Change at the top

July 20, 2026 by Leave a comment

So, Spain emerged triumphant at the World Cup, as we predicted (more or less), though their victory over reigning champions Argentina was one of the less thrilling games of the tournament. The winning goal was pretty impressive though.

There’s a new top dog here in the UK too. It’s still not entirely clear how Andy Burnham plans to steer the nation back towards the sunlit uplands, but he is making some vaguely promising noises, so I guess we should give him the benefit of the doubt, for a while at least…

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Only halfway through the summer

July 14, 2026 by Leave a comment

Having patted myself on the back for the success of my bold prediction that three of the best teams on the planet would do quite well in the World Cup, I guess I should acknowledge that another of my sporting forecasts – that San Francisco would win the World Series – is looking rather less accurate.

I’ll admit that my confidence in the Giants’ shot at glory was based more on sentiment than cold calculation, but I was expecting that the All-Star break would see them still in contention for the playoffs, rather than sitting with the fifth-worst record in the big leagues.

Fortunately, baseball has the attractive feature of lots of games in a season, so even a terrible team will win once or twice most weeks, and there are certain to be some highlights for fans to cheer, like rounding off an unlikely late-inning comeback with a walk-off grand slam.

So I’ll keep on tuning in late at night, in the hope that the Giants will rally for a thrilling run to the postseason, or, failing that, at least beat the Dodgers a few more times…

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World Cup 2026 prediction update

July 12, 2026 by Leave a comment

So we’re at the semifinal stage, and 3 out of my 4 picks are still standing, which is actually the best possible outcome for my forecast, since I had misread the bracket and missed that France and Germany couldn’t both make it this far.

The surprise package are England, but I can’t see them getting past Argentina. France versus Spain looks likely to be close, but I’ll stick with my prediction that the French will make the final, and lift the trophy.

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800

July 9, 2026 by Leave a comment

I may have missed the opportunity to mark our 19th birthday back in May with a special post, but I have been paying enough attention to notice that this is the 800th piece we have produced since our debut in 2007.

When we reached the 700 tally towards the end of 2022 I estimated that it would take us around three years to knock off the next century, but we proved incapable of keeping up even that modest pace. We are going marginally faster than we did between 400 and 500 though, and the milestone of 1000 posts, while still distant, is tantalisingly imaginable, which is just about enough motivation to keep me going.

I also quite enjoy looking back through our old content; much of it is nonsense of course, and of limited interest unless you happen to be me, but there is some good writing to be found, and I like the thought of my future self fondly perusing our current pieces in years to come.

I guess, with our twentieth anniversary looming, I should start working on some sort of grand retrospective, but if my blogging experience has taught me anything, it is that such ambitious projects usually come to nothing, and it’s the smaller, spontaneous posts that work out best, so I think I’ll aim for the more achievable goal of just sticking around.

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July 4th 2026

July 4, 2026 by Leave a comment

I have vague memories of the events marking the bicentennial of the American Revolution back in 1976. I was quite young, so the only clear image that I recall is a photo of an aircraft carrier with sailors lined up on the deck in the shape of “1776-1976”, but I also remember that, in the wake of disappointments like Watergate, the fall of Saigon, and the Ford administration generally, the prevailing mood was rather downbeat.

Fast-forward 46 years, and I found myself sitting on a beach in California, pleasantly baked, watching the fireworks and feeling that the US, after a few rough years, was back on a broadly progressive course. No doubt my optimistic outlook was influenced by the summer warmth and the agreeable company, but it’s still disheartening that just four years later it looks like everything is going to hell again.

My American friends are actually considerably more relaxed about the situation than I am, reassuring me that good sense will reassert itself in November, and I guess they have the advantage of being in the country, rather than residing an ocean away, so perhaps I should just chill out, and start planning another trip to see them for the 251st.

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