Though you might argue HMT/No10 has dragged its feet and isn’t willing to spend enough it’s also worth remembering that deficiencies in Britain’s defence spending/capabilities did not start with this Labour govt- not that you’d know it listening to a lot of the commentary today.

Don’t host a World Cup if you don’t want people to come to your country. Ok?

"30 women have been murdered in Northern Ireland in the last six years - not one road was closed, not one protest. What was the connection? They were murdered by white locals."

These guys know their stuff! #CPFC

Palace PR still seem to be including Evann Guessand as a Palace player. Surely he's back on Villa's books by now? I assume Uche has gone back too, although the PR people don't see to care about him so much. #CPFC

Ten years ago next week, the Labour MP Jo Cox was stabbed and killed by a white supremacist born in Scotland who hated her support for remaining in the European Union. Farage and his far-right supporters didn’t give a damn.

If Muslims or members of the Asian and Black community had set fire to white people’s homes with children running for their lives, do you think we would be discussing legitimate concerns or focussing on who radicalised them and ideological and contributing cultural factors?

Infantino claims he can't do anything about Referees, players, journalists and fans being banned from the World Cup because in every country there are Governments. In 2023 Indonesia refused to let the Israeli U23 squad have visas FIFA instantly moved the tournament to Argentina

Sad to see Elise Hughes leaving Palace women. She was a phenomenon before her big injury & still runs her heart out every game. I guess they’ve decided she won’t make the step up next season but I’m still sad. #PalaceWomen

Are they mad?

A FIFA referee has spent more time in federal custody for being Somali than anybody on epstein's list for raping kids.

I bet Gary Glitter wishes he'd had bombing Iran as an option when he had similar bother

This doesn't seem unreasonable to me, Google is effectively acting as the author of the text here.

Do we know how many hours passed between Kemi Badenoch saying that everyone must be treated the same by the police and calling for more black boys to be stopped and searched?

When one of the most respected referees in world football is refused entry by the host nation, because they don't like his home country, the correct response of the other referees should be to boycott the tournament unless he is allowed to do his job. Sadly, that won't happen.

“And now we go over to the Kristallnacht protests”

Yes, well either that or they're corrupt. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

The Belfast attacker flew from Paris to Dublin 10.02.2023 and travelled to Belfast where he claimed asylum, his LTR was granted 28.09.2023. This was when Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick were Home Secretary and Immigration Minister respectively.

He didn’t have a plan because they weren’t supposed to win. He just wanted it to be close enough to allow him to lever Cameron out & replace him. Well done to all f*ckwits who voted leave just to give Cameron a kick thinking there was no way that leave would win (& yes, I know a few who did that)

How the Far-Right Is Using the Racist Myth of ‘Two-Tier Policing’ to Exploit Henry Nowak’s Murder A quarter-century of data tells a very different story about which groups are actually being unfairly targeted by the police, reports Nafeez Ahmed

Coming soon to the UK if we vote for Reform!!

Just had an email from Sainsbury telling me about an offer on 'picky bits'. I'm irrationally irritated by that phrase. It's not as bad as the misuse of 'staycation', which belittles the kind of holiday that many of us grew up with, but it's still an annoyingly childish phrase for 'snacks'.

Sorry to be that guy, and correct me if I'm wrong, but unless you're comparing how many graduates earn less than the median wage 5 years after leaving university with how many non-graduates are doing so 5 years after leaving school and college at 18, then that's not really a fair comparison, is it?.

The Telegraph LOVES farmers when they're having a tantrum about paying half the inheritance tax the rest of us pay (£3million threshold btw) but they do NOT want farmers to be paid properly for the food they produce. Joke paper.

The struggle is real

"Apple, Google, and Meta are very excited to announce the release of new AI-driven products. We guarantee that they will respect your privacy. Unfortunately, these products are not available in Europe, as they have laws to protect your privacy."

The USA have blocked the Somali Referee Omar Artan from entering the USA, the Referee who is rated the best in Africa was blocked at entry, so he got the Somalian embassy to give him a Diplomatic Passport. But the USA still refuses to let him in. The USA need to be disqualified

The BBC 10 o’clock news says the right wing idea of ethnic minorities being given preferential treatment in criminal justice is likely to become a “growing fault line in our politics” WITHOUT POINTING OUT THAT IT IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE. What’s the point of the news if it doesn’t correct disinformation?

👏The share of European research and innovation funding won by the UK has climbed to levels last seen in 2018-19 but is yet to recover to the heights achieved before the referendum. Rejoining Horizon is a step in the right direction, but we must rejoin to return our country to the centre of Europe.

SPOILER ALERT: Rees-Mogg often speaks total nonsense in the belief that a posh accent will make it sound sensible.

Since PTSD is being invoked to excuse any and all abuse and misconduct, let us acknowledge where it is most common. .... From my book Recollections of My Nonexistence.

Would fans want him back in a Kevin Phillips super sub role?

Woman starts £1k a week cake business, annoyed at being asked to follow the same regs as other businesses selling cakes? www.bbc.com/news/article...

Cracking new pair of eggphones

"The evidence shows the earth is round but there is a genuine debate about whether it is flat" There isn't. There is reality and then there are malicious lies and fantasies. "Two tier policing" falls into the latter

What's wrong baby? You haven't touched your peach piss n fart cake.

The slowest of handclaps…

OK, the world cup is coming up & usually I am the strange bloke who thoroughly enjoys the group stages and then struggles to remain interested once the games get all tense and negative, which usually happens in the knock out stages. I'm struggling to see me even enjoying the group stages for this 1.

Actually it's rivalry. (you need to read the original thread but they've restricted comments so I can't just reply)

It is overwhelmingly clear that non-white Brits are much more likely to be stopped, detained, disbelieved and mistreated by the police than whites, yet the BBC has spent the entire week giving oxygen to the far-right fantasy that the complete opposite is the case. Here’s what I think is going on

No it hasn’t. Farridge is trying to make it so & this useless hack is now helping. She’s a disgrace. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Not my problem - that is the message from Reform UK. No plan, no idea, just division.

Well, the Barbie-Q-Chicken didn't go down well on the 'Little Flyer's' menu today. Kids are crying.

By Jim Benton

nordicledger.substack.com/p/the-lie-th... Brussels was the "convenient villain".

I apologise to my children who if they were screaming at the tops of their voices in a restricted space such as a train I would admonish & instruct to quieten down. This was clearly the wrong thing to do as the screaming kids being encouraged by their parent to ‘enjoy themselves’ are obviously fine.

My train back from t north is now just 1 minute ahead of the later service but still not delayed enough for ’delay,repay’. Barmy innit!