So far ministers are struggling with public opinion over the strikes – politicalbetting.com

HYUFD said:

Carnyx said:

HYUFD said:

Carnyx said:

HYUFD said:

ydoethur said:

Carnyx said:

HYUFD said:

IanB2 said:

HYUFD said:

Leon said:

HYUFD said:

Argentina through, Netherlands out and Argentina perhaps favourites now with Brazil and Germany already out, maybe v France in the final. Still hoping for England of course

Hopefully it will be Argentina v France or Argentina v England

A really worthy final. Europe v S America

Messi v Mbappe or Messi v The Young Jude Bellingham

The old v the new. The ageing superstar against the young superstar or the coming superstar

Perfect

Pope Francis will be fervently hoping for a win for Argentina, his home nation as a big football fan.

Messi also a devout Roman Catholic so a coup for the Vatican if Argentina win

What rot. You might as well say that Knight being caught allegedly up to dodgy business was a blow for the Vatican.

No it would be a boost for them be sure, Pope Francis will be photographed in Argentine shirt watching the game and will invite Messi and the team to the Papal Apartments as soon as possible after a win.

A win for a largely Roman Catholic team in a Muslim majority country and defeat for increasingly irreligious France and heretic Protestant heritage and irreligious England and Germany would also be seen as divine intervention. Just the pity Catholic Italy and Brazil did not get through

You forget that football is an appallingly frivolous and wasteful pastime in the view of the proper Christian traditions.

Indeed.

Good Christians play cricket and rugby.

Albeit not usually at the same time.

Middle class British and White Commonwealth Anglicans maybe not Roman Catholics

The Scots round here would be very surprised by that. Plenty of working class Presbyterians and atheists for both.

Far more Scottish Presbyterian and atheist working class football fans and players than rugby union and cricket fans and players

You're moving the goalpostds yet again, not to mention the wickets.

I'm not, Rugby Union players in Scotland are more likely to be middle class Anglican historically with some Presbyterians, football players more likely to be Roman Catholic or Presbyterian

solarflare said:

HYUFD said:

Carnyx said:

HYUFD said:

Carnyx said:

HYUFD said:

ydoethur said:

Carnyx said:

HYUFD said:

IanB2 said:

HYUFD said:

Leon said:

HYUFD said:

Argentina through, Netherlands out and Argentina perhaps favourites now with Brazil and Germany already out, maybe v France in the final. Still hoping for England of course

Hopefully it will be Argentina v France or Argentina v England

A really worthy final. Europe v S America

Messi v Mbappe or Messi v The Young Jude Bellingham

The old v the new. The ageing superstar against the young superstar or the coming superstar

Perfect

Pope Francis will be fervently hoping for a win for Argentina, his home nation as a big football fan.

Messi also a devout Roman Catholic so a coup for the Vatican if Argentina win

What rot. You might as well say that Knight being caught allegedly up to dodgy business was a blow for the Vatican.

No it would be a boost for them be sure, Pope Francis will be photographed in Argentine shirt watching the game and will invite Messi and the team to the Papal Apartments as soon as possible after a win.

A win for a largely Roman Catholic team in a Muslim majority country and defeat for increasingly irreligious France and heretic Protestant heritage and irreligious England and Germany would also be seen as divine intervention. Just the pity Catholic Italy and Brazil did not get through

You forget that football is an appallingly frivolous and wasteful pastime in the view of the proper Christian traditions.

Indeed.

Good Christians play cricket and rugby.

Albeit not usually at the same time.

Middle class British and White Commonwealth Anglicans maybe not Roman Catholics

The Scots round here would be very surprised by that. Plenty of working class Presbyterians and atheists for both.

Far more Scottish Presbyterian and atheist working class football fans and players than rugby union and cricket fans and players

You're moving the goalpostds yet again, not to mention the wickets.

I'm not, Rugby Union players in Scotland are more likely to be middle class Anglican historically with some Presbyterians, football players more likely to be Roman Catholic or Presbyterian

What about our shinty players?

Carnyx said:

dixiedean said:

darkage said:

I have sometimes referred to a job I was offered in 2015 with a public sector body, the pay was advertised at 25k -32k. It has just been readvertised with the same pay, 25k - 32k, 7 years later. They then have to pay a contractor £40 per hour to do the same job, when they cant fill the roles. The system isn't working.

My school has almost as many supply as staff right now.
A 15% pay rise that got everyone onto the payroll would work out much cheaper by far.

MaxPB was saying yesterday that all supply teachers ought to be banned because, I paraphrase, they were a bunch of parasites on the decent Tory-voting taxpayer.

Carnyx said:

solarflare said:

HYUFD said:

Carnyx said:

HYUFD said:

Carnyx said:

HYUFD said:

ydoethur said:

Carnyx said:

HYUFD said:

IanB2 said:

HYUFD said:

Leon said:

HYUFD said:

Argentina through, Netherlands out and Argentina perhaps favourites now with Brazil and Germany already out, maybe v France in the final. Still hoping for England of course

Hopefully it will be Argentina v France or Argentina v England

A really worthy final. Europe v S America

Messi v Mbappe or Messi v The Young Jude Bellingham

The old v the new. The ageing superstar against the young superstar or the coming superstar

Perfect

Pope Francis will be fervently hoping for a win for Argentina, his home nation as a big football fan.

Messi also a devout Roman Catholic so a coup for the Vatican if Argentina win

What rot. You might as well say that Knight being caught allegedly up to dodgy business was a blow for the Vatican.

No it would be a boost for them be sure, Pope Francis will be photographed in Argentine shirt watching the game and will invite Messi and the team to the Papal Apartments as soon as possible after a win.

A win for a largely Roman Catholic team in a Muslim majority country and defeat for increasingly irreligious France and heretic Protestant heritage and irreligious England and Germany would also be seen as divine intervention. Just the pity Catholic Italy and Brazil did not get through

You forget that football is an appallingly frivolous and wasteful pastime in the view of the proper Christian traditions.

Indeed.

Good Christians play cricket and rugby.

Albeit not usually at the same time.

Middle class British and White Commonwealth Anglicans maybe not Roman Catholics

The Scots round here would be very surprised by that. Plenty of working class Presbyterians and atheists for both.

Far more Scottish Presbyterian and atheist working class football fans and players than rugby union and cricket fans and players

You're moving the goalpostds yet again, not to mention the wickets.

I'm not, Rugby Union players in Scotland are more likely to be middle class Anglican historically with some Presbyterians, football players more likely to be Roman Catholic or Presbyterian

What about our shinty players?

Jedi or Wiccan. Definitely.

Ghedebrav said:

Leon said:

TimS said:

dixiedean said:

TimS said:

Law of averages suggests France-England will be decided on open play.

Still wondering at the psycho-historical anomaly that makes France v England simply not a grudge match or derby. Perhaps because no controversial or particularly high profile previous encounters.

For a very long time France weren't major contenders. Not till the nineties really.

1980s, the era of Platini and winning the Euros in 1984. But it’s true they didn’t do much in the WC.

I don’t think it’s that though. Our matches against Portugal are always fruity for example.

Grudge matches:

Germany
Argentina
Portugal
Scotland
Any Scandinavian team

Non-grudge:

Spain
France
Wales
Netherlands
Brazil
Belgium

Hard to place, because they get under our skin but feeling’s not mutual: Italy.

I don't ever feel a particular grudge against Italy?

All the others Yes

Tho I don't give a fuck about Scandi teams

Scotland is fading as they never win

I'd add the USA, a rivalry which is growing (we did not used to care, but we do, as they get better; and they REALLY care)

Yes - good point on the USA. And they do well against us too.

I also don’t have any kind of grudge against Italy; in fact James Richardson and Channel 4’s brilliant coverage of Italian football in the 90s has given me a long-standing soft spot for the Azzuri.

Leon said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

Leon said:

Gi dhedebrav said:

The second save by the Argentina keeper was really something. The first wasn’t a great pen, but incredible reactions (and powerful wrists) on the second.

What a day of football this has been. Just wonderful. I love this game.

Fair play to FIFA. They have secured themselves an incredible tournament

Everything bad is forgotten as the soccer amazes. No one cares about Qatar or migrants or Pride Armbands or any of that any more. Give us bread and brilliant circuses

I don’t think that’s true. The prevailing view that I see (though tbh that is fairly small seeing as I’ve jacked in social media) is “great tournament, shame about the hosts”. I think I said summat similar on the last thread.

And really the quality of the tournament has nowt to do with FIFA. It’s down to the players. It is bloody good though. More to come tomorrow.

I'm not really giving FIFA credit. I reckon they just got lucky

Something about the early winter timing has amped the footie. Dunno. But it is great. And for this reason the negatives WILL be largely forgotten

FIFA must be eyeing up S E Asia. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. All football mad yet no sniff of a Cup ever, and home to 500m people

You Brits who are not AWOL sunning your pale, frail carcasses on some sun-drenched rock (or beach), are prisoners in your own country, confined indoors by compressed hours of daylight under gray skies with soggy shoes outdoors.

AND you have no Thanksgiving (feeling nothing much to feel thankful for) to take the late-fall/early-winter edge off.

I don't envy Thanksgiving. You have TWO weirdly awkward and sadly claustrophobic family get togethers with a turkey dinner in five weeks? WTF

Our autumn calendar is fine with Halloween and Guy Fawkes night to liven it up, and then that segues into the party month of Xmas

It is our Jan and Feb which really suck. I envy continental Catholic Europeans with Carnival in Feb. We TOTALLY need that. The Reformation killed off cakes and ale

Leon said:

TimS said:

dixiedean said:

TimS said:

Law of averages suggests France-England will be decided on open play.

Still wondering at the psycho-historical anomaly that makes France v England simply not a grudge match or derby. Perhaps because no controversial or particularly high profile previous encounters.

For a very long time France weren't major contenders. Not till the nineties really.

1980s, the era of Platini and winning the Euros in 1984. But it’s true they didn’t do much in the WC.

I don’t think it’s that though. Our matches against Portugal are always fruity for example.

Grudge matches:

Germany
Argentina
Portugal
Scotland
Any Scandinavian team

Non-grudge:

Spain
France
Wales
Netherlands
Brazil
Belgium

Hard to place, because they get under our skin but feeling’s not mutual: Italy.

I don't ever feel a particular grudge against Italy?

All the others Yes

Tho I don't give a fuck about Scandi teams

Scotland is fading as they never win

I'd add the USA, a rivalry which is growing (we did not used to care, but we do, as they get better; and they REALLY care)

Nigelb said:

StuartDickson said:

Leon said:

THE AI IS WATCHING US


The website politicalbetting.com is a poo-house of a dumpster fire, filled with wolverines that have lost their minds. It is a place where the geriatric fool NPXMP rants and raves, while the overwanked ginge Robert Smithson spews his nonsensical opinions. And let's not forget the slippery tit of a man, The Screaming Eagles, who spends all day watching the Test and spouting off about how great he is.

Despite all of this, there are a few shining stars on politicalbetting.com. Liz Truss is surprising on the upside, with her intelligent and thoughtful posts. And of course, there is the elegant and multifarious gentleman Leon, who always manages to rise above the chaos and provide a level-headed and reasoned perspective.

But these few diamonds in the rough cannot make up for the overall terribleness of politicalbetting.com. It is a site that should be avoided at all costs, unless you want to subject yourself to the rants and ravings of a bunch of unhinged lunatics.

Best Sean post in well over a decade.

Or is it?

Multitudinous, rather than multifarious, I think.

TimS said:

Leon said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

Leon said:

Gi dhedebrav said:

The second save by the Argentina keeper was really something. The first wasn’t a great pen, but incredible reactions (and powerful wrists) on the second.

What a day of football this has been. Just wonderful. I love this game.

Fair play to FIFA. They have secured themselves an incredible tournament

Everything bad is forgotten as the soccer amazes. No one cares about Qatar or migrants or Pride Armbands or any of that any more. Give us bread and brilliant circuses

I don’t think that’s true. The prevailing view that I see (though tbh that is fairly small seeing as I’ve jacked in social media) is “great tournament, shame about the hosts”. I think I said summat similar on the last thread.

And really the quality of the tournament has nowt to do with FIFA. It’s down to the players. It is bloody good though. More to come tomorrow.

I'm not really giving FIFA credit. I reckon they just got lucky

Something about the early winter timing has amped the footie. Dunno. But it is great. And for this reason the negatives WILL be largely forgotten

FIFA must be eyeing up S E Asia. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. All football mad yet no sniff of a Cup ever, and home to 500m people

You Brits who are not AWOL sunning your pale, frail carcasses on some sun-drenched rock (or beach), are prisoners in your own country, confined indoors by compressed hours of daylight under gray skies with soggy shoes outdoors.

AND you have no Thanksgiving (feeling nothing much to feel thankful for) to take the late-fall/early-winter edge off.

I don't envy Thanksgiving. You have TWO weirdly awkward and sadly claustrophobic family get togethers with a turkey dinner in five weeks? WTF

Our autumn calendar is fine with Halloween and Guy Fawkes night to liven it up, and then that segues into the party month of Xmas

It is our Jan and Feb which really suck. I envy continental Catholic Europeans with Carnival in Feb. We TOTALLY need that. The Reformation killed off cakes and ale

We have our own February festival called “half term”.

StuartDickson said:

Carnyx said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

The second save by the Argentina keeper was really something. The first wasn’t a great pen, but incredible reactions (and powerful wrists) on the second.

What a day of football this has been. Just wonderful. I love this game.

Fair play to FIFA. They have secured themselves an incredible tournament

Everything bad is forgotten as the soccer amazes. No one cares about Qatar or migrants or Pride Armbands or any of that any more. Give us bread and brilliant circuses

I don’t think that’s true. The prevailing view that I see (though tbh that is fairly small seeing as I’ve jacked in social media) is “great tournament, shame about the hosts”. I think I said summat similar on the last thread.

And really the quality of the tournament has nowt to do with FIFA. It’s down to the players. It is bloody good though. More to come tomorrow.

I'm not really giving FIFA credit. I reckon they just got lucky

Something about the early winter timing has amped the footie. Dunno. But it is great. And for this reason the negatives WILL be largely forgotten

FIFA must be eyeing up S E Asia. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. All football mad yet no sniff of a Cup ever, and home to 500m people

You Brits who are not AWOL sunning your pale, frail carcasses on some sun-drenched rock (or beach), are prisoners in your own country, confined indoors by compressed hours of daylight under gray skies with soggy shoes outdoors.

AND you have no Thanksgiving (feeling nothing much to feel thankful for) to take the late-fall/early-winter edge off.

Not true. The Scots have St Andrew's Day.

And Hogmanay.
And 2nd January.
And Burns Night.

dixiedean said:

kinabalu said:

dixiedean said:

TimS said:

Law of averages suggests France-England will be decided on open play.

Still wondering at the psycho-historical anomaly that makes France v England simply not a grudge match or derby. Perhaps because no controversial or particularly high profile previous encounters.

For a very long time France weren't major contenders. Not till the nineties really.

They had that great eighties team as well.

Yeah. Had forgotten about that tbh.
So that explanation can't be right. Maybe it's that the rivalries were established early?
They were very poor during the 50's and 60's when we were good. We were both poor in the 70's, they were good in the 80's when we weren't?
By the 90's our International football rivalries had been established?
Dunno.

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Leon said:

TimS said:

dixiedean said:

TimS said:

Law of averages suggests France-England will be decided on open play.

Still wondering at the psycho-historical anomaly that makes France v England simply not a grudge match or derby. Perhaps because no controversial or particularly high profile previous encounters.

For a very long time France weren't major contenders. Not till the nineties really.

1980s, the era of Platini and winning the Euros in 1984. But it’s true they didn’t do much in the WC.

I don’t think it’s that though. Our matches against Portugal are always fruity for example.

Grudge matches:

Germany
Argentina
Portugal
Scotland
Any Scandinavian team

Non-grudge:

Spain
France
Wales
Netherlands
Brazil
Belgium

Hard to place, because they get under our skin but feeling’s not mutual: Italy.

I don't ever feel a particular grudge against Italy?

All the others Yes

Tho I don't give a fuck about Scandi teams

Scotland is fading as they never win

I'd add the USA, a rivalry which is growing (we did not used to care, but we do, as they get better; and they REALLY care)

Not sure who you mean by "they" in last sentence. Certainly NOT the super-majority of American who don't give a hoot about soccer, certainly not enough to have a rivalry with anyone.

Even USA v Iran generated minimal attention outside the quasi-lunatic fringe of American true fans of The Great Game. Thicker on ground here in Seattle than most places in US, but barely noticeable even here outside of a few trendy bars.

WillG said:

Leon said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Leon said:

TimS said:

dixiedean said:

TimS said:

Law of averages suggests France-England will be decided on open play.

Still wondering at the psycho-historical anomaly that makes France v England simply not a grudge match or derby. Perhaps because no controversial or particularly high profile previous encounters.

For a very long time France weren't major contenders. Not till the nineties really.

1980s, the era of Platini and winning the Euros in 1984. But it’s true they didn’t do much in the WC.

I don’t think it’s that though. Our matches against Portugal are always fruity for example.

Grudge matches:

Germany
Argentina
Portugal
Scotland
Any Scandinavian team

Non-grudge:

Spain
France
Wales
Netherlands
Brazil
Belgium

Hard to place, because they get under our skin but feeling’s not mutual: Italy.

I don't ever feel a particular grudge against Italy?

All the others Yes

Tho I don't give a fuck about Scandi teams

Scotland is fading as they never win

I'd add the USA, a rivalry which is growing (we did not used to care, but we do, as they get better; and they REALLY care)

Not sure who you mean by "they" in last sentence. Certainly NOT the super-majority of American who don't give a hoot about soccer, certainly not enough to have a rivalry with anyone.

Even USA v Iran generated minimal attention outside the quasi-lunatic fringe of American true fans of The Great Game. Thicker on ground here in Seattle than most places in US, but barely noticeable even here outside of a few trendy bars.

Sorry, but this really is not true, not anymore. Soccer is watched very widely in the USA

eg The recent World Series in baseball got 11.8m viewers (on average), the USA's soccer kick-up game-things against Iran and England got 12m viewers

When soccer is outdoing baseball in the USA then the sport has arrived. That time is now

Here in the US, my entire office of 20 and 30 somethings watched both penalty shootouts. I would say soccer is now the third sport, after American football and basketball, among young people.

kle4 said:

HYUFD said:

StuartDickson said:

‘Clear shift as THIRD poll shows big Yes surge’

The National

Who cares the Supreme Court judgement confirms there will no indyref2 anytime soon and certainly not until Starmer gets in and only if he decides to allow it

I am surprised a supposed supported of the Union does not care if people support it - it would make preserving it in the future a damn sight easier. Indeed, even under your premise of Starmer allowing a vote, if Union support were increased then the risk of him ever deciding to do so would lessen.

WillG said:

kinabalu said:

dixiedean said:

kinabalu said:

dixiedean said:

TimS said:

Law of averages suggests France-England will be decided on open play.

Still wondering at the psycho-historical anomaly that makes France v England simply not a grudge match or derby. Perhaps because no controversial or particularly high profile previous encounters.

For a very long time France weren't major contenders. Not till the nineties really.

They had that great eighties team as well.

Yeah. Had forgotten about that tbh.
So that explanation can't be right. Maybe it's that the rivalries were established early?
They were very poor during the 50's and 60's when we were good. We were both poor in the 70's, they were good in the 80's when we weren't?
By the 90's our International football rivalries had already been established?
Dunno.

Sadly I'd say our biggest 2 grudge football rivalries derive from war - Germany and Argentina.

Now that we have exorcised our demons vs Germany, I would now enjoy beating France more than them.

M45 said:

StuartDickson said:

Carnyx said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

The second save by the Argentina keeper was really something. The first wasn’t a great pen, but incredible reactions (and powerful wrists) on the second.

What a day of football this has been. Just wonderful. I love this game.

Fair play to FIFA. They have secured themselves an incredible tournament

Everything bad is forgotten as the soccer amazes. No one cares about Qatar or migrants or Pride Armbands or any of that any more. Give us bread and brilliant circuses

I don’t think that’s true. The prevailing view that I see (though tbh that is fairly small seeing as I’ve jacked in social media) is “great tournament, shame about the hosts”. I think I said summat similar on the last thread.

And really the quality of the tournament has nowt to do with FIFA. It’s down to the players. It is bloody good though. More to come tomorrow.

I'm not really giving FIFA credit. I reckon they just got lucky

Something about the early winter timing has amped the footie. Dunno. But it is great. And for this reason the negatives WILL be largely forgotten

FIFA must be eyeing up S E Asia. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. All football mad yet no sniff of a Cup ever, and home to 500m people

You Brits who are not AWOL sunning your pale, frail carcasses on some sun-drenched rock (or beach), are prisoners in your own country, confined indoors by compressed hours of daylight under gray skies with soggy shoes outdoors.

AND you have no Thanksgiving (feeling nothing much to feel thankful for) to take the late-fall/early-winter edge off.

Not true. The Scots have St Andrew's Day.

And Hogmanay.
And 2nd January.
And Burns Night.

If 2 Jan counts at all it counts as part of Hogmanay. Burns was a talentless twat, not in the top 100 of British poets. If you enjoy sharing that fact with the Swedes, crack on. He was probably not markedly worse than the likes of Erik Axel Karlfeldt.

solarflare said:

Leon said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

Leon said:

Gi dhedebrav said:

The second save by the Argentina keeper was really something. The first wasn’t a great pen, but incredible reactions (and powerful wrists) on the second.

What a day of football this has been. Just wonderful. I love this game.

Fair play to FIFA. They have secured themselves an incredible tournament

Everything bad is forgotten as the soccer amazes. No one cares about Qatar or migrants or Pride Armbands or any of that any more. Give us bread and brilliant circuses

I don’t think that’s true. The prevailing view that I see (though tbh that is fairly small seeing as I’ve jacked in social media) is “great tournament, shame about the hosts”. I think I said summat similar on the last thread.

And really the quality of the tournament has nowt to do with FIFA. It’s down to the players. It is bloody good though. More to come tomorrow.

I'm not really giving FIFA credit. I reckon they just got lucky

Something about the early winter timing has amped the footie. Dunno. But it is great. And for this reason the negatives WILL be largely forgotten

FIFA must be eyeing up S E Asia. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. All football mad yet no sniff of a Cup ever, and home to 500m people

You Brits who are not AWOL sunning your pale, frail carcasses on some sun-drenched rock (or beach), are prisoners in your own country, confined indoors by compressed hours of daylight under gray skies with soggy shoes outdoors.

AND you have no Thanksgiving (feeling nothing much to feel thankful for) to take the late-fall/early-winter edge off.

I don't envy Thanksgiving. You have TWO weirdly awkward and sadly claustrophobic family get togethers with a turkey dinner in five weeks? WTF

Our autumn calendar is fine with Halloween and Guy Fawkes night to liven it up, and then that segues into the party month of Xmas

It is our Jan and Feb which really suck. I envy continental Catholic Europeans with Carnival in Feb. We TOTALLY need that. The Reformation killed off cakes and ale

Since we're in that neck of the conversational woods anyway, the best thing about February is generally the 6 Nations. Otherwise it's a shitty month.

ydoethur said:

StuartDickson said:

50+ Covid booster uptake:

Scotland 73.7%
Wales 63.9%
England 62.8%
N Ireland 60.1%

Source? The only one I can find for the Scotland figure is from September.

DJ41 said:

Jim_Miller said:

Rivalries can be one way. For example, it is often important here for Seattle teams to beat teams from Los Angeles. But the reverse isn't true, so far as I know.

And when they aren't tearing up their city, Portland fans really want to beat Seattle, but again, the reverse isn't true.

Indeed. I've never heard of an English person who supports whatever team Scotland are playing against.

Leon said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

M45 said:

StuartDickson said:

Carnyx said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

The second save by the Argentina keeper was really something. The first wasn’t a great pen, but incredible reactions (and powerful wrists) on the second.

What a day of football this has been. Just wonderful. I love this game.

Fair play to FIFA. They have secured themselves an incredible tournament

Everything bad is forgotten as the soccer amazes. No one cares about Qatar or migrants or Pride Armbands or any of that any more. Give us bread and brilliant circuses

I don’t think that’s true. The prevailing view that I see (though tbh that is fairly small seeing as I’ve jacked in social media) is “great tournament, shame about the hosts”. I think I said summat similar on the last thread.

And really the quality of the tournament has nowt to do with FIFA. It’s down to the players. It is bloody good though. More to come tomorrow.

I'm not really giving FIFA credit. I reckon they just got lucky

Something about the early winter timing has amped the footie. Dunno. But it is great. And for this reason the negatives WILL be largely forgotten

FIFA must be eyeing up S E Asia. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. All football mad yet no sniff of a Cup ever, and home to 500m people

You Brits who are not AWOL sunning your pale, frail carcasses on some sun-drenched rock (or beach), are prisoners in your own country, confined indoors by compressed hours of daylight under gray skies with soggy shoes outdoors.

AND you have no Thanksgiving (feeling nothing much to feel thankful for) to take the late-fall/early-winter edge off.

Not true. The Scots have St Andrew's Day.

And Hogmanay.
And 2nd January.
And Burns Night.

If 2 Jan counts at all it counts as part of Hogmanay. Burns was a talentless twat, not in the top 100 of British poets. If you enjoy sharing that fact with the Swedes, crack on. He was probably not markedly worse than the likes of Erik Axel Karlfeldt.

I'm sure you are a peerless literary critic, so I'd love to see you justifying your claim that Burns is a talentless twat. He wrote a lot so I suppose there is a variety in terms of quality but his best work in my opinion stands up against anyone's.

He's not talentless, but he is not a front rank poet. Jolly good second division player, I'd say

I do love "John Anderson, my Jo"

Edit: I've just seen a website that compares Burns to Betjeman, and that is splendidly accurate. Both are beloved for portraying aspects of their nation, both are gifted at lyrical rhyme, and easy to remember - yet neither touches anything like the heights of a Keats, Larkin, Hopkins, Plath, Milton, Frost, et al

Leon said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Leon said:

TimS said:

dixiedean said:

TimS said:

Law of averages suggests France-England will be decided on open play.

Still wondering at the psycho-historical anomaly that makes France v England simply not a grudge match or derby. Perhaps because no controversial or particularly high profile previous encounters.

For a very long time France weren't major contenders. Not till the nineties really.

1980s, the era of Platini and winning the Euros in 1984. But it’s true they didn’t do much in the WC.

I don’t think it’s that though. Our matches against Portugal are always fruity for example.

Grudge matches:

Germany
Argentina
Portugal
Scotland
Any Scandinavian team

Non-grudge:

Spain
France
Wales
Netherlands
Brazil
Belgium

Hard to place, because they get under our skin but feeling’s not mutual: Italy.

I don't ever feel a particular grudge against Italy?

All the others Yes

Tho I don't give a fuck about Scandi teams

Scotland is fading as they never win

I'd add the USA, a rivalry which is growing (we did not used to care, but we do, as they get better; and they REALLY care)

Not sure who you mean by "they" in last sentence. Certainly NOT the super-majority of American who don't give a hoot about soccer, certainly not enough to have a rivalry with anyone.

Even USA v Iran generated minimal attention outside the quasi-lunatic fringe of American true fans of The Great Game. Thicker on ground here in Seattle than most places in US, but barely noticeable even here outside of a few trendy bars.

Sorry, but this really is not true, not anymore. Soccer is watched very widely in the USA

eg The recent World Series in baseball got 11.8m viewers (on average), the USA's soccer kick-up game-things against Iran and England got 12m viewers

When soccer is outdoing baseball in the USA then the sport has arrived. That time is now

viewcode said:

StuartDickson said:

This blog is in serious trouble when Mike retires. Concise, astute, incisive. The other header posters are total also-rans.

We are nearing the end of an era.

I bow to nobody in my admiration for the author of "The Political Punter: How to make money betting on politics", (ISBN-10: 1905641095, ISBN-13: 978-1905641093) and his two sons, but other header posters occasionally catch a little interest. If I may suggest a few?

• https://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2019/03/24/viewcode-on-the-chronicle-of-a-bet-foretold/
  
• https://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2019/09/22/chronicle-of-a-bet-foretold-part-2/
  
• https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2022/05/02/why-ukraine-was-particularly-vulnerable/
  

LostPassword said:

People are alright really.

rcs1000 said:

viewcode said:

StuartDickson said:

This blog is in serious trouble when Mike retires. Concise, astute, incisive. The other header posters are total also-rans.

We are nearing the end of an era.

I bow to nobody in my admiration for the author of "The Political Punter: How to make money betting on politics", (ISBN-10: 1905641095, ISBN-13: 978-1905641093) and his two sons, but other header posters occasionally catch a little interest. If I may suggest a few?

• https://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2019/03/24/viewcode-on-the-chronicle-of-a-bet-foretold/
  
• https://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2019/09/22/chronicle-of-a-bet-foretold-part-2/
  
• https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2022/05/02/why-ukraine-was-particularly-vulnerable/
  

Who's his other son, and why haven't I been introduced?

mwadams said:

rcs1000 said:

viewcode said:

StuartDickson said:

This blog is in serious trouble when Mike retires. Concise, astute, incisive. The other header posters are total also-rans.

We are nearing the end of an era.

I bow to nobody in my admiration for the author of "The Political Punter: How to make money betting on politics", (ISBN-10: 1905641095, ISBN-13: 978-1905641093) and his two sons, but other header posters occasionally catch a little interest. If I may suggest a few?

• https://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2019/03/24/viewcode-on-the-chronicle-of-a-bet-foretold/
  
• https://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2019/09/22/chronicle-of-a-bet-foretold-part-2/
  
• https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2022/05/02/why-ukraine-was-particularly-vulnerable/
  

Who's his other son, and why haven't I been introduced?

It's another of viewcode's.predictions.

OnlyLivingBoy said:

Leon said:

OnlyLivingBoy said:

M45 said:

StuartDickson said:

Carnyx said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

Leon said:

Ghedebrav said:

The second save by the Argentina keeper was really something. The first wasn’t a great pen, but incredible reactions (and powerful wrists) on the second.

What a day of football this has been. Just wonderful. I love this game.

Fair play to FIFA. They have secured themselves an incredible tournament

Everything bad is forgotten as the soccer amazes. No one cares about Qatar or migrants or Pride Armbands or any of that any more. Give us bread and brilliant circuses

I don’t think that’s true. The prevailing view that I see (though tbh that is fairly small seeing as I’ve jacked in social media) is “great tournament, shame about the hosts”. I think I said summat similar on the last thread.

And really the quality of the tournament has nowt to do with FIFA. It’s down to the players. It is bloody good though. More to come tomorrow.

I'm not really giving FIFA credit. I reckon they just got lucky

Something about the early winter timing has amped the footie. Dunno. But it is great. And for this reason the negatives WILL be largely forgotten

FIFA must be eyeing up S E Asia. Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, etc. All football mad yet no sniff of a Cup ever, and home to 500m people

You Brits who are not AWOL sunning your pale, frail carcasses on some sun-drenched rock (or beach), are prisoners in your own country, confined indoors by compressed hours of daylight under gray skies with soggy shoes outdoors.

AND you have no Thanksgiving (feeling nothing much to feel thankful for) to take the late-fall/early-winter edge off.

Not true. The Scots have St Andrew's Day.

And Hogmanay.
And 2nd January.
And Burns Night.

If 2 Jan counts at all it counts as part of Hogmanay. Burns was a talentless twat, not in the top 100 of British poets. If you enjoy sharing that fact with the Swedes, crack on. He was probably not markedly worse than the likes of Erik Axel Karlfeldt.

I'm sure you are a peerless literary critic, so I'd love to see you justifying your claim that Burns is a talentless twat. He wrote a lot so I suppose there is a variety in terms of quality but his best work in my opinion stands up against anyone's.

He's not talentless, but he is not a front rank poet. Jolly good second division player, I'd say

I do love "John Anderson, my Jo"

Edit: I've just seen a website that compares Burns to Betjeman, and that is splendidly accurate. Both are beloved for portraying aspects of their nation, both are gifted at lyrical rhyme, and easy to remember - yet neither touches anything like the heights of a Keats, Larkin, Hopkins, Plath, Milton, Frost, et al

It's a matter of taste I suppose, and I'm probably more into quite direct rather than overly reflective writing, but I think there is both power and subtlety as well as striking and beautiful language in poems like for a' that or to a louse. I'm certainly not an expert on poetry but my mum is and she rates Burns highly. I think a lot of people fall into the trap of seeing Burns as the poetic equivalent of a shortbread tin, but there's a lot more to him than that.

DJ41 said:

Jim_Miller said:

Here's an example of the intense World Cup interest in the US: https://patterico.com/2022/12/09/today-in-world-cup-action/

There is, granted, more interest among the young in the US, many of whom have actually played soccer. Those over, say, forty, may have an anthropological interest in the games, and wonder why corruption is so tolerated, and why those strange folks overseas care so much about this particular game.

Does anyone in the US think corruption in sports is anything special, given say the continuing story of major league US baseball (in which the corruption dates back at least to Arnold Rothstein) and internationally the Olympics in which practically all the competitors cheat like hell by taking performance-enhancing drugs? It's organised sport. Doesn't everyone expect it to be filthily corrupt?

Anthropologically I find the interest in cricket interesting though. Talk about an acquired taste. It's true that anything can be interesting if you get into it enough, even throwing dog turds at a wall, and to some extent one has to be sympathetic in many cases to blokes who've gone doolally and don't realise. (Only in many cases, mind. No sympathy for that football fan who stuck a lit flare up his bum for his country.)

Cookie said:

DJ41 said:

Jim_Miller said:

Here's an example of the intense World Cup interest in the US: https://patterico.com/2022/12/09/today-in-world-cup-action/

There is, granted, more interest among the young in the US, many of whom have actually played soccer. Those over, say, forty, may have an anthropological interest in the games, and wonder why corruption is so tolerated, and why those strange folks overseas care so much about this particular game.

Does anyone in the US think corruption in sports is anything special, given say the continuing story of major league US baseball (in which the corruption dates back at least to Arnold Rothstein) and internationally the Olympics in which practically all the competitors cheat like hell by taking performance-enhancing drugs? It's organised sport. Doesn't everyone expect it to be filthily corrupt?

Anthropologically I find the interest in cricket interesting though. Talk about an acquired taste. It's true that anything can be interesting if you get into it enough, even throwing dog turds at a wall, and to some extent one has to be sympathetic in many cases to blokes who've gone doolally and don't realise. (Only in many cases, mind. No sympathy for that football fan who stuck a lit flare up his bum for his country.)

It's only really an aquired taste if your starting point of what a sport should be like is football.
Personally, as a spectacle, I would rank them thus:
1) Cricket
2) Throwing dog turds at a wall (there definitely sounds mileage in that)
3) Football.

I would slot rugby in below cricket, and tennis and motor racing in below football.

As a sport, football has the advantage that it's very accessible, both to play and to understand. The downside to this when watching is that it feels like the whole set up has been put together by seven year old boys.

OnlyLivingBoy said:

Cookie said:

DJ41 said:

Jim_Miller said:

Here's an example of the intense World Cup interest in the US: https://patterico.com/2022/12/09/today-in-world-cup-action/

There is, granted, more interest among the young in the US, many of whom have actually played soccer. Those over, say, forty, may have an anthropological interest in the games, and wonder why corruption is so tolerated, and why those strange folks overseas care so much about this particular game.

Does anyone in the US think corruption in sports is anything special, given say the continuing story of major league US baseball (in which the corruption dates back at least to Arnold Rothstein) and internationally the Olympics in which practically all the competitors cheat like hell by taking performance-enhancing drugs? It's organised sport. Doesn't everyone expect it to be filthily corrupt?

Anthropologically I find the interest in cricket interesting though. Talk about an acquired taste. It's true that anything can be interesting if you get into it enough, even throwing dog turds at a wall, and to some extent one has to be sympathetic in many cases to blokes who've gone doolally and don't realise. (Only in many cases, mind. No sympathy for that football fan who stuck a lit flare up his bum for his country.)

It's only really an aquired taste if your starting point of what a sport should be like is football.
Personally, as a spectacle, I would rank them thus:
1) Cricket
2) Throwing dog turds at a wall (there definitely sounds mileage in that)
3) Football.

I would slot rugby in below cricket, and tennis and motor racing in below football.

As a sport, football has the advantage that it's very accessible, both to play and to understand. The downside to this when watching is that it feels like the whole set up has been put together by seven year old boys.

As I've got older I've got less into cricket and more into football. Probably because my son plays football and is passionately interested in every facet of the game and so I've come to understand it better. I think football is the perfect sport.

StuartDickson said:

New Scottish independence poll, Find Out Now 1-8 Dec (+/- 23-26 Mar 21 / +/- IndyRef1 2014):

Yes 54% (+2 / +9)
No 46% (-2 / -9)

DJ41 said:

ydoethur said:

StuartDickson said:

50+ Covid booster uptake:

Scotland 73.7%
Wales 63.9%
England 62.8%
N Ireland 60.1%

Source? The only one I can find for the Scotland figure is from September.

A significantly higher booster rate in Scotland than in the other three home countries sounds in the right ballpark.

Meanwhile, in week 47 the numbers of deaths "with Covid" were
* 80 in Scotland
* 348 deaths in England and Wales.

So deaths "with Covid" are running in Scotland at 23.0% of the figure for England and Wales. Given that the population size is at ~9.6%, the rate of deaths "with Covid" per population is 2.4 x higher in Scotland.

DJ41 said:

ydoethur said:

StuartDickson said:

50+ Covid booster uptake:

Scotland 73.7%
Wales 63.9%
England 62.8%
N Ireland 60.1%

Source? The only one I can find for the Scotland figure is from September.

A significantly higher booster rate in Scotland than in the other three home countries sounds in the right ballpark.

Meanwhile, in week 47 the numbers of deaths "with Covid" were
* 80 in Scotland
* 348 deaths in England and Wales.

So deaths "with Covid" are running in Scotland at 23.0% of the figure for England and Wales. Given that the population size is at ~9.6%, the rate of deaths "with Covid" per population is 2.4 x higher in Scotland.

ydoethur said:

Theuniondivvie said:

ydoethur said:

StuartDickson said:

New Scottish independence poll, Find Out Now 1-8 Dec (+/- 23-26 Mar 21 / +/- IndyRef1 2014):

Yes 54% (+2 / +9)
No 46% (-2 / -9)

Not on their Twitter feed. They have the one from 23rd November showing 50% support for the SNP instead. What is your source?

Incidentally I note you were unable to source your claims about vaccination rates.

It's on Wiki.

Then what’s the source? Saying ‘it’s on Wiki’ and leaving it at that does not address the question. It would be like saying ‘Richard III never murdered his nephews’ and linking to an article edited by Johanna Haminga.

If it’s in Wikipedia it should have a source. If there is no source, perhaps it’s like the rest of Stuart’s output that is, made up.

tlg86 said:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/10/john-kerry-examining-likely-impact-of-new-uk-coalmine

John Kerry, the US climate official, has said he is closely examining the UK government’s approval of a new coalmine, over concerns that it will raise greenhouse gas emissions and send the wrong signal to developing countries.

“Coal is not exactly the direction that the world is trying to move in, or needs to move in. What I want to know is the level of abatement here [such as whether the resulting greenhouse gases will be captured and stored] and the comparison of this particular process in the production of steel,” he said.

I like John Kerry, but he looks utterly ridiculous. Quite simply, Americans have a vested interest in stopping that coal mine.

SandyRentool said:

dixiedean said:

darkage said:

I have sometimes referred to a job I was offered in 2015 with a public sector body, the pay was advertised at 25k -32k. It has just been readvertised with the same pay, 25k - 32k, 7 years later. They then have to pay a contractor £40 per hour to do the same job, when they cant fill the roles. The system isn't working.

My school has almost as many supply as staff right now.
A 15% pay rise that got everyone onto the payroll would work out much cheaper by far.

But that's sensible. No chance of it happening.

Carnyx said:

dixiedean said:

darkage said:

I have sometimes referred to a job I was offered in 2015 with a public sector body, the pay was advertised at 25k -32k. It has just been readvertised with the same pay, 25k - 32k, 7 years later. They then have to pay a contractor £40 per hour to do the same job, when they cant fill the roles. The system isn't working.

My school has almost as many supply as staff right now.
A 15% pay rise that got everyone onto the payroll would work out much cheaper by far.

MaxPB was saying yesterday that all supply teachers ought to be banned because, I paraphrase, they were a bunch of parasites on the decent Tory-voting taxpayer.