DerbysLane

Switzerland was a great performance, but Spain was the best song.

Baffling UK jury vote:
12 Portugal
10 Switzerland
8 Croatia
7 Ireland
6 Sweden
5 Italy
4 Luxembourg
3 Latvia
2 Germany
1 Cyprus

I don't read the daily telegraph, but I do quite often flick through the headlines on their website.  The daily telegraph seems to set the agenda for the conservatives and consequently the current government so it is useful to keep an eye on what the telegraph are saying (even though most of it is crazy).
Anyway, they have been noticeably ramping up war talk, we should get prepared to go to war with Russia etc.  Mental.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

Whilst most posters have focused on b4's positivity, he could at times develop a pathological dislike to certain players.
Whenever Stephen Warnock appears on the TV or radio I'm reminded of b4 because he was one such player.  Being sent off in an FA cup game was an unforgivable offence.  Chris Baird was another, but I can't remember if there was a trigger incident.  Nick Blackman has already been mentioned by other posters.
Is it possible to name an 11 of b4 dislikes?  I guess Eric Steele could be in goal.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

Pretty sure you'll find its spelled "Chris Bird" 😉

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

I only read this sad news at lunchtime today.
I'm not a crier.  I don't ever cry when there is some sad story on the news.  I've never understood how anyone could cry at the death of a celebrity or a member of the royal family, people they've probably never met.
Yet for most of this afternoon I found myself blubbing my eyes out over the loss of b4.  I've never met Daniel.  Being an infrequent poster I've only read his messages on this forum.
B4 was the definition of a supporter.  Towards the end of a season I'll find myself looking at the fixtures imagining an unexpected turn around of form, an amazing sequence of results that will project Derby into the playoffs or autos.  Of course I'll never publicly express these dreams, we've mostly been conditioned as adults to have a cynical outlook.  B4 believed though and was not afraid to say so.
I hope B4s family and friends can take some comfort from these messages.  He will be missed.

This conflict has exposed how morally bankrupt the leaders in this country are.  Not just politicians (my voting intention for the general election has now changed), but religious leaders too. 
You'd think it would be the natural position for the head of the Church of England to seek out peace, to minimize the loss of life, but no, Welby talks about Israel having a right and duty to defend itself.  Hamas is described as evil, but the same description is not applied to Israel when they kill thousands of children.  
ITV news last night had an interview with the Chief Rabbi.  While we may bend over backwards to make a distinction between the Jewish faith and Israel, it was obvious last night that the rabbi makes no such distinction.  Rather than trying to calm anxiety, he ramps it up, describing the protestors as thousands of Hamas supporters.  Again the conflict is described in terms of good vs evil.  No concern shown for the Gaza civilians (although I accept this maybe due to editing).
The vast majority of protestors just want an end to the violence/deaths.  Why not focus on that?

This conflict has exposed how morally bankrupt the leaders in this country are.  Not just politicians (my voting intention for the general election has now changed), but religious leaders too. 
You'd think it would be the natural position for the head of the Church of England to seek out peace, to minimize the loss of life, but no, Welby talks about Israel having a right and duty to defend itself.  Hamas is described as evil, but the same description is not applied to Israel when they kill thousands of children.  
ITV news last night had an interview with the Chief Rabbi.  While we may bend over backwards to make a distinction between the Jewish faith and Israel, it was obvious last night that the rabbi makes no such distinction.  Rather than trying to calm anxiety, he ramps it up, describing the protestors as thousands of Hamas supporters.  Again the conflict is described in terms of good vs evil.  No concern shown for the Gaza civilians (although I accept this maybe due to editing).
The vast majority of protestors just want an end to the violence/deaths.  Why not focus on that?

That is the same ratio of reported/actual deaths I've seen suggested by a world leader for the Gaza hospital bombing.  President Biden doubts the casualty figures in Gaza as a whole.  Are you calling for them to hang their head in shame too?
Personally I believe the Gaza figures.  I also believe the Israel figures.  But I don't believe everything that is reported, for example, I think it is now widely accepted that 40 babies weren't beheaded by Hamas.  However, if you do a search for 'Palestine' on twitter you'll easily come across videos of beheaded babies from Israeli bombing.

Not killing Israeli hostages by bombing Gaza?
How many deaths in Gaza do you feel appropriate in response to the attacks?

I don't oppose Israel. I think Israelis should be able to live in peace and security in that part of the world without fear of attack. They have every right to do so in my opinion. The problem Israel is that it declared itself a Jewish state from the start, so instead of Israel/Palestine being a country where Jewish people could live or migrate to, safe from their European persecutors, it instead became a place where Israelis dominated Palestinian. Even to the extent of not allowing Palestinians who fled of the war of 1948 to return to their homeland ever, while permitting European or North Americans Jews claim citizenship without any impediment.  In short I oppose Israel's treatment of Palestinians ever since 1948 at least. 
Hamas are an appalling terrorist organization and their attack on 10/7 was barbarous.  It's hard to say what an appropriate response would be now, but an appropriate response at the time would have been for the IDF to engage Hamas as it happened and eliminate the threat before they could do too much damage.  Unfortunately the IDF were caught napping to an alarming degree.  Increasing security at the border would be an appropriate response, increase intelligence efforts would be another appropriate step. There is no good answer really, given the situation as it is.  Bombing civilians and an invasion of Gaza...will kill more innocent people than were killed in Hamas' attack.  In fact that's probably happened already, it will also end any possibility for peace in the region for decades, as another generation of Hamas terrorists will inevitably be created.  Exactly what Hamas would want in fact. The bombing will not only be an inappropriate response but it will also be counter-productive.  Disarming Hamas is a justifiable goal for the Israeli government, I just don't see how it can be done without making things even worse. 
The best long term solution is, and always was, treating the Palestinian people with justice and to stop occupying and settling the little land they have left. If they do that, the support for Hamas from within their own community would steadily diminish.  Regrettably, I can't see anything like that happening. 

What is he trying to achieve with those illuminated vans?  Or the people who put up posters with the faces of kidnapped Israelis?  Do they think there is a network of Hamas leaders in London that will suddenly have sympathy and order the return of the hostages?  Or is this a not very subtle attempt to show support for the actions of Israel and put pressure on the UK government to continue its support of the Israel military?
The police obviously think it could be seen as the latter and have done the correct thing in stopping it driving in the direction of protestors who support Palestine.  I really don't see the problem.
Does the guy in the video think it would be okay for somebody to wave a Palestinian flag outside a synagogue?

I get the theory behind this, but it doesn't and can never work in practice.  To demonstrate this here are three tweets from Rachel Riley on Oct 15th:
 
 
Presumably these were in response to the pro-Palestinian rallies held last weekend.  What are we to take from this spectacular whataboutery?  Is she hinting that the protestors or the UK in general are anti-Semitic based on the IHRA definition?
I'm pretty sure the UK has seen in the past protests about China, Syria and Iran.  The whole reason for protest is to demand change.  Syria and Iran are already under strict sanctions.  The UK government has criticised China over its treatment of Muslims.  What more is the UK supposed to do?  Further protests in the UK are just going to be ignored by the leaders/dictators of those countries, it would be pointless.
On the other hand Israel is a democracy and supposedly an allie of the UK.  What Israel does reflects on the UK, especially when our Prime Minister says things like "we hope you win".  Taking to the streets to support Palestine is far more relevant in this present time and with our relationship with Israel.  The fact that Israel is a democracy that receives billions in weapons aid should mean it comes under greater scrutiny.
Also, people have different connections with different countries/areas.  If your family comes from Palestine or you have friends from there then you will obviously be more engaged with the issues surrounding that small region.
The IHRA definition is a nonsense.  A bit like claiming an octopus is anti-Semitic.