Conor Patton

[Paddy Power @paddypower]

On the plus side for Liverpool, at least they aren't facing relegation as a result of a decade of systematic breaches of Premier League rules

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

People need to understand clearly what is happening here.

Andy Burnham has never been a fan of Britain’s democratic decision to leave the European Union in 2016. The referendum was one of the biggest democratic processes in modern Britain, with strong views on both sides.

The Prime Minister now claims officials told him that Russia interfered in the referendum.

Burnham used his first speech at the UN to announce the creation of the National Centre for Information Defence. He said it would tackle Russian misinformation that sows division, interferes in our democracy, spreads false narratives about Britain and pushes people towards the “far right”.

But today, a Foreign Office minister slapped down that claim, saying Russia was not successful in influencing the Brexit referendum.

It is clear that this new centre will almost certainly be used to clamp down on those who do not subscribe to Burnham’s vision of Britain or the progressive orthodoxies he promotes.

It looks as if Andy Burnham is now spreading misinformation about misinformation — the very thing he claims threatens democracy.

[David Lynch @davidlynchlfc]

Again you have to ask: what does this mean? These players buying into a supposed siege mentality and yet they will be immediately out of the door the moment sanctions are handed down. Fans gloating about it all. Such a bad look for the Premier League.

[John Aldridge @Realaldo474]

yesterdays gone !!but this sums football up now

[Paddy Power @paddypower]

Man City’s ‘irrefutable evidence’ revealed to be hundreds of inflatable bananas. https://t.co/51tW1iQ0gh

[Chino @ChinoUTD]

🚨 Roy Keane on Ryan Gravenberch’s red card against Manchester City:

“I watched it back because I thought I must have missed something.

Gravenberch is already on a yellow. Doku is trying to get away, Ryan tries to get a foot to the ball, catches him and the referee gives the foul. Fine. Nobody is arguing about the foul.

Then Chris Kavanagh reaches for his pocket again.

I said, ‘What’s he doing?’

The lad next to me goes, ‘He’s sending him off.’

‘For that?’

And there it is. Second yellow. Liverpool bloody down to 10 men.

Now people will say, ‘Roy, he was already booked. He should know better.’ Of course he should be careful. But being on a yellow card doesn’t mean you stop being a footballer. He’s allowed to compete for the ball.

Look at the challenge. He’s not flying in with both feet. He’s not going over the top of the ball. He doesn’t wipe Doku out with some wild lunge. He’s trying to make a challenge, gets it wrong, and Doku gets back up.

It’s around the middle of the pitch. Gravenberch isn’t the last defender. We’re not talking about a striker clean through on goal. You can give a free kick there and carry on playing football.

And don’t start telling me the referee had no choice. He did have a choice. That’s the whole point.

Someone said, ‘But Roy, the referee doesn’t have to warn him first.’

I said, ‘I know the rules. I’m not asking him to send Ryan a letter.’

A warning isn’t compulsory. A bit of judgement would be nice, though. You’re about to take one of the best players on the pitch out of Liverpool against Manchester City. You’d better be certain the challenge deserves another booking.

I thought Gravenberch was excellent in that first half. Taking the ball under pressure, driving past City players, making their midfield turn and chase him. He was giving Liverpool a way to get up the pitch.

And then he’s walking down the tunnel for a challenge that, to me, is an ordinary foul.

You could see what happened to the game afterwards. City have an extra man, Liverpool have lost a player who was carrying them through midfield, and suddenly the whole thing changes.

I played for Manchester United. I’ve got no reason to sit here making excuses for Liverpool. If Gravenberch had gone in recklessly, I’d be the first to say he deserved it.

But I played in enough of these matches to know the difference between a player losing his head and a player getting his timing wrong.

Ryan got his timing wrong. The referee, in my opinion, got the bigger decision wrong.

And the worst part? Tomorrow people will look at the score and say City were simply too good.

What we do know is that at 0–0, with eleven against eleven, Liverpool were in the game. That’s the match I wanted to see finished.

Not one decided by a referee who seemed in a greater hurry to reach for his pocket than to think about what he’d actually seen.”

[Troll Foot @troll__foot]

Manchester city Against Liverpool Highlights

[Conor Patton @ConorPatton87]

@DistanceCovered That is just the norm now and why I don't listen to sky punditry anymore....the mute button is regularly used at half time

[Conor Patton @ConorPatton87]

@Ian1892T Acting the shameless asterisk asshole some of these city fans

[Conor Patton @ConorPatton87]

@irish_news You know what would be great, if your local authorities actually spent money on upgrading these out of date drainage network's. Modern networks could relieve this but these tits continue to underperform with tax payer money.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

🚨🚨Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Shadow Chancellor, has been reported to the police and Prevent, the Government’s counter-extremism programme, over comments he made about Islam.

The Free Speech Union has warned that the Government’s Islamophobia definition would chill the ability of elected politicians and private citizens to criticise Islam. Ministers repeatedly assured us that the “anti-Muslim hostility” definition would not silence legitimate criticism of Islam, its history or its practices. Yet here we are. We have been proved repeatedly right.

The Islamic website 5Pillars reports that @RobertJenrick was reported after appearing on @danwootton’s Outspoken programme. The complainants asked police to assess whether his remarks could fall under legislation on stirring up religious hatred. They also asked Prevent to consider whether the framing of his comments fell within its definition of extreme right-wing ideology.

On the programme, Jenrick said: “Radical Islam is a threat to everything that we hold dear in this country. That it has to be fought and destroyed. It has to be eradicated from our country. And that we can’t allow the creeping Islamification of the United Kingdom.”

He also said: “Wearing the burka, Shari’ah courts, hate preachers. End every one of these as quickly as possible, then maybe we’ve got a fighting chance of saving our country from going down the same path as France has clearly gone down.”

People need to wake up to what is happening. @JohnCleese has been reported to Prevent over comments criticising Islam, while @RupertLowe10 has been reported to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over his comments.

It is not extremist to criticise Islam. Blasphemy laws were abolished in this country in 2008. Yet the Government, police, activists and courts appear determined to impose one for Islam alone through the back door.

We must not let a de facto Islamic blasphemy law take root. Nor must we allow activists to weaponise Prevent to shut down criticism of Islam. Doing so would undermine the integrity of our counter-terrorism efforts.

The Free Speech Union stands with Robert Jenrick and his right to speak freely, both as a private citizen and as an elected politician.

[Ben Shapiro @benshapiro]

49 words in tribute to the Jews murdered on October 7. 141 words on how Israel is responsible for everything and the only answer is to hand more power, money, and authority to those who wish to destroy Israel.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

The British Government is preparing an apparatus of internet censorship without parallel in the modern era.

At the UN, Andy Burnham announced the creation of a National Centre for Information Defence — Labour’s Ministry of Truth.

The Prime Minister says the centre will protect us from hostile foreign powers such as Russia, which he accused of spreading lies and disinformation about Britain, amplifying “far-right narratives” and interfering in our democracy.

But the real purpose is to suppress dissent and silence those who criticise the Government or express views about the state of the country that run counter to Labour’s prevailing progressive orthodoxy.

FSU Director of Policy and Research David Rose has written a new briefing examining the threadbare research the Government has used to justify its plans. The Government is clutching at straws — and, ironically, already spreading misinformation about the threat of misinformation.

It has ignored a wealth of evidence from leading academics to push ahead with its new censorship regime.

Burnham’s Government is putting Britain in the same league as some of the world’s most authoritarian powers.

Watch the new episode of the FSU Podcast with General Secretary of the FSU Lord Young of Acton on YouTube and read @DavidRoseUK’s report below 👇

[Nick Delehanty 🇮🇪 @Nick_Delehanty]

Congratulations to Irish Human Rights & Equality Commission (IHREC)

Whose annual budget is set to increase by almost €1MILLION in Budget 2027.

Total Funding: €11.49m (+9%)
Planned staff: 94 to 115 (+22%).

89% of the increase in funds goes to salaries.
Its budget has grown 17% in just two years!

What will these 21 extra posts deliver, and how will taxpayers measure whether they’re worth funding?

Established in November 2014, the IHREC is a statutory State body (or a super charged NGO!).

Last year they sued the State for not providing adequate housing for asylum seekers, enshrining a superior right to housing over Irish people... (a Supreme Court decision awaits afaik)

Its Chief Commissioner, earns about €200k.
Former bosses include Sinead Gibney TD.

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

It is deeply shocking that a Conservative councillor thought he could use West Midlands Police as his personal tool to silence comments he disliked about himself — especially when they were made by a 15-year-old child.

More shocking still is that West Midlands Police investigated and arrested the child. This is not an isolated case: the force has a record of zealously acting on complaints about “hurty words” online.

Calling someone a “rent boy” may be personally offensive to the councillor, but it is not a hate crime.

We are in the UK, not North Korea. Politicians must not be able to use the police to silence people who insult them.

This is a blatant abuse of power — an assault on both free speech and democracy.

[David Hirsh @DavidHirsh]

He talks like Ireland is the victim here.

This was an Ireland home game, played behind closed doors in Serbia, because Ireland - the state, the fans, the football authorities - is not capable of welcoming Israel and playing a football game with their team in Dublin.

[ZZ Flop ✡️🇮🇪 @ZzVvbbbbn]

Irish sports journalists now that the two matches against Israel are over.

[Conor Patton @ConorPatton87]

@Alan__Shatter Honestly it's embarrassing with this stop the game shit. Do people actually think those footballers were actually fighting and making war decisions

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Finn Azaz💚

Finn could have played for England, Israel or Ireland. He chose Ireland. "It was always Ireland."

Don’t let anyone try to argue and tell you otherwise!

His father Tim grew up in Cork, and Finn came visited Ireland often as a child. His great uncle is Brian Murphy, the Cork dual star who won All-Irelands in hurling and football.

Growing up in Birmingham, Finn was as sharp off the pitch as on it. Nine A*s at GCSE at King Edward's School, then A-Levels in French and Business while a scholar at West Brom. He even kept studying French and Spanish afterwards, just for his own personal development.

On loan at Plymouth, he quietly volunteered once a week at St Luke's Hospice. After he left the staff
spoke, describing him as having "a heart of pure gold." He gave patients VIP treatment and walked one young fan onto the pitch as a mascot.

That's who Finn is. Yet there’s always been this uncomfortable criticism of Finn which has been amplified in recent weeks.

He’s been treated like something else entirely. Not because of anything he did. Because of who his family is.

His loyalty doubted, his heritage thrown at him like an accusation. Some of it from people who should know better, including a former Ireland centurion.

Heimir described him recently as one of "the people I admire the most in all of this." Then on Thursday he stood up again.

Against Austria, he had more touches than any other Ireland player. Starting deeper alongside Coventry, he was exceptional, driving us forward with the kind of passing we've been crying out for in that position. His cross-field ball helped create the penalty for our second goal.

He was later pushed further forward into the #10 role, where he he’s most effective at club level.
His influence on the game faded with the switch.

With Ireland he’s more effective deeper, in attacking midfield Ireland need a more “direct energy” which doesn’t suit him. But he can give us the control and quality on the ball we've lacked from deep.

Whatever your view on the wider debate, no player should be made to feel unwelcome in the green jersey because of his family.

Finn chose us. Now it's our turn to back him💚

[Conor Patton @ConorPatton87]

@SebSB Same. I dislike politics and government and private business dictating it in any way. Because you eventually lean to one side so much, you loose track of the game and it doesn't become an escape but a reminder of the political and commercial BS to look the part rather than act it