In his first interview since being kicked out of the US, FIFA referee Omar Artan tells’s the NYT’s Matt Bigg that the biggest dream of his professional life has been shattered. The World Cup ref was questioned for 11 hours, held in a cell and then dumped on a plane. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/09/w...

ICYMI, @byrobdavies.bsky.social and I worked on this important investigation abt a company that gets £millions per year from councils to house ppl in temporary accommodation, while companies owned by other members of the same family are accused of tax avoidance. www.theguardian.com/business/202...

This has really tickled me.

Great work by the Guardian. This is very similar to the "snail farms" found in Liverpool that were being used to dodge business rates under the "agricultural use" clause. 🤪

It was a pleasure to work on this with freelance journalist @jwsal.bsky.social, who knows a lot about local government, housing and human rights, among other things. He is also a diligent reporter. Editors should commission him.

Excl: Midos Group, owned by the London-based Schreiber property dynasty, is accused of unlawfully dodging tax by staging bogus prayer sessions to avoid business rates. Meanwhile, a separate entity called Midos Management Co is collecting millions by selling temporary accommodation to councils. 🧵

Knowing Arsenal's luck, UEFA will change the rules next season so that if it's a draw after extra time, the game goes to corners.

European trophies: Brennan Johnson - 2 Arsenal - 0

Thank fuck for that.

Well, at least Paul Kagame is also unhappy.

L'heure de gloire est arrivée.

OK, it can be done, just not necessarily with any dignity.

Surely physically impossible. Maybe a little finger in each ear and then use two fingers on one of those hands?

You'll be wanting him at Liverpool, I imagine? #thfc #coys

My back has gone (probably due to longstanding L5S1 disc protrusion) and I have a week until a walking holiday. Miracle cure ideas please.

Farmers in northern Vietnam are dismantling a decades-old cemetery to make way for a $1.5bn golf course and luxury residential development by the Trump Organization and its local partners, a project seen as crucial for ties between Hanoi and Washington. ft.trib.al/YCZl74S

I wish Palace well tonight, but one thing: whatever TNT/HBO thinks, they're not wearing "Palace For Life" jerseys because they're a lovely club supporting a good cause, but because their actual sponsor, NET88, is an illegal Asian sports betting company and cannot be advertised in a UEFA competition.

What are the typical reasons that this happens, especially to fit young people who can swim? Currents? Being overwhelmed by cold temperatures? BBC News - Three teens dead after being pulled from water at beauty spots - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

RIP Sonny Rollins, a great jazz talent and the last surviving musician in one of the best photos of men in suits during the 20th century

Ah what a legend. RIP.

I know a lot of fellow Spurs fans will be concerned if the current leadership stays in place but I think it's pretty clear we've got the right CEO in charge. #thfc #coys

The fact that this, from the chairman of THFC is well written and says all the right things means more or less nothing to me at this stage, I'm afraid. It will take something extraordinary and sustained to build confidence. I don't doubt their desire but I do doubt their ability. #thfc #coys

Big thanks to the Home Office for informing me that my own first and last name "can be found on your penalty notice document".

The drugs don't work?

Feel sorry for charity shops trying to ship thousands of Arsenal shirts next year

London has fallen.

Thank fuck for West Ham. #thfc #coys

Left the house to go to Spurs, stuck my headphones in and random shuffle had chosen Radiohead's Exit Music. Clunky scriptwriting/scoring if you ask me. #thfc #coys

Even if Spurs stay up, the Lewis family must abandon this absurd notion that they and their people have the requisite skills to run a football club successfully. If they have any remaining affection for THFC they must find the right buyer and perhaps accept less than they'd like. #thfc #coys

When you put what was left of your disastrous bitcoin investment into the, admittedly volatile, mini sponge market.

Not into openly slagging off other journalists but there is a senior sports writer at a national paper who has written two pieces about Spurs this season that are so bananas that they'd see me placed on a leave of absence if I wrote them about my own specialist area. #thfc #coys

Ok wait, Arsenal away support will be on their way back from Crystal Palace too...oh dear.

Interrupting my terror about the final day of the Premier League season tomorrow for some mild unease about what happens when Spurs and West Ham fans converge on the transport network at about 7pm, having drunk all day in 30-degree heat, after one of their teams has been relegated.

For the first time, the parents of five of the girls who were stabbed in the Southport attack have shared their stories. Humbled and privileged to meet them. Here is their story - a difficult read but with hope at the end. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i...

Me on the dancefloor at 11pm at a wedding where I'm a plus one and don't even know the bride and groom.

Playing doctors with my 4yo earlier. Me: Doctor, I've got a tummy ache. 4yo: Hmm. *picks up wooden scissors* 4yo: Shall I cut open your skin to see the broken bones?

Well. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Huh. Apparently it's possible for football authorities to punish one of their larger constituent members for breaking the rules. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

if i was going to give a college commencement speech i would make sure to start with something the students could rally behind. something like "we will mechanically suck the youth from your bones to feed a mechanical eschaton, which my generation will use to climb heaven and become new gods"

Howay tha fookin' lads! #thfc #coys

Can i just shock you? I like football teams owned by a blood-soaked autocracy trying to launder its deservedly sinister reputation through sport, despite what i said earlier. #thfc #coys

*runs in, sweating, 12 hours late* "Bangaranga? I barely even kn-" *gunfire rings out from multiple locations*

Electroswing should stay in 2010 where it belongs.

A sizeable number of Eurovision performances are at least a quarter tone flat and it's nuts that it never gets mentioned.

Look, the main thing is that Infinite Jest isn't on there and it's funny to imagine a certain kind of person being outraged by that.

Not going to publish my number because c'mon but am i the only one who has about five for which the answer is "Not sure, maybe like 25 years ago?" www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...

I was on the student union council with the new health secretary and I think the fact that he was very committed to student politics while I ran the pub quiz and organised a trip to Amsterdam explains a lot about where we've both ended up.

This graph tells me only one thing for certain, which is that Spurs will finally be awarded our first penalty of the season on the last day, to stay up, and we will miss it. #thfc #coys

response from @nujofficial.bsky.social www.nuj.org.uk/resource/nuj... and statement from the Guardian www.theguardian.com/gnm-press-of...