Rodney Bates

I can remember watching Celebrity Big Brother in the year of Michael Barrymore, Pete Burns, Rula Lenska, Jodie Marsh, Dennis Rodman and George Galloway. This year, most people will be working out how many "celebrities" they recognise - so far Chesney Hawkes & Trisha Goddard are not the same level..

Pleased to say that I genuinely picked the winner of the Grand National because I thought it had good form and had won their last 2 races..33/1 😊

Legal action begins over private school VAT changes Families argue that the policy

Personally, I think this case on VAT is on weak grounds... I can see a potentially good legal argument for equality of SEND pupils unable to access free education but I can't see how the imposition of VAT to any charge already paid would be relevant to that argument.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Still think Heather Knight should have remained in place but to train up her successor over next 12 months. One name not mentioned much is Danni Wyatt-Hodge who is best fielder by some distance & a good T20 bat if England are wanting to try new approach. Tammy Beaumont is probably the right choice

Worst @LFC performance by a million miles this season...no energy, no drive, no obvious passion, dreadful passing. Lost almost every tackle in the entire match. Newcastle turned up today with a plan & performance whereas Liverpool looked clueless. Perhaps the extra time & pens v PSG took their toll

Plan to freeze PIP disability benefits may be dropped Many usually loyal Labour MPs had voiced strong opposition to the idea, with the government expected to cut billions from the welfare bill.

Good - this should be dropped. There is a massive difference between rightfully ensuring those capable of work should do so but also ensuring that those unable to do so through disability have dignity and respect and an ability to have a basic life. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Let's be clear - New Zealand were the ethical winners of Champions Trophy. The tournament was completely demeaned by ridiculous advantages given to India using the same ground set up for their team & not having to travel. In contrast, New Zealand played on different surfaces & several 3 hr flights.

Lot of news reports today about senior civil servant performance concerns. However, the civil service (as with local govt) already has capability policies to address under-performance. These start with development plans & go up to dismissal. Sounds like rhetoric rather than meaningful policy.

I would be interested to see the expected goals for PSG compared with the expected goals for Liverpool...

That has got to be one of the biggest "smash and grab" in Champions League football from @lfcr.bsky.social - probably the best keeping I have seen for many years, a surprising substitution and then how on earth did we win that.....

Champions Trophy 2025: Australia and South Africa will travel to Dubai ahead of potential semi-final Australia and South Africa will travel to Dubai before the Champions Trophy semi-finals, despite not knowing if they will play there or in Pakistan.

This situation should never be allowed in international sport. If India did not want to visit Pakistan then they should have either forfeited matches or been replaced with Sri Lanka. This gives a ridiculous & unfair advantage to India rendering the tournament a farce. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

If Ukraine situation is not resolved by Monday (which seems very unlikely after tonight) then there is going to be a huge amount of internal party and UK pressure to cancel the Trump State Visit. It was definitely worth a try as a way of massaging egos to avoid tariffs but Ukraine is more important

It would be highly provocative but the morally correct decision would be for the King to immediately cancel the State Visit to Donald Trump & instead offer it to President Zelensky instead....

Following the events of tonight, we should now immediately withdraw the invitation for the second Trump state visit & make clear our solidarity with Ukraine against Russian aggression. It was worth a try to massage Trump's ego but sadly it is clear that he has prioritised Russia above the UK.

My England ODI team for next match... Jacks, Duckett, Root, S Curran, Brook, Buttler, Smith (wkt), Dawson/Overton, Rashid, Archer, Mahmood/Topley....more importantly, it needs a proper knockout one day comp in England at start of season not an 2nd XI style afterthought.

Really poor from England - wrong team & wrong tactics. 1)Bowling 3 right arm quicks along with another 10 overs of part-time right arm spin is nonsense. 2) Salt is T20 only, Smith can't keep & bat at 3 & Livingstone too inconsistent. 3) Buttler is too passive as Capt. Why was Sam Curran dropped?

Nothing better than very late night penalties to see some high class goalkeeping housery in blatant time wasting & putting people off....#EXEvNOT

How to defeat populism The core message should be that populist policies are stupid and won’t work. But that argument is only credible from people voters respect

A really good article about populism - the best response to populism is use positive emotion & vision. "Why do you want to get rid of British heroes like Sir Mo Farah?" for example...the reality is that you address the feelings of emotion with positive hope www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/pop...

No idea how the Forest fans will go home tonight with this very late finish....unless times have changed, the last trains out of Exeter going north would have left about 8pm...

What a fantastic game of football at St James Park, Exeter...used to watch from the terraces as it was my uni team and the first match I watched was a 6-4 defeat....there might be a problem though with the timing as it's in residential area, already 10.20pm & it is at least 30 mins of Extra time...

There's an third interesting case working through the court involving nurses at a Scottish hospital. It is currently live at the courts but I will comment afterwards on some of the legal aspects raised.

Second interesting legal case was footballer Sam Kerr & allegations of racial harassment. Again the legal position here is key. Prosecution were always on weak grounds when alleged upset of specific comment was only raised 11 months later & the CCTV recording of incident showed no obvious distress.

Two interesting court cases ended today. On the case of vetting Met Police officers, the Judge is correct on current regs but the answer would be to have a formal dismissal process & hearing for "frustration of contract" for officers that fail vetting. Officer can then test the reasons at hearing.

If any Premier League team decides to play their reserves & youth players in the FA Cup then they deserve to go out. The @LFC team changed every outfield player & arguably only one player (Jota) would be in a regular first XI. FA Cup was clearly lowest priority & it showed today...

Seems ridiculous for a FA Cup match to be won due to a clearly offside goal when VAR was available and used every week by both sides...#MNULEI

At the risk of appearing dim, why do reporters stand outside in a dangerous storm to tell everyone that...er..you must stay inside during this dangerous storm....

It's really weird watching the times of intense prayer during the Presidential Inauguration. Unlike JD Vance and most of the others present, Trump is clearly not engaging with the prayers at all. This would be understandable if he was not a believer but he claims to be one & sought religious right.

The words of Martin Luther King were, " When people remember I have a dream that my 4 children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character." The words of Donald Trump today were to judge people by their land of birth.

Very consistent form Premier League form by #LFC so far this season. Only points dropped this season are to teams in 2nd (home & away), 3rd (away), 5th (away) plus the home draws v Fulham (played with 10 men for 80 mins) & Man Utd (leading with 10 minutes to play).

That must be the best impact substitutions in football history. Bring on two subs and within 3 seconds, one passes to the other to score!! Slot is a genius just for that...#LFC