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Showing posts from May, 2022

Time for fans to change their relationship with football

Frustrated football fans (Image: Eurosport) The reputation of British football is being tarnished in the same way the sport endured in the 1980s. Sadly, we're seeing an anecdotal rise in a number of cases where small group of spectators are ruining it for the rest of us. The Premier League had largely gotten away with it, right up until the final week of the season when Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira was taunted by several Everton fans, and Aston Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen had been reportedly assaulted by a Manchester City fan, just as the team in sky blue celebrated its fourth league title in five years. And most recently, Liverpool's Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid was delayed by 40 minutes after reports of disturbances outside the Stade de France stadium. What I've highlighted above are examples from the month of May alone, and the extent of 'blame' on spectators vary. But they don't appear to be one-offs. The English Football League

Gaslighting is spreading like wildfire

Is it worth gaslighting political leaders over cake? (Image: CraftBeer.com) Earlier this month, political commentators were fondly remembering the events of May 1997 , when Tony Blair's Labour Party won the general election in a landslide victory. Many Labour supporters used this anniversary to reflect on the 'spirit' of 25 years ago, and it's therefore about time the party replicated it today, now it's been out of power for 12 years.  To mark a quarter-of-a-century since his party's victory, Blair appeared  on camera to recall some of the policies that helped shape Britain for the better, including the introduction of the National Minimum Wage and bringing peace to Northern Ireland. He'll always claim that intervening in Afghanistan from 2001 was also a success, but it was the Iraq war that led to the downfall of his public reputation.  Some will argue that bombing Iraq didn't hinder Blair's chances of winning the 2005 general election, however, I