TheBrownBottle

Switched off bored. It feels like a sign of ageing, not being able to sit through the entirety of a dull WC group match. As a kid I’d still be glued to it. Now doing the dishes feels like a more satisfying task.

No, I agree - there is no way to frame Ireland as being anything but a victim of British colonialism. But that is still different from the ‘rest’ of the empire - Ireland still sent MPs to Parliament, for example. I understand the point you’re making - the issue to me is that bigotry isn’t a national characteristic, though I don’t doubt that it is in part a social construct. It veers into the same territory as racism - and I’m pretty sure that the ascribing of character traits based upon race or nationality is racism by definition. There are people all around the world with reactionary views - usually driven by unnecessary fear of the ‘other’. You’re not wrong re the calls against the ‘waves’ of immigrants - though antisemitism and race-based hatred is hardly unique to England. Like many people from Newcastle, my family almost entirely hail from Scotland and Ireland in the recent past - but I don’t think that my dislike of racism stems from not being a ‘full blooded’ Englishman

Not the experience of my other half growing up in Glasgow - she and her family 'enjoyed' the hospitality meted out to immigrants from the Indian subcontinent on a daily basis. I've seen her old schoolbooks, which have been daubed with delightful abuse by welcoming locals. Thankfully being English, I recognise that P**i is a racial slur which is applicable on both sides of the border. The stories she's told me about growing up as a Sikh in Glasgow would make you wince - I mean, I don't think it would be any less likely than she'd have had her hair set on fire by racists in an English school, so perhaps the kids who did it temporarily forgot about their deeper social conscience and empathy. The polling BTW makes it clear that Scotland is utterly indistinct in its attitudes to immigration from the rest of GB: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-46457341 Historically, it is worth remembering that the oppressing done by the British in the empire was conducted by people from throughout the British Isles - one third of the British army in the C19th was from the island of Ireland, and the Scots were no different from the English in terms of carrying that flag around the globe. Also worth remembering that the act of union mainly came about because Scotland bankrupted itself with its own imperial ambitions in Central America. None of this is to suggest that 'little Englanders' are not an issue; but the idea that it is uniquely English to be so virulently anti-immigration is simply not borne out in reality.

Wonder if he was sat in a Qatari hotel when he tweeted that

Get in and that referee was a disgrace - 14 mins added on time? Get to fuck

Haha yep. Genuinely looked like he was going to chin the ref when he was getting booked. A proper ‘leave it Dave he’s not worth it’ job

Is the cinematographer from the Bourne series the cameraman here?

8 mins. Fuck me

Was just about to post that I’m getting motion sickness - wasn’t sure if we would all be watching the same camera feed

Gotcha. There’s just so many (relative) old men in this side. No top side would quake their boots at the prospect of facing this XI

Argentina looked poor first half and look shite second. They also look as old as their ages suggest. Haven’t the foggiest how these came into this second-favourites.

Yep, and of course people should think about this stuff. ‘A cheap holiday in other people’s misery’ and all that. Mrs BB and I holidayed in a dictatorship once (Egypt) and felt miserable throughout - never again for me; it made me feel unpleasant. But when our owners are ‘liking’ this shite online, it makes me question their sincerity about a some of the gestures the club makes; after all, we know who owns the majority stake.

I just learned what 'smokeshow' means. Feel like I'm down with the kids. No-one should be expected to live a utopian life of virtuous purity - but the shouts of 'hypocrite' are fucking stupid, as the shouter is in all likelihood no less of one. A LGBTQI+ woman wants to make a gesture to highlight the fact that Qatar has monstrous policies which can punish people with death for the terrible crime of being themselves; 'hypocrite' shouts the twitter wankers. And Reuben can get to fuck supporting that shite, little Tory wanker.

There must be another reason Swansea looks the way it does then

Are all of these games going to have ten mins of injury time in each half?

I’m going to guess that the Welsh don’t score this.

Honestly VAR just needs sacking off. It’s a stupid fucking idea and the game is no more consistently refereed than it was before

I’m worried about football as a sport if that’s a penalty. Bizarre

Gan on Callum. And don’t get injured ffs

Maguire is utterly fucking shite mind. Embarrassing

You’ve got to remember that not thinking anyone who isn’t heterosexual deserves the death penalty is simply a cultural difference, and we should respect that, and your great great great granddad probably shot people in another country, so who are you to criticise anybody else? It’s not your sport anyway, it was invented in China. Can I join the FIFA ExCo now?

Heart in mouth job with Trippier. Christ several weeks of this type of anxiety. All the worse in the group stage when you’re playing against cloggers.

The keeper counts as a player. So you can have two outfield players or one outfield and the keeper playing you onside.

Fuck that’s grim, from start to finish. Partly what I pointed out on here the other day - that the ruling classes in the Arabian peninsula are all on it like a car bonnet; the conservative restrictions are for plebs only. And the easily impressed morons who think having the orphaned cub of a vulnerable species as a fucking pet is massive bantz Bunch of twats.

There needs to be two opposition players between you and the goal; he’s the only one