FIFA's first ever Peace Prize winner has become the first person to bomb a country out of participating in the FIFA World Cup.
11.03.2026 13:51
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FIFA's first ever Peace Prize winner has become the first person to bomb a country out of participating in the FIFA World Cup.
I still think about this a lot.
I will never forgive nor forget that Harry’s House beat Renaissance for AOTY.
Still this one, the hideous old racist gobshite.
bsky.app/profile/nono...
The New Statesman 2 @NewSt... 3h X THE GREAT BRITISH CRISIS by John Bew We are in the midst of the Fourth Great Disruption of the modern British state. Our politics, across every part of the political spectrum, is lagging perilously behind the realities we face. The fidelity of our political and official classes to the current order comes from an assumption, deeply ingrained in the generation who are coming close to retirement, that liberal or social-market economies were the only possible future and that the rest of the world was destined to become more like us. It is partly why austerity - like appeasement - had far more political support than we care to remember. It is why we spent 0.7 per cent of GDP on development assistance at the start of the last decade and barely 2 per cent on defence. It is why, after 1989, we added even more international and human rights law on top of the international legal order crafted out of 1945. It is why Brexit was such a psychological shock to this world-view. It is why we sometimes look like the last man at the bar at Davos, nursing a cocktail as the lights go off and facing a treacherous and icy route to an unclear destination. So as one world collapses around us, what is the shape of things to come? Here are some hard truths. The current social contract - particularly around welfare, health and pensions - is unsustainable on current + of growth. A domestic and internationa system that does not allow us to control our borders has lost legitimacy at home. We have
Okay, so the Thatcherite consensus went kaboom in 2008; we somehow managed to prop it up and keep staggering on with a desperate last ditch effort until 2024, and now it’s collapsing entirely, at the same time as the Pax Americana. I don’t think we can blame this on human rights or international aid
LEWIS
(sorry, couldn't resist)
Wouldn't make my top 20 of their singles, but a bulletproof test of how po-faced a music fan you are (or "poptimism" v "rockism" if you must).
Almost two years old, but destined to be even more timeless than the record.
www.theguardian.com/culture/2024...
Connections
Puzzle #1004
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15. CHARLI XCX | VROOM VROOM Feb 2016 UK 5/20 2016: 2/4 EP - lead track Artist 2/3 Alpha 48, Chrono 30, Stream 28 And now we come to the 15 songs I asterisked as possible bonuses. Even with the double bonus in play, it’s painful to leave five of these with just 10 points. At least (non-spoiler!) this artist will be compensated. And already has been in #TheTwen2ie5, making her the only non-Carter to receive multiple bonuses across Parts I to III. ‘Vroom Vroom’ is, in brief: far and away the best onomatopoeic Charli XCX song (hard stare), my favourite SOPHIE production, and the pearl from that 2013-18 deep dive I mentioned last month. The one that - sorry - unlocked it all. One of my six cherished pivots in 21st century pop music. And one of two from the 2010s, the other being Beyoncé (self-titled), or specifically the transformative ambition represented by following ‘Pretty Hurts’ with ‘Haunted’. This is Charli committing to an experimental future regardless of commercial success, and the start of an eight-year ride or die to Brat summer. The ninth track on Brat was ‘So I’ - a tribute to SOPHIE. And there’s your full circle.
A lavender Lamborghini with the facility to get out on the right side.
#THETENX5 DAY 36
My 10s Rosetta Stone.
🏎️
15.
CHARLI XCX (2/3)
'VROOM VROOM'
UK 2016
2016: 2/4 🥈
"First day made Vroom Vroom in the basement"
"When I'm on stage, sometimes I lie
Say that I love singin' these songs you left behind."
RIP SOPHIE.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfAq...
#ExitMusic
#11
THE WHO
'WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN' (full version)
UK 1971
6:36 - 8:31
guitar and drums drop out, leaving the keyboard to it for a while until the lead in to...
ROGER'S YELL
SAY THE LINE
BIG FINISH!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtb1...
Marine Le Pen on Newsnight
Tommy Robinson on Newsnight
Graham Linehan on Newsnight 11/2/2020
Rupert Lowe on Newsnight
only the last of these was in the last 3 years
I'm going to add:
The absence of ALL SAINTS from Pollhalla is also shameful. But, specific guidance from the pollrunner notwithstanding, I feel like it would be a cheat to claim (two of) them for Canada here.
YMMV on noms day.
The BBC somehow manages not to mention that a male anti-trans/gender-critical extremist harassed a female MP so relentlessly that police had to offer her an escort for her protection
A pretty significant and central detail to just leave out
![[We see a close up of a young white male, tanned, white teeth, coiffed hair clearly an influencer on social media. It is an image such as you see when social media posts are shown on the news. In the corner of the screen is named a location: DUBAI. He is staring slightly off-camera for several silent panels of the comic strip. His eyes move slightly. He is having a thought.]
From off-screen a newsreader’s commentary comes:
NEWSREADER:
Extraordinary images here
of an expat in Dubai
[The influencer’s eybrows raise slightly]
…Having their first ever geopolitical thought.
[CUT TO a BBC news scene. The BBC newsreader CLIVE MYRIE is talking to an interviewee next to the screen showing the social media influencer’s face. The interviewee’s name is David Jones].
CLIVE MYRIE:
To explain the significance of this moment we’re joined by David Jones, our Expat Thoughts correspondent
DAVID JONES:
Clive, this is momentous
It was caught on film at the end of an Instagram post titled: ‘Dubai Is Brilliant’.
[Pointing at the screen, the influencer’s expression still the same]
You can clearly see in the eyebrows here, the dawning realisation that there *might* be something in the world beyond his dickhead self.
It marks a *huge* departure from all the Dubai Expat’s previous thoughts.
CLIVE MYRIE:
Which are…?
DAVID JONES:
You've Got To Get Yourself Out Here Mate, Everything Is So Clean, I Don't Have To Pay Taxes,
I Am Incurious As To Why I Do Not Have To Pay Taxes, and Spa.
CLIVE MYRIE:
And might we see an expansion of these new Thoughts in coming days?
DAVID JONES:
I think we can expect to see:
“I Deserve To Be Airlifted By A Country I Pay No Tax To”
CLIVE MYRIE:
Mmm.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreibu6vuc7ofetq5hla3gfcknocotbfl3yk2ajczk6qfd2hnjxrav6q)
[We see a close up of a young white male, tanned, white teeth, coiffed hair clearly an influencer on social media. It is an image such as you see when social media posts are shown on the news. In the corner of the screen is named a location: DUBAI. He is staring slightly off-camera for several silent panels of the comic strip. His eyes move slightly. He is having a thought.] From off-screen a newsreader’s commentary comes: NEWSREADER: Extraordinary images here of an expat in Dubai [The influencer’s eybrows raise slightly] …Having their first ever geopolitical thought. [CUT TO a BBC news scene. The BBC newsreader CLIVE MYRIE is talking to an interviewee next to the screen showing the social media influencer’s face. The interviewee’s name is David Jones]. CLIVE MYRIE: To explain the significance of this moment we’re joined by David Jones, our Expat Thoughts correspondent DAVID JONES: Clive, this is momentous It was caught on film at the end of an Instagram post titled: ‘Dubai Is Brilliant’. [Pointing at the screen, the influencer’s expression still the same] You can clearly see in the eyebrows here, the dawning realisation that there *might* be something in the world beyond his dickhead self. It marks a *huge* departure from all the Dubai Expat’s previous thoughts. CLIVE MYRIE: Which are…? DAVID JONES: You've Got To Get Yourself Out Here Mate, Everything Is So Clean, I Don't Have To Pay Taxes, I Am Incurious As To Why I Do Not Have To Pay Taxes, and Spa. CLIVE MYRIE: And might we see an expansion of these new Thoughts in coming days? DAVID JONES: I think we can expect to see: “I Deserve To Be Airlifted By A Country I Pay No Tax To” CLIVE MYRIE: Mmm. [Ends]
absolutely fuck off
#ExitMusic
#10
LILY ALLEN
4. 'TENNIS'
UK 2025
2:01 - 2:30
"And who the fuck is Madeline?...
Da da-da, da-da, da-da, who's Madeline?
Who's Madeline?
x3
Da da-da, da-da, da-da, who's Madeline?
No, but who is Madeline, actually?"
5. MADELINE!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0-m...
You and me, we'd refuse to do this. We'd refuse to pretend it was unknown who hit the school, that it wasn't even suggested the yanks did it. We wouldn't struggle to answer the question of whether of not incinerating a school full of children was a war crime.
They do it, though.
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY JANET
40
Connections
Puzzle #1003
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#THETENX5 DAY 35
She's (finally) here...!
Part 2 of 2
16.
BEYONCÉ (3/3 + 1 ft)
'FORMATION'
USA 2016
2016: 3/4 🥉
This and 'Alright' are separated by a year, but linked by a) race, b) politics and c) Grammy snubs in favour of the blandest, whitest Brits.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDZJ...
New MP Hannah Spencer was given a police escort after an anti-hate demonstration turned violent. The Green Party MP had made a speech at the Greater Together Manchester event on Sunday afternoon in Piccadilly Gardens.
I try very hard not to use the word Orwellian too much but it’s the best adjective for the mauling of language at the start of this BBC News report. “… an anti-hate demonstration that turned violent”. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
You really can’t have this guy not going to jail for the rest of his short, unhealthy life and still be any kind of democracy, I think.
I say this every year, but:
The uni students I'm teaching are thoughtful, intelligent, will make everything they encounter better.
With a new addition for 2026:
They deeply hate AI.
"I like the diverse crowd here...
...there's like, music heads who are like, 40..." 😳
youtu.be/SuRgM_apnDk?...
Norman Rockwell Four Freedoms freedom of speech meme
You can hold this opinion for 25 years, then arriving on Music Twitter be like:
This is not surprising, and is primarily a symptom of the outsized baby boomer generation constantly flexing its political might to systematically screw over younger generations to feather their beds even further.
Why would anyone younger than 50 want to retain the status quo?
Despite a new album and an unswayable fan base, Morrissey wants nothing more than to validate his victimhood.
Her trip to Ireland was ruined by this one question?? Gee, I wonder why…
