I’m sorry but there are obviously so many people doing ‘Arsenal brat summer’, not because they are football fans, but because the club has become some de facto living in London accessory.
Might as well be a work-discounted Blok membership or a reservation at Singburi.
London, to judge by a network of anonymous social media accounts and blowhard Maga podcasters, is now a dystopian hellhole where there are no-go areas for non-Islamists, the murder rate per capita is higher than Lagos, you need to be Snake Plissken to use the Tube between Mornington Crescent and Chalk Farm, and the police will arrest you for saying “God Save The King”.
Research published by City Hall presents evidence that this isn’t just a random meme: it’s a co-ordinated propaganda effort.
With the help of analytical tools used by the National Cyber Security Centre, researchers have established that posts about London have risen by seven per cent in two years, and “London in decline” narratives have gone up by 150-200 per cent.
These are coming, the researchers discover, not from the concerned citizens of Clapham but from from Sri Lankan-based troll-farms, Vietnamese Facebook networks, and Nigerian bot webs mimicking UK media.
✍️ Sam Leith
Article | https://t.co/aMcIRqZqF2
The ball was bundled into the net at the far post and the visiting supporters went wild.
While the celebrations continued, I was sitting 136 miles away, in a dark corner of a TV studio in west London, fearing the worst.
As the video assistant referee (VAR), I had spotted three potential offences in the build-up.
As I worked through the checks, it felt like the walls were closing in, the darkness was intensifying and my mouth was getting drier while my heartbeat rose.
In 20 years as a referee on the pitch, I never felt the kind of pressure that goes with being a VAR.
Eventually, more than three minutes after the goal had been scored, I confirmed that it could stand. It had felt like a waste of everyone’s time, that a joyous and spontaneous moment had been ruined by a nerd desperate to find cause to wreak misery.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Referees are people too, and feel the pain inflicted by a video review system that is simply not fit for purpose.
Graham Scott, The Athletic's new referee columnist.
🔗 https://t.co/69rJbzFtBo
Need to know who’s keeping the guys selling jumbo hot dogs outside Brixton station in business. You think you know people and then they’re eating them for dinner
Liew is right when he says managers are ‘responsible for the things they’re not really responsible for and to provide the illusion of a simple solution where none exists.’
My piece for @Copa90 last week breaks down how managers matter a lot less than we actually think 🗣️