The Duke retweeted
Andy Burnham accused of exchanging 'lunches for loans' with China after lending £100million of taxpayer cash to a firm with close links to the Chinese Communist Party trib.al/bjCbBXS
The Duke retweeted
Sky really are shoving this Emery is Ideal for Man U garbage down everyone's throat.
The man is employed by Aston Villa, no respect at all for the club, manager or fans of Aston Villa at all.
The Duke retweeted
A huge congratulations to Manchester City, who today have SHATTERED the Premier League's attendence record against Brighton, over 234,000 tickets sold for todays game 🤯
That now brings Man City's gate reciepts to £310m so far this season, the next closest tea, is Liverpool with £20m.
Fair play that is some going 👏
The Duke retweeted
You can think whatever you want about Villa but you can’t think this is normal! This should be game analysis!
Find me one example in recent history where a similar thing happened! Campaign for the manager of the UCL club to leave the club for another club mid-season! That NEVER happened before.
And no manager in recent Premier League history has done it! That’s how insane it is! #avfc
The Duke retweeted
🚨#BREAKING: Angela Rayner has DELETED her now INFAMOUS video where she lied about Reform UK policies to schoolchildren
It would appear she may have BROKEN THE LAW by doing this
The Duke retweeted
In Paris right now the army is deployed with weapons in hand to defend churches. And we all know why. No Christian would ever attack a church.
The Duke retweeted
More facts for anyone interested...
Prince Albert apologised for slavery back in 1840 in a speech at an international anti-slavery meeting in London. 186 years ago…
Perhaps the Prime Minister would do better to focus on the 50 million people enslaved TODAY - four times the number transported throughout 300 years of transatlantic slavery.
The Duke retweeted
Seven organizations that supported France's recent protests, called for mobilization, or criticized the police response have documented historical financial or institutional connections to George Soros's Open Society Foundations.
The organizations are:
Ligue des droits de l'homme (LDH): Received Open Society funding in 2017. Its Nantes branch called for participation in the October 17 demonstrations.
Human Rights Watch: Benefited from a $100 million, ten-year funding commitment announced by Open Society in 2010. It criticized French police conduct on October 14.
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH): Lists Open Society among its private financial partners.
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT): Reported receiving 620,616.71 Swiss francs from Open Society in 2024.
Amnesty International: Its international organization reported Open Society grant funding in 2024 and defended the right to peaceful protest in France.
350 . org: Listed Open Society among its supporters in 2021. Its French branch participated in the movement surrounding October 17.
Attac France: Called for demonstrations on October 17 and co-published a 2017 report whose French edition received partial Open Society funding.
The Duke retweeted
The Romans enslaved Britons, this is not contested. If you think Britain should apologise and pay reparations for its role in the slave trade you have to explain why Italy shouldn't do the same for Britain.
The Duke retweeted
Prince Albert apologised for slavery back in 1840 in a speech at an international anti-slavery meeting in London. 186 years ago…
Perhaps the Prime Minister would do better to focus on the 50 million people enslaved TODAY - four times the number transported throughout 300 years of transatlantic slavery.
The Duke retweeted
Slaves were still being freed by the Royal Navy during the 20th Century.
These pictures were taken in 1907 off the coast of Oman.
The man detained by Royal Marines was arrested at sea and detained while the slaves aboard his ship were freed.
The Duke retweeted
In 1830 HMS PRIMROSE captured Spanish Slaver Velos Passagera rescuing 555 Africans destined for slavery. PRIMROSE was part of the Royal Navy's West Africa Sqn tasked with anti-slavery duties.
Between 1808-60 the RN intercepted 1,600 slave ships, freeing over 150,000 Africans
The Duke retweeted
Not a single comment on the ongoing slave Labour of the Uyghurs. Not a single comment on the Arab slave trade, but give him an opportunity to bash Britain and he will grab at it with both hands.
The Duke retweeted
This take completely misses the point. Sawiris didn’t threaten legal action to win a court case; he used it as a PR weapon to hijack the news cycle, kill the Emery rumors, & force a legacy pundit into a public apology. It wasn't censorship, it was a masterclass in power.
#AVFC
Jamie Carragher has now apologised to Aston Villa for comments this week which were disrespectful but hardly actionable. He was wrong about a proud, historic club. Villa said last night they would “initiate legal action” against Carragher for what they described as his “unacceptable insults about the Club and its fans” on his Stick To Football podcast. Carragher claimed Unai Emery would “fancy” joining Manchester United. This fed Villa’s belief/fear of institutional impediments embedded in the Premier League inhibiting their ambitions.
We live in a media age where views are news. Carragher is a pundit, paid to give opinions shaped by his many experiences as a player. It’s why he’s also employed by Sky Sports, which bankrolls much of football. You may not agree with some of his views expressed in the more informal, pub-vibe podland, but he’s allowed to say them, and discourse is at the heart of being a fan. That said, Carragher certainly shouldn’t be telling Villa fans objecting to his comments to “shut the f**k up” even “in jest”, a strange way of expanding an audience.
“My language this week was clumsy & wrong,” Carragher has now posted on X in his apology to Villa, the owners and fans. “I can assure Villa fans it was tongue in cheek but I can understand it’s not come across that way, so apologies. Good luck today UTV!” Whether this is from pure contrition or a reaction to the threat of legal action remains to be seen.
Carragher’s view on Emery deserved challenging but by Villa’s fans not by the club, which should have risen above it, and certainly not by lawyers. You don’t need to be a diehard Holte Ender to question why on earth Emery would leave Villa for United. Emery runs the football operations at Villa, organising and inspiring the squad and team, and overseeing the successful recruitment model. United are a managerial churn machine, a dysfunctional family, with tensions between fans and board, and a squad that needs a long-overdue overhaul.
Carragher also needed challenging - in a debate, not a court - about his view on a famous club who have contributed so much to the history of the game. Near the players’ entrance is the statue of William McGregor, founder of the Football League. Villa were founder members of the Premier League. Champions of England, champions of Europe, producer of talent like Brian Little, Gabby Agbonlahor, Gary Cahill and Jack Grealish, and a couple more in the pipeline. The Holte End is one of the great stands of football. Villa deserve more respect from Carragher which he now shows belatedly in today’s post.
But Carragher’s suggestion that there is a food chain in football is hardly a radical thought. It’s a view, the game is full of them, and if lawyers are scrambled, and views are censored, then the whole game is the poorer.
