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thellers

Listed below are comments made by thellers between Friday, 11th July 2008 and Monday, 23rd March 2009.

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Liverpool have 'the Big Mo' 1:22pm on 23 Mar 2009 My gut instinct...

Man U will drop some more points in the run-in.
Liverpool will drop som too.
Man U will drop more than Liverpool, but not enough to throw away their lead.
Man U will win the league.

All talk of any team being 'unstoppable' is nonsense. Two losses does not make a meltdown. Coversely, an excellent 8 day spell does not change the fact that Liverpool are trailing by one point and a game.
Obama - Tiger, Lewis and me 00:06am on 07 Nov 2008 Original poster here...

I hope and pray (actually, I'm athiest so that last part is not quite true) that the comments on this forum are read and truly digested by some policy makers at the BBC.

I'm not the kind of person who gets particularly 'uppity' about political correctness around issues of race. I think race-based jokes are fine (just as I think gender-based, hair-colour-based, country-of-origin-based, favourite-football-club based, etc. are all fine, as long as they're not intended to be truly offensive)... but I have been TRULY offended to hear Barack Obama (and Lewis Hamilton, etc.) referred to as 'black' on the BBC and elsewhere.

I am mixed race (white English mother, black Jamaican father) and I am therefore proud to see a person of mixed race at the helm of the most powerful country in the world. In the same week, I'm also proud to see a person of mixed race crowned Formula 1 champion. Yet somehow I feel 'robbed' when these people are described as 'black'. I would hope that race need not be mentioned at all (like eye colour, hair style, etc.), but while it is, PLEASE let's get it CORRECT, at least! So please, Auntie Beeb, start referring to Obama as 'mixed race', which is what he is! Don't deny us, the mixed race folk of the world, this opportunity to have some great role models from our 'ethnic group' (although ethnic grouping, in itself, is bobbins!).

Here's a few more... Please never refer to any of these people as 'black' ever again, too...

Corinne Bailey Rae, (Kittitian father/English mother), singer
Melanie B (Nevisian father/English mother), singer and actress. Member of the Spice Girls
George Bridgetower (Afro-Caribbean father/European mother) 19th century violinist
Craig Charles (Afro-Caribbean father/Irish mother), actor
Richard Colvin Reid, (Jamaican father/English mother), Islamist terrorist
Craig David, (Grenadian father/Jewish Mother), singer
James DeGale, (Grenadian father/English Mother), Olympic gold medalist boxer
Alesha Dixon (Jamaican father/English mother), singer
Roland Gift, (Afro Caribbean and English), singer and actor
Goldie, (Jamaican and Scottish) DJ and actor
Colin Jackson, (Jamaican Maroon and Scottish) Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete
Dominique Jackson, actress
David James, (English/Jamaican) footballer
Lee Jasper (Jamaican father/British mother), former race advisor
Cleo Laine (Jamaican father/English mother), singer
Ms. Dynamite, (Scottish mother/Jamaican father), singer
Leona Lewis (Guyanese father/Anglo-Welsh mother), singer and winner of the 2006 X-Factor
Angela Griffin, (Caribbean father/English mother)
Bruce Oldfield, (Afro-Caribbean father/Irish mother), fashion designer
Mary Seacole, (Scottish father/Jamaican mother), 19th century nursing pioneer
Zadie Smith (English father/Jamaican mother), novelist
Mel & Kim, (Jamaican father/British mother), singers
Rio Ferdinand and Anton Ferdinand (St. Lucian father/Anglo-Irish mother), footballers
Jeremy Guscott, (Afro Caribbean father/English mother), rugby player
Lewis Hamilton (Grenadian father/English mother), Formula 1 driver
Dame Kelly Holmes, (Jamaican father/English mother), athlete
Ashley Cole (Barbadian father/English mother), footballer
Shanaze Reade, (Jamaican father/Irish mother), Olympic BMX biker
Louis Smith, (Jamaican father/English mother), Olympic Gymnast
Theo Walcott, (Jamaican father/English mother), footballer
Danny Cipriani, (Trinidadian father/English mother), rugby player
Griminal, (Jamaican father/English mother), UK Grime Artist
Obama - Tiger, Lewis and me 1:54pm on 05 Nov 2008 ...further to my previous comment, though, I applaud you for the first proper article I've seen talking about the difficulties in categorising mixed-raced folks.

That we (by which I mean people of mixed race) need to be 'categorised' at all is evidence that we (by which I mean socienty as a whole) still have an awful long way to go to reach the promised land of a colour-blind society!
Obama - Tiger, Lewis and me 1:51pm on 05 Nov 2008 "...not only is the President-elect black, he is mixed race."

Am I the only person in the world who thinks this a contradiction in terms?

I'm quite sick and tired of hearing Obama being referred to as 'black'. He's equally as 'white' as he is 'black'!!!
Obama shackled by debt 1:48pm on 05 Nov 2008 Sorry to be pedantic but, as a Democrat, isn't President-elect Obama actually 'blue', not 'red' as a you suggest, Robert?

Or are you referring to Labour's 'red', or the traditional 'red' of communist socialism (which many of Obama's detractors would have us believe is his way)?
Palin disaster, Powell endorsement 12:00pm on 20 Oct 2008 #103 icetayoa...

"By the way, if anyone thinks Powells endorsement has nothing to do with race, its confirmed that such a person must be living on Mars. lets face it, Obama is making history as the 1st black man with a realistic chance of being the 1st black president of America. Powell had be dumb if he didnt go back to his roots."

You, sir, are a fool.

This sickens me. Your comment says, basically, "OK, this guy might be a respected statesman, former high-ranking general and secretary of state, but he's black, right? So he's gonna back the black guy, right? Cos they all stick together in the end, right?."

Can you not, for one moment, imagine that Powell might be backing the person he thinks would be BEST for the job... not the one whose skin tone is most similar to his own? Is this idea beyond comprehension? Whether you agree or disagree with Powell or anyone else, it's ridiculous and offensive to over-simplify matters like this and to assume that it simply boils down to a question of race.

It really is pathetic.
Ferguson will relish Chelsea battle 2:40pm on 19 Sep 2008 To those who say that United's "poor start" is down to losing Queiroz, have you suddenly suffered a bout of amnesia? Wasn't Queiroz the assistant manager last year? Didn't United make a much worse start (in arguably easier fixtures) last year? Didn't United go on to win the Premier League and Champions' League last year?
Scolari will ignore Ferguson's old tricks 12:50pm on 23 Jul 2008 Oh, and by the way... I would re-think that 'average age' thing.

Goalkeepers should really be disregarded since their ages can vary wildly compared to outfield players, and Van Der Sar has 11 years on Cech.

And no way will Gary Neville be a sure-fire first team player next year, in my opinion.
Scolari will ignore Ferguson's old tricks 12:44pm on 23 Jul 2008 Right enough, it's all just mind games and I don't foresee Scolari getting too worried about this kind of stuff.

In other news, the article on the BBC website seems to suffer (and this is by no means for the first time) from almost non-existent Editorship.

I refer to this article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7520773.stm

It starts off talking about Fergie's comments about Chelsea, and ends up talking (I guess) about Wayne Rooney's relatively quiet season last year... with no link whatsoever between the two. Now, we all know these articles are constructed using some kind of 'building block' technique, but surely the unique way the BBC is funded can buy us some proper editing?

Bah!
Man Utd should sell 'slave' Ronaldo 11:46am on 11 Jul 2008 Mr. McNulty, you have taken the words right out of my mouth, and I also agree with many of the comments above.

I'm a Lifelong Manchester United fan, have loved watching Ronaldo play for us over the last few seasons and am thankful for his excellent contribution...

...but the way he has acted over this whole charade has been terrible. He's made it fairly clear he's had enough at Man U and wants to go. Personally, I think he should have kept his mouth shut and been a bit more professional about the whole thing, but what's done is done.

Regarding Blatter's comments... what on EARTH is he doing making such a blatant comment on the private dealings of two clubs? KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT, MR. BLATTER! And "modern slavery"... WHAT?!?!? Did slaves voluntarily sign contracts that would make them international superstars and multi-millionaires? I THINK NOT. And don't people realise what a CONTRACT is? It's a legally-binding document... Isn't that the same kind of BINDING agreement we all enter when we buy a house, get a loan, sign up for a mobile phone, or whatever?

In summary, I'm sad that it's all come to this, but I won't be sad to see Ronaldo go. If he doesn't want to play for us, fine... let him go. There's no benefit (apart from one of principle) in keeping a player NO player, as Ferguson has always made clear, is bigger than Manchester United, so I say we put a fat price in front of Real Madrid (somewhere in the region of 70 to 80 million pounds), tell them to get their wallets out, and the boy can go live his dream.

Off you go, Ronny. It was nice while it lasted, but you're not the be all and end all. Life will go on without you, son.

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