#Nils brings out the best in Vincent

[misaothewitch]

They're in love

[heartbreakprincewille]

Masculinity In Young Royals

So, in honour of Ke Huy Quan and the team of Everything Everywhere All At Once sweeping the Oscars(been crying about it since morning), I was watching this BRILLIANT video essay(check it out it's so well thought out!) about Waymond(Ke's character) and this gave me thoughts about Young Royals as well, because hyperfixations go hand-in-hand, right? :)

Masculinity, and especially different portrayals and aspects of its prevalent notions is a theme brilliantly explored in the two seasons of Young Royals. I wanted to talk about some characters, and this list will progress from worse to better(not using the word perfect because nuance > perfection).

Note: The traits I will discuss further are not restricted to just a cis or male perspective, anyone can exhibit these traits, but since assertion of masculinity is a constant spectacle in Young Royals, I will associate some traits with it.

1. Vincent

Vincent, especially in S2, embodies the worst traits on the masculinity spectrum, and since his character is understandably not offered the privilege of nuance, he comes off as this typical, toxic, sort of "alpha-male" character, especially after he's elected as the prefect and Rowing Captain. He constantly bullies others, especially Simon, tries to enforce the hierarchy of privilege and class firstly through August and then by himself. As soon as he sees an opportunity shown by Wilhelm to take control in his hands, he doesn't take much time to betray his "friend", August(although August of all people getting betrayed is certainly irony at its best). He kinda reminds me of the Royal Court in some ways- their presence furthering the divide of tradition and social systems in their respective environments.

2. August

The only reason August is not placed higher than Vincent in this list is the privilege of nuance August is provided with throughout the story. This nuance is what sets him apart in the narrative, but is also the thing which dooms him as a character.

August is misogynistic, sexist, classist, obsessed with power and privilege and feels entitled to both of them, set to further the class divide just like Vincent. He stokes his ego like fire, and if someone tries to cross him, he does not hesitate to burn them with the flames, like Wilhelm exposing his money issues and August violating Wilhelm and Simon's privacy in return. He's manipulative, he's calculative, he knows how to scheme things in his favour(failed attempts, though) and he's just a walking red flag of a person. He also falls around the worse side of the spectrum of masculinity.

But, he is offered nuance by the narrative. In S1, it's in the form of familial and personal issues: his dad killing himself, financial problems, addiction issues and possible issues of body dysmorphia. In S2, through his relationship with Sara, we are shown a different side of him- a side that is capable of being vulnerable, capable of being soft, and this almost sparks this hope within the audience that maybe August can change a little, for the better.

But then he's offered a chance of power and his hamartia is revealed to the audience: his inability to change. The greatest tragedy (which is also its brilliance) with August's character is he cannot change for the better. Even if he tries to. He can have opprtunities to grow, but it will be a Herculean labour for him to take advantage of those opportunities and actually change. He is so deeply entrenched in his perceptions of toxic masculinity and power and lost in his conceited, privileged worldview that it's quite hard for him to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And it's what sets him apart in the narrative- despite all his nuance, he is still a terrible person at his core. The nuance is just what separates him from all his shallow and one-dimensional preceding antagonists of the past.

3. Nils

Nils brings a neutral perspective to the extreme hyper-masculine and cishet dynamics upheld by August and Vincent. He's revealed to be queer in S2, but chooses to be discreet about it- which gives him a chance to build solidarity with both his cishet peers(Vincent and August) as well as a fellow queer person (Wille). He's not dismissive of Wilhelm's queerness, but he believes it to be something "better behind close doors". He's one of the few people who actually acknowledges Wilhelm and Simon's relationship, but is also dismissive of it, mainly because of the difference in their social standings. He's devoid of the typical "heteronormative" traits associated with masculinity, especially in S2, but he still uphelds the toxic class hierarchy and privilege.

4. Simon

Simon is a quite interesting character to me on this list because he subverts these traits in a very unique way.

Usually canonically gay characters in media are often stereotyped to possess "feminine" traits, which is NOT a bad thing at all, BUT mostly the portrayal of such characters usually leans more towards the mockery of the "feminine" traits, rather than something which strengthens the queerness of that character.

Simon is actually very different from this famous rendition of gay characters- he's actually very masculine in his behaviour. He exhibits two typical masculine behaviours in general:

1. "Man Of The House", or taking the mantle of emotional(and sometimes financial) stability in a house in one's own hands. He often takes matters in his own hand, especially when Sara says or does something that disrupts the peace of their little family. It's interesting because despite being the youngest person in the family, Linda subconsciously lets him take the mantle on his shoulders, without realizing how heavy it can be. And consequenty, it brings us down to the second trait:

2. "Suppressing emotions", or avoiding being vulnerable in public spaces or with people one loves and trusts. Simon constantly shoves what he's feeling deep in his heart, he refuses to break open in front of people, in front of Wille(S2 E6 gun scene) and would go to lengths to maintain a facade of "everything's fine!" even if he's breaking inside. It makes sense because his backstory alludes to hesitation to open up to people and it can be possibly related to his familial trauma, but it's still interesting nevertheless because he shows incredible emotional maturity throughout the story, much more than his predecessors on this list. He's devoid of both the toxic traits of heteronormativity and elitist behaviour associated with "masculinity" in Young Royals, but he still possesses a different set of problems associated with orthodox masculinity.

5. Wilhelm

Wilhelm is, in my opinion, the closest example to what is emerging as the new definition of "masculinity" in the current media. Wilhelm, through his immense emotional journey and growth in the two seasons, subverts all the traits of masculinity displayed by his predecessors in the list with grace and humility.

He's not obsessed with upholding traditions and asserting heteronormativity like Vincent and August, he is quite indifferent to it in S1, the only "compulsion" he feels to do so is immediately after Erik's death in S1, which he quickly overcomes as well. His "revenge" attempts on August by pulling rank and exercising his privilege stems from a feeling of injustice and anger rather than something he enjoys or feels the need to practice at all.

August's hamartia is Wilhelm's strength. Wilhelm, unlike August, displays great capacity to change for the better, which he constantly does throughout the story. Love knocks on both of their doors as an opportunity to grow, to change for the better, and while Wilhelm embraces it, August slaps the door shut on its face.

Unlike Nils, neither Wilhelm's queerness was never given a chance to be discreet in the first place, nor he ever felt the need to do so. The idea of keeping his and Simon's relationship a secret was more of an idea subconsciously conceived by Kristina in Wilhelm's head rather than his own desire to be secretive.

Wilhelm even subverts the traits displayed by Simon in this regard- the position of the "Man Of The House" falls on him in the form of "Crown Prince of Sweden", and although he understandably struggles with the role initially, by the end of S2, he consciously embraces the role with grace and humility. Compared to Simon, Wilhelm wears his heart on his sleeve, he is not afraid to express his true emotions to the people he love and trusts, and even to strangers.

[hvenart]

Since Young Royals is over I wanted to take a look at some characters and kinda explain how I interpret them as people. (this is hella long but I’m mostly praising the show and how they handled things cus I’m an optimistic girl who loves life)

First of all you have the students of Hillerska. Hated them.

Genuinely cannot stand most of them and I gotta be honest, I was cheering for the school to close down. The toxicity and pure classism that radiates of that school is sickening but I’m afraid not unrealistic. As Willhelm said it’s in the walls of that place, it’s impossible to get it out. Everyone in Hillerska loves to pretend everything is fine. As Wilhelm said EVERYONE IS FAKE. Not just Hillerska but the monarchy and that entire system is too. While there are most likely very close friendships in the school it seems like nobody really knows or tries to understand each other. They refuse to acknowledge the fundamental problems of the school and instead party and just see the school closing as a sad thing.

Vincent is a perfect example of that. I love how they showed that queerness never was a problem for him. Vincent was fine with Nils being queer cus it doesn’t directly effect the system. Simon being a socialist who can possibly talk about the issues of the school was. I also think that he sees August purely as his role. He sees him as a party animal and having connections to the royal family. That’s the role he fulfills so he’s confused as to why he wants to be more than that because position wise he’s in a perfect situation. Him not knowing what August wants as a person and not knowing his best friend was queer just shows to me how little they know each other. How superficial their friendship is.

Nils is interesting. He’s queer and him being a person of Color all give him an interesting position in the whole system. He probably has a little more empathy and is a little less out of touch than his friends (ex. he is the first person to talk about how fucked up their initiation was) but he chooses to ignore it. I think that for him the pros outweigh the cons because at the end of the day he’s still rich and at the top of the foodchain at hillerska so it makes sense that he has no desire to change anything. Which brings me to why I LOVE felice.

Felice is by far my favourite character (Simon is a close second). She very much could turn a blind eye to everything and be like everyone else but she doesn’t want to anymore. I think being a black girl in Hillerska gave her more sympathy and understanding of the problems but I think even then she could’ve dealt with it like Nils because lets be honest racism is everywhere. But she realises if it’s already this bad for her she can’t imagine how it is for the people of the lower class. It made her see how fucked the hierarchy is and realise how deep it is engraved in the school. She realises that not even her best friends want to truly understand her struggles because it’s awkward for them (I said in another post her friends weren’t as bad as Vincent but honestly they’re just as bad). That realisation made her not wanna go to New York. She doesn’t wanna ignore her problems like everyone else but face them head on and goes to Sara. The one person who at the end wasn’t fake to her.

Im absolutely in love with Sara and Felice’s relationship. They kinda parallel Simon and Wilhelm in a way because Sara was the first truly honest person in Felice’s life just like Simon was to Willhelm although Felice and Sara are the platonic version of that (and while I loved that it portrayed the importance of friendship, my lesbian ass was really wishing they would’ve kissed like the TENSION but that’s just me). I also think that’s why the betrayal of her with August was so painful. She couldn’t care less about August, she cared about the fact that the one person she thought she always could rely on did that to her.

I also loved Sara this season. She’s a very flawed person yes but you could always tell her apologies were sincere. You could tell she had strong feelings for August but she was able to put Felice’s, Simon’s and most importantly her own feelings first. I was really scared they were gonna make her and August get back together in the end (especially with the conversation about giving people second chances in reference to her dad being also possibly about August) but they made sure to stick with her character development.

That brings me to August. He’s a really interesting character to me and I never know how to feel about him. He has done some horrible shit and at first I wanted him to suffer or do something big to try to make things right and I didn’t like how he never truly got his karma but I like how open they left his character. He obviously has some issues (eating disorder, trauma from his initiation,…) but he doesn’t ever delve deeper into them. He acknowledges the things he does and is obviously very sorry but just like the rest of the people in Hillerska and the Monarchy he ignores the causes of it. He never acknowledges his eating disorder. He’s probably aware that he has a problem (cus Simon pointed it out) but ignores it. He ignores the reasoning Sara gives for them not working out and gives her solutions that in the grand scheme will not change things. He still has huge respect for Eric despite what he did to him and the fact that it clearly left lasting traumas and just brushes it off. He longs for the Crown Prince role not even thinking about the harm that it can cause him. I said that he didn’t get karma but that’s not true. I think that the Crown Prince title is a curse and even if Wilhelm didn’t mean it that way, I think he got his final karma at the end by passing that curse down to him.

I love how they handled Wilhelm and Simon. Wilhelm had just like the rest of Hillerska and the monarchy the tendency to ignore things. Simon was the one who had to give him a wake up call and break things off. Simon forced him to face reality. He didn’t understand why Simon saw the title of Crown Prince as such a curse. Everyone ( ex. His mother) around him kept saying how much of a privilege it was that he never took a step back to question if it really was such an honour. His mothers words were so deeply engraved into him that it took him a while to finally be able to hear Simon. Simon wasn’t the reason why he didn’t want to be the Crown Prince, he just made him realise he never wanted any of this in the first place. It was never about Simon it was the fact that Wilhelm as a person was never really for the Monarchy. He loves his mother and the connection to his brother but he finally was able to let it go. He knows his brother still would’ve loved him but the perfect image of his brother the Crown Prince is gone. I don’t think he’s ever gonna forgive August but he has let it go and given him the title he so desperately wanted. His hatred towards him is not strong enough to keep the title of Crown Prince. In the relationship he was the one who needed to change. Sure Simon also went through growth and had to have a lot of understanding but it was Wilhelm who had to realise his core teachings and the way he thought of life were very flawed. He had to be his own person outside of the system that held him down so desperately. And even the mother understands that. She will always be part of the monarchy but she acknowledges that it nearly destroyed her and realises that she doesn’t want that to happen to her son and lets him go.

Hillerska, the monarchy and the classist hierarchy is not gonna change. But some people can. That’s why I think in the end there was no song about revolution. They didn’t have one. Sara, Felice, Wilhelm and Simon were the ones who truly got away from everything. They were able to get away from the schackles of the system and leave it behind. Even if Hillerska did reopen I doubt they would go back. They didn’t revolutionise anything other then themselves. There wasn’t a revolution but an evolution of themselves.

I think that’s a beautiful message. You can’t always change the bad things around you but you can change the things about yourself that were caused by the bad things around you. You can do and be better even when the world isn’t.

[thegaycat]

young royals season 3 wishlist <3

bc i am too excited for s3 and need to collect my thoughts 🥞 ok some of the thoughts are not mine but i agreed and put them on my list anyway :)

and also i 100% wander off topic but its okay ive decided. okay lets go

wille peeling an orange for simon while studying (@littlebabywille said it first)

wille listening to simon singing and playing to the piano (like marcus did in s2ep1 except with consent bc sneaking up on people in their own room is not cool esp if you dont even know them <3<3) (@irenes-diary said that first)

simon singing and wille playing the piano 👀 (@rndm-fandoms)

a third ELIAS song, maybe about true love or something

on the topic of true love, wilmon endgame please??? that will happen right?? she wont keep them apart? if wilmon is not endgame it better still be a happy ending

seeing studenten, august and nils and vincent and the third years graduating epic hillerska style

the queen getting a better understanding of simon and wilhelms relationship

scenes with her and simon, maybe awkward but with possibility of a better relationship in the future??

kristina trying to be a better mom

simon allowing himself to be vunerable and sadfeely, and letting wille comfort him

more rosh and ayub bc i love them <3<3

some erik processing maybe .....

a glimpse of how felice and her mother's relationship is going, how is she taking it that felice is rebelling against her

i wanna know what happened to russeau!! like does august sell it back somehow? does he keep it at Årnäs or maybe at the Hillerska stables? does Sara accept it? bc it is still her horse like emotionally? she must realise that even tho its a (kinda desperate) gift from august the horse will have the best life with her at Hillerska

okay another yr3 wish is for fredrika to realise that stella is in love with her and maybe also realise that it is mutual??? lesbians yes please :)

also more henry development and also him being funny. maybe some more walty crumbs too

summer fits :)

vincent being an asshole because it is so fucking funny like the way he says things <3 he's a bully but its funny it. hes so tired of the rowing team being incompetent. <3

Also someone mentioned his necklace and i dont realistically think we will get a background for that but the little sister hc is very cute and i like it

more of these new queer side characters being queer bc casual representation is always good and nice and makes little bi me very happy

also on the topic of bi, wilhelm remaining unlabelled because i think he is, and also it is so important to show that it is okay to be unlabelled <3 :)

also the choir singing in church again

and wille listening happily and also staring at simon as usual

ooh maybe the spotify extra verse of simons song is written in season 3 👀

i am worried about the police and drugs and sara and the video buttttt maybe all this could bring back micke and also we can see more of the erikson family

how the hell are simon and sara going to live in the same house

linda being a good mom and wille and simon hanging out with her maybe like in s1e6 playing games or just eating dinner or something

just .. wille in simons home

and simon in willes home <3<3

rowing on the actual lake and someone falling into the water bc that would be very funny and i need that actually

some sort of end to august like maybe therapy or jail

most of all i just want simon and wilhelm to actually be a couple and go trough all the shit coming their way together

[bluedalahorse]

So I’ve been letting this post cook in my brain for a few days. It’s something I’ve sort of thought out, not from the point of view of someone who writes Wilmon or fics anchored in Simon or Wilhelm’s POVs but more from the point of view of someone who prefers to write “less palatable” characters like August and Sara and Vincent and Nils and Kristina and such. I’ve changed the format of this post a few times, but I think I’ve found the right one.

I also hope I am understanding the question correctly. From what I understand is, the question is: how do we make Simon okay when canon didn’t give us the best way forward? I’m going to answer the question one way. I don’t think it’s the only way of answering the question, but its one way.

Full disclosure: I have multiple fics I’d like to write that take place in the same universe as Swell the Numbers and Makes the Medicine Go Down, and one of them would be a fic where Simon and August come to understand one another better, and August is able to make restitution to Simon. They’re adults, and it’s a process, but their relationship continues to evolve over the years rather than being frozen in hostility for all time. I haven’t figured out everything the fic will involve yet, but I know it’s one of my priorities. 

(For additional information, I am also interested in one day writing a multichapter fic where Sara and August get back together in their 30s. August making restitution to Simon and their relationship evolving sometime in their 20s is a necessary prerequisite to that, so I’d like to write that fic as part of the backstory, and have all the fics together in a collection. But I am also interested in Simon and August’s relationship in its own right; they have similarities and there are things I believe they could understand about one another, if given the right circumstances and the chance to open up. This could be very powerful, actually.)

Watching Young Royals has also coincided with my graduate research into writing contemporary YA fiction, and one of the things I’ve studied heavily is how the philosophy of restorative justice can inform writing and storytelling, especially when the topics of apology and healing come up. For anyone in interested in this, I recommend checking out The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr, and other books in the Little Books of Justice & Peacebuilding series. They’re short, fairly clearly written, and they talk about conflict resolution in ways that go beyond strictly retributive models of crime and punishment. They have some guidelines for how to think about dialogue and restitution and how to work through conflict, which can then be applied to story-crafting.

As far as healing, Zehr has this to say:

It is possible that someone who has been harmed may be helped toward healing when the one causing the harm works toward making things right—whether concretely or symbolically. Many crime victims, however, are ambivalent about the term “healing” because of the sense of finality or termination that it connotes. This journey belongs to victims—no one else can walk it for them—but an effort to put right can assist in this process, although it can never fully restore.

So—I hope this doesn’t sound too bleak—but I don’t personally tend to conceptualize “healing” as a ending square on a board game that Simon (or other characters) can one day reach and settle on without further worry. Instead, healing is an ongoing process that looks differently in different parts of Simon’s life. Growing up and entering new phases of life might bring up new stressors for him and ignite new conflicts between himself and his loved ones. How might attending university, playing his first concert, planning a household budget with Wilhelm, helping Rosh’s future kids resolve a quarrel etc all bring out different past traumas and needs of Simon’s? He might deal with some things with the help of loved ones, some things with the help of a therapist or other professionals, and some things on his own. And, well… I’m just throwing this out there as a hypothesis, not making a declarative statement, but maybe the key to dealing with the cycle of pain isn’t focusing on its total eradication, but in learning to recognize the cycle when it rears its head, and building up a toolbox to respond to it in ways that don’t perpetuate it.

Now, how to meet Simon’s needs and help him move forward is a fair question. I’m going to turn back to something I wrote about in my MFA thesis. Zehr suggests that victims of an offense or harm might need information, truth-telling, empowerment, and restitution and/or vindication. I’ve explained each one below, somewhat imperfectly, and then talk about how I see that applying to writing stories, which is a little bit different than applying these concepts in real life. I think depending on the kind of fic you’re writing, you can mix and match these needs for the situation Simon is in.

Information

Some victims of harm may need additional information about the offender or the offense, including why or how the offense happened, and what has happened since then. In real life resolutions to crimes or other incidents, this might take one form look one way. Applying this to writing, I apply this more to the idea of humanizing the offending character and making them seem real and fully dimensional, both to the victimized character and to the readers of the story. It’s important to remember that your readers also sort of exist in relationship to your protagonist and other characters in the story.

Humanizing an offender character doesn’t mean lessening the harm that they did, and it doesn’t have to harm the victim. And for what it’s worth, I think Simon seeing the human side of the people who harm him (Wilhelm, Sara) is something that has emotionally helped Simon in canon. Simon is empathetic. We don’t want him to be so empathetic that he always rolls over for other people, but if Simon suddenly turned into a harsh, take-no-prisoners person who invokes “cool motive, still murder” at every opportunity, he wouldn’t be the Simon we know and love. I think in part he makes sense of the harm that others have done to him by knowing what they’re going through. I don’t think that means he has to accept their bullshit.

I think the important thing to remember here is that Simon doesn’t need to get information about any of his (former) offenders by them showing up and delivering a sad monologue to him about the changes in their life. In fact, this probably shouldn’t happen, as that means the offenders in question eating up all the airtime anyway. But there are other ways for Simon to become aware that things are shifting in his (former) offenders’ lives, that you can plant as seeds before you get to something like an apology scene. He could meet Nils’s partner at a work conference, for instance, and only find out that this person is with Nils when he start showing Simon his vacation photos and Simon sees that Nils is in them. And maybe that’s got Simon wondering how Nils’s life has changed since coming out of the closet. Or maybe August makes one of his pet causes as a royal something like combatting toxic masculinity in teen boys, and is so sincere and dedicated to it that it takes Simon by surprise. Or maybe Felice tells Simon she heard that Walter sent his kids to public school and one of those kids is openly non-binary, and huh, that’s interesting. Simon doesn’t have to be like “oh I guess they’re 100% cool now” but you know. Letting him and the readers know his old classmates have also had character development in the background can do a lot.

You don’t have to invest in the ongoing healing of other characters to invest in the healing of Simon, but if you want him to be running across his old Hillerska classmates and having them talk through past harms, I think it helps.

Truth-telling

Part of the trauma of being victimized is that a victim feels like the ability to tell their story has been taken away from them. Simon should get to tell his story. The show sometimes lets him tell his story through his music, but I think many fans feel that Simon wasn’t granted enough space in the script to express himself compared to Wilhelm. I think that’s fair, especially in season 3, where Simon begins to fade and face depression as a result of all the social media bullying he was going through. Fans wanted him to have more help and more of a chance to assert himself in that moment. I think fics that take that seriously, and create that space, are probably on the right track.

There are multiple ways for Simon to tell his truth in a fanfic. Most straightforwardly, this might come out in his dialogue. He could also write more songs, like we see in canon. Alternately, maybe songwriting isn’t doing what it used to for him, because it’s too wrapped up in his Hillerska self, and maybe he needs to take on a new art. Maybe he tells most of his truth to a therapist first and then figures out how and what he wants to share with his loved ones (this is the approach I took in Sand and the Scale) or what he’s going to say to a person who offended him.

You should also consider audience. Who does Simon need to tell his truth to, one person? A group? The world? That might affect how he tries to get his message across.

Empowerment

Empowerment is about restoring a sense of control to Simon—control over his property, his body, his emotions, his ambitions. He also needs to be able to identify his own needs instead of having his needs identified for him by someone else, especially well-meaning adults.

Part of what sucked so much about the private arbitration in S3 is the way that it disempowered all three boys. I think the writers of the show actually decided to explore this on purpose. The adults decided how the whole thing went down, classified each boy’s actions as crimes via the language of the legal system, and decided what would be done about that. This is part of why I don’t see empowerment for Simon through the legal system at present. Other fans might choose to take that in a different direction, and I support them in that, but when I consider future fics I tend to steer characters away from the legal system, viewing it as a re-traumatizing force in characters’ lives.

Although I’ve mentioned it before in the truth-telling section, therapy would be one place for Simon to build back his sense of control. So much of therapy is about how to process emotions, what to radically accept and what to push for change around, how to build up life skills, and so on. Writing therapy fic isn’t too bad an idea, but I think the key is merging what Simon learns in therapy with his actual personality, so he isn’t reciting therapyspeak in an inauthentic way to assert himself.

In his existing relationships, Simon would also feel empowerment and increased control in being able to assert boundaries and talk through difficult situations. This requires time and the building of trust.

Finally, because we’re in the realm of fanfic and storytelling, I think you can also find other ways of empowering Simon. I love fics where a character gains a sense of control back and learns things about themselves by trying out a completely new hobby, for instance, so that might be something to explore. Alternately, on the E-rated side of things, there’s kink, which can involve a lot of negotiation and characters working through what they want for their bodies and minds. Well-done kink can help a character feel in control, or help them feel in control of being not in control. So, you know. Options! Give Simon various outlets!

Restitution and/or Vindication

What can Simon’s former offenders offer him to make right after what they did? I think this is such an interesting question, because in canon we see the private arbitration scene attempt to address this, and, as mentioned before, it’s such a clear example of what the legal system can and can’t do to repair harm.

I’d love to see a fic where Simon finally gets the payment from the sale of Årnäs and has to decide what to do with it. I can imagine he’d feel conflicted about it, because in a way, isn’t this money buying his silence? But also if he’s supposed to be rebuilding his life with the money, what does that actually mean? Is he going to keep the money to try and build his life up, or will it help him feel freer to give it away? And does it change his feelings about August or the monarchy or rich kids or whatever? A character study that genuinely sits in all the hard emotions could be interesting, and could be a way for him to grapple with this restitution. (Feel free to rec one if it already exists!)

As for vindication, this could—maybe—come in the form of another character apologizing to Simon and admitting what they did harmed him and that it was wrong.

For a writer who is getting stuck on an apology scene, I’d recommend an exercise where you write the apology-to-Simon scene from the point of view of the offender first. Or you could do an exercise where you spend some time answering questions about the offending character, like:

How long has it been since this character has interacted with Simon? What’s happened in the intervening time that has allowed their view of the world to evolve a bit?

Are they seeking Simon out for the apology itself or something else, or is this a chance encounter? How does that intention (or lack thereof) affect the dynamic between them?

What’s their usual apology/restitution style? Do they try to get the words right, and rehearse them? Or do they try to have an action that speaks for them? Something else?

What did this character dislike about Simon in high school? What did/do they like about him (or at least give him credit for)? What’s something they could connect with him on now, or a joke they might laugh at together? (Humor can be healing!) 

What does that character value, and how can you tie their motivations for making restitution to those values?

How can you plant seeds earlier in the story (see the section above re: Information) to show that this character is ready for this scene of apology/restitution?

I ran through a sample version of this exercise using Nils as the apologizing character (I’m quite fond of Nils) but it made the post too long, so I cut it. A lot of this comes back to the points I made about humanizing the offender in the Information section, though. 

Also even if a character apologizes to Simon, Simon doesn’t have to accept it. Or Simon might decide he doesn’t need an apology. Either way it’s good to have him vocalize that! (The show could have articulated that better, imo.)

Conclusions

I think any fic that wants to address the painful cycles in Simon’s life probably has to look at healing not as a finite state of permanent catharsis but as an ongoing process. Writers could ask themself which of Simon’s needs is being addressed by this particular interaction with a former offender—information, truth-telling, empowerment, or restitution/vindication—and focus on how to attend to that need in a particular scene and a particular story. 

These kinds of stories run differently depending on their set-up, for instance. For instance, in my imagined fic about Simon and August, there’s a situation where it turns out that adult Simon and August urgently need to work together on something that will help Wilhelm, and the process of working together opens up some conversations between them that need to happen. The stakes of that fic is Wilhelm’s well-being—something Simon and August are equally invested in by the end of season 3—so the stakes create the opportunity for change. This is a very different situation with different stakes than say, a fic where Simon runs into Marcus twenty years later when they’ve both moved on with their lives and Marcus is cringing at his high school self.

To that end… it’s also worth considering that our characters are very young, and that their lives will evolve and change many times. So allowing our characters that time and space away from one another, and new developments in their life, is never a bad idea.

On Simon, apologies and healing

One thing I'm having a hard time with in writing YR fic lately: writing fix-its involving justice for Simon, not just related to Wille, but basically to every character that's hurt him (and the list is long). I have no issues getting to the scene, or what I want the outcome to be, but the how it happens has been tripping me up every time. Struggling mostly to make it feel realistic, and getting the other party to verbalize what they've done wrong while staying in character.

I realized that it's largely because we didn't see this happen in canon. Honestly, full stop. While I'm so relieved Simon and Sara made up, a large part of it was him letting go of his hurt over her initially choosing August to comfort her in their shared trauma. (She did acknowledge she felt he was right about Micke and trying to forgive people, which is sadly ironic.) And then, of course, him and Wille's trauma was tied up only by Wille renouncing his title, as though this paves over all the harm done.

I feel like that's why we see so many fics continuing to put Simon in the cycle of pain? Because we're echoing what we saw in canon, therefore writing real resolution and healing for Simon kind of stops at the moment of apology, or glazes over it completely (often times for him and Wille to get back together). I'm absolutely not blaming authors for this! I think we want to give Simon that resolution and healing. That's sort of the point I'm making here, that it's genuinely so hard to write. I wrote a whole AU to get Simon and Wille to have these real conversations, to really reckon with the privilege gap, in part because it didn't even feel possible to try in canon.

Do any other writers struggle with this? How do we get our boy out of the cycle of pain? 🥺

Also feel free to leave recs of Simon-centric fics featuring apologies/ where he gets the opportunity to actually heal. ❣️

[fordearlife]

Let's talk about Felice in terms of queerness and racism~

I posted this screenshot of Felice with a rainbow key chain earlier, which showed up toward the end of S2, and today saw a tweet speculating about her potentially being a lesbian, and I got thinking–

Wille's speech is going to change social dynamics in Sweden but also at school in a big way because he, as the most high-profile among them, just came out to the world, which will likely inspire others to come out or start to question their sexuality if they weren't already. He added an element of safety for them to do so. Nils seems the most obvious – he said he didn't want to be the first out CEO, but with the crown prince coming out first, it's more likely that he'll just say f*** it and stop hiding that part of his life so intentionally.

The writers haven't shown us Felice questioning her sexuality, but they HAVE shown us a few things: the key chain (imo the scrambled colors of the rainbow could symbolize her confusion or hint at her piecing it together in the future), and now one of her best friends is out (to some extent) to the world and she has at least one other best friend who might feel more comfortable coming out in S3, even if Stella doesn't profess her love for Fredrika for the same reasons she told Sara. Especially because Felice doesn't feel close to her parents, these people would be her support system if she were to start questioning.

But I don't believe she would have her queerness challenged in a *season conflict* way by those around her – I think the conflict she faces will be racism. Madison, one of her other best friends, has shown culturally appropriative tendencies (possible use of sage for the ritual in S1?). I kept that feeling to myself when we only had S1 because I thought the writers were perhaps just misguided in presenting her as the "spiritual, witchy" friend, but S2 has me thinking it was intentional (which I'm stoked about). This always struck me as more of a US issue, but some of her hairstyles in S2 (the one below is from E1) are not ones usually worn by white people, and Madison is from the US or has spent a lot of time there, so we might expect her to know better. I would.

The reason I think this will (/should) be a theme of S3 is because the writers made a point in S2 to show Felice 1) expressing discomfort about the wig she was supposed to wear for the Valentine ball and being dismissed by her friends (including Madison) and then 2) being singled out for having her hair down at a meal while Stella and another girl were not. Everything is on purpose in Young Royals! Paralleled with Vincent looking down on Simon in S2 during the rowing team scenes, it seems like they're planning to bring racism, microagressions, etc. more into focus moving forward.

So, this leaves Felice with a possible significant self-discovery arc in which she questions her sexuality and/or chooses/is forced to address the racism she faces as the only (?) Black woman at the school. The show clearly takes on the responsibility of showing the nuance in many issues that other media tends to portray rather simply, such as mental illness, neurodivergence, queerness, and expectations, and as a setup, this would match that energy given that Madison is otherwise an excellent friend and would likely fully support Felice in coming out but be resistant to anyone questioning her character.

[thisismewritingsstuff]

Everyone's freaking out on twt over the bts photo showing Alexander and Wille (and seriously, sameee). Since we're a fandom so deprived of content that we basically over analyze every bit of crumb thrown our way, I decided to theorize what this might mean and all my brain came up with is that:

1. I agree it has something to do with a revenge plot against August. Think about it. The Queen has known it was August who leaked the tape and told Wille that they would "gain nothing by going public", meaning she has no intention of punishing him, and I bet my left toenail that she will continue to provide for August if only for the sole reason of buying his silence. After all, the press would have a field day if they find out that it's an actual member (distant, but still) of the royal family who filmed and outed the prince.

2. Wille is obviously furious about this. However, I think he'll go along with his mother in order to maintain what little agency he has. This would explain the more "princely" haircut. The PR team and Queen probably thinks it would be good to change his image, literally and metaphorically. Haircuts are pretty symbolic in shows/movies too, as it's often related to someone moving on or changing. Whether this is for better or for worse with regards to Wilhelm, well, we'll have to wait and see. (I do believe it'll be a turning point for him. Watch as our boy starts hatching plans with every snip oh-ho)

3. In relation to number 2, Wille is probably going to use his crown prince card. If he can't punish August for the tape, then he can do the next best thing: take away Hillerska from him. We all know how important Hillerska is to August—it's basically his whole world—and I'm assuming that after the whole Society fiasco there's a certain power imbalance at school, or at least at its higher ranks. We saw a photo of Nils and Wille, and although we're not sure yet if that's an actual scene or not, I'll still wager that they'll have a lot of scenes together in S2. This is significant as we don't really see them interact at all in S1. I know Nils isn't part of the Society, but he is one of August's best friends (along with Vincent) and as a third year wields some sort of authority over the boys at school. He'll probably feel left out of August's nobles-only-bs soon enough. Vincent will probably leave August in the dust as well, as he is the one supplying him meds early on and he wouldn't want his name to be associated with August if things get out of hand. So Wille will be having them in his hold one by one. They all want to be close to him if only to get favors in the future, but that's fine. You gotta use what you have, right?

4. Obviously this will create a divide among the students, especially those in the upper ranks, but the deciding factor will be Alexander. I suppose Wille got a hold of him by asking the other boys and I think he'll offer him a proposition that's both beneficial to Alexander and detrimental to August. I doubt Alexander will help them out of the goodness of his heart because, after all, Wille is a huge reason why he was the one that got blamed in the first place. Drug related offences in Sweden vary in severity and punishment, but suffice to say that it won't be good for August's record for him to be involved in a drug case, and in extension, this will put the Queen in a tight spot as she's basically sponsoring him. Let's see just how much she means family first.

5. Depending on whatever offer Wille can give Alexander, it'll be imperative that it's Alexander who implicates August, as Wille can be removed from the situation and no one—not August or his mother—can outright accuse him of having anything to do with bringing August down. He can even have Simon's involvement in the whole thing erased as part of the bargain. Like Wille mentioned back in S1, it doesn't matter when it's their word against one guy. No one will believe whatever story August comes up with, however true, since no one will back him up. Like I mentioned earlier, even Vincent will leave him. Sara will, too, after she inevitably admits to Simon the truth.

6. My call? Wille will take over Hillerska, bring August to heel, then push the Queen to a corner by basically forcing them to choose between the two: either to let him have the life he wants or at least move in a limited capacity that allows him to be with Simon, or air out all the family's dirty laundry. They'd have to settle for what they think is the lesser evil here. If Wille plays his cards right, we'll get to see him in his gaslight gatekeep girlboss era.

The sooner Wille realizes that being Crown Prince has its advantages, the better he'll be able to move things according to his will. What's the worse they can do? Remove him from the line of succession? Doubt the Queen will want to announce to the world the reasons why. People's distaste and disapproval for the monarchy will just skyrocket. And if there's one thing the Queen loves more than her son—scratch that, she loves everything more than her son. So yeah, she won't risk it.

[angelbabysimon]

Which 2 people would be the best figure skating duo at school?

hiiii beth 💓

okay. i definitely spent waaaaaayyyyy too long thinking about this lmfao and i’ve come up with a few options. it’s so not that deep, but to me it really is lmao

august and maddie: okay now obviously maddie hates august with every fibre of her being, but hear me out. august is super athletic, dedicated, competitive, and pushes himself. he’s also tall, which is always helpful. maddie takes no shit, would really commit to the performance aspect, and she’d definitely be in charge and would keep august on a short leash lmfao. she’d have very crazy pre-competition rituals she’d make august do with her. while connection between partners is obviously very important, they’re both super cutthroat i think they’d actually be pretty good. however, i think seeing maddie skate with either vincent or nils would be fucking hilarious.

i think something like frederika and walter could work too. They would be a very Classic skating pair, and would bring a lot of fun youthfulness to whatever they’re skating.

also i think stella would be a very badass singles skater. 😌

[raincitygirl76]

It’s because they’re enforcing compulsory heteronormativity. It’s a salad bar of toxic masculinity and homophobia. Nobody at Forest Ridge gives a shit if the Crown Prince fucks other boys behind closed doors. But acting in public like the working class boy he used to fuck actually matters to him? Not wanting to brag about his new thing with Felice in front of said boy? Not cool. Gotta be steadfastly ignored. Until even the Crown Prince realizes he needs to be more discreet about his same sex dalliances.

This is why Henry kept his mouth shut when he overheard an intense conversation between Wilhelm and Simon in 2.02. It’s not because Henry’s not interested in gossip. It’s because he knows the Crown Prince already denied being in the video. Therefore the Crown Prince is obviously ashamed of his same-sex dalliance with a working class brown socialist. Henry, as a loyal monarchist, will keep quiet about the Crown Prince begging his ex-boyfriend to come back. Because that’s behind closed doors shit, and Wilhelm would be furious if Henry spread damaging gossip like that.

It’s also the same reason Henry does gossip about Felice in 2.04. In both cases, he was trying to do the Crown Prince a favour. Gossiping about royalty still being mixed up with another boy is damaging gossip. Gossip about the Crown Prince making out with Felice on his bed is the kind of gossip the Crown Prince should be delighted Henry is spreading.

It makes it more likely people at Hillerska will overlook the fact they all know Wilhelm lied about the video in December. They’re just being polite and never bringing it up. Because of course he lied, that was the only socially acceptable thing he could’ve done. But now the first in line to the throne is making out with a girl! Order has been restored to the galaxy! Henry will gossip, and Wilhelm will be grateful for Henry building up his rep (or so Henry assumes, until he gets a look at Wilhelm’s rage in the dining room).

Compulsory heteronormativity is so strong even the Crown Prince himself can’t do a whole lot to change it. In the lunch scene, Wilhelm is livid with Henry for gossiping, and for Vincent bringing it up at lunch in front of Simon, and pushing Wille on the subject even after Wille tries to stop him (Vincent). If Vincent cared about sucking up to the Crown Prince, you’d think he’d shut up. To Vincent, enforcing compulsory heteronormativity is so important he’s willing to take the hit on the Crown Prince holding a grudge against him. It’s his duty as Forest Ridge prefect.

It’s not just about the Crown Prince personally. It’s about reinforcing to every single Hillerska student in that dining room that no matter what you do in private, you act straight in public. Or else. Every Forest Ridge boy steadfastly ignoring Simon’s anger and hurt, ignoring Simon’s very existence as an openly queer student, is them all reinforcing the rules. Protecting the status quo against any rebels who might destabilize it.

They’re giving a refresher on the rules to Simon and to Wilhelm (who’d been shoved back in the closet in 1.06, but seems ambivalent, and needs to be reminded the closet is the only possible choice for someone in his position). Also a refresher to Nils, and to anyone else in that room who’s not straight and hiding it. Reinforces that they need to shut the fuck up and continue pretending to be straight in public. Remember, Nils and Vincent are very close friends.

We find out later that episode Nils is pretty sure his best friends Vincent and August already know he’s gay. They’ve just never talked about it openly. Vincent enforces compulsory heteronormativity on the Crown Prince and that no-account openly gay non-res even though it’s highly likely he knows his best friend is also gay. And even though his best friend is sitting at the same table. Because Nils plays by the rules and is discreet about his queerness, he’s not a threat to the status quo. Vincent acts as an enforcer of the status quo.

Simon isn’t someone who matters. If anything, ignoring his reaction and pretending he’s invisible is the best way to protect compulsory heteronormativity. Because he’s queer and doesn’t hide it. Because he’s not white, because he doesn’t pay to attend Hillerska, because his mom’s an immigrant, because he doesn’t know his place in the hierarchy. Because he’s indiscreet enough to publicly act like it bothers him when the guy he used to fuck is now finally getting his act together and getting physical with a girl.

Even the Crown Prince needs to be reminded of his responsibilities in this system which glorifies performative traditional masculinity and performative heteronormativity.

Super random: Thoughts on why you think the boys didn't react when Simon walked out of the dinning room when it was exposed that Felice was in Wilhelms room? I ask because I'm assuming that most if not all of the classmates know that it was Wilhelm and Simon in the video...they know their past, so I lowkey expected the crowd to go "oooohh" or LOL or sniker when Simon got up and left. But we got no reaction. I can't say that it was them trying to be respectful of Wilmon because clearly they don't gaf, especially since Wilhelms bedroom activities are being exposed once again publicly

It seemed like the only person to even remotely acknowledge Simon's exit was Wilhelm. And it wasn't like Simon left quietly...the chair squeeked when he moved back, his silverwear rattled on the table and he stomped away out the room.

Unless their silence was the reaction and I missed that point completely 😂😂

What do you think?

Oh I am also confused by this scene 😅 I understand the point about celebrating heterosexuality and erasing queerness but like. Everyone KNOWS it was Wille in the sex tape, and that dramatic ass exit wouldn't have been so completely unnoticed, I feel like 😂 no one even looked in Simon's direction 💀 Idk, i feel like this should've been the juiciest gossip of the day instead of just "Felice only sleeps with the royals"

[snowonthebeachmp3]

July 2016

Jul 3rd - Taylor's 4th of July festivities kick off at her Rhode Island house. Guests include Tom Hiddleston, Abigail Anderson, Matt Lucier, Claire Winter, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Karlie Kloss, Josh Kushner, Austin Swift, Ruby Rose, Harley Gusman, Halston Sage, Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne, Britany Maack, Ben LaManna, Martha Hunt, Jason McDonald, Uzo Aduba, Chioma Aduba, Jordan Masterson, Kesha, St Vincent, Ed Sheeran, Cherry Seaborn, Rachel Platten, Kennedy Rayé and the Haim sisters. (x) (x) (x) (x)

This is the day Tom wears the infamous 'I <3 TS' tank top while they're all at the beach. (x)

Jul 4th - The online mockery for the 'I <3 TS' shirt is quick to pour in. Daily Mail commenters are yet to shut up about it in 2021.

The party continues with a giant inflatable waterslide, body painting, karaoke, charades and fireworks. (x) And also Kesha and Haim getting tricked by Cara, Uzo and Ruby into thinking they heard scary noises in the night, and trying to call the police but not knowing their own location. (x) (x)

Jul 5th - The day after the party, when all the guests post their photos online.

Britany posts a photo of her & Ben, Blake & Ryan, and Taylor & Tom. (x) The internet has a field day with Ryan's unimpressed facial expression. (x) (Ryan later says that it's just his resting bitch face as he wasn't aware a photo was being taken. (x))

Taylor posts several photos to Instagram of her celebrating the 4th July with friends, but doesn't post any pictures with Tom. (x)

Claire Winter posts a bunch of Polaroids, including one of Taylor and Tom kissing. (x)

Abigail posts a photo to Instagram showing the banners Taylor put up to celebrate her engagement to Matt and the anniversaries of Cara & St Vincent (real name Annie Clark) and Ed & Cherry. (x)

Jul 6th - Taylor and Tom fly out of Rhode Island (x) and arrive at LAX that evening. (x) They then get on a plane to Australia.

Joe attends the Warner Music Group summer party in London. (x)

Rumours are swirling that Tom is no longer in consideration to be the next Bond, due to his relationship with Taylor. (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Jul 8th - Taylor and Tom are flying on a commercial Quantas flight so someone is able to take a pic of them on the plane. (x)

According to another passenger on the plane, Taylor plays Scrabble during the flight (presumably on her phone because nobody takes big physical board games on commercial flights and the creepshot of Hiddleswift on the plane suggests she wouldn't have had anywhere to put the board anyway). In hindsight, knowing how Taylor and Joe play lots of Scrabble together including online Scrabble aka Words With Friends, and how they stayed in touch largely via texting that summer, it’s very possible she was playing against Joe.

Taylor and Tom arrive in Sydney, where Tom is about to start filming for Thor: Ragnarok. (x) Aussie media, including daytime TV, goes nuts over Hiddleswift's arrival in the country. (x)

Flying from LA to Australia involves crossing the international dateline, so they would have left the US on the 6th July local time and arrived in Sydney approx 15 hours later on the 8th July local time.

Calvin's new song Olé, written for John Newman, is released. There is speculation that it's a Hiddleswift song, written from Tom's perspective and containing lyrics implying that Taylor cheated on Calvin with Tom. However, sources also told multiple outlets that the song was written and recorded months earlier, and its supposed links to Hiddleswift were just for publicity. (x) (x)

Jul 9th - Tom goes out for a run (x) and avoids answering questions about Taylor. (x)

Jul 10th - Taylor and Tom go out for dinner to Gemelli Italian restaurant in Broadbeach on Australia's Gold Coast. (x)

Jul 11th - Taylor is named as the highest earning celebrity on the 2016 Forbes Celebrity 100 list, with earnings of $170m mostly due to the 1989 World Tour. If she and Calvin had not split up, they would have been the top-earning celebrity couple. (x)

Jul 12th - Taylor visits Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in South Brisbane. (x)

Jul 13th - Us Weekly makes a wild claim that Tom is planning to propose soon, and Taylor is going to say yes. The magazine cover also claims they're already talking about babies. (x)

TMZ claims that Taylor wrote TIWYCF, and that Calvin disrespecting Taylor following its release was the reason for their breakup. (x)

Taylor Swift really is the creative brains behind Calvin Harris' monster hit "This is What You Came For," and their relationship fell apart because he disrespected her when the song was released ... this according to sources connected with Taylor.

It's a fascinating story. We've learned an early fan rumor about the song is true, but to a deeper extent than anyone suspected. During their relationship, Taylor wrote the song, sat down at a piano and did a demo into her iPhone. She sent it to Calvin, who loved it. They both went into a studio and did a full demo with Taylor on vocals and Calvin doing the beat.

They both knew the song would be a hit, but Taylor wrote it for Calvin and both agreed it was a bad idea to let the world know they collaborated as a couple ... it would overshadow the song.

So Taylor, who kept the publishing rights, used the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg on the credits.

//

The problem in the relationship came the day the song was released. Calvin appeared on Ryan Seacrest's radio show and Ryan asked, "Will you do a collaboration with your girlfriend?" Calvin responded, "You know we haven't even spoken about it. I can't see it happening though."

We're told Taylor was hurt and felt Calvin took it too far.

It was a quick downward spiral from that point. One source called it "the breaking point in the relationship." The Met Gala was several days later, when Taylor danced with Tom Hiddleston.

Tree confirms to People magazine that Taylor did write TIWYCF under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. (x)

Calvin also confirms that Taylor wrote TIWYCF and goes on a Twitter rant:

Katy Perry tweets a gif of Hillary Clinton with a smug/'told you so' expression. (x) She also retweets an older tweet from May 2015 which reads, 'Time, the ultimate truth teller.' (x)

#TaylorSwiftIsOverParty trends on Twitter (x) (x) and Taylor's Instagram comments are spammed with the snake emoji. (x)

Following Calvin's tweets, TMZ publishes another article claiming he is downplaying Taylor's involvement in the song as she wrote the melody in addition to the lyrics. (x)

Jul 14th - Taylor goes out shopping in Gold Coast. (x)

Tom mentions Taylor in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter: (x)

You're in the middle of a cultural frenzy right now because you're dating Taylor Swift. How would you respond to people who claim that you're involved in some sort of publicity stunt?

(Laughs.) Well, um. How best to put this? That notion is — look, the truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together, and we're very happy. Thanks for asking. That's the truth. It's not a publicity stunt.

Martha says at a Pepsi/World Emoji Day event that Taylor and Tom are 'both happy and free together. It's amazing, I'm all about people being happy in love.' (x)

Kim talks about Taylor and the Famous controversy in a clip from an upcoming episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. (x)

“I never talk shit about anyone publicly, especially in interviews. But I was just like I had so had it,” Kim says in the clip to her sister Kourtney. “I wanted to defend him in it. She legitimately quote says, ‘As soon as I get on that Grammy red carpet I’m gonna tell all the press. Like I was in on it.’”

“And then she just didn’t like the reaction?” Kourtney says in response.

“Yeah, and you know just another way to play the victim,” Kim replies. She then brings the infamous VMAs moment from 2009 by saying, “It definitely got her a lot of attention the first time… I just don’t think he should be punished for it still to this day.”

Jul 17th - Kim posts an edited recording of Kanye and Taylor's phone call. In it, they discuss the 'I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex' line and Taylor says, 'Go with whatever line you think is better. It’s obviously very tongue in cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it. That’s really nice.' However, nowhere in the Snapchat video does Kanye consult her about the line, 'I made that bitch famous,' which is the line Taylor insisted she had never approved. (x) The other Kardashian sisters retweet and support Kim. (x)

(The full recording of the call, leaked in 2020, confirms that Kanye never told Taylor he was going to call her a bitch. It also shows her reminding him that she sold 7 million albums before he had even heard of her, in response to him suggesting the lyric, 'I made her famous.')

Kim takes to Twitter to call Taylor a snake.

Taylor posts a statement on Instagram responding to Kim's Snapchat video. (x)

Selena tweets, 'There are more important things to talk about… Why can’t people use their voice for something that fucking matters? This industry is so disappointing yet the most influential smh' (x)

Katy Perry tweets, '#RISE above it all' and links to her new single. People interpret it as a dig at Taylor. (x)

Martha Hunt tweets, 'It's pathetic how quick our culture is to sensationalize a fabricated story...' (x)

Jul 18th - #KimExposedTaylorParty spends the day trending at number one worldwide on Twitter. (x) To the point where 0.8% of all tweets posted in the entire week from the 18th-24th use the hashtag. (x) (Assuming that 1/7th of the week's total tweets were posted on each day, that means more than 1 in every 20 tweets on the 18th used the hashtag.) #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty also returns.

TMZ claims to have a copy of a letter from Taylor's lawyer, dating back to February, demanding that Kanye destroy the recording of their phone conversation and reminding him that it is a felony to secretly record a phone conversation in California. (x)

Taylor changes the name on her writing credits for TIWYCF on the BMI songwriters database. She is now listed as Taylor Swift instead of Nils Sjöberg. (x)

Camilla Belle, the subject of Taylor's 2010 song Better Than Revenge, posts a quote to Instagram which reads, 'No need for revenge. Just sit back & wait. Those who hurt you will eventually screw up themselves & if you’re lucky, God will let you watch.' (x)

Abigail tweets against Kim and Kanye, saying, 'May God forgive you & your wife for doing to others the very things you pray are NEVER done to your daughter.' She deletes the tweets after receiving death threats but leaves a tweet which reads, 'Guys…I will always stand by my best friend. There's no point in fighting over that.' (x)

Joseph Kahn (director of many of Taylor's music videos) defends Taylor on Twitter. (x)

The aunt of Dinah Jane from Fifth Harmony tweets, 'I always knew @/taylorswift13 was a SNAKE! Trying 2 break up my girls & use @/camilacabello97 as her protégé bitch bye you’ve been exposed!’ (x) The tweet is soon deleted and she claims her account was hacked. (x) (Camila quit the band at the end of 2016 and has since said that Taylor had nothing to do with her decision to leave.) (x)

Paula Erickson, Taylor’s former publicist from 2007 until 2014, likes a two-and-a-half-week-old tweet dragging Hiddleswift for being a badly executed bit of PR by Taylor and Tree. (x)

James Corden spoofs the recorded phone call on the Late Late Show. (x)

Calvin is rumoured to be dating Tinashe. (x)

Jul 20th - Todrick Hall defends Taylor, saying, 'She's one of the most genuine people I've ever met in my entire life.' (x)

Uzo Aduba says Taylor is 'a beautiful person and strong' and that she will overcome the Kimye drama. (x)

Paula likes another tweet shading Taylor and Tree. (x)

A graffiti artist creates a mural in Melbourne 'in loving memory of Taylor Swift' (misspelled as Smith). According to the artist, they are then contacted by Taylor's lawyers and threatened with legal action. (x)

Jul 21st - Taylor's Wikipedia page is vandalised with insults. (x)

Taylor and Tom fly back from Australia into a private airport in LA, and are seen out and about. (x) (x)

Jul 22nd - Fergie, who had Kim appear in her M.I.L.F. $ music video, says she thinks the Kimye-Taylor feud was planned and 'they’ll probably all come together at the MTV Awards or something.' (x)

Taylor goes to the gym in LA. It is the first time she has appeared in public since Kim posted the edited video, and her phone screen is now shattered. (x)

She also returns to Instagram to wish Selena a happy birthday. (x)

Jul 23rd - Taylor goes to the gym in LA. (x)

Tom is at Comic Con in San Diego. (x)

Calvin lip-syncs to Kanye's song That Part in a video posted on his Snapchat. (x) He also attends J-Lo's birthday party and is photographed with Kim. Apparently they have a friendly chat. (x) A source claims to E!, 'When Kim walked in Calvin saw her and stood up. He was clearly excited to see her and said 'hi' to Kim backstage.' (x)

Jul 24th - Taylor blocks the snake emoji from her Instagram comments section using a new Instagram feature. (x)

Tom is seen at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills with members of Taylor's security team. (x)

Jul 26th - Tom flies back to LA from NYC, where he has just spent a couple of days. On the same day, Taylor's plane arrives back in LA from Nashville, where she has spent a couple of days. (x)

VMA nominations are announced. Taylor is not nominated in any category, despite Out Of The Woods and Wildest Dreams being eligible, leading some people to think she has been snubbed. Gossip Cop, an outlet widely used by celebrity publicists to quietly squash rumours, says that Taylor did not submit any videos for consideration this year. (x)

Jul 27th - Taylor goes to the gym in LA. (x)

John Newman, singer of Calvin's song Olé, jokes, 'Supposedly we had a holiday where he was movin’ on from his ex-missus,' referring to the trip to Mexico to film the music video, which involved girls and a yacht. He also says he doesn't think it's his place to say what inspired Calvin to write the song. (x)

Taylor and Tom go for dinner at Hillstone restaurant in Santa Monica. One source claims they 'seemed to really be enjoying each others’ company.' (x) It is the last time they are papped together.

Kanye makes a surprise appearance at Drake's concert in Chicago where he responds to Kim's Snapchat video for the first time, saying, 'All I gotta say is, I am so glad my wife has Snapchat. Because now y’all can know the truth. And can’t nobody talk shit about ‘Ye no more.' (x)

Cara appears on James Corden's show and talks about how she, Uzo and Ruby pranked Kesha and Haim at Taylor's 4th of July party. She mentions consulting Taylor and Tom first so that security knew what they were up to. She also says that Taylor and Tom got woken up at one point by all the noise they were making, and came upstairs together to find Cara and Uzo still making ghost noises. (x)

Jul 28th - Taylor goes to the gym in LA. (x)

Jul 29th - Sources close to Calvin deny rumours that he is planning to collaborate on music with Kanye. (x)

Abigail likes E! News' Instagram photo of Tom and Taylor going out for dinner on the 27th, which has a gushing caption about them. (x)

Jul 31st - Taylor is seen entering her gym in LA through the back door. (x)

A fan sees Tom and Taylor at The Church Key restaurant in LA. (x) The outing is not papped.

Intro // February // March // April // May // June // July // August // September // October // November

[jeremiahingham]

Best of YouTube: Brown; color is weird | You can support this channel on Patreon! Link below This video discusses the color brown. Seriously. That Aging Wheels playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmBDJoIaNRGiK2BgCwz2ALDnNanKBSOgO And, of course, the Weird World in RGB for those of you who I couldn’t manage to summon a card for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYbdx4I7STg How about some other, more different links? Technology Connextras (the second channel that stuff goes on sometimes): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClRwC5Vc8HrB6vGx6Ti-lhA Technology Connections on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TechConnectify The TC Subreddit https://ift.tt/2Sk14PE You can support this channel on Patreon! Thanks to contributions from viewers like you, Technology Connections can continue being as weird and unpredictable as it is. If you’d like to join the cool people who bring these totally rad videos to you (I’m hip and with it!), you can find out how at the link below. Thank you for your consideration! https://ift.tt/2CskvOK And thank you to the following patrons! Jorge Caballero, Kyle Messner, Mainstream, Matthew Schwartz, gs, ashka, Mr. Yan, Matthias Feist, RedR0ze, adan c, Thomas Fuchs, Alan Holland, Philipp Doppelhofer, Dan Boulden, Simon Hookham, Phiroze Dalal, Benn Bocinski, Devin Rosenthal, Avalon Hamakei, Ray Hardman, G Cowell, Dan Coulson, Mike Berman, Kevin Hamilton, Jack Manning, Chase Tarson, Christopher D'Arpa, Marshall Kurtz, Hurf Durr, shaun morris, David Bell, Miguel Gonzalez, Ed Giardina, Bryce Ontiveros, Kenneth A Cusson, Johnathan Reale, Charles Corbin, Simon Arrow, Brett Walton, Martin Schröder, lakewalk3r, Hayden McAfee, Dan Maku, Mark Injerd, Paul Demers, Stephen P Wilshaw, Vladi Ivanov, Michael Sandler, Jacob Harrington, Gustav Toth, Pete Iacono, Perl the Raven, Clay, Jason Letchworth, Benjamin Deming, Thorbjörn Meyer, Eben, M1GEO, Alan Shieh, Christopher Whyte, Michael Kaegler, Chrno, Taylor Smith, Colin Macdonald, Shlomi Borovitz, Krispin Miller, Jan Borcherding, Matthew Castellana, Finn, Sean Anderson, David, Duncan Mulholland, Chaz Serir, Jason Downs, Joe Snaza, Lincoln Cole, Deviant Ollam, Dillan Weems, Eldrin_22, Mitch SuperKnot, Andrew Bogard, Cameron McCormick, Craig Guy, Brandon Ryan, Keith Hemenway, Travis Geiselbrecht, Andrew Eslick, Pedro Brito, Ryan Milke, AARGH!, Marko, splateagle, Ada Cohen, MaikSan, Timothy Miller, Jim Renney, Steve Lafferty, Joseph Mayfield, Noah Dobson, William Astle, Zufalligeule, Joe King, John Plasket, Don Eitner, Adam Belebczuk, Matt, Karol Koziol, Matt Lawrence, Matthew Krajnak, James Fuhrman, Erik Welander, Mark Majewicz, Logan Shelts, Ryan Dean, Arcanox, Matt Beard, Chad L, Sebastian Mellor, Will Palmer, Steets, Matt, Joel Jauregui, James Alexander, Joon Shin, Joseph Weiss, Ben Slater, Calvin Walton, Jesse Crawford, Justin Tokke, Ryan Morash, Matt Towers, digit777, Tee Jay, Delliardo, Eidorian, MsWhit, Jeremy Price, Lydia Saunders, Henry Fitzgerald, Nishith Thakkar, Samuel Colburn, Raphael Wichary, Pykrete_O.Sages, HailSaturn, Evan Langlais, Andyface, Hugo Melchers, ShirleyNeko, R Fisher, Brian Stilson, ColdRamen77, Cameron Lane, Sam Atkinson, PanicOpticon, Don Riesbeck, Craig Engbrecht, Marco Menendez, Nils Schneider, Rob Tapp, Sebastian Muñoz, Andrew Bedia, John Sanchez, Kenneth Dahle, Patrick Wolfensberger, datajerk, Jimmie Rodgers, Dukey, Biff McKeldin, Sam Farrelly, AFylH9X9ZZGKbxF, Martin Porcheron, Justin Baros, Stephen Turner, kara mccabe, Denzil Wilson, Thomas Daede, Jiri van Bergen, Craig Matthews, Travis Estell, David (chipgw), Patrick McCart, H.D. Gregg, Ariel Valenzuela, Cape, Julian Kaagman, Mauri Virtanen, PseudsPie, Mark Wingerd, Antonio Juarez, Tobi, Wesley Reynolds, Tyler King, Splendid Gecko, Anicast, Steven Salerno, Kevin Tangney, Nicolae Berbece, Andrew Sebastian, Daniel A.A. Pelsmaeker, Joar Wandborg, Walter Huf, Chester Plemany, Keith, Allen Singer, Chris Gardner, Skylar Strickland, Nick Daniels, Robert Loewen, Michael Dragone, Diego Egido, Malcolm Slater, Devin Wright, Mark Provan, Zarko Kuvalja, Ivar Hosteng, Kevin Ragsdale, Karsten Müller-Bier, Ron Painter, WALLE1Doctor1Who, Joe Turner, Shaun Faloon, Andrew Collings, Robin Monks, EndoliteMatrix, Ragnar Jensen, Neale Genereux, Alexander Swaim, Aaron Hile, Austin Nunn, WishMakers, Kevin Chevalier, Declan M Martin, Michael Butkiewicz, Andrew Crawley, Eric Laska, OG-Biebs, Nathaniel Thompson, Paul Giroux, Daniel Ziegler, Chris Hodapp, Wearwolf, Greg Morin, Scott Hutcheson, Ted Kern, Ellen Murray, Paul John Sandoval, Tony Cook, Ben Cook-Feltz, Jim Burgan, dim85, Sam Lentz, AkeBjorn, Lane Robert, MPc, Daniel Prows, Christopher Lucas, Marcin Żyła, Scott McCarthy, Michael Thomas, Zach Flauaus, Vincent Larson, Bryan Boettcher, paustin, Ian Baltutis, Lucy, Tytyty, MetricConversion, AwkwardHuggs, Lex Sketch, john lombard

[freebetalerts-blog]

Manchester City v Bournemouth: Follow the stats for Etihad value

(New post on FreeBetAlerts.com) - https://freebetalerts.com/2018/11/30/manchester-city-v-bournemouth-follow-the-stats-for-etihad-value/ #Football, #Freebets, #Tips

Manchester City v Bournemouth: Follow the stats for Etihad value Please share.

Manchester City look set for another home win when they entertain Bournemouth on Saturday – Andy Schooler finds the best way of getting a decent price about the hosts.

Manchester City v BournemouthSaturday, 15:00City’s winning streak snappedCity’s eight-game winning run was halted in midweek by Lyon, a side Pep Guardiola subsequently described as “one of the toughest teams I’ve ever faced”.Still, they have only lost once all season (that to Lyon in the reverse fixture back in September) and it’s difficult see Bournemouth being talked about in such glowing terms after this game, even if the eighth-placed Cherries have surpassed expectations so far.Home comforts – and then someCity have been ruthless at home in the Premier League with all seven games won so far, six of them by a margin of at least two goals. Those results in full are:6-1 Huddersfield2-1 Newcastle3-0 Fulham2-0 Brighton5-0 Burnley6-1 Southampton3-1 Man UtdThey have resulted in the following stats, some of which I’ll come back to later:Won: 7 of 7Won by 2 or more: 6 of 7Scored 3 or more: 5 of 7Scored 5 or more: 3 of 7Conceded: 4 of 7Won to nil: 3 of 7Won both halves: 6 of 7Scored in both halves: 7 of 7Over 2.5 goals: 6 of 7Over 3.5 goals: 4 of 7As with all Premier League games this weekend, it is worth noting what is coming up for each side as there’s a full league programme in midweek. In City’s case, that brings a trip to Watford. After a hard game in Lyon and with a tougher-looking match than this coming up on Tuesday, expect Guardiola to tinker with his side, although the quality in his squad means he can introduce the likes of Bernardo Silva and Vincent Kompany here.Defensive issues for CherriesAs for Bournemouth, they have a home game with Huddersfield looming on Tuesday and it’s fair to say that might be a bigger priority for Eddie Howe right now.The Cherries arrive here having lost three on the spin, having been edged out at home to Manchester United and Arsenal, results which sandwiched a defeat at Newcastle. Overall, they’ve won just once in their last five in the league and a strong start to the season seems to be fading.Of particular concern for them ahead of a clash with a goal-laden side, is the fact they have shipped two or more goals in seven of their 13 games so far.They now have to face City without midfield anchor man Jefferson Lerma, who has caught the eye this season for plenty more reasons than his outrageous own goal last week. He’s out through suspension and will be sorely missed.Hard to see a shockBournemouth are out at [28.0] to win this game and while they do have goals in them – recent England debutant Callum Wilson leading the way with six – that leaky defence is a major worry against a team as good as City are in attack.The hosts are just [1.13] with the draw available at [11.5]. As is often the case with City at home, it’s hard to get excited about that win-draw-win market.City reshaping goals linesThe same can be said of the over/under 2.5 goals market where over is just [1.27] and under [4.3]. Such is City’s strength going forward, that the more relevant line with them is 3.5 goals but even here the overs is still odds-on at [1.72], although anyone thinking this is how to eke out the value should note the above stat that only four of those seven games at the Etihad have come good on this front.It is another of the aforementioned stats which does, however, offer a good way of turning a 1/9 City win into something close to even money.10/11 not half badYou can get 10/11 about City winning both halves – something they’ve managed in six of their seven home games in the league this season, Newcastle being the only team to stop them.Across the season as a whole – all competitions, home and away – City have won both halves in 15 of 21 games.Now they face a side which ships plenty of goals and one which isn’t in great form.All of that makes 10/11 looks good value indeed, with the one negative being that looming midweek game, one which could see them ease off in the second half, as seemed to be the case at West Ham last week.On that occasion, City still won both halves and with Guardiola making his displeasure at certain aspects well known afterwards (this despite a final scoreline of 4-0), City should still be pushing even if they aren’t quite at full pelt.Same Game MultiThere’s a bookings angle I like on this match and this looks a good way to approach it.Nicolas Otamendi could easily get a run-out and it’s notable that he’s been booked in three of his five appearances against Bournemouth. With the lively Ryan Fraser and Callum Wilson to deal with, this game could well see another card if he does indeed start.Visiting right-back Simon Francis could also find his way into the notebook given he’s likely to be up against Leroy Sane, whose form is making the decision to leave him out of the early-season team look pretty silly right now.The double of both men being carded is offered at 19.91.Opta StatManchester City have won all six Premier League matches against Bournemouth, scoring 21 goals and conceding only two.Premier League predictor: Get correct score predictions for every Premier League game this weekend.

Andy Schooler’s P/L 2018/19 Staked: 26ptsReturned: 25.16ptsP/L: -0.84pts

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[whatsonforperth]

Treat us like a lump at your peril, Prime Minister

There we were thinking that we had dodged a right wing bullet by getting Morrison, then he invites Donald Trump to Australia. - Garry Humphrey, North Epping Loading If Morrison is to put together a credible frontbench that will appeal to voters at large he must leave the blinkered bunch on the right warming the back bench. Most Australians are convinced of the reality of climate change and we must elect people who acknowledge the science and are prepared to do whatever it takes to mitigate it. - Meg Vella, Berry Morrison, to show me you might be the PM we need, please appoint a Minister for Science. - Bill Forbes, Kippaxs The new message: a new generation of leaders? Coming after a week where this "new generation" was lifted to power through good, old fashioned factional manipulation rather than fresh thinking and meaningful policy on sustainable energy. Excuse me for my skepticism until we see government action to bring energy policy into the 21st century. - Chris Bilsland, Lane Cove As someone who lived in God's own country for 50 years and represented it in the NSW Parliament for six, I object to the way the new PM is described as a genuine son of the Shire. He is not. He is from the eastern suburbs and exhibits all the smugness to prove it. - Michael Egan, Surry Hills Morrison is the Liberal Party's answer to the Clayton's leader - the leader you have when you can't have the leader you want. - Carol Duddy, Gerringong If Morrison is to take anything from his predecessor, perhaps it should be that you must demonstrate a stand for something and if sometimes you must kneel to accept a compromise you must do so with the dignity. - Michael Wholohan, Darlinghurst To rebuild the image of the Liberal Party, Morrison needs to dump the conspirators that brought him to power rather than reward them with a ministry. - Frank Adshead, Mona Vale No Scott, you are not "on my side" ("Scott Morrison says he is on our side", August 26-27). I am an atheist, socialist, scientific evidence-based environmentalist. How in your wildest evangelical dreams could you possibly imagine that you and your Tory crew represent me? - Alynn Pratt, Killara I will grit my teeth and put up with ScoMo as PM until the next election, but it would be much easier to stomach if he stopped wearing that Australian flag lapel pin. - Nick Andrews, Vaucluse Bishop tops with voters, just not the Libs The real problem with Julie Bishop was her first name ("Julie Bishop quits as Foreign Minister, will likely retire from Parliament", August 26). The Liberals are still not ready for such a move and on present form will never be. - Tony Sullivan, Adamstown Heights In a recent public poll Bishop was at the top of the heap with nearly 40 per cent of the votes, but was eliminated in the first round of voting on Friday. Just another example of politicians not listening to their constituents. - David Hepple, Mount Austin After a career denying its existence, has Bishop finally seen the glass ceiling? -Toby Creswell, Newtown One of the reasons for the decline of the lofty ideals of the Parliament is the rise in the number of career politicians who know no other life, so their main focus is on holding their seats. We could solve that by mandating at least 50 per cent female politicians. - Clare Perry, North Epping Tom Switzer wants the new-generation leaders to prosecute the agenda of the "insurgents" who brought this shambles upon us ("Popular ideas can help Morrison unite a split party", August 25-26). What he doesn't seem to get is that the polls have shown that this is not the path that the majority of Australians wish the government to follow. - John Pick, West Pymble Switzer wants to ramp up the culture wars. He suggests Morrison resonates with "the decent conservative mainstream of Australia". I suggest a PM should resonate with all decent Australians, many of whom are progressive. Switzer urges freedom of speech and yet urges Morrison to take on metropolitan sophisticates who never vote Liberal. This is a tactic of conservatives to denigrate the sophisticated intellect of any thinking individual who may subscribe to an alternative view. In reality, this means free speech is good as long as it agrees with me. - Eric Williams, Blackheath Do any of our politicians have the courage to do what is right for this country and place this vision before profits and before political expediency ("Rise up and resist the leaders with no vision", August 25-26)? I would happily vote for a party that had a vision for a just and responsible Australia. - Nina Poulos, Berry The political assassination of Turnbull and his "sensible centre" by sections of the media, and the reactionary-right of the Coalition, is a body blow to Bob Menzies' liberalism. - Bob Barnes, Wedderburn Only the electors of Warringah can rid us of this turbulent wrecker, and only the sponsors of the media's shock jocks can rid us of their disruptive utterances. Educated malcontents are the greatest threat to stability. - Tony Lyons, Lithgow Time to clean up after all the blood on the floor Population: 25 million. Forty-five elect a new prime minister. - Peter Strand, Mosman Broad church or bloodied basilica? - Cleveland Rose, Dee Why A new collective noun for past prime ministers still living (Letters, August 25-26)? If we knew their lifelong entitlements from the public purse, most of the suggestions would be unprintable. - Ian Shepherd, Elizabeth Bay The whole country should be given free therapy. - Mary Julian, Glebe It seems we are better at changing prime ministers than we are at changing shopping bags. - Brian Johnstone, Leura The apt line from Yes, Minister is "if you want to stab someone in the back you have to be seen to be right behind them". - Ivan Head, Burradoo Memo to Aaron Sorkin: mate, it would be as good as The West Wing. - Dianne Brims, Morpeth And we can't even blame Russian interference. - Roland Dowling, Woolloongabba (Qld) Half of America is asking "Why can't we have their system?" - Michael Webb, Cromer Is it still appropriate for federal politicians to have the title of "honourable"? - Rajend Naidu, Glenfield When Federal Parliament resumes, can someone please remind the Libs that their opposition sits on the other side of the House. - Alan Kerr, Mudgee Farmers' despair in the firing line of city dwellers Having read Ross Gittins opinion on drought assistance and many comments supporting his view, I despair at how far removed some city people are from their food source ("Why handouts to farmers will be a waste of taxpayers cash", August 22). Gittins raised some good points about drought preparedness, and there are many examples of farmers who have managed the drought very well. These people will not be accessing any government money. There are some regions, however, that are in their third or fourth year of drought, and no amount of planning prepares you for nil income over that time. These farmers, some of the best in the industry, and the rural businesses and towns, could use help to get through to the next income-generating period. We provide 93 per cent of Australia's food supply and pay taxes. Maybe Gittins and his supporters should spend a week sourcing their own protein and nutrients instead of leaving it up to us to do it for them. - Daniel Vincent, Combara Perhaps it is as simple as some of the marginal lands should not have been farmed in the first place. Farmers cannot claim ignorance about Australian land quality and drought management, as there is a history of it. Modern agricultural schools in universities try to help and work out best practices. It is then up to the farmers how much they adopt and back up with proof how well new ideas do work. - Augusta Monro, Dural Given that NSW was declared in drought by the then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in order to give farmers relief, why is it that we have heard nothing from the Premier of NSW about water restrictions ("Best rain in months but definitely not drought-breaking", August 25-26)? Why do we not hear about encouraging renewable and sustainable power so we can help save our environment from further climate change? I am seeing too many people watering the concrete, washing cars on concrete rather than grass and other actions that were restricted during the last drought. The ponds in Centennial Park are almost dry which is dangerously affecting our wonderful wildlife who call the park home. Perhaps the Premier could stop focusing on development and start to care about our environment so we can still try and make Sydney and NSW a liveable place. - Kate Rowe, Maroubra The terrible drought that is devastating the bush is also hitting our cities, even if in a less dramatic manner trees and other plants in streets and parks will die unless there is prolonged rain soon. Before it is too late local councils should campaign to get residents to "adopt" a street tree near their home, or in a local park, and ensure that they are watered. In the long run it will save councils millions of dollars in plant replacements. - Derek Mortimer, Balmain AFL a model for rugby union It's not coach Cheika's fault and it's not the playing squad's fault that we often lose rugby matches to New Zealand ("Under-pressure Cheika is safe with options scarce", August 25-26). It's the size of the talent pool. Take a look at results for Australia v NZ in hockey, cricket and league. Same reason we consistently defeat them. Patiently grow the grassroots game in the cities and bush then the results will come. If the ARU isn't sure how, copy the AFL. - Andy Kelly, Yamba Trump slump The bad news: Donald Trump has predicted a market crash if he's impeached ("Impeach me and the market crashes, Trump says", August 24). The good news: it will probably only affect shares in hair dyes and sun-lamps. - Patrick McGrath, Potts Point Chaplain's rock Where does that sense of hope come from in knowing the chaplain is around ("Chaplains a rock for the worst kind of calls", August 25-26)? How is the chaplain able to provide in awful situations what is needed? From where do chaplains draw their strength? The Scriptures (the word of God), the world view this underpins and prayer. These should never be underrated or belittled by those who don't understand them. - Gordana Martinovich, Dulwich Hill We'll miss McCain Vale Senator John McCain. One of the few decent Republicans of these times ("'Honour, patriotism and service': John McCaindead", August 26). - Jerry Stiel, Lilyfield A shining beacon of steadfast principles and unimpeachable honour has died after a long and courageous health battle conducted with his usual immutable dignity. Vale Senator John McCain a true hero in every sense of the word. - Chris Roylance, Paddington (Qld) Banks in strife Couldn't happen to a nicer couple ("NAB, CBA recommended for criminal charges in commission findings", August 24). - John Richardson, Wallagoot Bridge too far It is absolutely right to criticise the apparent intended destruction of what little is left of historical significance in Windsor (Letters, August 23). For many years I have been of the opinion that, rather than force traffic through Bridge Street and destroy the existing bridge, simple logic would suggest that through traffic to the north be diverted into Pitt Town Road at McGraths Hill, and then through Pitt Town Bottoms Road, where at the river a new bridge could be constructed to join up with Wilberforce Road and thence on to Singleton. A quick look at Google Maps will reveal the simplicity of this, and I am not even a road planner. Perhaps, if our planners could divert their attention away for a moment from the long-standing disaster that is George Street they could look at this suggestion. - Ian Juniper, Artarmon Share a book I love books. I have an e-reader but discarded it ages ago (Letters, August 23). Why? Books don't need recharging or downloading by computer. They can be shared with friends and family, donated to charities where their circulation is guaranteed. They are warm in the hand and easily transported. Like the predicted death of realism in painting the death of books is vastly overstated. - Vicki Zvargulis, Corrimal https://www.watoday.com.au/national/nsw/treat-us-like-a-lump-at-your-peril-prime-minister-20180827-p4zzwx.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

[tn10y]

The Lions have been tamed by the Pars in the previous encounters this season and Athletic will be hoping to at least share the spoils with the West Lothian outfit at the end of play tonight.

On Saturday, Queen of the South’s playoff hopes were ended by a Nicky Clark hat-trick while the League One champions remained on course to finish runners-up to St Mirren with a three-nil win in Dumbarton.

Allan Johnston will be hoping to put all the pressure on Greenock Morton  – who do not play this evening – and push them down into at least fourth. David Hopkin will aim to defeat the only side he has not been able to in the Championship this season.

Kickoff time, ticket prices and where to watch

Ticket prices:

South Stand: Adults £20, Concessions £14 All other stands: Adults £18, Concessions £12 Away Stands: Adults £18, Concessions £12, U12s £5

Match information:

Tuesday 3rd, 19:45 at East End Park.

Team news

Dunfermline Athletic:

Aaron Splaine, James Vincent Joe Cardle and Sean Murdoch (injured).

Livingston:

No news.

  Referee

Stephen Finnie.

Games reffed involving either side:

Queen of the South 0-0 Dunfermline Athletic (5Y). Dunfermline Athletic 1-1 Greenock Morton (2Y) Livingston 3-2 Brechin City (5Y, 1PEN) Livingston 0-1 Queen of the South (3Y)

What Dunfermline Athletic said

“We have to focus on ourselves and make sure that between now and the end of the season we get as many wins as possible. A win rather than a draw makes a massive difference. We will focus on this next game because everything changes so quick when you see the results and the table. So one game at a time, I know it is an old cliche but it is really really important. There are no easy games in this league. It doesn’t matter whether you are playing a team at the bottom or a team at the top they are that similar. You cannot lose focus.” (Allan Johnston, manager)

What Livingston said

[On signing Adam Frizzell]: “Adam is a attacking player who gives us some options and cover for the games ahead. We are coming into a busy period of games that are going to be massive for everyone at the club. I think Adam can help us through this period and he brings Premiership experience with him. He is an explosive player, and can play anywhere across the midfield or up front.” (David Hopkin, manager)

Line ups last time out

Former Dunfermline Athletic players

Scott Robinson (2016) Shaun Byrne (08-16) Gregor Buchanan (14-15)

Former Livingston players

Jason Talbot (2008-15)

  Last seven meetings

Championship:

10/02/17: Livingston 1-1 Dunfermline Athletic 21/10/17: Dunfermline Athletic 3-1 Livingston 05/08/17: Livingston 1-1 Dunfermline Athletic

First Division:

30/03/13: Livingston 1-1 Dunfermline Athletic 26/01/13: Dunfermline Athletic 0-1 Livingston 08/12.12: Livingston 2-1 Dunfermline Athletic 22/09/12: Dunfermline Athletic 4-0 Livingston

Keys to the game

The Lions can prey on Athletic’s weaknesses just by playing their natural game. Hopkin likes a direct approach from his squad, and that can mean launching long balls into the channels that force the centre backs out to deal with them, scavenging on the loose ball and pepper the goal from there. 

While Lee Miller is closer to the end than the start of his career, he can provide a good base in which to attempt win headers, hold up the ball and allow Ryan Hardie to do the running for the pair. The on-loan Rangers centre forward has netted seven times in nine starts.

Prediction

Dunfermline Athletic 2-1 Livingston 

Odds

Dunfermline Athletic: 1.50 Draw: 2.40 Livingston: 2.10

Best bet

Over 2.5 goals: 1.10

Table

Complete fixture list

You can follow @MichaelWood_SJ on Twitter.

Match preview: Dunfermline Athletic versus Livingston The Lions have been tamed by the Pars in the previous encounters this season and Athletic will be hoping to at least share the spoils with the West Lothian outfit at the end of play tonight.