[davidjay]

What the absolute bollocks was that motorcade all about?

[Bones McCoy]

What the absolute bollocks was that motorcade all about?

To remind Rishi that not all journeys are taken by gulfstream.

[Watchman]

Nicked from elsewhere

Sunak:
“At least I know what a woman is. A woman is someone you marry to make you super rich”

[The Weeping Angel]

Rishi trying to get in touch with the common man

[Youngian]

Sunak’s shaping up to be a Tory Ed Miliband without the brains. Not someone people hate but looks a right wally not up to the job. In Ed’s case, voters were wrong.

[mattomac]

Rishi trying to get in touch with the common man

Yeah there was an article suggesting that yesterday.

Long Eaton who beat Stockton in the end posted a reply.

[Youngian]

Thatcher managed 12 years in No 10 without ever claiming to like football or any other cultural horizon come to think of it. Neither did Johnson but that’s probably due to short attention span than indifference.

[Andy McDandy]

Johnson would rock up with an England shirt hastily pulled over his work shirt anytime the national team were playing (stuff the Celtic nations though). Otherwise, his administration's dabbling in sport consisted of making people in the racing business rich, mistaking Marcus Rashford for a black rugby player, and being told to get to fuck by both the men's and women's England football teams.

Obviously, one of the factors there was the pandemic. As for Thatcher, for a lot of her tenure, football just wasn't cool - and the ban on European participation didn't help either. Aside from a few players (Souness, Man Utd goalie Gary Bailey etc) professing admiration for her, football and politics didn't really cross over. However, Thatcher wasn't exactly hanging out with snooker and darts players either.

Although Italia '90 is credited with beginning the rehabilitation of football and the start of the "beautiful game" era, it was a rocky road to respectability. The Malmo riot in 1992 and the Lansdowne Road riot in 1995 didn't help things. Euro '96 was what really brought it into the mainstream, and what led politicians to start associating with it.

[davidjay]

Thatcher's dislike for sport was equalled by her dislike for music, art and almost every other form of culture. She couldn't understand anything where money wasn't made and she instinctively disliked everything she couldn't understand.

[Andy McDandy]

More to the point where there was no profit. Put a painting in a private gallery and see how many people come to visit it: you can work out how much it costs, and generates per view. Put it somewhere public and there's no way of measuring that. Besides, a rich person and a poor person have equal access to it. Can't have that. Thus, her plan to reform football was to basically price the thugs out of it.

[davidjay]

She didn't want it reformed, she wanted it destroyed. See also every other mass working-class activity - unions, social housing, factories. Ironically, unless I'm mistaken, her first defeat was when organised football supporters forced her to scrap the identity cards bill in 1989.

[Andy McDandy]

Apologies - she said reform, meant destroy. Or at least transform it from something bound to place and heritage into a leisure activity with customers.

[davidjay]

I recall her post-some riot or other asking why football couldn't be played behind closed doors "for the benefit of the pools companies." And when clubs said they couldn't afford more security measures she mentioned one recent transfer as proof there was plenty of money in the game. Gary Lineker.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

One of the things the Tory fluffers are in denial about is that she was actually pretty thick. Which is why she appeals to them, of course...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Restoring probity to government.

[davidjay]

The government is now resembling a particularly out of control CID unit who, even when they have enough evidence to prosecute, still have to fabricate a bit more. Not that Gray's done anything wrong; they won't just run with the thin attack line they've got, they have to tell risible lies just because they can.

[Watchman]

I liked the Twitter that suggested she got “lawyer’d up”, I’m guessing that having a boss who’s a KC and former DPP, is a good start.

[Tubby Isaacs]

So yonks after the report was done then.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ha ha.

[mattomac]

All I’m seeing is a bunch of bullies fucking up again as usual.