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Awful stuff. Awful unambitious ugly football from Down. Awful pedestrian attempt to counteract that from Armagh. All made incalculably worse by a truly awful referee.

Down more competitive, but not sure where they're planning to go with that type of football.

Armagh have A LOT to work on before the Ulster final. Patience shown pulling a tight result out of the bag will maybe stand to them. Rian looks to be coming back into a bit of form. And a decent bench impact. But so much of everything else was dreadful.

Surely the Down 11 rugby tackling the Armagh full back over the goal line should have invalidated that goal?

[the plot was pretty unoriginal]

Dune 2 wasn't anything special, especially given the length.

Given the length? Not special?

You can get help with that!

What type of help?

Big budget epic that looks good and has a stellar cast, but the plot was pretty unoriginal, it was drawn out and even the action scenes were pretty run of the mill too.

The plot is the original. Everything else was just filmed first.

[I double checked those stats in case Ed Ricketts reads this thread]

Connacht Championship very poor. 2 strong teams. 3 very poor teams and Roscommon just slightly below Galway/Mayo.

Mayo stand out team in Connacht by miles.  Only team in last 20 years to perform consistently in Croke Park in championship which Galway and Roscommon haven't done. Galway even with full team rarely deliver in knockout games.

Not to make excuses (although I will), Ros, Sligo and Leitrim are 26, 27 and 32 in population ranking. All 3 rank in Top 5 counties with the oldest demographics, per CSO. (I double checked those stats in case Ed Ricketts reads this thread). It's a wonderful thing that we put it up to the top teams every now and then. I'm hopeful of a shock or two in Connacht.

Well, actually...

[40% civil service workplace]

Dublin has pretty much created an all-island economy, kept north in EU single market, got EU to already approve unification, so that the process will be more seamless. It's building an energy connector to France, and supplying whole island with one grid. As I said, the North has to do its bit too and start reducing a 40% civil service workplace. And actually decide they are Irish become the last census was pretty lame with 29% Irish only. Are the 20% "Northern Irish only" unity supporters or Our Wee Country supporters? Would be nice to see more who see themselves as Irish. Even tne worst west Brit Free Stater knows they are Irish.

Where does that figure come from?

There are approx. 23,000 civil servants in the north - just below 3% of the workforce.

The public sector as a whole is about ten times larger, but still comes in at only ~27% of the workforce up here.

Meant public sector which is almost half the private sector workforce (220,000 to 595,000) compared to the South 350,000 to 2,300,000. 27% overall, correct there Ed.

That is just not sustainable in a UI and it's up to the North to ready itself for unity too and start changing that ratio.

Are all teachers, doctors and nurses in the South regarded as public sector?

Yes. However I don't know what all the extra public servants are actually doing in the North. It's not in education or nursing because republic has 5x more teachers and 4x more Nurses for a population of 5m versus 1.9m.

Not to pick on you again, but I don't think those numbers are right either.

The north has around 21,000 teachers. The south about 72,000. So X3.4 more teachers, not X5.

The north has about 28,000 nurses. The south about 79,000. So X2.8 more nurses, not X4.

The north has a lot of problems and will have to make adjustments in the event of reunification. But it's not nearly in as bad a shape as many like to make out, and therefore any adjustments will not need to be as painful as many like to make out.

It's important that the facts and figures are accurate and available to all those involved in this discussion. As Brexit demonstrated, dis- and mis- information can be decisive in a tight ballot.

[40% civil service workplace]

Dublin has pretty much created an all-island economy, kept north in EU single market, got EU to already approve unification, so that the process will be more seamless. It's building an energy connector to France, and supplying whole island with one grid. As I said, the North has to do its bit too and start reducing a 40% civil service workplace. And actually decide they are Irish become the last census was pretty lame with 29% Irish only. Are the 20% "Northern Irish only" unity supporters or Our Wee Country supporters? Would be nice to see more who see themselves as Irish. Even tne worst west Brit Free Stater knows they are Irish.

Where does that figure come from?

There are approx. 23,000 civil servants in the north - just below 3% of the workforce.

The public sector as a whole is about ten times larger, but still comes in at only ~27% of the workforce up here.

Finished 3 Body Problem the other night. Completely daft, dreadfully written, and with a whole lot of really hammy ITV drama level acting.

But I'm quite interested in seeing what happens next. A TV show equivalent of a Dan Brown book.

Poor enough quality game - very low conversion rates from both sides. Definitely a few levels below championship intensity too with a lot of space inside each team's 45.

I don't think Armagh will be too bothered about not picking up a lower league title, and handing a debut to a young fella a couple of years away from really contributing at this level speaks to this indifference.

But there was a fairly handy game to be won there, and instead we have another failure to get over the line. All add fuel to the narrative that this bunch don't have what it takes when it matters. Already a lot of pressure to deliver in Ulster this year, and that disappointment ratchets it up another notch.

Some soft frees at both ends in that half. And some bad misses too.

Intensity (and quality) not really in it, bit like the game earlier in the year. Armagh uncharacteristically charitable with space around the D. Donegal without the fire power to really take advantage.

Apart from a couple of lovely scores from Grugan, not much to note from Armagh. Giving a start to young McMullen out of absolutely nowhere perhaps indicative of their attitude to the fixture.

[Martinez]

Who is?

Couldn't be bothered with going back to square one with a new manager. Bar Dalot, Martinez, Hojlund, Mainoo and Garnacho plus maybe Onana if he can keep this form going, the rest just aren't good enough, past it, too injury prone or both.

A lot of United fans have time for Martinez, but he's added very little in the last 12/13 months.

In and (mostly) out with injury, and, when fit, he has been involved in some defensive horror shows. Does a solid six months from September 2022 through to February 2023 justify the esteem he's held in by supporters? If a wholesale clearout is planned then I reckon he should be very nervous.

In fairness it was a fairly serious injury and I think it was treated wrong by the club in the first place, he was good there when he was back, the difference he makes to United build up play is unreal. Would be one of the last names I'd want to see leave. Shaw is excellent when he's fit but that is few and far between.

Games Martinez has started this season:

Utd 3:4 Bayern
Utd 1:0 Wolves
Utd 0:2  Spurs
Utd 3:2 Forest
Utd 1:3 Arsenal
Utd 1:3 Brighton
Utd 4:3 Wolves
Utd 4:2 Newport
Utd 3:0 West Ham

9 starts, 2 clean sheets, 4 bookings, 19 goals conceded. Of course there's bigger problems with United, but with numbers like that you have to wonder if some players are actually at the level you think/ hope. 

[Martinez]

Who is?

Couldn't be bothered with going back to square one with a new manager. Bar Dalot, Martinez, Hojlund, Mainoo and Garnacho plus maybe Onana if he can keep this form going, the rest just aren't good enough, past it, too injury prone or both.

A lot of United fans have time for Martinez, but he's added very little in the last 12/13 months.

In and (mostly) out with injury, and, when fit, he has been involved in some defensive horror shows. Does a solid six months from September 2022 through to February 2023 justify the esteem he's held in by supporters? If a wholesale clearout is planned then I reckon he should be very nervous.

Donald Tusk warming that Europe is not prepared for war. Laughable five years ago but it's not beyond the bounds of possibility now with Putin well and truly untouchable in his own country.
Where does that leave Ireland, a geographic soft spot on the western fringe of UK and Europe?
Has NATO a blueprint somewhere to save Irelands ass for their own welfare?  And does Ireland know about it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIUK_gap

The Brits will mind us.

Hospitality sector in Belfast city centre is almost entirely priced for the tourist market now. International tourism is strong, and domestic tourism is through the roof since the pandemic.

The city centre is quite small, and, due to obvious historical reasons, few non-locals venture far from the middle of town. So this funnels all those visitors towards a relatively small number of businesses, who in turn can charge almost whatever they want.

They'll say it's the cost of fuel, food, wages, tax, etc. But it's really just a scarcity problem.

[Laois]

Laois v Leitrim by 3
Down v Westmeath by 3

Donegal v Armagh by 3
Derry v Dublin by 3

[Derry]

Derry v Roscommon
Dublin v Tyrone
Kerry v Galway
Monaghan v Mayo

Cavan v Fermanagh
Cork v Armagh
Donegal v Meath
Kildare v Louth

Antrim v Wicklow
Down v Clare
Offaly v Limerick
Sligo v Westmeath

Carlow v London
Waterford v Laois
Wexford v Longford
Leitrim v Tipperary