Smarky

Today I added the 🇬🇧 to my profile. It’s my flag too and we shouldn’t allow it to be appropriated by the right

@JamesCopley_ Best player; Roefs Worst: Masuaku Best signing: Xhaka Worst signing: Adingra Most improved: Ballard Most underwhelming: Isidor Biggest surprise; it’s after Easter and we are talking about Europe not relegation!

🤔 Stolen from elsewhere but give me your Sunderland picks for each of the following categories so far this season: 🌟 Best player - ❌ Worst player - 👏 Best signing - 🤢 Worst signing - 📈 Most improved player - 😐 Most underwhelming - 🤯 Biggest surprise – #SAFC

@nickyorky @JChimirie66677 @vampywitchy I disagree; the problem is that most constituencies insist on having someone local. It’s rare for someone (however talented) to be adopted by a constituency where they aren’t known.

@JChimirie66677 @d_smark60 @vampywitchy Well said. The question is “why do we get these ridiculous people as our MPs?” A huge part of the issue is the imposition of candidates by central offices, who want their own types. Constituencies have little choice.

A Parliament of Charity Workers and Lobbyists. In a Time of War. Of 238 new Labour MPs elected in July 2024, 72 worked in the charitable sector, 72 were political employees and 70 worked in communications or lobbying. Roughly ninety percent have never worked in defence, manufacturing, engineering, medicine or law enforcement. A parliamentary source quoted in the Sunday Times put it plainly. If only we had the same number with defence or military experience, maybe we'd be in a different place. Maybe. But the problem runs deeper than defence spending. It runs to the question of what kind of person ends up in parliament, what professional formation shapes their instincts, and whose interests they are constitutionally equipped to represent. Charity sector workers are trained to see the world through the lens of vulnerable groups, international obligations and institutional compassion. Political employees are trained to manage narratives and avoid uncomfortable truths. Communications and lobbying professionals are trained to advance the interests of whoever is paying them. Not one of those professional backgrounds prepares you for the question of how to defend a sovereign nation, manage a border, hold a foreign state accountable or protect a citizen from an Iranian proxy group that is firebombing Jewish ambulances on British streets. The parliament that responded to the Golders Green firebombing by debating the language used to describe it is a parliament staffed by people whose entire professional lives have trained them to manage perception rather than confront reality. The government that rolled out an anti-Muslim hostility definition while twenty Iranian backed terrorist plots were being planned on British streets is a government whose instinct is accommodation rather than accountability. The thirty six MPs who wrote to the Parliamentary Commissioner demanding Nick Timothy's investigation were not all acting from professional instinct. Several have documented histories of antisemitic language or associations. Others represent constituencies where the Muslim vote is the primary electoral consideration. The Sunday Times source suggests the problem is defence spending priorities. It is that. But it is also the Trafalgar Square response, where Keir Starmer reached for Tommy Robinson rather than engaging with a theological argument he knew he could not answer. It is the Attorney General deploying his Jewish identity to provide cover for a false equivalence he knew to be false. It is the parliamentary machinery mobilised to silence the people naming what is happening while the people doing it operate without consequence. All of it flows from the same source. A political class whose professional formation is compassion, accommodation and message management, governing in a moment that requires clarity, resolve and the willingness to say plainly what the evidence shows. Britain is not short of intelligence assessments. MI5 has thwarted twenty Iranian plots. The Walney report documented Iranian influence operations in the charitable sector. The security services know what is happening. The problem is not knowledge. It is the absence of the professional formation, the instincts, the language and the willingness that would allow the people in power to act on what they know. Ninety percent of the new Labour intake came from charities, political offices and communications agencies. They were never going to see it coming. And even now that it has arrived, on the streets of Golders Green, in the WhatsApp groups of the Green Party, on the Embankment where death to America was chanted on a Sunday afternoon, they are still reaching for the tools their professional lives gave them. Compassion. Accommodation. Message management. And the instruction not to take the bait. "Ninety percent of the new Labour intake came from charities, political offices and communications agencies."

@Carl_Walsh33 @RubyQNUFC This is the same entitled attitude that meant it took us four years to escape from League 1.

@RubyQNUFC You answer your own question about the results are baffling because you are this "bigger club". That mentality is why you lost, you have to prove it on the pitch and match the desire. First it was you haven't played anyone next its this new promotion bounce diatribe. Laughable

Mackems hate the harsh reality of this. Our squad is better than theirs, it’s as simple as that. Spurs beat Man City every year, doesn’t mean they’re a better side. Sunderland are having a new PL season bounce, they are feeding off the excitement of being back in the top league. But it’s unsustainable with the players they have. It’ll wear off next season no doubt. I also still think quality will prevail come May and we will finish above them once again, despite it being their best season in 20 odd years. No need to panic my fellow mags 🖤🤍

Kieffer Moore did this.

@jacqui1515 @DeborahMeaden Why Jacqui? What do you think Starmer should be doing now?

@DeborahMeaden I’m beginning to doubt your intelligence

I am deeply relieved we have a cautious, pragmatic PM in office in these tumultuous times and I think it dangerous and ridiculous to expect him to do anything other than monitor an evolving situation before making a move that could , indeed would put British lives in the line of fire. Can we just let him do his job please…

@profsked My problem is the imposition and enforcement of the non-disclosure agreement against Ms Giuffre. Why did they insist on her silence?

BBC and Sky seem determined to extend the issue of Andrew into one of the Monarchy itself. The royal family deserves sympathy not hostility. They are not to blame for Andrew’s character or behaviour. The media is behaving disgracefully.

@Footballtweet @jonesr2310 Would Jack Grealish have ignored them?

Not a single Chelsea player even acknowledges those kids 🤯🤯

@CallanPatt23482 @nicholaswilso11 @JamesCopley_ It is the classy way to treat employees. And their teammates will see how we treat their injured friends

@nicholaswilso11 @JamesCopley_ And how did that work out?

😢 #SAFC

@Lilllyloo @benonwine I heard AC do one yesterday

@benonwine Could this explain the lack of podcasts on the abhorrent Epstein/ Mandelson saga 🤔

Oh dear!!!! what was Epstein and Maxwell doing with Alistair Campbell.

@MrDuperouzel @fiona2608 All these Burnley fans saying Sunderland are the worst team to play at the Turf have a point. Sunderland need to buck their ideas up if they’re going to avoid relegation…

Brian Brobbey with our entire back line #twitterclarets

@Eddsyy O9 has played in all three of those positions. He might not be everyone’s cup of tea but I think RLB would use him in an emergency.

The biggest issue with Geertruida leaving is that he is our backup option in three different positions. Would mean we are a RB, DM and CB injury away from having no natural options in any of those areas. #SAFC

@davey_lad @leatherlugs2 @SAFCsource And we were disappointed because we wanted Clough.

@leatherlugs2 @SAFCsource Bob Stokoe.. The rest is history

found an old copy of the sun today.6-11-72 under some lino .this advert for a new manager made me laugh.when did they actually stop these adverts ? :) Sunderland who did you appoint ? :) #Sunderland

@Phil__Smith Bring on Ballard for Adingra. Back 5. Move Geertruida to help Xhaka shore up midfield. And play it long when we can.

First 45 a pretty painful watch - #SAFC look shattered Not been able to play with any energy and Spurs have won just about every duel, second ball. Just haven't going. Looks like a tall order to get back into this one...

@RamseySAFC Wasn’t great at Fulham

Genuine question: Has Mukiele actually had a bad game for us? Even in games we’ve lost he’s been excellent. #SAFC

@confidencenac @TedUrchin Unfortunately the wisest were ever so slightly outnumbered by those who believed a pack of lies.

@TedUrchin And how often after that would you like the referendum to be repeated to allow those previously not eligible? Every year? Every 5, 10? And of course they want to rejoin because they believe the rubbish people like you spew out daily. The wisest of our society spoke. Deal with it!

OK, it's now 2026 but my opinion has not changed one tiny bit. In fact, considering that even more people that were unable to vote in 2016 now can, the figure of 85% might be even higher. What say you? I say #FuckBrexit It continues to be a disaster and on so many fronts.

@jacqui1515 @Heccles94 Of course not. But there is a right wing element to the right of the traditional Tory party that is a worry.

@Heccles94 Is that everyone to the right of Starmer?

My new year's resolution is to make sure the far-right collapses in 2026. Who's with me?

@Charl_H79 If he plays like that next two matches Reinildo doesn’t walk straight back into starting 11

He was so much better. And tbf to him, second game back after a long injury too.

@Ridderz86 @juliesund Without playing!!

Luke O'Nien rattling Gvardiol, Gigi Donnarumma then Pep Guardiola was not on my 2026 bingo card