Farage has criticised the Argentinian players who held up a banner about the Malvinas (Falklands) after they beat England in the Men’s World Cup on Thursday.
Farage had no comment on the match itself (if he watched it)
However he posted on Twitter around the time the gain kicked off ‘Let’s do it all over again just like 1982’
The reference of course is to the Falklands War.
Farage was once adamant that politics and football must not mix but has now decided they do.
To be fair to Farage he does not do his own social media so this can equally be seen as a Reform sponsored provocation
James Watt has posted on LinkedIn that he has tabled a bid to buy back Brewdog.
In evaluating this information its best to keep in mind that this is James Watt.
Tilray the current owners of Brewdog who bought it out of administration in March for £30m say they have received no communication from Watt. They clearly see Brewdog as their route to market in Europe for their US ‘craft’ beer brands and have invested £50m to stabilise the company.
Watt’s offer is reported to be above £30m and likely to be backed by private equity.
Watt has launched, or says he is launching, a new beer brand Second Best which so far does not seem to have got beyond pictures of what the cans might look like. He has also offered Equity for Punks bond holders a stake in Second Best which has attracted some interest (and given Watt their details).
He now says that if he is successful in buying back Brewdog EFP bond holders will get a share. Of course they had shares before except thanks to the way Watt had structured Brewdog they were in fact worthless.
Meanwhile Watt shows no signs of learning the lessons of what went wrong at Brewdog (due in no small part to himself). I wrote about that for Culture Matters
England play the opening match of the 2026 Men’s Football World Cup on 17th June and lost to Argentina 2-1 in the semi-final on 15th July
Making his final Commons appearance as Labour leader at PMQs on 15th July Starmer underlined that England only win the Men’s World Cup with a Labour Government. Their exit from the tournament begs the question if the last two years has really been such a thing.
The only time England have won the World Cup was in 1966 just months after Harold Wilson had led Labour to a 97 seat majority in the March Election of that year, Wilson noted:
Have you noticed how we only win the World Cup under a Labour government”
He may well have got the line from comedian Mike Yarwood
Wilson was also privately, and correctly, concerned about the impact England’s failure in the 1970 World Cup would have on Labour’s chances in the June General Election of that year. Labour lost.
Perhaps Everton fan Andy Burnham will at least hope for an England third place victory against France..
Neither Falklands or Malvinas but a Penguin Republic
18th July
For updates contact Keith Flett @keithbeard.bsky.social
FALKLAND ISLANDS MUST BE A PENGUIN REPUBLIC
With England playing and losing to Argentina in the Men’s Football World Cup, the Penguin Liberation Front has renewed its call for a Penguin Republic in the Falklands.
The Falklands has over 400,000 penguins, as well as albatross, puffins and seals
We believe that the profits from penguin guano should no longer be expropriated but used to fund a functioning Penguin Republic in the Falklands Islands. In particular we are concerned that the far right Argentinian President may try to sell the guano to Donald Trump.
Humans will be welcome to remain but must recognise the majority democratic rule of penguins
Where we stand
We support the right of self-determination for penguins We believe in peaceful co-existence between penguins, albatross and humans The key element of the Falklands is not oil but guano. We believe that penguins should receive the full benefits of guano production.
We demand
The Britain and Argentina recognise the Falklands as a Penguin Republic All Falkland Island penguins in captivity are returned to the Falkland Islands Donald Trump & Xavier Milei must sign a concord with an appropriate King Penguin in Guano That a special commemorative penguin postage stamp is produced
Penguin Liberation Front Convenor Keith Flett said it is time lessons were learnt over the Falklands. Penguins are the majority occupants and this must be recognised even by Trump and Milei. If its a matter of free speech we expect that when Trump is booed at the World Cup Final on 19th July the White House proclaims this as another victory for free speech. And for the penguins
A BEARD GROWN OR REFOCUSED ON ST SWITHIN’S DAY WILL FLOURISH IN 40 DAYS
The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that a beard grown or refocused on St Swithin’s Day, 15 July, is guaranteed by tradition to flourish unimpeded for 40 days.
However whether the weather is dry or wet on 15th July will influence beard growth. If it is dry the beard is more likely to reach follicular maturity within 40 days. In this sense the weather forecast isparti cularly beard friendly
St Swithin is depicted in surviving relics as hirsute and while his ‘Day’ is more traditionally associated with concerns about rain, there is also an important impact on beards, which has been largely hidden from history due to pogonophobic prejudice.
BLF Organiser Keith Flett said whether it rains or not on 15th July, a beard started or refocused and realigned on this day, according to the principles of St Swithin, will flourish for 40 days by which time it will be well on the way to the organic style apparently favoured by the Saint himself
The Times may not be on the page of Liz Truss’s Drill Baby Drill (this will be reprised at the CPAC GB conference on 16-18 July) but it is not a fan of Net Zero either.
However the letter above on blackberries provides as it were grassroots evidence of climate change.
The Guardian reports that coverage of the June heatwave not just in the UK but across Europe mentioned climate change as an issue only comparatively rarely
The Financial Times (11th July) does mention climate change but it focuses on tropical nights, where the temperature does not drop below 20C. It notes that more than half of monitoring sites across the UK, France and Germany found the warmest June night ever.
The FT reports ‘night heat is harder to mitigate than its daytime equivalent, while its health effects can be devastating’
It being the FT an economic cost is identified, ‘the underlying night time heat stress on the body is costing money’.
The June heatwave in the UK reportedly led to over 2,000 extra deaths. Climate change is real as its impact on people
We shall of course see and I’ll post more seriously on this. I’ve already seen posts saying he will move left once in Office. That kind of idea has a very long history..
But it is more about what trade unions and socialists and campaigners do at the grassroots than what Burnham does at the top that will determine how things will develop. Does he know that? Again we shall see…
