It's still sinking in for me. I can't believe we actually beat Germany in a tournament, first time since 1966. Even at 2-0 up with 90 minutes gone, I thought Germany would sneak two late goals to take it to extra time.
Just hope England don't get ahead of themselves now, and that Southgate can keep them grounded so they're in a good state of mind for Saturday's next round match.

But that's all for the future, now, for me, is for celebrating

Iodine deficiency is definitely an issue, particularly in countries like the UK... but it doesn't cure cancer.
If we'd really found out in the 40s and 50s that iodine did this, don't you think it might have had more of an impact on modern cancer treatment?

Also, why would you need a cure for a vaccine? That doesn't make any sense at all.


Depends which country you're in. No fees in the UK. The NHS is publicly funded, but the government have been cutting away at it for over a decade, taking money away and reducing service provision as much as they can get away with... they have no interest in financing the medical profession with fake cures.

For England, Germany are the ultimate rival... because Germany have beaten them so many times.
But this rivalry is one-sided, Germany don't consider England a rival at all, because they normally beat them in tournament competition - I think 1966 was the last time England beat them in a tournament?

Today, neither team is great, but neither is terrible... it should be a fairly even match, the only question is the psychological barrier that England players will need to overcome.

I've not seen a day of international football like this for a long time! Both matches 3-3, then both going to extra time... and each crazy in their own way.
I can't make any predictions for the final score in France-Switzerland, anyone could win... but you would think there are more goals to come!

Spain really did look like they'd woken up, and showing some true form. Croatia aren't really a match for them, particularly with Perisic missing.
Some of the other teams that did well in the groups have struggled in the first knockout round, but with Spain I think it will be different. They look like they're coming into form now, and I think they will brush Croatia aside, and win by a couple of goals.

Yes. Of course this is a complex issue, and we must consider the historic context of Hitler's rise to power, notably the aftermath of WW1 and specifically the Treaty of Versailles and how that impacted Germany. Obviously he is shunned by all sides, but I don't think he was a socialist or a liberal.


Well, my point is that communism is a terrible system, not least because it is easy to exploit. Historic examples show that leaders of nominally communist states become (or already were?) power-mad despots. How much they actually believe in communism and how much they simply want to be in charge is debatable. I'm not aware of any "communist" state in history that has genuinely been run by, and has worked to the benefit of, ordinary citizens.


So you agree that governments in capitalist nations should be left-of-centre rather than right-of-centre? I mean, this is the main reason that I vote for left-wing parties. I assume you don't agree fully, and there is more nuance to uncover here.

It's interesting that three teams got a full 9 points from three straight wins in the group stage: Italy, Netherlands, Belgium.

And now we get to the first knockout round... Italy were disappointing and only just got through. Netherlands were very poor, and are out. Will the pattern continue, or are Belgium just too good for that kind of anticlimactic performance?

Yes, it was almost a foregone conclusion going into the weekend, Verstappen on pole, Hamilton right behind... then Hamilton would follow Verstappen for the whole race, but never looking like he had the speed to overtake, then Verstappen wins, Hamilton second.

Same again next time out?

The only intersting thing really is that it makes a change from the foregone conclusion of Hamilton pole Hamilton win from previous seasons. But it's annoying that we've gone from Mercedes having by far the best car to Red Bull having by far the best car. I just wish we could have one season where the front teams are evenly matched.

Nice how the announcement is publicised on Russia Today... almost as if the Russians are trying to interfere in order to help Trump out... but of course that would never happen, would it?

On the other hand, mediabiasfactcheck.com describes RT as having "Some Fake News", which probably only makes it a partial match for Trump.

They do often seem to under-achieve, given the players they've got.
That half of the draw is really opening up now, you'd bet on the winner of England-Germany to reach the final. And of course, talking of teams that have good players but always under-perform in big tournaments, I think everyone is expecting Germany to win this one

Do I have to show you data on world population change, too?

But you're immune to data and facts, so let's just consider it logically. I assume you're not familiar with the five-stage transition model?
1) No modern medicine or sanitation, etc. People have lots of children, and lots of people die from preventable causes. High birth rate and high death rate. Population remains fairly constant.
2) Introduction of modern medicine and sanitation. A lot of people who would previously have died now survive. High birth rate remains, but death rate drops significantly. Big population increase.
3) Improving economic and health conditions, more children surviving into adulthood, female emancipation, contraception, etc... birth rate starts to fall. Population still increases, but more slowly. This is where most developing countries are right now.
4) Modern societies, strong economies, high education level, excellent healthcare... birth rate drops to around 2 children per person. Low birth rate, low death rate. Population remains stable. This is where developed nations are. Indeed some, notably Japan, have proceeded to stage 5...
5) A falling population due to low death rate but even lower birth rate. Reasons for this last stage are as yet unclear, as we are only just starting to see it... but lack of employment opportunities or affordable family housing might be factors causing people to postpone having children, or just choosing not to at all.

Population levels generally remain stable. The huge increase we have seen over the last generations are a consequence of medicine and sanitation arriving before education and wealth. This means there is a period where birth rate is much much higher than death rate. Once countries develop further, birth rate drops.

This pattern can be seen all over the world... if only you'd look at facts and evidence, rather than nonsense conspiracy stuff about 5G masts and microchip zombies.


https://populationeducation.org/what-demographic-transition-model/

No, I think Belgium will win, they are much better than Portugal, they have better players and a better team. Portugal did get through a difficult group, but they were also close to going out.
But of course nothing is certain, and if Portugal get any opportunities, then Ronaldo will get his chance to score yet another penalty - I mean, goal...

Yes, it's the familiar pattern of one car being clearly better than all of the others... it's just that this time it's not the Mercedes!
It makes a change, I suppose, but still... it can be a bit boring when you know who the winner will be before the race starts - barring any weird occurrence like an untimely safety car.

F1 racing would be better if everyone drove the same car... but I appreciate it wouldn't be F1 then, without the different manufacturers showing off what they can do.

But... I always take things seriously. I just can't help it.

Sorry, I hadn't realised this was another joke thread. But I should have, based on the below. I can tailor my future replies accordingly, if you wish?



Not true.
Not really a lie, just outdated. Global total is now approaching 4 million.

This one is true!

Not true.
Not true.
Not true.
No idea what you're talking about.
Not true.

Not true.
Not true.

You mean, if you don't like the facts, then you have to scour the darkest, weirdest corners of the internet, where struck-off ex-professionals and other discredited individuals reside, in order to find "facts" that agree with your pre-established conclusion?

He really needs to be third. Given how close it is at the front between Verstappen and Hamilton, both teams absolutely need their second drivers to step up and qualify and then race close to the front, to give them a tactical advantage over their opponents. The Bottas penalty here gives Red Bull a great chance to put pressure on Mercedes... Even if Hamilton qualifies in pole, and leads from pole in the race, if he has two Red Bulls right behind him going into the first round of pit-stops, but no support driver of his own, then Red Bull would have the advantage.

I just posted on another thread to explain how evolution works: mutation plus natural selection.
The number of mutations is dependent on the amount of virus in circulation. This is a global pandemic, so there will be a great deal of different mutations. Some will be of little or no concern, some will be a great concern, if more transmissible or to some extent resistant to the vaccine.

So yes, we will likely all need annual booster shots to counter the latest variants. Once the pandemic is over, the virus will become simply endemic. It will be here all the time... but will become less of a concern due to rising immunity within the population, from people who've caught it, from the initial vaccines, and from annual boosters.

The main reason that CV19 has created such chaos is that it is a novel virus, i.e. no pre-existing immunity within the population to slow its progress.

Mutation occurs due to copying errors. This is as true for viruses as it is for humans. The more common a virus is, the more mutations there will be. The more instances there are of a virus replicating, the more mutations (copying errors) there will be. This is extremely basic science. There will be huge numbers of CV19 variants out there. The ones we hear about are the ones that have been identified as being of especial concern, whether due to high transmissibility, immunity to the vaccine, severity of symptoms, etc. Are there other variants that we don't know about? Yes, of course there are.
But vaccines do not cause mutation. Mutation occurs naturally.

If you understood how mutation arises, and also accepted the concept of natural selection through 'survival of the fittest'... then you would understand how evolution works. That's what evolution is, mutation plus natural selection... it occurs by itself, without guidance. This is how both you and I came to exist.

Calm down, and try to form a logical argument.



Thanks for pointing out the difference between Stalin and modern social democrats - you'd think the distinction would be obvious to everyone, but no, there is still hilarious hysterical shrieking about
at any mention of anything even vaguely left-of-centre, including, at times, those little-red-book-waving-zealots the US Democrats

Not sure about your other point, though. I mean, 30 million dead on the Eastern Front in WW2 does suggest at least some degree of ideological difference between Hitler and Stalin.

The Nazis as 'national socialists' is a familiar argument used to suggest that the Nazis were left-wing. It's a McCarthyist-era tactic, attempting to demonise the USSR by establishing a link between them and the primary antagonist of then-recent memory, Hitler. Of course, the Nazis weren't left-wing. Hitler's party was profoundly anti-Marxist, and the phrase 'national socialism' was used to as a marketing tool, a means of differentiating it from the socialism that was popular amongst the working classes, whilst still promoting a working-class appeal. The Nazis weren't, for example, a party of wealth distribution (unless of course you were Jewish). The Nazi use of the word 'socialism' may be compared to the phrase 'all lives matter', which is transparently racist and white-supremacist, and seeks to denigrate blacks by promoting whites, whilst adopting a similar name to the anti-racist movement that it opposes.

But of course Stalin wasn't really a communist, either. He exploited the communist system to become a despot, brought murder and misery to a huge number of people, and had zero concern for the working poor. Left-wing politics in practice, in the context of the first part of the twentieth century, is instead best characterised by the New Deal, and by the post-WW2 rebuilding of Europe by Hitler's enemies, and here in the UK the establishment of the NHS... it's not characterised by Stalin or Hitler.

I would currently describe myself as left-wing, but the term 'left' is of course relative. If we were living in a communist state, I would describe myself as right-wing. Communism is a terrible idea, because it is a form of absolutism... which is why laissez-faire capitalism, or ancap, or whatever the preferred term is, is also a terrible idea... because it is so easy to exploit, and because it results in the same thing, monopolies and cartels in place of the KGB, and the same outcome - entrenchment of a tiny elite and the exploitation of everyone else.

No system can work fairly unless there is a countervailing force to curb its excesses. This should be the purpose of a government in a capitalist system. A right-wing government in a capitalist economy makes no sense, and may as well not be there.

Yeah. I know he's a good player, but I do think he's over-rated. Five goals in three games is not representative of his contribution. Not sure if the figures are totally up to date, but he's scored 145 penalties in his career... which is a sizeable chunk of his overall goals tally. Yes he's a good player, but he's not quite as much of a goal machine as the figures suggest.

The latest I heard is that Hamilton is currently in negotiations for a new contract, and that he prefers Bottas as a partner. But we will see I suppose, as Mercedes haven't yet made a decision on the second driver. They really need two individuals who work well together as a team, if they're going to seriously challenge Red Bull this season.