Nick Craw🇪🇺🇨🇦🇬🇱🇹🇭

nah you should have gone with "moder".

Its politically incorrect to say..

..but one of Kemi's biggest problems is that helping to expand the right from the old "5% who secretly vote BNP" into a proper 30% coalition of Tories & new right..means also relying on a large number of people who wont want to vote for someone who looks like her.

I always feel a bit sad about words marked that way - whichever langauge.
I dont know why...its not as if we arent inventing loads of news words...

This is lovely.

I know the portuguese word "Apricidade" which has a feeling of warmth on a winter day but also a feeling of stillness, sweetness to it. It feels very portuguese.

I always assumed it was a typical portuguese.
I never knew the same word existed in English.

Why dont we use it?

Growing up in 1970s we had mismatch cutlery.
When laying the table us kids fought to give the old crooked fork to someone else.

Visiting my parents in my 50s I always give myself the crooked fork for fun.
Except when my sister (now 58) is there, then I place it at her plate, always makes her laugh.

The Tories have now a weird comms problem in that they cant beat Reform on appearances and "vibes" and cannot beat Labour on appealing on more "left leaning" policies for ex Labour voters.

So they are selling themselves as the establishment version to reform when reform's vibe is antiestablishment,

Its politically incorrect to say..

..but one of Kemi's biggest problems is that helping to expand the right from the old "5% who secretly vote BNP" into a proper 30% coalition of Tories & new right..means also relying on a large number of people who wont want to vote for someone who looks like her.

Many people fail to realise that from financial crisis (2008-14), to brexit (2020-25) UK incomes havent grown for 90% of people.

Indeed barring a few nice cheap stream aps most people live lifes not more prosperous than the late 1990s.

1st time in 200 years incomes havent grown over a generation.

I think the fissure to right has been overstated.

Looking at currents polls if one counts the parties:
Labour
LibDems
Greens
PC & SNP
Cotbyn team

as left to centre-left then theres a clear majority opposing right.
Its the Reform headline figure (due to Tory collapse) that everyone is looking at.

Research reveals racist chants on rise in Israeli football – with Maccabi Tel Aviv the worst offenders Kick It Out Israel found 367 instances in the 2024-25 season – of those, 118 were observed in stands containing Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters

Hi Felix,

be interested to know if any of the reporting of last 48 hours on this has changed your opinion on this. It seems that a third of all racist chanting in Israeli Premier League is from Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Personal context: I lived many years in Brum.
eg.

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Think problem with this is we think this is a culture war left/right issue which is why the politicos jumped in.

Im from Brum, the average Brummie regardless of political or footie sympathies or middle east views was perfectly happy with the ban.

The govt screwed up, it didnt need to do this.

Its been very common in UK - especially in Glasgow for obvious reasons. Also very common with teams from certain Balkan/C European countries.

I could be wrong (& am happy to admit it if I am) but I have NEVER heard a single UK mainstream politician trying to overturn a single one of these bans.

The Spurs draw with Monaco last night has huge significance for Arsenal.

Spurs now likely require 4 wins from their remaining 5 CL games incl. Dortmund & Frankfurt & PSG away to avoid the play-offs.
& the 2 H/A play-offs...

..take place 3 days before, & 3 days after, the Spurs v Arsenal fixture...

My family is roughly 50% born abroad (Congo, Thailand & Italy).

The real reason migrants come to UK:

1. English language
2. Easier to get a job/flat quickly
3. UK life is more "fluid"
You need good German to "make it" in Germany.
Even tho you earn less in UK, you can make initial progress quicker.

Research reveals racist chants on rise in Israeli football – with Maccabi Tel Aviv the worst offenders Kick It Out Israel found 367 instances in the 2024-25 season – of those, 118 were observed in stands containing Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters

Hi Felix,

be interested to know if any of the reporting of last 48 hours on this has changed your opinion on this. It seems that a third of all racist chanting in Israeli Premier League is from Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Personal context: I lived many years in Brum.
eg.

www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Reader,...I still scored.

Anyone else notice how the feelings of 200 Maccabi fans was literally the all consuming most important politics & news subject yesterday has now fallen into silence?

Its all those podcasters I feel sorry for who recorded their discussions yesterday evening and now no one wants to know.

Netflix is such a weird beast.
Endless hours of unwatchable dystopian series & films (while we are living through an actual dystopia) and then comes series like the Diplomat which makes the monthly subscription seem worthwhile....

Top clubs' new strikers ranked:

Matheus "super buy" Cunha - 0 goals
Alexander "most expensive striker in PL history" Isak - 1 goal
João "Super bargain" Pedro - 2 goals
Bryan "buy of the season" Mbeumo - 3 goals
Hugo "surprising success" Ekitike - 4 goals

Viktor "absolute failure" Gykores - 5 goals

Reader,...I still scored.

only if they do their 60 hours a month witnessing...

Oh well if they were pioneers you could still get a bonus point...!

Bonus like if your dad was a ministerial servant...

Mike Graham 'axed from Talk show' after racist posts on Facebook account Mike Graham has reportedly been suspended from his Talk UK show after a racist post was shared on his Facebook account, which he denies was by him.

Mike Graham is reportedly exploring options in the "natural concrete industry".

www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/mike-gr...

When you do this offer them magazine or a leaflet instead of trick or treat.

Here in Germany the bureaucracy is efficient but complex.
You need to register where you live, job secirity is good but it takes longer to get a good job. German is not something many non europeans know.

Life is harder in UK but you can always get something quickly in UK.

My family is roughly 50% born abroad (Congo, Thailand & Italy).

The real reason migrants come to UK:

1. English language
2. Easier to get a job/flat quickly
3. UK life is more "fluid"
You need good German to "make it" in Germany.
Even tho you earn less in UK, you can make initial progress quicker.

The Spurs draw with Monaco last night has huge significance for Arsenal.

Spurs now likely require 4 wins from their remaining 5 CL games incl. Dortmund & Frankfurt & PSG away to avoid the play-offs.
& the 2 H/A play-offs...

..take place 3 days before, & 3 days after, the Spurs v Arsenal fixture...

Mike Graham 'axed from Talk show' after racist posts on Facebook account Mike Graham has reportedly been suspended from his Talk UK show after a racist post was shared on his Facebook account, which he denies was by him.

I know this sounds bad, but I have a tiny bit of sympathy for Mike Graham.
He was hired to provide racism...how was he supposed to know the exact amounts of racism he was supposed to provide?

www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/mike-gr...

The problem with this sort of talk is that now....I will spend the next few hours (or days lets be honest) reflecting on Wogan and his guests, the highlights of his show and the experiences that happened on Wogan.

And i'm nowhere near in my 80s.