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Coping Mechanisms in Red and White: The Psychology of Being an Arsenal Fan

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Arsenal F.C. have not lifted the Premier League title since 2004. For many clubs, that would be a painful drought. For Arsenal, it feels different. Because we have tasted perfection. Some of us are old enough, lucky enough, to remember the invincibles under Arsène Wenger. An unbeaten Premier League season. Poetry in motion. Authority without arrogance. A aaaaaah! We didn’t just win; we floated and dominated teams with swift counter attacking football that was direct and precise. That memory is both a blessing and a curse. It gives context to joy, but it also creates a mental prison: once you have tasted excellence, mediocrity feels like betrayal. Now, we cope. After two decades of near-misses, collapses, rebuilds, “processes,” and false dawns, Arsenal fans have become amateur psychologists. Every one of us has developed a survival strategy. The Abstainer Some, like me, have chosen distance. I stopped watching games, not because I don’t love the club, but precisely because I do. I found...
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Accountability After Ideology: Who Pays for Canada’s EV Experiment?

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  It is now a settled fact that Justin Trudeau is in retirement. History will debate his legacy, but taxpayers are already living with the bill of his decisions. While political leaders continue to urge Canadians to come together, the reality on the ground looks very different. On WhatsApp groups, in community chats, and across informal networks, Canadians are not uniting—they are hardening into camps. Statements made in support of Pierre Poilievre are often framed as divisive, yet they are largely reactions to something deeper: unresolved frustration over policies that cost billions with little to show for it. Take the EV mandate. According to estimates from the Parliamentary Budget Officer, total government support—federal and provincial combined—tied to roughly **$46.1 billion** in announced private investments across the EV supply chain reached as high as **$52.5 billion**. Of that, the federal government alone carried up to **$31.4 billion**, nearly 60 percent of the total bur...
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She Stoops to Conquer: Ego, Order, and the Quiet Crisis in Modern Marriage

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  There is an old saying— she stoops to conquer —that modern society often dismisses as outdated, submissive, or even dangerous. Yet like many ancient proverbs, its value lies not on the surface but in its uncomfortable depth. In today’s Westernized worldview, women are encouraged to see themselves as equal to men in every sense—socially, economically, and relationally—while simultaneously desiring men who are decisive, confident, protective, and strong. This contradiction has created a quiet but growing tension in modern relationships. You cannot demand softness and submission from a man whose ego you are trained to challenge at every turn. To “stoop to conquer” is not weakness. It is strategy. It is emotional intelligence. It is the deliberate choice to defer—not out of inferiority, but out of wisdom. A woman who understands this does not surrender her voice or value; she simply recognizes timing, tone, and the power of restraint. When a man feels respected—especially in areas ti...
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Knowing What You’re Hearing: Why Most Arguments Miss the Point

There are generally three things people say every day—observations, facts, and opinions Most arguments persist because we confuse one for the other. Take football. “Bukayo Saka puts in a lot of crosses.”  "Justin Trudeau introduced a lot of policies that favoured immigrants"  That’s an observation. Someone watched matches or followed JT policies and noticed a pattern. That's OK as long as you respect this.  “Saka has put in 55 crosses this season.”  "Justin Trudeau has spent $200bn (imaginary) on social policies or programs"  That’s a fact. It’s measurable, verifiable, and doesn’t care how anyone feels. That's OK as long as you recognize and understand this.  "Saka’s crosses are to no one in particular, like someone claiming activity without results.” " JT policies are bad and didn't impact anyone" That’s an opinion. It carries judgment, interpretation, and bias. That's OK as long as you recognize and acknowledge this.  Problems, disag...
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Arsenal’s Rise Isn’t an Accident — It’s a Masterclass in Patience, Planning, and Personnel

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  For years, Arsenal’s identity seemed uncertain. The club oscillated between philosophies, managers, and half-measures — a familiar story in modern football where instant success is demanded but rarely achieved. Today, however, Arsenal stands as one of the most coherent and forward-thinking clubs in Europe. And contrary to popular belief, it didn’t happen by magic. It happened by method. The transformation begins with a simple truth Mikel Arteta learned under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City: **a coach can have the most brilliant ideas in the world, but without the right personnel to execute them, the ideas remain only that—ideas.** We see the flip side of this every weekend in Manchester United: a revolving door of managers, each with their philosophy, trying to impose a system on players who were not recruited for it. Talent exists, yes, but fit rarely does. Arteta returned to Arsenal with that insight etched deeply into his coaching DNA. And instead of rushing to prove himself,...
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Have We Forgotten the Meaning of the Poppy?

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  A recent report about a judge in Canada asking someone to remove their poppy because it made others uncomfortable has sparked a question that cuts to the heart of who we are as a society. Have we lost sight of the meaning behind the poppy — and the reason we pause every November 11th? The poppy isn’t just a seasonal accessory. It’s a symbol of remembrance — a solemn tribute to the men and women who laid down their lives so we could live in freedom, pursue our dreams, and express our beliefs without fear. To ask someone to remove it because it makes others uncomfortable is to misunderstand what it stands for. The poppy represents sacrifice, courage, and unity — the very values that allow us to disagree respectfully in the first place. We may not be sending our young people to the battlefields of Europe today, but we are fighting a different kind of war — one against forgetfulness. In our rush toward modernity and sensitivity, we risk erasing the memory of those who made it possibl...
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Arteta’s Redefinition of Modern Football

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For the first time in years, Arsenal looks like a team not just chasing success, but engineering it — one clean sheet, one phase of play, one system at a time. This season, Arsenal stands alone in the UEFA Champions League as the only team yet to concede a goal after 4 matches— and that’s not by accident. Mikel Arteta is reshaping what it means to play modern football. For decades, the popular mantra has been that "the best form of defence is attack.” Managers from Cruyff to Klopp to Guardiola have built teams that pressed relentlessly, overwhelmed opponents, and accepted that conceding was simply part of the game — as long as they scored more. Arteta is quietly redefining that logic. His philosophy seems to be: “The best form of defence is defence — and the best form of attack is attack.” It sounds simple, almost redundant, but under the hood it’s a masterclass in balance, structure, and specialization. Arteta is building a team that is aggressively mobile yet tactically discipli...
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