Rewatching Yes Minister. Still brilliant satire, but after 13 years of civil service, I relate to Sir Humphrey a bit too much 😅

Aber der Antisemitismus ist ja nur ein Problem von den ganzen Moslems und in Österreich sind wir ja schon so viel weiter.

Oh, he wears the number 20, he'll lead us to victory! And when he's running down the left wing, he'll cut inside and score for LFC! He's a lad from Portugal, better than Figo, don't you know? Oh, his name is Diogo! Can't believe it's a year. Remembering Diogo Jota and Andre Silva today. YNWA.

Get Lewis Gregory a test this summer? Isn't like England don't need an all-rounder... 🏏💙🐦‍⬛

That's it for my England half. As for 🖤: Tom Latham is a brilliant and criminally underrated captain who has earned the right to another special test in June 2027 (not jinxing it). Is it too much to say that we might not get completely walloped in Australia this time? #BestSeriesOfThemAll

But captaincy is exhausting, and having to keep your energy and focus up for long innings, whether with bat or ball, is relentlessly demanding. When you're done, you're done. I hope he is okay with his decision- I'm certainly going to miss him but he's earned the right to do this on his own terms.

Apart from the fact he is actually Kiwi - and Māori - Ben Stokes was one of the most exciting players I've ever seen in an England shirt, in all three formats. And a magnificent captain, especially in the last four years. I can understand why his players would run through brick walls for him 🏏💙

No-one bowls long spells like Ben Stokes. No-one turns up for big games like Ben Stokes. No-one's as creative as Ben Stokes. For there's no all-rounder in cricket half as exciting - Perfect, a pure paragon! You can ask every Joe, Pat and Aiden-and they'll tell you whose team they prefer to be on. 💙🏏

The other moment that stands out for me is when he spoke about the ICEC report on racism, sexism, classism, elitism in English cricket. I've always hated the snobbery in the UK generally and cricket specifically, especially around certain types of intelligence, so that was a v moving statement.

I loved the heroics with the bat and ball, I found his approach to captaincy endlessly interesting (and fun), I'll definitely be watching some highlights! But his leadership on those tours made me proud to support this team. I hope that emotional intelligence is what his successor tries to emulate.

A lot will be said about Ben Stokes as a player and captain - he's given us plenty of material. For me, the way he captained Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir *off the field and on* in those historic tours of Pakistan stand out more than any of the heroics with the bat and ball.

Watching "The Hack" about the News of the World phone hacking scandal, and David Tennant is an excellent choice as Nick Davies. Can already tell this will be brilliant.

Do love listening to Cooky in general. Especially when he's so obviously sympathetic towards his fellow openers. 💙🏏 #BestSeriesOfThemAll

We (New Zealand we, that is) have just had to say goodbye to the three best seamers I've ever seen. And while nobody can replace Boult, Southee and Wagner (especially not Wags), the new cartel - Henry, O'Rourke, Smith and Jamieson- look very promising so far. 🏏🖤 #BestSeriesOfThemAll

A duck and especially a duck from a good ball- that's an opener's lot, like Cooky just said. Takes some getting used to, probably. 💙🏏 #BestSeriesOfThemAll

Maybe give the Latham- Conway opening partnership the credit they deserve? #BestSeriesOfThemAll 🖤🏏

Mānawatia a Matariki to my Aotearoa New Zealand friends on here! May this new year bring you the thing you've been hoping for... in November.

International football tournaments or a reminder just how pathetic our national anthem is.

"I have accepted Keir Starmer's resignation as my chief servant and have invited Andy Burnham to lay out details for how many meals a day he'll give me"

Also from the long term NZ POV: we used to be happy to escape with a draw from an England tour. These days, we can reasonably expect at least one win, if not a challenge for the series. Thanks to two captains who will *never* take credit for the way they transformed this team. 🏏🖤

Misunderestimate Matt Henry at your own peril. #BestSeriesOfThemAll 🖤💙🏏

This account refuses to acknowledge or even comment on the Men's Football World Cup. Have to say I am mildly amused at all the whingeing about the time difference though. Ever tried (and promptly regretted) watching the Ashes in Australia? Or NZ cricket in general? #OhYouSweetSummerChildren 🏏🖤💙

Lucky to see a 🐐 on the field yesterday and thought he did a fine job as captain! #BestSeriesOfThemAll 💙🖤🏏

Classic Oval test so far. Tricky first hour, now (probably) a good day to bat. Somerset me loves seeing James Rew with the gloves - an obvious test debut if ever I've seen one! 🖤💙🏏 #BestSeriesOfThemAll

🇦🇺 2-0 🇹🇷 or as they say in Australia, nil for 2.

As the parent of a toddler... can confirm. Which makes me wonder--historian bluesky, I know the whole concept of childhood used to be different and/but/also developmentally kids and have been kids forever, so what was the pre-industrial equivalent of loving garbage trucks? Do we know?

one of my favorite things about tiny children is that it does not matter what their race, gender or culture is they all love Garbage Truck equally

This isn't just Scotland's first win at the women's T20 World Cup. It's the first win by any associate member at any women's World Cup in any format since the ICC took over women's cricket in 2005.

Also, as per England tradition: all hail the creators of the Meal Deal.

It isn't officially "me in England" until I've been to Nando's. So: England, One is in you.

But honestly? That is *so* Kane, eh. No official last test, no send-off, just "I'm done, and it's been great." Still. Ouch. 😢🖤🏏

If you thought I was sentimental after They (Broad and Anderson) retired, you haven't seen anything yet. Because this one is absolutely fucking devastating. Thank you Kane, we will never see the likes of you again! 😢🖤 🏏

New Zealand Men are a different test side with a fully fit Kyle Jamieson. Handy batter, difficult bowler to face. Just ask India in 2021. 🖤💙🏏 #BestSeriesOfThemAll #EngVNz

www.espncricinfo.com/story/meet-d... 🖤🏏

This cricket brain does belong to England until October. But I'm making an exception for the #BestSeriesOfThemAll, as usual. Looking forward to three weeks of good and fun cricket, runs and wickets for my favourite players on both sides (is it too much to ask for a Kane 💯?) and as always a 1-1. 💙🖤🏏

But a defender? Hardly gets to score goals, much less set up goals for someone else, and gets saddled with the thankless position of going in goal if the keeper is sent off and there are no substitutions left. All they can do in 90/120 minutes is keep putting in a shift and work their socks off.

More random football musings: is defender the most underappreciated position you can play? Goalkeepers get their time in the spotlight if they pull off a spectacular save or during penalty shootouts. Midfielders can attract attention with well-placed set-pieces and passes. Strikers go w/o saying.

Football is a funny old sport. I was annoyed with Fernando Torres for buggering off to Chelsea. A few years later, he came back to Anfield, and I suddenly found myself thinking about the good old days of Stevie and Nando, that rout at Old Trafford, Euro 2008 and how proud I was

In der neuen Saison heißt es für uns 'zurück nach Hause'- wir freuen uns, ab 1. August 2026 wieder am Nord Wien-Platz im 21. Bezirk spielen und trainieren zu dürfen!

Wir sind übrigens weiterhin auf der Suche nach Sponsor*innen, die uns mit einem kleinen regelmäßigen Beitrag dabei unterstützen wollen, unseren Trainings- und Spielbetrieb zu professionalisieren. Interessierte melden sich am besten bei [email protected]!

Here's the five people who I think should be the pundits in ITVs World Cup coverage: 1. Alex Horne 2. Jason Mantzoukas 3. Victoria Coren-Mitchell 4. Desiree Burch 5. Alan Davies

LASK Men have done it! Champions, 2 points ahead of the defending champions Sturm Graz, 6 points ahead of the Franchise - their first league title in 61 years and second overall! ⚽️

My point still stands. This is an extraordinary season under extraordinary circumstances.

Nice little men's football story in Austria: Lask Linz, the first non- Viennese club to win the men's Bundesliga back in 1965, haven't won anything since the double back then, won the FA Cup two weeks ago and are now 45 minutes away from winning the league. ⚽️

We’re almost done, folks. We just need to sit through a soppy romantic Romanian ballad about a milkmaid’s lost love or something like that and oh my actual Christ what the hell is this? #Eurovision

🇦🇺, 🇫🇮, 🇳🇴, 🇷🇴, 🇭🇷 this year. I'd love for Australia to win, for the absolute scenes, but I'd take either of those countries. Wouldn't even be unhappy with 🇬🇷. Gods know we need more fun and nonsense. #Eurovision2026

This isn't the traditional "host country sends a shit entry to make sure they don't have to host two years in a row" song from us, surprisingly. 19 years old me would be loving this sort of music on a night out. 🇦🇹 #Eurovision2026

Get her a job with a decent symphonic metal band. She's got that frontwoman energy! 🇷🇴 #Eurovision2026

As Pierce Hawthorne would say: GAY! OH MY GOD, SO GAY. Apart from that: not bad, 🇳🇴. #Eurovision2026