Best Of

Bosnia 3-1 up now

Scotland could be down to 6th in the runners up spots, with 10 groups to play if Brazil win by 2 goals

Not stacked with confidence here

The groups that I think could favour Scotland if they up at 3pts -2GD.

Group A: I don't fancy either the Czechs or South Africa to beat Mexico or South Korea respectively.

Group D : Paraguay will want to beat Australia, Australia will respond and I reckon could edge it. Would leave Paraguay lower than -2 on goal difference.

Group E: I don't fancy either Curacao or Ecuador to beat Ivory Coast or Germany respectively

Group H: I don't think Spain are nailed on to beat Uruguay, but it's a decent chance.

Those 4 would be enough, I think 3 will come off.


Less favourable groups for Scotland:

Group F: Sweden can edge out by getting at least a point from Japan or possibly a narrow defeat

Group G: I think Belgium get what they need against NZ, which would require Egypt to beat Iran for it to be Scotland favourable. There's a chance here.

Group I: I think Senegal beat Iraq and probably by enough to leapfrog Scotland

Group J: The one people are lining up for a fix. But let's assume honour, Austria can edge Algeria who would then have a worse GD than a Scotland that hadn't been overrun.

Group K: I think Congo beat Uzbekistan, but if they don't it definitely falls in Scotland's favour.

Group L: If Ghana beat Croatia (and Panama don't beat England), Croatia and Scotland's records are pretty close.


I reckon 1 to 2 of these come off.

So, by my best reckoning, Brazil 2 Scotland 0 = Scotland edge qualification as around 7th best 3rd place team.

Agree with much of your analysis, assuming teams in group J won't muck around

4 pts = definitely through

3 points = cut off is likely to be around -3 goal diff

The wait for teams finishing on 3 points will be agonising

3 points -2 likely to be 7th/8th places

This is close to the team Scotland fans wanted to see Shankland in and Scott McKenna in defence, lets see what happens

Natasha Clark
@NatashaC
·
1h
Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9 @lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch

Badenoch is a nasty piece of work.

John Crace nails it:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/24/graceless-kemi-badenoch-keir-starmer-pmqs-sketch

"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "

"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."

There’s time enough for pleasantries. That’s not his last PMQs as PM, for a start. And frankly he is a graceless tosspot himself, as he has showed on many occasions. And John Crace is not the target audience.

As one of the most graceless posters on here your advice on the subject is always worth listening to

Prime Ministers receive tributes at their last PMQ so not today

It is not difficult to understand the difference

Bosnia 3-1 up now

Scotland could be down to 6th in the runners up spots, with 10 groups to play if Brazil win by 2 goals

Not stacked with confidence here

The groups that I think could favour Scotland if they up at 3pts -2GD.

Group A: I don't fancy either the Czechs or South Africa to beat Mexico or South Korea respectively.

Group D : Paraguay will want to beat Australia, Australia will respond and I reckon could edge it. Would leave Paraguay lower than -2 on goal difference.

Group E: I don't fancy either Curacao or Ecuador to beat Ivory Coast or Germany respectively

Group H: I don't think Spain are nailed on to beat Uruguay, but it's a decent chance.

Those 4 would be enough, I think 3 will come off.


Less favourable groups for Scotland:

Group F: Sweden can edge out by getting at least a point from Japan or possibly a narrow defeat

Group G: I think Belgium get what they need against NZ, which would require Egypt to beat Iran for it to be Scotland favourable. There's a chance here.

Group I: I think Senegal beat Iraq and probably by enough to leapfrog Scotland

Group J: The one people are lining up for a fix. But let's assume honour, Austria can edge Algeria who would then have a worse GD than a Scotland that hadn't been overrun.

Group K: I think Congo beat Uzbekistan, but if they don't it definitely falls in Scotland's favour.

Group L: If Ghana beat Croatia (and Panama don't beat England), Croatia and Scotland's records are pretty close.


I reckon 1 to 2 of these come off.

So, by my best reckoning, Brazil 2 Scotland 0 = Scotland edge qualification as around 7th best 3rd place team.

Labour’s candidate to replace Andy Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor has been named as Bev Craig, the leader of the city council.

Burnham, who could be prime minister in under four weeks, is expected to campaign heavily for Labour in a tight contest with Reform UK on 30 July.

As many as 2 million people will be eligible to vote in the Greater Manchester byelection, making it the biggest in modern times in British politics.

Craig, 41, has long been seen as a rising star within Labour and took over Manchester city council in 2021 at the age of 36, becoming only the third holder of the office in four decades and its first woman.

Like many council leaders, however, she remains little-known to ordinary voters. A huge publicity blitz will pitch her as continuing the work of Burnham, who won the 2024 contest with nearly two-thirds of the vote and a 351,000-vote majority.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/23/bev-craig-stand-labour-candidate-greater-manchester-mayor


I agree on the last - I am a pol and betting nerd and have never heard of her until this week.

The rest of the country needs to pay more attention to Manchester.

Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.

It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.

Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July

Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?

Kemi is feisty but watching it today it she took advantage of Labour's troubles that any politician would

I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs

Totally stupid thing to do. Politicians have few enough opportunities to show their nice side and she blew it. A more graceless performance would be difficult to imagine. That's the difference between classy politician like -dare I say it -Blair Cameron and Thatcher-- and second raters.

You have, like others, misunderstood this was not Starmer last PMQs where tributes are traditional given across the house

Come back on the 15th July after Starmer's last PMQs

Natasha Clark
@NatashaC
·
1h
Bridget Phillipson tells @AndrewMarr9 @lbc she will go get a T-shirt saying “spiteful class warrior” after her spat with Kemi Badenoch

Badenoch is a nasty piece of work.

John Crace nails it:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/24/graceless-kemi-badenoch-keir-starmer-pmqs-sketch

"Here was a chance for Kemi Badenoch to show her human side. To give the world a rare sighting of her empathy gene. But Kemi just can’t go there. She can’t read a room. She has only one mode. All-out attack. Other people’s moments of weakness are just material for her to use against them. Even now, she probably thinks she played a blinder at prime minister’s questions. A chance taken to humiliate Keir when he’s down. She has no idea how graceless she is. How charmless. All the more so because she has played no part in Starmer’s resignation. The Conservatives have just been bystanders. There has been no dramatic intervention by Kemi. No set piece in which she has exposed his weakness and forced the issue. Keir’s departure was purely between him and the Labour party. It was Keir’s MPs who had given up on him. No one else. "

"The mad thing is that it would have taken so little for Kemi to have come out of PMQs looking good. In their first exchanges after a Downing Street resignation, it’s customary for the leader of the opposition to say something complimentary about the outgoing prime minister. It doesn’t even have to be very much. She could have said she admired his steadfast support for Ukraine. Or gone for the human touch. That she had enjoyed the conversations they had held in private. Had loved meeting his wife and kids. Wished him all the very best. But Kemi would rather die than do this. She sees kindness as a sign of weakness. It would have cost her what passes for her self-worth. Had she done this – allowed even a forced croak of kindness to escape her lips – then everything that followed would have been OK. Kemi would have bossed the show. As it was, she crashed and burned. Her language becoming progressively more angry and violent the longer she went on. It was the behaviour of a spoiled child. A playground bully whom her party doesn’t dare to call out."

I wouldn't go as far as Crace, but it was an ungracious -and immature- speech.

It seemed completely unnecessary.

Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.

It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.

Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July

Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?

Does anyone remember what the Tories did at Blair's last PMQs? I think Badenoch was absolutely spot on to put the boot in.

It's on YouTube. Night and day between Badenoch and Cameron, who was actually quite classy. The other thing, PMQs actually consisted of questions and answers on specific topics back in the day.

Maybe then Kemi should be compared on her performance and generosity on Starmer's final PMQs which is on the 15th July

Being minimally behaved isn't just for a final PMQs. Badenoch gratuitously insulted several other people than Starmer today. I don't like personalising but you don't come across as someone boorish at all, yet Badenoch's behaviour is perfectly OK?

Kemi is feisty but watching it today it she took advantage of Labour's troubles that any politician would

I would have joined the criticism if this had been Starmer's final pmqs

Totally stupid thing to do. Politicians have few enough opportunities to show their nice side and she blew it. A more graceless performance would be difficult to imagine. That's the difference between classy politician like -dare I say it -Blair Cameron and Thatcher-- and second raters.

I have a fairly new colleague who lives on my route

He made a complaint about me to Royal Mail, as a customer last week

as a bit of banter, or for real?

For real

His delivery point is ten yards from his neighbour’s. There’s a door gate in between. He complained because I used it

He wanted me to reverse seventy yards up his drive, open and then close his heavy, slightly broken gate. Walk the rest of the way across his large garden, deliver walk back, open and close again, and then drive round to his neighbour, ten yards from his door

He claims to be scared that I’ll let his loose running dog escape, and it’ll be mauled by the neighbour’s dogs

Sp why didn’t he raise that with you privately?

A lot of people get shirty when delivery people short cut from one house to the next. I was told not to do it when leafletting by the organiser.

Sure but to formally complain to management. As a fellow postie?

Yeah, I would have a word first. Not that a postie could jump the hedge between me and my neighbour, which is a rather evil blackthorn.

I have a feeling that the postie wants a particular route and so needs to remove that routes current worker..