politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Get ready for a lot of Russia points scoring if they end up playing England in the semi-final
Please stop. Tired of your fake patriotism. England beat Spain on penalties in Euro 96. I know because I was there. Who will you be supporting in the semi-final if it is England v Russia? https://t.co/eUg1JxiNQ1
Or France, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Poland, etc.
I think what a lot of people conveniently forget is that 34% of French people voted for Marine Le Pen. There is a huge minority of French people who are looking for different answers.
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
I voted remain just , but respect the result. You are a disgrace abusing your own citizens on am assumption from some no mark tweet.
Good lord, what a mess. Obviously hoping the victims will recover. I will say that you would be surprised how much disruption the last event caused the local authority with so many senior people diverted to Salisbury to assist with the national efforts, so a surprising amount of knock on effects beyond even the obvious stuff (like the drop off in shopping footfall in Salisbury).
I am a bit suspicious of the timeline given the world cup. I think the last time the same poison was used the Russians said the UK would "pay" for accusing them. On the other hand how well known in advance was the PM's Chequers summit? I am entering the realms of conspiracy theories here, so I will get my coat!
Stuff like that is why I lumped for Leave in the end. Whatever reservations I had about leaving the EU I simply couldn't stomach being on the same side as the Remainers.
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Christ, think of what it might do to the existing fervid, swollen-headed, flag-waving nationalists.
lol. Fair point.
But then, imagine what such footballing success might do to the more atavistic of your Scotch Nationalist friends. Really. The kind of guys that march on Bannockburn with Saltires and snarls. Luckily, the chances of Scotland ever progressing beyond a thrashing by the Scilly Isles are about 0.0000%, but still.
Imagine.
Decades of football defeat have expunged triumphalism from the Scottish psyche. England otoh always seems to be a rice pudding skin (or penalty shoot out) away from swagger.
Stuff like that is why I lumped for Leave in the end. Whatever reservations I had about leaving the EU I simply couldn't stomach being on the same side as the Remainers.
Yes, both sides have arseholes supporting them. Just look at that prick who killed the Labour MP. No reasonable person equates the fringe actions of some lunatic individuals action or iteration as being representative other than the fringe people who represent the opposing ideas. I would not change my vote just because X or Y advocates something I might find offensive. I count myself as being more sophisticated than that!
I am a bit suspicious of the timeline given the world cup. I think the last time the same poison was used the Russians said the UK would "pay" for accusing them. On the other hand how well known in advance was the PM's Chequers summit? I am entering the realms of conspiracy theories here, so I will get my coat!
I think there may be many especially with England in Russia in the World Cup but the police have said it is the same nerve agent and the same warnings including washing clothes has been given
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
The problem we'll have facing Russia is that almost certainly will have got to that point with some 'helpful' VAR and stuff (To be quite honest Spain should be through by now and not them if VAR was fairly applied). Least with Croatia you know we'll be rolling straight dice.
They must be incredibly lazy those Porton Down false flaggers - they've traveled even less far than last time!
I do like that idea of dastardly villian that is willing to kill to frame poor innocent Russia, but not willing to travel very far to do so. That's not at all bonkers.
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves...Sweden are not the most exciting team, they are kinda of what England have tried to be, but much much better at the defence side of things.
England will have to play their best game of the tournament to beat them.
Stuff like that is why I lumped for Leave in the end. Whatever reservations I had about leaving the EU I simply couldn't stomach being on the same side as the Remainers.
Yes, both sides have arseholes supporting them. Just look at that prick who killed the Labour MP. No reasonable person equates the fringe actions of some lunatic individuals action or iteration as being representative other than the fringe people who represent the opposing ideas. I would not change my vote just because X or Y advocates something I might find offensive. I count myself as being more sophisticated than that!
A rare point of agreement. Support or oppose something because of the issue, not because of other supporters (good or bad).
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves...Sweden are not the most exciting team, they are kinda of what England have tried to be, but much much better at the defence side of things.
England will have to play their best game of the tournament to beat them.
I think there is a decent chance we lose this one. If they can hold off the initial assault by just parking the bus in defence, we will get sloppy and let one in in the second half.
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
Christ, think of what it might do to the existing fervid, swollen-headed, flag-waving nationalists.
lol. Fair point.
But then, imagine what such footballing success might do to the more atavistic of your Scotch Nationalist friends. Really. The kind of guys that march on Bannockburn with Saltires and snarls. Luckily, the chances of Scotland ever progressing beyond a thrashing by the Scilly Isles are about 0.0000%, but still.
Imagine.
Decades of football defeat have expunged triumphalism from the Scottish psyche. England otoh always seems to be a rice pudding skin (or penalty shoot out) away from swagger.
The English and Scottish national teams probably rival each other as most underachieving European team given their relative resources.
Though English club teams still continue to have an excellent record whilst Scottish ones are now as embarrassing as their national team.
You no longer get top Scottish players in large numbers at the top English clubs as in the days when Leeds, Liverpool, Forest and MU dominated European competitions.
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves...Sweden are not the most exciting team, they are kinda of what England have tried to be, but much much better at the defence side of things.
England will have to play their best game of the tournament to beat them.
I did say if we beat Sweden!
Taking nothing for granted, Sweden have always given us a tough game, feel like I've mostly watched us draw against them previously, I'd be delighted with a 1-0 win scraped at the last second. I'd be shocked if it is anything but a tough game.
So novichok can just sort of hang around for a few months without degrading? Horrific.
I think it was supposed to have been in a gel form when applied to the frontdoor in Salisbury. So it won't easily disperse in the way say an aerosol would. If you happened across the source, or a cross-contaminated item, it would still be very dangerous.
The only good news it that this may well give the police a useful new line of enquiry for determining the movements of the person who carried out the initial attack.
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves...Sweden are not the most exciting team, they are kinda of what England have tried to be, but much much better at the defence side of things.
England will have to play their best game of the tournament to beat them.
I think there is a decent chance we lose this one. If they can hold off the initial assault by just parking the bus in defence, we will get sloppy and let one in in the second half.
I would have Sweden as slight favourites. Unlike previous games, for once England have more talent but Sweden haven’t been making mistakes and different players seem to be able to slot into their system with little noticeable difference.
For England to win, alli and sterling have to play incredibly well and stones in particular not make any mistakes.
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves...Sweden are not the most exciting team, they are kinda of what England have tried to be, but much much better at the defence side of things.
England will have to play their best game of the tournament to beat them.
England are quite capable of playing much better than thay have to date. Who knows whether they will though - unpredictability is what makes football such a great sport.
Bizarre that two British nationals have now been contaminated with Novichok?
It seems highly highly unlikely they were targeted. Two unemployed drug users doesn’t exactly scream high on the hit list of nation states.
Well given the randomness, it could be a low level of sophistication in nationalistic terrorism, perpetrated by the Russians. If the description of two drug dealers is accurate, how long before two children and their mother are the next victims? The Russians used assorted methods of subversion in the conflicts of Georgia and later in Crimea in the Ukraine.
Off topic apologies. Look at the depth of detail that Team Sky have released about Chris Froome in the Giro. Wow - so much thought about maximising performance. Really impressed:
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Croatia did give the Argies a thrashing, but apart from that they have not been that convincing. They were nothing special against Denmark.
However their defender (Vida) has the worst World Cup haircut*, on that grounds alone they should go home!
Bizarre that two British nationals have now been contaminated with Novichok?
It seems highly highly unlikely they were targeted. Two unemployed drug users doesn’t exactly scream high on the hit list of nation states.
No.
Unless they were living a double life - Unemployed drug users by day. KGB spies and operatives by night...
Looking at them though you wouldn't exactly have them down as Branjelina would you?
Lugovoi and Kovtun only had a limited amount of knowledge about the Polonium they used to murder Litvinenko, and contaminated a large number of places in the process of doing so. The people who "pull the trigger" aren't necessarily fully aware of what is going on. Although in this case it seems highly unlikely that the people in Amesbury are anything other than further victims.
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves...Sweden are not the most exciting team, they are kinda of what England have tried to be, but much much better at the defence side of things.
England will have to play their best game of the tournament to beat them.
England are quite capable of playing much better than thay have to date. Who knows whether they will though - unpredictability is what makes football such a great sport.
Fingers-crossed though, we should do it.
Well Alli and Sterling have been well below their best so far...fingers crossed we get their spurs / Man City form.
Bizarre that two British nationals have now been contaminated with Novichok?
It seems highly highly unlikely they were targeted. Two unemployed drug users doesn’t exactly scream high on the hit list of nation states.
Well given the randomness, it could be a low level of sophistication in nationalistic terrorism, perpetrated by the Russians. If the description of two drug dealers is accurate, how long before two children and their mother are the next victims? The Russians used assorted methods of subversion in the conflicts of Georgia, Crimea in the Ukraine.
I would suspect cock-up rather than conspiracy in this case. Whoever delivered the novichok to Salisbury some months ago would quite likely have had some leftover that they would have wanted to dispose of soon afterwards, with an emphasis in its disposal on it not being traced to them, rather than it being disposed of safely.
Looking through CityAM there seems to be a lot of property development happening in London's less salubrious areas
' A Qatari venture has secured approval for the redevelopment of Elephant & Castle’s major shopping centre.
The collaboration between Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management NV and property development company Delancey, which was brought by the Qatar ruling family in 2011, hopes to build 1,000 new homes as well as restaurants, bars, shops and a new university campus on the site. '
' A £300m plan to transform London’s Royal Docks has been given the green light today, in a move that will boost east London's business ambitions.
The investment will go towards bolstering Newham’s Royal Docks, which has fallen behind London’s other waterside projects due in large part to its relative remoteness. '
' European fund manager DWS, formerly known as Deutshe Bank Asset Management, has bought an office project in Stratford’s International Quarter London (IQL) for £240m.
The 278,000 square feet (sq ft) building is part of a £2.4bn mixed use development site which has already pre-let over one million sq ft of office space.
The property, which will be constructed by the end of next year, was sold by Lendlease and LCR who run the site in a joint venture development. '
Bizarre that two British nationals have now been contaminated with Novichok?
It seems highly highly unlikely they were targeted. Two unemployed drug users doesn’t exactly scream high on the hit list of nation states.
Well given the randomness, it could be a low level of sophistication in nationalistic terrorism, perpetrated by the Russians. If the description of two drug dealers is accurate, how long before two children and their mother are the next victims? The Russians used assorted methods of subversion in the conflicts of Georgia, Crimea in the Ukraine.
I would suspect cock-up rather than conspiracy in this case. Whoever delivered the novichok to Salisbury some months ago would quite likely have had some leftover that they would have wanted to dispose of soon afterwards, with an emphasis in its disposal on it not being traced to them, rather than it being disposed of safely.
Sounds about right. If, as reported earlier, these two have not been in that house for very long, whoever was occupying it before might be worth tracking down.
So novichok can just sort of hang around for a few months without degrading? Horrific.
I understood it doesn't degrade no matter how long it is in place
Does make you wonder why no one else has exhibited symptoms since March? Is this the same source or a different one - and how and where did they come into contact with it.
No doubt we will be engaged in another dispute with Russia - all we need is for a World Cup semi final match to pour fuel on the flames. The English fans seem to be getting on OK with their Russian hosts so far.
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Croatia did give the Argies a thrashing, but apart from that they have not been that convincing. They were nothing special against Denmark.
However their defender (Vida) has the worst World Cup haircut*, on that grounds alone they should go home!
*Trippier is a close second.
It can be very difficult to 'look' good against solid defensive teams, and I think that was Denmark playing about as well as they can do whilst Croatia were below par that match.
Bizarre that two British nationals have now been contaminated with Novichok?
It seems highly highly unlikely they were targeted. Two unemployed drug users doesn’t exactly scream high on the hit list of nation states.
Well given the randomness, it could be a low level of sophistication in nationalistic terrorism, perpetrated by the Russians. If the description of two drug dealers is accurate, how long before two children and their mother are the next victims? The Russians used assorted methods of subversion in the conflicts of Georgia, Crimea in the Ukraine.
I would suspect cock-up rather than conspiracy in this case. Whoever delivered the novichok to Salisbury some months ago would quite likely have had some leftover that they would have wanted to dispose of soon afterwards, with an emphasis in its disposal on it not being traced to them, rather than it being disposed of safely.
Sounds about right. If, as reported earlier, these two have not been in that house for very long, whoever was occupying it before might be worth tracking down.
Given this happened on Saturday, I am guessing a lot of leg work has already been done.
Congrats to NPXMP btw, on his new job. We may utterly disagree on most things (esp his small role in the EU Constitution) but hey. A pb-er is a pb-er. Good luck.
Also, I agree on Gove. He has been consistently the most intriguing, intelligent, unexpected and open-minded of ministers since Cameron's win in 2010. He should be at least Home Secretary. Perhaps even PM.
Bizarre that two British nationals have now been contaminated with Novichok?
It seems highly highly unlikely they were targeted. Two unemployed drug users doesn’t exactly scream high on the hit list of nation states.
Well given the randomness, it could be a low level of sophistication in nationalistic terrorism, perpetrated by the Russians. If the description of two drug dealers is accurate, how long before two children and their mother are the next victims? The Russians used assorted methods of subversion in the conflicts of Georgia, Crimea in the Ukraine.
I would suspect cock-up rather than conspiracy in this case. Whoever delivered the novichok to Salisbury some months ago would quite likely have had some leftover that they would have wanted to dispose of soon afterwards, with an emphasis in its disposal on it not being traced to them, rather than it being disposed of safely.
Sounds about right. If, as reported earlier, these two have not been in that house for very long, whoever was occupying it before might be worth tracking down.
Given this happened on Saturday, I am guessing a lot of leg work has already been done.
Occam's Razor says this second Novichok incident is an accidental by product of the first deliberate attack. However you don't have to go very far up the conspiracy scale to see why Putin would do this now during the World Cup. Firstly it's very soft escalation. These are British Citizens now but not ones that will command much tabloid sympathy or empathy. Secondly the World Cup dilemma is more stark as we are in Russia now. Do we boycott which would be imposing cultural and economic sanctions on ourselves ? Or do we not whch is humiliating as we continue to play in a country's World Cup even as a second Chemcal Weapons attack is made on our soil. Thirdly why would Putin do this ? Because he can. The fundamental dynamic of the first attack is unchanged. Trump is still blowing up the Transatlantic alliance and our government is still crippled by Brexit. Occam's Razor says an accident but a more malign explaination is less far fetched than many think. Finger's Crossed.
Christ, think of what it might do to the existing fervid, swollen-headed, flag-waving nationalists.
lol. Fair point.
But then, imagine what such footballing success might do to the more atavistic of your Scotch Nationalist friends. Really. The kind of guys that march on Bannockburn with Saltires and snarls. Luckily, the chances of Scotland ever progressing beyond a thrashing by the Scilly Isles are about 0.0000%, but still.
Imagine.
Decades of football defeat have expunged triumphalism from the Scottish psyche. England otoh always seems to be a rice pudding skin (or penalty shoot out) away from swagger.
The thing is, England DESERVE to swagger, you guys just don't. Sorry. You come from a sometimes very beautiful, if often rather bleak, post-industrial little country which failed to colonise PANAMA. Let that sink in (and I speak as a Cornishman, so I know what insignificance allied with peripheral beauty feels like)
England, a mid sized European country, created the greatest empire in history, made the world speak its own language, invented the industrial revolution, significantly helped to win the most important war in human times, and even now arguably exerts more soft power, per capita, than any country its size.
England will never again rule the world. But the world was ruled by us, and now speaks our language, uses our laws, and - by the by - plays our sports. The English are allowed to brag, just a tad. Though I can see how it irritates the fuck out of inferior or unluckier neighbours, such as the Scotch.
Anyway, soon we will all be ruled by robots and this will ALL be irrelevant.
There were a lot of Scots who played prominent parts in the development of the British Empire and also in the development of the industrial revolution.
Plus also in the enlightenment and in scientific development / technical inventions.
But how many of these great Scots would have amounted to anything if Scotland had remained an impoverished little country at the edge of civilisation ?
Congrats to NPXMP btw, on his new job. We may utterly disagree on most things (esp his small role in the EU Constitution) but hey. A pb-er is a pb-er. Good luck.
Also, I agree on Gove. He has been consistently the most intriguing, intelligent, unexpected and open-minded of ministers since Cameron's win in 2010. He should be at least Home Secretary. Perhaps even PM.
NPXMPX2 will be supporting Sweden on Saturday.
I thought Nick had Danish connections not Swedish ?
Congrats to NPXMP btw, on his new job. We may utterly disagree on most things (esp his small role in the EU Constitution) but hey. A pb-er is a pb-er. Good luck.
Also, I agree on Gove. He has been consistently the most intriguing, intelligent, unexpected and open-minded of ministers since Cameron's win in 2010. He should be at least Home Secretary. Perhaps even PM.
NPXMPX2 will be supporting Sweden on Saturday.
I thought Nick had Danish connections not Swedish ?
He told us he would be supporting Sweden a couple of days ago.
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
I'm afraid this guy is no more representative of remainers than Paul Mason is of leavers.
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
What an utter tit you are Sean!
Ha, ha! Not impressive to be wound-up by SeanT going through the motions. He can do a lot better. But he also has a point: how can anyone be so divorced from reality that they think like that bloke? If England’s young, multicultural, internationalist, patriotic and humble team win the World Cup it will be one of the top five moments of my life. I cannot allow myself to contemplate it too much because it would be too fantastic. This England side is exactly the one I want representing my country. It is what we are: a million miles from the narrow-minded, inward-looking nostalgists and the suspicious xenophobes who have somehow found their way into high office and positions of influence. If we can win with a team like this one, how can it be anything other than utterly magnificent?
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves...Sweden are not the most exciting team, they are kinda of what England have tried to be, but much much better at the defence side of things.
England will have to play their best game of the tournament to beat them.
I think there is a decent chance we lose this one. If they can hold off the initial assault by just parking the bus in defence, we will get sloppy and let one in in the second half.
I would have Sweden as slight favourites. Unlike previous games, for once England have more talent but Sweden haven’t been making mistakes and different players seem to be able to slot into their system with little noticeable difference.
For England to win, alli and sterling have to play incredibly well and stones in particular not make any mistakes.
Or luck falls England's way.
Never underestimate how much luck affects a single match.
Over a full season it tends to equal out but to win the WC you need to get it at the right time.
For example I've never seen a goal quite like Germany's goal in the 1990 semi-final.
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
What an utter tit you are Sean!
He is , he goes from bad to worse .
He just winds everyone up for fun as he recently admitted
And the reason it would rebound is because it would have echoes of the attack on Miliband which invoked a latent anti-Semitism and I think Tezza would want to let Lab own every last drop of charges of anti-Semitism.
Christ, think of what it might do to the existing fervid, swollen-headed, flag-waving nationalists.
lol. Fair point.
But then, imagine what such footballing success might do to the more atavistic of your Scotch Nationalist friends. Really. The kind of guys that march on Bannockburn with Saltires and snarls. Luckily, the chances of Scotland ever progressing beyond a thrashing by the Scilly Isles are about 0.0000%, but still.
Imagine.
Decades of football defeat have expunged triumphalism from the Scottish psyche. England otoh always seems to be a rice pudding skin (or penalty shoot out) away from swagger.
The thing is, England DESERVE to swagger, you guys just don't. Sorry. You come from a sometimes very beautiful, if often rather bleak, post-industrial little country which failed to colonise PANAMA. Let that sink in (and I speak as a Cornishman, so I know what insignificance allied with peripheral beauty feels like)
England, a mid sized European country, created the greatest empire in history, made the world speak its own language, invented the industrial revolution, significantly helped to win the most important war in human times, and even now arguably exerts more soft power, per capita, than any country its size.
England will never again rule the world. But the world was ruled by us, and now speaks our language, uses our laws, and - by the by - plays our sports. The English are allowed to brag, just a tad. Though I can see how it irritates the fuck out of inferior or unluckier neighbours, such as the Scotch.
Anyway, soon we will all be ruled by robots and this will ALL be irrelevant.
Let's hope we Scotch are never reduced to living on past glories and getting current thrills from jizzing over 'inferior or unluckier neighbours'. Indy wouldn't be worth a fig in that case.
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
What an utter tit you are Sean!
Ha, ha! Not impressive to be wound-up by SeanT going through the motions. He can do a lot better. But he also has a point: how can anyone be so divorced from reality that they think like that bloke? If England’s young, multicultural, internationalist, patriotic and humble team win the World Cup it will be one of the top five moments of my life. I cannot allow myself to contemplate it too much because it would be too fantastic. This England side is exactly the one I want representing my country. It is what we are: a million miles from the narrow-minded, inward-looking nostalgists and the suspicious xenophobes who have somehow found their way into high office and positions of influence. If we can win with a team like this one, how can it be anything other than utterly magnificent?
On the pitch (not necessarily off it yet) is one of the most marvelously positive examples of racial harmony to be found in England which gives some of us great happiness and hope for the future.
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
What an utter tit you are Sean!
Ha, ha! Not impressive to be wound-up by SeanT going through the motions. He can do a lot better. But he also has a point: how can anyone be so divorced from reality that they think like that bloke? If England’s young, multicultural, internationalist, patriotic and humble team win the World Cup it will be one of the top five moments of my life. I cannot allow myself to contemplate it too much because it would be too fantastic. This England side is exactly the one I want representing my country. It is what we are: a million miles from the narrow-minded, inward-looking nostalgists and the suspicious xenophobes who have somehow found their way into high office and positions of influence. If we can win with a team like this one, how can it be anything other than utterly magnificent?
I’m not convinced the England team is multicultural in any meaningful way; it is however clearly multiracial. I also like how you assume them to be internationalists with no supporting evidence.
It must greatly diminish one’s life to view even football through a political lense.
Occam's Razor says this second Novichok incident is an accidental by product of the first deliberate attack. However you don't have to go very far up the conspiracy scale to see why Putin would do this now during the World Cup. Firstly it's very soft escalation. These are British Citizens now but not ones that will command much tabloid sympathy or empathy. Secondly the World Cup dilemma is more stark as we are in Russia now. Do we boycott which would be imposing cultural and economic sanctions on ourselves ? Or do we not whch is humiliating as we continue to play in a country's World Cup even as a second Chemcal Weapons attack is made on our soil. Thirdly why would Putin do this ? Because he can. The fundamental dynamic of the first attack is unchanged. Trump is still blowing up the Transatlantic alliance and our government is still crippled by Brexit. Occam's Razor says an accident but a more malign explaination is less far fetched than many think. Finger's Crossed.
Bizarre that two British nationals have now been contaminated with Novichok?
It seems highly highly unlikely they were targeted. Two unemployed drug users doesn’t exactly scream high on the hit list of nation states.
Well given the randomness, it could be a low level of sophistication in nationalistic terrorism, perpetrated by the Russians. If the description of two drug dealers is accurate, how long before two children and their mother are the next victims? The Russians used assorted methods of subversion in the conflicts of Georgia, Crimea in the Ukraine.
I would suspect cock-up rather than conspiracy in this case. Whoever delivered the novichok to Salisbury some months ago would quite likely have had some leftover that they would have wanted to dispose of soon afterwards, with an emphasis in its disposal on it not being traced to them, rather than it being disposed of safely.
Sounds about right. If, as reported earlier, these two have not been in that house for very long, whoever was occupying it before might be worth tracking down.
Given this happened on Saturday, I am guessing a lot of leg work has already been done.
Well, maybe, though they said they only became suspicious of it on Monday - before that they simply thought it was a drug overdose/contaminated batch.
And, unlike with the Litvenenko murder, we haven't heard anything about them tracing the perpetrators.
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
What an utter tit you are Sean!
Ha, ha! Not impressive to be wound-up by SeanT going through the motions. He can do a lot better. But he also has a point: how can anyone be so divorced from reality that they think like that bloke? If England’s young, multicultural, internationalist, patriotic and humble team win the World Cup it will be one of the top five moments of my life. I cannot allow myself to contemplate it too much because it would be too fantastic. This England side is exactly the one I want representing my country. It is what we are: a million miles from the narrow-minded, inward-looking nostalgists and the suspicious xenophobes who have somehow found their way into high office and positions of influence. If we can win with a team like this one, how can it be anything other than utterly magnificent?
I absolutely agree with you - it would be fantastic!
(And you are right, I should just ignore the stupid sodden fuckwit.)
Christ, think of what it might do to the existing fervid, swollen-headed, flag-waving nationalists.
lol. Fair point.
But then, imagine what such footballing success might do to the more atavistic of your Scotch Nationalist friends. Really. The kind of guys that march on Bannockburn with Saltires and snarls. Luckily, the chances of Scotland ever progressing beyond a thrashing by the Scilly Isles are about 0.0000%, but still.
Imagine.
Decades of football defeat have expunged triumphalism from the Scottish psyche. England otoh always seems to be a rice pudding skin (or penalty shoot out) away from swagger.
The thing is, England DESERVE to swagger, you guys just don't. Sorry. You come from a sometimes very beautiful, if often rather bleak, post-industrial little country which failed to colonise PANAMA. Let that sink in (and I speak as a Cornishman, so I know what insignificance allied with peripheral beauty feels like)
England, a mid sized European country, created the greatest empire in history, made the world speak its own language, invented the industrial revolution, significantly helped to win the most important war in human times, and even now arguably exerts more soft power, per capita, than any country its size.
England will never again rule the world. But the world was ruled by us, and now speaks our language, uses our laws, and - by the by - plays our sports. The English are allowed to brag, just a tad. Though I can see how it irritates the fuck out of inferior or unluckier neighbours, such as the Scotch.
Anyway, soon we will all be ruled by robots and this will ALL be irrelevant.
Let's hope we Scotch are never reduced to living on past glories and getting current thrills from jizzing over 'inferior or unluckier neighbours'. Indy wouldn't be worth a fig in that case.
I also think Scots were full partners in the Union at the time. Great thinkers on both sides of the border.
Bizarre that two British nationals have now been contaminated with Novichok?
It seems highly highly unlikely they were targeted. Two unemployed drug users doesn’t exactly scream high on the hit list of nation states.
Well given the randomness, it could be a low level of sophistication in nationalistic terrorism, perpetrated by the Russians. If the description of two drug dealers is accurate, how long before two children and their mother are the next victims? The Russians used assorted methods of subversion in the conflicts of Georgia, Crimea in the Ukraine.
I would suspect cock-up rather than conspiracy in this case. Whoever delivered the novichok to Salisbury some months ago would quite likely have had some leftover that they would have wanted to dispose of soon afterwards, with an emphasis in its disposal on it not being traced to them, rather than it being disposed of safely.
Sounds about right. If, as reported earlier, these two have not been in that house for very long, whoever was occupying it before might be worth tracking down.
Given this happened on Saturday, I am guessing a lot of leg work has already been done.
Well, maybe, though they said they only became suspicious of it on Monday - before that they simply thought it was a drug overdose/contaminated batch.
And, unlike with the Litvenenko murder, we haven't heard anything about them tracing the perpetrators.
This second incident will hopefully provide more leads though.
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves...Sweden are not the most exciting team, they are kinda of what England have tried to be, but much much better at the defence side of things.
England will have to play their best game of the tournament to beat them.
I think there is a decent chance we lose this one. If they can hold off the initial assault by just parking the bus in defence, we will get sloppy and let one in in the second half.
I would have Sweden as slight favourites. Unlike previous games, for once England have more talent but Sweden haven’t been making mistakes and different players seem to be able to slot into their system with little noticeable difference.
For England to win, alli and sterling have to play incredibly well and stones in particular not make any mistakes.
Or luck falls England's way.
Never underestimate how much luck affects a single match.
Over a full season it tends to equal out but to win the WC you need to get it at the right time.
For example I've never seen a goal quite like Germany's goal in the 1990 semi-final.
Very true , that free kick was pure luck from Germany.
Christ, think of what it might do to the existing fervid, swollen-headed, flag-waving nationalists.
lol. Fair point.
But then, imagine what such footballing success might do to the more atavistic of your Scotch Nationalist friends. Really. The kind of guys that march on Bannockburn with Saltires and snarls. Luckily, the chances of Scotland ever progressing beyond a thrashing by the Scilly Isles are about 0.0000%, but still.
Imagine.
Decades of football defeat have expunged triumphalism from the Scottish psyche. England otoh always seems to be a rice pudding skin (or penalty shoot out) away from swagger.
Have you heard 'Football's Coming Home'? England's most iconic* football song? The subtext of which is 'We're always shit - but maybe this time we won't be'. The tune of which is hope tinged with despair. The song is iconic because it captures the mood of the England supporter brilliantly. Swagger is not really England's thing. Though I can see how it would look it from the point of view of a near-neighbour seeing blanket coverage which assumes we all want to join in. (As a republican listening to reporting of the royal wedding I sort of understand).
Football is ridiculous really. No other sport is so good at engendering a feeling of being hard done by. It's because it's low-scoring: almost any match can be reduced to 'if only...'. And the laws don't really discourage cheating. I can't really watch England play; it's too painful. I'd be delighted if they won of course, but seeing them play is torturous. It is hard to swagger when you're watching through your fingers.
*Most iconic, but not best in my view. That honour belongs to 'World in Motion'.
Croatia are the better team but Russia have the crowd with them and playing on home soil. I'm actually not entirely sure which one I'd rather play if we beat Sweden but it might be Croatia... despite their magnificent midfield.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves...Sweden are not the most exciting team, they are kinda of what England have tried to be, but much much better at the defence side of things.
England will have to play their best game of the tournament to beat them.
I think there is a decent chance we lose this one. If they can hold off the initial assault by just parking the bus in defence, we will get sloppy and let one in in the second half.
I would have Sweden as slight favourites. Unlike previous games, for once England have more talent but Sweden haven’t been making mistakes and different players seem to be able to slot into their system with little noticeable difference.
For England to win, alli and sterling have to play incredibly well and stones in particular not make any mistakes.
Or luck falls England's way.
Never underestimate how much luck affects a single match.
Over a full season it tends to equal out but to win the WC you need to get it at the right time.
For example I've never seen a goal quite like Germany's goal in the 1990 semi-final.
538 took a look at Germany-Korea. Germany had an extraordinary number of shots to remain goalless in that match.
Christ, think of what it might do to the existing fervid, swollen-headed, flag-waving nationalists.
lol. Fair point.
But then, imagine what such footballing success might do to the more atavistic of your Scotch Nationalist friends. Really. The kind of guys that march on Bannockburn with Saltires and snarls. Luckily, the chances of Scotland ever progressing beyond a thrashing by the Scilly Isles are about 0.0000%, but still.
Imagine.
Decades of football defeat have expunged triumphalism from the Scottish psyche. England otoh always seems to be a rice pudding skin (or penalty shoot out) away from swagger.
The thing is, England DESERVE to swagger, you guys just don't. Sorry. You come from a sometimes very beautiful, if often rather bleak, post-industrial little country which failed to colonise PANAMA. Let that sink in (and I speak as a Cornishman, so I know what insignificance allied with peripheral beauty feels like)
England, a mid sized European country, created the greatest empire in history, made the world speak its own language, invented the industrial revolution, significantly helped to win the most important war in human times, and even now arguably exerts more soft power, per capita, than any country its size.
England will never again rule the world. But the world was ruled by us, and now speaks our language, uses our laws, and - by the by - plays our sports. The English are allowed to brag, just a tad. Though I can see how it irritates the fuck out of inferior or unluckier neighbours, such as the Scotch.
Anyway, soon we will all be ruled by robots and this will ALL be irrelevant.
Let's hope we Scotch are never reduced to living on past glories and getting current thrills from jizzing over 'inferior or unluckier neighbours'. Indy wouldn't be worth a fig in that case.
To be fair England was a minor European power pre act of union. It was the British empire and Scots were some of the biggest imperialists. You might say it was a joint effort by the British Isles.
And the Scots did event the wonderful sport of curling!
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
What an utter tit you are Sean!
Ha, ha! Not impressive to be wound-up by SeanT going through the motions. He can do a lot better. But he also has a point: how can anyone be so divorced from reality that they think like that bloke? If England’s young, multicultural, internationalist, patriotic and humble team win the World Cup it will be one of the top five moments of my life. I cannot allow myself to contemplate it too much because it would be too fantastic. This England side is exactly the one I want representing my country. It is what we are: a million miles from the narrow-minded, inward-looking nostalgists and the suspicious xenophobes who have somehow found their way into high office and positions of influence. If we can win with a team like this one, how can it be anything other than utterly magnificent?
I absolutely agree with you - it would be fantastic!
(And you are right, I should just ignore the stupid sodden fuckwit.)
You would be best just to say you will ignore him - no need to go further
Bizarre that two British nationals have now been contaminated with Novichok?
It seems highly highly unlikely they were targeted. Two unemployed drug users doesn’t exactly scream high on the hit list of nation states.
Well given the randomness, it could be a low level of sophistication in nationalistic terrorism, perpetrated by the Russians. If the description of two drug dealers is accurate, how long before two children and their mother are the next victims? The Russians used assorted methods of subversion in the conflicts of Georgia, Crimea in the Ukraine.
I would suspect cock-up rather than conspiracy in this case. Whoever delivered the novichok to Salisbury some months ago would quite likely have had some leftover that they would have wanted to dispose of soon afterwards, with an emphasis in its disposal on it not being traced to them, rather than it being disposed of safely.
Sounds about right. If, as reported earlier, these two have not been in that house for very long, whoever was occupying it before might be worth tracking down.
Given this happened on Saturday, I am guessing a lot of leg work has already been done.
Well, maybe, though they said they only became suspicious of it on Monday - before that they simply thought it was a drug overdose/contaminated batch.
And, unlike with the Litvenenko murder, we haven't heard anything about them tracing the perpetrators.
This second incident will hopefully provide more leads though.
It should produce more leads, indeed the hope is it will help to identify the culprits
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
What an utter tit you are Sean!
Ha, ha! Not impressive to be wound-up by SeanT going through the motions. He can do a lot better. But he also has a point: how can anyone be so divorced from reality that they think like that bloke? If England’s young, multicultural, internationalist, patriotic and humble team win the World Cup it will be one of the top five moments of my life. I cannot allow myself to contemplate it too much because it would be too fantastic. This England side is exactly the one I want representing my country. It is what we are: a million miles from the narrow-minded, inward-looking nostalgists and the suspicious xenophobes who have somehow found their way into high office and positions of influence. If we can win with a team like this one, how can it be anything other than utterly magnificent?
I absolutely agree with you - it would be fantastic!
(And you are right, I should just ignore the stupid sodden fuckwit.)
You would be best just to say you will ignore him - no need to go further
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
What an utter tit you are Sean!
Ha, ha! Not impressive to be wound-up by SeanT going through the motions. He can do a lot better. But he also has a point: how can anyone be so divorced from reality that they think like that bloke? If England’s young, multicultural, internationalist, patriotic and humble team win the World Cup it will be one of the top five moments of my life. I cannot allow myself to contemplate it too much because it would be too fantastic. This England side is exactly the one I want representing my country. It is what we are: a million miles from the narrow-minded, inward-looking nostalgists and the suspicious xenophobes who have somehow found their way into high office and positions of influence. If we can win with a team like this one, how can it be anything other than utterly magnificent?
I absolutely agree with you - it would be fantastic!
(And you are right, I should just ignore the stupid sodden fuckwit.)
You would be best just to say you will ignore him - no need to go further
Nah Big G. He's a fuckwit. But he has the grace to know it.
Christ, think of what it might do to the existing fervid, swollen-headed, flag-waving nationalists.
lol. Fair point.
But then, imagine what such footballing success might do to the more atavistic of your Scotch Nationalist friends. Really. The kind of guys that march on Bannockburn with Saltires and snarls. Luckily, the chances of Scotland ever progressing beyond a thrashing by the Scilly Isles are about 0.0000%, but still.
Imagine.
Decades of football defeat have expunged triumphalism from the Scottish psyche. England otoh always seems to be a rice pudding skin (or penalty shoot out) away from swagger.
The thing is, England DESERVE to swagger, you guys just don't. Sorry. You come from a sometimes very beautiful, if often rather bleak, post-industrial little country which failed to colonise PANAMA. Let that sink in (and I speak as a Cornishman, so I know what insignificance allied with peripheral beauty feels like)
England, a mid sized European country, created the greatest empire in history, made the world speak its own language, invented the industrial revolution, significantly helped to win the most important war in human times, and even now arguably exerts more soft power, per capita, than any country its size.
England will never again rule the world. But the world was ruled by us, and now speaks our language, uses our laws, and - by the by - plays our sports. The English are allowed to brag, just a tad. Though I can see how it irritates the fuck out of inferior or unluckier neighbours, such as the Scotch.
Anyway, soon we will all be ruled by robots and this will ALL be irrelevant.
Let's hope we Scotch are never reduced to living on past glories and getting current thrills from jizzing over 'inferior or unluckier neighbours'. Indy wouldn't be worth a fig in that case.
To be fair England was a minor European power pre act of union. It was the British empire and Scots were some of the biggest imperialists. You might say it was a joint effort by the British Isles.
And the Scots did event the wonderful sport of curling!
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
What an utter tit you are Sean!
Ha, ha! Not impressive to be wound-up by SeanT going through the motions. He can do a lot better. But he also has a point: how can anyone be so divorced from reality that they think like that bloke? If England’s young, multicultural, internationalist, patriotic and humble team win the World Cup it will be one of the top five moments of my life. I cannot allow myself to contemplate it too much because it would be too fantastic. This England side is exactly the one I want representing my country. It is what we are: a million miles from the narrow-minded, inward-looking nostalgists and the suspicious xenophobes who have somehow found their way into high office and positions of influence. If we can win with a team like this one, how can it be anything other than utterly magnificent?
I absolutely agree with you - it would be fantastic!
(And you are right, I should just ignore the stupid sodden fuckwit.)
You would be best just to say you will ignore him - no need to go further
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup. I was to young to remember 66. Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out. Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
That's your side, that is. That's the kind of people you Remainers are. Traitors is too kind a word for you guys, so I won't use it, with respect to OGH. But don't get me wrong, I am very tempted to call you all TRAITORS but it goes a tad too far. So I shall resist the TRAITOR comparison.
What an utter tit you are Sean!
Ha, ha! Not impressive to be wound-up by SeanT going through the motions. He can do a lot better. But he also has a point: how can anyone be so divorced from reality that they think like that bloke? If England’s young, multicultural, internationalist, patriotic and humble team win the World Cup it will be one of the top five moments of my life. I cannot allow myself to contemplate it too much because it would be too fantastic. This England side is exactly the one I want representing my country. It is what we are: a million miles from the narrow-minded, inward-looking nostalgists and the suspicious xenophobes who have somehow found their way into high office and positions of influence. If we can win with a team like this one, how can it be anything other than utterly magnificent?
I absolutely agree with you - it would be fantastic!
(And you are right, I should just ignore the stupid sodden fuckwit.)
You would be best just to say you will ignore him - no need to go further
Comments
you just couldn't make remainers up
I will do a Kevin Keegan , I would love it if England won the world cup.
I was to young to remember 66.
Shed a tear last last night , when we at last won a penalty shoot out.
Just because some twat does a tweet , you make that assumption .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvDMlk3kSYg
might not be the same batch.
You are a disgrace abusing your own citizens on am assumption from some no mark tweet.
This is reminiscent of religious fanaticism. They know they're right. Whatever.
It's contagious. exempli gratia Trump supporters.
I imagine the vast majority will just enjoy the games and pay little attention to political point scoring related to it other than those who already care.
England otoh always seems to be a rice pudding skin (or penalty shoot out) away from swagger.
http://www.itv.com/news/2018-07-04/anti-terror-police-join-probe-after-couple-taken-ill-near-site-of-spy-poisoning/
Is Salisbury the home of the deep establishment?
https://twitter.com/PA/status/1014611469894287366
England will have to play their best game of the tournament to beat them.
Though English club teams still continue to have an excellent record whilst Scottish ones are now as embarrassing as their national team.
You no longer get top Scottish players in large numbers at the top English clubs as in the days when Leeds, Liverpool, Forest and MU dominated European competitions.
Taking nothing for granted, Sweden have always given us a tough game, feel like I've mostly watched us draw against them previously, I'd be delighted with a 1-0 win scraped at the last second. I'd be shocked if it is anything but a tough game.
Unless they were living a double life - Unemployed drug users by day. KGB spies and operatives by night...
Looking at them though you wouldn't exactly have them down as Branjelina would you?
The only good news it that this may well give the police a useful new line of enquiry for determining the movements of the person who carried out the initial attack.
For England to win, alli and sterling have to play incredibly well and stones in particular not make any mistakes.
Aberdeenshire
Angus
Perthshire
Fife
Lancashire
Staffordshire
Cambridgeshire
Kent
Other minor points of interest was that there four sources of British blackberries and Cornwall made an appearance providing blueberries.
No evidence yet of the talked about lettuce shortage either.
But probably better than it ending up in the (protected) hands of someone who would like to knock off a few people.
England are quite capable of playing much better than thay have to date. Who knows whether they will though - unpredictability is what makes football such a great sport.
Fingers-crossed though, we should do it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/44694122
However their defender (Vida) has the worst World Cup haircut*, on that grounds alone they should go home!
*Trippier is a close second.
' A Qatari venture has secured approval for the redevelopment of Elephant & Castle’s major shopping centre.
The collaboration between Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management NV and property development company Delancey, which was brought by the Qatar ruling family in 2011, hopes to build 1,000 new homes as well as restaurants, bars, shops and a new university campus on the site. '
http://www.cityam.com/288690/qatari-venture-wins-approval-develop-elephant-castle
' A £300m plan to transform London’s Royal Docks has been given the green light today, in a move that will boost east London's business ambitions.
The investment will go towards bolstering Newham’s Royal Docks, which has fallen behind London’s other waterside projects due in large part to its relative remoteness. '
http://www.cityam.com/288319/full-steam-ahead-royal-docks-regeneration-plan
' European fund manager DWS, formerly known as Deutshe Bank Asset Management, has bought an office project in Stratford’s International Quarter London (IQL) for £240m.
The 278,000 square feet (sq ft) building is part of a £2.4bn mixed use development site which has already pre-let over one million sq ft of office space.
The property, which will be constructed by the end of next year, was sold by Lendlease and LCR who run the site in a joint venture development. '
http://www.cityam.com/288146/stratford-office-projects-sold-dws-gbp240m
No doubt we will be engaged in another dispute with Russia - all we need is for a World Cup semi final match to pour fuel on the flames. The English fans seem to be getting on OK with their Russian hosts so far.
Plus also in the enlightenment and in scientific development / technical inventions.
But how many of these great Scots would have amounted to anything if Scotland had remained an impoverished little country at the edge of civilisation ?
Look at today. One MP set up an attack for May by saying that Jezza would not attend Armed Forces Day next year and she completely ignored it.
Never underestimate how much luck affects a single match.
Over a full season it tends to equal out but to win the WC you need to get it at the right time.
For example I've never seen a goal quite like Germany's goal in the 1990 semi-final.
It must greatly diminish one’s life to view even football through a political lense.
And, unlike with the Litvenenko murder, we haven't heard anything about them tracing the perpetrators.
(And you are right, I should just ignore the stupid sodden fuckwit.)
England deserve a bit of luck in a WC.
Could be an England Belgium final.
Have you heard 'Football's Coming Home'? England's most iconic* football song? The subtext of which is 'We're always shit - but maybe this time we won't be'. The tune of which is hope tinged with despair. The song is iconic because it captures the mood of the England supporter brilliantly. Swagger is not really England's thing. Though I can see how it would look it from the point of view of a near-neighbour seeing blanket coverage which assumes we all want to join in. (As a republican listening to reporting of the royal wedding I sort of understand).
Football is ridiculous really. No other sport is so good at engendering a feeling of being hard done by. It's because it's low-scoring: almost any match can be reduced to 'if only...'. And the laws don't really discourage cheating. I can't really watch England play; it's too painful. I'd be delighted if they won of course, but seeing them play is torturous. It is hard to swagger when you're watching through your fingers.
*Most iconic, but not best in my view. That honour belongs to 'World in Motion'.
And the Scots did event the wonderful sport of curling!