Upset France!

Tony Abbot is a former prime minister of Australia. He stopped the boats. For years, illegal migrants had bought passage in Indonesia and entered Australia at the nearest point. Abbot said enough of that, anyone arriving illegally by boat will never be allowed set foot on Australian soil. That did it, the people smuggling stopped.

Britain needs to take immediate action, listen to Tony Abbot.

Rugby Revived: Nations Championship

Rugby has been in the doldrums for years now, what with rigged games and lack of defence. But, watching over the weekend, the new Nations Championship format looks to be promising. This is where the top 12 teams in the world play one another for the overall title of world champion. The teams are divided into two pools, the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere. Peculiarly, Japan has been placed in the Southern Hemisphere.

Results (North First, then South)

France 32 - 34 New Zealand

Italy 10 - 27 Japan

Ireland 33 - 31 Australia

Wales 39 - 24 Fiji

England 21 - 45 South Africa

Scotland 47 - 38 Argentina

The competition will take place over two years, culminating in a grand final where the top team from the North plays the top team from the South.

One problem with this format is it is likely to lead to the South dominating the North, because all Rugby World Cup winners, apart from just the one - England - are in the South.

World Rugby are trying to head off the challenge posed by rival promotions such as Rugby360. In Super Rugby they now have their Super Rugby Weekends where all the teams descend on one city and play over a weekend. This year it was held in Christchurch and proved very successful. It helped that Christchurch has a covered stadium.

Rugby has to look at covering its stadiums but at the same time not making them too large. Crowd sizes positioned close to the pitch and numbering about 25k is ideal. The NRL play open to the elements but they do keep their crowd sizes down and have fans able to see the action, which makes for a far better experience.

So, the Super Rugby weekends and this format of a Nations Championship does at least attempt to address the problems rugby is facing, and that is; a lack of fan engagement and high scoring but ultimately unsatisfying games. 

Rugby has to sort out their feed to Google and other search engines. Currently, it is hard to get updates. I'd rate their efforts as a whole a fail on this, a D- for sure. Soccer are always on top of things, by contrast.

The best link I've found is the BBC in England, check it out:https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union 

There is also a second division, called the Nations Cup, and that includes the likes of Georgia, Romania, USA, Samoa etc., but no promotion/relegation as yet. This won't happen anytime soon, but if it does, Georgia are looking the most promising. Even now, Georgia could just about replace Italy.

Russia Now Hardened

Lawrence Wilkerson points out that what the US and Europe have done is essentially battle harden Russia. This was an incredibly stupid thing to do. I point out that the last time Russia really got on a roll, they took Paris in 1814. 

Louvre Burglary

The French never fail to entertain.

France Will Collapse?

According to this video, without Africa, France is nothing. I did not realise just how much France had rigged its trade with Africa. But, Africa has awakened. 

France the New Sick Man of Europe?

Oh no, zut alors, as the French say. Could ze French and its little Prezidente be in ze spot of trouble. Has suing Candace Owens got him distracted?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg9n6vr2eyo

The cost of servicing national debt this year is estimated to be €67 billion - it now consumes more money than all government departments except education and defence. Forecasts suggest that by the end of the decade it will outstrip even them, reaching €100 billion a year. Last Friday, the ratings agency Fitch downgraded French debt, potentially making it more expensive for the French government to borrow, reflecting growing doubts about the country's stability and ability to service that debt.

France in Ukraine

France is in no shape to put boots on the ground in Ukraine:

Macron Backtracks

Someone seems to have sat down France's President with the Napoleon complex, Emmanuel Macron and explained to him that NATO is not going to put boots on the ground in Ukraine. Word is that Ukraine is now at 30% of nominal strength and could implode any day. As I said before, watch for Zelensky and the Ukrainian cabal making a run for it. When this happens, Ukraine will fall in less than a week. 

Argentina FIFA World Cup 2022 Champions

Have we witnessed the best soccer game of all time? I think we may have. Argentina looked to have the game sewn up, they were in total control and putting on a master class. Then, France found a way back with Mbappe scoring twice to tie the game up at fulltime. Then in extra time, both teams scored with Mbappe getting a hat trick when he scored from the spot in the 118th minute.

Then to penalties. I hate this, I believe it cheapens the game. They really need to sort it out, perhaps going to golden point and just continuing to play until one of the teams scores. 

The entire world is now happy Argentina's captain, Lionel Messi finally received a winners medal. I'm glad Argentina can now party for the next four years and maybe try to go back-to-back. 

Score: Argentina 3 - 3 France (penalties 4-2)

[Side note: we didn't need to see so many picture of that little weasel the President of France, Macron. Broadcasters - stop that.]

World Cup Final 2022

Argentina vs France in the final of the World Cup 2022. I'm looking forward to it, and may the best team win. However, a gripe of mine is that the media are framing this as Mbappe vs Messi. I wish they'd cut that out, there are two fine teams involved and it isn't just about those two. And all I ask is, please don't let the referees decide the outcome.

France: Macron declares unvaccinated 'not citizens'

The French Revolution 2.0 cannot be far away.

https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/01/04/frances-macron-stuns-as-he-declares-un-vaxxed-not-citizens/

"In a wildly authoritarian move, French President Emmanuel Macron has declared the nation’s unvaccinated public to be “not citizens” of France, and claims he is intentionally just trying to “piss them off.”

The bizarre and unlawful declaration comes as the French parliament debates new legislation that would eliminate unvaccinated people from public life entirely, even if they test negative for COVID-19.

The moves belie the oft-repeated claim that COVID-19 vaccines are purely a health measure, especially in the face of new data from surrounding countries that proves the unvaccinated are now more likely to contract, and therefore spread, the virus."

Trucks Stranded in Britain

It is easy to see why Britain wants out of the EU when you look at how the French behave when arbitrarily introducing new COVID-19 restrictions:

Brexit Under Boris Johnson

France are said to be making dire threats now. It's all bluff, France stands to lose a lot if they play clever over Brexit. If the physical movement of goods across the border with the UK slows down, the UK could simply respond by slowing down two things, the movement of people through airports, and the movement of capital through London. Both would cripple France.

And this talk of a need for a hard border with Ireland is nonsense. Have people not heard of licence plate readers by camera? That's all you set up, trucks need to be registered and are logged when crossing the border. If they depart from their route, or they appear heavier than indicated (ride height etc), then they could be pulled over by mobile patrols. It's really simple, basically a lot of panic merchants are stoking fear where there really need be none.

Just get on with Brexit. Enough talk already.

International Rugby Union

The modern rules are ruining the game of Rugby Union. I've just watched the France vs New Zealand test in Wellington. It was a contest up to the point where the referee ruined the game by sending off Benjamin Fall of France. People pay to see a contest not this nonsense. The players are grown men who know they're in a game where collisions occur. Fall was not acting maliciously. They need to sort this out as referees, or more precisely the modern rules are ruining the spectacle.

President Trump and Tariffs

Oh no, President Trump has upset everyone with his tariffs on steel and aluminium. However if you step back for a minute, it is easy to see that the US has been taken advantage of. The countries that are now the focus of Trump's attention, very quickly skew the playing field when it suits them. All the US is doing is evening things up. Those countries affected are crying crocodile tears in other words.

Have The French Gone Mad

It looks like the French have gone mad, or have they? They're going to have a new President and for the first time in a long while not from one of the old established parties. Will they go for a right-wing woman in Marine Le Pen or the centrist Emmanuel Macron? Who knows, but the future of the EU is at stake as Le Pen wants a Frexit. That's a French Brexit.

Brexit

Britain has done the sensible thing and voted to leave the EU. Now listen to all that bleating from the rest of Europe will you. And the markets were down, yay, cheap buys for all us value investors.

Will Britain's exit be a negative for Britain or the EU? I think neither. If you look at what Britain manufactures, it is of more interest to the rest of the world than western Europe. Most of the rest of the EU already make lots of what Britain makes, and they skew the playing field to freeze Britain out. Now the playing field can be levelled up.

For the EU, they lose a cash cow in the UK. But life will just go on for them as it does now.

A significant event then, rather like the Arab spring. But it will not foreshadow a crash.