bovril

Was an honour to watch his sterling service to the club.

I'm a supporter because of the history and traditions it represents, and aesthetically the coronation was great. Under William V I can see it becoming less esoteric, more corporate and watered down and thus much duller. For me it's much more likely that Britain has avoided populism and extremism at home for centuries because of our relative economic and military success, rather than our constitution. I don't think the monarchy is going to save us in the next few decades if those things take hold, as they are likely to.

It's one thing a tiddly club like Wrexham, it's quite another when a pretty big club from the country's second city is plastering the face of some obscure Yank gridiron player everywhere in a desperate bid for relevance. Totally demeaning.

The last two were really easy. The 3rd episode in particular I thought had to be some kind of red herring it was so obvious.

Always seems like a nice guy. While not a legend, definitely an 'unforgettable'.

I'm not sure I've seen a better metaphor for the current state of the UK than 'homelessness minster makes people homeless'

Many such people. And I swear there is a positive correlation between poor personal hygiene and habits and being a massive busybody during Covid. Basically it's always someone else who spreads germs, never them.

There are some pretty fearsome looking women in this thread. Can only assume it's some kind of genetic Brit memory of the woad-painted warrior Celt woman.

It's funny because one argument against EU migration was that there would never be enough long term, but somehow Brits memed themselves into thinking there'd be infinity migrants from countries with small populations and low birthrates.

No diary but plenty of photos from various trips that got turned into articles in some Bulgarian publications. Depends what you want and whether you want to stay in one place or combine cities. Even quite touristy places like Sarajevo retain enough of the old Balkans to be absolutely fascinating and quite unique. That might be a good start. Sofia is a decent base to explore some of the mountains and monasteries of Western Bulgaria and is a nice enough city in its own right. You can also combine it with Northern Greece which, off the beaten track, is maybe my favourite part of Europe.

It's still like that to some extent. Incredible amount of diversity in one ex country, but of course they were part of very different empires for many centuries. Maybe it was always doomed to fail? I remember picking up a couple of beers at a bus station in Nis for a journey to Trieste, and realizing I couldn't put them down on the tray table in front of me because the bus was shaking so much from the pot holes the beer was flying everywhere. Then we got through Belgrade, crossed the Danube into the old Habsburg lands and suddenly the shaking stopped, and I could enjoy my cold lager. You should definitely do that trip. Bits of Macedonia, Bosnia Serbia and parts of western Bulgaria feel like the last undeveloped, unchanged parts of Europe. The Serbia / Bulgaria border in particular is just miles and miles of mountains, rivers, gorges and almost no settlements apart from a few old monasteries and tiny villages. I would say "go before they change" but to be honest I'm not sure they ever will...

I realise I'm repeating myself a bit here but to a large extent people were led by Farage to vote for this very scenario

Sunderland game was the first one I'd been to in a few years. I remember me and my Dad discussing in the car on the way over that it was an early relegation six pointer. I remember him also sarcastically commenting "well he must be good he's got colourful boots" about Kante when he came on. 5 minutes later he turned to me and said "actually he does look pretty good".

It's not irrational

Agreed, but people say they want migrants who contribute to the economy and assimilate into society but then a few years ago voted to get rid of those exact migrants who were shown to contribute more economically and arguably assimilated better. So it's a bit boy who cried wolf now.

In 2015 I walked (and occasionally bussed when I got lazy) from the bottom tip of ex Yugoslavia on the border with Bulgaria up to the border with Italy near Trieste. Crazy to think it was the all once the same country. Slovenian infrastructure and quality of life is superior to much of Western Europe. South East Macedonia felt like a different era not just a different country. It's the Habsburg / Ottoman split I guess...

A lot of those people also voted for 'Global Britain'

Always helps when you read the actual post before you hit quote. The English won't sort out immigration until they stop being so stupid about it. Believe it or not, I have quite a lot of experience in the "real world" beyond Tamworth and I know that if the figureheads of your cause are people like Farage and Robinson, you are truly and utterly ****ed. Good luck with that.

Don't really know how you can like anything about TR irrespective of your position on immigration etc. As someone who'd ideally like to see lower immigration, the problem in Britain is that any immigration sceptic figure is either a ****wit like Farage or Jenrick or a thug like Robinson, and the debate lacks all nuance or connection to reality. The only appeal I can see is if you are yourself a racist football hooligan.

I don't know how some people manage to function in wider society

I think many people in England see everything through a socioeconomic lens and don't accept that much else is important beyond income inequality and "rich bastards" hoarding wealth. Whereas for many others, things like culture, nation, demographics are still more important. An example of this is when working class people celebrate stuff like the coronation, a lot of the middle class believe they've somehow been tricked by the cunning rich elite, when actually for many it's an important part of their identity and therefore more important than economic concerns. Having said all that, the small boats stuff is also about security, as you imply.

Been reading quite a bit about it. Need to keep abreast of the latest news fnarr fnarr

I see everyone is tiptoeing round the true issue of the day, Sydney Sweeney culture wars.

Supposed to be teaching online. Surprise reading test, students!

It's not the kind of stuff O'Neill would say, maybe not even Pearson. it's quite clearly a very stupid interview to give in your first game and he will not last long, the ****ing idiot.