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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 1d

If anything is affected, it’ll be the price for tickets. TV rights will likely be more valuable, because more people watch test rugby and people who pay-per-view are more likely to commit to a full contract. Test players will also only have to play +\- 20 games. 2/2

mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 1d

I’m not so sure. The Premiership doesn’t kill Division 1. Plymouth Argyle averages 16k attendance at home games, which is on par with the URC. Plymouth Argyle fans just watch more football, because they have a Premiership side as well. Attendance for test matches will likely stay the same.
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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 1d

Test rugby is the biggest revenue generator in the sport by a long, long way. Rather than a rebel league, international sides should own their players and play more test matches. It wouldn’t be impossible to setup a system of compulsory loans and purchases (at market value) with the clubs/provinces.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 1d

What I would love to see, rather than a rebel league, is for national unions to own their players and to only play test rugby. Test rugby is what pays for all the other levels of rugby, so it would make sense to play a lot more of it.

mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 1d

This is not surprising in the slightest, since Gulf money bailed out the Barclays to the tune of £600 million in debt relief. The UAE wanted to take over the paper, but were prevented by British law, and now own a passive stake of 15%, but presumably exert disproportionate influence.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 7d

Does it matter? Labour became a mass party of the left, but we are so crap at doing politics that we actually just made things worse.

mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 10d

So bored of Labour being fascist-adjacent.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 16d

I don’t know what they expect. Business will always side with fascism over anything that looks like it might be related to redistribution.

mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 19d

Brits hate it because it’s new.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 19d

The Mr. Price version only comes in 3D.

mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 20d

I hope you didn’t pay for that education!

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 20d

That is a very silly position to take. You can’t understand western culture without understanding its mythology. Religion should be kept out of science, obviously, but understanding Christianity is as important as understanding the Ancient Greeks and the Romans to our understanding of ourselves.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 20d

Don’t confuse Catholicism with Protestantism. Catholicism has long been the more mystical of the Christian churches and the more willing to read the Bible as allegory. Protestant churches tend to read the Bible like a scientific treatise.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 20d

The soft-focus lens that our privately owned media companies use portray Farage is about to get even softer and cuddlier. As a rule of thumb, fascism it’s always more appealing to the investors behind these companies than tales any kind of redistribution.

mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 20d

It’s a mistake to try to distinguish the state from the people, however. All white South Africans were responsible for Apartheid, even if they voted for the liberal party once every four years. The only white people who were anti-apartheid had open files at Special Branch. Israel is exactly the same

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 20d

No, he doesn’t, because the only difference between this moment in time and the past 75yrs is magnitude. The kettle that was put on on the fire back in 1948 is now starting to boil. Israel has been an ethno-supremacist state since its conception and it will be until its dissolution.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 20d

It is absolutely mistaken to view this through the prism of individuals. The only difference between now and any time in the past 75yrs is magnitude. Israel is a nation of ethno-supremacists and it has always been such. The kettle is simply coming to the boil.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 23d

I wouldn’t worry too much. The bond markets will eject Farage from office faster than Truss. I also wouldn’t treat this as a serious proposal. He has dropped it out there to get you all talking about it.

mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 23d

The two games would inevitably diverge, because women have different strengths and weaknesses to men. Rugby is highly adaptable and teams seek to maximise their strengths and minimise their weaknesses, which then creates different styles of gameplay.

mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 25d

Doh! Of course it was!

There is definitely something to be said for the emotional tank, to be fair. If you go back and watch Ardie’s interview after the Eden Park test and capping ceremony, you’ll see that the Wellington result was telegraphed, because his emotional tank had been used up.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 25d

I thought that what made Britain “great” was the English colonisation of Wales and Ireland, and the Act of Union 1707.

mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 25d

This is precisely why I fell out with the Left after GE19. The only thing these people care about are their own egos.

mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 25d

Really? You reckon the Kiwis were more emotional after the Ireland game than the Boks were after the England game? Half the Boks were literally crying, including the coaching staff.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 25d

Labour leadership is starting to fall apart. There will be a new leadership election at the end of May at the latest.

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mlungu.bsky.social @mlungu.bsky.social · 25d

There will be another leader soon, after the May elections at the absolute latest.