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A number of dishonest and/or misguided people have claimed that the land-for-peace deal being forced on Ukraine by Trump and Putin is nothing at all like the appeasement of Hitler by allowing him to occupy the Sudetenland in 1938.


They also claim that giving Putin exactly what he wants definitely won’t encourage him use force to take other territory he wants in future.


“Just look at what happened back then,” said Steve Putz of the Centre for Culpable Gullibility. “Hitler said thanks very much for the Sudetenland, and then left the rest of the world in peace, just as he’d promised.


”And I’m sure exactly the same will happen with Putin. You only have to look at how we let him get away with annexing the Crimea in 2014, and he then came back and invaded more of Ukraine a few years later, to realise he’d never do exactly the same thing again.”


His statement was interrupted by the news that Putin had torn up the ceasefire and used his new territory to launch a direct attack on Kyiv.


“You know, now that I think of it, Hitler did invade the rest of Czechoslovakia and then Poland before we finally took our heads out of the sand and realised who he was,” said Putz. “So I suppose it’s just possible Putin will invade the rest of Ukraine and then… well, Poland again, I guess. They really get the shitty end of the stick, don’t they?”




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The re-launch of BBC’s flagship football show featured, just for a change, Alan Shearer rambling on and on and on about Newcastle.


Despite being the last game on due to it being a drab 0-0, Alan Shearer presented a lengthy analysis of Newcastle’s apparently majestic performance despite their centre-forward crisis. Their equally unimpressive opponents Aston Villa barely warranted a mention.


On the other hand, Sunderland’s comprehensive win was entirely down to West Ham being, technically speaking, no good.


There was hope amongst football fans everywhere that, following Gary Lineker’s enforced resignation, the programme would be less dull. Those hopes were not exactly raised when it was announced that the so-called Rooney Rule would be applied.


In American Football, the Rooney Rule means equal opportunities for ethnic minorities. In the case of Match of the Day however, it means equal opportunities for thick scousers who have terrible records as lower league managers. But Alan Shearer somehow succeeded in making Wayne Rooney sound insightful and interesting.


If the first programme of the new season is indicative of the standard to be expected every week, we can all look forward to the same old Match of the Day that we are so familiar with.




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Five hundred people have been arrested in London after police said they were responding to a protest in support of the banned group Manchester City Fan Action. Pictures from the Westminster demonstration showed a group holding placards reading "I oppose offside, I support Manchester City Fan Action".


As of Saturday, the group is proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, after lawyers acting on its behalf failed with a court bid to block the ban. The designation means being a member of, or showing support for Manchester City Fan Action, is a criminal offence and could lead to up to 14 years in prison.


The government moved to ban Manchester City Fan Action after an estimated £7k of damage was caused to seats at an away match last month. Lex Morrells KC, barrister for Manchester City Fan Action's co-founder Arfur Brain, told the High Court court banning the group would be "ill-considered" and an "authoritarian abuse" of power.


Defending the organisation's proscription, the home secretary stressed it was "not a non-violent organisation". She said tens of thousands protested lawfully about the "horrendous playing" in football matches without involving Manchester City Fan Action. She said that some supporters of Manchester City "don't know the full nature" of the group.




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