The sun lol

[Carbo]

Counter-Puncher - add pedantic to your list:-)

I thought you'd appreciate it, Payne. And here you are slagging me. Pah! And all this coming from a person who thinks Han Solo could beat Kirk in a fight. I don't believe it.

[DavidPayne]

You know it.

Hans Solo bested Sharpe FFS.

[Carbo]

You know it.

Hans Solo bested Sharpe FFS.

Hans Solo bested Sharpe? As in Sharpe's Rifles etc??

What about that hard as nails Irish fella, Paddy? He'd have em all.

[Counter-puncher]

[quote="Carbo

good, now fvcking stay over there, where reporters get murdered for investigating the wrong thing, where chechens and kazakhstanis etc are subject to an average of 5 racists attacks per week in moscow alone, where the very idea of democracy is a joke, where old women scrap for a living selling fags on the streets, where the far right is on the rise, where the levels of corruption are so high that Gov't officials have to be bribed to get anything done and where the protection of gangsters is needed just so your business doesn't get petrol bombed by other gangsters, where the Police basically don't investigate smaller crimes and can easily be dissuaded from investigating the bigger ones if bribed with a big enough wedge[/quote]
Hey, it sounds if you actually have first hand experience of Russia. All very accurate.

Meantime, I think that the issue that I have is that whoever said "a man born in England has won first place in the lottery of life" was largely correct.

We don't realize how made we have it in the UK. Certainly, the poverty I see in Russia, juxtaposed with vulgar, ostentatious displays of outrageous wealth, makes you realize what a great country in which you were born. Further, while it is true that Russia has been at the forefront of the arts, literature, mathematics, engineering and science for much to the last hundred years, I feel that no country can compete in terms of its contribution of man's knowledge and exploration that the country that produced Newton, Adam Smith, Darwin, Maxwell, David Hume, Bertrand Russell, Dickens, Shakespeare and the rest.

It's not that I don't like Britain. It's my home and I'm proud to be British. But what I loathe is the are the unthinking, dimwitted chavs that roam the streets.Bereft of any drive toward self betterment, apathetic, unproductive, and chronically disenfranchised who seem to be ready for nothing but what they're currently doing, and yet manage to terrorise and intimidate.

Moscow is a far, far more violent, dangerous place than Newcastle, but how many bar fights have I seen in three years here? Zero. How many street fights? Zero. How often have I felt unsafe on the streets because they're filled with piss-heads looking to crown a night of greedy drunkarness with a good old fight? Zero.

There seems to be a whole class of people who just don't give a toss. My friend's ex-fiancee had a younger brother who just didn't go to school. He had a rare kidney disorder, so his parents mollycoddled him, but he was perfectly fine to go to school. He claimed bullying. He claimed to be sick. But most days he just sat in and played on his playstation, his Xbox, his game cube, his PSP, or one of the other gadgets his parents had for him. When he turned 16, the Job Centre found him a job, but he left after 2 days, saying that people weren't being nice to him. So he just say around playing on games.

And when I go to the council estate my mum lives on, and talk to her, I see a whole class of people like that.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a heartless Tory -- far from it. In fact, I spend most of my life these days battling against hard line conservatives (the political group, not the party) and libertarians.

But what gets me is that, as I say, being born in Britain, with the opportunities that brings, is about as good as it gets, and people are wasting it, and being impolite and going out to spoil it for others in the process.

And when I read about an ugly 15 year old girl, who has obviously had if off with half the neighbourhood already, including, appallingly, although nobody seems to care, with a 13 year old who looks about eight, and now she's knocked up, and thinks it's the 13 year old's but isn't sure, I just wonder, I really do.

Sorry to blab off about the country. And I really didn't mean to make it that Britain wasn't Great, but I just get irritated and hacked off by some of the people who live there and don't realize, to paraphrase Harold McMillan, how good they've got it.[/quote]

excellent answer, my hat is tipped to you sir

interesting point on the drunken violence. if you talk to a Chechen, or at least to the one I talked to once, you might hear a slightly different take on things. to this guy, drunken fighting in russia was much more common than in Chechen culture.

i'll try to quote directly, "the russians will get drunk and fight over all kinds of things, they will insult each other's mothers and sisters. In chechnya no such things happen. you don't insult someone's mother because you know what the consequences are (IE considerable chance of gunplay)"

edit: damn i fecked up the quote function.

[Counter-puncher]

I'm not a fan of ex-pats slagging off blighty either.

as i get older i have found i am not a fan of anyone slagging off blighty. weird mid-life turn to that whole nationalism/patriotism thing. kindof following on from the Billy bragg point, that the decent majority have to claim patriotism so the lunatic minority can't.

but as for ex-pats slagging off our glorious realm? like, you've gone, fair play, that's your choice, but you've gone now so FVCK OFF. you lose the right to slag britain off if you've decided to chuck your lot in elsewhere. except half of them will end up crawling back here in their old age to take advantage of what's left of the NHS. I only hope by the time carbo gets to that point there is no NHS. ha, that'll teach you. stay in russia surrounded by toothless old crones and steroid-head gansters, get your place in hospital opnly once you've paid off the appropriate corrupt crooked scum. but of course no teenage moms whatsoever, which makes up for an awful lot. I could put up with 95% child mortality rate, spiralling inflation, unrestricted crime, a thug for a president, anything, as long as i don't have to share a landmass(sic) with any teenage mothers. heaven forbid. etc.

Now, now. Just calm down. You've had your say, and I've responded -- very reasonably and generously, I might add -- by trying to clarify and placate rather than meet fire with fire.

I think as a British subject, and someone who cares about the country, that I don't just have a right to criticise the country and make my feelings on social and economic issues known, but a duty.

at least 75% of the second post was done with tongue in cheek, I promise

[Carbo]

[quote="Carbo

good, now fvcking stay ove

excellent answer, my hat is tipped to you sir

interesting point on the drunken violence. if you talk to a Chechen, or at least to the one I talked to once, you might hear a slightly different take on things. to this guy, drunken fighting in russia was much more common than in Chechen culture.

i'll try to quote directly, "the russians will get drunk and fight over all kinds of things, they will insult each other's mothers and sisters. In chechnya no such things happen. you don't insult someone's mother because you know what the consequences are (IE considerable chance of gunplay)"

Well, good on you, too.

However, I will say that people from the Caucuses are viewed in Russia similarly to how we view gypsies. I don't mean this to sound terrible, but if you were anything like me, everyone knew not to get into a fight with a gypsy kid, and we all know now that gypsies are renowned for being hard b@stards. Same with Caucasians here. People from Chechnya, Igushetia, Ossetia, Armenia (think Abraham), Azerbaijan, and Georgia are seen as being (1) hard as nails, (2) ready to fight at a moments notice (3) not partial to fighting without weapons (4) involved in lots of criminal activity.

Meantime, Russians are much, much better drunkards than Brits. Seriously, I don't know whether it is because it's more violent here and you know there could, just could, be consequences if you start, or if it's because the cops are packing and aren't really restricted to the way they handle you, but there are few fights, and you don't get that feeling of edginess on the streets in the main drinking areas late.

However, I will say this, Russians drink a lot. I read that on average, including new born babies and the old and infirm, the average Russian drinks 18 liters of pure alcohol a year -- that's about a bottle of Vodka a week, every week, every year. And considering there are kids who don't drink at all, tee-totalers, and old people who can't drink or who can only drink a little, that's a fcuking huge amount.

Finally, you know the worst thing about Russia? Customer service. It kills me.

[Carbo]

at least 75% of the second post was done with tongue in cheek, I promise

Oh, come on. I'm hardly in a position to criticise the odd polemic.

[Counter-puncher]

at least 75% of the second post was done with tongue in cheek, I promise

Oh, come on. I'm hardly in a position to criticise the odd polemic.

story on caucasians in the russian military for you tomorrow

[Carbo]

at least 75% of the second post was done with tongue in cheek, I promise

Oh, come on. I'm hardly in a position to criticise the odd polemic.

story on caucasians in the russian military for you tomorrow

Caucasian food, by the way, is amazing. It's like half way between Middle Eastern and Mediterranean. It's very, very good.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I never look at the Sun newspaper. What's the coin it has on it?

I hate to sound like some kind of uncouth misogynist, but looking at the young female creature on the bottom right hand corner of that Sun front page makes me happy I moved to Russia.

In fact, whenever I get homesick, or tired of Russian bureaucracy, I just have a quick look at the Sun website. It depresses the fcuk out of me and makes me feel happy I don't have to share a land mass with the likes of Maissie's parents.

good, now fvcking stay over there, where reporters get murdered for investigating the wrong thing, where chechens and kazakhstanis etc are subject to an average of 5 racists attacks per week in moscow alone, where the very idea of democracy is a joke, where old women scrap for a living selling fags on the streets, where the far right is on the rise, where the levels of corruption are so high that Gov't officials have to be bribed to get anything done and where the protection of gangsters is needed just so your business doesn't get petrol bombed by other gangsters, where the Police basically don't investigate smaller crimes and can easily be dissuaded from investigating the bigger ones if bribed with a big enough wedge

and of course, no such thing as teenage pregnancies in russia i am sure. i am sure Olga and Yevgeny wait till they are married and 21 and solvent before they have kids, well wow, you are so lucky to live in russia a country that is clearly lightyears ahead of our own benighted bakward country, i mean the things you complain about in england, no other countries have things like an underclass or teenage vandals or teenage single mothers, no, purely an english problem, right?

i say this with the greatest possible respect:

keep your fvcking russia and stay there for good you condescending judgemental pr1ck

Certainly lived up to your name there mate, came back with a savage torret of verbals there.

[jamesmcdonnell]

story on caucasians in the russian military for you tomorrow [/quote]
Caucasian food, by the way, is amazing. It's like half way between Middle Eastern and Mediterranean. It's very, very good.[/quote]

Probably quite similar to Lebabese and Armenian.

[Carbo]

Caucasian food, by the way, is amazing. It's like half way between Middle Eastern and Mediterranean. It's very, very good.

Probably quite similar to Lebabese and Armenian.

Armenia is in the Caucuses.

[Carbo]

Certainly lived up to your name there mate, came back with a savage torret of verbals there.

Counter-puncher? Are you kidding? It was more like the verbal equivalent of Henry Armstrong.

[Counter-puncher]

story on caucasians in the russian military for you tomorrow

Caucasian food, by the way, is amazing. It's like half way between Middle Eastern and Mediterranean. It's very, very good.[/quote]

a few years back the russians realised they had a problem with caucasians in the Army. Russian conscription works in two year cycles. the second year conscripts end up totally dominating the first year intake (they are put into companies with both 1st and 2nd year conscripts). the phenomenon is known as 'granddadism' in russian i believe and it runs not just to 'hazing' and run of the mill army bullying, but outright sadism, extortion all the way up to murder.

anyways, this is all to an extent fairly typical of many armies. where the Russians realised they had a real problem was with the Caucasians- Dagestanis and Chechens most of all I was told. the russians found out that it would only take 4 or 5 double 'ard bastard Caucasians to completely dominate a company of 100 men. whereas (most) Slavs tend to see military service as a total waste of time, a chore and a terrible time they lament loudly about, the caucasians see it more as a rite of passage, the kind of tough times they are mostly used to and can have a laugh about in later years, good training for a life of gangsterism or banditry. The slavs would be terrified of them and the Company pretty much outright unmanagable.

the typically Russian solution was the 3 Caucasian rule, no more than 3 caucasians in any company, otherwise they would run riot.

[alexpaterson]

The Sun's boxing coverage is sh!t its the same with the Scottish Daily Mail the only coverage you get is Hatton and Calzaghe they are the only 2 boxers who ever get mentioned

[observer1]

Just goes to show how bacward British Society is that Tabloids are still in buisness.

Nothing but Rubbish, Rubbish and more Rubbish.

Only appeal to the minds of those with below average IQ's and idiots.

[banjo]

Just goes to show how bacward British Society is that Tabloids are still in buisness.

Nothing but Rubbish, Rubbish and more Rubbish.

Only appeal to the minds of those with below average IQ's and idiots.

So almighty one

What should we read to pass our time?

[steve689]

The Observer perhaps?

The thing that strikes me about Colin Hart is that he still gets slots on the SKY PPV's and always brings it back to either Ali or the Leonard-Hearns-Hagler era. Even comparing the fighters with these heroes of the past. In terms of modern boxing knowledge I fear he has become somewhat of an irrelevance.

[n1ebf]

i used to like to read james lawton for boxing. You'd get a well written article to get your teeth into followed by a git big pic to really get you in the mood.
used to do the Independent, then Express....though not sure now, probs still Express.

[banjo]

Just goes to show how bacward British Society is that Tabloids are still in buisness.

Yep just goes to show how backwards British Society is in that we let people from all over the world come to our country for a better life rather than living in the backwards 7th century shitholes that they come from.

fornicating moron

[oliverfennell]

I'm not a fan of ex-pats slagging off blighty either.

as i get older i have found i am not a fan of anyone slagging off blighty. weird mid-life turn to that whole nationalism/patriotism thing. kindof following on from the Billy bragg point, that the decent majority have to claim patriotism so the lunatic minority can't.

but as for ex-pats slagging off our glorious realm? like, you've gone, fair play, that's your choice, but you've gone now so FVCK OFF. you lose the right to slag britain off if you've decided to chuck your lot in elsewhere. except half of them will end up crawling back here in their old age to take advantage of what's left of the NHS. I only hope by the time carbo gets to that point there is no NHS. ha, that'll teach you. stay in russia surrounded by toothless old crones and steroid-head gansters, get your place in hospital opnly once you've paid off the appropriate corrupt crooked scum. but of course no teenage moms whatsoever, which makes up for an awful lot. I could put up with 95% child mortality rate, spiralling inflation, unrestricted crime, a thug for a president, anything, as long as i don't have to share a landmass(sic) with any teenage mothers. heaven forbid. etc.

The bit in bold is nonsense. By that rationale, nobody is allowed to criticise a country they don't live in? So, you have no opinions about the USA, Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sudan - or, indeed, Russia?

Why does it upset you so much that a Brit would choose to live elsewhere?

Travel broadens the mind; living abroad does so even more. It gives you perspectives that you won't get from doing the same things in the same places with the same people.

Carbo never said he's not proud of his country. And making constructive criticisms is, I feel, more valid than blinkered support.

[Counter-puncher]

I'm not a fan of ex-pats slagging off blighty either.

as i get older i have found i am not a fan of anyone slagging off blighty. weird mid-life turn to that whole nationalism/patriotism thing. kindof following on from the Billy bragg point, that the decent majority have to claim patriotism so the lunatic minority can't.

but as for ex-pats slagging off our glorious realm? like, you've gone, fair play, that's your choice, but you've gone now so FVCK OFF. you lose the right to slag britain off if you've decided to chuck your lot in elsewhere. except half of them will end up crawling back here in their old age to take advantage of what's left of the NHS. I only hope by the time carbo gets to that point there is no NHS. ha, that'll teach you. stay in russia surrounded by toothless old crones and steroid-head gansters, get your place in hospital opnly once you've paid off the appropriate corrupt crooked scum. but of course no teenage moms whatsoever, which makes up for an awful lot. I could put up with 95% child mortality rate, spiralling inflation, unrestricted crime, a thug for a president, anything, as long as i don't have to share a landmass(sic) with any teenage mothers. heaven forbid. etc.

The bit in bold is nonsense. By that rationale, nobody is allowed to criticise a country they don't live in? So, you have no opinions about the USA, Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sudan - or, indeed, Russia?

Why does it upset you so much that a Brit would choose to live elsewhere?

Travel broadens the mind; living abroad does so even more. It gives you perspectives that you won't get from doing the same things in the same places with the same people.

Carbo never said he's not proud of his country. And making constructive criticisms is, I feel, more valid than blinkered support.

the large type bits would, I hope at least, indicate a degree of levity, deliberate rant for 'comic' effect, etc.

and you're obviously right, travel is a wonderful thing. perhaps if i travelled more I would be able to have your Olympian detachment and sense of perspective on things, I can only live in hope on that one

Why does it upset you so much that a Brit would choose to live elsewhere?

on this particular occasion i found it somewhat ironic that someone who lives in a country as fooked-up as Russia, with the classic litany of issues that comes along with that country could feel glad to be out of Britain, simply because we have teenage mothers here. which obviously nowhere else in the world has that problem, etc etc etc etc etc.

[oliverfennell]

Why does it upset you so much that a Brit would choose to live elsewhere?

on this particular occasion i found it somewhat ironic that someone who lives in a country as fooked-up as Russia, with the classic litany of issues that comes along with that country could feel glad to be out of Britain, simply because we have teenage mothers here. which obviously nowhere else in the world has that problem, etc etc etc etc etc.

I concede it may look ironic that someone who lives in a more troubled country would then criticise Britain, but my point is that someone does not lose their right to comment on Britain simply by virtue of not living there.

[Counter-puncher]

you are absolutely right

now feck off back to your box, expat scum

[Adamj1987]

theres shit in every country just the worst stories make it to the front pages of teh biggest newspapers