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Reply | Revolut
at 07:15 8 Jul 2025
Look up Wise for a good travel card - although prepay they have sensible interest rates so it can act as a sort of deposit account too.
Starling are decent, second the Nationwide suggestion too - but only certain accounts include decent travel rates. |
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Reply | European train travel
at 13:19 9 Jun 2025
Was going to try to go to Italy at Easter but the tunnel through the Alps was still under repair so went to Paris for a few days then Nice instead.
I bought the 4 day pass via Interrail and it was very easy. First class wasn't much more. They had a "black Friday" deal that took 25% off. You do still have to pay for reservations on certain trains, some of which are really expensive (Eurostar is OK but limited availability, Zurich to Paris was eye-watering).
Seat61 is the place to read up on this stuff.
I am booked for three weeks in August with the family - 7 cities in 22 days. |
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Reply | Lessons from last night....
at 13:26 8 Jun 2025
Yet Sheeran is North for customers. I suspect the stage rigging etc for a pop concert needs to be closer to the space/access of the south stand? |
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Reply | As Deals Go was this BAD
at 07:17 30 May 2025
Our 22/23 season TOTAL TURNOVER was ÂŁ21.8 million. Just two years later one transfer fee has smashed that, with ÂŁ8-ÂŁ10m of that being "profit". I think perspective is required. |
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Reply | Does Ipswich need a Northern by-pass ?
at 21:04 21 May 2025
I did a lot of driving in Central Suffolk last year but am based in Cambridgeshire. Every time I drove around I wondered how B roads in Cambs were main A roads in Suffolk. It really feels like 1958 in places.
The alternative would be a really good tram system, but that's less likely than us winning the Premier League this year.... |
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Reply | My local Tory MP charged with sexual assault at the Groucho
at 16:18 13 May 2025
I was at the count, it would have been close but Labour wouldn’t have got over the line in my opinion.
Any by-election is interesting. It’s been Tory since 1835 (depending how you draw the boundary lines). North Ipswich is solid Labour, east Suffolk has been increasingly Green (Framlingham is close to Waverley Valley which went Green), Needham Market way has been pretty Lib Dem, the bulk of the “middle” is traditional Tory. Reform popped up all over in odd places.
I suspect everyone will turn up to fight the by-election - assuming the defendant is found guilty and a recall petition is lodged. |
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Reply | Clear footage that shows the ball was in play for two seconds before he blew up.
at 08:57 11 May 2025
I was sitting in the west stand in line with the penalty spot. This is correct - in LoTG you can retake a corner for the ball being in the wrong place not because you bottle giving a foul when the ball is in flight. He got two of them wrong, showed his weakness and in doing so set the level for the rest of the game and made the game changing decision. As a referee the thing you are told not to do is to create the game changing moment - remember that a player getting himself sent off is not the ref creating the decision but applying the laws, here he got the decision wrong in law twice because he was too scared to give what should have been. When I referee (at a much lower level!!) I will deal with this, if it looks like it will be a problem, by stopping the game before the corner is taken and pointing at the ball on the corner spot and saying “the ball is over there - if you are facing elsewhere and move to stop a player you cannot be positioning to play the ball and I will give the foul”.
You hear the pundits say “he is watching the ball” all the time to defend an “accidental” foul - not valid in law but you know what they mean, someone watching the flight of the ball and backing into someone’s head with theirs. Why have we got to a point with the penalty area messing around where teams like Arsenal are playing American Football linebacks and getting away with it? Weak refereeing not wanting to give penalties against the “big” teams would seem to be the obvious answer. They need to grow a spine and give them as it’s got way out of hand. |
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Reply | They were clearly retaking that corner until they scored...
at 15:22 10 May 2025
I’m sitting in the west stand in line with the penalty spot. I’m a referee. In law that was absolutely terrible. You can’t give a yellow card for pushing if the ball is not in play and it’s not reckless. |
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Reply | Been told that
at 10:53 8 May 2025
As a 10 away points member its given my 14 year old son a chance to go to his first Ipswich away game - and it will be in the Premier League. That might not be possible again for a long time. |
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Reply | Aside of the really obvious errors, VAR is just as random as refereeing.
at 10:41 6 May 2025
Corruption indicates a decision in return for favour. That does not happen in this country with top flight referees (with some very rare exceptions in the past).
This is different from refereeing being very hard and them making mistakes.
Favouring the big team is making mistakes, not corruption.
Refereeing is still the Victorian concept of one bloke running around a pitch, now with elite athletes (far fitter, stronger, faster, younger than the ref), trying to get into a position to see some form of incident in a split second, then working through the laws of the game to give an interpretation and apply a decision. Guess why mistakes are made? |
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Reply | Local Government reorganisation Suffolk
at 10:37 6 May 2025
I am close to unitary formation elsewhere.
The "rules" are that a unitary must be economically viable with enough "space" to grow and a balance of capabilities to ensure delivery. 500k is seen as a "viable" population size for economies of scale.
All unitary authorities created so far have followed district council boundaries inside a county council overlay.
Personally I look at Suffolk and think "Ipswich capital of the East, Bury St E of the West, draw a line down the county along the A140 and have two authorities.
The closest you can get to that is West Suffolk District and Babergh District as West and Mid Suffolk, East Suffolk and Ipswich District as East.
That Ipswich is then "split" on the southern boundary is a bit odd and makes strategic planning harder - for example West Suffolk builds a hugh housing estate near Sproughton but provides little infrastructure as "Ipswich East can sort it".
The same problem pops up on all boundaries - Cambridge to Newmarket, St Neots to Beds, Peterborough to Yaxley.
I think one unitary for all of Suffolk is too big. |
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Reply | The FA have banned trans women from women’s football
at 19:18 1 May 2025
There are reportedly 20 registered trans women playing in women’s football. This season I refereed a game involving one of them. She (they?) was one of the smaller players on the pitch and had no physical size advantage. She was one of the quicker players but had a very inconsistent ability with ball control, first touch being quite heavy at times and passing range being fairly poor. I didn’t realise she was trans until towards the end of the game following a comment from a team mate and then a conversation on the side line. It saddens me that she won’t be able to play next season - my motivation to referee is that people can play and (hopefully) enjoy football.
The problem is I can see the opportunity for “mischief” from those motivated to do so - as in the USA where someone not quite good enough declares themself trans just to win competitions at the behest of genetic women.
It’s also being missed in the commentary that we still don’t have a professional player who has come out as gay? Is it a surprise the trans element is causing controversy? |
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Reply | Anybody think Delap will stay next season? (n/t)
at 09:23 15 Mar 2025
This is how ITFC of the past existed, even in Sir Bobs days. When we stopped this is when we starting to sink. A top player is sold, a gem is bought in or brought through from the youth team/reserves. We sold because we had good levels of confidence in that understudy. We are so much stronger than our last Championship squad even with three likely departures and we will buy the best of the potential in the close season - especially if we will have access to Brightons software again |
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Reply | So labour have solved the small boat crossings
at 06:45 4 Mar 2025
There is no small irony that Brexit and the withdrawal from the Dublin accords are the cause of the small boat crossings. A change in law is the only answer, but it breaks international treaties. Only the Duning-Kruger Reform party have the answer, shame it is illegal and none of their supporters extend far enough the curve to understand this. |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 271 | | Comment Votes: | 38 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 309 |
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