*fewer?

That a “duty of candour” is thought to be required of police officers and other public servants is extraordinary and deeply disturbing. As is the fact that police who lied and misled about Hillsborough were not considered in breach of the law.

This is a really wise thread about government comms and worth reading in full.

This was a great debut and the best thing he had done since the Oasis imperial phase

Loved this - just finished it. Truly one of our best writers.

Even if the application was not terrible (shining a light on the shocking standard of officialdom in the Prem), there is a huge reason it needs binning. With VAR, the joy of a goal for your team - check for a flag and that it’s been given on your way out of your seat - is gone forever.

100% agree. Fireworks are crap on the whole

I’m not sure that is quite true - Blood On The Tracks and The Boatman’s Call were hugely lauded, bitter albums by male artists. West End Girl is different not because it’s written by a woman, but because it is so unusually specific and precise in the telling.

How I won the Champions League for Liverpool The time has come to admit it, with apologies to Tottenham fans. In 2019, Liverpool and Spurs contested an all-English Champions League final in Madrid. Many reasons have been advanced for Liverpoo…

How I won the Champions League for Liverpool. On football fans and superstition

rorywrites.uk/2025/10/30/h...

Post you from a different era

The march of time has been brutal

And as if white working class people are a homogenous, racist, Brexit voting group - they’re absolutely not.

One of many regrettable consequences of the 'the point of politics is elections' s smart or savvy to just tell self-destructive lies that mean you can't govern effectively, because governing is just a tedious distraction between the real business of talking about who is gonna win the next election.

Breaking: random bloke in Lincolnshire wants a referendum on contactless payments. Hold all front pages.

Hmmm

The new CL format has been a bit rubbish, hasn’t it? Way too many games to get to a point where two of the best teams compete in last 16.

Jota been off but bigger issue is how easily they are playing through the lines. Might even be a case for Endo

Yes it’s nuts. Up with VVD in transforming LFC - arguably a more critical signing than Salah and Mane

I guess the Elvis Costello song is too niche bit would be a great terrace song…

Blondie

Who is he?

Are podcasts for people who don’t love music? I love music. Listening to it – getting lost in its mood, its way of telling us things about ourselves, its ability to take us to a different place – is one of the very greatest pleasur…

rorywrites.uk/2025/02/20/a...

Same. Podcasts will always have an uphill struggle against music in my preferences, it almost feels like they are for people who don’t love music! An hour is an absolute maximum and even then it would have to be something special.

Number 20 in my Bowie chart…👍

rorywrites.uk/2025/02/08/d...

Michael Oliver, in spite of the hype, isn’t a very good referee. His reputation is built on being best of a bad bunch really, but any ref so frequently at the centre of controversy is not a good one. Also seems to have homer/influenced by crowd tendencies. He is a 5 or 6 out of 10 at best.

If we don’t want this place to turn into the hellhole Twitter became, we should block people who resort to abuse with those who disagree with them, ether about politics or football. Mr Block is in town tonight!

Not allowed to do press conference if you get a red. Weird but true.

Nah. Ask any fanbase and they will list loads of bad calls and mostly they will be correct. The refs are poor and he was shocking tonight. Tonight, how do Liverpool end up conceding more free kicks in a game where they have the ball over 60% -against a really physical team?

Ah thought you meant Everton. I mean there is clearly no foul for the free kick on the first goal and even Rio says second is a foul. No club is routinely hard done by by refs, they just think they are. LFC were tonight. And Oliver probably is a bit of a homer generally , isn’t he?

Indeed. Say hello… to Mr Block!

Oh god. Twitter folk are arriving in force.