He won't thank me for recalling this, but Steve Borthwick's past dealings in Italy do not encourage optimism for this afternoon. In his (brief) period as England captain many years ago, his team performed miserably in Rome, ekeing out a slender win against an Italian side a lot less impressive than today's. But in a deeply unconvincing post-match interview he lavished praise on England's "great performance".
He was shown the door shortly after, by Martin Johnson (IIRC), a man who knew what a great performance was.
I've never been convinced by Borthwick, his "technical knowledge" and that winning season at Leicester notwithstanding. This afternoon looks ominously like Italy's great chance to register their first ever Victory against England.
ND
22 comments:
It's a simple matter. England's rugby has almost always been a combination of (i) thud and blunder, and (ii) the boot.
However they've been kicking badly, not produced enough thud, and not forced enough blunders by their opponents.
Scotland giving France a good thrashing and Italy beating England wasn't on my radar at the start of the tournament, that's for sure.
Pity the Scots let France in at the end for the bonus.
As a Wales supporter, I'm hoping Italy will still be hung over next weekend and that England can bounce back against les grenouilles. If you can subdue France in the first 15 minutes and get a score, the crowd can get on their backs and they struggle - not happened for a while. But if they get a couple of scores early on they can put any side to the sword.
Good prediction btw
OT but the US destroyed an Iranian desalination plant, a very foolish precedent to set. IIRC the whole Middle East area depends on some 50 or 60 desalination plants - zap them and heap big problems ensue.
And so it came to pass.
Dull weather, dull newspapers, not much to laugh at at all.
Do I detect Donald is getting bored with the Iran venture? Images of American and Israeli troops riding into Tehran on tanks draped in pretty girls welcoming the conquering heroes do not come easily to mind.
Best leave the job to the Israelis, their hearts are in the job. By the time our ships get there it will be time to come home. Very wise, Rachel would be annoyed if one went to the bottom.
A thought comes to mind 'why didn't we leave it alone'. Iran is/was a bug easily squashed any time and the High Tollers do a good job of rendering the country completely unimportant. No realistic nuclear threat, they just played at it. Sure they did a bit of s&*t stirring but that kept the TLA's in a job. Donald got involved - for electoral funding reasons. Reasons that might not wash come election time.
Rumour is that Donald may be off to South America for another bang-n-go opportunity. Now what may come after that? 'Bout time Greenland got another visit.
Some people argue that the US should simply declare victory and march/sail away. But what if Iran decided to continue? It could make the Arab shore of the Gulf uninhabitable by destroying the desalination plants. It could batter the Israeli ones too, perhaps.
Once you start these sorts of things there's no knowing the outcome. What might have been a punitive expedition to Afghanistan ended with defeat in a twenty year war of occupation, crowned by the debacle in Kabul. And every Prez, from W to President Vegetable, was to blame.
So to be fair were Brit politcos. Going back to the 80s, the Taliban were blowing up girls schools and we were sending money and missiles for them to do it because Russia Bad.
Then post-2001 we were sending money and teams of feminists to "pacified zones" to teach the girls that men were the enemy ...
Diesel over £1.50 this weekend ...
A modest proposal - we make The Andrew Formerly Known as Prince as Iranian Supreme Leader.
Gets him out of our hair, Trump should fine working with him, and he can resume life as he was once used to and gets diplomatic immunity as a bonus.
The Iranian Clericy may need a bit of convincing, but by the time Supreme Leader of the Week is a thing they ought to be tired of finding the next bearded lunatic to spend the next few days playing hide and seek with US and Israeli munitions.
Fergie can then get a gig writing a diary in some newspaper about life in Tehran, and how she hates Andy's beard slightly less than the prospect of becoming a plummy Vicky Pollard.
Guardian Newspeak
"Starmer subsequently agreed to allow the US to strike Iran defensively from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean"
Seen heating oil prices ?
"El-Erian says the UK is in the front line because over the last decade it has failed to deal with three linked issues – low productivity, a heavily constrained budget and deep seated inequality. Whereas the US has high productivity and the EU has lower levels of inequality, the UK has all three problems, putting it in an especially weak position going into the crisis."
Snippet from Adam Tooze, not an original idea. None of the 3 Big Boys can defeat the others and some of the component countries have not got the full message yet - looking at you Russia. On past form the UK parliament will flip flop from now till doomsday just like Mavis in Open All Hours.
'An economic map suggests the probable outcome will be three great super-states, each based on one of the three main areas of advanced industry: north central Europe; the United States, especially the northeastern United States; Japan together with the east coast of China. In the future conflicts the managerial super-states of tomorrow cannot, in reality, hope to achieve a definitive military conquest of each other. The struggle will actually be, not for control over the central areas of advanced industry – the European area will already be ruled by Europeans, the East Asian by Asiatics, the United States area by Americans – but for prime shares in the rest of the world'.
Energy, Germany, energy.
<>"Europe’s largest automaker, Volkswagen, is to shed 50,000 jobs by the end of the decade, as it faces falling sales in China and North America and punitive US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. The 10-brand group, whose luxury subsidiaries Porsche and Audi are also under pressure, said the jobs would go in Germany"
Europe's only world-class manufacturer, almost literally torpedoed by a soi-disant ally, is slowly going down. It was all so good just ten years ago, even after Merkel's Million Man Mistake. Absolute tragedy - once the skills go, they don't come back - see Clydeside or Longbridge for details.
The vision of victorious American and Israeli tanks draped with pretty girls rolling into Tehran to cheering crowds seems a bit unlikely.
Which brings to mind the psychology of modern war. Having more and better missiles does not make the victors better people, the losers may well not have the feeling they were beaten in a fair fight. May not have the blood and guts feel of traditional warfare but does usefully keeps the hatred going for the next time. Unless the Ayatollas swing from lampposts not much will be achieved, not a job missiles can do.
The thought of Mr Hesgeth dolled up in titanium armour waving a light sabre might amuse, especially the bit with the tungsten chainsaw.
Nobody seem have told The Donald than Iran gets a vote when the war actually ends. Or that they may ignore his demands to leave shipping passing through the Hormuz Straits alone.
Lots of interesting claims about hits against US bases, usually shared by the anti-US crowd, so would be interesting to now if there's any truth to them.
Finally, Dubya can relax, he is no longer the biggest buffoon in recent memory to wage war in the Middle East.
I see Israel are suppressing pics of missile strikes, and Bahrain are now threatening those who publish hit pics with the death penalty for treason. You may remember the mainly Shia inhabitants were cheering and filming outside the gates as the US base was being hit.
When the Marginal Revolution blog solicited comments on the war mine was simply "Dear God, not again." Still seems reasonably wise.
Oh yes, last few days have seen various Gulf forces flying transports to Rzeszow in Poland, which is where stuff for Ukraine arrives. Pinching Ukraine's stuff or shipping out anti-drone experts?
CH - there certainly seem to have been hits against US radar systems, Chinese satellite "before and after" pics confirm. Unless AI, of course.
There's a 30,000 ton Chinese intelligence ship plus a couple of destroyers off Oman in international waters.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/satellite-firm-pauses-imagery-after-revealing-irans-attacks-on-us-bases/
CH - drone attack on oil storage at Salah in Oman, observed by Chinese merchant ship
https://t.me/llordofwar/578731
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