Josh Goddard

This and the whole "Ipswich should be winning the league" thing has made me uncomfortable enough to switch off until the start

Yes I think potentially, but the only thing is that is gonna take some kinda long term realignment in their fiscal/economic positions and idk whether thats possible internally

and the wealthiest part of the population is gonna become more graduate heavy rapidly - probably creates a growing pool for an economically centre/centre-right but also not nationalist/far right party which the Tories have abandoned

I also think demographic changes - the interaction of wealth and education primarily - point to this. The 2019 Tory electorate was kinda sustained by high asset wealth and low education being quite well correlated (via age) but over the coming decade(s) that's gonna unravel

appreciate there's significant differences between the 2 though

think in a way the long-term chances of Lib Dem growth lie in replacing the Tories as the kind of pro-system party than Labour as the main party of the left. Kinda what's happened in France - Macron's electorate looks far more like the trad Republican vote (characterised by wealth) than the PS one

what an extraordinary talent Lauren James is, so mesmerising to watch

Setting myself targets like "work for 10 minutes and then you get to check the cricket score"

No chance today

the first week of Wimbledon is the pinnacle of the sporting calendar and I don't think anybody could convince me otherwise

Absolutely incredible turnout for Budapest Pride! So proud of all the organizers, including some old friends, who estimate hundreds of thousands— major embarrassment to Orban

It's interesting that Wimbledon was really important in standardising the rules. I think before that the scoring system was typically like squash/badminton with long games to 21 points but the real tennis system with games, sets etc was (quite rightly, ofc) used at the first Wimbledon

Absolutely, but that in itself (that they need to squeeze them) is a hugely significant development!

It makes it wildly unpredictable. But I think the importance of strategic implications for the Labour party are underplayed

The Green party polling regularly at 10%+ is such a fundamental transformation in the British party system and has gone completely under the radar

I've come round to the view that we shouldn't get mad at them, but try and show empathy for those with no major trophies

The return of an age old question: how to be productive when a test match is on?

although perhaps other things justify the naming, maybe Suffolk MA is less depressing than Norfolk MA, or has more sporting silverware

I'm 26 and still catch myself calling it 'Anglia'

Yeah hard not to feel a prerequisite of staying up before anything else was luck with injuries and luck with decisions in games against those around us, and fair to say we didn't get it

In the same way that Burton Albion target Jurgen Klopp

- in Germany there's no established social liberal party and an established rad left party, so they fit into a difference place

I think this depends quite a lot on the party system. In E/W there is a big social liberal party and no rad left party, so Greens can occupy that space well (their voters look far more economically insecure and attitudinally anti-system that the German Greens for instance)

I also suspect the anti-NATO thing will actually be a message of "we can't trust the US anymore and therefore we need to go big on European security alliances - we're the only party prepared to really say this". I'd doubt that would do much damage amongst left voters after another 4 yrs of Trump

This is also why the Green vote in E/W is mischaracterised quite often. Looking at BES data from the last election low income/wealth are just as important in predicting Green voting as higher education. This isn't the case with European green parties because of the presence of rad left parties

Yes but even if those figures were true (I think its difficult to say) does this factor in the presence of the Lib Dems who effectively take most of that vote. This is why comparing Greens across countries is difficult - i.e. the German Greens =/= GPEW because of party system differences

Its difficult to estimate these things in terms of % of pop, but I would say some sociological developments would challenge that, most importantly the growth of economic insecurity amongst young people and graduates

I think the upside and chances of expanding into places like that are overstated, they are absolute exceptions to Green support overall. Plus if we do have a more fluid/volatile party system that radical left niche will be filled by someone else in the long term

Yes I think the Ramsey/Chowns approach in the long term severely hampers the growth of the Greens given the presence of the Lib Dems in the party system. Their electorate both attitudinally and sociologically resembles a European rad left party and ultimatly thats where they need to go

I'm happy for Spurs but sad to see how much the UEFA cup has been degraded (what was that final?!). There was a time - 1981, to pick a date at random🤔 - when it was a respectable trophy