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This probably won't take off because there's only about three topics regularly discussed on here 🤣

Anyway

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57219860

Belarus being naughty today. A rather odd and desperate way to catch a journalist/activist. Why is this guy such a threat?

 

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On the one hand I think we wouldn't have hesitated to do the same thing if a person we considered to be a serious threat to the state was flying across our territory. And accusations of "state terrorism" is an exaggeration, when the incident is taken in isolation.

On the other hand, Belarus seems riddled with corruption and the President there is clearly a big fan of squashing free speech and dissent - which is not in line with Western ideology. 

In general, it feels like Russian influence/ideology has strengthened in recent years, bucking what felt like a terminal decline in its competition with Western ideology, likely helped by the increasing apathy in Western countries for existing political structures (expressed by voters via Trump and Brexit etc). A long way of saying, those guys probably feel an increasing ability to flex their muscles.

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Easily the maddest trip I've ever been on with Scotland. You either work for the state or you're an undesirable spending all day getting pished on cheap vodka! 

I thought Lukashenko would have been long gone by now but tightening his grip it seems. He just keeps smashing protest after protest. 

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3 hours ago, slasher said:

Easily the maddest trip I've ever been on with Scotland. You either work for the state or you're an undesirable spending all day getting pished on cheap vodka! 

I thought Lukashenko would have been long gone by now but tightening his grip it seems. He just keeps smashing protest after protest. 

Excellent post. Would read again. 

What a mad world we live in. 

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15 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

Takes a lot for O'Leary to be seen as the good guy :-))

 

 

I'm sure he's now changed the terms and conditions to allow him to  charge passengers a hi jacking/ political diversion fee.

 

Probably sacked a lawyer this morning for not thinking of that when original T &C 's were set up..🤔😉

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http://www.skysports.com/share/12321516

Osaka withdrawing has had quote ghe fall out, some how piers Morgan has ended up involved. 

Withdrawing seems like an extreme action to take to me, why not engage with the tournament organisers? Or vice versa, instead of dining her, engage with her and ask what the concerns are? 

Edited by vanderark14
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14 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

 

http://www.skysports.com/share/12321516

Osaka withdrawing has had quote ghe fall out, some how piers Morgan has ended up involved. 

Withdrawing seems like an extreme action to take to me, why not engage with the tournament organisers? Or vice versa, instead of dining her, engage with her and ask what the concerns are? 

The world of sport has gone mad. The lassie just doesn't want to be interviewed in front of cameras and a huge media scrum. So, that means she can't compete at the highest level. Where is the sporting integrity in that? Bonkers stuff. It's all about money these days, when it should be about who is best at the sport.

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29 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

The world of sport has gone mad. The lassie just doesn't want to be interviewed in front of cameras and a huge media scrum. So, that means she can't compete at the highest level. Where is the sporting integrity in that? Bonkers stuff. It's all about money these days, when it should be about who is best at the sport.

Indeed

That said, I'm guessing that she Will have agreed to a contract stating some form of media work / interviews post match ?

Flip side now is that the event has been devalued by her omission 

I'm sure there's middle ground to prevent this if they'd bothered their money grabbing arses....

 

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1 hour ago, Redz said:

Indeed

That said, I'm guessing that she Will have agreed to a contract stating some form of media work / interviews post match ?

Flip side now is that the event has been devalued by her omission 

I'm sure there's middle ground to prevent this if they'd bothered their money grabbing arses....

 

Maybe she did sign something. But what about them having some sort of duty of care in making the necessary adjustments to allow her to do her job while taking into account her anxiety? She's a tennis player, let her play tennis without causing her distress with unnecessary sideshows.  I think it's a disgrace she's been forced into this. i'd also have liked to have seen some (one?) of her fellow pros support her. 

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I don't think there is any surprise about her choices from anyone who has suffered from depression. I'm extremely empathetic with her and can see why she did what she did.

Coming out and just threatening her with expulsion was only going to end one way.

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55 minutes ago, phart said:

I don't think there is any surprise about her choices from anyone who has suffered from depression. I'm extremely empathetic with her and can see why she did what she did.

Coming out and just threatening her with expulsion was only going to end one way.

Aparrebtly the grandslam committee tried to contact osakas team but they didn't respond.

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58 minutes ago, phart said:

I don't think there is any surprise about her choices from anyone who has suffered from depression. I'm extremely empathetic with her and can see why she did what she did.

Coming out and just threatening her with expulsion was only going to end one way.

Must be a horrible place to be in if you've strived your entire life for something but on actually achieving it realise you absolutely hate it to the point you want out!  

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37 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

Aparrebtly the grandslam committee tried to contact osakas team but they didn't respond.

It seems their communications with her to that point had been quite intimidating, threatening expulsion from their events. I don't know the full ins and outs, but I'm not surprised she didn't respond. My sympathies are with her and it'll take a lot to convince me otherwise. Her health is understandably of primary importance to her (and her team).

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48 minutes ago, duncan II said:

It seems their communications with her to that point had been quite intimidating, threatening expulsion from their events. I don't know the full ins and outs, but I'm not surprised she didn't respond. My sympathies are with her and it'll take a lot to convince me otherwise. Her health is understandably of primary importance to her (and her team).

I suspect both parties will be guilty in one way or another. The result is one of the or possible the best female player is no longer taking part in a grandslam.

She announced this prior to the tournament beginning, did she request talks with the tournament organisers before this decision? If so were they difficult to deal with? 

Either way this could and probably should've been handled better

 

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3 hours ago, duncan II said:

Maybe she did sign something. But what about them having some sort of duty of care in making the necessary adjustments to allow her to do her job while taking into account her anxiety? She's a tennis player, let her play tennis without causing her distress with unnecessary sideshows.  I think it's a disgrace she's been forced into this. i'd also have liked to have seen some (one?) of her fellow pros support her. 

I agree with you

My point in terms of a contract was a question, not a statement - Hence the question mark as I wasn't sure

 

 

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1 hour ago, Redz said:

I agree with you

My point in terms of a contract was a question, not a statement - Hence the question mark as I wasn't sure

 

 

Absolutely. It’s a fair question. My ire not aimed at you, it’s the arseholes on Twitter saying she has to just get on with it, she’s self-entitled etc, with no understanding of mental illness or of compassion.

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On 5/24/2021 at 11:26 AM, slasher said:

Easily the maddest trip I've ever been on with Scotland. You either work for the state or you're an undesirable spending all day getting pished on cheap vodka! 

I thought Lukashenko would have been long gone by now but tightening his grip it seems. He just keeps smashing protest after protest. 

Definitely up there with my favourite trips, about 10 of us flew to Vilnius hired a minibus and driver to Minsk.

Was interesting at the border on the way back as 3 of our party had made alternative plans for travelling back so the “Dolph Lundgren” lookalike guards weren’t having it as 10 arrived and only 7 leaving the country, we got fined a small fortune, it was quite worrying as I thought we might have ended up buried in the nearby forest at one point 😂

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7 hours ago, Orraloon said:

The world of sport has gone mad. The lassie just doesn't want to be interviewed in front of cameras and a huge media scrum. So, that means she can't compete at the highest level. Where is the sporting integrity in that? Bonkers stuff. It's all about money these days, when it should be about who is best at the sport.

The problem is that these sports rely to an extent on engagement with the media / sponsors in order to promote the game. I cant think of any sport where talking to the media isnt some kind kf requirement.

If you allow 1 person to not do it then nobody will do it as im pretty sure none of them want to.

What then happens when prize money goes down, atrendences decrease etc etc. It might be ok for those at the very top as halving their cheque still leaves a very healthy amount but for the hundreds of players at the bottom of the ladder it would mean having to do another career.

Osaka has over 25 sponsorship deala where she has to perform "duties". Seems to me that she is more than happy to fulfil those commitments.

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17 hours ago, Jersey Jim said:

Definitely up there with my favourite trips, about 10 of us flew to Vilnius hired a minibus and driver to Minsk.

Was interesting at the border on the way back as 3 of our party had made alternative plans for travelling back so the “Dolph Lundgren” lookalike guards weren’t having it as 10 arrived and only 7 leaving the country, we got fined a small fortune, it was quite worrying as I thought we might have ended up buried in the nearby forest at one point 😂

We got the train - overnight sleeper from Berlin - into Minsk.  On the way back we were going to Vilnius and then back to Berlin.  Had a flight booked from Vilnius to Berlin.   Got Wee John's bus from Minsk to Vilnius.   I think that only around half those that went down with him had went back as they all had other plans.  Problem was there were six people more on the bus going back than went down, so half a dozen had to get off and walk through the border as "foot passengers" and get picked up on the Lithuanian side.

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