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The money from Dublin will be paid in a spirit of cross border cooperation as soon as the politicians in Stormont get the finger out. Any movement on the A5 either ?

   

   https://www.ft.com/content/d4275d1d-5a7a-40e4-bc6f-6cba7b8b36cc

   For Zaki Laïdi, a French academic and former adviser to the EU's ex-foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Trump's plan "represents a strategic defeat not only for Ukraine, but for all of Europe" whatever improvements they can extract from US officials.


Capricious Trump may be, Laidi writes for Project Syndicate, but on some issues he stands firm.

Among these is the conviction that Ukraine's wellbeing — and European security more broadly — is of limited importance to the US and should not be allowed to undermine its commercial interests or disrupt its relations with another great power.

The EU should have acted more decisively following Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and is paying the price for its "torpor", he adds.

Claudia Major, vice-president for transatlantic security at the German Marshall Fund think-tank, agrees that the Trump initiative represents the return of great power politics with the Russians and Americans deciding what the Ukrainians, Europeans, EU and Nato have to do.

It also heralds the "de-Americanisation" of the Atlantic alliance, she tells me, with the US "moving from being an ally to a broker, maybe to a supporter of Russia. We don't know."

Europeans have no option but to try to keep America engaged, Major says, given their own security dependence. They would like to be able to shape the course of events in Ukraine and Europe more broadly, but "don't have the military tools to make a difference". Nearly four years after Russia's full-scale invasion, Europe still cannot alone arm Ukraine and cannot credibly guarantee the country's security longer term without US help.

Like other experts, Major laments the fact that Europe failed to anticipate Trump trying to impose a lopsided plan on Ukraine or to offer a clear alternative. As this piece in Le Monde explains, there was never an EU counterproposal, despite some media reports. There is no consensus about how hard to push back against the US and, Mayor says, no supporter wants to raise the issue of territorial concessions.

Don't know what is going on with Ariana Grande. She is fading away......

https://www.boredpanda.com/ariana-grande-sparks-concern-extremely-thin-image-baftas/
This "toxic mix of nostalgia, beauty standards, and social media culture" puts pressure on Grande and other pop stars to "remain frozen in time – eternally youthful, while still conforming to impossible expectations of unattainable standards if not perfection

"I've been doing this in front of the public and been a specimen in a Petri dish really since I was 16 or 17. I have heard it all. I've heard every version of it," she told French content creator Crazy Sally in December.
It's "dangerous for all parties involved," she said about the society's sense of entitlement in commenting on one's looks"

She reminds me of Kate Middleton.

Hearts drew. Celtic won. 2 points in it and Celtic have a game in hand.

Fingers crossed. They should be capable of winning 6 points.

Shels and Shamrock Rovers both lost last night. Not looking good for qualification.

Rovers need 6 more points, the last two games v Iceland and Malta were always the crucial games. They will be grand. Shels were never qualifying with their draw.

There are 15 teams on 7,  20 on 6 and 24 on 5. 7 may not be enough.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/30/footballs-blockbuster-rights-clash-gen-z-attention-spans/

Rather than tuning into Sky or TNT to watch their favourite clubs, Gen Z football fans are increasingly following individual players online, meaning the game is becoming less tribal and more global.

Peter Kay's recent  TV appearances

He doesn't look  like himself.

Omg he looks like a thunderbird, grow old gracefully ffs.

Well, rumours are now he  has been  seriously unwell, as he hasn't  been around in a while.

He has almost certainly had cancer of some description. He looks more like Declan Nerney than Peter Kay, but if he's fully mended then sure what odds what way he looks.

He might have been on Ozempic, the fat reducing injection. 1 in 8 people have tried it.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/26/snatching-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory-against-russia/
My other assumption is that Trump no longer commands Washington and is off with the fairies half the time.
The permanent US government is taking charge, humouring him with ever larger doses of flattery, inversely correlated to mounting contempt. "The guardrails are being reasserted. Trump is badly weakened by the Epstein files and Republicans are starting to defy him on a lot of things," said Prof Riley.
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The tug of war over Ukraine policy is painful to watch, but the locus of power is shifting down Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill, stiffened by clear-headed realists in the upper reaches of the Pentagon and the national security establishment.
The opposing camps are straddled by Rubio and Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary – both anti-Putin hardliners, and both playing a murky double game.

The only way peace can be brought to Ukraine is for Europe and the US (won't happen) to bring such pain to Russia that it cannot bear it, economically and militarily. Especially economically. This is the ONLY way. Russia will not change voluntarily. The bully must be cowed.

Trump is prolonging the war, European dithering is prolonging the war.

Agree. Russia's economy is weakening. Ukraine won't cede land. Coordinated sanctions are the way forward.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/26/snatching-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory-against-russia/
Russia's energy exports have collapsed. The Kremlin's fiscal regime has suffered its first life-threatening crisis since the invasion of Ukraine.

Putin can no longer find buyers for Russian oil on the world market. Some 48 million barrels are floating on stranded tankers from the Mediterranean to the South China Sea, shunned by Indian refiners and even China's state-owned energy companies, both afraid of secondary US sanctions.

Only cloak-and-dagger customers outside the dollar-based financial system dare to touch oil from Rosneft and Lukoil. They want a bargain.

"We talk to both buyers and producers, and as of Friday, the price of Urals crude at the Port of Primorsk was $40.01 (£30.47) a barrel," said David Fyfe, the chief economist of energy agency Argus.

Shels and Shamrock Rovers both lost last night. Not looking good for qualification.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/11/28/trump-to-recognise-occupied-ukraine-part-of-russia/

The United States is poised to recognise Russia's control over Crimea and other occupied Ukrainian territories to secure a deal to end the war.
The Telegraph understands that Donald Trump has sent his peace envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to make the direct offer to Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The plan to recognise territory, which breaks US diplomatic convention, is likely to go ahead despite concerns among Ukraine's European allies.
One well-placed source said: "It's increasingly clear the Americans don't care about the European position. They say the Europeans can do whatever they want."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/11/27/arne-slot-has-a-week-to-save-his-job/

Jamie Carragher
Arne Slot has a week to save his Liverpool job
Anfield club do not willingly sack managers, but unless Dutchman can find answers to malaise they will have to find someone who can



Arne Slot's Liverpool side have lost nine of their last 12 matches Credit: Getty Images/Carl Recine
Jamie Carragher
Jamie Carragher
27 November 2025 3:00pm GMT
Arne Slot has a week to save his job. It is hard to believe that sentence is being written, but Liverpool's next three games are against West Ham United, Sunderland and Leeds United. Anything fewer than seven points will make an already unacceptable situation untenable.

No matter how much goodwill the manager has, Liverpool Football Club cannot sustain the drop in standards witnessed over the past three months.

No one knows better than me how much that reality will be hurting everyone connected with my old club. Liverpool do not willingly sack coaches, especially those who bring great success.

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Since Bill Shankly arrived in 1959, there has been a union between the manager and supporters which feels unbreakable once a league title is delivered. Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Sir Kenny Dalglish and Jurgen Klopp left on their own terms. They earned that right.

After Slot won the Premier League in his first season, he seemed destined for a long stay on Merseyside too. Now, just six months later, he is hanging on.

Arne Slot with Premier League trophy
Having won the title in his first season, it seemed as though Slot would be Liverpool manager for as long as he wanted Credit: AFP/Paul Ellis
Nobody saw this drop-off coming, and there must always be caution about making statements with the benefit of hindsight. However, there were hints that the team were going in the wrong direction from March last season onwards, most notably in the performance away to Paris St-Germain and in the Carabao Cup final loss to Newcastle United.

The Wembley display was abysmal. Liverpool did not just lose to Newcastle, they were comprehensively outplayed and physically overpowered.

Supporters were leaving London that day with the same thought: "That was not Liverpool." Games can be lost, but not in that manner. Especially finals.

Liverpool beat PSG in France, but only because Alisson had the game of his life. Had they lost 5-1 that night there would have been no complaints. Slot and the players were given a free pass because the Premier League title was in their sights, winning it with four games to spare. Nagging doubts about whether the overall performances were deteriorating were banished.

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Since Wembley, the falling standards have become increasingly obvious. Liverpool have won fewer than half of their 30 games in all competitions.

Many will argue in mitigation that those fixtures absorb the final few matches of last season, when there was nothing left to play for. For me, those games before the trophy presentation sent the wrong message, too.

The immediate response to the victory over Tottenham Hotspur on April 27 was justified and understandable. The supporters were always going to start the biggest party for 35 years after being able to witness their side become champions.

But for the manager and players, there were still four games left. No one wants to sound like a killjoy, but the time to arrange parties in Ibiza and Dubai was after the final game against Crystal Palace, not before. It may have seemed good fun seeing all the party videos and photographs on social media, but as the team failed to win any of their final four games, losing twice, accusations of it being a bad look had merit.

When Liverpool lost 3-2 at Brighton in their penultimate game, the away fans were enjoying themselves so much they brushed off how bad the team were playing. No matter what the circumstances, it did not feel right.

Danny Welbeck of Brighton heads towards goal against Liverpool
Liverpool's poor form at the end of last season, such as the defeat at Brighton, has continued into this campaign Credit: Getty Images/Julian Finney
Liverpool behaved like a small club
This was the club's 20th league championship, taking them level with Manchester United. Even without league titles, Liverpool have been a winning machine. They have won 20 trophies in the past 24 years because no sooner is one more honour on the board, the work begins to get the next.

At best, the downing of tools before the season was over was wilfully unprofessional. At worst, Liverpool behaved like a small club winning the title for the first time.

During pre-season, there were tactical changes which worried me. Many have pointed to my on-field interview with Slot after the first game of this season against Bournemouth, when the concern was obvious. That was based on how the team was set up against AC Milan in a pre-season friendly, and Crystal Palace in the Community Shield.

For some reason, a myth has developed whereby Liverpool are supposed to be an all-out attacking team, risking all to win without fear of the consequences of going gung ho.

Arne Slot celebrates a goal with gusto
Slot's Liverpool have been more gung ho this season, but it has not worked  Credit: Reuters/Peter Powell
This has never been the Anfield tradition. The greatest teams of the 70s and 80s had balance. They were brilliant in attack, and mean in defence. They could blitz teams at Anfield, and bore the crowd to submission in Europe to get a 0-0 or narrow victory.

In my era, the balance shifted more towards the defence under Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez. Under Klopp, there was a more attacking theme. But Houllier and Benitez's best sides were more exciting going forward than they were credited with, and the peak Klopp team excelled at the back as much as the front. There is a reason why Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker are considered among the most important signings in Liverpool's history, and why Klopp favoured a midfield three of Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum.

Since the start of this season, Slot has seemed intent on taking the team in a direction which is not in Liverpool's winning tradition. It felt wrong on day one of this season, and it has led to a mess right now.

Cody Gakpo scores Liverpool's second goal  against Bournemouth
Liverpool may have beaten Bournemouth on the opening day of the season, but the cracks were clear to see Credit: PA/Peter Byrne
Questions will also be asked of those above Slot. History should not be rewritten. When Klopp left, Fenway Sports Group's No 1 priority was to hire Michael Edwards. He recruited sporting director Richard Hughes, Slot followed and the Premier League was won. It was an extraordinary achievement in year one.

People will try to write off that first season as "Klopp's team". I am not having it. The team would have improved and may have won the title under Klopp – we will never know – but Slot used tactics that his predecessor never would, such as deploying Ryan Gravenberch as a No 6, and Luis Diaz as a No 9. He rejuvenated Mohamed Salah to have the season of his life. People were calling for the Egyptian talisman to be sold before Slot arrived.

But it is incredible that Liverpool have since spent £450m to create an unbalanced squad, lacking enough cover on the wings and at centre-back. After selling Diaz, Liverpool have come into this season without genuine competition for Salah and Cody Gakpo. It's all well and good asking for one or both to be left out, but who replaces them?

Signing two expensive No 9s was wrong, too. It is like betting on two horses in the same race. You do not buy a striker for £80m and then two weeks later another for £125m, because if they are competing for the same position, only one can win. It cannot work.

That error was compounded by the failure to pay whatever it took to sign Marc Guehi. For the sake of another £10m, Liverpool may lose over £100m because they will not be in next season's Champions League unless they sign at least one centre-back in January.

If Slot is still in charge by then, he will have started some kind of recovery.

With respect to the upcoming opponents, he could not have picked a better sequence of games to win back trust and save himself. But if it gets any worse and the manager cannot find the answers, the club will have no choice but to find someone else who can.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/11/26/liverpool-v-psv-eindhoven-live-score-champions-league-watch/

Talking on CBS after Liverpool's 4-1 defeat by PSV, former defender Jamie Carragher said: "Liverpool's not a sacking club. Liverpool, I think, are different from almost every club in European football where the manager is the king. The managers get time.

"Liverpool have never sacked a manager who's won the league. Never in their history. They all go after a few years. They've gone, they've resigned. I couldn't believe at the weekend that people were talking about the manager's job when I spoke to Liverpool supporters after losing at home to Nottingham Forest. It's only going to amplify now and I've always been in the camp of you stick with the manager."

He added: "I think what you see now is Liverpool in 2018 under Klopp starts this sort of journey of being a great team and then Slot comes in and we're now, what are we, seven or eight years later? The catalyst for Liverpool at the very start of that run was Alisson, [Virgil] van Dijk and [Mohamed] Salah. Alisson's injured a lot, now he doesn't play so much but you're watching Van Dijk now, not the same player and Mo Salah looks like his legs have gone."

What's the thoughts on Zack Polanski? See him popping up a fair bit now with a lot of sound bites. Comes across well from what I've seen and seems to be saying a lot of things that hit home imo. Seems to be keener on hitting the rich than most. But no doubt there'll be inconsistencies when you dig a little deeper.

Grade A bullshitter.

Get a hint of that alright, but being leader of the Green Party, he's going to have to over egg things to get screen time. Similar to Reform to a degree trying to make headlines. He talks well in any interviews I've seen.

Greens and Reform would always have been treated as the tails of a bell curve but that **** Farage seems to have Reform moving towards much greater popularity. Hopefully that doesn't transfer into votes in a GE when people wake up to the fact that he could be running the country. A hung parliament a very likely outcome.

Labour and the Tories are polling low. On current polling Reform would win 346 seats. Tories 14. Reform is unstable. Anything could happen in a GE.