The Magic Of The Cup
@themagicofthecup.bsky.social
All the glory of the Football Association's Challenge Cup competition, the greatest show on earth.
As well as editing the These Football Times podcasts.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BNF6XCMW?ref_=dbs_p_mng_rwt_ser_shvlr&storeType=ebooks
As well as editing the These Football Times podcasts.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BNF6XCMW?ref_=dbs_p_mng_rwt_ser_shvlr&storeType=ebooks
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’
December 7, 2025 at 8:31 AM
My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’
The World Cup draw, giving us the rich promise of about 3 weeks worth of pointless football to eliminate 16 teams who shouldn't have been there in the first place before it all starts properly.
December 5, 2025 at 7:06 PM
The World Cup draw, giving us the rich promise of about 3 weeks worth of pointless football to eliminate 16 teams who shouldn't have been there in the first place before it all starts properly.
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
The UK has gone quite, quite mad.
It's ridiculous that we (just about) survived 14 years of the Tories, only for Labour to allow the madness to take hold and spread.
Some of the stuff in those bullets is just breath-takingly evil.
And it's not winning Labour ANY votes. Just helping Reform.
It's ridiculous that we (just about) survived 14 years of the Tories, only for Labour to allow the madness to take hold and spread.
Some of the stuff in those bullets is just breath-takingly evil.
And it's not winning Labour ANY votes. Just helping Reform.
December 3, 2025 at 9:40 AM
The UK has gone quite, quite mad.
It's ridiculous that we (just about) survived 14 years of the Tories, only for Labour to allow the madness to take hold and spread.
Some of the stuff in those bullets is just breath-takingly evil.
And it's not winning Labour ANY votes. Just helping Reform.
It's ridiculous that we (just about) survived 14 years of the Tories, only for Labour to allow the madness to take hold and spread.
Some of the stuff in those bullets is just breath-takingly evil.
And it's not winning Labour ANY votes. Just helping Reform.
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
I wish I was surprised. Buried in this Budget is a plan to slash the Digital Services Tax, giving a multi-billion tax cut to US tech giants and the likes of Elon Musk.
That's right, cutting taxes for the world's richest man while hiking them for millions of hard-working Brits.
That's right, cutting taxes for the world's richest man while hiking them for millions of hard-working Brits.
November 27, 2025 at 9:30 AM
I wish I was surprised. Buried in this Budget is a plan to slash the Digital Services Tax, giving a multi-billion tax cut to US tech giants and the likes of Elon Musk.
That's right, cutting taxes for the world's richest man while hiking them for millions of hard-working Brits.
That's right, cutting taxes for the world's richest man while hiking them for millions of hard-working Brits.
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
🚨 Rachel Reeves JUST unveiled “the most complex government budget in history.” But without a proper wealth tax we’ll never fix the NHS or fund schools properly. So we HACKED a billboard in her constituency with the real solution: TAX THE F*CKING RICH
November 26, 2025 at 1:21 PM
🚨 Rachel Reeves JUST unveiled “the most complex government budget in history.” But without a proper wealth tax we’ll never fix the NHS or fund schools properly. So we HACKED a billboard in her constituency with the real solution: TAX THE F*CKING RICH
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
In case you missed it ...
Workers with a migration backgound recorded this powerful poem during the pandemic. They feared the UK and its politicians would soon forget how they helped the country survive. And they were right. Fickle politicians who clapped for them then now call them "strangers".
Workers with a migration backgound recorded this powerful poem during the pandemic. They feared the UK and its politicians would soon forget how they helped the country survive. And they were right. Fickle politicians who clapped for them then now call them "strangers".
November 23, 2025 at 12:43 AM
In case you missed it ...
Workers with a migration backgound recorded this powerful poem during the pandemic. They feared the UK and its politicians would soon forget how they helped the country survive. And they were right. Fickle politicians who clapped for them then now call them "strangers".
Workers with a migration backgound recorded this powerful poem during the pandemic. They feared the UK and its politicians would soon forget how they helped the country survive. And they were right. Fickle politicians who clapped for them then now call them "strangers".
What's dividing our country is gutless politicians, without a principle between them, jumping a bandwagon they think will get votes, rather than denouncing this as the absolute drivel it is. In the 70s, Tories shunned Enoch, now Labour parrot Enoch Farage. Pitiful.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...
Laura Kuenssberg: Illegal migration 'dividing our country', home secretary says ahead of asylum policy shake-up
Shabana Mahmood says the government
www.bbc.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 11:53 AM
What's dividing our country is gutless politicians, without a principle between them, jumping a bandwagon they think will get votes, rather than denouncing this as the absolute drivel it is. In the 70s, Tories shunned Enoch, now Labour parrot Enoch Farage. Pitiful.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...
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Someone should ask Starmer and Mahmood whether they think the Kindertransport, for example, should have been a return ticket. Whether Alf Dubs, rather than becoming a Labour MP and now Lord, ought to have been sent back with his family to Czechoslovakia once it was liberated from German rule.
This contribution to the volume of human misery is yet another policy from Labour based on a false premise, in this case that refugees are overly attracted to Britain. It will increase bureaucratic limbo, thus making worse the problem of "cohesion" it purports to solve.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Someone should ask Starmer and Mahmood whether they think the Kindertransport, for example, should have been a return ticket. Whether Alf Dubs, rather than becoming a Labour MP and now Lord, ought to have been sent back with his family to Czechoslovakia once it was liberated from German rule.
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Today is not the day to argue "oh so you want Reform to win then" as an argument for Labour's indefensible and inhumane anti-asylum policies. At least be honest and own that you're defending racist policies promoted with genuinely far right talking points. Don't try and pretend this is "progressive"
November 16, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Today is not the day to argue "oh so you want Reform to win then" as an argument for Labour's indefensible and inhumane anti-asylum policies. At least be honest and own that you're defending racist policies promoted with genuinely far right talking points. Don't try and pretend this is "progressive"
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
Amazon just announced 14,000 layoffs. Its CEO made over $40M last year.
UPS announced 48,000 layoffs. Its CEO made over $24M last year.
Intel announced 20,000 layoffs. Its new CEO's pay package is valued at nearly $69M.
This is what I mean when I say the system is rigged.
UPS announced 48,000 layoffs. Its CEO made over $24M last year.
Intel announced 20,000 layoffs. Its new CEO's pay package is valued at nearly $69M.
This is what I mean when I say the system is rigged.
October 29, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Amazon just announced 14,000 layoffs. Its CEO made over $40M last year.
UPS announced 48,000 layoffs. Its CEO made over $24M last year.
Intel announced 20,000 layoffs. Its new CEO's pay package is valued at nearly $69M.
This is what I mean when I say the system is rigged.
UPS announced 48,000 layoffs. Its CEO made over $24M last year.
Intel announced 20,000 layoffs. Its new CEO's pay package is valued at nearly $69M.
This is what I mean when I say the system is rigged.
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
UK government tried to override police assessments – thereby exposing British Muslims to racism – and made violently racist Israeli football fans synonymous with Jewish. If you wanted to tackle antisemitism, you sure as hell wouldn't go about it like this
rachelshabi.substack.com/p/the-maccab...
rachelshabi.substack.com/p/the-maccab...
The Maccabi Tel Aviv derangement syndrome of Britain's political class
How do progressive antiracists respond?
rachelshabi.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:29 PM
UK government tried to override police assessments – thereby exposing British Muslims to racism – and made violently racist Israeli football fans synonymous with Jewish. If you wanted to tackle antisemitism, you sure as hell wouldn't go about it like this
rachelshabi.substack.com/p/the-maccab...
rachelshabi.substack.com/p/the-maccab...
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I am so tired of 24 hour news about small boats. I simply don’t care how many migrants arrive in the UK any more. No matter how many, they’ll never be as big a threat to British values, our way of life, or indeed women‘s safety, as the bigots who make yelling about migrants their entire personality.
October 27, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I am so tired of 24 hour news about small boats. I simply don’t care how many migrants arrive in the UK any more. No matter how many, they’ll never be as big a threat to British values, our way of life, or indeed women‘s safety, as the bigots who make yelling about migrants their entire personality.
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
October 27, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
Looking forward to this applying to the English as well. Unemployment will hit about 15 million.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Migrants will need A-level standard English to work in UK
The tougher rules will come in force in January as part of wider plans to cut immigration.
www.bbc.co.uk
October 14, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Looking forward to this applying to the English as well. Unemployment will hit about 15 million.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
And so by the use of plumbing, we hope to demonstrate this to the world...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv7U...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv7U...
October 11, 2025 at 9:41 AM
And so by the use of plumbing, we hope to demonstrate this to the world...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv7U...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv7U...
I say it a lot, but...
All that was ever required for the 1930s to return was that enough people who lived through them, and the consequences of them, had died off. Here we are, bang on schedule.
All that was ever required for the 1930s to return was that enough people who lived through them, and the consequences of them, had died off. Here we are, bang on schedule.
What has Yvette Cooper’s proscription of Palestine Action done to this country?
Beyond absurd. It’s extreme authoritarianism. These police should be arresting rapists & crooks, not neglecting those duties to spend time arresting citizens standing against genocide.
It undermines police and the law.
Beyond absurd. It’s extreme authoritarianism. These police should be arresting rapists & crooks, not neglecting those duties to spend time arresting citizens standing against genocide.
It undermines police and the law.
September 29, 2025 at 4:04 PM
I say it a lot, but...
All that was ever required for the 1930s to return was that enough people who lived through them, and the consequences of them, had died off. Here we are, bang on schedule.
All that was ever required for the 1930s to return was that enough people who lived through them, and the consequences of them, had died off. Here we are, bang on schedule.
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
A lengthy, but very necessary thread, from one of the millions of immigrants into this country, who have given more to it than any Farage, Tice, Jenrick or, yes, Starmer ever could.
Read and share widely.
Read and share widely.
When I was a teenager there was a bus direct from my hometown in Germany to London - we had a British army base, and this direct bus connection was one of the benefits of that. One summer I went on that bus to go volunteer in an old people's home in Southend-on-Sea. I had just turned 18 and was... 🧵
September 29, 2025 at 1:32 PM
A lengthy, but very necessary thread, from one of the millions of immigrants into this country, who have given more to it than any Farage, Tice, Jenrick or, yes, Starmer ever could.
Read and share widely.
Read and share widely.
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/there-a... My sixth book is now available. Liverpool 2004/05, the glory and dysfunction of a campaign that brought Champions League success in the most dramatic way possible, offset by domestic difficulties, plus managerial and squad upheaval. Spread the good word.
There are Places I Remember: Liverpool FC and the Miracle of Istanbul
Steven Scragg whisks us back to the domestic dysfunction and unexpected European glory of Liverpool's 2004/05 season, when Rafael Benítez's new team seemed to match every two steps forward with one to...
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
September 29, 2025 at 9:48 AM
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/there-a... My sixth book is now available. Liverpool 2004/05, the glory and dysfunction of a campaign that brought Champions League success in the most dramatic way possible, offset by domestic difficulties, plus managerial and squad upheaval. Spread the good word.
Starmer finally calls Farage racist and immoral, and then we get this.
How many of the Farage army speak English to a high level while looking after 'are cuntry'? How many volunteer for anything (flagshagging doesn't count)?
And pay NI but don't claim benefits. What?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
How many of the Farage army speak English to a high level while looking after 'are cuntry'? How many volunteer for anything (flagshagging doesn't count)?
And pay NI but don't claim benefits. What?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Shabana Mahmood to demand migrants earn right to settled status
New tests will include learning English to a high standard, paying National Insurance and not claiming benefits.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 29, 2025 at 6:36 AM
Starmer finally calls Farage racist and immoral, and then we get this.
How many of the Farage army speak English to a high level while looking after 'are cuntry'? How many volunteer for anything (flagshagging doesn't count)?
And pay NI but don't claim benefits. What?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
How many of the Farage army speak English to a high level while looking after 'are cuntry'? How many volunteer for anything (flagshagging doesn't count)?
And pay NI but don't claim benefits. What?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
“Let’s call it for what it is: bullshit. The truth is, politicians have talked about little else but immigration for decades and in the most dehumanising ways.
Polanski added: “Stop the boats’ is all we hear. Well, today I'm saying ‘stop the bullshit’.”
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Polanski added: “Stop the boats’ is all we hear. Well, today I'm saying ‘stop the bullshit’.”
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
UK faces ‘battle for the soul’ of the country, says Starmer amid Reform threat
In a rallying cry to progressives around the world, the Prime Minister said allies must stop the ‘politics of predatory grievance’.
www.independent.co.uk
September 26, 2025 at 1:34 PM
“Let’s call it for what it is: bullshit. The truth is, politicians have talked about little else but immigration for decades and in the most dehumanising ways.
Polanski added: “Stop the boats’ is all we hear. Well, today I'm saying ‘stop the bullshit’.”
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Polanski added: “Stop the boats’ is all we hear. Well, today I'm saying ‘stop the bullshit’.”
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
It’s gone so quickly from ‘boat people’ to all immigrants. So quickly from ‘I don’t mind if they come here legally and pay taxes’ to ‘actually it’s anyone foreign’. We are living in the ‘first they came for’ poem. All to give the population a scapegoat so the super rich can hoard yet more wealth.
September 25, 2025 at 7:38 AM
It’s gone so quickly from ‘boat people’ to all immigrants. So quickly from ‘I don’t mind if they come here legally and pay taxes’ to ‘actually it’s anyone foreign’. We are living in the ‘first they came for’ poem. All to give the population a scapegoat so the super rich can hoard yet more wealth.
Reposted by The Magic Of The Cup
Delighted to launch my latest book, THE SLUM SPORT - the story of the 1985/86 Football League season, as told by those who were there.
"It truly is a cracking read" - Barry Davies MBE
Out mid-October. To pre-order your copy please go to: www.curtis-sport.com/all-programm...
"It truly is a cracking read" - Barry Davies MBE
Out mid-October. To pre-order your copy please go to: www.curtis-sport.com/all-programm...
September 22, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Delighted to launch my latest book, THE SLUM SPORT - the story of the 1985/86 Football League season, as told by those who were there.
"It truly is a cracking read" - Barry Davies MBE
Out mid-October. To pre-order your copy please go to: www.curtis-sport.com/all-programm...
"It truly is a cracking read" - Barry Davies MBE
Out mid-October. To pre-order your copy please go to: www.curtis-sport.com/all-programm...