What a fightback by Australia! I hope they can continue to play like this when I see them in a few weeks. Scooped up a last minute spare ticket from a friend.

Also going to the boks game but I’m trying to put that out my mind after seeing the terrifying team sheet!

Ireland have always been on the edge of legality in terms of holding on too long after a tackle and interfering at the breakdown. They have been doing it for years but referees have only just started pinging them for it. Berry was all over it last night and it prevented them gaining any momentum.

I guess a silver lining here is that he must be good at negotiating if he managed to free that monster.

31, assume the same

I’m also from the UK but from what I could tell at least Pete has some personality. Kamala ran as the establishment manifested in human form, clumsily avoiding questions or policy details in media appearances. She was polling at 4% of popularity amongst democrat voters during the 2020 primaries. I think those factors were more influential than her being a woman,

I think Pete Butigeg would have been a stronger candidate.

Kamala’s personality of being a “career politician” combined with her being somewhat clumsy in interviews and public appearances was more of an issue than their policy platform imo. She was like the establishment manifested in an individual.

The Trump phenomena - both times - reminds me of the Brexit vote here in the UK where people didn’t care how crazy or self-damaging the alternative option was due to their visceral hatred of the establishment and elites.

I would be more concerned if he were less stupid. Going by his last presidency he’ll spend half his time golfing and the rest driving through ineffective “red meat” policies to get attention from his base. Ultimately he’s just a pathetic man who craves attention.

What concerns me more is that his destruction of political norms means that someone who is similarly evil - but actually capable - might be able to use him as a template to take power in the future and make America into a dictatorship. Someone like Xi Jinping as opposed to an aging B-list celebrity.

Ironically if she’d chosen Shapiro as a running mate then she’d have had a better chance of holding PA. However reports at the time suggested she didn’t want to risk upsetting the left by choosing a Jewish running mate.

This kind of thing is infuriating. Especially when the actual etymology of “blacklist” is a 17th century play where a list of nobles scheming against the British monarchy is described as a blacklist.