The US needs to realise that soccer isn't like their Superbowl and the NFL. Our football is actually exciting and entertaining in its own right, and it doesn't need musicians and razzmatazz to make a game worthwhile and watchable.

Never seen so many muppets at a half-time break in a match. Sadly only four of them were actual Muppets. #worldcup2026

What trite, sentimental, turgid stuff those poor teams are having to put up with before getting to play their final. Only in the US - never knowingly undersold. Coming soon no doubt - a half-hour half-time with more of the same #worldcup2026

Read all about the Winners of the 2026 BESA Awards | BESA buff.ly/8y6gwS9 < with lists of the runners and riders....

It's annoying that the NY Times, in keeping with the general ethos of Trump's America, now rigs the Connections categories so that only folk in the US can win

Things that would improve social media enormously #14: Ban people who ask "Does anyone remember...?" or "Who remembers... ?"

So the Clacton bye-election will be fought between a third-rate comedian with more money than sense, and Count Binface. The people of Clacton deserve better....

So at least one of the candidates has actually been to Clacton...

It has just been said that Nigel Farage intends to spend the summer campaigning in Clacton. So he'll be spending more time there now than he did while their MP! They deserve better...

How does #BBCNN News night have the good sense to book the well-informed and thoughtful Mohamed El+Erian and Gillian Tett, but the same team then books the disaster area that is Baroness Therese Coffey, side-kick of Liz Truss?

JadePuffer ransomware used AI agent to automate entire attack | Bleeping Computer buff.ly/OmXCkHA < We aren't hearing enough about this. Researchers identified the first documented case of a ransomware operation conducted entirely by a large language model (LLM) agent.

The pardon of Ruth Ellis is long overdue in more enlightened times, despite her clear & stated intent to kill her coercive, controlling lover. But a 'conditional pardon'? What are the conditions? And can you meaningfully reverse a capital punishment after death?

Crapita manage to screw up yet another stage of their handling of the Civil Service Pension Scheme. The incompetence of the organisations that win public sector contracts, such as Crapita, Pearsons and Group 4 show why Thatcherite-style outsourcing is such a total failure

Things it is hard to understand about Parliament #234 Why does the Parliamentary Standards enquiry into Farage have to be suspended just because he has resigned? Especially as he intends to return. It won't change the result & it may even avoid the need for a second bye-election.

Hope springs eternal....

SATs results delayed by Pearson marking fiasco | Schools Week buff.ly/bivQbLC < Pearson called on maths markers to help get through the outstanding grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS) tests, in what was described as an “omnishambles”.

DfE need to stop publishing bullshit reports – MediaTaylor buff.ly/zv5wmDb < Dick takes no prisoners but raises very pertinent issues on the DfE's latest Ed Tech 'Report' data. Dodgy reports do no-one involved in ed tech any good, & it's a world full of committed passionate people deserving better

Just read the latest post from an anthropogenic climate change denier, claiming that the rise in CO2 is not the cause of climate change. Checked the bio, and he claimed to be a "Philosopher, working primarily in logic". You have to laugh.... or cry!

Goodbye Radio 4 on Long Wave - the pre-internet way of keeping up via the car radio while on holidays in France. The shipping forecast will never sound the same again.

Built to be evaded: why Australia’s and the UK’s social media bans were broken before they began | MediaTaylor https://buff.ly/HblTYhZ < Australia’s eSafety Commission’s recent report states that roughly 70% of under-16s are still using the banned platforms. Useful analysis.

ICYMI: Revamped Ofsted inspections have left headteachers feeling 'overwhelmingly negative' about the visits with some vowing to quit the profession, an independent survey has found https://schoolsweek.co.uk/heads-overwhelmingly-negative-to-new-ofsted-inspections/

Remember when you used to vanity trip by checking Google to see what it knew about you? Well now you can check if you are important enough to get AI's attention! IN THE WEIGHTS: buff.ly/OEIarGw

We turned off Microsoft's Study & Learn agent. Here is what it would take to turn it back on | Teachnology Global buff.ly/Ybor1cD < "The agent's behaviour, as shipped, is in clear violation of our assessment policy and our AI use policy." With proposals for what's needed.

Trump's insistence that the algal bloom in the Reflecting Poll is due to vandalism seems to be true. Apparently some idiot ripped out the new filtration system installed during Obama's refurbishment of the area, and sprayed blue paint everywhere!

Tonight was about watching "The Darkest Hour" followed by the World Cup. At least Germany only won the second.... #bornin1945

We should all be grateful to the crypto-millionaire Christopher Harborne who gave grifter Farage that £5million. Thanks to him, Farage is now not only not seen in Clacton, he's not seen on the BBC, or indeed anywhere at all where he may be asked questions. Money well spent....

tonyparkin.substack....

So this is the BBC’s neat way to watch overnight World Cup highlights with no spoilers… bbc.co.uk/nospoilers This will take you to a World Cup highlights page on BBC iPlayer, which will have highlights for every match without telling you who has won.

Everyone on X and elsewhere who called for a violent response should be charged with incitement. Everyone involved in the pogrom should be locked up with exemplary sentences. Govt should make it clear that will be the response in future anywhere else. Enough.

Screen use by children aged 5-16: call for evidence - Department for Education - Citizen Space buff.ly/CXp1NX5 < call for evidence seeking evidence to inform the development of new parental guidance resources on screen use for children and young people aged 5-16.

Schools 'expected' to use government route to buy MIS | Schools Week buff.ly/xWvmPnO < this has been a mess since the LA procurements of the 90s - let's hope this resolves it. But you have to smile at the claim that 'Bromcom litiginous' is unfair and defamatory!

A reminder, we're celebrating 20 years of #TeachMeet with a cross-border UK/Irish online Teachmeet 3rd July, 8 to 9.30pm. Sign up for the Zoom here: us06web.zoom.us/meet... Sign up to give a talk here: docs.google.com/form...#TeachMeet PLEASE SHARE! #teachmeetukie #teachmeet20 #tmbett

Here’s a decade of Trump promising no new wars. I guess this all comes as news to the @nytimes.com.

I've seen this movie. It ends... badly... 🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️🧟 www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

DfE pupil data is out today and shows that the number of private school pupils has dropped 5.6% since VAT was introduced. Not 25% like the independent schools council predicted. Or the 50% we saw in some right-wing papers. 5.6%.

I'm sure this has nothing to do with Farage promising to deregulate crypto and create a national crypto reserve. Those are just the policies the people of Makerfield want.

A reminder, we're celebrating 20 years of #TeachMeet with a cross-border UK/Irish online Teachmeet 3rd July, 8 to 9.30pm. Sign up for the Zoom here: us06web.zoom.us/meet... Sign up to give a talk here: docs.google.com/form...#TeachMeet PLEASE SHARE! #teachmeetukie #teachmeet20 #tmbett

Perpetrators of the Post Office scandal may not be charged until 2033. Police lack resources, need another £16.5m. Scandal goes back to the 1990s. Hundreds of postmasters knowingly falsely convicted. No one charged for lying in courts. Will they ever? Corporate crime is unchecked.

Using AI in education: support for school and college leaders | DfE GOV UK buff.ly/3niDjMQ < 19 May 2026 updated resources for school leaders

Schools and Academies Show: Live blog | Schools Week buff.ly/LSjWySC < some of the key sessions at this week's SAAS event at ExCeL summarised

New service launched to help schools with cyber attacks | Schools Week https://buff.ly/JBluo7X < "Education has 'weak defences'." The DfE’s Cyber Security Hub is an online service which aims to provide schools with clear, practical guidance to help improve their IT security.

Barbarians inside the gates | MediaTaylor https://buff.ly/2UrQvJf < "Hackers will keep targeting education until the sector takes security seriously as a structural commitment, not a compliance checkbox." Timely and disturbing warning on cybersecurity to all involved with ed tech

A brilliant session on AI, superbly chaired by Dr Nic Ponsford, alone made the cross London trip to the SAS Show worthwhile. If only all such panels were as well-balanced, well-informed, and articulate.

On my way to London ExCeL for today's Schools & Academies Show. An interesting title, almost implying academies aren't really schools? Harking back to an era when many teachers resented their arrival on the scene?

FRIT!

Dear Ms Kuenssberg Nigel won't be in today. Signed His Mum. #bbcLauraK

Robert Jenrick - in a crowded field perhaps the biggest loser in British politics..

The head of a school held up by the government as an exemplar of its planned school food revolution says current funding levels are 'not sufficient' as it has to spend thousands of pounds offsetting costs schoolsweek.co.uk/school-food-...

Two leading education charities have teamed up to devise a new programme to help 'accelerate' aspiring headteachers’ careers and support them when they get their first big job schoolsweek.co.uk/new-heads-ne...