Alistair Smith

Learning in sport and education. Author, speaker, Learning Consultant to the Football Association for 20+ yrs and for UEFA, FIFA, Jordan now PSSI

[Alistair Smith @alsmithlearning]

Latest Playbook now done. This one is for those who commission or design leadership or coach development programmes in elite sport

[Alan Lester @aljhlester]

When the BBC won’t engage with the story of a major politician’s phone allegedly having been hacked by Russia, and that politician declining to allow the authorities to investigate, it’s enough to make you suspicious that our national broadcaster has been infiltrated & corrupted.

[Roger Gall @Shambles151]

Nigel Farage - the leader of Reform UK - is under investigation for failing to declare a £5 million 'gift'.

Please RT this until the BBC gives this story the same level of blanket coverage - as it would for the leader of any other UK political Party.

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

Israel bombed a Roman Fort in Lebanon, over 2000 years old, one of the finest examples of Roman Architecture left on the planet, stood isolated on a hill.

But Israel bombed it anyway.

They are terrorists, and they destroy everything.

[Furkan Gözükara @FurkanGozukara]

Absolute horror. Prominent Dr. Nick Maynard confirms the Zionist military systematically executed over 300 civilians and medical staff at Shifa Hospital.

He reveals his own colleague was found handcuffed and shot in the head. Washington is funding pure state terrorism!

[Sam @loulouyoohoo]

More of this! We need to get these kind of videos on National tv & radio more !

[Mike (oystermike) Whitaker 💙 @bramernic]

This is the man people want to get rid of. He is the rarest of politicians and we are so lucky to have him leading us at the moment. He must remain.

[𝘽𝙡𝙤𝙤 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @LeftNatLeft]

Immigration under Keir Starmer:
- Legal net migration down 82%
- Number of Brits leaving has gone DOWN not up
- Non-EU immigration down 69%
- Small boats down 41% this year
- Deportations up 45%
- On track for net migration of minus 100k

Much more to do, but this is very good.

[Home Office @ukhomeoffice]

Asylum decisions have quadrupled.

The asylum backlog is now down from its peak of 175,000 to 49,000 people awaiting a decision - the lowest level since 2019.

More decisions mean more asylum hotel closures and more illegal migrants removed or deported.

[Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer]

Net migration has fallen 82%.

I promised to restore control to our borders. My government is delivering.

I know there’s more to do, we’re introducing a skills-based migration system that rewards contribution and ends our reliance on cheap overseas workers.

[Dave Hibbert, BA(Hons), ACTUS, Cert.Ed. Rejoin EU. @Cpass12David]

The Guardian: “Net migration down by three-quarters, the biggest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years, knife crime cut by 10%, the economy growing the fastest in the G7, rising wages, energy bills and petrol prices held down, the biggest sustained rise in defence spending since the cold war, a massive expansion of free childcare …
If Keir Starmer did tub-thumping lists of Labour’s achievements in the style of Gordon Brown, he would not actually have a shortage of things to talk about.”
During the two years of Labour government, following fourteen years of Tory mismanagement, there have actually been significant improvements in Britain. Why does the Tory media not report them?

[GET A GRIP @docrussjackson]

Robert Kenyon, Reform UK's candidate for Makersfield says “Labour and probably the other parties have got career politicians. They go to private school... before you know it they are parachuted into somewhere they have never even visited to stand as an MP”, seemingly unaware that a far higher proportion of Reform MPs than any other party are privately educated, and 38% of their MPs, including Old Etonian 'career MP' Danny Kruger) were parachuted into somewhere they have never even visited to stand as an MP.

Andy Burnham attended a state comprehensive school, lives "literally on the edge of this constituency" and has lived in the area for around 25 years. His children attended local schools a few hundred yards from the constituency boundary.

[neyi kaybettiğini hatırla @neyikaybettik]

Yahudi İzleyici: (ağlayarak) Konuşmanız sırasında Yahudilere yönelik birçok kez Nazi benzetmesi yaptınız. Bu son derece incitici. Bu, Nazi rejimi altında gerçekten acı çekmiş olan insanlar için çok aşağılayıcı.

Norman Finkelstein cevap veriyor:

— Bu tavra artık saygı duymuyorum. Gerçekten duymuyorum. Bu timsah gözyaşlarından hoşlanmıyorum ve onlara saygı da duymuyorum. (Dinleyicilerden alkışlar ve yuhalamalar yükselir)

— Yabancı bir dinleyici kitlesi önünde "Holokost kartını" oynamaktan hoşlanmıyorum ama şu an kendimi buna mecbur hissediyorum. Rahmetli babam Auschwitz'deydi. Rahmetli annem Majdanek toplama kampındaydı. Ailemin her iki taraftan da tüm üyeleri katledildi. Annem ve babam Varşova Gettosu Ayaklanması'na katıldılar.

— İşte tam da annem ve babamın bana ve iki kardeşime öğrettikleri dersler nedeniyle, İsrail'in Filistinlilere karşı işlediği suçlar karşısında sessiz kalmayacağım! Onların acılarını ve ölümlerini kullanarak; İsrail'in her gün Filistinlilere karşı işlediği işkence, vahşet ve ev yıkma suçlarını meşru göstermeye çalışmaktan daha aşağılık bir şey düşünemiyorum!

— Bu yüzden artık bu gözyaşlarıyla sindirilmeyi veya baskılanmayı reddediyorum. Eğer zerre vicdanın olsaydı, burada döktüğün o gözyaşlarını Filistinliler için döküyor olurdun!

[Erdmute Wendlinger @wendlingere49]

Prime Minister who has delivered what he promised, in less than two years is being hounded out of office because the media don't like him enough.

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

Ten reasons why Heart of Midlothian have already changed Scottish football for the better, whatever happens at Celtic Park today...
1) Interest levels risen at home and abroad.
2) Better competition.
3) Possible improvement in co-efficients with a strong Hearts heading into Europe.
4) Reminder of what can be done with shrewd recruitment (£300k net spend in summer window taking into account Penrice sale). Blend of data from the gem-finding geniuses of Jamestown Analytics and a good judge of players and inspiring man-manager in Derek McInnes.
5) Reminder of what can be done by fans – Foundation of Hearts (“Be Part Of The Disruption”) have 8,000 members/owners and have raised £20m for the club.
6) Big-hearted benefactors like James Anderson and Ann Budge, caring for their community.
7) Big-hearted initiatives like Hearts fans buying additional season tickets and donating them to kids at Dalry Primary School, Edinburgh Children’s Hospital charity and elsewhere.
8) Reminder of what can be achieved through togetherness within a club, within a squad and within a fanbase.
9) Reminder to others that the great Old Firm duopoly can be challenged. Believe.
10) Finally, what a song and Colin Chisholm’s stirring pre-match rendition. The talk of the toon are the boys in maroon. #Hearts

[Shahir @RealShahir]

Dominik Tarczyński, the far-right Polish nationalist who built his career on hating immigrants, now crying like a baby because Britain told him to fuck off.
You and Tommy Robinson wanted to fly in and turn London into another far-right hate rally... Starmer did exactly what any sane leader should do: kept the provocateurs out.
This isn’t ‘communism’, you delusional grifter. It’s basic border control. Go sue Starmer in your dreams.

[David Williams @dr72w_david]

Absolutely shameful coverage by @SkyNews in Golders Green today. A maniac with poor mental health stabs people, and it's all PM Starmer's fault according to Sky. You shame journalism, and have turned into GB News mark II. Shameful. #SkyBiasAgainstStarmer

[Andrew Pickering 🇺🇦🇪🇺🇬🇱 @AndrewxxP]

Tice, Jenrick, Yusuf, Farage - all had huge accusations against them in last few days. Where's your in-depth 'Can Reform survive?' review on main bulletins? @ChrisMasonBBC @BBCPolitics @BBCNews
#ReformUK

[Steve Magness @stevemagness]

What in the world did we just see!

The 2 hour marathon barrier has been broken. Three guys went under the old world record...

Sabastian Sawe just ran 1:59:30 with crazy negative splits, closing the last half in 59:01....faster than the American Record in the half.

One of the most mind blowing performances we've seen. How did we get here?

Every breakthrough is a mixture of belief and progress.

It takes folks daring to see what's possible, surrounding themselves with a quality team and doing the work to give themselves a shot.

You've got to bet on yourself in a big way.

When asked whether he believed he could run a sub-2-hour marathon before the race, Sawe answered with one word:

"Yes."

Let's get the obvious out of the way. Performance enhancing drugs are the legitimate question mark to every breakthrough.

So Sawe did as much as he could about taking that off the table.

He and his team asked to be tested all the time. His sponsor put up 50K to the Athlete Integrity Unit. The tests are run independently, no advance notice. Over a 2 month stretch, he went through 25 drug tests.

There's always a doubt. There has to be given what we know. Hopefully there's transparency in the results. But hats off to Sawe for addressing it:

"I want to prove that I am clean when I set foot at the start line."

But how'd we actually get here where two guys went sub 2 in the same race?

1. Shoe tech

We've had a revolution in shoe technology that boosts running economy.

For years shoe companies said their shoe would make you faster and was mostly marketing. Until 2016, when it actually did.

Initial research showed a 3-4% saving in economy, while subsequent work has shown it's highly variable.

Now, it's a matching game. Find the perfect shoe for your form and you can get a big boost.

Normally, it takes years of lots of miles and strength training to boost economy.

But now we get that instant boost that not only helps boost performance but often leaves us feeling less beat up in the later stages of the marathon.

So we get a little bit less hitting of the wall...

2. The fuel

For a long time, fueling was limited by biology. You can only take in and process so much.

Then in the 2000s, researchers found if we mixed sugars, we can boost intake because they're processed differently.

Then recently, Maurten found if you use a hydrxogel, you boost utilization without GI distress anymore.

We've gone from pushing 60g/hr to 120g/hr in a few decades.

Again...less bonking.

3. Depth

A few decades ago, you spent your career racing on the track and then once your speed started to fade a bit you went to the marathon.

Now, many skip right to the marathon. That's where the money is.

And with the economy boost from the shoes, you can make that jump quickly.

More depth of talent means more competitors in their prime pushing barriers.

4. Belief

Even with the shoes and tech, a few years ago sub 2 hours seemed a long way off, until Kipchoge pushed that barrier in a series of time trials.

Yes, they weren't official races and had contrived pacing. But it absolutely shifted everyone's thinking on what is possible.

A generation of runners saw Kipchoge go for it.

Our prediction of what is possible changed.

It's mind blowing how far we've come in such a short time.

What once seemed decades away, just got smashed twice in the same race.

Hats off to Sawe, especially for addressing the scourge of doping and showing folks what is possible with a lot of hard work, some crazy belief, and some fortuitous advances.

[Alistair Smith @alsmithlearning]

@TheNewsAgents Like listening to pub bores, always light on facts and long on opinions, endlessly pursuing irrelevance

[Alistair Smith @alsmithlearning]

@politixintheuk Lewis Goodall is the pub bore - short on facts, long on opinion boorishly talking over anyone with a considered view