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.