bickster

Who is paying the bounty? How are they going to claim it? Putin is buggering off to St Petersburg as we speak Someone already tried that apparently, dead now

Shoot the officer in charge and surrender, never a better time to do it

I don’t see how the war continues in its present form. The Russian lines are bound to collapse, there will be a power vacuum, you can’t quell a civil war at home and command an invasion where most of your troops are sandwiched between the two enemies But it could easily get bloodier before it stops

You have, I have both her albums. Intelligent pop music with no f***s given and an independent spirit. Glad she's on Invada too because Geoff Barrow genuinely digs her stuff and let’s her get in with it

You really can’t put a timeline on this. It really depends where the numbers stack up. One thing is for sure, Prigozhin wouldn’t have done this if he didn’t have some sort of firmed up support from within the military, which has already been shown to be true. I think regime change is almost inevitable but when is impossible to say. It might not even be Prigozhin that wins, there are other players that may not have shown their hand yet

I think it’s an even simpler equation right now. Prigozhin at least seemed to care for his men, the Russians threatened to shoot them if they retreated

Where else does he have troops he can recall? Well there's Belarus (and that’s why Luke has f***ed off at the first hint of trouble) Belarus will be free of him sooner rather than later.Occupied Georgia, yep that possibly going and Chechnya. What happens in Chechnya could be hilarious

Well at one point the UK MOD estimated that 85% of Russia's total troop number were in Ukraine. The reserves not in the front line would have been in… the two oblasts that Wagner controls AND have been given a walkover by those Russian troops in the rear. We’ve also already seen how two battalions of Russian anti-Putin troops have literally had free reign in Belgorod oblast more than once recently. He really does have that much. Even if he recalled troops from he front line, they’d be chased out by Ukraine and run into Wagner, what are they going to do? Join Wagner would be my guess

Watching Billy Nomates set from yesterday which the BBC have curiously listed under guitar because she played one in the first track Most excellent pop music without any sugar coating. Glasto crowd seem mildly interested and slowly getting it as she moves through he set. She's giving it her all. She's great, her lyrics are great and she really does have a belting voice. I just can’t help thinking that an actual band might make her come across better Definitely recommend giving it a go on the Glasto channel (oddly under guitars)

Well in reality he isn’t a mercenary at all, he’s a hot dog vendor

I don’t think anyone could realistically do that. Theres also never been a better time for countries like Georgia and Chechnya to kick the Russians out of their countries, even Belarus (Lukashenkos family jet has been spotted leaving Minsk btw). Russia can’t suppress rebellions there whilst they have a coup at home and a war in Ukraine.

In the short term for Ukraine, maybe. In the medium to long term, I'm not so sure

Shit Norman wisdom copyist, not a patch on the master

Hot Chip are good

I listened to a bit on the radio in the car, dullsville

How long before Russian TV starts showing….

Ukraine Secret Service have already claimed he asked if he could swap sides and they told him to do one. He’s more useful to them doing what he's doing. I doubt they’d trust him as far as they could throw him and Ukraines troops would probably kill him on sight

You wouldn’t catch me actually going, I'm well past that

It’s self perpetuating, I really don’t think the Glasto PR machine is actually that big, they don’t need it. You won’t find many more people more cynical than me about over hyped things, especially when it comes music, hell I'm notorious for it but Glastonbury is THE musical event of any year in the UK music scene. You can shove all your award ceremonies up your arse in a matchbox, they mean nothing. Glastonbury shifts units more than anything, it really is the true reflection of the current state of music. And the best thing about all that is that the music biz doesn’t control it and it never will What other festival would a band the size of the Foo Fighters agree to play as an unannounced secret band, third on the bill on the main stage on the first day I used to be very cynical about it but in the last few years I’ve come to appreciate it for what it is. I look forward to watching it on the telly, even some of the bands I don’t like, I discover bands through it, I buy albums because of stuff I've seen there, last year I went out and bought a Khruangbin album the very next day I just thing it’s become this thing and it can’t stop being that thing, no one else can do what Glastonbury does and it really doesn’t have to try too hard these days yet it keeps on delivering.

So, Foo Fighters (the worst kept secret mystery band ever) to blow the Arctic Monkeys offstage tonight?

Correct, only people from the Home Counties can afford it now

Well it kind of is, it's the Foo FIghters and they'll probably blow the Arctic Monkeys off stage, Alex turner will wish he stayed at home with Laryngitis