Auld_Reekie

As someone else has said, the player is the sole arbiter of whether his ball is playable. At any point, he can opt, under penalty of one stroke, play ball from place of last stroke, drop within two club lengths or play ball from anywhere on a line behind ball and in line with the flag. He could be in the middle of the fairway and choose to do any of the above if he so wishes. He's gaining no advantage from doing so as he accept a penalty stroke but Jordan was well within his rights to do so and well within his rights to drop between the trucks, which wouldnt otherwise have been there. I've absolutely no issues with what he did (and incidents such as this are useful primers on the rules of golf), but in such conditions there absolutely should be a strict time limit from hitting a tee shot and playing next stroke - the absence of such a time limit meant Spieth was afforded more time than would have been afforded to a player not in the last group. Along with the "ready golf" initiative in rule modernisation, players should be afforded 8/10/12 minutes from tee to green on par 3/4/5 holes respectively Within reason, players should play when they are ready to play and not wait on others. Once on green, usual playing order is observed. Once ball on green, no longer on clock.

Im not sure - I think the time taken was reasonable given the commotion, the lay of the land and to ensure that he played by the rules of the game. I think the rules allowed him the time under the circumstances and as such, nothing should really detract from what he achieved or how he went about it. He played within the rules and he used them to his benefit. However, I do agree the rules need to be more explicit about slow play and in future, players should have a strict amount of time to assess their options and choose one based on that time restriction. In such a situation, Spieth would probably have been forced to return to the tee to hit another ball, possibly altering the outcome of the match. The game is supposed to be played in equity, and it is highly unlikely that a player not in the last group would have been afforded the same time and luxury that Speith enjoyed. While it didnt seem to overly affect Kuchar, other players might reasonably have asked tournament officials why his play was stalled unduly.

Im trying hard not to be bitter about lack of Scots and want the Lions to win but f*** me, it's hard. Ive only recently started watching rugby more seriously so I have little emotional investment in the Lions, but Gatland is doing nothing to make me want to support them. Poor squad selection is bad enough, but the rugby is poor to watch as well - brute force, pick and drive, with minimal attempt to play open, expansive rugby. Seymour not making the squad is disgraceful IMO. If scoring 3 tries doesn't get you at least a squad place, something is wrong. Will get a place in the last test when the tour is effectively lost.

Sounds like Nicola Sturgeon making some kind of move today - Im guessing a commitment to no referendum before #brexit but that a referendum should be held once negotiations complete and terms are known.

Yep. It's pretty simple. If the people want a referendum or the people want independence, it will be really quite simple. They'll vote for the party that offers it in election. And that will be SNP. If support for independence hangs around at 40%, that's a massive base the SNP can call on when the time is right. What they can't afford to do though is tarnish the party or independence by constantly p*ssing people off, whether that's by taking them for granted, f***ing up on the day job or getting above their station. Let brexit run it's course and get back to bread and butter of running Scottish Government for now.

Nae sh*t?! lol We're amateur psephologists here and trying to predict the future... if you think there's anything other than predictions and assumptions, I think you are mistaken.

IMO, any referendum should be put off til 2020 at the earliest and even then, I would build everything round the 2021 Holyrood election. As you say, it's a massive election to ensure that the SNP still have a majority and control of Scottish politics. If public opinion appears to swing massively once brexit becomes clear then fair enough, but otherwise, I think the SNP should fight 2021 on a post-brexit independence referendum for 3 reasons: 1. It coalesces independence support around the SNP and helps ensure they win a majority in Holyrood. This should be the most important goal right now and bringing independence to the fore at that point maximises chances of an SNP government through to 2026. 2. It automatically implies a referendum should be held and ideally, SNP should be campaigning that the legislation for referendums is passed to Holyrood (giving them more control). 3. The timing of the referendum is then under the full control of the SNP and depending on the post-brexit feeling can be done immediately or any time during the parliamentary session. Effectively could be 10 years since #indyref. I accept people desperately want it to happen sooner but IMO, the priority right now is to win 2021 Holyrood elections. Jumping into a referendum on the chance the SNP might lose that election is wrong-headed and rash and risks killing off both the SNP and independence in one go. Let things settle for 3/4 years and then bring an independence referendum front and centre in the Holyrood election. If you ask me, the SNP can't lose in those circumstances unless independence is dead in the court of public opinion - and if that's true, a referendum is moot.

Funny that, eh? There's three reasons the SNP would be utterly mental for committing to another referendum: 1. There is significant hostility toward it right now, including soft Yes voters from 2014. Committing to one right now is a massive gamble. 2. It's far from clear that public support can be won round in the estimated time frame. Committing to one at this stage is a massive gamble. 3. Pretty much everyone accepted another couldnt/shouldnt be held until there was clear public support for both a referendum and independence (most talked in terms of at least 55%). Committing to one without that support is a massive gamble. Since when did we all get so impatient and be willing to throw away all the sensible pre-conditions that came out of the last referendum? It's widely accepted we only get one more shot and we had to be very careful about when we took that opportunity. IMO, people are pissed at the GE result and thought the SNP would walk it meaning we were still in control of the agenda. SNP took a massive hit but still have lots of control over the agenda, but people no longer have the stomach to wait. Find it quite curious - not sure I'm quite ready to go all-in to be honest and gamble our possible last chance at it. We're not close enough to winning popular support and I don't see that the independence prospectus has changed much. Currency, Europe, Immigration - all major issues that remain up in the air, even more so because of #brexit. It's totally unacceptable to have no convincing story on these issues before going again. And they aren't policies that can be drafted in the space of weeks - serious development work needs to go into them if they are to stand up to the propaganda machine of the British state.

Something somewhere is (very) flammable. And fire prevention systems/infrastructure has clearly failed. I hope the building survives because many people need to be jailed for this and as much evidence as possible is needed to ensure all that must be learned, is learned. Absolutely appalling.

And this is the kind of sloppy $hit that's becoming more and more evident in the party: https://stv.tv/news/politics/1391215-snp-rebranded-indyref2-fundraiser-for-election-donations/ It's the kind of questionable standards/behaviour that the SNP were supposed to be above. Had this been the Tories, they'd be rightly slated by SNP/independence supporters. More and more the SNP looks and behaves like an establishment party. Need a serious shake up.

Bang on the money from Gerry Hassan: http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2017/06/13/build-it-and-they-will-come/ Very little here I disagree with. Massively important the movement diversifies and the SNP do some serious soul searching.

Agreed. What a f***ing contorted way of looking at the world. I hate Rangers as much as the next man, but it's absolutely ridiculous to label their entire support bigots who only vote according to the chosen team of candidates. There's a million and one other ways the SNP need to up their game before we have to start selecting orangemen and loyalists as candidates. What next, start supporting orange walks in order to court the loyalist vote? There are many in the independence support losing their absolute mind and the above p*** is representative of what happens when you want something so bad you lose sight of even basic sense. About time many sobered up, stepped away from the campaign for a while and refocused.

I dont have a problem with the stats - as Ive said before, he's our best midfielder and Im certainly not doubting his quality. My problem on Saturday were the passes that put us in serious danger of conceding a goal at a critical point in the game. IMO, any criticism of him is a reflection of his status - we expect the best from him because he's been the best we have for a number of years now. None of this changes the fact that he's our best midfielder though. Hope to see a couple of changes around him in the coming games.

As others have said, for top tier games Hampden Park is a fantastic stadium. When the conditions are right, the noise can be deafening. It's those games and atmosphere that keeps us going back. Fantastic.

As one of my mates put it, probably the most Scottish thing Scotland has ever done. I doubt we'll ever see a five minutes like it again. One of the greatest highs before one of the greatest lows. Only Scotland could do something like it. The celebrations for the first were incredible but to have exactly the same opportunity moments later and score again - absolute carnage. Have watched thon Greig Stott's video a dozen times and it's a marvellous window into the emotions and passion of being a Scotland fan. Scotland eh?

Before Saturday I just wanted him gone, but Ill be honest, the result has given a very short-term reprieve. He's on borrowed time though. It's clear we're not going to punt him after almost beating England but it doesn't make up for insipid performances to date. There's a clear bar that needs to be met from here on in and only a remarkable turnaround and making the playoffs should save him. I actually think we're closing in on a much better starting 11 but it's up to Strachan to maintain it and start turning in results and performances. Biggest concern just now is the players appear to be behind him. At this stage, I think punting him would do more harm than good.

That's a fantastic video! Can tell it's the South Stand though - tame celebrations compared to the carnage around our section in the North-East corner. Brilliant though. A decent enough performance and for once, I actually though our defence was the best it's been. A poor game from Gordon though - should have got something on first goal and cleared the ball for second by any means possible - even just any kind of fist on it and we were home and dry. Midfield was generally poor though - thought Brown had a bit of a shocker and almost cost us two other goals. Griffiths though was easily the highlight with two fantastic goals and two fantastic memories that will go down as legend. Puts the work rate in as well which is the absolute minimal we need from our lone striker. Still think we're out of it though. We'll show up at the big games but will go out with a whimper against lesser nations. Really hope to be proven wrong because I think Strachan is actually closing in on a starting 11 that will work. Gordon should lose his place and the midfield, after ironically being our strongest area for a while, is the area that has failed to step up. But unlike recent times in defence, Strachan has options available to him in midfield. Absolutely gut-wrenching finish but plenty positives to come out of that game as well. Strachan needs to ensure we kick on from this though and maintain a high standard to the end of the campaign.

Thought it was an average game from Brown. Did some decent stuff but gave the ball away several times in second half in very dangerous positions.

Not in my experience. Opposition to SNP fell into following categories: 1. Pushing #indyref2 far too soon - soft Yes and soft No voters not even close to being ready for it all again. 2. Not focusing on "day job". 3. Aggressive/abusive supporters. Point 1 was by far the most acute problem though for SNP in my experience.

With a referendum off the table, I'm really not sure what difference it makes. Scotland no longer has any leverage that would enable it to secure a differentiated deal. For the SNP MPs, it's going to be very hard for them to argue in any way without them or the opposition framing it in terms of another referendum, and the Tory/Labour MPs are hardly likely to champion anything that pull's Scotland from rUK. We might still have some influence but it will be part of a UK wide block rather than any specific Scottish deal.

Totally agree. She's been swept along in a momentum she couldnt really control - first the post-indyref surge and then an inevitable reaction to brexit. Last night was a much needed correction and like you said, it's better that it happened now and in an election, rather than later or in a referendum. She's also been far too timid for fear of a looming independence referendum - with that out of the way, she now needs to rejuvenate the party and the message.

There are several lessons here: do not talk about referendum's until public opinion is ripe. And while a referendum is on the table, it gives Unionists a free hand to talk incessantly about "another divisive independence referendum". It's early and Im tired but IMO, you nullify that by taking it off the table and only putting it back on when public opinion is in our favour. That way, every time a Labour or Tory MP is interviewed from here on in, they'll have to talk about policy and more than ever we need to focus on what being in Britain really means. No more easy soundbites for Ruth Davidson, no more cheap headlines for the papers, no more dodging questions about the dysfunctional Labour Party. And most of all, start focusing on domestic success again. Target now must be to win the next Holyrood election and that's going to be mighty tough now. If really must, put referendum back on the table when the manifesto is launched. But not a word about it before then. IMO, Scotland gave up any bargaining power on brexit last night. The Tories and Labour support it, and the Scottish electorate failed to choose a way out. That makes us committed now and any notion of steering another course requires a referendum and that's no longer an option. Brexit needs to be allowed to run it's course and in the meantime, the SNP get's back to basics.

Another election would be a f***ing disaster for the SNP. Have you seen the number of seats that are now marginals in Scotland?! SNP would be better sticking with what they have rather than compounding the problem. 1. Get referendum off the table for now - will show soft voters that willing to listen and help stop any rot. 2. Accept brexit is now happening and Scotland will not have a get out - hell mend us. 3. Spend next 3 years getting back on top of the domestic agenda. 4. Read the riot act to idiot and moronic MPs/members - IMO, they're far more divisive than a referendum. 5. Fight Holyrood on post-brexit terms and right to hold another referendum. Will ensure independence vote coalesces around SNP and (hopefully) ensures they remain in government (which is now massively important). Should also secure right to hold another referendum.