Only one home nation would take part and it would probably make it to the quarter or semi finals. TV viewing figures indicate that England football games are among the most watched programmes broadcast, so my guess is that there would be a fair amount of interest. And I am not sure where the suffering comes in. If you don't want to watch football no-one forces you to. As you know, there are plenty of other options. Or you could go for a walk in one of the many places in the UK where the World Cup would have no impact whatsoever.
"TV viewing figures indicate that England football games are among the most watched programmes broadcast"
"Among the most watched"
Good. Let's give similar amounts of money to BGT.
Instead of telling me to go for a walk (something I'd love to do, but I've got a little something keeping me at home atm), I've got a better idea: why can't everyone who wants to watch football live just fly out to another country that will host it and pay for it (including the bungs).
And the world cup does have an impact (in fact, football does). It's ever-present on the TV and the news.
No, it's not ever present; but if it were, ask yourself why that may be.
I am not sure how many foreign visitors and big brand, multinational sponsors BGT brings to the UK economy. Football does and a World Cup would. The last World Cup held in Europe, in Germany in 2006, was a huge financial success for the host country:
Well the Times say the Russian and Qatari world cups are in doubt.
Whatever shenanigans may or may not have gone down, Russia is a plausible world cup location and would throw its toys majorly out of the pram were it to be taken away, turning the event even more political than it would already be were Qatar to have the world cup taken away, so purely on a 'is it worth the trouble' basis, short of footage of Putin putting Fifa members in headlocks until they agreed to vote for Russia, I'd have thought that one would be safe.
Qatar really seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back with a lot of this stuff, it was just too troublesome in so many different ways to take seriously.
Russia is a plausible World Cup location?
It is rife with vicious racism and hooliganism, it would be like having the World Cup here in 1978.
Russia will make a good job of it , and as ever we will have much whinging as some pretentious minnow teams with delusions of grandeur make their usual early exit after having been given an easy qualifying group.
If you can bear to consult Ming Campbell's revolting autobigraphy serialised in the Dail Mail in 2008 you will see why he is the very last person to be attacking anyone else on Charles Kennedy.
Salmond was extremely garcious to Kennedy in a host of interviews yesterday morning which I saw, at no time suggested that Kennedy was anything other than a federalist, only spoke about the Better Together campaign in answer to a direct question. As should be known
Campbell said: “Mr Salmond’s intervention is ill judged. Today is a day for fond memories and respect. Anything else today is out of order.”
Asked whether Kennedy supported Scotland’s continued membership of the UK, Campbell said: “Of course Charles did. He was a federalist. The important thing to remember is that federalism necessarily involves being part of the UK. You can’t be a federalist and want independence at the same time. Charles was a classic Liberal home ruler within the UK. Federalism necessarily involves being within a whole.”
You losers just cannot get over your bitter twisted hatred of Salmond. Ming is a loser, he would have been heavily involved in knifing Kennedy and was happy to take his job. Has he lost his marbles and been unable to read what Salmond actually said.
should have finished "As should be well known Kennedy criticised the Better Together campaign publicly on an number of occasions over its stance on sterling, its overall negativity, its lack of a positive vision and ironically for its personal attacks on Salmond which he thought counterproductive"
Perhaps some on this site should note that last point in particular. It explains why Kennedy was held in such high regard in Scotland.
Well the Times say the Russian and Qatari world cups are in doubt.
Whatever shenanigans may or may not have gone down, Russia is a plausible world cup location and would throw its toys majorly out of the pram were it to be taken away, turning the event even more political than it would already be were Qatar to have the world cup taken away, so purely on a 'is it worth the trouble' basis, short of footage of Putin putting Fifa members in headlocks until they agreed to vote for Russia, I'd have thought that one would be safe.
Qatar really seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back with a lot of this stuff, it was just too troublesome in so many different ways to take seriously.
Russia is a plausible World Cup location?
It is rife with vicious racism and hooliganism, it would be like having the World Cup here in 1978.
Russia will make a good job of it , and as ever we will have much whinging as some pretentious minnow teams with delusions of grandeur make their usual early exit after having been given an easy qualifying group.
Do you expect Scotland to qualify?
If we got the same diddy groups as England it would be a simple Yes, but given we will have to face football teams , who knows. They are improving nowadays.
No, it's not ever present; but if it were, ask yourself why that may be.
I am not sure how many foreign visitors and big brand, multinational sponsors BGT brings to the UK economy. Football does and a World Cup would. The last World Cup held in Europe, in Germany in 2006, was a huge financial success for the host country:
There is no reason to believe that it would not be the same for England.
I have asked myself why that should be, and the answer is fairly obvious, isn't it? And it isn't necessarily the sport's popularity with the public.
The boat race got over six million viewers for the men's race, and slightly less for the women's. That doesn't mean that rowing is popular with six million people in the UK.
As I said: if you want the world cup, you pay for it in advance, with no cheap government loans or grants. I'll even let you get the profits, if there are any.
Comments
I am not sure how many foreign visitors and big brand, multinational sponsors BGT brings to the UK economy. Football does and a World Cup would. The last World Cup held in Europe, in Germany in 2006, was a huge financial success for the host country:
http://www.dw.de/germanys-world-cup-report-hails-economic-social-success/a-2263053
There is no reason to believe that it would not be the same for England.
If you can bear to consult Ming Campbell's revolting autobigraphy serialised in the Dail Mail in 2008 you will see why he is the very last person to be attacking anyone else on Charles Kennedy.
Salmond was extremely garcious to Kennedy in a host of interviews yesterday morning which I saw, at no time suggested that Kennedy was anything other than a federalist, only spoke about the Better Together campaign in answer to a direct question. As should be known
Laugh I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee - turning The Orange Order into figures of fun.
Council seats lost by the Green Party across England and Wales: approx 21
Council seats lost by the Green Party in Brighton: 9
Half of your lost seats in the one place where you are in power out of 400+ councils.
Lessons to be learnt?
should have finished "As should be well known Kennedy criticised the Better Together campaign publicly on an number of occasions over its stance on sterling, its overall negativity, its lack of a positive vision and ironically for its personal attacks on Salmond which he thought counterproductive"
Perhaps some on this site should note that last point in particular. It explains why Kennedy was held in such high regard in Scotland.
The boat race got over six million viewers for the men's race, and slightly less for the women's. That doesn't mean that rowing is popular with six million people in the UK.
As I said: if you want the world cup, you pay for it in advance, with no cheap government loans or grants. I'll even let you get the profits, if there are any.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_jNE32FDZ8