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Very. And I live here. Clorox's right - it gets drummed into kids from an early age to pick one side and live up to all the stereotypes of it. I'm staunch atheist yet have experienced anti-Catholic prejudice solely because of who my family was. (And ditto mrs msc, whose from a Presby family - I'd joke we're a Joan Lingard family but actually both sides got on like a house on fire like most non fucking idiots in Glasgow tend to!) It got to the point where when folk used to ask me who I preferred of the Old Firm, I knew it was coming from Celtic fans so would say Rangers specifically to wind them up. But I can't stand either side. My family have a long history of Partick Thistle supporting, but as a family of orthodox Catholic socialists with a fair number of veterans and royalists (I'm neither), we are a very contrarian bunch! But yeah, its really stupid how seriously people take this. I remember a guy trying to break into my primary school to attack the kids. At the time we laughed at him tbh, but the adults justifiably freaked out. The weans even had prejudice shoved in their face, though they turned to the person in question and told them they should be ashamed of themselves. I was a proud Dad! (Oh and TQR, believe me, when anyones shoving sectarian shite in my kid's face I can get really fucking grumpy in a hurry, understatement...) Life isn't so binary. I'm not a royalist, but I liked the Queen, I have sympathy for Charlie (he seems well meaning but thick) and I respect Anne, and that's more of them than I can say for the current government! A Head of State is a Head of State, doesn't really bother me if their a monarch or a President, its the same power and money going towards the top 1% no matter. The issues's the inequality, not the type of leader. Oh and England's a lovely place. If Scotland was to get independence, I'd be on the side advocating strong relations with the neighbours. Between England's financial power and Scotland's likely position as an energy creator this century, it would only be beneficial to both sides. I get the romantic notion of independence, but the SNP tend to screw the pooch every time on the fine details (cough currency cough). Had they gone down the Devo Max powers bit by bit route proposed a decade ago, they'd be a lot closer to Canada status now than they are. But, as Douglas Hurd once said of the DUP, the trouble is they never know when they're winning! PS The whole "other country" homeland stuff, I don't get. I was born in Scotland, live in Scotland, will die in Scotland, nowt Irish about me, bar ancestry. I'm not anti-heritage, just I don't personally get that line of it. That said, any Celtic/Rangers fans who cheer Ireland/England over Scotland in sport (as does happen) to troll the other side can fuck off. Oh yeah, Thistle are in a must win game tonight to get in the playoffs. Fuck the Old Firm, mon the Jags, I say.

How Jonathan Gullis’ neck of the woods did: 66.5% Labour majority there. Last time out? It was 12%. I can’t wait for that mewling neanderthal to lose his seat.

When you're a young boy in a working-class area you will be forced down one of 2 pathways: The green team. Baptised, Ash Wednesday, fuck the monarchy, Ireland, The Pogues, Palestine, leftist. The blue team. Christened, God save the Queen, used to be Labour but now largely Tory, army. I was made to pick the green team and it occupied my whole life until I was about 8. Even at that age the rivalry is incredibly intense. It's hard to explain to outsiders. And yes, very stupid. No one confuses me for a football fan nowadays, thankfully.

A near-wipeout for the Tories in North East Somerset, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s constituency.

Oh and in other news, the Tories are getting a right thumping!

Will have the final scoreboard for this over the weekend.

Kerala's #2 coffintease former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy hospitalised again with pneumonia. Suffers from throat cancer. Maybe this is his time to finally die? Rifat Rastoder, former Acting President of Montenegro (2003) dead at 72. Colombian politician Rodolfo Hernández Suárez "hospitalised urgently" but "in good health and strong as Tarzan" according to relatives.

Khaleda discharged.

Claude Choules died on this day 12 years ago, aged 110. - Choules was born in England, but his family moved to Australia in 1911. - Choules was 13 when World War I broke out, and his older brothers Douglas and Leslie enlisted. Claude attempted to join the army as a bugle boy, but was rejected for being too young. - His father Harry vouched for him, and he would join the navy in 1915. He would join the battleship Revenge in 1917, participating in a battle against a German blimp. - At the war's end, he witnessed the German fleet's surrender at Scotland. - Choules was also a veteran of World War II, working on the HMAS Leeuwin- his duties were to sabotage Freemantle Harbour in case of a Japanese invasion, and to deal with sea mines that washed up on Australian beaches. - Choules retired from the Australian navy in 1956. He would then live for another 55 years- he became Australia's oldest living man in June of 2009 following the death of 110-year-old John Campbell Ross, and held the title for nearly two years (though he never became the country's oldest living person- Miriam Schmierer was older and outlived him). - Choules became the last surviving combat veteran of World War I following the death of American soldier Frank Buckles in February 2011. He was the second-to-last surviving veteran of the war, and after he died, Englishwoman Florence Green became the war's final living veteran. - In December 2011, the Australian navy named a landing ship after him- the HMAS Choules.

Nurie Dermendzieva was the oldest known person in Bulgaria as of March 5, 2020,she was born on Oct 12, 1912 in Dabovo, Smolyan Province and died on Jan 12, 2023 in Srednogorci, Smolyan Province, All her life worked in the fields and harvested tobacco, grew potatoes and beans. She always had cow and milk and homemade butter.It is not yet known who the oldest person in Bulgaria is right now A mulher búlgara mais velha morreu. (blitz.bg)

I'm no expert, but it's to do with Celtic having Irish Catholic heritage and Rangers being Scottish Protestants. That feeds in to the historical background in Ireland, where the Catholics were brutally oppressed by the Protestant monarchy (William of Orange - William III, et al), which is why Celtic hate the monarchy and Rangers love it. It's linked to the Unionist/Republican debate in Northern Ireland. That leads to the tribalism and the vitriolic hatred that spills over onto the football pitch. I'm sure some of our Scottish correspondents can explain it better.

All of the above and more.

This is an awful shill account. Deathers (rest his soul) was far more amusing.

I hardly think a cheap drone that didn't even produce a decent explosion constituted an attempt on Putin's worthless life.

That always been a thing wouldn't necessarily read too much into. Probably just updating Murdoch's one given everything that's gone on in recent years

05/May/2023 48 Del Shannon – Runaway 45 The Shadows – Apache 41 Roy Orbison – Only The Lonely +1 37 The Marcels – Blue Moon -3 36 Petula Clark – Sailor +1 33 Jimmy Jones – Good Timin´ 33 John Leyton – Johnny Remember Me 33 Helen Shapiro – Walkin´ Back To Happiness 32 Shirley Bassey – Reach For The Stars/Climb Ev'ry Mountain 30 Elvis Presley – Are You Lonesome Tonight +2 28 Johnny Tillotson – Poetry In Motion 26 Elvis Presley – (Marie’s The Name Of) His Latest Flame/Little Sister 26 Johnny Kidd & The Pirates – Shakin´ All Over 24 Helen Shapiro – You Don´t Know 22 Elvis Presley – It´s Now Or Never 21 The Everly Brothers – Temptation 20 Michael Holliday – Starry Eyed 20 Johnny Preston – Running Bear 20 Anthony Newley – Do You Mind 16 Floyd Cramer – On The Rebound 15 Eden Kane – Well I Ask You 14 Adam Faith – Poor Me 11 Cliff Richard & The Shadows – I Love You -3 07 The Temperance Seven – You´re Driving Me Crazy

Well that's awkward.

Czech ice-hockey player Petr Klima (Redwings, Oilers, etc) found dead at home in Czechia, aged 58. Scored the winner in the longest Stanley cup playoff game in 1990 (for the Oilers over the Bruins).

Engelbert Humperdinck whose biggest hit was Release Me which reached No.1 in 1967 is 87 today

He does have a Dilip Kumar/Zsa Zsa Gabor-like health history, but he's 20 years younger which makes it much less impressive.

LA DOLCA MORTO 1/50 6th January 2023 Mega-popular football star Gianluca Vialli has died, aged only 58, after a lengthy battle with the dreaded pancreatic cancer. Regarded as a gentleman in the game even by his opponents, he continued to fund his charity for ALS support even as he lay on his own deathbed. Vialli launched his career at Cremonese, but he became internationally known for his time at Sampdoria, where he helped the team win their only Serie A title, and took them to the European Cup final. Again, Sampdoria. In a European Cup final. It was at I Blucerchiati that Vialli formed his partnership with Robert Mancini, first as a formidable team on the pitch, and later as the great bromance of Italian football, with the two friends inseparable for the next near 40 years. Vialli won the Cup Winners Cup with Sampdoria, before a move to Juventus, where he finally got his hands on the Champions League itself. He wound in England, playing for Chelsea and in 1998, the nouveau riche (even before Abramovich) club asked him to be a very rare English top flight player-manager. In those days, Chelsea had only won five trophies in a century. Gianluca Vialli saw that challenge, and proceeded to win five trophies in two years. This was 50% of their entire Cabinet before Russian money took over, for the record. Vialli was sacked, somewhat prematurely, in 2000, but he remained a Chelsea fan favourite for the rest of his life. Vialli slid into a role as an insightful TV pundit, while investing in interests and running his charity, but in 2019 he took a role in best friend Robert Mancini’s Italy coaching team, as Italy won their first European Championship since the 1960s. But even at that point, in summer 2021, he knew he was on borrowed time.

Indian-born British property developer and polo player Kuldip Singh Dhillon (wiki) dead at 72. Brits on here will remember the big controversy in 2009 when it was revealed that Charles' nickname for Dhillon was "Sooty". Dhillon not only defended Charles but said he was called it by all of his friends and he liked it. Times obit.

Honez, would you permit me to be a pedante française? I wouldn't usually but I know how much you love a pedant. It's au naturel. Ce n'est pas au naturale. We can't be having Delboy anglicisms now can we? (If there are any errors above, they are clearly deliberate ) No worries mon petite unclinique, I'm afraid real French comes a distant fifth to English, Cymraeg, 'strine & Franglais for me. Although I am try improvement my Engrish.