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As a bit of a saddo for Football of yesteryear, I keep an eye on the Scottish teams that have left the SFL and now ply their trade at lower levels.
Brechin finished 2nd in the Highland League for the third year in a row. Last two years was on goal difference and this year they managed to lose their last two games and miss out by a point. Champions Brora Rangers automatically progress to a play-ff with Edinburgh City to get into SFL for next season. The Lowland League Champions Linlithgow Rose were not allowed to progress as they did not have the required “Bronze” level licence to be promoted.
When I was younger we used to spend holidays in Aberdeen at the end of August and apart from visits to Pittodrie was also able to see games at the Angus “big 4” of Brechin, Forfar, Montrose and Arbroath and I still follow their fortunes. Arbroath and Forfar both have a chance of promotion having made the play-offs. Arbroath in the Premier League would be some achievement!https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg547ljepvzo
Illustrating the point made yesterday about “alleged” insider trading.
Re Richard’s post. Absolutely spot on re the manipulation of the markets. I’m convinced that Trump is using his position as the ultimate in “insider” trading.
As for life in China, my sister in law and her husband were living there for 10 years, only returning 18 months ago. They were working in International schools in Guangzhou and then Shanghai, so pretty insulated for the most part, but on the whole a very positive experience despite being subject to a very lengthy and onerous lockdown during Covid.
Jeremy,
Thanks for your response to my earlier post. Good to hear the boost positive feedback gives you and your blog.
You are quite correct in surmising that the Sarah Records roster was generally favourable to my ears, though not all of them. I was never a great fan of Amelia’s vocals, though I liked the more recent stuff she did as The Catenary Wires. As a Belfast resident sadly many bands still give us a swerve and I tend to reserve visits to Dublin and across the Irish Sea to those must-see acts.
The Sugargliders are one of the Sarah bands that I have explored as they morphed into The Steinbecks (well worth getting to know). They in turn led to the introduction to a number of Aussie Indie bands through exposure to the Popboomerang and Lost & Lonesome labels, including, most notably the wonderful Lucksmiths.
Your latest blog will probably encourage me to give the Cardiacs another go. They sort of passed me by in the their heyday and my interest was piqued by a relatively recent feature in Uncut so thanks for the prompt.
Good listening!As an occasional visitor and poster on this forum I don’t know what possessed me to click on this thread this morning, but so thankful that I did. Having seen the names Blueboy and Even as we Speak amongst the roll call for the latest Music List I was intrigued enough to click on the link and was delighted to discover that Blueboy had released new material last year and a further hour or so delving into other lists finding the new vehicle for Bobby Wratten. Even seeing the link to a Desert Wolves track on the first list of 2026 was great. Their “Passion in the Afternoon” song from the late 80’s remains one of my favourite tunes to this day.
Thank You, Jeremy!The “Steamers” weren’t bets. Put simply it was gangs who used to jump the counters of betting shops and snatch what they could from the tills. Speed was of the essence so they rarely got anything out of the safes. Became a bit of an epidemic in the early 90’s as the companies had taken the bandit screens out of a lot of shops to make them more customer friendly.
Dennis Amiss: The first cricketer to wear a helmet on the 50th anniversary of the 1974/5 Ashes
Don’t think Amiss wore one in Test Cricket before Yallop, primarily because he moved to World Series Cricket for the 77/78 Aussie season and I don’t think he ever played for England again.The slow count merchants! Bane of my life as an Area Supervisor. However much you tried to get staff to be vigilant they were like that crease in your shirt you just couldn’t get rid of. Grudging respect for the way they operated, picking on shops with non-uniformed/new staff etc. Don’t know how much they would have made from the con, but I suppose there was very little risk in terms of criminal action.
Certainly not so stressful as the “Steamers” that operated once the bandit screens started to be dispensed with in the 90’s.Merchant Taylor’s is in Northwood, Middlesex. Afaik it was used this summer for some matches in the One Day Cup.
One of the (very few) benefits of the horrible Hundred is that by using the main County grounds it means the Counties tend to use outgrounds for the One-Day Cup during Summer. I know Surrey used Guildford, Yorkshire – York,
Middlesex – Radlett, Warwicks – Rugby School to name some.You would like to think that those who have been championing this concept for the past few years will now hold up their hands and say it was a bad idea all along.
Highly unlikely of course and obviously we could never really expect the likes of Alex and Josh to now show their true feelings, but as said above, if someone has to constantly tell you something is brilliant then it almost certainly isn’t. Last summer, Chapman said something along the lines that if you didn’t like the Racing League then maybe this sport isn’t for you, which I found pretty offensive. Clearly the attendance figures quoted above of just over 15,000 for the 6 meetings show the public knew it was a dead duck all along.This blurb from Wolverhampton about the new initiative looks pretty grim. Why even bother with the horse part of the night?
https://www.wolverhampton-racecourse.co.uk/news/racing/friday-night-live-series-launches-at-wolverhampton-racecourse?_gl=1*jnnd1t*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTk3MzE1Mjk3MC4xNzYzNDA4Mzkz*_ga_77YT71PPT1*czE3NjM0MDgzOTEkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjM0MDgzOTEkajYwJGwwJGgw*_ga_B3J2XL0VKS*czE3NjM0MDgzOTEkbzEkZzAkdDE3NjM0MDgzOTEkajYwJGwwJGgwI worked for Ladbrokes from 1984 to 1998. Probably managed most of their shops in South and West London from Croydon to Chiswick. I was a calculator settler, though by the end I used to do most singles in my head.
Saw a lot of changes, from 2 meetings a day and Extel commentary to the introduction of TV’s, All Weather, Evening opening, Sundays and then the introduction of slots. Glad I got out when I did, but in my 20’s it was good craic.
Had some memorable days with the stand out being Dessie’s Gold Cup in a packed Wimbledon Hill shop.
Will definitely search out your books for my Kindle.Whilst there is a very valid argument for less is more, unfortunately as far as the bookmakers are concerned, more is more. I was working for Ladbrokes in the 80’s and 90’s when the fixture list started to expand – both horses and BAGS meetings – and any argument that we were reaching saturation point was quickly refuted by the figures that showed the more betting events the higher the turnover and that was the end of that particular argument.
I’ve lost count of the number of initiatives that have been introduce in recent years by any number of “working groups” that have failed in their intentions. The messing about with flat season championships really grinds my gears. How can winners earned in April not count to the Championship?
Maureen not enamoured at the selection of jockeys invited for this year’s edition.
https://www.racingpost.com/news/reports/the-standard-is-noticeably-lower-than-usual-maureen-haggas-urges-ascot-to-improve-quality-of-jockeys-at-shergar-cup-al1zy2l65Hh8/I don’t mind the Shergar Cup as a one-off and enjoy seeing the imported jockeys. At least you can argue with the Shergar Cup that it draws in the attendances each year.
The Racing League has relatively pitiful turn-outs each week and despite the breathless enthusiasm of Alex, Josh and the rest of the Sky Racing team it’s clear it hasn’t captured a scintilla of interest with anyone other than those taking part.A true legend. Sea Pigeon and Night Nurse in particular are why I fell in love with the sport. Thanks for linking that Alastair Down article, a great and poignant read.
At least it’s over for another year.
My summing up of its pros and cons…
Pros – Decent prize money
Cons – Everything else, but particularly the constant harping on by Alex and Josh on Sky that everything about it was wonderful and its just getting bigger and bigger and bigger etc etc. Very similar to its ******* cousin The Hundred and how we keep getting force fed how great that is.
Favourite thing about it – Realising that Heather Main and James Ferguson were on the Scottish team. Do you think someone just looked at their names and thought – that’ll do?
