widow, she was married to Lord Boy. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
That Welsh woman with everything to lose has far more balls than all the national teams “What’s the point in having principles if you’re prepared to drop them the moment somebody challenges them” Hat on the head.
Well said DAN WOOTTON: England should now stop taking the knee and focus on the football By Dan Wootton for MailOnline 16:21, 21 Nov 2022 , updated 16:29, 21 Nov 2022 is a morally corrupt organisation devoid of even the slightest hint of what’s right or wrong. Yet today it so easily burst the bubble of the and Gareth Southgate-led team’s carefully curated image of being warriors as nothing more than a virtue signalling mirage. The international football body’s decision to threaten Captain Kane with a yellow card, as well as meaningless financial sanctions, if he wore a rainbow armband during our first match of the much-maligned against was a cruel stroke of genius. It forced the FA into immediately deciding that England’s apparently highly prized social justice values would be thrown out the window the moment there was the mere suggestion of sporting consequences. In a gutless statement, the FA said: 'We have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armband in FIFA World Cup games. We cannot put our players in a situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play.’ It was so damned important to Kane and the players that they just couldn’t stop talking about the awfully named OneLove armband…until he might be handed a yellow card. Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela, this is not. So despite the storming 6-2 performance this afternoon, I’m embarrassed for them all, which is not how a fan should feel after such a brilliant opener. please log in to view this image FIFA is a morally corrupt organisation devoid of even the slightest hint of what’s right or wrong. Yet today it so easily burst the bubble of the Harry Kane (pictured today) and Gareth Southgate-led England team’s carefully curated image of being woke warriors as nothing more than a virtue signalling mirage please log in to view this image The international football body’s decision to threaten Captain Kane (pictured) with a yellow card, as well as meaningless financial sanctions, if he wore a rainbow armband during our first match of the much-maligned 2022 Qatar World Cup against Iran was a cruel stroke of genius Of course, the tiny rainbow flag was nothing more than a pathetic stunt to assuage the guilt of the right-on players for agreeing to be part of a tournament in Qatar where being gay is punishable with a seven-year prison sentence (or worse) and women are still treated legally and practically as second-class citizens. It’s the exact same reason the England team decided to continue with the now farcical BLM-inspired gesture of taking the knee before kick-off in a stadium that literally saw poverty-stricken immigrant workers die during its construction in a human rights atrocity that cannot be solved by gesture politics. Predictably, the BBC loved it, with commentator Guy Mowbray gushing that the kneeling was ‘sending a strong statement to go around the world, to young people in particular, to see that inclusivity is very important’. That’s nothing more than propaganda. If inclusivity truly mattered to Southgate, Kane, the FA or the BBC, they simply would have refused to travel to play in or broadcast from Qatar. But I’m a realist and understand money trumps morals in international sport. What I cannot stand is all of these holier than thou celebrities and organisations preaching to us while earning millions off the back of the evil Qatari tournament. As a gay man, I refuse to play the identity politics games of the left so, while I think the decision to award the tournament to Qatar in the first place was reprehensible, I don’t judge any football fan, player or media commentator who made the decision to attend for work. please log in to view this image It forced the FA into immediately deciding that England’s apparently highly prized social justice values would be thrown out the window the moment there was the mere suggestion of sporting consequences. Pictured: Harry Kane of England takes a knee prior to today's FIFA World Cup match please log in to view this image David Beckham (pictured today) loved posing on covers of gay magazines and claiming he’s a feminist while becoming the official face of Qatar to promote tourism for a cool £10 million However, I will not let the hypocrites who are prepared to take the Qatari millions while pretending to be morally superior think they can continue to preach to us about school dinners, homophobia or girl power. Their platform to lecture and berate about the way we live our lives should now be removed forever more. The worst offenders include the official airline Virgin Atlantic which trumpeted its socially liberal approach while flying England to the tournament before admitting its non-binary uniform policy didn’t actually apply when travelling to Qatar. Then there’s Labour’s new leftie pin-up boy Gary Neville spending all day on Twitter explaining why Conservative voters are morally bankrupt while accepting a multi-million-pound deal to take money from the Qatari regime to commentate for its official broadcaster. And David Beckham who loved posing on covers of gay magazines and claiming he’s a feminist while becoming the official face of Qatar to promote tourism for a cool £10 million. Not to mention the BBC thinking it's somehow being courageous by refusing to show the tournament’s opening ceremony on TV but allowing Gary Lineker to make highly politicised commentary instead, despite spending years insisting he’s not a news and current affairs presenter to allow him to spout leftie talking points on Twitter. please log in to view this image The Qatar World Cup is the ultimate lesson in the danger of footballers and celebrities connected to the sport attempting to become moral arbiters, writes Dan Wootton (pictured) These jokers can try and kid themselves all they want, but none of their moral arithmetic adds up. Their virtue signalling should be rendered meaningless from this moment on because, when it comes to their own pocketbooks or careers, they won’t practice what they preach. Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who had the balls to visit Qatar and protest at great risk to his safety before the tournament, had a practical solution today as an alternative to the meaningless stunts. He proposed: ‘I urge the team captains at their post-match press conferences to spend just 30 seconds to speak out for the rights of women, LGBTs and migrant workers. That would have a huge impact, reaching a global audience of hundreds of millions of people.’ But I’d preferably like to see the England team shut up and play. The Qatar World Cup is the ultimate lesson in the danger of footballers and celebrities connected to the sport attempting to become moral arbiters. The failed rainbow flag virtue signalling and insistence on continuing to take the knee when the rest of the world has long realised that BLM is not an organisation that inspires confidence in anything is testing my patience. You’ve proven today that you’re very good at the goals but not very good at the civil rights campaigning. As always, I’m willing the Three Lions on, against all odds. So just play the bloody game – entertain us, enthral us and leave the two-bit student politics at the door.
Typical right wing guff from the mail. If they have decided to take a knee then it's their right to do so and that right should be defended. Simple. I have no strong personal feeling either way about the gesture. Its a couple of seconds and doesn't get in the way anymore than the rest of the pre-match ceremonial's the game seems to have developed in recent years. If they were forced to do it id have a problem. If they were prevented I'd also have a problem. It should be the teams collective decision and if individuals disagree they should have the right not to participate. I sometimes find it interesting to consider the ideological motives of the individuals/outlets which constantly attempt to undermine it though. On either side of the political spectrum. Found the line about 'propaganda' somewhat ironic, considering that's exactly what I've just read.
Why should they take the knee? Dan Wootton’s view as a gay are more relevant than some leftie virtue signaller. Like him or not Peter Tatchell shows, and has shown,more physical and moral courage than people wearing arm bands and taking the knee.
Dan Wooton is a Cheshire cat faced Kiwi ****, and not the best of those. He's the man who put the not so super in supercilious. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
Tatchell is a man who has earned the respect of most decent thinking people, unlike Wootton. But he does like his own limelight - which is probably a required trait in someone who achieves what he has. Similar to a footballer really in that respect. They should take the knee if they wish to. We don't live in and they don't represent an autocracy. I'm not their spokesman but I'm sure they've given their reasons prior to now. And maybe Tatchell is specifically representing something that they 'necessarily' aren't by taking the knee - though im sure there is plenty of common ground. Perhaps they'll continue to take the knee and take up Tatchell's suggestion of a 30s interview highlighting specific rights abuses and its a win-win for for the team and for Tatchell? Would that make the 'knee - jerkers' feel any better? Take it up with them.
Multimillionaire footballers taking the knee to support BLM who want to smash capitalism. You couldn’t make it up. How many countries, including people black ones, are taking the knee?
Take it up with them. I'm simply defending their right to freedom of speech and expression. I'm not convinced you lose that right based on the number of zeros on your tax return. Certainly Dacre, Rothermere, Murdoch et al don't seem to think so. (unless they perceive it to be leftwing and against their own interests that is.)
Feel free. They'd be subjet to ideological challenge and the democratic law of the land just as they are now.
If there's a positive market for whatever they're representing other than their ability to play football, then they won't be cancelled as 'moolah' as you put it dictates otherwise in a capitalist system.
You do realise 'cancel culture' is just a marketing concept based on getting disenfranchised gammon to provide Piers Morgan and his ilk with an audience and keep the mail and express in circulation don't you? It's all a conspiracy...
It’s not even just about gay people or women’s rights. Underneath all that it’s a very basic standing up to spoiled **** bullies. They’re flexing their wealth by buying the tournament and stamping their feet like little cry babies to get what whey want and have everything their way. It would be nice just to see someone stand up to them and defy them, about anything. How powerful an image would that have been to see Harry Kane take a yellow card for wearing that armband. Dare I say an image powerful enough to bring down FIFA itself. The perfect poster to show just how truly rotten they will forever be. But they bottled it, the chance is gone. And there is now no point taking the knee, it’s a hollow, empty gesture. Corruption has scored a full house. Nothing will ever change.