wee-toon-red

Hadn’t even noticed that. Good effort 🙈

A non-EU migrant stealing an Englishman’s job on “Brexit day”. Beautiful.

Are you addicted to sweeties or just to buying them?!

Shoot, Match, those wee tabby league tables, World Cup ring binders and play by mail games; pretty much my childhood indoor pastimes in a nutshell. Brilliant.

Definitely nothing to do with her heritage, no no no...

What’s this story about Morelos booting Christie in the baws so hard after the game that he needed emergency surgery?

Cormack’s off to a good start. Let’s hope circumstances don’t force him to lose enthusiasm and that he’s rewarded with a good turnout.

I don’t think you can get those three in the same team as John McGinn so one of them has to miss out for me. I’d leave Forrest out personally, although there’s never a guarantee that Fraser will turn up anyway...

It's intriguing that Gallacher doesn't appear to have had a look-in at U21 level, even though their left back is an Aberdeen reject who currently plays for Ayr Utd. Fair enough Gallacher hasn't done anything at first team level but it's surprising that a youngster at a major European club isn't good enough for our U21 squad. Although given we're talking about the SFA, maybe it isn't surprising at all...

He’s totally blown his credibility with this stuff. I’m curious; outside of Twitter has anyone ever heard a woman utter the phrase “safe space” when talking about the lavvy or a changing room?

The Lanark and Hamilton East pessimism unfounded too 👍🏻👍🏻

It looked to me that Naismith was the one making sure everyone was involved in the celebrations, especially after the 2nd.

It's a good read and hopefully someone at the SFA is keeping an eye on Maloney. Unfortunately this bit stood out, with the inference being that our players aren't putting in as much effort as they should, which fits with how a lot of people feel about our squad at the moment: "Asked what Scotland could learn from Belgium's ability to punch above their weight in terms of population, he replies: "The players I played with at Scotland had a really good mentality. But when I watch the Belgian squad each day and when I watch the matches, in addition to the tactical intelligence and the technique, the one thing that impresses me is the mentality - no matter what the weather is like, the conditions, the opposition, they give 100% every day."

We've got a relatively young/inexperienced squad so if the choice is McBurnie, Shankland or Naismith then Naismith's experience, determination and will to win gets him in the team for me every time.

Marshall Devlin McKenna Forrest Jack Taylor McGinn Armstrong Christie Burke Naismith If we've a limited number of defenders and full backs might as well play with as few as possible on the pitch...

We’ve got an opportunity to qualify for a major tournament taking place in a matter of months. We play the players who are most likely to get us the results we need until then and imo Naismith falls squarely into that category.

If we had five or six players with the commitment of Naismith - and the career he's had - we'd have far less need to worry about the attitudes of the regular call off crew.

Naismith.

I'd start Naismith and make him captain. The rest of them could learn a lot from his commitment and desire.

Fuck Ryan Fraser, I woudn't even bother calling him up again as he clearly isn't interested. I'll give Robertson the benefit of the doubt for the moment but it's a bad look for the captain to be withdrawing without a real injury.

Given that Devlin played the last two games, and plays with McKenna most weeks, it'd be mental not to play the two of them together. Handy that Cooper's wee injury can be tidied up and he won't miss any Leeds games.

Syme made it in 14th place and Hill finished in 2nd for the year. Unfortunately Ferguson didn't do enough. Bob MacIntyre was knocking on the door again on the main tour but didn't quite get it going on the final day. He looks perfectly at home at these bigger events though, which bodes well for the future.

The government voting itself out would be an appropriate next stage in this whole pantomime.

Boris to table a motion on Monday calling for a General Election on December 21st. Must be expecting the EU to grant a Brexit delay until Jan 31st. You'd imagine the SNP will back an election but will Labour? Because it's a change to the Fixed Term Parliaments Act it needs a two-thirds majority to happen.

An interesting piece from Common Space on Boris' deal's potential impact on the union: On examination, it's clear that, in all the important ways, NI will be closer economically to the EU than the UK under Johnson's deal. While NI will be officially part of the UK Customs area, it will in all practicality be within the EU Customs Union, with goods checked at points of entry between NI and mainland UK and paper work required on movement of said goods; regulation of goods in NI based on EU rules; taxes collected on goods imported from the UK to NI which are "at risk" of going onto EU territory (and later re-funded by the UK Government if they don't leave NI for the EU); and alignment between NI and EU farmers based on the Common Agricultural Policy. While the NI Parliament will get a vote four years into the new arrangements, if it voted to end them, the EU would have equal weight to the UK in working out what happens next. So Stormont's power is only unilateral in the sense that it can re-open a new negotiated process, one which the UK is not in full control of. Johnson has also argued that NI will also "benefit" from any trade deals the UK strikes with other countries, such as the US. But again that's not quite true, as any deals which contravene the EU-UK deal will not apply to NI. So if chlorinated chicken turns up in Glasgow supermarkets, it doesn't mean it will also be in Belfast ones. Analysis: If this deal goes through, Northern Ireland will now occupy a between space, economically integrated into the EU while politically tied into the UK. Inevitably, this fosters an environment in which fissures and tensions become a permanent feature of the constitutional settlement. There's an obvious democratic deficit - NI will be governed by economic rules it largely has no say in. And as the UK and EU regulatory and trading models drift apart, there will be a political pressure in both directions, with republicans arguing the logic of a united Ireland is clearer than ever, while unionists push for a reform or break with Johnson's deal to align NI and the UK again. What does it mean for Scotland? The knock-on effect on Scottish politics of the NI arrangements is likely to be hugely significant for a long time to come. First, it busts some unionist attack lines on Scottish independence. If no customs checks are needed on the border between NI and the Republic of Ireland, then it's self-evident that this would also hold true for a Scottish and English land border as well. If it's possible for NI, which is still within the UK, to have different arrangements with the EU than the rest of the UK, then why wouldn't this be possible for an independent Scotland? The argument can also now be made that Northern Ireland is put at a competitive advantage over Scotland by these arrangements. NI could potentially become a hub for EU-UK trade, especially in the EU to UK direction. Finally, there is a deeper, more philosophical point to be made. It could be argued that Johnson's deal is a constitutional starting gun on the UK state's break-up, since never before has there been such de-alignment between one part of the UK and another. When Johnson argues that he will oppose any attempt to break up the UK from the Scottish Government, the retort could be: 'you have already broken it, we're just finishing the job.'