'In Putin's Russia, Western sanctions cripple you.'
'In Putin's Russia, Western sanctions cripple you.'
Staged by the Ukranians.Originally Posted by Lewis
More like they were either storing things they shouldn't have been in it, or it caught fire from another building that was a clear cut military target.
Yeah, I doubt the Russians would do such a thing.
"Sorry, we were aiming for the Sainsbury's petrol station."
Yes, Bernie, my don.
Someone should have provided that bullet decades ago. Horrible old cunt.
How we've reached the stage where Bernie Ecclestone is being given a platform to talk to the nation about the war in Ukraine is beyond me.
Getting on the most controversial guests is their whole model to be fair. And it should come as no surprise that he's on Putins side. Doing business with dictators and authoritarian states is how he got where he is in life.
Well I dont know, it depends if youre fat
That line to end it was incredible.
I sort of agree with Hamilton [maybe this should be in the F1 thread] in asking why, other than to provoke outrage and division, people like Ecclestone are given the oxygen of publicity.
It's incredible how Hamilton manages to rile up a good percentage of the population (including non-F1 fans) just by being right. Is it just because he's black while he's doing it?
Well the BBC aren't helping. Their headline basically says Hamilton wants old people cancelled when he's actually said:
"I don't know what their [the broadcaster's] goal is. To hear from someone that ultimately believes in the war, displacement of millions of people and the killing of thousands of people; the person who's doing that, they support him. And I can't believe that's what I heard today.
"This is going to put us back decades, but we have yet to see the real brunt of the pain, We don't need to be supporting that any more. There are plenty of people out there who want to be positive. If they don't want to be positive, don't give them the space.
"No more can we be amplifying these voices that are creating that divide."
He's right about cancelling old people as well.
It's not just his race, it's his wallet. Thick people really can't deal with rich people preaching to them. Bill Gates got shit for the same thing through covid. "What does the computer man know about viruses, HUH!?!?!?"?"!?"@??"?"!QW?>"ŁQ@?>ŁEd
Sorry, I got carried away there.
More because he's rich from a sport that has the carbon footprint of a medium sized country.
He's right on this occasion though.
Hardly, if he even said that. It should more be the case that Bernie Ecclestone has no more place on GMTV talking about Ukraine than I do about talking about Formula One.
Its because hes a wanker. Being black doesnt give him a free pass even though he thinks it should.
You can see how Bernie Ecclestone used to end up on record with a load of wacky comments made during Formula 1 interviews and the like, but he's retired and ninety now, so why is he giving up his valuable shagging time going on morning telly?
It is odd. I assume the time difference wherever his Bond villain style island is lends itself to breakfast appearances, but like you say, why bother?
He's up that early to look after his 3 year old son.
Let's not forget Lewis Hamilton is a dirty tax evading piece of shit.
Do tell.
Nah got nothing, I just enjoy the fact he has that label and gives it the big one about morals.
He was in on the Isle of Man Private Jet VAT scam wasn't he?
Or, should I say, his advisors were.
Oddly Jackie Stewart never caught the same amount of flack for the same thing.
Aye, funny that. Nor the people who dreamed up or waved through the concept.
My mum (a middle class boomer who doesn't watch sport) instinctively hates Lewis Hamilton, ostensibly because he wears silly clothes, has a dickhead accent and goes on about BLM, pride etc. That guttural dislike is hard for logic to overcome.
Hamilton's a good man.
I do like hearing young Lewis when he sounded like a clone of his dad.
I think it's a bit of a reach to say it's to do with his skin Colour. For some people it may be, but on the whole people just don't like Multimillionaires that piss and moan about social causes, when they're quite happy to stand in Bahrain and Qatar waving around giant bottles of Champagne. It's a bit disingenuous.
Bono caught the same flack for his endless droning about Poverty whilst being fantastically wealthy. Then there was that executive at Pantene or somewhere telling all the plebs that we should take shorter showers, while their supply chain wastes and polutes billions of gallons a year.
People just don't like smarmy hypocrisy.
Last edited by Spikey M; 01-07-2022 at 08:31 AM.
But we're all hypocrites. Granted, the wealth amplifies it.
It isn't just racism but it is partly racism.
I'm sure there are some people who dislike him because he's black and they would be racists, but for the vast majority that do surely it's because of some of the incredibly hypocritical things he says.
Like DiCaprio, you simply can't lecture people on the environment when your carbon footprint is that big, it's utterly ridiculous.
Him being black is just another way in which he is different from what the massed British middle class want from their racing drivers.
Hamilton's ability and record absolutely shits on previous British racing heroes - D.Hill, Mansell and Hunt being his immediate predecessors in this regard - and yet all three of those occupy a totally different and far more beloved cultural space than Hamilton. If you convince yourself that's because he lived in Monaco / had a private jet / likes music / wears clothes then that's you desperately reaching, because they all did the same.
Interesting that Taz takes the gammon line on this one.
Last edited by Jimmy Floyd; 01-07-2022 at 11:10 AM.
If Jenson Button had his record he would probably be King by now, it's beyond obvious if you pay even the slightest bit of attention and it isn't limited to racing drivers.
All sportsmen live audacious lifestyles, but they don't all do so while moaning that their audacious lifestyle is funded by taking payments (indirectly) from war criminals and dictators. That's what gets my eyes rolling. Atleast with Rashford he grew up poor. He's fighting for a cause he has experienced. Hamilton is just biting the hand that feeds him inbetween mouthfuls.
If you want to take the blood money, then take the blood money, being aware of it and vocal about it doesn't make you somehow a good person.
Last edited by Spikey M; 01-07-2022 at 12:35 PM.
Didn't Hill and Mansell drive at a time when Formula 1 was relatively bigger in the British sporting life/culture than it is now (particularly as a live event that people actually sat and watched) and when all of our other sports were crap? The two are no doubt linked.
It has never been bigger than it is now, I would venture to say. Football was on its arse then which I guess made a difference.
Worldwide, sure. In the UK, no chance. F1 was on terrestrial TV back then, there were only 4 channels and hardly anyone had Sky. It was huge in the 90's. I can't remember the last time I heard about F1 from someone in the real world.
From what I can find the viewing figures are down (and then obviously per person), and I would be interested to know how it ranks in terms of what people actually follow as second, third sports etc. These days there is football, daylight, then whatever else. I don't know if they was true thirty years ago. It just doesn't feel right. Everyone knew who Nigel Mansell was when I was a kid, and that won't be because we had collectively decided to elevate him as a solid middle class chap who kept his mouth shut.
There will be some racism in it, but I think Idiotmouse is generally right. Similarly, I think a lot of people defending him is race/class-motivated. If any footballer (particularly one born outside of London) or golfer was cutting about like him you would be calling them a thick chav and/or a wannabe American tool.
His personality is the issue, not the colour of his skin.
It's a bit of everything. I wouldn't say it's nothing to do with it, because we've all seen what happens if a black footballer misses a penalty. There's racists out there, and they won't like him. But the geezer is also just a bit of a dickhead.
Imagine if I turned up at work every Monday and gave a speech about how evictions are evil and the companies that do them should be shut down, before putting on my stabproof vest (adorned with Landlord Association and Locksmith sponsors) and went to kick Mrs Buttersby out of her house. Stood outside afterwards, hosing the Bailiffs down with Blue Nun. That's the person Lewis Hamilton is.
It doesn't need out and out racism. It just needs treating people differently as a default because they don't look, dress or sound like you think they should. That's how a lot of British society operates.
And I think it's better he speaks out about stuff, and is a hypocrite, than is Lee Westwood/Ian Poulter and says fuck you I'm taking the Saudi cash because I love cash. Bizarrely, people go on about 'respecting their honesty' when that happens.
But he's doing exactly the same thing.
They say: "They're horrible bastards, but I'll take the money".
He says: "They're horrible bastards
What's the actual difference? He apologises for taking the money?
The difference is that one of them succeeds in drawing attention to those issues and the other one doesn't. If it's a game of 'Who's the most morally consistent in every action in their lives' then he may well lose, but it isn't that.
Again, part of the reason for the lashing out at Hamilton for talking about those things (and reaching for 'hypocrisy' reasons to dislike him for it) is less about hypocrisy that the average white person isn't interested in racial equality/gay rights issues and is often deeply frustrated by having to hear about them.
Spikey has it. No one other than its actual fans gives a rat's arse about Formula One since it moved to Sky. The SHOWDOWN brought some transcendent interest, but beyond that your average Joe just doesn't give a shit.
Possibly a wider point as well, but it is a shame how racism is always jumped to as a catch all explanation for the perceived ills in Britain by some. Brexit? Racism. People disagreeing with the bilge Lewis Hamilton spouts from his diamond plated privilege tower? Racism. We're far from perfect, but even a far right lite party could only get an MP in the House of Commons through a defection. Meanwhile, actual countries in Western Europe are fending off genuine far right outfits from actually winning power and huge swathes of Eastern Europe would make how things were here in the 80s look progressive.
We may have a shambolic habitual liar in charge at the moment, but Britain is still pretty good.
Drive to Survive changed that. I would guess that in terms of engagement it's now probably the number two spectator sport in the UK after football. I don't have any numbers to back this up but it feels completely different to three or four years ago.
Do you think Putin likes Hamilton?
He'd take a bullet for him.
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