Goozay

Pretty sure the 3pm rule has only ever been for Saturdays, there is no 3pm Sunday rule to bypass.

Just the first Saturday, 3pm Saturday blackout kicks back in again once the English Premier League starts.

That's a pity, because Malcolm is 100% wrong on this one. Spain has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union at 11.7% (source: https://www.destatis.de/Europa/EN/Topic/Population-Labour-Social-Issues/Labour-market/EULabourMarketCrisis.html#:~:text=Unemployment rates in EU&text=Data ranges from 2.6 to 11.5.&text=End of interactive chart.,%) and Sweden (24.2%).) UK's is 4.2% (source: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/employmentintheuk/april2024#:~:text=The UK unemployment rate for,increased in the latest quarter.)

Thanks. So, Swinney is part of the cabal and his first task is to get rid of the cabal. So, his first task is to get rid of himself?

Pardon my ignorance, but apart from Nicola Sturgeon, who is in the "Sturgeon cabal"? Who are her "acolytes"?

Well, there has been a lot of Tory chat on this thread in the past 24 hours. It reads more like the letters page of the Daily Mail, instead of a thread that is meant to be about Indy Ref 2. A few points: People on benefits are more likely to be in work than out of work. It's a false assumption that most people are incentivized to work solely by the salary they receive. There's loads of evidence that isn't the case, from experiments where universal basic income has been tried, all the way through to society underpaying critical jobs, such as nursing. HMRC loses way more money to tax avoidance and tax evasion schemes that it does to fraudulent benefit claims. Coincidentally, it’s the fraudulent benefit claims that get the most media coverage, particularly from newspapers whose owners have Non-Dom status. The biggest problem for the “generation of today” is the shit-show that the generation of yesterday left behind. Whether that’s the environment or wages not keeping pace house prices. Scotland is sparsely populated, so folk moving here from elsewhere is actually a good thing. Also folk are more likely to emigrate for work, study, or family connections, rather than a perception that folk move to countries because the benefit system there is a “soft touch”.

I thought Holyrood operated as a Fixed-Term Parliament

It's also the same for Livramento. He's unlikely to go to the Euros this year with England because they've got a lot of choice in the right back position, but after the Euros Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier are likely to retire from international football. Livramento is even four years younger than Trent Alexander Arnold, so time is on his side.

You heard any more on this @wanderer? Euro play offs have been and gone...

Quansah might have a Scottish grandparent but he's been playing for England Under Age since 2018, similar to Livramento who has been involved with the England set-up since 2016. It looks highly unlikely that either of these two young players will switch allegiance to Scotland now and jeopardise their chance of being picked for England for future tournaments. If they hit their mid-to-late twenties and still haven't played in a competitive game for England I can maybe see their heads being turned, like Che Adams. But for now their heads, hearts (and most likely, their agents) will be telling them to stick with England and bide their time.

It looks like Shaqiri came off the bench in the second half this weekend

Shankland had a couple of chances against Northern Ireland. A shot from a corner and header in injury time. I'd stick with Shankland and hope that he does a Griffiths, who kept going close before hitting that we purple patch with us when he regularly scored.

Very skeptical that the Doctor in that article has any connection to Everton or even met Patterson. Just a random Doctor that watched the game live from his house in California. Patterson is probably unlikely to make the Euros, but there's also a lot of stuff on the internet that's utter tosh masquerading as journalism, and that is one of them.

Did Dyche definitely say this? The only source I can find for that is from some American Doctor with no formal connection to Everton: https://www.goodisonnews.com/2024/04/28/everton-defender-nathan-patterson-update-emerges-by-doctor-after-thigh-surgery/

There are distinct problems with what Kate actually says, though. Compare and contrast with Ian Blackford, also a Wee Freer, but when given the opportunity voted at Westminster to legalise same-sex marriage and abortion in Northern Ireland. Even Humza said he “didn’t subscribe” to the view that gay marriage was a sin, as well as saying that same sex marriage is “no more inferior or worth less, than my marriage as a heterosexual person.” When asked if gay marriages or gay relationships is a sin, Forbes ducked the question and said “sin is universal”, as well as saying that if she had the opportunity at Holyrood, she’d vote against gay marriage because of her religion. She even got push back from the Church of Scotland who said that her views didn’t reflect mainstream Christian teaching! That’s totally fine if you’re happy to stay on the fringes of the party, but if Forbes is going to run for leader, she needs to find a better way of explaining how she is going to keep church and state separate.