David Hopps

The Hundred: IPL-linked teams 'not considering Pakistan players' Four sides in The Hundred with links to the IPL are not expected to sign players from Pakistan in next month's auction.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

Well, we are a little closer to agreement than we were 24 hours ago

Even in sport, "skill" does not always equal effectiveness or team need.... so, yes.

But you simply cannot start from DENIAL or from telling people that they are wrong and that actually with a bit of positive thinking we are actually doing jolly well because last month we did some great research at Oxford University or whatever. Because that is not THEIR lived day to day experience.

As a liberal, centre/centre-left voter, I would want to hear from those parties: "Yes, some elements of Britain ARE broken, and it has been broken by the 2008 financial crash, Brexit and a failure to invest in the social fabric - and Reform have blood on their hands. Only we care enough to sort it.

When did you last stand on, say, a Northern rail platform with 30% train cancellations? Or visit a closed provincial town centre? Or fear your graduate debt? Or wait 6 months for a cancer appointment then find the machine is broken? And since when was Reform the prelude to a SOCIALIST revolution? 🤯

These guys are utterly insane

Oh right, that's what guilt does for you!

(And generally - beyond sport - I think countering Reform’s Broken Britain narrative by denying the fact would be a terrible comms mistake and it is a political mistake that is sadly now all too common).

To present sport from a Broken Britain perspective (all parties) it’s easy to reference collapse of state school sport, closed sports centres & swimming pools, terrible & reduced council football pitches, lost cricket clubs & a general weakening of the Sport for All narrative to detriment of health

🤣🤣
Fair cop.
I wrote the occasional political / social piece to be fair and wanted to write more but we all get typecast 😀

Exactly. I understand the desire to challenge the Broken Britain narrative but you can hardly illustrate the efficiency of a public sector by pointing to focused financial support for a tiny driven minority committed to pursuing excellence. As good as it is to see us win medals, it misses the point.

You can hardly illustrate the efficiency of a nation's public sector for millions by pointing to focused support for a tiny driven minority pursusing excellence. That would have made East Germany a super state. That's elitist. And, as good as it is to see us win medals, it misses the point.

You can hardly illustrate the efficiency of a nation's public sector for millions by pointing to focused support for a tiny driven minority pursusing excellence. That would have made East Germany a super state. That's elitist. And, as good as it is to see us win medals, it misses the point.

The min wage for a 40 hr week is £25,397. The BBC is advertising a job for a journalist with "significant experience" on the Today programme for £27k.

Sure, this is benchmarked - but it just isn't good enough. What do we want from our national flagship news radio broadcast?

Journalism is dying.

“ I want to live in Dubai” said nobody ever

Dominic Calvert-Lewin reacts as gutting surgery confirmed with season over Leeds United star striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin has taken to social media to react after season ending surgery was confirmed away from LS11.

I’ve seen a lot of dodgy journalism in my life (some might say I’ve occasionally contributed to it) but never this level of perpetual, cynical, shameful clickbait. The people who run this site are totally infantile. I do hope they are not getting press passes #lufc

motleedsnews.com/news/dominic...

Pray to God (or Being of your choice) that they never invest in a UK cinema chain

I’ve lived in the north for too long to fully agree. Many socially-conservative racists have voted Labour historically because they thought they’d get a better deal elsewhere. Labour’s split of progressives and non progressives has always been an issue. But a big majority gave a chance to realign.🤷‍♂️

. @privateeyenews.bsky.social is going to have a field day in the Street of Shame column comparing what was written when Starmer appointed Mandelson (“shrewd choice to handle Trump“ etc) to what they are saying now. But if Starmer can’t follow his instincts for probity, I’m not sure who can.

As immensely stupid as this policy is, and as unbearable as Reform is in general, some of the anti-pub comments on this thread, ignoring their social and communal benefits for millions, sound in some cases a touch elitist, and sums up the disconnect that means Reform is leading the opinion polls. 🤷‍♂️

Pray to God (or Being of your choice) that they never invest in a UK cinema chain

🤣

I'm proud to say that she has irritated the hell out me from the first week that she was elected 16 years ago.

That's quite a thing for Reform to manage, hosting so many failed former Conservative politicians

AI nudification: the latest weapon of violence against women and girls In Julie Burchill’s recent article in the Spectator, Does it really matter if Grok undresses us all?, she makes the argument that those who, like me, have repeatedly had their clothes removed by socia...

This week, an X user created an AI video of me being chloroformed and prepared for rape.

Victims are told it's not real and they're getting offended for no reason.

But nudification tools are weapons of sexual assault, and the harm they cause is real 👇

jessasato.substack.com/p/ai-nudific...

Not quite!

NZ Confidential: How Brook's tangled timeline leaves ECB in a bind By covering up the off-field antics of England's white-ball captain, the board has exacerbated its post-Ashes fallout

Good piece.

www.espncricinfo.com/story/nz-con...

‪Really proud of how one of our young stewards at Suite Lanka is developing his video skills. What do you reckon @melindafarrell.bsky.social @jarrodkimber.bsky.social ?

NEW | Wind and solar generated more power than fossil fuels in the EU for the FIRST time ever.

🌪️ and ☀️ made up a RECORD 30% of 🇪🇺 electricity, up from 20% just five years ago.

https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/european-electricity-review-2026/