Frankie S

Labour pussyfooting around the issue as usual, doing their best to avoid alienating the racists amongst their own support, so not surprised we’re starting to hear talk of a restricted second vote (leave with whatever kind of half-arsed compromise deal can be cobbled together at the last minute, or leave with no deal) with no remain in the EU option on the ballot, as Len McCluskey has just advocated. Latest

Really like the ‘international dimension’ of this competition (greatly enjoyed the game against Crusaders last week), and would like to see that expanded, but the under-21s element is a complete farce. The southern Irish clubs already seemed to be cooling on this, as the FAI had to go all the way down to 9th place in the Irish League to convince another club to take Bray Wanderers place, after they were excluded. Doubt Sligo Rovers experience of being drawn against two under-21 sides in a row is going to further enamour the Irish doubters, sadly. A long trip to take on a youth team in front of three men and a dog. Bet they’re champing at the bit down Sligo way for this one. although it’s as good as a bye for the Irish team I suppose. If the Under-21s were jettisoned, this could be a very decent competition.

Despite being a shareholder, I have absolutely no idea how the concerts were financed or who was promoting them. I’d be dismayed to find that the club exposed themselves to any significant risk though. I’ve been in live music promotion long enough to know that it’s always a gamble. Some you win, some you lose. When you lose, you sometimes lose big. Music promotion should carry a government health warning. You should only gamble with what you can afford to lose. The playing budget should have been ring-fenced. Any music promotions (and I’d still be amazed, and not in a good way, to find that the club was actually promoting these shows) or similar speculative ventures should have been undertaken through a separate limited company. If the playing budget has been severely diminished by an inherently speculative venture, then that is extremely poor stewardship of the club by the directors.

Goodnight Mommy Austrian psychological horror film. Available on Amazon Prime. The ‘twist’ is fairly obvious. I spotted it about 10 minutes in, but it didn’t remotely spoil my enjoyment of this stylish, though admittedly glacially-paced movie. It looks immaculate - great cinematography and a nicely-sustained mood of escalating dread. Quite a melancholy film, and probably not for everyone, but I’ll be interested to see what directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala do next. 8/10

Is there any suggestion that the benefactor has made his (rather generous) payment of Dobbie’s wages conditional upon Dobbie being selected for the first XI? Is there a realistic possibility that any Queens fan, of reasonably sound mind, thinks Dobbie shouldn’t be in the first XI?

R.I.P. Alan. Fantastic keeper and a true Queens legend. Still have vivid memories of him playing on at Ayr in the Scottish Cup with a broken ankle.

First look at Queens this season and hard to draw many conclusions from a game that resembled a training session for most of its duration, second half especially. Felt we started quite slowly, but burst into life midway though the first half with a flurry of goals. Dykes took the first really well, lobbing the keeper nicely, and Dobbie was never going to miss when put though for the second. Martin did well with a quick kick out to set up the second. Both simple route one goals against a shaky Edinburgh City defence. The next two goals were well worked and involved some nice quick interplay. Very impressed with Harkins, we've not had a player of this quality in the middle of the park since Tosh. Semple looks like a class act in central defence, strong and competitive, but he’ll have few easier afternoons than this one. Dobbie is Dobbie - 2 goals and should really have been 3 as the ref gave Antell the benefit of the doubt at the end when Dobbie stole it off him, without the goalie ever really looking he had it under control. Dykes looked a handful, and should have had another from a late header, with Antell making a decent stop. Martin looked assured. Impressed with his distribution. Todd did ok too. Not overly impressed with Queens subs Murray and Bell - we looked weaker when they came on - but to be fair the game had petered out by then.

Don’t know much about Doyle as a footballer, but his actions in Magaluf suggest he is exactly the type of character you’d want in the trenches with you, and by extension on the pitch and in the dressing room. Wish him well during his time at Palmerston .

On Dobbie - it’s pushing it to describe the top scorer in the Championship for the last two seasons running (jointly with Jason Cummings the season before last, by a distance last year) and a member of the PFA Scottish Championship Team of the Year, also short-listed for Player of the Year, for both 2016-17 (when there were clearly better players in the league than there are now - John McGinn, Cummings et al) and 2017-18 as ‘a long way’ from the best in the league. While the claim that Harkins and Dobbie are the best two players in the league is clearly hyperbolic, the suggestion that Dobbie is a long way from that level is clearly wrong. He’s always been one of the very best players in the Championship, in every season that he’s played in it.

Was at the London Sevens over the weekend with my son. Highly enjoyable couple of days. Still can’t fathom the draw though. Our group had the teams ranked 1 (Fiji), 3 (NZ), 7 (Argentina) and 10 (ourselves) in the current IRB Sevens series standings, whereas guest side Ireland got Australia (4), Spain (13) and Wales (14). Absolutely no excuse for these ‘seedings’. Hard to resist the conclusion that the hosts didn’t want Scotland raining on their parade by walking off with the Cup for the third year running. That said, Scotland didn’t show up all weekend. We had our moments on Saturday, without actually ever threatening to beat NZ or Fiji, then lost against Argentina from a winning position. Tough group for sure, however there was no excuse for losing to Russia on Sunday morning, after being 14-0 up then enjoying an extra man for 2 mins after a yellow card offence by our opponents. An inexcusable decision to kick the ball aimlessly forward rather than keep it in hand (when an overlap was on and the tryline at our mercy) during the period of numerical supremacy summed up our weekend. Getting absolutely skelped by a very poor Samoa side in the 13th / 14th place play off was pathetic. The team looked dispirited by that stage. Noticeable that whereas most of the nations came out to mingle with the supporters after their interest in the competition had ended, posing for photos and signing autographs, Scotland didn’t reappear. We usually beef the side up a bit for London, though no sign of that this weekend. Jamie Farndale was decent, most of the rest were poor. Assume Riddell and Graham sustained injuries as they didn’t appear for the later matches. Watching the high intensity, high tempo warm ups by the likes of USA and Fiji, contrasted starkly with Scotland’s relatively relaxed, lackadaisical pre-match approach. Not sure why we we were so off the pace, we just didn’t look up for it at all. By contrast, Ireland were really fired up and performed well above expectations. I know there are issues relating to future funding of the Scotland Sevens side, and rumours of a combined GB Sevens side as we approach the next Olympic cycle seem to be resurfacing, but the France match apart, Scotland looked worryingly demoralised and disinterested at times. Winners Fiji were absolutely brilliant. A joy to watch. Pace, power and skill throughout their squad.

Going to the London Sevens at the weekend. Ridiculously tough group for holders Scotland - Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina

Great movie. One of Friedkin’s best. Willem Dafoe is excellent in this. Got it on blu ray recently, must give it a rewatch soon. If you like this, try 52 Pick-Up, another underrated 80s crime thriller.

Ghost Stories 8/10 Didn’t have particularly high expectations going into this, even though I knew it was adapted from a critically-acclaimed stage play. One glance at the cast list, an underwhelming bunch of British comedy and character actors - Paul Whitehouse, Martin Freeman - made me think it was likely to be a bit rubbish. Wrong. That was the point. It played like a satire of post-Brexit Britain - dismal grey skies, dreary pubs, abandoned buildings, parochial caravan parks, jaundiced humour and barely-suppressed racism combined to create a menacing, hopeless atmosphere. The experience is not unlike a creaky ghost train ride at a crap British seaside town. A cinematic kindred spirit of Banksy’s Dismaland. Kudos to directors Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson. Look forward to seeing what they do next.

Gutted. If it wasn’t for bad luck we’d have no luck at all. Ridiculous umpiring decision compounding two ridiculous ICC decisions (to restrict the World Cup to a miserly 10 participants, and not to use DRS in the qualifying tournament). Yep, the ICC will be delighted. They have their slimmed-down tournament for the elite, with the lesser ODI nations and all the associate nations looking on enviously from the cheap seats. Out of sight and out of mind. Great job in spreading the gospel of a minority sport globally. Cricket: declining in popularity, still dripping with the last vestiges of Empire. The ICC: serving the elite’s sense of entitlement since 1909.

Bang goes that theory.

Great effort in the field and with the ball by Scotland. It won’t be easy, burn this is very winnable now. If Coetzer can anchor the innings, we can get this done. Agree that the ICC will most likely have a change of heart about the ill-conceived slimline 10 team tournament if Windies lose this.

Evans bowling far too short here. Will get taken apart if he carries on like this. Looks out of his depth. Shame, after a great spell from Sharif.

Maybe, not sure the supporting cast are up to it though. Would love to be proved wrong.

Because the ICC in their infinite wisdom have reduced the World Cup to 10 participating teams. When practically every other sport seems to be extending the number of places available in their showcase events to foster inclusivity and encourage the global spread of their sports, the ICC go in the opposite direction, pandering to the hegemony of the elite.

Done and dusted now I reckon.

Good bowling at the death from the Scotland quicks to take a few wickets, arrest the momentum, and restrict Ireland to 271 in the end. Looked like we were going to be chasing 20-30 more than that. We’ll still have to bat exceptionally well to overhaul that total. Gettable though, if MacLeod, Coetzer etc play well.

Gone for over 8 an over in the last 5. Keep this up and we’ll be chasing close on 300. Bit of a disappointing effort in what seemed like favourable early bowling conditions.

Not putting Ireland under much pressure after a good start. Looks like we’ll be chasing plenty.

They've had the edge over us for a while. Remember seeing us chase down over 300 against Ireland at the Grange a few years ago, so it's not a hopeless task. Edit - it was 2011, longer ago than I thought. Chased down 320. Scotland v Ireland

Looks like that missed opportunity against Zimbabwe, to close out the win when well on top, may prove costly.