As some you already know, my grandfather passed away earlier this week. Don’t think it properly hit me until today. I can’t post a fitting tribute due to the character limit, but this sums it up pretty well athleticsweekly.com/news/tom-mcn...

Coincidentally this is also the word cloud that describes me

I put money on Burnham succeeding Starmer as PM and the bookie is still only offering a cash out where I lose money. You guys are really confident in Burnham falling down a manhole between now and Monday, aren’t you?

“prioritise values of provincial Britain over party’s metropolitan mindset”

"Milord, the enemy siege has broken! The enemy is in disarray!" My valiant knights sallying forth:

Considering so many of them wrote off Argentina’s prospects before the World Cup and predicted an early exit, it’d be nice if 1 or 2 pundits would say “Maybe Argentina are better than I gave them credit for?” and not just go “This’ll be the game they finally slip up, as I’ve been saying all along”

Diplodocus can still win this if Mike Pence has the courage to do the right thing

I don’t know which I hate more: Vance spreading a stupid conspiracy theory, or doing so while making it so obvious he doesn’t believe a word of what he’s saying

Me when venues ask me to buy tickets to watch France v England

Or much of a drop in public support. Fascinating example of elite consensus switching despite popular opinion.

Tuchel’s overly defensive approach links into one of my pet peeves, namely the Mike Bassett stereotype of English managers: by far the most boring, unsophisticated football the England national team has ever played has occurred under the non-English managers (Sven, Cappello and Tuchel)

Starmer should be *forced* to go to third place playoff game.

Tuchel and his tactics were specifically endorsed by Maurice Glasman ... yet another outcome for which we can blame Blue Labour

Southgate would have won that game

It’s fine, we didn’t want to be in your stupid World Cup final anyway

Hydration break

“And Argentina famously a bunch of cheats”

England-Argentina predictions: Judging by the lineups, Argentina have switched their formation to a back 3 to contain Bellingham. Tuchel meanwhile has brought in Rogers to help with ball retention and give England more strength in the middle.

*wet fart noise*

To get myself in a patriotic mood for tonight: Argentina’s obsession with the Falklands is maybe the world’s stupidest case of nationalist brainworms. Zero merit to their claim, no benefit in having the islands, explicitly contrived to distract and manipulate them, and yet they all go feral over it

The over-65s really are a miserable bunch.

Whenever Shabana Mahmood's not on screen, all the other characters should be asking "Where's Shabana Mahmood?”

Does De Zerbi has a sex offender quota at every club he manages or what?

He’s probably not going to get it, but genuinely think Rodri deserves player of the tournament. Absolutely phenomenal player, and effectively the Spain player-manager

Please concentrate on me predicting several days ago that Spain would beat France and ignore me saying earlier today saying I thought France would edge it

France-Spain predictions: Spain will dominate possession and pin France back. Possible as Cubarsi, Laporte and Rodri are great buildup players. Yamal & Porro will target Digne. France will rely on long passes from Upamecano & Olise to launch Kylian Mbappé into space when Spain loses the ball

Any Chelsea fan who doesn’t boo him relentlessly is a plastic. I don’t make the rules here

Starmer’s political ineptness is so strong that it cancels out something he actually knows a lot about. England is the main sporting rival of both Scotland and Wales. That’s why they don’t support England. It’s the same reason Chelsea and Spurs fans didn’t want Arsenal to win the Champions League

More than ever it’s clear what the right-wing’s vision for the UK is Serbia under Slobodan Milosevic: an angry, bitter, morose and resentful country with a disordered attitude to its own past and crippling paranoia about its neighbours and many of the people within its borders

Cancellation of settlement and citizenship is a fundamental break in the contract between migrants and the state, with the state treating migrants as undeserving of basic legal rights. It codifies a two-tier system of deserving and undeserving human beings based solely on where you were born

Anti-trans groups are really going with “Trans people are a Jewish conspiracy to undermine the family.” It’s straight out of classical fascism.

Finally catching up on House of the Dragon. Matt Smith was clearly born to play a Targaryen

JK Rowling spiking the football after she likely helped force Amnesty International to retract the report while using the made up term "sex-based rights."

Related to this, and not out of a desire to see him rehabilitated, I really hope a top football journalist out there is writing the definitive Sepp Blatter biography, because I can’t think of a more interesting subject for our times

Sam Neill in his most iconic (and topical) role: as FIFA president Joao Havelange in United Passions youtu.be/oMnt3bHBW30?...

Starmerism-RedWallism is dead, long live Burnhamism-RedWallism

I went to school with polio victims. It was a childhood scourge until the vaccine was invented. People who think they know about vaccines would do well to learn the history of communicable diseases.

No World Cup match today but a fine time as ever to support @fairsq.bsky.social's Reboot FIFA campaign. Sign and support here: rebootfifa.com/sign/

I never thought I’d feel protective of the England team but this visceral anti-England BSky discourse is pissing me off. Somehow England’s ethnically diverse team represents the arrogance of the Brexit right but France’s ethnically diverse team represents progressive values? Come on

🎶 It’s coming home 🎶 (Ironically)

Time to row off home, I reckon

Look we’d all have been absolutely furious if that had been given against England, ok?

anglosphere voters yearn for peronism

Bringing on Spence so we can properly Spurs this one up

Me watching Reece James crossing the ball

Danny Murphy seeing Oscar Bobb come on