marklaffan.bsky.social
@marklaffan.bsky.social
Father, Lefty, Singer, Rugby fan and occasional singer. Limerick, Munster, Ireland.
That X factor shows in three months time when you’re away in France and can’t buy a line break. Let him settle - players like him prove their mettle at the sharp end of the season.
December 14, 2025 at 9:10 AM
That X factor shows in three months time when you’re away in France and can’t buy a line break. Let him settle - players like him prove their mettle at the sharp end of the season.
That’s interesting. I’d seen irelands move as a continuity step with Nienebar changing things at Leinster. Which laws do you think are pushing that way?
December 11, 2025 at 11:03 AM
That’s interesting. I’d seen irelands move as a continuity step with Nienebar changing things at Leinster. Which laws do you think are pushing that way?
Agreed, but unfortunately the continuum runs through to actually being the National Front now. The boundary has been established at actually not wanting the Navy to shoot at people in dinghy’s.
December 11, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Agreed, but unfortunately the continuum runs through to actually being the National Front now. The boundary has been established at actually not wanting the Navy to shoot at people in dinghy’s.
True. I was thinking more in terms of overall depth chart. It’s hard to read I think - if Farrell sticks with the current plan, it will be about kickers and the aerial game. If we move back to being more ball in hand, it will look different again.
December 11, 2025 at 10:48 AM
True. I was thinking more in terms of overall depth chart. It’s hard to read I think - if Farrell sticks with the current plan, it will be about kickers and the aerial game. If we move back to being more ball in hand, it will look different again.
Tough few years for a number of guys I thought would be regular internationals. Daly is 28 with two caps. Nash 28 with 12. Hodnett is 26, uncapped. Coombes 28 with 3. Ahern 25 with 2. Timoney 30 with 6. Balancoune with 4. Gleeson and Quinn will overtake Coombes before that can happen, potentially.
December 11, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Tough few years for a number of guys I thought would be regular internationals. Daly is 28 with two caps. Nash 28 with 12. Hodnett is 26, uncapped. Coombes 28 with 3. Ahern 25 with 2. Timoney 30 with 6. Balancoune with 4. Gleeson and Quinn will overtake Coombes before that can happen, potentially.
But potential is important when the competition is a 33 year old winger 2 years out from a world cup. Farrell is going to start looking at and backing options with 2027 in mind. Lowe would start in the 6N, but would he hold off the alternatives by next autumn?
December 11, 2025 at 9:36 AM
But potential is important when the competition is a 33 year old winger 2 years out from a world cup. Farrell is going to start looking at and backing options with 2027 in mind. Lowe would start in the 6N, but would he hold off the alternatives by next autumn?
Does it open up the possibility of a revival of sensible Toryism?
December 11, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Does it open up the possibility of a revival of sensible Toryism?
Lowe started from a lower base than LRZ, imo. Took him a solid season to not be a defensive liability. LRZ has gas and an eye for a gap. He’s dangerous with ball in hand. My main point though is that one of CN or RB will overtake Lowe in the next year and a half.
December 11, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Lowe started from a lower base than LRZ, imo. Took him a solid season to not be a defensive liability. LRZ has gas and an eye for a gap. He’s dangerous with ball in hand. My main point though is that one of CN or RB will overtake Lowe in the next year and a half.
Lowe would be under pressure, imo. 33, off form, won’t make the next World Cup. A 24 year old with a lot of gas would be breathing down his neck.
December 11, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Lowe would be under pressure, imo. 33, off form, won’t make the next World Cup. A 24 year old with a lot of gas would be breathing down his neck.
I disagree with his views on trans people, but that to me is almost irrelevant at that point. His actual behaviour has been appalling, and would be appalling if I agreed with him. And it’s his behaviour, not his views, that have caused him issues.
November 28, 2025 at 1:53 PM
I disagree with his views on trans people, but that to me is almost irrelevant at that point. His actual behaviour has been appalling, and would be appalling if I agreed with him. And it’s his behaviour, not his views, that have caused him issues.
It all just feels a bit settled. The squad needs some lads in their early twenties full of piss and vinegar rolling out at training sessions looking to take down some big names. I remember when the likes of Horan, Flannery, O’Callaghan did that to Corrigan, O’Kelly, Byrne…same is needed now.
November 23, 2025 at 9:00 PM
It all just feels a bit settled. The squad needs some lads in their early twenties full of piss and vinegar rolling out at training sessions looking to take down some big names. I remember when the likes of Horan, Flannery, O’Callaghan did that to Corrigan, O’Kelly, Byrne…same is needed now.
On My Own and I Dreamed A Dream would carry most shows. The others aren’t actively bad - they keep things ticking over. Master of the House and Do You Hear? help it along.
November 21, 2025 at 8:09 PM
On My Own and I Dreamed A Dream would carry most shows. The others aren’t actively bad - they keep things ticking over. Master of the House and Do You Hear? help it along.
This has raised its head a few times over the years, usually in relation to London Irish/Welsh/Scottish. World Rugby won’t have it.
November 17, 2025 at 9:07 AM
This has raised its head a few times over the years, usually in relation to London Irish/Welsh/Scottish. World Rugby won’t have it.
It’s depraved. As well as being wholly ridiculous. How is this going to work? Someone at the home office nipping down to cash converters? The idea that the govt will find itself trading in second hand goods, and employing people to do so, and can do so profitably is preposterous.
November 17, 2025 at 9:01 AM
It’s depraved. As well as being wholly ridiculous. How is this going to work? Someone at the home office nipping down to cash converters? The idea that the govt will find itself trading in second hand goods, and employing people to do so, and can do so profitably is preposterous.
I think his argument would be that they’re two sides of the same identitarian politics and that both are “making everything about race”. Which is a very stretched idea of woke and, well, just horseshit really.
November 12, 2025 at 9:44 AM
I think his argument would be that they’re two sides of the same identitarian politics and that both are “making everything about race”. Which is a very stretched idea of woke and, well, just horseshit really.
Fat Fascist Cunt stadium doesn’t really work.
November 8, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Fat Fascist Cunt stadium doesn’t really work.
It hasn’t a hope. There’s no grass roots American sports culture. Adult men don’t play team sports unless they’re professional. Rugby is hoping to manage entirely on people who’ve stopped playing other sports.
November 3, 2025 at 8:27 PM
It hasn’t a hope. There’s no grass roots American sports culture. Adult men don’t play team sports unless they’re professional. Rugby is hoping to manage entirely on people who’ve stopped playing other sports.
I love the fact that the NYP thinks will be deeply shocking to a city full of Italians, Irish, Greeks, Arabs…cultures in which “He/She’s not my Uncle/Aunt but”….is a sentence that every single person has said.
October 29, 2025 at 9:31 AM
I love the fact that the NYP thinks will be deeply shocking to a city full of Italians, Irish, Greeks, Arabs…cultures in which “He/She’s not my Uncle/Aunt but”….is a sentence that every single person has said.
I think it’s the most egregious capture of a board I can remember. A CEO involved in multiple roles, a falling share price, making demands…unimaginable with any other board. He is an owner in all but name, running a private company in all but name.
October 28, 2025 at 12:24 PM
I think it’s the most egregious capture of a board I can remember. A CEO involved in multiple roles, a falling share price, making demands…unimaginable with any other board. He is an owner in all but name, running a private company in all but name.
It’s a sensitive area, as it can be seen as diminishing the importance of broader interventions to deal with underlying issues. But it’s a strand of many prevention strategies. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Restriction of access to means used for suicide
One of the most effective public health measures to prevent suicide is the restriction of access to means used in suicidal acts. This approach can be …
www.sciencedirect.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:31 PM
It’s a sensitive area, as it can be seen as diminishing the importance of broader interventions to deal with underlying issues. But it’s a strand of many prevention strategies. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
From what I remember of undergraduate psych, suicide is overwhelmingly linked to opportunity. Farmers aren’t particularly depressed - they have high suicide rates because they have barns and shotguns. Access to means in the moment is a massive factor.
October 24, 2025 at 4:03 PM
From what I remember of undergraduate psych, suicide is overwhelmingly linked to opportunity. Farmers aren’t particularly depressed - they have high suicide rates because they have barns and shotguns. Access to means in the moment is a massive factor.
Qualifications (Left).
October 23, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Qualifications (Left).
I suspect, scarily, that a lot of the future lies in the hands of the press. Reform’s biggest challenge will be fielding 650 candidates without descending into complete chaos. The extent to which the press allows Farage to run a presidential campaign will decide whether that chaos is ignored.
October 22, 2025 at 8:14 AM
I suspect, scarily, that a lot of the future lies in the hands of the press. Reform’s biggest challenge will be fielding 650 candidates without descending into complete chaos. The extent to which the press allows Farage to run a presidential campaign will decide whether that chaos is ignored.
I don’t think it’s illegal. He’s not in possession, so it’s not a throw forward. And he gathers, so it’s not a knock on.
October 19, 2025 at 4:27 PM
I don’t think it’s illegal. He’s not in possession, so it’s not a throw forward. And he gathers, so it’s not a knock on.