Gloucester Saint

New keeper coming in as #1. Lumley or Lis as back up, Baz on loan in the new year when fit again to a lower league 1/promotion chasing League 2 side. Bart is probably a good model for Gavin to look to - rebuild in leagues 1 and 2, and back to the Champ in his 30s if he makes significant improvement. The fact he’s a RoI international is irrelevant as they are the worst they’ve been for generations, like Wales under Bobby Gould.

Totnes as a seat could swing back to the Lib Dem’s, the town itself wants rid of the Tories and is Lib Dem/Green, but Brixham has been solid Tory partly because of the fishing and Brexit. The fishing community got so badly shat on and lied to by the Tory Brexiteers that you’d hope they’d get their revenge at the GE but experience tells me that working folk in this country love the Etonian jackboot in their face.

Great result, patient display first half and higher tempo after the break. Superb goals by Smallbone and Armstrong. Brooks very good, should have had a penalty and then one given when it wasn’t (Manning). Downes excellent. McCarthy has made a huge difference in goal, I think we will bring in a first choice keeper whatever the result at Wembley. Wonderful vibrant atmosphere, pity about the underclass baiting the travelling Baggies at the end. Shitty when Derby did in 2007 and 17 years on the armpit of our fanbase does it. Enjoy the win, get excited about Wembley but show some respect and class towards good fans and a good club (WBA).

Bournemouth/Ringwood to Brighton is not an easy drive to do on a regular basis. Between Havant and Chichester was always bad and if Goodwood is on even worse. I knew someone who commuted between Hayling Island and Bournemouth and found it very challenging, Brighton further still. I’d have thought Brighton let him have some days at home but with their Europa campaign this year that’s probably been less often and he’s probably been staying in Sussex more often than not.

Now you’re getting to the root of the issue. What VAR has brought a searing spotlight onto is the complacency, ineptitude, poor concentration, and sloppiness typifying English refereeing. In rugby and cricket, admittedly vastly superior sports these days to football, look at how professionalisation has transformed refereeing. Communication is so much better, in rugby they are miked up, and confident in explaining their decisions. When mistakes do happen, they put their hand up to them which helps enable two-way respect. Look at cricket, the replays are so much faster. It’s no more difficult to work out if a batter has nicked it to the keeper than judging an offside, yet it takes a fraction of the time. Similar for LBWs. If PGMOL members and the body want to earn any respect, they need to be far more transparent and humble. Then, the focus can be on the clubs and players to clean up their act and show more respect. They wont though, too arrogant and complacent. I’d put PGMOL and 75% of the referees on performance management measures for next season, if there’s not a huge improvement they need to be dismissed. We can bring in better from overseas until we train our younger referees to the standards expected.

It did read like a sanitised version of Duck without the references to soft arsed pinkos. Farage in government I suspect would be similar to Boris in many ways - effective at campaigning, getting slogans across, but not the level of consistent attention to detail on a day to day basis for Whitehall. Unlike Boris, I think Farage knows it too. He makes far more money now than he’d make as an MP/Minister and has a lot more freedom to do/say what he wants.

Good grief https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13415849/Tory-woke-wars-Grants-Shapps-dismisses-Common-Sense-minister-Esther-McVeys-ban-LGBT-lanyards-Whitehall-saying-not-bothered-staff-expressing-views.html Her stupidity in full: https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/government-to-scrap-equality-and-diversity-roles-minister-says Talk about prioritisation! Let’s ban non-jobs for thick people in the cabinet. Good response from Andrew Boff there and you can tell Schapps was thinking ‘oh FFS, not this crap’. She was quite happy to take RDA funds to get her business, based on equalities issues itself just to underline hypocrisy, going before Steve Hilton apparently advised Cameron to abolish them. Within 18 months, LEPs had to be set up as it was obvious RDAs did vital work and er, it’s a bit hard to do place-based innovation and devolution without a similar structure. Hilton used to have a decent brain apart from that brain fart, but now part of Donnie’s Orange single digit IQ army.

Now considering buying a pub nearer their brewery near Bourton https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czkvv7rxevgo I can believe it would be a £750k refurb as it’s in a poor state and it’s expensive to renovate around here.

If Mordaunt or Tugendhat get the leadership, that’s possible, this next budget is going to fuck the economy again (not quite at Truss/IEA level, but still badly) for anyone who isn’t a mega billionaire. Always party before national interest with them. When the tabloids keep referring to the record tax levels, they are talking about their non dom owners, not the likes of us. The NI cut - I’d rather have a functioning NHS when I need it getting towards my 50s rather than £90 extra p/month as a higher rate taxpayer. What’s really criminal is how they’ve doubled the national debt from the supposedly unsustainable high point in 2010 (an outlier since 1997) yet trashed public services to ruins, fucked thousands of SMEs over with Brexit who export/import and let infrastructure rot so dividends shoot up whilst we pay the highest energy and transport costs in Europe. Michelle Mone was certainly enjoying her billions of champagne socialism via the VIP lane for mountains of duff equipment. There’s always a magic tree with our money on it for their mates. However, the swivels call the shots in their crazy party and it’ll be Braverman, Femi or some other absolute loon. Trying to persuade an electorate that the party who brought us Truss, Sinclair et al has any economic competence for the next decade at least, probably a lot longer still, is going to take some doing! As Daniel Finkenstein says, it’s their Winter of Discontent and IMF all in one. Rub their noses in it for decades and never let them forget. It was a global disgrace. Plus after they fucked the Lib Dems over in the coalition, then the DUP, nobody will partner them to get them to 326 seats in the future. As a Lib Dem, I can’t wait to us take the Cornish seats and others in the SW return to their proper yellow colour (they’ll hold on in Devon outside the urban areas because the average age). That’s why tactical voting is vital in this election and future ones to deny the useless plastic US Trump Republicans on the Tory right a majority. I’m fine with the One Nation folks in their party - they are welcome to defect to us. Talking of plastic, Trump Republicans, remind me who the OP was again? You won’t see him for dust on General Election night when it’s defeat after defeat.

Durham have picked two spinners as well. Callum Parkinson is one of them, and took the wicket of Middleton. Hants 85-1, Orr reaching his 50 and building a stand with Gubbins. Durham’s bowling looks decent but long tail with the bat, Carse due at 7 when they bat. Clearly anticipating a flat track. BBC reporting they think it will help the spinners especially on days 3 and 4.

Great quip by Mordaunt in the HoC - ‘I am not about to defect to the opposition benches. They wouldn’t be interested in me, I’m too left wing’. Quality response drawing further laughter from Lucy Powell ‘Our reach into previously undiscovered support is much broader and deeper than I ever imagined’. Meanwhile Houchen, the sole consolation in the local election and Mayoral races, becomes ‘Ouchen’ for Rishi https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/national/24308000.sunak-ultimately-blame-tory-chaos-says-tees-valley-mayor-houchen/

Agree with most of this, JWP has more than a decade of regular PL football, dozen England caps, set piece record and some good non-set piece goals. Downes is a very good player, touch harsh to say he’s proven not to be PL calibre as has seemingly done well when given an opportunity at West Ham, but he’s not quite cutting it for West Ham want to be e.g top 8 in the same Jack Cork wasn’t when Saints were at that level for 3-4 seasons but was very effective in the Champ and first couple of seasons back in the top flight. Like Jack Cork was at Burnley, Downes improves them and Everton downwards this season. If, huge if, the club wins the play-offs, Downes if West Ham’s new boss decides he’s surplus, would need to be supplemented by at least one Victor/Diop type mountains who can screen the back 4/5 and get up and down the pitch. Selling Romeu, legs going or not, killed JWP last season, and out of a stupid summer 2022 was one of the moronic decisions of the lot. Smallbone will be loaned out again as would Aribo. Given there’s a new keeper needed whatever the division, probably at least one CB, CM and strikers, good luck to Wilcox’s replacement!

Indeed https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66405229 and was an effective Sport minister despite being very at odds with the New Labour pro-ish EU orthodoxy at the time. Dan Poulter was a far more obvious defector, but interesting article about some of the background drivers here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68979548 Housing is a common interest and move away from recent Tory policies, plus she seemed to prefer trying to rebuild relationships with the French to the very costly Rwanda scheme. Not sure the ERG helped with that objective much though! Be interesting to know her position on the hard right’s current obsession of leaving the ECHR as that’s quite tricky if she was in favour of that. Dover is strategically important on the boats debate so I can see why Starmer did it for that reason. Not one I saw coming even so. It would have been hard for her to stand for election again with the social media interviews being dragged up but as she’s standing down and gets as advisory role on housing as a favoured subject I can see it works both ways on a practical level. The unease of some on the left will probably relate also to comments she made after Charlie Elphicke was jailed https://www.politico.eu/article/tory-natalie-elphicke-defection-sparks-backlash-labour-women/ plus the Rashford comments. Risky move, some pros rubbing Sunak’s nose further in it and pissing Momentum off is always worth votes, but some of the unease is real.

The Rallings and Thresher analysis is quite flawed anyway, Curtis pulls it apart easily https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/rishi-sunak-wrong-hung-parliament-3042437#:~:text=It is based on an,of a majority in Parliament. Firstly, people have always voted differently in local elections, there’s more Greens, Independents etc. Secondly, Reform didn’t have much of a spread geographically as their powder is kept dry for the GE. Thirdly, it ignores the SNP implosion where Labour are likely to win seats back for the first time since 2010. People aren’t as enthusiastic about Starmer as they were about Blair, but the same is true about every Tory politician bar Thatcher, apart from a brief flicker from Boris before his laziness became more widely obvious and lack of focus led to disgrace. Those two, Thatcher and Blair, are generational figures. The key is do people prefer Starmer to Sunak and the results are pretty clear on that. Boris and to an extent Cameron outperformed the Tory brand, which has been low ever since 1997, maybe 1993. Justin Webb took Maria Caulfield apart on this yesterday https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/taking-them-for-fools-bbc-presenter-nails-the-big-flaws-in-sunaks-coalition-of-chaos-claim_uk_6638872ee4b0e44cfb124111 Its a desperate F5 button press from 2015 - vote Miliband, get SNP (at their and Sturgeon’s peak, not now) et al plus the focus on Lib Dem’s SW heartlands funded by their dodgy non doms. We lived in one of the seats turning yellow to blue in 2015 and our doormat got peppered with that stuff for several months, letters addressed to both of us etc. It worked for Cameron for that GE but May Parliament chaos, Boris scandals and resignations, Truss economic humiliation hadn’t happened at that point. Also, Cameron was toast within months as PM and the Pandora’s Box opened. Rishi limps on, a Ruben Selles following a Nathan Jones, with relegation looming by the same rock bottom margin as last season. Sunak wants to avoid losing worse than Major, get as close to 200 seats as they can. If they get under 130-140, they look ripe for Reform UK pickings and less chance of even a long-term rebuild 1997-2010.

Could be a similar story in the summer if Saints lose out in the play-offs, Martin has hinted at it previously. If the tactics are more pragmatic aka last Saturday at Leeds, and Dragan’s willing to invest, then a loss at Wembley where we’ve had a good go at it, then he could stay even with the turnover of players as it’s a weaker league next season. If he reverts to Martinball, then it could be a similar story to Rosenior. Rosenior is well regarded as a coach, and done well overall in his first major job as #1. Where I think it’s hurt him is that their owner backed him apparently in January to strengthen but presumably on the basis of making the top 6. Dragan could make the same argument if WBA beat us in the semis.

How I see it too. Didn’t mind him moving on to W Ham, had a very productive honeymoon there but since Christmas has been in and out of side with their midfield getting overpowered. Ideal CM partner would have been Rice, blend of pace and power, JWP more technical but hence the money to sign him contingent on Rice being sold. I can see a loan to Leicester or Fulham next season. In the event SFC won the play offs, the template tactically for next season would be Saturday’s from Elland, so after signing THB, maybe Downes if their new manager needs to bring in £20m, priority is pace and especially power. Victor/Morgan/Diop MK2 and a couple of them, Charles loaned out.

Deluded https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68961195 and inevitable Sewerella pops up. She has ratings in line with Truss and the same delusions - if they move further to the right they will shred any vestiges of economic credibility post-Truss disaster and leaving the ECHR is banana republic talk. Tice’s dream come true would be Sewerella as Tory leader after the GE, she’d finish off Boris, Truss’s and Sunak’s chaos and her own party in the process. A pound shop, plastic Enoch Powell. The fact that more moderate Conservatives held Harlow and Andy Street outperformed the national party by miles dy distancing himself from their cheap, tacky populism eludes buffoons like her.

Good point, beer is brewed at Bourton but farm is at Chadlington over the border in Oxon. Chipping Norton pleasant enough, if expensive, we like Burford, big garden centre and bookshop there. Not cheap with to be fair!

Their Hawksmoor Lager, Cider and IPA is on sale in most places up here (I’m not in Gloucester itself), the farm is at Bourton on the Water not too far away. Pretty place but spring onwards tourist central a bit like Broadway is, so he’s always going to do well with the footfall. Will have a look at series 3.

He’s at it again around inciting political violence https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/02/trump-vance-jan6-election-results/ This time around though, there is an incumbent and I don’t think the National Guard will bottle taking out violent Trump fanatics.

Good cartoon about Swinney’s entry into the race for First Minster in the Guardian today https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/may/02/martin-rowson-john-swinney-entering-snp-leadership-contest-cartoon Some diverse views certain north of the border about it https://www.scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk/news/news/a-statement-from-scottish-civil-society-organisations-on-the-uk-governments-intervention-o/ and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7200756wz7o The SNP are a shitshow and if this is a further stick to beat them with then I’m all for it. England and the other devolved nations will run a mile from that stuff. Biological women should clearly have been covered. I had a look at the Census data from 2021 and the ONS reckoned there was what 40k transgender people declaring as women and another 18k I think it was non-binary (which is where my middle aged brain starts to fuse). Edit it’s 30k non binary and 18k ‘written in a different gender identity’ https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/genderidentity/bulletins/genderidentityenglandandwales/census2021 That’s out of 30.4m women in the UK. 0.13%.

Well, they shouldn’t have done, none of the MSPs should. Crap piece of legislation, and largely unenforceable. As for the trans stuff, I usually (not always) vote Lib Dem and I’ve no idea what Davey has said or hasn’t said on the issue. I don’t much care either, I leave it to the ‘my pronoun is x/y/z’ brigade and the culture war wallies to battle it out. I’ve got nothing against trans people whatsoever, I’d just want to focus on sorting out NHS waiting lists, the economy, public services, education, transport, armed forces, get the borders policy and asylum (NOT the same thing as migration) in better nick before anything else gets a serious look in. By all means call me old fashioned.

Most really don’t I’m afraid. JK Rowling does but that was more in response to testing the ill-fated and ill-designed new speech laws in Scotland. There’s the Kathleen Stock case at Sussex Uni but that’s about it. Outside of a few cultural warriors in the Tory Party who listen to too many Steve Bannon speeches and are obsessed with American Politics/Trump and the Daily Mail, it barely registers. Maybe it does if you’re transgender, a family member is, or you work in elite women’s sport but otherwise, it’s really not an important everyday issue for 99.9% of the public. If CCHQ thinks it is, it needs to sack its researchers. Top 6 issues featuring consistently and overwhelmingly in You Gov polls: - NHS - Cost of Living - Housing - Climate Change - Crime - Asylum and immigration I can see defence joining those with the threat from Putin, China and Iran maybe nearer the GE date.

If your benchmark is Blair, Hague, Thatcher, Robin Cook when deputising, John Smith, Denis Healey, and John Major was also good at the dispatch box, then Starmer isn’t much cop there and neither is Sunak. Boris and Corbyn were appalling at it, the former getting humiliated cross-party and by his predecessor Teresa May (correctly) over party-gate. If you want to see a demolition job with a bit of theatre, watch this by Rayner on Dowden, a counter attack he didn’t see coming and as many Tory MPs as Labour enjoyed it. PMQs is not the place for detailed policy answers, never has been, that’s what green and white papers are for. It’s just a high profile mechanism when either a policy goes wrong or is likely to (Rwanda, or queries on Iraq War) or there’s a suspicion a Minister is trying to mislead (Boris, Braverman). As Badger identifies, it’s 30 minutes of Punch and Judy for the cameras and tea time news. It rarely features unless the shit is hitting the fan somewhere. If you want change but not sure about Starmer et al, contingent on where you live, try Lib Dem’s or Reform, according to whether you are more naturally left/right of centre. Or do what I did in 2019 and abstain as there was no Green candidate and a choice of Boris, Corbyn and Swinson made me feel physically sick.

The cheating was worse at Pride Park 1996/7 I can assure you with Eranio and Baiano diving for penalties with no defender in contactable distances. Refs fell for it (pun intended) both times in league and cup, dense then and now. Then Dean Sturridge got Franny sent off at the Dell. Then there was 2005 where Redknapp and Bassett looked like they were going to combust at the referee. Derby were a typical physical team at that level with an effective big lump (Steve Howard) and some finesse (Matt Oakley and Pearson). What cost us was Claus’s injury final day v Southend, which left Pele exposed to Howard in the first leg. He’d been signed as a DC but had played DMC during the better runs of form. Fagin deserved a red card but that Saints team were a bit like this one - some of the most gifted players in the division but went missing went it got tasty. Whereas under Nigel, Poch and Ronald, the likes of Morgan, Victor and Oriol ensured teams didn’t take liberties. Saints need at least one CM who can mix it.