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England v Spain

The Christmas Lottery in Spain, known as El Gordo, the fat one, believed to be the biggest in the world, with payouts approaching two and a half billion euros, but with ways of sharing prizes to community levels. If Spain wins today their Christmas lottery win will have come early.

Sunday 20 August

I have to search hard in the print media for detailed background analysis of the Spanish team. I remember the team’s  4-0 loss against Japan. Like England, they scraped through qualifiers, and improved as the tournament progressed. 
Other similarities, both teams have been weakened by injuries and illnesses to top players. Both are in disputes with their national bodies. Both have the unity of a strong group of players from a dominant club (Chelsea and Barcelona). 

Spain’s standout player is the mercurial midfielder Astana Bonmati, candidate for the Ballon d’Or, but Batlle and Hermoso have also had powerful performances.

The coverage is on ITV and BBC. 
ITV’s build up is scheduled to last longer than the match, if no extra time is played.

 A minor story has emerged after Prince William, President of the Football Association  sends a sort of apology video for being otherwise occupied.  

Optimism is high in England although neutral commentators expect a very close match. But not penalties. I couldn’t face penalties, one English supporter said, reflecting unease beneath the display of confidence. 

I had joined in the guess the result game with the popular prediction of a win without any extra time. 

A simple warning. Spain has scored 20 goals to England’s 10 in the tournament of which 6 came in a single match, against China, and are considered the more lethal finishers ...

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England Lionesses v Australia’s Matildas.  A Sofa Drama

Wednesday 17 August, 2023

A sofa saga as England’s Lionesses face up against Australia’s Matildas in the quarterfinal of Football’s World Cup. Matildas after the famous Ozzie folk song Waltzing Matilda.

It seems that in Australia, Matilda Mania has its grip on that sport-loving country.

All is ready in my solitary fanzone. My phone is on silent ring. Lunch has been pre- preprepared. Beverage to hand. A water bottle. It is, after all, 11am in England.

It is 8pm in Sidney, Australia A raucous national stadium greets the national heroes. No, maybe  heroines. Let me know what’s the correct term. 

Australia as the home team is playing in the same mellow yellow favoured by their other international teams. England has a sky blue with blotches  strip which was close enough to be familiar to the sizeable Chelsea contingent in the starting line up. 

Australia has been strengthened by the return of their superstar and captain Sam Kerr, another  In the first minute she is greeted by a less than friendly piece  of GBH from Keira Walsh, who usually plays with Kerr for Chelsea. 

The game starts as it was to continue in an uncompromising fashion. As in the men’s game, the most innocent-looking players possess lethal concealed weapons deployed in illegal ways. “It’s the ball hits her in the face not the player’s boot” the commentator explains helpfully, after one close encounter.
England are using long passes to discombobulate the yellow defensive wall. They look the more dangerous team in attack ...

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Donald Trump and the Georgia “Witch Hunt”  

Tuesday 15 August, 2023

With the reluctance of a strip tease show, a list of a criminal charges against Donald Trump appear on a Fulton County, Georgia website this afternoon local time, and is then whipped away. The court is still reaching its conclusions. 

This is the criminal case being prepared by State Prosecutor Fani Willis, centred around Trump’s recorded phone call in January 2021 which urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" 11,780 votes, the number he would have required to win the presidential election there. 

Journalists waited into the night hoping for a glimpse of the anticipated revelations for the morning headlines.

Later, the patience of the assembled media is eventually rewarded. I watch at 4.30am U.K. time 

Fami Willis makes a statement about the indictment.
19 individuals are charged.  The names read out include Donald Trump, and senior members of his administration read. The charges outline ‘A criminal enterprise to accomplish the goal to block the winners of the election, sometimes called acts of racketeering' ...

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Trending. Bibby Barge Bingo, a game played with up to five hundred players.

Congratulations! You have been selected from over a hundred thousand applications we have received,  all seeking admission on our unique new floating accommodation, ton His Majesty’s luxury superbarge, the Bibby Stockholm.  You have won one of the first five hundred pioneering places.

Another win. You lucky channel crosser. You have been identified as being among the fortunate first fifty on board, with incredible access to the nearly empty craft.

Yes, you have already successfully avoided the clutches of the despicable lefty lawyers fooling applicants into attempting to reject the bargain of a lifetime.

Bingo! You are the very first applicant to win this award. 

You have survived the perils of Legionella infections and will receive your prize as champion of the first Barge Bingo competition. You will be able to return to the Barge, within a few days. 

Your prize is an extension to your stay on board to enjoy the Xmas celebrations … that’s Xmas 2025. Ho ho ho. 

You will receive your award as soon as you have health clearance. Our priory is to minimise the risk of any infection running Willy-nilly  through the ranks our fortunate residents.

Your prize will be presented on board Rishi Sunak’s helicopter, which is at this moment waiting for the press to get into position, before alighting on the helipad of the Bibby Stockholm. 
God speed. To you and all who who float on her …

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I had to check that the story is not a deep hoax. But apparently not, if we can accept The Tampa Bay Times as a reliable source, as reported by the political website Occupy Democrats. I quote their entire post published Wednesday 9 August, 2023: 

Florida Republicans go completely off the deep end with their deranged MAGA book bannings as William Shakespeare gets banned by certain schools in the Ron DeSantis-controlled state.

The reason for the ban? Just about the stupidest thing you can imagine.

According to The Tampa Bay Times, the works of Shakespeare — the greatest writer in all of the Western canon — are being being banned in schools in Hillsborough County. Only selected excerpts of his masterpieces will be permitted for study ...

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My message is for inexperienced chess and tennis players. Maybe it will be of interest to those of riper age and greater experience as well. It is an introduction to further podcasts on the subject.

The advice comes partly from my own painful attempts at improving my performance in each of the two games. It’s backed up by serious research into the nature of performance and development by coaches and highflying professionals, and discussions with a few of the same.

There is plenty of evidence that progress can be made by anchoring learning of some key point that in time can be added to. I offer as your first anchoring point the skill of sustaining concentration. In tennis and in chess, a momentary lapse in concentration can lead to a loss. Maybe a loss of an entire contest.

So, honesty time.
 In tennis or chess, have you ever let your concentration slip? 
If you answer ‘yes’ well done. You have passed the first barrier. Only computers have no lapses of concentration, although even that might be contentious if you want to be picky about it.

Now let’s take the games in turn. Although there are differences in the processes of losing concentration, they are contextual, as the efforts to remain focussed are rather similar ...

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Twitter wit and humour. Obituary edition, July 2023

@NicholasTyrone
@tomhillier
@EvLenz
@orridge_anna
@dontbrexitfixit
@deelomas
@Hepworthclare
@ChillaxBcn
@RCdeWinter

Comments on Brexit, Barbie, and a 1980s Business Guru during the last weeks before Twitter became X and the old brand name declared X tinct. 

@NicholasTyrone
My daughter is 11 and for kids her age, “Brexit” has become a pejorative adjective. So, a kid who comes to football practice with beaten-up looking trainers gets them called “Brexit boots”. I don’t think Brexiters consider the degree to which they’ve lost the next generation.
@tomhillier
Primary school playground lingo from a friend’s 11 year old son: “He’s done a Brexit”: a sliding tackle that destroys the tackler, not the tacklee. 
From the mouths of babes…

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Trump’s latest and potentially most serious indictment on August 1st 2023, places far more than the former President of the United States on trial. Arguably, the whole political process is under severe scrutiny. 
I examine the indictment as analysed by journalistic investigative reporter James Ball. He considers the persistence of belief in what the President calls the great steal, illustrates a form of mental pandemic, spreading globally through the internet ...

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Where to begin? Where better than at a thinly-disguised hairdressing salon deep in the heart of leafy Cheshire.

For reasons mostly due to demands on her time, my appointment with Mandy, my beauty consultant and coiffeuse, had been delayed beyond acceptable limits. I entered her establishment accompanied by my shaggy locks, rather like the famous etching by William Blake of the ancient of days.

In hindsight,  I trace some of my disorientation to my arrival. A distinct and unusual absence of staff. With due caution I allowed myself to be guided by Mandy to the washiteria area located at the back of the Salon. 

As I was receiving the ritual cleansing, another figure hove into view. She seemed to be intent on removing a few wisps of hair that were defiling the otherwise pristine floor surfaces between the shearing chairs.

That’s Claire, Mandy explained,  giving my neck an accidental extra rinsing. She’s my best friend. Came in for a chat.

Hi said Clare. I noticed she was not wearing the natty black working overalls of Mandy’s support beauticians. Rather, she appeared more as someone from Cheshire Life ready to be interviewed about her beagles or begonias. 

My washing position was marginally less fettered than the one which I suffer during my dental rituals. And I could at least converse here, if not make eye contact.

Pleased to meet you, Clare, I said. Maybe you could assist Mandy in helping in  a little matter of my preparing for an event I’ve come in about. You both will be far more experienced of such issues of social etiquette. 

Mandy baled out several cupfuls of water from beneath my collar region, and dabbed me dry.

I’m been taken to a film tomorrow by some coffee friends. It’s my first for ten years. 

My audience waited attentively. I went on. It’s a new film called Bamby. Maybe you know something about it? Bamby or was it Barbie? 

To my surprise, the news seemed to have shocked my two companions ...

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Don Drake, an advertising executive in a remote office off Soho,  is struggling to reach a deadline for the Daily Truth a syndicated social media newspaper reaching around the world mostly on the dark web. His boss Harry is increasingly frustrated with his habit of last-minute rescue through his creative genius

Come on Jon we need something to get the Greek inferno headlines off the front page. And soonest, goddammit.

I’ve got it Harry, a breaking news story about some Greek geek.

Shoot.
Aristotle Onassis.  He’s won some award. He’s Greek enough.

OK Jon. What’s the pitch.

Remember Onassis? Great copy for us way back before the web. Had a big thing going with that other Greek. The celeb singer. Callas

Callous. Never used that word in a headline for the Daily Truth. You shouldn’t either. 

Nah, Callas. Mary Callas. Anyway, Onassis was into big bucks, big as Jobs, Musk, Zuckerman.

So?
And the killer fact. He married Jackie Kennedy!!

Big Bucks, beautiful wife. OK. So what’s he done to win the Goat thing?

I’ve got the boys checking it. We’ll meet the headline deadline. Always do. Get back to you. 
You got ten minutes before you get wasted. You do this stuff to wind me up. Ten minutes or you’re yesterday’s favourite headline writer. 

Ten minutes later. 

As promised Harry.

Greek geek beats Pluto to win Goat of the year.
Go for it. 

Sally! Keep that dismissal notice on hold ...

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