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Right. And I don't get to play in little league baseball because I am an adult. Some things in sports are categorized because it makes sense, and just because we categorize according to some traits--like sex or age--doesn't mean we have to categorize according to every imaginable one.

Hmmm well the ironborn have slaves. The finest armour is supposedly made in essos and most of the sellsword companies men will be essosi born and bred.Numbers would be interesting Securiry wise you sre right but wallwise we dont hesr much of the huge essosi wall and its 5 forts to make a comparsion!

Why narrow majorities and House gridlock are here to stay in 2024:

It's true that many cis athletes who aren't good enough don't get to make it to the olympics/top level sports. However, IMHO, the "such is life" comment seems to be a snub that precludes trans women from competing in gender-appropriate athletics not on the basis of being good enough but simply because they are trans. There is a not so subtle implication that they are not real women or that they threaten to take the spots in these top levels from real women.

One could: I think I was pretty clear that this is not directed at any one view, but the discussion in general. I have strong feelings about these issues because I have trans friends, work with young trans adults, and have strong views about the rights of young adults in general to control their own lives and take their own decisions. At the same time, I grew up in and live in the same society as everyone else: until I was an adult, trans folks were the butt of playground jokes and nothing else, gender roles were firmly defined and straying from them got mockery at best and made you a target for physical bullying more often than not, and not conforming to your gender assigned at birth was portrayed as inextricably linked to sexual perversion. These were prejudices literally beaten into me at times, and I've had to work to counter them - they still exist in me, at some level. If that's not the culture you grew up in, then I'm glad. A lot of the young adults I work with grew up questioning that culture, and I'm happy for them. But those people generally lack the same genetic advantages that are being considered unfair when they arise as a result of being trans women.

Indeed. The very nature of competitive sports creates a hierarchy.

Very sound and sensible policies from Binface, but really did he have to spoil it with fantasy nonsense like voter ID policy? Making it easier for eligible people to vote has never done anyone any good.

CIS Athletes that aren't good enough don't get to make it to the olympics/top level sport, I don't follow this argument.

So why do you only apply that here to trans athletes and not cis athletes who may not be good enough? Is that also not life? Or does your feigned concern for "fairness" not apply to trans athletes? There seems to be an underlying implication here and your earlier comments that trans women aren't real women or that trans women are stealing these more limited financial opportunities in sports from "real women." And when you are proposing that they be put in "separate but equal" divisions outside of cis sports, then it's hard not to get that impression.

Many people are born who simply cannot compete in a sport they might like to compete in. Such is life. As trans people become a larger part of the population, there's no great reason there can't be sports divisions for them specifically, not unlike how we see for various functional disabilities at the Paralympics. Or alternatively we get good enough at the science of sport that we can handicap accurately and create new divisions that mix the sexes but remain fair to participants.

I thought they handled Toranaga's internal dialogue at the end of the book quite well. Very satisfying adaptation.

I have watched a bit of both. Stylistically, Slot seems to be more suited to the makeup of Liverpool's squad than Amorim which, in theory, would ensure a smoother transition.

This was a sick bit of skill up until he decided to shoot near post (and miss goal) from a terrible angle vs shooting far post. If he shot it across, he scores. I do wonder if he is capable of getting better at finishing. It's one of those things that requires speed of thought, technique, instinct, slow heart rate... I don't know. We've seen a number of players who are really good never become prolific because they just can't keep their calm in front of the goal and I doubt it's for lack of training. On the Arsenal front, Partey really does make this team a lot quicker and more fluid. His desire to take one or two touches and immediately push the ball forward is a welcome change and allows Odegaard to receive the ball in more space and more dangerous positions. I can't believe yesterday was the first time we started a Rice, Partey, Odegaard midfield since Community Shield. I really hope they sign a similar profile to Partey this summer so they can finally let him go. The team just looks significantly more balanced with him in the side. Jorginho was able to replicate that a few games but he hasn't been as consistent with speed of release as Partey is. I suspect if we played Partey to start in the 2nd game against Bayern, we would have had a better shot.

Hopefully an admission or more forthright discussion that it's transphobia so we don't have to have proxy wars that it's actually about other issues. And it leaves trans athletes out of options if they want to do the same. So much for fairness. So what pragmatic solutions do you propose that permits the competition of trans professional/amateur athletes? Treating trans women like men and having them compete in men's sports and having trans men compete in women's sports perhaps? Or a complete non-competition clause for all trans and gender non-conforming individuals?

Wolves have had to put out a statement saying it's not any of their players involved because the internet detectives decided it must be Wolves players which has resulted in some of their players being harassed.

@Castellan I guess I have a strong hunch that lineages are about to become a major issue in Winds. We see multiple families with no clear heir, and with apoarent connections farther back to other regions. Everyone agrees of course that the Freys are all about to murder each or find other ways to climb. The Vale has a more civil approach but a great deal is going on behind the scenes. Meanwhile the North mostly believes Bran and Rickon are dead and so some of the moves the families there are making are related to who they think is rightfully next in line. Really every region has a bit of this going on. So the names are clues to where the story is going in this sense.

Yeah, there is an element here of who's teaching. Darwin has the bonus of being in a clearly defined system with a very good manager, whereas Jackson ... is at Chelsea. It would be interesting to have Jackson in another team where he had a clearer system and better management, to see if that would help him with the issues you mention. Have to admit I've watched less of Chelsea than of Liverpool, so I might be very wrong. And yes, if there's something you can't fault Darwin for, it's his effort and energy. He'll chase absolutely everything, at top speed.

This is very much a 'spitballing' post - I really just wanted to post my ideas before I lost the thread of what I was trying to get at. Anyway ... These damn apples are fated to come back to haunt me forever, it seems. This time, I was pondering on the connection between wormy apples and Gerold Dayne: These are the only two references to wormy apples in Feast. Such specificity makes me suspicious, especially when we have a name like Darkstar's If we run with Armen's metaphor, and split Darkstar's 'wormy apple' in two pieces, then we are left with the names of two of the Kingsguard at the Tower of Joy: Gerold Hightower / Arthur Dayne. Ok. So, one half of Alleras' fallen apple clearly falls in a place that symbolises 'Hightower': It bounces on a turret, then another roof- so not hitting a 'low tower' - then lands at the foot of an acolyte of the Citadel. And The Hightower's built the High Tower which is at the heart of the Citadel. So that gives us the Gerold half. But the fate of the other half of the apple is not described. Would it presumably symbolise Arthur Dayne, if we take Darkstar to be the key to this? Or is George just having fun with us? Might these arrows and apples in some way be telling us about events at the Tower of Joy? We have one cored apple, and one apple which survives to fall into the river, then this wormy apple which might represent two of the kingsgaurd in one. Any thoughts?

I don't know, maybe. The problem with Nunez is literally just the ball going in the net. His all round play is excellent and finishing, while he does occasionally make some bad choices, he's mostly making the right kind of attempts. If you look at the underlying stats he's at the very unlucky end of the scale to have the number of goals he does. For example I've got no doubt Nunez is throwing himself at that headed chance Jackson had, with his luck this season the keeper probably pulls off a worldie save though. Jackson is significantly more raw than Nunez I'd say. He's got the raw materials to be a top striker but when you watch him he's frequently making the wrong run or his head goes down in games and he's not really offering for his midfielders. It can't be easy to be a player who needs to develop at Chelsea to be fair.

I have left it, too. But that has made me more dependent on youtube... Never encountered any of the nasty stuff while I was using Twitter, though. I guess I was careful with who I followed. And I never wrote a tweet either.

Haley got 150k votes, which is not insubstantial. It may not mean much....but interesting that Republicans are still registering their displeasure with their choice.

Jackson, like Darwin (well, more than Darwin, really) will become an elite striker if and when he starts hitting the net. Given how he plays, it might be an idea for Chelsea to do a Joelinton with him and turn him into a winger. I mean, nobody would miss Mudryk on the left..

He did that by eliminating all of Aegon V’s reforms. We never hear the smallfolk’s side of the story, just the official historians kissing Tywin’s butt. We sometimes get an idea of who the smallfolk like and dislike. They never liked Tywin, from what I recall, and that says something.

Looks like it's going to be Arne Slot for the next Liverpool manager. I don't really have any particular opinion on whether he or Amorim is the better candidate having watched exactly zero minutes of either the Dutch or Portuguese leagues this season. We'll have to see how it goes I suppose. I only watched bits of the Arsenal Chelsea game last night but watching the highlights this morning Jackson had an, er, interesting game. He genuinely had Saliba and Gabriel on toast by the look of it. He's left Saliba for dead in the first half, then Gabriel's very lucky not to score an own goal. In the second half he really embarrasses Gabriel before his big chance. On the other side of the ledger he basically bottles going for the header in the first half for what should have been a massive chance and his chance in the second half, come on, you have to shoot across the keeper there. Oh yeah, and he should have had a red card.

2 premier league players (both 19) arrested over a rape. They've apparently been suspended so it won't be too difficult to work out who they are.