Had great fun at the @petefirman.bsky.social show last night. He put a sword through my neck! If you like saying the words “but how!?”, then get to one of his shows. Incredible talent.

There were times this summer when “doing a Diarra” looked set to join “on a Bosman” in football’s phrasebook. But when the window shut, no player had used Lassana Diarra’s 2024 ECJ win to get a move. Nobody except Lucas Ribeiro, that is. Who?!? This guy 👇 🔗 www.nytimes.com/athletic/664...

Good morning. On love, life and loss. Frienship and football. Ty is so impressive, an honor to speak to him www.theguardian.com/football/202...

This whole thing is so, so depressingly basic. If Farage’s clear and persistent bigotry had ever been taken seriously we would never have heard of him, but now we have to sit and wait for millions of voters - including his own - to realise that his bigotry will be a disaster for them too.

It is just SO tiresome, never to hear this even mentioned, let alone explored. You don't like immigrants. You don't like the state supporting people having lots of kids. You don't like your retirement age increasing or your pension decreasing. It's a simple equation - not quantum physics FFS.

Harry brook and the most fun anyone has ever had playing for England www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/a...

This whole arguement about whether it's doing them harm. I mean, maybe? It's definitely fucking doing adults harm. But no-one seems interested in getting all draconian about that.

I think I'd probably find the whole notion of banning kids from social media easier to swallow if adults accepted that it is also obviously driving them mad.

If I had the money I’d personally fund a statue of Chloe Kelly in her one-legged, pre-penalty pose. England legend.

Oh thank God, another workplace.

Not for the first time I am begging angry people to put the phone down, walk through actual streets, go to actual pubs, stand on the touch line at local sports clubs, browse Saturday markets, chat with ramblers on footpaths and rediscover beauty & contentedness.

there is always something fascinating about seeing how other places stereotype your own culture

Really sad to hear that my colleague of 20+ years, the legendary golf commentator, Bob Bubka, has signed his final scorecard. Bob had huge enthusiasm for golf, and life, and a voice that was just perfect for radio. Honey poured into your ears. Loved working with him.

It’s Damien Delaney’s birthday today. You remember him. That’s one hell of a guest list, son…

Imagine your wife leaving you and all your friends finding out you’re a Coldplay fan on the same day. Brutal.

I think about this constantly

I see the people on the local Facebook group are confusing "This town's not what it used to be" with "Life was easier when I was a child" again.

i dno, maybe time to let it go

forget where I read it but there is a theory that one reason everyone is going quietly insane is that we used to have lots of mental "dead time" (travelling, meaningless but necessary tasks &c) and now we can fill every waking minute with optimised content and we're not built for it

Middle aisle of Lidl band names Glastonbury edition

Every guy with a tragic backstory (in a movie):

Okay, we’ve got 10. And we’ve learnt that a billionaire team from Germany is much better than an amateur team from New Zealand. Will have to see how this helps develop football in Oceania.

Nations typically throw military parades to demonstrate their organizational prowess and national unity. So…uh… message received.

Michael Mann refilming HEAT but this time DeNiro’s crew dresses up as ICE and the LAPD just gives them a police escort away from the bank

Cocktail idea: The Laurie Lee (cider with rosé)

No one likes a grass

Celebrity Masterchef with Ange Postecoglou

Sauron wants to dominate Middle Earth. We sat down with him to discuss his love for rings. - Rohan Sun-Telegraph

Weird how the biggest cheerleaders for crypto all seem like the kind of people who'd commit financial crime if there was a simple, unregulated way of doing it.

I found frogspawn in our garden today - tiny little magazines full of of naked frogs.

Time to post it again.

Here’s this week’s cartoon for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/football/pic...

It feels like such an attack that summarises our times. Perfectly selfish and sadistic. “I cannot have happiness so they cannot have it.” Putting fear directly at the centre of someone else’s joy.

Boo fucking hoo. It's built on THEFT. "I don't know how I'd ask all those people or afford to pay for all their work." Then you DON'T GET TO HAVE IT. These would-be geniuses have convinced themselves that something in their miracle blah-blah machine is so inherently amazing rules don't apply.

A little bit of alcohol makes me a better parent. Sober? Can't deal with their bullshit. Two drinks in? Hell yeah my dudes, that unreasonableness is funny AF. Let's riff on that!

please stop using AI

These people aren't interested in making your life better. They don't care about the quality of your kid's school or the health of your community. They have no coherent political philosophy. They just want to make themselves feel bigger by shitting on people.

FAO @footballramble.bsky.social

Last year I was involved in designing a series of crisis scenarios and wanted to include Orbán moving on Transcarpathia. It was left out because it was felt to be going too far to be plausible. Apparently it's not.

One of the most urgent contemporary challenges is getting people in Western Europe to accept that what used to be implausible, no longer is.

On the Dutchman’s birthday, your annual reminder that: Dennis Bergkamp + Barry Davies = pure poetry

If you type this into What3Words you get the geolocation of Trump's arsehole.

Had to take a step out of my sports writing comfort zone this week to say a thing that needed to be said. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

It’s the anniversary of a young Dalian Atkinson scoring this sensational hat-trick for Ipswich in 1988. Goodness me. Those first two strikes. Absolutely Unstoppable.

My nan was in intensive care so I scattered hay on the ground and sawed the top half of the door off. She’s now in a stable condition.

Or, instead of relying on a bullshit machine that will dry up a lake to tell you stupid lies, you could simply read a book, watch a documentary, or see a film. www.techradar.com/computing/ar...

Football is massively complex, perhaps impossible to understand, and we probably should recognise that. jonawils.substack.com/p/nobody-kno...

Gélineau advanced the term "narcolepsy" in 1880 while de la Tourette described his eponymous syndrome in 1885. "Autism" was coined by Bleuler in 1911, with full diagnoses soon after. But what do I know? I'm not the Cabinet secretary in charge of the goddamn Department of Health and Human Services.

Well, as I’m sure you all know, we mark something important today. Yes: happy 45th anniversary of the thrremony at tremony at the liremony at the libraremony to all who celebrate