A fine margin in Switzerland

The freedom-loving, anti-interference Swiss recently held a referendum on digital ID 'cards'. This followed a law passed in December enabling such an e-ID scheme providing a digital alternative to paper passports and driving licences. There had been an earlier referendum in 2021 where the plan was defeated soundly with 64% voting against, apparently largely because it was to be run by a private company. This time around the proposal was for it to be state-run and was approved by the huge majority of 50.4 to 49.6 percent.

There's a lot for our UK government to learn from this as it seems to be moving towards some kind of our own e-ID facility. I've written about this before and referred to the Estonia exemplar, which seems to be the gold standard that everyone aspires to.

I'm instinctively in favour of something along the Estonian line but the government, whilst not proposing a referendum (heaven forbid the unwashed masses should decide this), needs to be able to take public opinion with it.

From a Times leader on Saturday:

This popular understanding of liberty, including the right not to be aggravated by the peremptory demands of petty officialdom, has long set Britain apart from what many saw as an overbearing “papers please!” culture elsewhere in Europe. It dogged, and eventually defeated, Tony Blair’s efforts to bring back ID cards — Gordon Brown shelved the scheme when he took office in 2007, on grounds of cost, feasibility and civil liberty concerns. And when the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition came to power, the scheme was scrapped....Mr Starmer's proposed "Brit card" will include details such as name, date of birth, residency status and a photograph...although it will not be a panacea for illegal immigration, it might well prove one useful element of a solution.

The national security/immigration/right to work card must be a tempting one to play but I believe this would be a mistake. Far better to explain the (Estonia-like) benefits of easy access to government services and to remind us of how much personal data we already give freely to big tech companies anyway.

It would be nice to think this kind of proposal could be something that could be agreed to along non-partisan lines but I fear the rabid right and zealous left (i.e all the opposition parties) will be too tribal for that to happen.

Should they take the hit on the manifesto?

If Rachel Reeves needs to raise taxes in order to stabilise the economy and prevent public service cuts, is it worth breaking a manifesto promise? Given there are still virtually four years before the latest possible date of the next general election (15th August 2029), could the Government have sufficient time to weather the inevitable political storm? If the ensuing time led to a spectacular improvement in the economy? If it provided more money in people's pockets? If mortgage rates were lower? If the small boats were stopped and net immigration minimised? If they succeeded in hitting their house build target? If NHS waiting lists came down dramatically?

That's a lot of Ifs. Even so, my question stands.

I don't know enough about economics to judge what is the country's economic situation and, if it's bad, how best to remedy that. But it's pretty clear that, all things being equal, raising taxes - even income tax and/or VAT - is what you would do if you hadn't made that manifesto commitment. And if you weren't prepared to cut public services.

So it's not an economic decision, it's a political one.

But the Government has a majority of 165.

ChatGPT, answering my question "are there examples of governments reneging on manifesto commitments?" started with the absurd line that "Manifestos are more marketing documents than binding contracts" [good luck to any government that tries to argue that]. Notably, the Liberal Democrats took 14 years to recover after going back on "scrap university tuition fees" but that was arguably a different situation - they were the minor partners in a coalition. Nevertheless it's a problem in any first past the post election system that in order to get elected you have to promise things which are economically illiterate. I wonder whether there was a better way of smooching the manifesto words to give the intention without making a commitment. But that probably wouldn't stand up in an adversarial election campaign.

I do think there are arguments about "harsh global conditions" (as Reeves has been reported saying today) that slightly eases the pain, and she has to be prepared to detail the exact consequences of those conditions - so many billions due to US tariffs, so many to increasing defence spending as a result of Russian aggression, so many to the rising global costs of borrowing - in the upcoming budget. And there is a "strong government in the national interest" argument to be made, particularly to your rebellious backbenchers.

In addition to the LibDems fiasco, there has been a surprising number of instances of governments breaking manifesto commitments. In 1992, John Major’s government had pledged not to introduce VAT on domestic fuel. In power, they slapped 8% VAT on it. They then lost the 1997 election to a Labour landslide. That Labour government promised not to introduce top-up university tuition fees but legislated to more or less break that. Their majority was halved at the next election. The Conservative 2019 manifesto promised no new taxes and no rise in National Insurance, subsequently increased NI and then in 2024 lost to another Labour landslide.

So the auguries are not great. Even so...

This is probably about leadership. There is no way you could expect your Chancellor of the Exchequer to take the hit herself; the Prime Minister would have to stand firm alongside the Chancellor - we're in it together. That goes for the Cabinet too.

Sir Kier Starmer has proved himself to be a good leader on the international stage but, at the slightest sign of political pressure from his own side, he has been unable to bring himself to face down rebellions, with disastrous economic consequences. His first speech after becoming Prime Minister included the phrase “We’ve changed the Labour Party, returned it to service — and that is how we will govern, country first, party second.” So far it could be said that hasn't been true.

I think it's time for bold. assertive leadership. Reiterate the "country first" pledge, support the Chancellor's "harsh global conditions" context, face down Badenoch at PMQs when she challenges about broken promises with "what would you do?" and tell the media you will stand together with Reeves 100%. And no fudging, no weasel words: tell it straight - "we are breaking our manifesto promise because....."

Time to step up and show us what you're made of.

Footy updates 2025/13

How did my forecasts work out this week?

Arsenal Women 3 Aston Villa Women 0 Result: 1-1
A real shocker. I watched this and couldn't believe how passive the Gunners were 

Wimbledon 1 Wycombe 1  Result: 2-1
The Chairboys still struggling, just outside the relegation places

Charlton 0 Blackburn 0 Result: 3-0

Ipswich 2 Portsmouth 0 Result: 2-1

Both on their way up the table

Whitstable 1 Hungerford 0 (FA Cup) Result: 2-0
Whitstable are in the First Round Proper of the FA Cup! No they're not, I see there's another round of qualifying on 11th October; I jumped the gun. But the Oystermen are still on the road to Wembley.

Attendance: 971 Wow! I wonder what the ground capacity is.

Tottenham 4 Wolves 0 Result: 1-1
Another shocker. Before this game Wolves had 0 points from 5 matches. I watched and they fully deserved at least a point. Doesn't matter who the manager is, Tottenham's identity remains Spursy.

Newcastle 0 Arsenal 1 Result: 1-2
Very difficult game but back in 2nd place

Correct results: 3 out of 7

Correct scores: 0 out of 7

Upcoming midweek games:

Bristol City v Ipswich
Bodo/Glimt v Tottenham (UEFA Champions League [UCL])
Derby v Charlton 
Arsenal v Olympiakos (UCL)
Manchester City Women v Arsenal Women 

Sunday is for very short

Today's 'short'.

I always thought of myself as an anti-snob. Is that a snobbish thing to say?

Couldn't get it any shorter. But philosophical.

Totally Coconuts

I needed some shampoo. The supermarket shampoo section was vast. I searched for a product containing the word SHAMPOO in large letters, took it to the checkout, paid, went home. Had a shower. 

I examine the bottle. It's called Totally Coconuts. If there's nothing in it other than coconuts, it's in the very least misleading. There are laws about that, aren't there? The smaller print says it's for long, curly hair. My hair is so short even I don't know whether it's curly or straight.

Imagine the benefits of having just one 'brand' of shampoo. One (state owned) shampoo factory, no parasitical advertising agencies, no TV ads, lots of people released (sacked) from their jobs as shampoo consultants, brand ambassadors and factory workers in order to build houses, wind turbines and other socially useful products. Smaller supermarkets - because there would only be one toothpaste, one shower gel, one kind of biscuit and so on. Lots of wines, obviously, because they come from France, Spain and Australia and it's up to them what they do. Lots of land released for ... houses, wind turbines etc.

We could apply this concept to ... cars, for instance. Car brand differentiation is just so that you can be seen to have a better, uglier SUV than your neighbour. We'll all have the same cheap, energy efficient vehicles. The East Germans did that with the Trabant. Ever driven one of those?

I have a feeling this could be the way to get to net zero, so everyone'll love it. Let's go!

I told you - short and trivial.

Footy updates 2025/12

GOOD NEWS

Ipswich's match against Blackburn last week, abandoned after 80 minutes with the Tractor Boys a man down and losing 0-1, is to be replayed in full. Now that's a result!

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This week's midweek matches:

Tuesday - Southern Counties East League Premier Division

Whitstable 0 Snodland 2 Attendance: 420
So much for my boosterism

EFL Cup 3rd Round

Wigan 0 Wycombe 2
Tottenham 3 Doncaster 0
Port Vale 0 Arsenal 2

EFL Cup 4th round draw:

Arsenal v Brighton
Newcastle v Tottenham
Wycombe v Fulham

My forecasts for this weekend:

Arsenal Women 3 Aston Villa Women 0

Wimbledon 1 Wycombe 1

Charlton 0 Blackburn 0

Ipswich 2 Portsmouth 0

Whitstable 1 Hungerford 0 (FA Cup)

Tottenham 4 Wolves 0

Newcastle 0 Arsenal 1

Freedom of Information

Regular readers will recall that I sent emails to the UK and Rwandan governments, asking

Can you tell me how I can get answers to the following questions about the four individuals who voluntarily went from the UK to Rwanda under the voluntary returns program? I don't want to identify the individuals, just to know:

1.Were they processed through the Rwandan asylum system?

2.Were they granted asylum?

3.Were they granted residency/citizenship?

4.Where are they now?

Today, after a month, I got a Freedom of Information request reply from the Home Office:

The Home Office does not hold the information which you have requested.

Given the subject matter of your request, the Government of Rwanda may hold the

information you are seeking. If you have not already done so, you may wish to write to

them. Contact details can be found on their website at https://www.gov.rw/contact.

If you are dissatisfied with this response...................blah blah blah.

Well I've written to the Rwandans and got no response. Maybe I could get the Foreign Office to chase them up.

Basically these four guys are in the wind. Either living a happy life in sunny Kigali or mining cobalt to sell to the Chinese.

Or in jail.

Or back in...................wherever they came from.

I wonder if they feel their human rights have been respected.

Orwellian.

Sport and Politics

I've always been of the opinion that politics should not intrude in sport. I hate the playing of national anthems; in the 1960s "God Save The Queen" was played after the last film of the day. Everyone stood up. Except me, I'm off to catch the last bus home. It's often said that sport is something which brings people - and perhaps nations - together. Although it has also been said that sport is war by other means. Or something. I profoundly disagree with Russian sportspeople and teams not being allowed to compete in international events. These players are not their political rulers, they should not be penalised for the sins of their masters. I know they can compete if they don't say they're Russian, claim to be against Russian aggression and don't expect their national anthem to be played but I think it's pathetic and demeaning.

I grew up in an era when Boycotting the Olympic Games was almost a sport in itself. It started in Melbourne in 1956 (I was 12), where eight nations refused to take part: Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland protested against the Soviet invasion of Hungary. Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon protested the Suez Crisis (involving Israel, UK, France) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) protested against Taiwan (Republic of China) being allowed to compete. A boycott trifecta.

The most bonkers boycott of all time (BOAT) was the 1964 Winter Olympics in Switzerland, which North Korea boycotted over a dispute about how East and West Germany were being represented. Those two nations competed as a United Germany team and North Korea thought the same should apply to them and South Korea. Despite the fact that they were still technically at war, which I imagine the South Koreans pointed out.

In 1976 The New Zealand All Blacks rugby team toured apartheid period South Africa, the International Olympic Committee refused to ban them and 30 African nations didn't turn up. This was the beginning of the mass boycott movement, as 60 nations, lead by the USA, boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In return the Soviets, together with 13 other Warsaw Pact countries, boycotted the following Olympics in Los Angeles.

In 1998 North Korea (by now serial boycotters) skipped the Summer Olympics in Japan because they hadn't been allowed to co-host. An odd group comprising Cuba, Ethiopia and Nicaragua joined them.

Since then nothing. The art of boycott has been lost.

Samuel Ryder

“I trust that the effect of this match will be to influence a cordial, friendly and peaceful feeling throughout the whole civilised world … I look upon the Royal and Ancient game as being a powerful force that influences the best things in humanity.”

So said Samuel Ryder, who set up golf matches between USA and Great Britain professionals in 1927 which became the Ryder Cup, now competed for between the USA and Europe (after we got battered time after time).

Ryder was a mild-mannered, religious teetotaller from St Albans, known for being soft-spoken, old-fashioned, and very “Victorian” in his outlook. A gentleman, by the sound of it. He just loved golf and wanted to foster friendship between nations. He is unlikely have to looked favourably on today's version of the Cup, populated as it is by hooligan, even hostile, crowds driven on by aggressive, far from friendly players. Of both sides. Winning is now everything.

I loved the Ryder Cup in my 20s and 30s and I remember Jack Nicklaus "giving" Tony Jacklin a short putt on the final green, ending the Ryder Cup in a 16–16 tie rather than risking Jacklin missing it under pressure. In match play you can concede a putt that your opponent seems certain to hole, as a gesture of professional courtesy; the length of putt has often been debated and there have certainly been controversies in the Ryder Cup. Jacklin's putt was about two feet and on the margins of a "gimme" given the context.

I never watch it now, because the behaviour of players and spectators has become boorish. Sam would have hated it. It's a shame.

Maybe this year's edition, starting today in New York, will revert to something he would recognise and cherish. Let's see.

Tests for oldies - in short

There's a government plan to impose eye tests for driving licence renewals for the over 70s. Seems reasonable. My current licence expires in January 2026 and I think I'm required to renew every three years, although the present law is that I self-assess as being able to read a numberplate at 20 meters, with some other criteria like peripheral vision.

But maybe there are other aspects of citizenship on which us oldies should be required to prove mastery.

Brain tests for voting:

1. If you don't read, or watch, the news on a daily basis, you don't get to vote. Also if you spend more than 20 minutes a day on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat. Actually, come to think of it, maybe that isn't just for pensioners.

2. Memory test - can you remember the names of the last two Prime Ministers?

3. Politics 101 test (multiple choice): Who elects the Mayor of London? Is it (a) people living in London or (b) the Muslim Brotherhood?

4. Economic literacy test (multiple choice): If the government prints twice as much money, but the amount of goods and services in the economy stays the same, what will most likely happen to prices? Is it (a) they go up (b) they stay the same (c) they go down or (d) No-one knows?

Is there an argument for no-platforming Trump?

If the UK news organisations got together and decided to no-platform Donald Trump, we would never have to listen to his offensive nonsense. We wouldn't know that he thinks London is imposing sharia law, that he has solved a thousand wars, climate change is "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world" and telling us "your countries are going to hell."

Obviously I can switch off the TV or go to a sports channel but I'd like my "news" not to be just a mouthpiece for a lunatic. There is real news around the world, we don't need to listen to his insulting remarks about the UN - his hosts. I'm not generally a violent man but I do sometimes just want to smack him in the face.

I'd expect my recommended action would be used by him to tell us how we are against free speech. But we wouldn't know he'd said it, so it wouldn't matter.

Obviously I'd have to no-platform him too, but where's the fun in that?

Would you like me to?

For those of you familiar with YouTube, you'll know that "shorts" are now all the rage. This is the first of of my "short blogs". There'll be another tomorrow.

I'm getting on a train...

...to Tallinn. Or at least thinking about it.

It's a hell of a long way. Fortunately, The Man in Seat 61 is on hand to help plan the journey.

As you can see, we'll (I say 'we' because at my advanced age I think I need a companion) have to take a long, but potentially exciting, route from Western Europe to the East then on to the Baltics. Here's a summary of my travel arrangements:

• Days 1 & 2, travel from London to Warsaw by train. Via Brussels and possibly Berlin
• Stay overnight in Warsaw.  "The Polonia Palace Hotel is excellent"
• Day 3, travel from Warsaw to Vilnius by train. This involves a change in Mockava in Lithuania, takes about 12 hours and costs €25
• Stay overnight in Vilnius.  "The inexpensive Stay Vilnius hotel is a 6-minute walk from the station". That's my kind of walk
• Day 4, travel from Vilnius to Tallinn by train, through Riga and changing in Valga. Another 10 hours

Sounds pretty straightforward, yes?

Of course, I could just get a direct flight from Stansted on Ryanair but where's the romance in that?

Nigel, why do you want to go to Estonia? I hear you say.

It's all about digital ID. When Tony Blair's government proposed compulsory ID cards back in the day, I was vehemently opposed to it. I thought it an intrusion on privacy, prone to forgery, Big Brother encroachment, generally illiberal. They didn't come in because the following coalition government ditched the proposals. But there is now talk of digital ID and it's possible my (and the public's) view has changed. Of course digital is intrinsically different to a paper version; we already have a myriad of digital identifications on our phones and we willingly give our details to the likes of Google and Apple. The government is moving towards a gov.uk wallet app for smartphones, able to contain driving licances, passports, birth certificates, Universal Credit accounts and the like. I don't think the intention is to make it compulsory but you can imagine that's the direction of travel. In time it might become a requirement for employment checks and immigration status. The Data (Use and Access) Act has already established the Office for Digital Identity and Attributes (OfDIA), which aims to ensure that digital identities are secure, trusted, and widely accepted across various sectors.

I'm sure there will be concerns about privacy and data security but I suppose you have to trust the government machine will sort this out. 

An oft-quoted exemplar is Estonia, where the digital ID card  is more or less mandatory and over 99% of government services accept them - for banking, taxes, voting, healthcare, signing documents, registering companies for example

What we don't know is how it works for the Estonian on the street, how happy they are about it, what are the pros and cons. Hence my desire to get on the train and go meet them.

Or - I could just check some of the liberty/human rights country comparisons.

Freedom House gives Estonia a global freedom score of 96/100, breaking that down as: Political Rights 39/40 and Civil Liberties 57/60. Estonia is very good on most measures of human rights and freedoms. It’s among the best in Europe on civil liberties, political rights, press & internet freedom, education, and quality of life on Freedom House's metrics.

So it's reasonable to suggest that the imposition of digital ID cards has not infringed the freedoms and rights of its citizens. Maybe we shouldn't be scared of them (the ID cards, not the Estonians).

I'd still like to see for myself. I'll check the train times.

This is not right

The Ballon d'Or is a discredited, dysfunctional, overblown, secretive PR exercise for football. Yesterday it came up with the most egregious decision in its 69 years of existence.

Was Ousmane Dembele the best footballer in the world in the last 12 months? It's arguable and generally (this an important point) the award goes to a player of a team which has won something, often the UEFA Champions League, but it's undoubtedly true that the player who contributed most to Paris Saint-Germain winning the 2025 Champions League was goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnaruma. Without his heroics in the semi final against Arsenal, PSG wouldn't have even have made it to the final. But the voters (more on them in a minute) love attackers and a goalkeeper has only won it once - Lev Yashin in 1963.

But this wasn't the worst decision.

Third place in the Ballon d'Or Féminin went to Alessia Russo. She won the Euros with England and the Champions League with Arsenal.

Second place went to Mariona Caldentey. She won the Champions League with Arsenal.

First place went to Aitana Bonmati. She won nothing.

But she got the sympathy vote because she recovered from viral meningitis earlier in the year, which gained her support, in the few months prior to voting, from the football chattering classes - a process well known to Oscar voters. I knew she would win; there's a strong Spanish-speaking constituency, a dominant Catalan influence and the sports writers who vote think Barcelona are the dog's bollocks of the soccer world. Bonmati has now won the award for three years in a row. Arsenal will beat Barcelona in the Champions League final again next May and she'll still win it a fourth time.

And the whole process is embarrassingly Eurocentric. No winner of the South American Copa Libertadores has ever won it.

The voters are one sports reporter from each of FIFA's 211 member countries. I tried to find out who the England person was this time but it seems bound up in secrecy.

You can probably tell I'm not happy.

Footy updates 2025/11 - the Tractor Boys get lucky

This weekend's match forecasts:

Brighton 2 Tottenham 2 Result: 2-2
Not a bad result for Spurs because Brighton are a decent team but they probably would have expected more.

Blackburn 1 Ipswich 3 Result: Match abandoned after 80 minutes at 1-0
This rain-flooded pitch abandonment probably comes as a great relief for the Tractor Boys. Their centre half Jacob Greaves was sent off and Blackburn scored from the resultant penalty. Will the match be replayed or just the final 10 minutes or so? I don't know, but see below.

Sheffield United 0 Charlton 1 Result: 0-1
Promoted Charlton having an encouragingly steady season, although this scoreline probably says more about hapless Sheffield United, who have zero points from six matches

Wycombe 0 Northampton 0 Result: 2-0
Wycombe climbing the table from a poor early position

Manchester United Women 1 Arsenal Women 4 Result: 0-0

I don't think I've ever seen Arsenal's women fail to score; we fall behind leaders Chelsea - not for the first time in recent years

Arsenal 0 Manchester City 2 Result: 1-1

A bit disappointing, given our dominance, but at least we're still above Tottenham

Tunbridge Wells 2 Whitstable Town 2 Result: 1-2
Whitstable are climbing the table. They are just three points off the leaders but have played two games fewer because of their FA Cup run. Promotion prospect?

And here's a fun fact:

[source: Football Web Pages]

Shout out to all you Whitstable fans!

Correct results: 2 out of 6

Correct scores: 2 out of 6

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Upcoming midweek matches:

Tuesday - Southern Counties East League Premier Division

Whitstable v Snodland

Wednesday - EFL Cup 3rd Round

Tottenham v Doncaster

Port Vale v Arsenal

Wigan v Wycombe

************************

Back to the Ipswich match; here's what ChatGPT says:

If the game is abandoned before the 75th minute (i.e. before 75% of normal time is played), the result does not stand. The fixture is replayed in full at a later date, starting from 0–0 regardless of the score when it was abandoned.

If the game is abandoned after the 75th minute, the EFL board can decide to let the result stand, but usually they still order a replay unless both clubs agree otherwise.

Clearly, Blackburn would argue that with only 10 minutes plus possible added time to go, they're 1-0 up and Ipswich down to 10 men, the chances are they are going to win and the score should stand as the result. Ipswich would say they could easily get a penalty or score from a set piece, there's no certainty. And Blackburn are responsible for the state of the pitch.

There is no situation where a game could be arranged to play out the final 10 minutes.

I reckon either they replay in full (and Ipswich get extremely fortunate) or it's declared a result and Ipswich go to court.

Youthful regression

I just listened to Béla Bartók's Music For Strings, Percussion and Celesta. It's literally years since I listened to any of his works and it was great to re-experience the pure joy of his music after all this time. I used to be a fan of mid 20th century music (this is from 1936) - Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Hindemith, Copland, Messiaen, Vaughan Williams amongst others. I feel I may have wasted some later years playing computer games and neglecting my cultural base.

I'm going to make a playlist.

Bartók again: Concerto for Orchestra, my favourite of his works.

Hindemith: perhaps the Concert Music for Strings and Brass; there's nothing like a bit of brass. Hindemith was a prolific composer and he wrote sonatas for pretty much every orchestral instrument. I've never played his Trumpet Sonata and I don't think I've ever heard it. I really should give it a go (listening I mean, not playing).

Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time is special for its wartime context; a difficult listen but I can immerse myself. It really needs a quiet, non-football meditative evening.

In my youth I used to sometimes spend any spare cash buying long playing records (vinyl) and one of my favourites was Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1. I'll find a performance to listen to.

Charles Ives was a very odd American composer, early 20th century but stylistically adventurous. I remember his The Unanswered Question and I sought that out on YouTube. It has a trumpet solo, so that's a plus. Wikipedia tells us, based on Ives' own words:

Against a background of slow, quiet strings representing "The Silence of the Druids", a solo trumpet poses "The Perennial Question of Existence", to which a woodwind quartet of "Fighting Answerers" tries vainly to provide an answer, growing more frustrated and dissonant until they give up. The three groups of instruments perform in independent tempos and are placed separately on the stage—the strings offstage.

I've always thought of the trumpet as the ultimate in asking about life, the universe and everything!

I also discovered a YouTube channel by Thomas Ligre, where he plays 20th century classical music whilst the music score scrolls on the screen. This is magic! Totally up my street; I've subscribed and, if you are kind and leave a comment, I'll bring you some more.

Here are the opening bars of the Ives, as it appears on the video:

Not much happening, I hear you say? Wait, the trumpet will ask the question soon.

I'm regressing to my youth.

Footy updates 2025/10

It's been a busy week in Europe. Arsenal started their Champions League campaign with an excellent 2-0 victory away to Athletic Bilbao, Spurs got a very lucky 1-0 win against Villareal, whose goalkeeper effectively "threw" the ball into his own net in the 6th minute. Need to do better; him and Tottenham. 

Whitstable got an excellent - and probably unexpected - 1-0 win in the FA Cup Second Round Replay away to Chichester on Wednesday. They face Hungerford Town at the Belmont Ground next Saturday in the Third (and final) Qualifying Round; they're on a roll.

This weekend's match forecasts:

Brighton 2 Tottenham 2

Blackburn 1 Ipswich 3

Sheffield United 0 Charlton 1

Wycombe 0 Northampton 0

Manchester United Women 1 Arsenal Women 4

Arsenal 0 Manchester City 2

Tunbridge Wells 2 Whitstable Town 2

Things I didn't know #7

William Shakespeare was born and died on the same day of  the year - 23rd April b.1564 d.1616

Also:

Ingrid Bergman 29th August b.1915 d.1982

Raphael 6th April b.1483 d.1520

Machine Gun Kelly 18th July b.1895 d.1954

Sidney Bechet 14th May b.1897 d.1959

Now you're ready for your next pub quiz!

What would have made a good tournament?

A few days ago I wrote about Divya Deshmukh, 19yo Indian woman chess player playing in the Open section of the Grand Swiss tournament. Divya said

Even if I lose all the rounds, I think I will be fine if I learn.

And I promised to let you know how she got on. So here goes.

Clearly, despite her words, she would have not been happy losing a succession of games, even though her opponents were generally rated 150 and so points above her. And I've mentioned before that for top players it's not too difficult to successfully play for a draw if that's what you want to do. I can't see there would be any point in entering this competition if that's the limit of your ambition, so some wins would be good, together with a smattering of draws. Or the other way round.

The results:

Game 1: loss

Game 2: draw

Game 3: draw

Game 4: win

Game 5: loss

Game 6: draw

Game 7: win

In game 8, Divya played the current World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, rated almost 300 higher than her. Possibly her biggest challenge so far in her career, and a battle of the 19yo Indians. And got a draw after a long drawn out battle. At this point she has 4 points, ahead of the World Champion, who has just 3.5. Remarkable.

Game 9: loss, after a late blunder (yes, even Grandmasters do that!)

Game 10: draw

Game 11: draw

Divya Deshmukh scores 5 points out of 11 and 81st place out of 116 players. If 5/11 doesn't sound great, the winner of the event scored 8 out 11. She ends with a rating of 2497.6, having been 2478.0 at the start of the tournament. And she got a draw against the World Champion.

Also, it's only fair that I mention Aleksandra Goryachkina, also playing in the Open section. She has also already qualified for the Women's Candidates, like Deshmukh, so she also chose to play against the best men. She's 26, slightly higher rated, Russian born competing under a FIDE flag. Her results:

Game 1: loss

Game 2: draw

Game 3: draw

Game 4: win

Game 5: loss

Game 6: loss

Game 7: draw

Game 8: win, she's on 3.5, alongside Gukesh, with three rounds to go.

Game 9: win

Game 10: draw

Game 11: loss, so also 5 out of 11, in 79th place alongside Divya. She ends with a rating of 2541.1, having been 2528.0 at the start of the tournament.

I was unable to find any interviews with Goryachkina, so I can't tell you about her motivation or reaction to her performance.

Overall, a successful tournament for both players; they both played consistently above their ratings and proved they can compete with higher rated Grandmasters. Perhaps they'll be joined by others playing in Open sections in the future.

Chucking it down

I don't like black pudding. There's an argument that it's the ugliest looking piece of food ever. UOAT. Ugliest Of All Time; a new category of OATs. Ramsbottom: now there's a contender, on name alone. Yesterday, The Official World Black Pudding Throwing Championships were held there. Apparently it's something to do with antipathy towards Yorkshire puddings (Ramsbottom is in Lancashire so a modern day War of the Roses) which are incidentally pretty tasty, especially if served on the right (dinner plate) size, with gravy. This:

Not these:

In an attempt at raw journalism, I asked ChatGPT who won yesterday's Championships.

The winner was Ged Flanagan from Salford. If you want, I can also tell you how many Yorkshire puddings he knocked down, or who came second?

They throw them at the Yorkshire puddings? Wow. I'm almost at my limit of interest in this bizarre manifestation of British culture, but I couldn't resist wondering how many he did knock down. Could it be 100? Or maybe Ged was the only contestant to score at all.

Nine.

In more news, there were allegations of cheating in the World Stone Skimming Championships which the Times, apparently without irony, describes as "prestigious". Perhaps in Easdale, "one of the slate islands off the west coast of Scotland" (I thought I'd just quote the newspaper on that, to save me the bother of some independent journalism) where the contest is held, it's prestigious. I mock not.

Organisers were alerted that some of the participants had been deploying stones that had had their rough edges filed off before being flung across the flooded quarry where the tournament is held.

Shocking. "They deeply apologised for bringing the sport into disrepute and accepted disqualification", said Kyle Mathews, a GP who acted as "toss master". Apparently there are seven categories by age and other attributes, including one for "old tossers" aged 60 and above. I'm thinking of entering next year, just so that my family can forever call me that - or maybe they already do, privately.

I know you want to know: the overall winner was Jonathan Jennings from .... Kentucky. What? You travelled halfway round the world just to skim some stones? Don't you have lakes in Kentucky?

In other throwing news, the UK is about to start chucking out some "small boat" migrants to France this week, as part of the new "one in, one out" agreement. Not surprisingly, the UK and French governments are not giving any details of who and how many, particularly on those we're letting in.

Final news on these matters: the rain in Cornwall was chucking it down so hard last night that my satellite connection was disrupted and I actually missed the added time handball and subsequent penalty which allowed lucky Liverpool to go back to the top of the Premier League table. Ugh.

It also affected the opportunity to see the final public performance of trumpeter Alison Balsom, of whose playing I am a massive fan, in the Last Night of the Proms. I am very averse to that event, which seems to me to be less about actual music and more about flag waving - of which we need rather less at the moment IMO. Maybe there will be a YouTube video.

Footy updates 2025/9

Check the outcomes of my forecasts:

Ipswich 3 bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United 0 Result: 5-0

West Ham Women 1 Arsenal Women 3 Result: 1-5

Arsenal 3 Nottingham Forest 1 Result: 3-0

Charlton 1 Millwall 1 Result: 1-1

West Ham 2 Tottenham 2 Result: 0-3

bottom-of-the-table Peterborough 0 Wycombe 1 Result: 2-1

Whitstable 1 Chichester 2 Result: 1-1

Correct results: 4 out of 7

Correct scores: 1 out of 7

NEXT:

• Whitstable have to go to Chichester for a replay on Tuesday
• Arsenal and Tottenham have the first of eight League Stage matches in the Champions League on Tuesday: Arsenal in Bilbao, Spurs at home to Villareal
• The others wait for a week for their next games

Overall a pretty satisfactory weekend's work, although disappointing for Wycombe

Span of control

Vytautas Andrius Graičiūnas was a Lithuanian American management theorist who published a classic study Relationship in Organization in 1933. He mathematically proved that a manager should not have more than four to five subordinates. He posited a formula which showed the number of relationships a manager can deal with, for a given number of reporting subordinates. Those relationships include (a) one-to-one, i.e. manager/subordinate (b) cross relationships subordinate/subordinate and (c) group relationships, e.g. manager/subordinate/subordinate. For 5 subordinates, it's 100; for 6, 222; for 7, 490. Don't worry about the numbers, just realise that the more people you have reporting to you, your ability to effectively manage them diminishes exponentially.

Management theory calls this the "span of control" and is used in the military for command and control functions and also in large commercial organisations.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has a cabinet of 25 or 26 (I couldn't quite figure it out exactly). There are duplications in terms of departments, for instance Baroness Chapman is Minister of State (Development) in the Foreign Office, so presumably reports to the Foreign Secretary rather than direct to the Prime Minister. There are still around 20 departments of state.

So the Prime Minister of the day has a bumper number of people formally reporting to him/her.

There's maybe an argument that a more structured way would enable their job to their job better. It can be argued - as it was by ChatGPT in our...chat - that the PM, as primus inter pares, allows greater autonomy to secretaries of state, but this manifests itself as a problem which is that, once a week, the PM has to answer for everything in government publicly in Prime Minster's Questions in the House of Commons. And is expected to know...everything.

There's another problem, which is relevant to the recent months - in fact arguably ever since the current government came to power. In comparable countries, foreign affairs and world diplomacy are carried out by the Head of State, usually President, leaving the PM to focus on domestic affairs - see France (not a great exemplar of effective government at the moment, I accept). This has been a major problem for Keir Starmer, facing significant global instability and an erratic US President.

So it's no surprise that Starmer is floundering. You'd have thought an experienced manager like him, who had a staff of over 7,000 when he was Director of Public Prosecutions, would be able to use that experience, but I imagine that was a better structured organisation and his job had a single, highly focussed mission. Government is different: not just about continuing an existing functionality; it's often about juggling, and deciding between, a set of bad options. Different problems, maybe requiring leaders with different characteristics.

I'm not saying Starmer is doing as well as anyone could; he's clearly not on top of things and there are serious questions about his judgement, e.g. Sue Gray.

I just think there must be better ways of doing things; we ask too much of our politicians.

Footy updates 2025/8

It's back to normal for our teams in the coming weekend. No more of the dreary international scene for another month. Ipswich are on the telly tonight, competing with Arsenal Women for my viewing time, Arsenal tomorrow competing with Charlton, Tottenham later. A viewfest!

I thought I should do forecasts. Here we go.

Ipswich 3 bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United 0

West Ham Women 1 Arsenal Women 3

Arsenal 3 Nottingham Forest 1

Charlton 1 Millwall 1

West Ham 2 Tottenham 2

bottom-of-the-table Peterborough 0 Wycombe 1

Whitstable 1 Chichester 2

Are Whitstable fans soft?

I forgot Whitstable Town, shame on me. Last mentioned in this blog for winning the FA Vase in May. For some reason they don't appear in my Flashscore feed, which presumably doesn't cover the lower level non-professional (or semi-professional) leagues such as the Southern Counties East Football League in which Whitstable plays in the Premier Division. They are currently 7th after six games, outside the playoff places. On Tuesday they won 3-1 away to Hollands & Blair, which sounds like a firm of solicitors.

Shout out to Football Web Pages, where I discovered not only this information but their comprehensive coverage of the complete football "pyramids" in England and Scotland, men's and women's.

Every football club which is registered with the Football Association (FA) is allowed to enter the FA Cup and clubs in "Step 5" (that's our boys) and above are automatically accepted. Whitstable entered this season's competition in the First Qualifying Round and won 3-2 away to Dulwich Hamlet, who are currently in 2nd place in the Isthmian Premier League, which is a "step 3" league - Whitstable would have to get two promotions to play at that level. So a terrific result. In the Second Qualifying Round they play at home to Chichester City, who are also in the exalted company of Dulwich in the Isthmian, on Saturday. In case the Whitstable fans who went to Wembley in May are not of the "soft" variety, it's at 3pm.

And if you go, write a report please!

Cornish nation urgent update

 Courtesy a reminder in today's Times:

Grant Cornwall nation status

I'm definitely not a petition signer. I don't think I've ever done so, although maybe in the idealism of my youth, who knows? I don't like following the crowd.

The government's petitions site has this:

Grant Cornwall nation status

We urge the UK Government to formally recognize Cornwall as a nation, granting it equal status to Wales and Scotland. This includes devolved powers, cultural preservation, and official recognition of Cornwall’s distinct heritage, language, and historic autonomy.

Cornwall has a rich cultural and historical identity, distinct from the rest of England, with its own language, Kernewek, and heritage. Despite being part of the UK, Cornwall's history as a Duchy reflects its unique status. We think granting Cornwall nation status would preserve its culture, promote self-governance, and could empower its people to address local issues.

No mention of flags or rugby.

When I checked this on my phone yesterday, over breakfast, there were 22,986 signatures, now 23,182.

Note: does "signatures" mean signatories? Could this be my next door neighbour voting 23,182 times? If I click on "Sign this petition" to find out, will I have voted?

I did it. There's a form. You have to be a British citizen or UK resident and enter your postcode and email address.  Doesn't seem foolproof but then maybe only fools would do it. I didn't continue.

Because the petition has more than 10,000 signatures, the government has to give a written response. The site says "Waiting for 44 days for a government response". Don't hold your breath.

If it gets to 100,000 signatures (unlikely as there are only two days to go), the "petition will be considered for debate in Parliament".

The petition was supported by Cornwall council, run by a LibDem-led coalition, by 53 votes to 22, as part of a fight to prevent a combined mayoral authority with Devon. Such an authority would access higher levels of devolution and funding, so I'm not clear what's bad about that.

Obviously this is all nonsense. Anything which keeps government on its toes is to be welcomed but this petition wouldn't do that, even if it succeeded in getting to 100,000 signatures. If it does happen, I want to be King. You get to hobnob with other monarchs and pseudo-monarchs, impose tariffs on Prime Minister Farage's England, live in a palace, get a free gardener, start a war, stop a war, get a Nobel Peace Prize. What's not to like?

What to do about Serbia

It has happened multiple times.

In 2007, UEFA fined Serbia €24,000 after fans directed monkey chants at black players during a European Under-21 Championship match against England.

In 2012, again against England Under-21s, Serbia fined €80,000, forced to play the next under-21 match behind closed doors, and several coaches and players banned due to racist chanting and violent scenes.

2013, Under 21s vs Belgium - UEFA ordered parts of the stadium closed, a “No to Racism” banner displayed, and a public anti-racism statement made by the captain, due to monkey chants.

2023 – Euro 2024 qualifier vs Montenegro - Serbian fans directed racist chants at Montenegro. The Football Association of Serbia (FSS) was fined €90,000 and the following home match was played behind closed doors.

June 2024, Gelsenkirchen - UEFA launched an investigation into alleged monkey chants against black England players, plus object-throwing and nationalist banners.

December 2024 – Nations League matches vs Switzerland & Denmark - Serbia’s fans tried to burn an Albanian flag in Switzerland and displayed illicit banners. UEFA fined the FSS €173,000 total (specifically for racist/discriminatory behaviour), banned them from selling tickets to their next two away games, and imposed partial stadium closures.

Enough.

England's men's team play in Belgrade tomorrow night. The England players have reportedly been discussing what to do if racist abuse is directed against their (particularly black) players. There's basically a choice between following UEFA protocols - basically reporting the incidents and the FSS gets more fines and stadium bans - and the nuclear option of just walking off the pitch and refusing to continue, which would probably mean they forfeit the match and lose points.

I don't believe any England fan would blame the players if they did that. Serbia has had 18 years of their supporters behaving like this and the FSS getting "punished" and clearly nothing has worked.

There is the option of the referee suspending, ultimately even abandoning, the match. Which would result in an enquiry followed possibly by the opposing team being awarded a notional 3-0 victory. It's in the regulations but I couldn't find any instance of it happening.

One more occurrence - tomorrow or later - should result in the Serbian national teams being banned from competitive matches for, say, five years. Otherwise nothing will change.

Let's hope nothing happens. 

Footy updates 2025/7

I have to add Arsenal's women's team to our Favourites list to be followed. They are the European champions after all, so it would be rude not to.

Yesterday they started the new Womens Super League season with a resounding victory over WSL newcomers London City Lionesses. It's often said that, when you've been most successful as a sports team, you strengthen even more. If you rest on your laurels, your competitors will make their own improvements and you'll be in danger of stagnating. Arsenal won the Womens Champions League at the end of last season and they have strengthened, most notably making the first £1 million transfer in women's football history by signing19yo Canadian superstar Olivia Smith, who proceeded to justify the fee with an amazing long range goal to get the Gunners going after falling behind to a penalty.

Elsewhere, Wycombe Wanderers hauled themselves out of the relegation zone in League One with a 2-0 win over mid-table Mansfield.

No other club matches for our favourites as it's a tedious international break exemplified by England's struggling win against minnows Andorra. Need to do better.

Things I didn't know #6

I know next to nothing about Victorian and Regency novels. Austen, the Brontës, Eliot, Dickens, Hardy, all that Englishness. Give me The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy any day. I know enough to possibly get by in a pub quiz but that's it. I don't care who Heathcliff was.

Hadley Freeman wrote in today's Sunday Times about Wuthering Heights in a manner which led me to wonder what on earth a "wuther" was. Turns out it's not a wuther, it's to wuther. 

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines wuther as "to blow with a dull roaring sound". Which pretty much sums up my feelings about Victorian novels.

Someone reads my blog

In June I wrote a blog post about women in chess and in particular why competing only in women's sections of major chess tournaments might inhibit players' progress:

I'd like to see some of the talented young women - and there are many - electing to play Open tournaments rather than taking the "easy way" against their fellow women. And some tournament organisers issuing invitations to women to play against men in a single section rather than a separate section.

And perhaps someone took note. This week and next, a major tournament, the Grand Swiss, is taking place in Samarkand. Which is in Uzbekistan - I had to look that up. That may seem out of the way but not in the chess world - the country has 24 Grandmasters. The "Swiss" by the way refers not to the country but to the tournament format; I've mentioned it before as familiar to croquet players - you play a match then for the next round get paired against someone with the same results/score; eventually the cream rises to the top. Rising young Indian (of course) star Divya Deshmukh, 19 years old, already a Grandmaster and recent winner of the Women's World Cup, elected to play in the Open section.

The Indian Express newspaper reports Divya saying:

Even if I lose all the rounds, I think I will be fine if I learn. Every loss hurts a lot. When you play stronger players continuously, you learn so much even if you lose. You learn about yourself, you learn about what you should and should not do. For me, the result is not that important, more than what I take back from this tournament. This is definitely the strongest open tournament that I have played, I don’t want to say that I am used to getting beaten by these players. I truly enjoy playing in open tournaments, As much as they are difficult, I think it’s a must-have experience and it makes you much, much stronger when you play against people who are way stronger than you to begin with. You learn so much about yourself at such events: like where you’re lacking, where your weaknesses are and how you can improve on those.

Remarkably, Divya is only ranked 14th of the world's top women players but this is clearly a breakthrough season. Having won the World Cup, she has already qualified for the Candidates, the preliminary tournament to decide who challenges reigning world champion Ju Wenjun in 2026. The Grand Swiss is another qualifying competition so I'd guess that normally she'd have played the women's section to attempt to qualify. But she doesn't need to do that so can take this bold step. I'll let you know how she gets on.

As requested, flags

I think if I did a survey close to where I live, there'd be more Cornish flags

than English or British being displayed. We have our own language and rugby team - the Pirates.

Aargh me hearties. Shiver me timbers. Pieces of eight. 

Flags are fascinating, like national anthems and, in my opinion, intrinsically performative. I look at a flag from an artistic point of view and I blogged about this a few years ago. And from that point of view the Cornish flag is simply awful - just four black blobs; what's that about?*

But the recent explosion (if that's what it is) of flag flying by English households (there has been no reporting of similar outbreaks in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as far as I can tell) seems to be  driven by (a) it's August (or at least it was) and the media have very little to report on (Trump hasn't threatened to annex Cuba) (b) Reform UK and its leader have been ramping up nationalistic fervour and (c) people are dusting off their flags after the Womens' Euros and in anticipation of an England World Cup victory next summer.

In some ways it's anti-British. We see flag fetishes in other countries, notably the USA, where it seems to be seen as a test of national virility and comes close to a statement of weakness, implying a kind of bunker mentality: the old Millwall chant of "No one likes us, we don't care!". Traditionally we Brits are more reserved, keeping our patriotism to ourselves. We feel it but don't feel the need to say so and therefore you might see flag-waving (other than in military or sporting victories) as a sense of desperation that "fings ain't what they used to be".

Because of flag displays seemingly connecting with anti-immigrant sentiment, flags can perhaps be seen as relatively (as opposed to say bows and arrows) inoffensive challenges to foreigners: "you're not welcome here" and we're going to wave our flags at you (but less so physically drive you out). A statement of weakness and frustration.

The conscription of the flag of St George as if it (and it's adherents) represent the whole of our four nation union is of course pretty offensive.  Maybe for some it's a deliberate anti-union statement: "our" borders are Hadrian's Wall and Offa's Dyke.

The biggest problem for me is the tribal nature. If you don't fly or acknowledge the flag, you're not of our tribe and we don't want you - or maybe even want to vote for you. Hence a great rush of politicians draped in the flag, proud to say they have an England flag in their living room, etc. Grow up!

Of course we all remember Emily Thornberry who sneered at a terraced house draped in three England flags and resigned as Shadow Attorney General. So no sneering please - but don't keep your thoughts to yourself! If possible don't do so Anonymously.

* CORNISH NOTE: our flag is NOT four black blobs, it's a white cross on a black background, perhaps the black background signifying the rich mineral deposits from its tin mines and the white cross representing the purity of St. Piran. Obviously.

Singapore Slings

I spent 8 months working in Singapore once. Interesting country, drinks in the Long Bar at Raffles surrounded by discarded peanut shells, Night Safari at the Zoo, Sentosa island, hawker centres.

And.

Top of the charts for the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in maths, reading and science. With other Asian countries in top places too, it's Estonia that leads the way for the West followed by Finland and Ireland. The UK is in 14th place, higher ranked than most EU countries.

In 2022 PISA introduced a creative thinking assessment. Singapore came top of that too. Maybe less expected.

I liked my time there, could have stayed longer but I felt it just wasn't my kind of culture. And equatorial weather is pretty stressful.

Previously, in or around 2001, I travelled by train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. It was a relaxing, scenic journey although pretty slow, 7 hours or so. Not one of the world's grand, exotic rail journeys. Since then a high speed rail link has been proposed, agreed and cancelled a number of times due to cost concerns and changes of government in Malaysia. An agreement in 2013 should have led to completion and operation in 2026 but it's now back to 2031 I think. Shades of the UK's HS2. And a similarity in distance: Singapore to KL is about the same as London to Manchester. There's a joke about bats in there somewhere but I can't quite work it out; any suggestions?

BTW, just in case you want to know, a Singapore Sling contains gin, cherry liqueur, orange liqueur (Cointreau or Grand Marnier), an herbal liqueur like Benedictine, pineapple juice, lime juice, grenadine, bitters, and is topped with club soda, garnished with a cherry and orange slice. Yes please!

I did some research and sourced some bottles and cans of this cocktail. Pretty pricey and definitely not the same experience as ready mixed at a bar. I need to find an occasion. Maybe transiting Singapore on the way to Australia.

The wonders of the House of Lords

As reported in today's Times, Lord Wei proposed an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, on its way through the House of Lords.

Lord Wei is described as a "social entrepreneur", although there is no evidence put forward as to what that means or who (perhaps himself?) describes him as such. Anyway, his amendment addresses the Bill's requirement for the UK's children to register as home-schooled if their parents opt to do so rather than sending them to school. It's surprising that such a requirement doesn't already exist; although schools have to notify the local authority if a child is withdrawn from school to be home-schooled, there is no such requirement if a child is never sent to school in the first place.

I'm going to set aside considerations of home schooling (not something I would have relished as a parent) and focus on Lord Wei's amendment, which states

"A child who has achieved chess grandmaster status shall be considered to be receiving a suitable education and shall be exempt from registration under section 436B."

Section 436B outlines the new requirement for all children of compulsory school age ((basically up to 16) to be placed on a register if they are not attending school. Lord Wei, who was not present in the House to propose his amendment in person - perhaps home schooling his kids? - sent a message:

“This amendment recognises that children who attain chess grandmaster status demonstrate exceptional intellectual achievement. It automatically treats them as receiving a sufficient education.”

This is obviously a bit weird and begs the question of how many of these geniuses are there? Something the Times reporter hasn't bothered to explore - or maybe it got cut out by the sub-editors for lack of space. I, however, am like a dog with a bone and I did ask.

At the time the amendment was discussed in the House on 1st May (something the Times article today didn't point as therefore old news, I'm disappointed to say) the answer was: one. Shreyas Royal (born 9 January 2009, so currently 16 years old) officially earned his Grandmaster (GM) title in 2024 at age 15 years and 7 months, becoming the youngest British GM ever. 

However, Shreyas ceased to be of compulsory school age on the last Friday in June, so the current answer to the ("how many?) question is: none.

So Lord Wei was seeking to create a legal opt-out for one person at the time. This seems an odd way to make law. I naturally asked ChatGPT whether it could find any connection between Lord Wei and Shreyas - that's the cynic in me - and the answer came: no. And no connection to any chess bodies that I could find.

I checked out Shreyas' FIDE (the world chess federation) data. His FIDE rating is 2501, one point above the GM threshold (ratings go up and down as you win or lose matches but you only have to get to 2500 once to get the title). He has competed around the world in tournaments and I suppose that means home schooling (perhaps travelling with a parent) is an appropriate way to get educated.

Perhaps, if we'd like Britain to become a chess powerhouse to compete with the pesky Indians and the powerhouse Chinese, Shreyas and his contemporaries need to be supported.

But I still don't see why you would want such a person to be exempt from a national register which seeks safeguarding through oversight, reporting, and potential interventions. What's the problem, Lord Wei?

Anyway, good luck to him  (Shreyas, not Lord Wei). I've added him to my Favourites list on the Take Take Take app, so I'll let you know if he's in a tournament; I'm sure you'll want to know.

You have to help AI

One of the best things about ChatGPT is....you can actually have a chat. Meaning that it remembers the previous contributions to the existing conversation, which is something traditional search engines don't do. However, you have to have some degree of scepticism about what it tells you.

I recently asked ChatGPT "Which of arsenal's first team squad are 6 feet or more tall?" [why? I hear you ask; good question]. It came up with a dreadful set of answers which I knew to be out of date because previous players were included. Now here's another good thing about ChatGPT: it tells you where it got its data from. In this case it quoted Ladbrokes, the bookmakers. Now no-one in their right mind, trying to answer this question, would dream of using Ladbrokes as the source material for the answer. So, in attempt to educate the AI, I followed up with "Some of this is out of date. Try alternative source". The conversation continued "You’re right — that source was stale. Pulling from ESPN’s current 2025/26 Arsenal squad page, here are the players listed at 6'0" (183 cm) or taller as of 30 Aug 2025". And that was that; I got my info, well sourced.

I wanted to persist with my annoyance: "can i ask you not to use ladbrokes next time?" and got the response "Got it — I’ll steer clear of Ladbrokes as a source for squad info. ESPN, Transfermarkt, the Premier League’s official site, and Arsenal’s own page are much more solid anyway."

Questions remain:

• If it knows those sites are "more solid", why did it go to Ladbrokes in the first place?
• Will ChatGPT retain my "Ladbrokes ban" for future conversations or just this one?

I didn't know the answers so I simply asked. "If you know those sites are "more solid", why did you go to Ladbrokes in the first place?"

Answer: "Fair point. Honestly, it comes down to how the search engine serves results. When I did that first fetch, Ladbrokes had a nicely formatted squad list that showed up high in the rankings, so I pulled from it. Problem is, betting sites often copy data from older feeds and don’t always keep it fresh — which is exactly what you spotted. The more reliable places (ESPN, Transfermarkt, official Premier League/club sites) sometimes sit lower down in search results or behind trickier layouts, so they don’t always surface on the first pass. I should have gone straight for them once you asked about something as specific as player heights."

So there you have it - this version of ChatGPT goes for speed of response ahead of accuracy. I'm still like a dog with a bone so I ask "Do you have settings where I can optimise accuracy rather than speed?"

Answer: "Not in the sense of a toggle you can flip, Nigel. There’s no “accuracy mode” vs “speed mode” built into me. What actually happens is:

• By default, I try to balance speed and reliability, which means sometimes I grab whatever structured data surfaces quickest (like that Ladbrokes squad list).

• If you’d rather I always prioritise accuracy, you can just tell me explicitly: “only use official or trusted sources (ESPN, PL, club site, Transfermarkt)” — and I’ll go that route, even if it takes a bit longer to fetch and verify. Think of it less like a setting, more like giving me marching orders for how thorough you want me to be."

Finally, I asked the key question "If I say 'only use official or trusted sources', does this apply to this conversation or all future conversations?"

Answer: "Right now it would only apply to this conversation unless you tell me to remember it. If you want it to carry over into all future chats, I can save a note in your profile (something like “Nigel prefers that football info comes only from official or trusted sources like PL, Arsenal site, ESPN, Transfermarkt”). That way I’ll automatically follow it without you needing to remind me every time. Do you want me to make that a standing rule for you?"

Yes, I said.

"Updated saved memory. All set — I’ll stick to those trusted sources for football info going forward."

I'm baffled where and in what form this "saved memory" is; will it be accessed by my conversations on a different device? So I asked and was told "Yes — the memory I’ve saved for you is tied to your account, not the device. So whether you’re on your desktop, phone, or anything else signed into your ChatGPT account, I’ll carry over that preference about using only trusted football sources."

I end the conversation with a completely superfluous "Thanks". Basically because I like to feel I'm conversing with a sentient being and, in conversation with a human, that's what I'd do.

I think you have to not only learn how the AI works but also how to help it come up with the right answers. Just thought you'd like to know.

Incidentally, this is all from ChatGPT's free version. If you want, you can get "advanced reasoning" for £20 p.m. or "pro reasoning" for £200 p.m. Not for me.

Also incidentally, most of the regular search engines now include AI responses, so the ubiquitous verb to "google" is no more.

Footy updates 2025/6

A weekend to forget for our favourite teams.

Ipswich Town, recently (and briefly) of the Premier League, pre-season favourites to win the Championship, languish in 20th place after a 106th minute (of 90) equaliser at home to lowly (21st place) Derby County, meaning they have just 3 points from 4 games and are already 9 points adrift of the leaders. Boosted financially by £100 million in Premier League prize money and £40 parachute payments, they have made 11 signings in the summer transfer window, some of those on loan; that's a whole new team! Most of them have yet to play any minutes and all will need time to settle in so perhaps it's too early for us fans to panic. Obviously the club decided the remnants of the relegated squad, after some key departures as a result of relegation release clauses in their contracts, needed a complete overhaul. We can only hope recruitment has been a success.

In the same division Charlton Athletic, possibly one of the pre-season relegation favourites after promotion from League One, are four places and one point above Ipswich. They lost away at QPR on Saturday but, unlike Ipswich, they do at least have a win under their belt. If they can maintain this early season form maybe they can survive.

Down one division, Wycombe Wanderers are firmly stuck in the relegation places with just two points from six games. This is their fifth season in League One after one season in the Championship and will have expected to be challenging for the playoff places after achieving that in two of the previous seasons including last year. At least they are still in the Carabao Cup, in which they play away to Wigan Athletic, also of League One but in mid table, in a couple of weeks time.

Our two Premier League teams also join the Carabao Cup in the third round. Arsenal are away to Port Vale, who are one of only two teams below Wycombe in League One; Tottenham are at home to Doncaster Rovers, currently 5th in League One. Both had disappointing results at the weekend. Tottenham's probably comes in the "shocking" category, losing 1-0 at home to Bournemouth, who had 20 shots (6 on target) against Tottenham's 5 (1 on target) despite Spurs having 61% possession. In the previous game they won away at Manchester City convincingly, a situation reminiscent of last season, when they lost 2-1 at home to Ipswich followed immediately by a 4-0 win away to Manchester City. There's a word for this: spursy. It's hard to understand and must be infuriating for their die-hard fans. At least they've got a new signing on the way: Xavi Simons, who they stole from under the nose of Chelsea.

I was most disappointed with Arsenal. With a bunch of top-class new signings, away to a Liverpool team which has been shipping goals (albeit while still winning), I expected a statement win. I had hoped that manager Mikel Arteta would have had the courage to select 18yo Ethan Nwaneri to replace semi-injured (on the bench) Martin Odegaard. Nwaneri is an attacking creative player and could have taken the fight to our opponents from the beginning and linked up with new striker Gyokeres, but instead he went for the 'safe' option of Mikel Merino, who is undoubtedly more solid and capable of pressing the opposing midfield hard. The result was a sterile game in which Arsenal passed the ball around between their defenders, effectively saying "we hold what we have" and wanting not to lose. Which they eventually did with an extremely impressive Liverpool goal direct from a free kick. If he keeps on making passive selections like this, we will once again fail to win the league.

Both are still in the top four though:

It's an international weekend next, so no more updates on your favourite teams for a couple of weeks.