John Earls

A month ago, Sir Jim Ratcliffe lectured the Prime Minister, telling him he should run Britain in the same way he runs Manchester United

It is impossible not to notice the rise in casual antisemitism online and in person. If you don’t see it, you’re lying to yourself.

As chaotic as the original run obviously was, the Oasis ticket sale this year has been a lesson in how to do sales to registered fans. Of the four of us in our group, three got sales for various tranches today. I got four tix, checked out by 9.10. Lessons learned, in fairness.

Paddy Young’s Sky One special is so good - a newish comedian standing out by usually choosing the silliest option, without being self-consciously wacky. A huge amount of charm, too. A very impressive companion to his SNL:UK stuff.

RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.

It’s the new @wsc.co.uk ! In which I argue how timewasting at corners could be eased by getting rid of corner flags.

It’s always nervy yet exciting putting art out there but anyway

I first spoke to Guy Garvey in 2000 for Teletext for the Newborn EP. So, to mark Elbow’s 25th anniversary shows for Asleep In The Back, I chatted to Guy about those times for NME. www.nme.com/news/music/e...

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How can Elliot Anderson be worth the same as Argos? This makes no sense to me www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

For anyone at a loose end on a Friday night, I’m on the @geoffnorcott.bsky.social Times Radio show at 8.45pm discussing the Anatomy Of A Song of…well, no spoilers. Why not change your Friday plans and find out? (Keen fans of Geoff and of Friday night radio are already all over his show, obv.)

I’d be up for TOTP’s story of 2002, but I turned it on about six weeks ago and so far it’s only been about The Hives and Vanessa Carlton.

Anyway, until Euro 28, it’s goodbye to the @wsc.co.uk wallchart. A little bit of joy every tournament.

Spain are hardly worthy winners. They played their part in making that a dismal game of football. Twice winners in two appalling finals.

Extra time in this is like Ed Sheeran making his next record a double album.

These last 10 minutes of the half-time show have really dragged.

I’ve seen people say England’s win last night means it’s our best World Cup since 1966. No. It’s our joint second-best, with 1990 and 2018. Beating France was fun, but it was basically a friendly. Unless you can name the last five Community Shield winners without googling, don’t claim it mattered.

Only another 24 hours of reading football posts on here from people who never post about football at any other time 🧐

Why in hell is this foolish man lending credence to the far-right idea that Britain is at “breaking point”? Say we’re angry. Say we’re in trouble. Say people are clamouring for real change. But DO NOT amplify Farage’s talking points. This is elementary messaging.

This is a magnificent story, the kind of mad adventure the @lordshortcake.bsky.social Danny Baker phone-in was built on.

After the emcee fiasco and today, prepare the “Is Wordle running out of words?” thinkpieces.

That should be Simon’s second yellow for simulation.

Penalty apart, has there been a shot on target yet?

Can’t remember the last time I went to bed when it was daylight. Worth it.

Add Cunha to Madueke on the list of Very Famous Premier League Players Sam Matterface Can’t Be Bothered To Pronounce Properly. I dread to think what he’s doing to the names of lesser-known players. Between that and Dixon’s joyless monologues and ITV is making me refuse to pay the licence fee.

PSA for anyone still up: DR Congo v Uzbekistan on BBC2 is terrific chaos so far.

I like angry McCoist. It’s so rare, it’s powerfully sexy when it happens. (I saw Strand Larsen’s previous penalty, for Wolves. It was identically terrible.)

“There must have been drills?” boggles the commentator. Well yes, but they involved patiently playing out from the back at all times. This is Luton v Burnley in our Championship relegation season, so Scotland have at least one more daft goal to give away yet.

Yes, ha ha, Cole Palmer is a bit daft. But he’d have had more chance of altering the outcome of this match than anyone who’s played so far. Eze over Watkins as a sub is also a nonsense.

It’s nice there are some subjects which still unify a nation.

Maybe, as some predict, Burnham’s style won’t translate nationally. There’s still a chance Labour were too muddled in its first two years to claw back the electorate’s trust. But it’s nice to wake up with some proper hope and smile at the size of that majority.

A record number of Googles here as everyone wonders who the hell Antony Barry is.

I think the telly just tried to upgrade humanity in the Scotland coverage there.

Listlessly trying to stay awake for USA v Paraguay while my wife is away overnight and…when did TFI Friday come back again? Perfectly acceptable late-night fare, fwiw, and it even has music on TV. Jack Savoretti and Dodgy so far.

Awww, I was enjoying the respite from Matterface & Dixon there.

Grimly fascinated to see how ITV is going to fill the extra hour with England’s game being delayed until 10pm. Can Roy Keane keep up the persona of Roy Keane for another 60 minutes? Will we get a highlights reel of Lee Dixon’s cheeriest insights?

Seen the poster for Harlan Coben’s new Netflix adaptation, I Will Find You, starring Britt Lower. I’m sure Britt will be great. She’s obviously superb in Severance. Yet Britt Lower always sounds to me like the name of the singer in a 00s indie band like Metric who’s doing acting on the side.

The Reform candidate is horrendous, obviously. Kennedy called the attacks on jewish ambulances a false flag. #horseshoe

Congratulations to all the Arsenal fans who aren’t weird.

Current earworm: the Fresh Milk’s Got A Lot Of Bottle jingle. Thanks a lot, brain.

Myha’la and Jerry Hall aside, there’s no “Oh, INTERESTING!” names this time. The comedians are interchangeably same generation, and there’s three too many of them. Also: Amol Bleedin’ Rajan. Still, any Traitors is always fun.

Well, that's certainly one way for the Green Party in one of the UK's largest cities to respond to a series of attacks against the Jewish community, of which Wednesday's stabbing attack was just the latest. Not even pretending it's about Israel now, are they?

Just as it’s about to become the longest frame in snooker history, BBC2 transfers the game to Red Button. It’s not on the Red Button. iPlayer advertises it… but that takes you to the episode of House Of Games that replaced the snooker. This is all very… sub-optimal.

Fuck this, fuck them, and fuck anyone who "gets why" this happened. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...