Leaders have been having it tough in recent days.
It will take time for England manager Gareth Southgate to overcome his disappointment, not so much because his team lost THAT game against
Italy, but from making decisions that led to that defeat.
Still, another gong in the New Year’s honours list will make up for
reaching the final of a major competition and failing.
Isn’t the title of Duke of Edinburgh up for grabs now that Prince
Edward’s claim has been rebuffed by his eldest brother?
Online Johnny No Mates brigade should be brought to heel
But at least a significant minority of England fans topped the league
for the most obnoxious, disruptive and drunken lot, reminding us why,
for a long time, they were persona non grata in countries all around
Europe.
And the Johnny No Mates brigade on social media, who spouted bile towards
those players who flopped in the penalty shootout, ought to be
exposed and brought to heel.
He’ll probably still be incredulous at
the post-match questions fired at him by an ITV interviewer following
his team’s car-crash performance
If the government is serious about clamping down on racism let’s see
the Facebooks, Instagrams and Googles of this world ordered to
cough-up their full taxes and penalised financially for offering a
platform to the merchants of such abhorrent behaviour.
As for the future Sir Gareth, he’ll probably still be incredulous at
the post-match questions fired at him by an ITV interviewer following
his team’s car-crash performance.
I lost count of how many times the reporter probed him on how well
England will fare in next year’s World Cup in Qatar, for which they
have still to qualify.
Sturgeon unconcerned about party’s finances
Meanwhile, as Southgate re-acquaints himself with Italy with a
takeaway pizza he’ll order for his TV viewing tonight, another leader
grapples with complaints of fraud against her organisation.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Gareth Southgate of the SNP with a similar rating
on the charm meter, insists she isn’t concerned about her party’s
finances as Police Scotland’s finest delve into a potentially murky
world.
The seven complainers wondering how donations to a crowdfunding
campaign for another independence referendum have been used, believe
there are serious questions to be asked, especially in light of the
resignation of MP Douglas Chapman as SNP treasurer and fellow MP
Joanna Cherry quitting the party’s management board amid a row over
“transparency and scrutiny”.
The first minister seems
reticent to admit her government botched the contract
We’re talking big donations here – £600,000 – enough to pay for a few
rivets for one of the two CalMac ferries still to be delivered in a
£200m deal struck in the dim and distant past.
It has incompetence written all over it, yet the first minister seems
reticent to admit her government botched the contract.
She had pledged, however, that “every penny” of the crowdfunder will
go towards indyref2 as we await the results of the police
investigation.