J McClements

@Jordan_W_Taylor Blame Thatcher. Everything that’s stagnated in the last 40 years is because of that witch.

There's been a lot of discussion this week about comically low salaries in Britain, and much cope and sour grapes as Brits try to save face in front of the yanks. The UK is poorer than all fifty US states on paper, so it’s a valid discussion. Let's have it! Firstly it's true, so let's not pretend it isn't. By averages, medians or the great state of Mississippi, the Americans get paid more. I work in US multinationals in Ireland so I get to see first hand the difference in cost rates and it's real, there's no point stressing about it: Either get a work visa or don't. I'm British, so I've seen both sides of the divide and know that comparing ourselves to America is silly, because it's on a completely different planet. But Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, among many others, also do more with what they have than us, so what gives? Firstly, let's shoot down the obvious nonsense: British people aren't lacking in spirit or vigour, or animal instincts or innovation. It's not a nation of losers or a giant crab bucket of bitter malcontents… no more than anywhere else, anyway. There's probably an extra frisson of class-based snobbishness, but people are people everywhere and Brits are more of the same, so the country's underperformance isn't some kind of divine judgement on our character. Secondly let's stop thinking about Britain as a monolith, because in reality it's two economies, not one. This island has other islands inside it, which outperform much of the world: London, Cambridge, Oxford and half a dozen others casually take in globally-leading research, finance, engineering and practically all of Formula 1. Then there's oil, jet engines, pharmaceuticals, fusion and AI. There's stuff going on in the UK that flies vanguard for the entire world. But then there's the other Britain, which I was born into. This is the vast hinterland that spreads outside the islands of wealth and sees echoes of itself in the dingy flats and drawn faces of Britain's very successful, and deeply depressing, soap operas. Thirdly, it's not all bad and it's not all about the money. Manchester is a lot poorer than similarly-sized Dublin or Minneapolis but it's also a lot more vibrant and fun. There are a hundred reasons a Brit might want to stay put instead of shipping out to Boston: Culture, community, football or just not wanting your kids to get weird accents. All good reasons, but we're still not doing as well as we should be. What gives? We need to face reality, fellow Brits. We're not the richest kids on the block or anywhere close to it: Our woodwork is decaying, our lawn is ragged, our car is old and we're keeping up appearances with fresh coats of paint. Nevermind comparing ourselves to the USA, because Poland will probably overtake us soon. There's no point coping about it online, pretending that 'Our NHS' makes up for it or lambasting immigrants, because that won't help either. What will? Britain's already good at flashy stuff. It grows more unicorns than anywhere else in Europe, it has cutting edge science and technology, a gigantic financial centre and is getting more proficient at linking University R&D into the commercial sphere. It's got the stable rule of law and all the tricky bits sorted, but struggles with the basic stuff… Britain doesn't build. Decades of not building infrastructure or housing doesn't kill you immediately, but over the decades it paralyses a country, and that's what we're seeing. A discretionary over-centralised planning system whose prime commandment is “Thou Shalt Not!” paralyses private building just as much as endless legal challenges hamstring new national infrastructure. So the moral of this story? We've got the hard bits right, but the basics wrong. That's not the worst position to be in, because it means it's fixable. On the one hand, the only thing standing in our way is ourselves. But on the other hand, we've only got ourselves to blame.

@TheTottenhamWay @TomAllnutt_ @TomBarclay_ @marcus_buckland @GeorgeSessions Deserve to go down just for that bloke on the pod wearing shades indoors.

If you could change 1 decision at Spurs in the last year... what would it be? #thfc 👉Appointing Frank? @TomAllnutt_ 👉Sacking Ange? @TomBarclay_ 👉January window? @marcus_buckland 👉Hiring Tudor? @GeorgeSessions New pod! Out now: youtu.be/Ulr6o7R3p20

@WTFSunlunPod @UnionBerlinMan @Snowdon05 I dislike them even more. Got mates and workmates who are mags. Got no one who is a cov supporter. They can get battered for me.

Not used to them doing stuff early. They normally delay it.

@HansonsAuctions A little toilet humour has never hurt anyone.

IM STUCK IN THE LOO 🚊 if anyone is on the Derby train to London.. can you let me out the toilet? the door won’t open & I’m stuck 🫣 #train #toilet

@MichaelBowers15 @DougieCritchley Always think next season could be a nightmare so a European competition will soften the blow 😂

@wearside39 @DougieCritchley I’ve come around to this way of thinking. Agreed.

One of 7 sides within 4 points off 6th… There is a chance that Sunderland qualify for some form of European football next season. I won’t lie, my initial thoughts were… too much too soon, I don’t want to jeopardise safety next year. But I’ve done a complete 180… you can’t pick and choose the moment to strike. This is arguably the best side we’ve had this century, let’s capitalise on it and aim high! I watch Palace and Forest, with very little recent European experience, reach semi-finals and think why the hell not?! Let’s give it everything to qualify! Also… I’m not convinced the promoted sides from the Championship will be as competitive next year, so there should be… should be… 3 worse teams, Europe or not!

@TIPCincy @TruthSeek01011 😂😂

@wearside39 @TruthSeek01011 Why do you think she's throwing a tantrum? lol

Dear European liberals trying to insult me and Americans, taste of some freedom of speech 🫡🇺🇸.

@ick_real Florence May

I'm looking for a ridiculously old-fashioned girl's name for our new born . Think great-grandma name. Very old and rare. Any suggestions asap pls?

Cause Newcastle have never made cringe merch connected to a derby win. At least in our defence, those shirts are fan-made. This was a legit club-made walkout jacket that all the players wore. Also, a fun fact, this was their literal last league derby win in 2011

@MelJStride Why would anyone believe a Tory.

RACHEL REEVES IS COMING FOR YOUR PENSION This afternoon in Parliament Labour pushed through a change in the law to allow the government to mandate how pension schemes invest your savings. Here's why Labour's pension grab is so dangerous👇(1/7)🧵

@TomTugendhat @Telegraph @derStandardat @veitdengler Just call it for what it is. We are all going to be poorer because of that orange ponce in America.

Winter is coming and we’re already short of energy. That means rising prices and inflation for every family across Europe. I’ve written in @Telegraph and @derStandardat with my friend @veitdengler about what this means for politics across our continent.

@TalbiWaves He’ll be at Celtic.

🔜

@talkSPORT Brazil is correct and he’s looking well.

🚜 Brazil: "Bournemouth are not bigger than Ipswich! What have Bournemouth won!?" 😬 McCoist: "Ooooo... we've touched a nerve!" Alan Brazil was fuming with the suggestion that #AFCB are a bigger club than #ITFC as Kieran McKenna is linked with the Cherries job! 👀

@ExtremeFootbal4 Best England shirt ever that.

Can you identify any of the England U21 players from 1999? I can only name 8 of them.

@RachelD1892 @RapidResponse47 No we’re not you silly tart.

@RapidResponse47 Starmer is a menace to the West. We are desperate for a general election.

@thfcdoomster 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣

A comprehensive compilation of the disgraceful officiating against Sunderland yesterday. As a side note, the only challenge in this video that resulted in a sanction against Sunderland was Brobbey’s on Porro at 32:04, which was a yellow card.

@omnipotent94 @bwfc_elliot Sunderland dropped from the prem to championship then league one in the space of three seasons. One season in the championship wasn’t a decent amount of time.

@bwfc_elliot Nah, Leicester is still well above, but Tottenham going down is a few tiers above Sunderland going down to League 1. they're a "big six" club with resources that should make this impossible. Sunderland had spent a decent amount of time in the championship prior to their drop.

Nope. These are different tiers of implausibility Spurs' relegation should be compared to Sunderland going down to League One and Bolton going down to League Two. Shocking but not unprecedented Leicester winning the league is the maddest thing in all of football history

@Yousuf_is_cool @bwfc_elliot @sunilsood1 They are. More league titles than them. Forest winning the European cup was some achievement but only won the league once in that time and that was their first time.

@bwfc_elliot @sunilsood1 No they aren't

@GortzAFC @InvertTheWing If your plumbing is as bad as your tweet I would just riddor yourself.

@InvertTheWing Spurs have been robbed, we can at least agree on that

Brian Brobbey with the dirtiest performance I've seen in a long, long time. Should have had about 5 yellows. Ended a players' World Cup. Disgusting from Rob Jones and Don Goodman for enabling that kind of behaviour. Unsportsmanlike. Disgusting.