kick it off

Went to see Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Harry Baker on Thursday as part of the "Noisenights" tour. A world renowned Cellist widely regarded as one of the best in the world and a highly accomplished, immensely talented composer/pianist playing in a small bar in Leeds. It was unbelievable. They played a mixture of stuff from folk, to jazz, to classical pieces, to improvised versions of various pieces of music. The tour doesn't go to Norfolk, its pretty much just big cities and the sheku/Harry run finishes tonight anyway, but the premise of the organisation running it is to bring classical musicians to intimate, informal settings and have them play interesting repertoire you wouldn't normally hear them play. Well worth keeping an eye on because it really was superb. https://www.throughthenoise.co.uk/noisenights

Ricotta Quaresma Gouda Muller

Feel like I've nailed the Christmas jumper this year

Yeah he's really establishing himself as a top drawer keeper now. 10 clean sheets in 15 for Juventus this season. Was surprised when Juve took him but it looks like it was a perfect situation for all parties. Buffon really brought him on significantly.

Glad to see it's not just my red and white tinted specs that say that was a disgusting penalty decision. Sczeszny is having a wonderful tournament so far. Hes been outstanding.

Inclined to agree but the Commanders Defense has turned a corner and have been lights out for 6 or so weeks now. Think they're the number 1 Defense in football over last 5 weeks. Chase Young is about to rejoin the Defensive ranks too. Our Offense is the clear weak spot that keeps us out the conversation, but we have a trio of really good WR and two RBs who are certainly in the "good" tier. QB is weak but Heinicke is basically just a hand off machine at this point whilst our RBs pound it behind an improving OL... When the defense is shutting teams down, and we control the clock by running the rock, then you don't need that many points to win. That's essentially how we beat the Eagles, control the clock and keep Hurts on the sideline, where he can't do any damage. I dont think we're as talented as any of the 3 you mention but I think we're a problem for even good teams now. If we can stick to our gameplan, we are very hard to beat. Be interesting to see how we match up against the 49ers on Xmas eve. Finish up the season in Dallas too if we have anything to play for by then.

I have no interest into wading into this debate, but I did just want to highlight the amusement I got from reading this in an Alan Partridge type internal voice. No offence intended here LYB - Im not interested in this argument nor taking a side in it because I don't care enough to trawl through and see who said what. I just enjoyed the way this passage of text read.

The problem is the cost of travel is prohibitively expensive on trains. It's cheaper to fly the length of Australia (Melbourne to Cairns - approx 2000 miles) than it is to get a train from Newcastle to Birmingham (approx 200 miles) in the UK. Until the price of rail travel is resolved, it can't be part of the solution, especially these days. I tend to drive everywhere and don't even look at the train as an option - the only time I use the rail network is if I go into London, I park somewhere near one of the end of the line tube stops and use that to go into and around central london. I don't get the train the whole way because it would cost me about double what the petrol does. You're right, there are plenty of examples of successful and functioning rail systems around the world, but our whole rail network would require MASSIVE reforms to even run competently, let along to the levels that other countries manage.

Lewa was so emotional after that. Scoring in the world cup was one thing he desperately wanted to do in his career and it just hadn't happened. He talked about it in a pre tournament interview. Rough backstory too, His dad was the driving force behind his football development as a kid, and he died when lewa was 16. 635 career goals and to see him get emotional like that was quite something. He's in the top 10 international goalscorers in history now. Level with Pele on 77.

That rebound save was unbelievable. Penalty was **** weak and you'd expect keepers to save it but that rebound save was exceptional

For ****s sake.

Even as a poland fan, I was bored to tears by that. Lewandowski had to score that penalty. It does set the group up nicely but not quite sure why Poland played that industrial **** instead of their normal game. Swiderski should have been on the pitch. Lewa is totally ineffective without a strike partner.

Good slate of games today: Argentina vs Saudi Arabia - 10am Tunisia vs Denmark - 1pm Poland vs Mexico - 4pm France vs Australia - 7pm

A bit late but have a crack at giving your predictions below (preferably in the same format). 🏅 Winners: Brazil 🥈 Runners Up: Argentina ⚽️ Golden Boot: Mbappe 🧤 Golden Glove: Alissson 🔥 Player of the Tournament: Neymar 🔺️ Surprise package (country): Poland 🔻 Flop (country): Belgium 🤯 WTF moment: Protest results in riot

Twitter is going to implode very very quickly. Musk is the Liz Truss of the social media world.

Am I the only person in the country who doesn't get Ant and Dec? Their contrived ****ty scripted jokes that they struggle to read off the autocue, make me want to stick soldering irons in their eyes. Even with soldering irons in their eyes, theyd still be able to see the punchlines coming 20 seconds before they do. They're essentially just Christmas cracker jokes, badly delivered, in irritating Geordie packaging. Theyre just not remotely funny or entertaining, theyre a pair of talentless chancers who have made a career out of being utterly devoid of actual personality. The only way I would ever watch them through choice is if there were lions, sharks, snipers or grenades involved. Any combo is fine. I'd be delighted with the quadruple.

Also recommend "stuff you should know". Engaging hosts telling the stories of the science behind how things work, some mysteries and origins of various things. Some of them are surprisingly interesting such as the hour long feature on the origins of cornflakes. Recommend the Hinterkaifack (spelling?) Murders, the Dylatov pass incident, kellog brothers wacky world of health as episodes to get started with.

Actually put that on my list pretty recently

It was a speech by nigel farage too. The fact they invited him says everything about that horrible institution. Grim in every respect of the story.

I love a true crime podcast. Recommended in no particular order: Down the Hill Up and vanished Atlanta monster Someone knows something Serial (season 1 only) Teachers pet The night driver

I feel like me and you would get on pretty well Kernow. Top rant. I give it a solid 9.2. I also appreciate someone who isn't afraid of a being a bit savage. Great effort. Highly rated and agreed with in full. One way they could consider improving in future would be to avoid musical chairs type **** and consider putting these Z-listers into a squid games type scenario. I would happily watch that.

I've had the kids and work today so only just finished it. What a win! I can't believe that, was expecting to get our **** kicked. Considering how the game went in Washington a few weeks ago, we looked like a different team. I swear to god if Rivera puts that useless sack machine Wentz back in after the way Heinicke has played then he should be fired on the spot. Be interesting to see how the rest of the season shakes out.

He wouldn't even be the sharpest spoon.

Theuve always done it. Certainly for the 12 or so years I've been watching. Differences are usually minor though year to year.