David Guiza

He is/was more electable than the second placed candidate, Rebecca Long-Bailey, and Nandy was seemingly never going to a credible candidate this time around. I still think it's incredibly early days. Starmer's entire reign has been during a national (and global) lockdown whereby he, and any other leader, was damned if they did or didn't in the vast majority of situations. Now is the test, he needs to provide popular policy and hold Johnson and co to account on their post-Brexit/pandemic premiership. Anything up to now was never going to change the political landscape one way or the other. If and when he does go then it would appear that Burnham remains the overwhelming bookies' favourite, and he'd get my vote too were he to stand. I however can't see him being interested for at least a year or two following his re-election as Mayor.

Managed to get my ticket changed to travelling my own vehicle after providing ID for my actual, non LE, address and the £45 refund is being processed too. Given the nightmare of the end of last week with getting through etc, they were surprisingly quick at getting that resolved.

May I just ask when you seem to be so final in your wording of this post, as though Labour's position is unchangeable and the party is effectively dead and buried for eternity. I appreciate that may just be semantics, but I'm intrigued nonetheless. It's irrefutable that the Tory Party have done great damage to the working class in the past, and yet, Rother Valley for example, voted in a Tory MP who lists his hero as Margaret Thatcher. Why is it that the Tory Party can change their skin, but Labour cannot? As an aside, is it really not time that even a basic level of Politics and Constitutional and Administrative Law is taught in mainstream education? I imagine the below example of misunderstanding of responsibility is widespread throughout the UK:-

Looking at the upcoming fixtures, it'd likely be beneficial if Fulham get a result v Burnley and Southampton in their next two so that Brighton aren't on the beach (excuse the pun) when they play West Ham. I still think 4 points will be enough on the basis that Liverpool hopefully lose one of their four or draw a couple etc. Any sort of positive of result on Tuesday will reignite our season you feel, but that's far easier said than done.

Chelsea were always likely to overtake at some point, they have a huge squad and finally have a manager who can manage said squad. The bigger threat was always going to be whether we could get enough points to keep West Ham and Liverpool at bay. I've always been a pessimistic fan, and have accepted that we lose all three (and the cup) and Spurs, West Ham, and Liverpool win all three/four. However, if I try to be objective (which is difficult at the best of times) it's not inconceivable that Liverpool drop points to United and get s***housed by Big Sam or Dyche. I can't see it happening, but this is a Liverpool side that has taken 5(?) points from those reapective fixtures earlier in the season and not the side that ran away with the league. It's also not out of the question that West Ham drop points to a Jekyll and Hide Everton, a decent if not flakey Brighton side, or an erratic Saints etc. Chelsea could even drop points to a half decent Grealish bonus Villa side, or a London derby with Arsenal (ha!). I just cannot see us getting more than 3 points (I sincerely hope I'm wrong) but that may be enough. We're still fortunate that we control our own destiny, and hopefully we find one last push... or we fall into 6th/7th on our sorry backsides and pat ourselves on the back for another 'good effort'.

It's all about momentum, unfortunately. If we'd just won tonight to go 5 points clear then it would be a completely different story, even with the 'big 3' fixtures coming up. Instead, we should realistically have just moved 10 points clear, having played a game more, after throwing away 5 points against two poor sides. The seemingly injured Evans, our apparent weak mentality, and the fact that we've all been here before makes it seem practically impossible to me. I think our only hope is that we sneak 3/4 points from the final 3 games and the teams around us have a similar implosion to us with their winnable fixtures. I really cannot see it, but it's not out of the question that the chasing pack don't capitilise over the weekend, but Spurs are realistically the only side I could maybe see dropping points. I never thought I'd see the day that we'd finish 5th one year and somewhere between 5th and 6th (God forbid we fall out the top 6!) the next in the top flight and I'd be disappointed, but here we are! Anyway, back to cheering on Leeds, Southampton, Man City, Everton .

They've always been my least favourite to be honest. I usually take a mile or two to get my breathing and stride right, and I'm terrible for warming up and cooling down so shorter runs aren't my cup of tea. However, with being in the office Monday - Friday and then having a lot of DIY etc at the weekends, I've not found as much time for regular longer runs so thought I thought I'd set myself a challenge of breaking 20 minutes instead. Managed a 20:32, 20:12, and 20:09 before I finally got there. I've got the Great North Run coming up in September and hope to do another Marathon in some shape or form before the end of the year too, the next timed goal of sorts is getting under 4 hours for a marathon. I'm comfortable up to 20/21 miles but on the previous two marathons I've done the last 5/6 are beyond a slog. I can run a half in 1:38ish so it should be doable you'd hope. I'd definitely recommend ParkRun, though there are some nutters who do it in 15 minutes every week. My first ParkRun was around 23 something, so it's definitely doable!

It does feel like Labour would benefit from a modern day Dennis Healy/John Prescott figure to effectively 'put it up 'em' as an antidote to Johnson and co. Johnson's no nonsense, personality politics is a clear vote winner; New Labour benefited similarly with Campbell and Prescott when they were battling against the likes of Hague and Major. I don't particularly want that to happen, but it would seem far more popular with the public than the current approach. Starmer is seemingly either seen as a bit of wet flannel or a smarmy lawyer by a considerable number, and neither of those approaches are going to win an election in a post Trump world. I quite like the bloke, but that's largely down to his CV rather than his current work, but Starmer trying to win back the Red Wall does rather feel like a former Disney star getting arrested for a minor offence in a desperate attempt to shake off their angelic reputation. As I mentioned previously, going from Corbyn to being in power was never likely to be done in a one person transition. I wouldn't be surprised to Labour get through at least 1 or 2 leaders before they get close to power again (if ever )

I'm not entirely sure that one can tell somebody that their emotion is incorrect. If I'm downbeat about the outcome of an election result then that's somewhat my prerogative, Stringy. I suggest you revisit the definition of working class before you climb up those steps onto your high horse too. It is a term that reflects the type of work and background that a person has and nothing to do with them being in work whilst the rest of society puts their feet up. I don't know if you've been to Hartlepool, or know a great deal about the area, but it is a 'working class' town with one of the highest poverty rates in the UK and an income deprivation of more than one and half times that of the UK average. The people of Hartlepool have spoken with their vote and clearly believe that a Tory candidate and Government are their best way forward so that's that. I'm all for tackling class divide and ending the never ending circular socio-economic struggles that those at the bottom of the ladder live in, but I don't think terminology is the driving force behind that. Maybe I'm wrong. His band member also paid for his kid to get into Eaton, ironically I imagine some of the cost of which was off the back of profits made from the Eaton Rifles song.

Finally broke 20 minutes for a 5k last week, 19 minutes and 56 seconds to be exact. I'm fairly confident that unless I were to take up a strict dietary and exercise regime that I'm not going to get particularly quicker so I can now get back to running for the sake of getting out the house, keeping fit, and being in nature and not chasing targets.

Completely expected result, but still depressing nonetheless. I completely understand the reasoning behind not voting Labour, the party is in disarray, but why you'd then jump ship to the Tories is beyond me. One must say that the marketing the Tories have done is exceptional, they have somehow convinced the working classes that they are the party for them, despite not actually offering any concrete evidence as to why that is the case. As VB references above, the pressure is now on the party to pay back the faith that they've invested in to them. It's still very early days into Starmer's leadership, but it really doesn't look pretty. I feel like history is repeating itself and he's effectively going to have to do a the caretaker role that Kinnock did before handing the reigns over to somebody who can hopefully lead them back into power. Though, I fear that Labour will in some way split and there will effectively be one major party in UK politics and a collection of varying degrees of centre & centre left parties splitting the vote even further.

I paid for Fox Travel in the hope that I can get £45 back when I explain the situation. Not holding out hope there!

I don't live in Leicestershire anymore, but my account details are still my parents address from years ago (something I've never thought to change) so my only option is paying £45 to travel to Leicester (further from Wembley than where I live) and going on Fox Travel despite the fact that I've now updated my details. Stupid past David Guiza

Assume Paddy Power have lined up 6 separate coffins to parade around the Etihad, Emirates, Old Trafford, Anfield and London Stadium at their next respective home games by the way?

I'd like to think I'd have a backbone, but I'm not on a multi-million pound contract and could (hopefully) walk into another job on similar pay. Any managers that take a strong stance now will be revered by you and I, but they can't take moral credit to the bank. We're all lovely people hypothetically. If the managers of the top 6 sides have no issues with where the money that lines their pockets comes from already, then I'm damn sure they're not going to rock the boat now. The managers aren't free from criticism, but they are way down the list of people to blame here and it's ridiculous that they're the ones facing the press.

In fairness to him, and Solskjaer, I feel for them in this instance. This clearly goes way above them and they're the ones who have to front the nonsense, as opposed to the 'suits' higher up. It's the equivalent of your boss making a string of redundancies and then sending you out to dish out the P45 envelopes.

it would never be with the same love or passion, but I'd happily go and watch my local non-league side on a semi-regular basis. They're in the National League North so get a reasonable attendance and a half decent level of football. I think I've got less than 5/10 years left in my season ticket as it is, a combination of the Super League, lockdown, and all other nonsense that surrounds the game has made me fall out of love to a large degree. That said, first game back I'll probably change my mind completely.

Whether you believe it or not, there is no doubting that Liverpool, both in a sporting context, and politically, is a socialist city. I'm not talking about Guevara, Marx, Venezuela and Kenny Dalglish having the hammer and sickle tattooed on his chest. I'm talking about a football club that was built for the working classes, by the working classes, that have, in the past at least, been managed and ran by people who care about the city and not just the football club/their wages. Shankly's reign was long before my time, but from what I have read, watched, heard it would appear that Klopp and Shankly are seemingly cut from the same cloth. They are/were both passionate about the game, the culture, the politics, the city, the individual as opposed to simply being a decent football side and then moving on to pastures new. It's hard to remain true to your working class routes when you're a successful club in a sport that becomes more and more of a morally bankrupt business with every passing year, but the fact remains that Liverpool do a decent job of doing just that and they, along with United, are the ones that have disappointed me the most. Arsenal would have been a shock a decade or so ago, but not now, and Spurs, Chelsea and Man City offers no surprise whatsoever.

I must say, as with when he spoke out against Premier League clubs not funding the lower league clubs, Boris Johnson speaking out against the Super League is somewhat amusing given the party he leads. He and his party can clearly see that everybody benefits when socialism rules . I also feel for the genuine Liverpool and United fans, in particular, in all this. Football clubs used to be one of the founding meeting points of any city/town, along with the Church and the workplace. The whole 'this means more' brand infuriated some rival fans, but to many it really did in Liverpool. A city built on socialism that was almost lead into managed decline but able to rebuild, both on and off the pitch, to create a side that were capable of dominating domestically and in Europe too. Only to then wave goodbye to the little guys in favour of walking on two legs with the other pigs at Europe's top table.

To a paraphrase the great Kevin Keegan, I would love it if the FA told the 'Big 6' where to stick it but in reality we're part of an unsustainable model without them. The Premier League was built out of necessity as the state of the domestic game was a shambles, thanks mainly to off field activities, but it has just grown and grown to the point that the big six dominate the brand in every way, and in particular United and Liverpool. Losing them could be catastrophic for smaller clubs in the short term, but hopefully far better in the long term. Of course it could be rebuilt and hopefully in such a fashion that it resembles the old first division with perhaps less quality, but far more of what makes football the sport we all love.

Assuming it'll be the same chap as his record is listed as 'assisted'. His running club is down as Bristol something or other, but my local is Leamington. I think the 'usual' winner at ours does it in 15 odd minutes, which still seems ridiculous. My best ever mile is just under 6 minutes, and that was down a huge hill Kilworth, can't imagine doing three sub 5 minute miles without the aid of wheels and or an engine!

Cheers! It's one of the benefits of being built like Ian Ormondroyd. It's all relative though, there's a chap at my local ParkRun who does the 5km in under 13 minutes which I believe makes him an alien.

Had an x-ray this morning on an injury that I've had for around a year that will just not go, so will hopefully get somewhere when the results are in on Friday. In the meantime, I've gone back to a more plant based diet and managed 5km (20:32), 10km (43:52), and Half Marathon (1:39:40) PBs in the past week and a bit. Now determined to beat the 40 minute 10km and 20 minute 5km at some point, but we'll see! I'm such a fair weather runner so the longer days and (slightly) warmer temperatures are my main inspirations to get out when I get back from work/weekends.

Agree, but I would say getting a sequence from the first clue is up there with getting a 9 letter word on countdown though. It also brings me great joy that Only Connect and University Challenge usually trend on Twitter whenever they're on. That and TOTP 1990 are the only times I seem to be 'en trend' with the Twitter masses.

I've looked at those before, may look again after your review! I got some of the Nike Zoom Fly ones a few months ago and they've made a huge difference, particularly after a few miles on a longer run. Would love to try the Kipchoge ones.