Gloucester Saint

Business to business fraud isn’t taken seriously enough, yet another example https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yg3y0qgexo It is fraudulent to withhold key segments on any contract but the enforcement is more lax B2B. Needs changing and much larger fines/HMRC fast-track asset confiscation orders to root out crooked firms.

They’re just following logic that a better resourced border control (left wretchedly under-resourced after Brexit) and a quicker processing system will result in more and quicker deportations. No need for eye watering expensive fig leafs in Rwanda or elsewhere. They’ve also worked well with France, Netherlands and Germany to arrest and hobble some of the biggest smugglers. It‘ll be an ongoing and expensive battle with the surge in smartphones in Africa and beyond but they’ve made more progress than I thought they would. Reform are more of a danger on this issue to them than the Tories, busted flush on this issue.

Yes, he is, counterproductive and a distraction issue. He’s about as accurate about that as he was at football. Probably trying to get Stuart Gray or Steve Wigley a seat.

Far more regulation is needed around national builders - yet another example amongst hundreds https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c624528pjr7o We bought a new build where we lived before, had a better experience as went with a regional builder and close to their HQ so some pride of place, unlike the nationals. Fair bit of snagging still and some sloping shoulders about the plumbing but very good compared to now. No excuse for many of the national builders (less so Redrow these days and Bloor from my experience amongst the bigger nationals, not thinking of Cala who are smaller) to throw up rubbish though, not for what they are selling their properties for. I’d give the NHBC a lot more teeth including right of veto over executive bonuses on boards until quality and standards massively increase to mutually agreed targets and backed up by customer research.

A limited edition tonight for Hook Norton’s 175th anniversary. The brewery, about 40 minutes from here across the Oxfordshire border, is famous for its tower design (second page) and visitor centre, well worth a visit if you’re over that way. The beer itself poured a golden amber, soft fruit notes on the nose, mandarin, mango, and the palate, which is very soft in texture like a cask draft or Perfectdraft, follows that with more mandarin and tangerine 🍊, the malt gives a strong backbone and balances the fruit beautifully so it never becomes harsh. Very gentle bitterness but this beer is about aromatics over muscular hops.

There was an extended piece on BBC Points West tonight about the trial and verdict. Included a segment with the mothers, one of whom lost their middle aged husband to COVID in early 2021 as well. Two lads in the wrong place at the wrong time, dreadful and inexcusable violence.

Stroud Organic Big Cat Stout for a cold, ark night in the Cotswolds. Chocolate ice cream, burned toast and espresso coffee on the nose, taste is chocolate liqueur, espresso coffee, sharp red fruits, a savoury note and notable alcohol for only 4.5% ABV, with a tangy and lingering finish. Ideal for watching the Grand Slam of Darts quarter finals.

The only way to crack economic growth is to tackle productivity- this is a long-term issue with roots in the financial crisis, worsened by austerity and a hard Brexit poured petrol on it and set it on fire. https://www.productivity.ac.uk/news/what-explains-the-uks-productivity-problem/ This explains the issue in simple terms - we’re the worst in the G7 for productivity. We work the longest hours but with the least outcomes https://www.economicsobservatory.com/how-can-the-uk-revive-its-ailing-productivity Education, skills and training, transport, all of those variables are why we are 10-25% behind France, Germany, USA.

Starting to undo some of the worst of a disastrous hard Brexit will repair a bit of the damage from 2019 by the next election. NHS waiting lists down, trains running and with Gray stepping out the backstabbing in public has stopped. Outside of the small Conservative bubble, most people are enjoying the lack of public drama. Added to the fact the opposition has selected Badenoch with Mr Corrupt Nits Haircut already undermining her (not that she needs that to fail). The only parties who will gain much ground in 2028 or 29 will be Lib Dem’s and Reform.

Andrew Bailey stating the flippin’ obvious https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr5m7mp96l8o

😂https://x.com/MufcWonItAll2/status/1856799588293763244?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet

You can only think there was a serious issue somewhere with him or Wilson, because nobody sane or sober is listening to an interview by Pellegrino and thinking we are getting up-tempo pressing football. More likely to ask all sharp objects in the vicinity at a safe distance. Carrillo was a dreadful mistake yet the Danish dunce makes the exact same mistake four years later with Jones and Onachu. They won’t spend over £20m on a striker but they’ll piss away £40m combined on those two. Add in Sulemana at £22m, Ely at £17m, BBD £7m, Archer £14m (who I think will be alright actually). Quality over quantity has to be the learning. Mane, Tadic, they are £30-35m now at their 2014 development.

About the same financial clout as Dragan. Shows what recruiting the likes of Paul Barber, Graham Potter and De Zerbi can do, allied to the type of data system that is Real Madrid to Rasmus’s Netley Central FC. Maybe Lallana player manager, see how he does, and if it doesn’t work, still have him on the staff and go high profile in the summer, relative to the Championship. But all contingent on Solak pulling his finger out and restructuring SR to get those two halfwits out of it.

I’ve just found Rasmus’s favourite band https://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/why-did-the-klf-burn-a-million-pounds-on-a-scottish-island#:~:text=“It seemed like a failure”&text=“Cauty and Drummond tend to,the money is a purgative.”

Word is that even with a GOP majority in the Senate, Trump is already concerned that he might not be confirmed as his first pick due to the top paragraph above with some significant objections from senior Republicans in the security and defence sphere. Also some stirring in the House and Senate against more tariffs.

Absolutely this, but I’d actually choose to break Derby’s points record if it humiliated first Martin and then Rasmus out of a restructured SR. I’d rather they sold the club full stop but that seems unlikely in the short-term as Ornstein’s comments (he ought to know better as well) fed to him by Rasmus which he won’t challenge, indicate SR are actually enjoying their vanity project. Going by the Martin poll, we certainly are not. Cheltenham Town and Torquay United this season for me and possibly next if there aren’t seismic changes at SFC over the summer which re-engage me and thousands of others.

Rasmus truly is clueless about anything football-related. I bet he fed Ornstein that pile of vacuous shit and went for some random flavoured vape outside afterwards. Those comments are truly the final straw for me. Rasmus has achieved nothing but ride off others’ hard work and float around doing TedTalks. If you want to watch live football folks, pick your local non league team or lower leagues. Cheltenham Town and Gloucester City for me but it could be Sholing, Eastleigh etc. Just don’t give any SR and this buffoon Ankerson any of your hard earned money. He’s a charlatan and Dragan is a total mug. He’ll destroy the club beyond repair. He’s referring to Martin but he’s got himself in mind with his comments too. Failing nonentities both of them but they love themselves. I did the protests with Branfoot and Lowe, time for a new generation to step up to the plate. Protests or boycotting - either is good and exposes what the people of the city I grew up in really think. We’ve all spent too long trying to stop an arrogant club destroying itself multiple times since the early 90s - SFC isn’t Southampton FC as I knew it. I’m far more AFC Wimbledon and SR have turned SFC into MK Dons, plastic franchise stuff. Semmens helped on the way to plasticity by banning all the fans in the Itchen North who had some character.

Decent stuff, it came in a pack of pale ales my missus bought me for my birthday last year. Northern Monk Faith was in there as well, Buxton SPA I think it was too. Tribute is decent stuff but having lived in Devon it is everywhere in the SW, even some of the pubs up here along with Proper Job which can be a class IPA at a medium strength. London Pride I used to really enjoy but for me it’s lost a bit of hop profile since Fullers were bought, that marmalade note has gone. Quite run of the mill now. Butty Bach is the ubiquitous session ale around here, very good beer once warmed up if served cold. HPA pops up frequently as well, good pale when well kept.

Newcastle away - 5-0 and 2-0 down inside 3 minutes live on Sky. Richard Dryden rushed into action despite clearly being miles off match fit. The anti-Branfoot sentiment was different league I agree and Nathan Jones would’ve got there if he’d stayed long enough. Martin could get closer to that status if he stays most of the season and there’s a few spats during matches with fans near the dugout, but not there at the moment. I think most people are just numbed by how dreadful we are, a bit like the equally slow and even more defensive football under Pellegrino. At least we could defend at times that season, albeit with a miles better squad.

I think that’s where Geoff Shreeves called him a ‘wheeler dealer’ and Harry took serious exception culminating in the fuck off/storming off.

‘One of them’ supposedly as well, Toffees stick together etc. They didn’t that day. Football-wise, Lowe made the right call, tough as it was, our form was heading into an abyss after a good start. Jones was a bit riled by Hoddle turning up to our games from autumn onwards IIRC. But they all do it, managers, eyeing the next meal.

Agreed but Dave apparently never wanted it in the first place.

I was only a nipper so didn’t know better or worse, that’s what it was. Depends where in the country you were with that decade. Southampton - good place to be, SE and London, very good. Midlands - depends where, not in the manufacturing areas. North - hmmm, not in steel, coal or other industries.

Has good energy I heard

Agree with your first bit, but the second is being negated by having someone with no top leagues experience as Mr Football. Les Reed lost it at SFC 2016-19 after a very good 2009-16, but nobody could say he didn’t have many years at the sharp end in high level football as a DoF, with the FA and elsewhere. Ankerson has no practical experience, no idea and it’s becoming obvious that Phil Giles did any heavy lifting at Brentford in terms of football operations. All of his transfer software isn’t building a cohesive squad allied to dreadful judgement in selecting managers. As S Clarke said yesterday that’s how we we’ve gone from pressing-direct ball-glacial 70% possession and no shots on target in just over 2 years. What a mess and it can’t help the very many players we have bought. All that leads to is a bloated squad, with lots of players on big contracts out in the cold, relegation and if you we don’t bounce back quickly, serious financial issues as the parachute payments thin out. That’s without considering how to actually make SFC vaguely competitive again in the PL because this year is a football and commercial disaster again with SR. Dragan needs to dissolve it and re-think it with top level football industry experience on board from the top leagues. See if he can attract a top ex-player who has gained some sporting Director experience in a top league who can re-set the course for all three clubs in the group. There’s been plenty of fans from all 3 clubs on here very unhappy.