#scottish women's national team

[woso-scotland]

Some of my football adventures over the past year here's to many more next year

#woso #scotland wnt #scotland women #dundee united #2023 #chelsea wfc #scotland national team #scottish football

[pitchsidestories]

Girlfriend Material II Jen Beattie x Reader

masterlist I word count: 3223

summary: in which Jen Beattie falls in love with a sports journalist who is also a single mother.

A/N: based off this request here. We hope you enjoy this one and we agree with you that Jen Beattie is really underrated. As always this is just fiction.

audio transcript of the interview with Jen Beattie for the bookproject

Jen: sips on her coffee So, how did you..?

Reader: laughs amused do I have to remind you Jen Beattie that I'm the person here asking the questions and it's about the Scottish Women’s national team?

Jen: I thought we weren’t starting yet!

Reader: You said you got your coffee in front of you and that we can start recording that conversation.

Jen: I didn’t know you meant immediately.

Reader: So now you know.

Jen: okay, sorry. I’ll let you talk now.

Reader: Thank you can see jen lifting her finger Yes?

Jen: No, sorry. I forgot I’m not allowed to ask questions.

Reader: Maybe you can ask a few so it feels more like a natural conversation? Maybe that works better for you too.

Jen: Okay, fine with me. How did you get the idea to write this?

Reader: Easy your team’s story is very intriguing and inspiring. I really wanted to cover more than a story, and, in a book, you get the chance to tell multiple of stories.

Jen: I like that. But I always think, we’re just Scotland, you know? There are more interesting teams to write about.

Reader: Yes, I get that but it might sound like a stupid reason, but I grew up in Edinburgh, so Scotland is very dear to my heart, also everyone loves the underdog.

Jen: I like that.

Reader: So, what I’m trying to say with this is you can trust me.

Jen: I do. Why would I not trust you with this topic?

Reader: Good point

Jen: See.

Reader: going back to our topic, when and how did you feel when you were getting your first call up for Scotland?

Jen: chuckles Oh that was a long time ago but as a football player you always dream of that call so as you can imagine I was very excited.

Reader: Do you remember that exact moment?

Jen: Yes, I do. I still played for Glasgow, and I almost missed the call because I started at the phone for too long.

Reader: You did?

Jen: Yes, I’m not sure what would have happened if I missed it.

Reader: I guess they would have tried it again.

Jen: Who knows, right?

Reader: I think it was meant to be.

Jen: It probably was. I’m glad I took the call though. It changed a lot for me.

Reader: This must have been a big step forward in your career.

Jen: It is. I don’t know if Arsenal would have wanted me if it hadn’t been for that call.

Reader: but Arsenal did want you. Lily entering the room Oh sorry this is my daughter Lily.

Jen: She’s adorable. Hi Lily.

Lily: Hello, are you mum’s new friend?

Reader: Actually, I’m interviewing Jen for my book.

Jen: But it’s almost something like that.

Reader: True. Can you give me five more minutes, Lil? And when we’ll go to the park to play football like I promised you earlier.

Lily: Okay.

Reader: Thanks love. Sorry, so where were we Jen?

Jen: Uhm.. oh, Arsenal.

Reader: Yes, right, you got the chance to play there.

Jen: I did. Together with my Scotland teammate.

Reader: So, you must have been very young when you made your move to London?

Jen: I was 18.

Reader: Right.

Jen: Kim was 18 too when she moved to London the year before, so I was glad to have her there too.

Reader: That’s really sweet.

Jen: We both were the youngest and now we’re the grandmas.

Reader: protests You’re not grandmas !

Jen: No but we like to joke about it.

Reader: I can see that.

Jen: With all the youngsters here.

Lily: wears a Scotland jersey Mum, I’m ready !

Reader: Shit, the five minutes are over.

Jen: You probably shouldn’t let her wait.

Reader: Sorry, that’s so unprofessional.

Jen: No worries. I understand that.

Reader: Thank you.

Jen: Have fun.

Lily: Do you want to play with us?

Jen: I would love to, but I have training. Another time, I promise.

Lily: Oh okay.

Jen: Lily?

Lily: Yes?

Jen: I mean it.

Lily: I trust you.

Jen: I’ll see you soon.

Reader: Goodbye, Jen. Thank you for taking your time.

Jen: Thank you for inviting me. And don’t forget to call me, so Lily and I can play some football.

Reader: I’ll call you. Promise.

Lily: whispers Mum, she likes you.

Reader: I think she likes you more.

Lily: But she likes you too!

Reader: Do you think so?

Lily: Yes!

Reader: When it must be true.

Lily: Its true.

The London Derby was about to start. The crowd at the Emirates was roaring with excitement. Amazed, you took in the atmosphere from the side of the pitch alongside some of the other jounalists.

Across the grass, you caught Jen’s gaze who was standing next to the tunnel in a big puffer jacket. She subtly waved at you which you answered with a small smile.

Kim Little appeared next to Jen, telling her something with a stern face. You knew the game was about to start so you turned back to your work.

“Has anyone seen Lily? Jen, you were supposed to look after the daughter of your girlfriend. “, Kim scolded Jen on the other side of the pitch. Reluctantly, Jen turned away from you and towards her teammate; “You said you would babysit.“ “After the match! I’m in the starting line up, remember?“, Kim replied, more amused than annoyed.

Laughing, Jen rolled her eyes; “Ugh, show-off.“ Her smaller team mate gave her playfully offended look; “Hey, you’re still talking to your captain here.“ “Yeh, sure. I’ll go find Lily.“, Jen answered with a grin and brushed past Kim into the dressing rooms. “Good!“, the Arsenal captain called after her.

Jen opened the door of the dressing room where the Arsenal players were just getting ready for the important game against Chelsea; “Lil?“ “Here!“, the voice of a child piped up. The little girl waved with one hand from her place between Alessia Russo and Kyra Cooney-Cross. In the other hand, she held a crumbly granola bar. Jen walked towards her, a big grin on her face; “What are you doing here? Having a snack?“

“Yes, Lessie gave me something. And Wally promised to do my hair.“, Lily nodded with pure joy. Jen ruffled her hair; “Lucky girl.“ “Comes from the one who only ever wears a bun on match days.“, Lia laughed while she pushed past Jen and took Kyras place.

Carefully, she started brushing Lilys hair. “It’s the least complicated and most effective hairstyle.“, the Scot defended herself with a shrug. Kim rolled her eyes; “And it makes you even taller than you are.“

With raised eyebrows, Jen made a point to look down at her captain; “How can you even tell that from down there?“ “Rude.“, she replied before turning towards the toddler whose hair was now in a high ponytail, “Lil?“ “Yes?“ “Tell her to stop making fun of small girls.“

Lily nodded determinedly, causing Lia to start over with braiding her little ponytail; “I’ll.“ “We’re done.“, Lia smiled a minute later, satisfied with her finished work. Lily happily jumped up on the bench, standing on her toes to eye her new hairstyle in a mirror. Laughing, Jen picked her up; “Good. Because these girls have to go out and play and important game now.“

“Good luck!”, Lily hummed. Gratefully Lia patted the shoulder of the little girl:” Thank you, Lily.” “Can you give me a hug as an extra motivation?”, Alessia asked her with a big smirk on her face. Enthusiastically Lily nodded, opening her arms up to hug the tall forward:  “Of course.” That sight alone melted Jen’s heart in the blink of an eye.

In her bossy tone which was such a contrast to her relatively smallness Kim clapped motivated into her hands:” Alright girls, time to get out there.” While the playing footballers went on to the field Jen and the toddler took their seats on the bench.

Big eyed Lily pulled on the defender’s jacket: ”Jen?” “Yes?”, attentively the Scottish player put her little hand into hers. Deeply amazed Lily whispered: “This is huge.”  “I know, right?”, Jen solemnly agreed. Not long into the game Beth Mead scored the first goal which made Lily jump from her seat shouting happily:” Yes, Meado!”

“Good job, Beth! She’ll be so happy about that girl.”, the defender commented with a satisfied smile. A bit less enthusiastic the girl added:” Mum told me she had a bad injury.”  “Yes, she didn’t play football for almost one year.”, the Scottish Woman replied seriously.

Quite taken by that she mumbled: “ That’s forever.” “And her girlfriend Viv had the same injury.”, Jen explained the past situation to her.  Moved by those words Lily observed: “That’s not fair.” “No but it happens in football.”, the defender reminded her.

The mood was lightened when the little girl was catching where the older woman’s eyes were wandering:” Jen, you keep staring at mum!” Caught of guard the Arsenal player’s cheek turned red:” I’m not I was just looking if she’s looking.” “Sure.”, Lily giggled.

After the match she ran to Alessia, telling her visibly very animated:” Lessi, your goals were soo cool!” “Thank you, Lily! You were our lucky charm today.”, the forward declared beaming.

After the live recording ended you greeted Jen with a huge grin, while she was wrapping her strong arms around you::” Hi love, did Lil behave?” “You know her of course she did. She’s too focused on the game in front of her.”, the Scottish woman answered cheerfully.

Glad about that news you changed the topic easily: “Good. Remind me, where are you taking me out tonight, again?” “You’ll see when we’re there.”, Jen smiled mysteriously. Excited about what the evening would contain you said: “I’ll be right back I’ll be just saying goodbye to Lily and tell her that it might get a bit later tonight, so she doesn’t need to try to stay awake until we’re back.” “Alright.”, with that word the Arsenal player let go of you for now.

A few minutes prior Kim wanted to know from the toddler:” Have you decided whose jersey you want, Lily?” “Can I have yours?”, she asked innocently. The captain was surprised by that wish:” Mine?” “Yes, please.”, Lily nodded quickly.

Flustered the older woman gave the little girl her jersey:” Oh, sure. Here you go.” “Thank you.”, the toddler gratefully pressed the shirt onto her.  Trying not to show how touched she was Kim waved it off:” You’re welcome.”

Lily was already wearing the oversized jersey when you entered the dressing room. Your daughter happily ran into your arms. You wrapped her into a tight hug while you told her; “Hi Lily, I just wanted to say goodbye for now and that Jen and I’ll be back tonight. But I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun with Kimmy.“

You shared a quick smile with Arsenals team captain. “Okay, have fun, Mum.“, Lily replied, obviously already distracted by what was happening around her in the dressing room. You pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before saying goodbye; “Love you, Lily.“ You could feel your daughters eyes on you while you caught up Jen outside.

Kim realized that Lily was confused by the situation so she kneeled down in front of the toddler; “Tell me, Lily, what do you want to eat now?“ “Can we eat pizza?“, the little girl asked with big eyes.

While Kim nodded, Leah Williamson joined the conversation; “Can we join the pizza party?“ “Please?“, Laura Wienroither added, her facial expression almost identical to Lilys. Kim nodded with a sigh before turning back the toddler; “Sure. How about we make our own pizzas, Lily?“ “Yes!“ “Alright, let’s go.“, the captain decided and got up to grab her bag. She took Lilys hand in hers while Leah and Laura followed them.

At Kims home, they immediately got to work, making small individual pizzas. “I’m jealous. Yours and Kims pizza looks so good.“, Leah complained, eyeing the ham and mozzarella pizza that Kim just took out of the oven. “It’s because Lily and I are a good team.“, she replied, holding up her hand for Lily to high-five. “True.“, the little girl agreed.

Laura laughed; “Not bad, Little team.“ “Thanks.“, Kim said, only partly annoyed by the pun. Excitedly, Leah took her pizza out of the oven next; “Time to eat our pizzas.“ But there was a loud bang that told everyone in the room that Leahs pizza did not even make it to the table. “Oh no.“ “Leah!“, Lily yelled, amused by the mess the tomato sauce and hot cheese made on the tile floor. “Yeah, I know, very funny.“, the defender sighed.

Kim immediately turned back to the kitchen table; “It’s okay, we can make a new one.“ “Lee, you can have a bit of mine.“, Lily offered, gently pushing a piece of pizza towards the defender. Gratefully, Leah picked it up and took a bite; “Thank you, Lily, you’re very sweet.“ “You don’t need to tell her that, she knows.“, Kim grinned while making more pizza. “Still. She shared her pizza with me!“

Finally, the captain admitted; “Yes, okay, it’s cute.“ “See, that’s adorable.“, Leah said. Laura disrupted their conversation, pointing towards the toddler; “Oh my god, girls. She fell asleep with her head next to her plate.“

A soft smile appeared on Kims lips as she watched the child sleep, a piece of pizza still in her tiny hand; “I think it was a long day for her. Winning against Chelsea is exhausting.“ “Very true.“, Leah agreed with a laugh. Carefully, Kim picked the girl up; “I’ll bring her to bed.“ “Good night, Lil.“, Laura whispered. Lily blinked tiredly and yawned against Kims shoulder; “Nighty.“

Meanwhile, you looked at your surroundings being in awe of the restaurant your girlfriend chose:” Jen, this is so fancy here.” “I told you; I’d take you somewhere nice.”, the Arsenal player replied with a warm smile.  Proudly she kept holding your hand until you reached your table and took a seat each. “Yes, you weren’t lying about you.”, you had to admit delighted.

In an honest tone she stated: “As much as I love Lily, you also deserve to be treated to something nice.” “She loves you too, in her kindergarten she refers to you as her mum.”, you confessed, cheeks flushing. Surprised but flattered Jen asked:” She does?” “Yes.”, you nodded cautiously, unsure if this information was too much for your girlfriend.  

The defender let out a shaky breath: “Wow.” “Sorry, if that was too much.”, you stammered an apology. Immediately she reassured you:” No, I like that.” “Anything you would recommend from the menu?”, you tried to lighten up the mood, but the football player was taking your hand meaning you to pause for a second.

Softly the Scottish woman said:” Love..”  “Yes?”, you looked up to her, your free hand was nervously putting a loose string of your hair behind your ear. A deep sigh escaped Jen’s lips, before she confessed: “I want to be honest with you. I never wanted to be a mum; it just wasn’t one of my life goals like it is for other women. But I’d love nothing more than being Lily’s mum.”  

“You’re already a great one.”, you confirmed visibly moved by her words. Equally touched Jen answered: “Thanks. That means a lot.” Because words couldn’t encompass how much her confession meant to you, you kissed her, hoping the kiss could encompass everything you felt in that moment. “I love you.”, the Arsenal player whispered. “I love you too.”  Her voice was filled with gratitude:” I’m so glad you were writing that book.” “It’s coming out soon.”, you announced happily.

Hopefully Jen wanted to know: “Can I read it first?” “Of course, I’ll leave you a copy on your nightstand.”, you promised her excited. A bright grin was on your girlfriend’s face: “Thank you. I can’t wait to read it.”  “I hope you and the team will like it.”, you bit your lip.  “I’m sure we will.” From that on you two had a very pleasant date night.

After the dinner you gratefully greeted Kim in her home:” Hi Kim, thanks for watching after Lily.”  “You’re welcome. She was really tired and already fell asleep at dinner.”, the Arsenal Captain told you. Understandingly you nodded:” To be fair it was a long, exciting day for her.” “That’s true. I hope you had a good date night.”, Kim smiled at you both. Beaming Jen replied:“ We did.” “That’s good.”, the midfielder seemed pleased by the happy faces in front of her.

“Mums?“, Lilys voice interrupted your small talk. The little girl stumbled into your direction, her eyes were barely open. “Yes?“, Jen answered. “You’re back.“, your daughter yawned. You crouched down, your arms outstretched and Lily let herself against your chest. “We are.“, you confirmed as you carefully picked her up. Jen reached over, ruffling the little girls hair; “Yes, and we’re going home now.“ “Okay.“, Lily mumbled, almost asleep again. Jen chuckled quietly; “She is so cute.“

You said your goodbyes to Kim and made your way back home. You placed the sleeping Lily in her bed, carefully tucking her in and placing a gentle kiss on her forehead; “Good night, Lil.“ “I think she had fun today.“, Jen commented from where she leaned on the door frame. You grinned; “Yes, they had pizzas together.“

“Oh, Kim just texted.“, Jen said in surprise. You watched her read something on her phone; “What did she write?“ “That she hopes we got Lily home without waking her up.“, your girlfriend summarized the message quickly. You shrugged; “Kind of. She’s asleep now.“

With a smile on your lips, you took Jens phone out of her hand to snap a photo of your daughter, fast asleep with her favourite plushie in her arm. Grinning, Jen followed up her message to Kim with the photo while you both left Lilys room. “She and the girls seem to like being aunties.“, Jen thought out loud. You nodded happily; “They do. Even though Kim always pretends to be annoyed when you ask her to babysit.“ “Yes, but she secretly loves it.“, Jen replied with a laugh. “Oh yes.“, you agreed while you both slipped into your bed.

Only as your head hit your pillow, you realized how tired you were. Yawning, Jen slipped an arm around your waist and gently kissed your neck once. Just before you two were about to fall asleep, Jens phone screen lit up again.

As she held up the phone and blinked against the brightness of the screen, you caught a glimpse of the message. It was from Kim, reading; “Haven’t seen you that happy in a long time. You deserve this, Jen.“ You could feel a smile spread on your face, similar to the one on your girlfriends and you couldn’t deny that you felt a little bit honoured by that message.

Jen put her phone back on the nightstand and pulled you closer to her. You both didn’t need any words to express how right it felt to be there in each others arms.

#jen beattie #jen beattie x reader #woso x reader #woso one shot #woso imagine #woso fanfics #woso community #woso #arsenal wfc #arsenal wfc x reader #arsenal wfc imagine #awfc #leah williamson #alessia russo #kim little #kyra cooney cross #jen beattie imagine #beth mead

[diejager]

My deep dark desire for a distillery au wherein each force is a competing distillery and you yeet an expert taster reader in there who is in charge of judging each whisky and ranking them. Either they are pulling out all the stops on your tour and treating you like a princess or doing the opposite and threatening you to rank them the highest :')

Mhairi, I am the worse person to ask about whiskey, my parents have delicious smelling ones, fruity and spicy ones, but taste wise? I gag like there’s no tomorrow, especially gin!! I hate gin. The only thing I can stomach so far is sweet, coffee and cream flavoured Baileys Irish Cream. (I know there’s Irish whiskey in it, but it’s only 17% compared to the 40% of any other whiskeys)

Eau De Vie Cw: Alcohol drinking, whiskey taste, tell me if I missed any.

Whisky had always been your favourite, your little secret that you shared with your closest friends alone —your penchent for judging whiskeys and bourbons alone, managing to include rum and brandy in rare occasions. So when you were approached by a known figure in the Whiskey industry that acted as the face for many distilleries across the world, you couldn’t turn down the offer when you were given so much in a simple deal.

You were responsible to drink and rank many popular brands by taste and smell alone, the only person delegated to become the judge. You were given the privilege of taking home a bottle of each brand after this competition, another reason to accept it. So you signed the contract without a second of hesitation, shaking her hand to conclude the deal before she left you squirming with excitement in your office home.

You were flown from your city to a calm part of the Scottish countryside, a chalet overlooking the Scottish highlands and its green beauty. This was the quaint house you would temporarily live in with the rest of the team orchestrating this friendly competition, leaving the connecting house up the cliff side to the different distilleries. From what you’ve heard, Kate Laswell - Kate you called her after a few meetings that had fully bloomed into a friendship of alcohol connoissoir - the participating teams were the British company 141 - who in coalition to Chimera and the ULF - would represent their alliance, the American Shadows, the multi-national KorTac and the Russian brewery Konni. They were all popular brands distilling whiskey and brandy in their own countries, creating a plethora of tastes and sensations that would explode on your tongue after a few sips.

You were ecstatic, your mouth salivating at the simple thought of tasting the finest whiskeys from around the world, but you had a few days to rest and tour the side of Scotland you were shipped to. What you expected to be calm and mild-mannered men and women from their side of the world to meet and eat with refined etiquette, was shattered the second you peered through the door after walking down the connecting path from your chalet to their house.

They were loud, rambunctious in the very sense of it, loud and jovial, hurling insults and hissing out jeers at one another. It was a dogfight between brewers, like cats and dogs. You felt like a stranger, gawking at the group hurling words at one another until it all stopped, the open living room falling in silence when they heard you drop your bag on the polished wood. You’ve never seen humans move so fast until the second after the silence, scrambling to clean the room up and wooing you with their compliments and sweet pleasantries to appease you.

They gave you a tour of the house, the rich wine cellar that was open to you whenever you wanted a drink, the wooden patio that had it’s own lounge and bar, and the various rooms in the mansion-like chalet. They all vied for your attention, ripping one another’s throat to have a second of your attention, kissing up to you with sweet compliments and even sweeter praises.

The Brits - well, three English and one Scott - were a good mix of mature and zealousness, low voices and near-overwhelming figures with their broad shoulders and stocky mass. They came with other people to represent their company: Farah and her devoted Alex from ULF, and the crude Nikolai and Krueger from Chimera.

The Shadows were American, the most American you’ve ever seen, energetic and determined to win you over, and the CEO, a man with a southern accent and a seductive smirk, swiping you off your feet with pet names that made you fluster.

KorTac had as many accents as they had people of different countries, both men and women skilled in multiple languages and conversing so fluently that you started to question if you were on the same planet.

Konni was rough on the edges, their leading figure as scheming as he was gentlemanly, his thin lips letting out the most vicious praises to have you squirming under his dark gaze and unmoving determination for the win.

Days later, you met them at the compound farther down the road, away from the beauty of the coast and cliff, a long table exposing their finest to you. Poured in a cups, one with ice and another without, they were left for you to decide which would win the prize for both straight and on the rocks. Today was the day you would nominate one as the best, standing higher than everyone else without bias despite the times they rendered you a flustered mess and made you unendingly grateful for their help.

Your pallet exploded with flavour every time you sipped on a different brand, eyes rolling to the back of your head with the deliciousness of every bottle. 141 brought three bottles of their aged whiskey: a smoky Scotch Whisky made in the same Highlands you were tasting it, the bitter spiciness of rye whiskey from the American branch of the ULF - credits to Alex for introducing it - and the woody and fruity aroma of Chimera’s whiskey. Shadows had brought - unsurprisingly - their most popular types of whiskey to the table: Bourbon made in their own distillery in Kentucky, a sweet and mellow sub-type of their first one and the smooth flavour of their wheat whiskey. KorTac had a large variety to it’s collection: a floral tasting whiskey that outmatched Hibiki Harmony, a nutty sensation of a bottle made in Ireland and the rich and peaty on of a danish-made bottle. And finally, three Russian bottles from the biggest distillery in Russia: a sweet and smoky bottle, a second one with rich malt and honey, and a third focusing on aroma with it’s spicy odour and fruity taste.

They were all so delicious, if you had these bottles when you working at the bar, mixing concoctions for paying clients, you would’ve been overjoyed, but those days were long gone, your priority standing elsewhere than fulfilling your dream. Truthfully, you didn’t know who to give the medal, the flavours so vast and unique. Perhaps they wouldn’t mind if you took a second or third sip just to be sure.

Part 2

Taglist: @sae1kie @yeoldedumbslut @bvxygriimes @distracteddragoness @konigsblog @havoc973 @im-making-an-effort @daisychainsinknots @0alk0msan @danielle143 @dont-mind-me-just-existing-sadly @tuttifuckinfruttifriday @kaelysia @notspiders @velvetsoulweaver @petwifed @aldis-nuts @randominstake

#x reader #cod mw2 #cod mw2 x reader #ghost mw2 #konig mw2 #soap mw2 #gaz mw2 #price mw2 #nikolai mw2 #farah karim #alex keller #horangi #kortac #specgru #konni group #shadow company #phillip graves #sebastian krueger #mw3 makarov #Distillery AU #Distillery cod

[aimeedaisies]

The Princess Royal’s Official Engagements in March 2024

01/03 In Dubai Princess Anne; 🇦🇪

As President of the Mission to Seafarers, visited Dubai Ports World in Port of Jebel Ali. 🚢

As President of the Mission to Seafarers, attended a Women in Shipping and Trading Conference Panel Discussion at Dubai Ports World Pavilion. 👩‍💼🛳️

Opened Donnelly Lines British Forces Headquarters at Al Minhad Airbase. 🛫

Called upon HH Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum (wife of the Vice President and PM of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai). 👑

Attended a Royal British Legion Reception on board the QUEEN ELIZABETH II floating hotel. 🍾

As President of the Royal Yachting Association, visited Dubai Offshore Sailing Club. 🛥️

As President of the Mission to Seafarers, this attended a Dinner at the One and Only Royal Mirage Hotel. 🍽️

02/03 Departed Dubai International Airport and returned to Heathrow Airport 🇦🇪✈️🇬🇧

04/03 As Guardian of the Chaffinch Trust, held a Management Team Meeting at Gatcombe Park. 🤝

As Guardian of Give Them A Sporting Chance, held a Management Team Meeting at Gatcombe Park. ⚽️

unofficial Along with the Duke of Kent (President of the RNLI), Sir Tim (Vice President of the RNLI) attended a Service of Thanksgiving to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the RNLI at Westminster Abbey. 🛟

05/03 As Patron of Livability, visited New Court Place, to mark its 180th Anniversary. 🦼

Opened First Garden Cities Homes' Sheltered Housing Scheme at John Coxall Court in Letchworth Garden City. 🏡

As Patron of the Butler Trust, visited HMP/Young Offenders Institute Aylesbury. 🔗👮

06/03 On behalf of the King, held two investiture ceremonies at Windsor Castle. 🎖️

07/03 As President, attended the 32nd National Equine Forum at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 🐴

As Grand Master of the Royal Victorian Order, attended Evensong and a Reception at The King’s Chapel of the Savoy. ⛪️🎖️

08/03 As Chancellor of the University of London, visited King’s College London’s Portable MRI Project at the Denmark Hill Campus. 🩻

As Patron of Save the Children UK, attended the International Women’s Day Luncheon at Bluebird on Kings Road. 👭💪

10/03 Attended the Global Fraud Summit at the Guildhall in London. 💻👾

11/03 Attended the Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey alongside The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, The Princess Royal, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and The Duke of Kent. 🌎🌍🌏

Attended a Commonwealth Day Reception at Westminster Abbey. 🌍🥂

With Sir Tim As Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Butchers, attended the Annual City Food and Drink Lecture at Guildhall. 🍽️🍾

12/03 With Sir Tim Attended a luncheon on board Hebridean Princess to mark its 60th Anniversary in Greenock. 🥪

With Sir Tim Visited Peel Ports Group Limited Greenock Ocean Terminal. 🛳️

13/03 unofficial Attended Style Wednesday at Cheltenham Festival. 👒

14/03 unofficial Attended St. Patrick’s Thursday at Cheltenham Festival. ☘️

15/03 With Sir Tim Attended Gold Cup Friday at Cheltenham Festival. 🏆

16/03 With Sir Tim As Patron of the Scottish Rugby Union, attended the Six Nations Rugby Match between Scotland and Ireland at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🏉

18/03 As Patron of Save the Children UK, attended the International Financial Review Annual Awards Dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.🏅

19/03 As Patron of Sense, opened Sense Hub Loughborough.🦻👨‍🦯

On behalf of The King, with the Duchess of Edinburgh, held a Reception for Korean War Veterans at Buckingham Palace. 🪖

As Patron of the Butler Trust, held the Annual Awards Ceremony at St James’s Palace. 🏆

With Sir Tim As President of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, attended a Presidential Dinner at Fishmongers’ Hall. 🐟🍽️

20/03 Held a morning and an afternoon investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle. 🎖️

21/03 As President of the Benenden Society and Founders’ Patron of Benenden School, attended the Centenary Service in Canterbury Cathedral. ⛪️👩‍🦰

Attended the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and Choir Presentation Concert at Spencer House. 🎻🎼

22/03 Opened the new North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Allied Rapid Reaction Corps Headquarters Accommodation at the Officers’ Mess in Imjin Barracks. 🌊

Visited the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre and Ministry of Defence Medal Office at Innsworth House in Imjin Barracks. ⛑️🎖️

As Patron of Stroud Hospital League of Friends, visited Stroud Maternity Unit. 🏥👶

25/03 Visited MacRebur Limited. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🛣️

Visited the Lockerbie Air Disaster Memorial at Lockerbie Garden of Remembrance. 🌹👼🏻

As President of the Scotch Chef’s Club, opened Browns Food Group’s new facilities at Kelloholm Industrial Estate. 🐄

As Royal Patron of Friends of TS Queen Mary, attended a Reception at the Hilton Glasgow. ⛴️🥂

26/03 Opened the Rural and Veterinary Innovation Centre at Scotland's Rural College in Inverness. 🩺🐑

As Chancellor of the University of the Highlands and Islands, attended the Integrated Land Use Conference. 🚜🧑‍🌾

As Royal Patron of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, visited the Saving Wildcats Project at Highland Wildlife Park in Kincraig. 🐯🦁

As Patron and Honorary Member of the Grand Antiquity Society of Glasgow, attended a Dinner at the Trades Hall of Glasgow. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿📜

Unofficial Sir Tim, as Chair of Trustees, attended the opening of the Adani Green Energy Gallery at the Science Museum 🌍🍃💚

31/03 unofficial With Sir Tim Attended the Easter Mattins service held at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle ⛪️🐣

Total official engagements for Anne in March: 49

2024 total so far: 134

Total official engagements accompanied by Tim in March: 6

2024 total so far: 29

FYI - due to certain royal family members being off ill/in recovery I won't be posting everyone's engagement counts out of respect, I am continuing to count them and release the totals at the end of the year.

#hardest working royal 🫡 #a busy bee #princess anne #princess royal #tim laurence #timothy laurence #always there to support his wife 🥰 #march 2024 #unofficial engagement count 2024

[bright-and-burning]

No bc I love women and football tell me all the gossip with mccabe and foord and the ex (who is she) ☕️

alright this is going to be long im sorry but get me started on woso and i just blabber. uhh most of my sources cited but this is mostly me going back thru texts from during the world cup and grabbing facts/pictures from then so a few of these claims are a little

BUT i promise i didnt make this up LOL i was Deep in google for the entirety of the world cup so i Know i got my info from somewhere

everything else under the cut bc this got SO long im actually so sorry

there's three primary people involved here:

katie mccabe: left back (but honestly left everything wonder woman). captains the irish national team. plays for WSL's arsenal, has been since 2015 (minus a lil bit loaned to glasgow in 2017). those are the two important facts here really but the below is ~flavor~.

she's 28 and 5'5 and she's a DREAM. scored an olimpico at the world cup (FIRST IN WOMENS WORLD CUP HISTORY!!!!) (THATS WHERE YOU SCORE A GOAL DIRECTLY FROM A CORNER. FIRST ONE SINCE THE 60S IN A WORLD CUP IN GENERAL!! LITERALLY INSANITY!!!)

also for context this world cup was ireland's wnt's first ever major tournament appearance. she's the first ever irish goal-scorer (of men and women!). she's amazing. here's her for arsenal:

ruesha littlejohn: striker/midfielder. scottish-irish, but represents ireland at the senior level. 33 years old. has played for a lot of teams club-wise. currently plays for london city lionesses, a second tier team, but that wasnt announced til after the world cup. her most recent wsl team was aston villa (but i mean it, she's played like everywhere lol). 5'6 if you're curious.

here's her in ireland's kit:

caitlin foord: forward! plays for australia internationally, and arsenal (so teammates with katie. this is important.) she's played for arsenal since 2020! used to play for the thorns in the nwsl once upon a time. 5'7, if, again, you're curious. she used to date a swiss footballer (lia walti, who's played for arsenal since 2018) but they broke up like six months before the world cup. walti unfollows the australian team on instragram right after they post a video of foord, it's all very dramatic (THEYRE STILL TEAMMATES AT ARSENAL THIS WHOLE TIME BTW). arsenal man, always at the scene of the crime.

ok so now you've met our main players!!

world cup happened this past summer (2023), btw. to give you an idea of timing.

katie mccabe and ruesha littlejohn dated for 6-7 years (some articles say 6, some say 7). they came out in june 2019 and said they'd been dating for three years already. their breakup was confirmed right before the world cup (like THE SAME WEEK??), in an article where mccabe was like "yeah, ruesha, my partner at the time..." very casual.

and then. in JUNE. (world cup starts july 20th!!)

foord and mccabe go to ibiza w an ex-arsenal player (jordan nobbs). who (in june 2023, not anymore) played at aston villa with. you guessed it. littlejohn. so yeah your ex gf goes on a trip to ibiza w a new girl and your current teammate, you might be a lil pissed off. maybe.

the sun's (i know, BOOOO but this made me laugh so hard) caption on a pic from the trip had me cackling:

(the title of the article was "inside the glam lifestyle of pals caitlin foord and katie mccabe after ireland’s star’s ex snubs world cup handshake." borderline galpals commentary like have writers there never heard of regular synonyms for friends?? there was also a line that just screamed please don't sue us: "However, The Sun does not suggest the Aussie forward had anything to do with McCabe and Littlejohn's break-up.")

so now we've got two exes on the irish national team going into their first world cup appearance, the captain of the swiss national team and an australian player having broken up like six months ago, and much more, but that isn't directly related to This Specifically.

while you, anon, presumably know how the world cup works, ill give a mini explainer for anyone lost: there's the group stage, where the teams get divided into groups (in this case, of four), and your team plays every other team in the group. you get three points for winning a game, one for a draw, and none for a loss. those points add up and top two teams move on. and then you go into the knockout stage, where you have to win to advance, and if you keep winning you make it to the final yay!!

but for this we only care about the group stage. and more specifically, about group B.

group B is made up of nigeria, canada, australia, and (drumroll please) ireland!!! it is the stuff reality tv shows WISH they could make happen.

ireland and australia play. it is (almost*) the very first game of the tournament (but it's still on july 20th). it is at 5am my time. you would not believe the timezone fuckery i went through that month.

(*ok new zealand played norway starting a bit earlier on the same day but that's not as dramatic sounding)

and you know how they shake hands with the other team before a game? yeah well here's littlejohn apparently refusing to shake foord's hand:

here's a lovely photo of a Look from littlejohn to mccabe:

here's a diff irish player (sullivan) separating littlejohn and foord after the game (australia wins 1-0, btw.):

and i already shared this on @powerful-owl's post BUT. here's mccabe's little sister, supporting mccabe. please note the date (july 20th) and the comment from foord (from after the game, im like 99.99% sure) asking if she wants her jersey now. me personally if i just beat my totally platonic friend/teammate on the world's stage i wouldnt be pulling up in their sister's comments asking if she wants a jersey now (also implication of the word now as in previously discussed, etc etc. this was the thing that pushed me over the edge into insanity at like 9am after no sleep)

i admittedly have not kept up to date on anything that's gone down since the world cup so it's entirely possible more has happened! in fact i would say that it is downright likely lol. i love soccer lesbians n the insane charts necessary to keep track of their relationships <3

#me? insane? #um. im so sorry guys daksjfdk i dont know what came over me #this took longer than i expected to track down all the stuff i wanted to include. here's the tea anon! #and also i may very well be wrong abt things. tbf this is from memory and i also dont follow WSL very closely #much less the TEA. but this was fascinating to watch play out live lol #anon ask #eve talks soccer

[saintsenara]

for the ask game 19, 22, 26

thank you very much for the ask from the i'm not from the states ask game, anon!

now... i'm not sure if you did this intentionally or not... but these are the bag of worms questions...

19. do you like your country’s flag and/or emblem? what about the national anthem?

there are four flags [flegs] at play here [clockwise]: the union flag; the ulster banner; the st patrick's saltire; the irish tricolour flag.

in terms of aesthetics, i am sorry to say that the union flag slaps. great colour scheme. jazzy design.

but in terms of what these flags mean... well. this is northern ireland. so they all mean something sectarian. and so i would certainly say that i like the irish flag - in that i know i'm unlikely to be attacked if i'm in an area where it's flying. that is very much not the case in areas where the union flag or the ulster banner are knocking about.

do i like that this is the case? no. and while my national sympathies are considerably more irish than british, i find our flag culture both insufferable and one of the main contributors to the continuation of the sectarian divide. it's obviously a bit kumbaya to suggest that a neutral flag might make any difference... but it couldn't hurt...

in terms of the national anthems, i never have any real cause to sing any [and the sectarian context is the same] so we're going purely on which slaps the hardest:

amhrán na bhfiann [a fucking banger!!]

ireland's call [slightly cringeworthy in its earnestness, but it does bang]

god save the king [the tune is unforgivably dull, but the lyrics genuinely go really hard - especially the discontinued ones about crushing the scottish and confounding popery.]

the londonderry air [this is what we're going with? the welsh have land of my fathers and this is what we're going with?]

22. what makes you proud about your country? what makes you ashamed?

the peace process.

because my answer to the second half of this question would be enduring sectarianism - and, specifically, enduring casual sectarianism. but i am also well aware that the flippancy younger people [especially those born after 2000] speak about the sectarian divide with is something which has only been made possible by the security of peace. it's easy for the irish women's football team to sing "up the ra" when the only thing that'll happen to them is some pearl-clutching from the press and a slap-on-the-wrist fine. thirty years ago, things would have been really quite different...

the peace is imperfect. it is fragile. it has been treated with utter disregard by the british state. the extraordinary work - especially that of the british politician mo mowlam - to bring it about has faded into an easy linear story, whose stars are tony blair and bill clinton. it has not caused complete justice to be done. it has not caused sectarian violence to vanish overnight - there are stories which emerge weekly from the city in which i live about some sort of sectarian crime.

but these stories make it into the papers because they are proportionally uncommon now. and i don't think we need to lose sight of that.

i was born in the early 1990s. i was at primary school when the good friday agreement was signed. and yet, despite the relatively few years i spent in a northern ireland at war, i can still remember roadblocks and police dogs and my dad checking under the car and bomb drills and being heckled as i walked to school and having to have your bags searched before you could enter shops and my mam crying on the day the omagh bombing happened. my siblings, born in the 80s, remember these things even more viscerally. my father, born in the 1950s, remembers having guns pointed at him by british soldiers while walking down the street, or being stopped and searched on spurious grounds by the royal ulster constabulary, or a call coming in to evacuate a place before a bomb went off.

my nieces and nephews, all born after 2000, have never experienced any of this. if they are naive about the true horrors of sectarianism... then we should reflect on how lucky that makes us.

26. does your nationality get portrayed in hollywood/american media? what do you think about the portrayal?

answered here.

#asks answered #northern ireland posting

[duchessofostergotlands]

just listened to the pod and although i agree the william doesn’t HATE women’s football, a lot of your arguments relied on “whataboutism”…. like sure the late queen or charles didn’t go to support their patron sports team, or the prime minister didn’t go either, but that doesn’t absolve william. you downplay the importance of his attendance but also stated he’s the reason you even know about some female players. but anyway, i also think he should definitely step down from the FA presidency - it involves too much passion for a “neutral” figure head

I can understand why you've interpreted it that way - to the point where I already had most of this answer prepared in my drafts - but it's inaccurate. I can only speak for the things I said in that episode so if you have a problem with something Grace said you can talk to her (she'd be happy to argue with you and tbh I think it's pretty telling about your view that you chose me to message and not Grace...) but that segment of the episode has two parts:

Why I don't think it's a big deal William didn't go and

Why I'm upset by the general narrative from the public and press

There were only two reasons I didn't think it was a big deal that William didn't go. I can show you my notes if you refuse to believe me.

The work he does for the England WNT and the men's national team is not drastically different now. It's not the same situation as it was in 2022 when William had done absolutely fuck all for women's sport and we both criticised him extensively. The players themselves have spoken repeatedly about the support and engagement they feel from him and

It's Australia. It's 10,000 fucking miles away. Spending tax payer money (from all four nations of the UK) to send a leader in climate change to Australia for what is effectively 5 minutes of work celebrating England is frankly absurd and I genuinely cannot fathom why anyone ever thought he'd go. Especially as it risks inflaming tensions given no one has been to Australia since the change of reign. If you listen back - I don't know, maybe you skipped over this bit, maybe you chose to disregard it - I clearly state that the problem wasn't that William didn't go to Australia it was that he didn't prepare for the fact he wasn't going to Australia. We both stated that he should have done more to support the team but he should have done it from home.

So if you can tell me where the whataboutism is there that would be grand as those were the only two arguments I made.

The rest was about the general narrative - as I said in the episode - and has no impact on my standpoint on William's decision in any way. It wasn't about William at all from my perspective, and what I said was entirely about the undercurrent of bigotry in the criticism of William. I am a Scottish woman and I don't think it's wrong that I find it upsetting when people believe English women matter more than anyone else. See the disparity in the reaction to William not going to Australia vs the reaction when Welsh people spoke about his lack of support for their team. At least he actually wanted the English women to win!! Whether you care or not, it is a problem that William got crucified for not going to Australia, and yet Welsh or Scottish people (and tons of other groups) get crucified for just politely asking for him not to want us to lose. In the course of a conversation about football and the public reaction to inequality in William's support, it is natural that a Scottish woman would mention the fact that the public and the press have shown nothing but bigotry towards us for the entire 17 years William has been President of the FA. It's natural that I would mention that even if William's support for the English women's team could be better, the public and the press treat the English women's team a million times better than they treat the Scottish or Welsh or Australian women's teams. If now isn't a good time to discuss it because it's "whataboutism" but every other day of the year is also not a good time to discuss it because it'll lead to a public hate campaign by the press and the public, when exactly is the right time?

So I don't consider it whataboutism because I was not saying that William's choice was any better or worse as a result of my point. I consider it a related conversation about my personal issues with the fact that people are claiming on social media to be holier than thou because of their standpoint in this while at best deliberately ignoring and at worst actively celebrating other, worse, forms of inequality. If you consider that whataboutism I truly don't care, because I'm right.

#also we very very very clearly stated that the conversation about the queen was in response to people claiming she would have gone #we didn't bring it up at random #ask #dianawonder #prince william #british royal family #on heir #on heir podcast #the fact i'm genuinely scared to post this because of the hate i could get #but no one was afraid to post that william was wrong to not go to australia #tells you everything

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Scottish actress Blythe Duff, born 25th November 1962 in East Kilbride.

Her love of acting started with youth theatre. On leaving Hunter High School she joined The Company, a youth opportunities theatre company, based at the Glasgow Arts Centre in Washington Street and spent her summers with the Scottish Youth Theatre. She entered the profession in 1983 with her first job at the Young Playwrights Festival, I’m sure she would have known my old school friend, who won The Young Scottish Playwright of the year award back then, may he rest in peace.

Blythe worked in theatre for seven years, appearing with Scottish Opera in Street Scene as Shirley Kaplan in 1989, and at the Coliseum Theatre in London with the English National Opera. She also performed on the soundtrack album which was released on Decca Records in 1989. She was working for Scottish Opera when she landed the role of Jackie Reid in the sixth series of Taggart in 1990. Her first appearance was a community police officer in the second episode of the sixth series, “Death Comes Softly”, on 3rd December 1990, in which she is credited as playing WPC Reid. In the third episode, which first aired on 31st December 1990, she was credited as playing Jackie Reid and her character was seconded to CID as DC Reid. By series eight in 1993 her character was promoted to Detective Sergeant. She became the longest-serving member of the Taggart cast after James Macpherson left the show in 2002. The last Taggart was shown in 2011, seeing Jackie Reid finally reach Detective Inspector.

Apart from Taggart, and a couple of short films Blythe has only really appeared as herself, voice overs and quiz shows etc as well as crime shows and documentaries. She has however performed on stage regularly and was a double winner, in 2013 and 2014, of the Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland, for her role as Fay Black in Iron, Rona Munro’s psychological drama set within a women’s prison.

Duff is married to former police officer Tom Forrest and became stepmother to his two daughters Sarah and Katie. She was made a patron of Scottish Youth Theatre in the year 2000. Blythe was Chieftain of Bute Highland Games in 2009 and Chieftain of the Cowal Games in 2011.

She was given an Honorary Doctorate in June 2011 from Glasgow Caledonian University for her outstanding contribution to the performing arts.

In 2020 Duff and singer Cameron Barnes teamed up to re-imagine the classic Christmas song Fairytale of New York to raise funds for freelance creatives and their families.

In the past month Blythe has bee touring some Scottish theatres in James IV: Queen of the Fight, by the acclaimed playwright Rona Munro.

Last year Blythe said about growing up in Calderwood, East Kilbride, surrounded by references to Shakespeare due to the new town’s habit of clustering local street names around a certain theme. “The streets all had brilliant names” she says. “You live next to Edmond Kean and Hamlet and MacBeth, all these theatre references on street signs. I wonder whether or not that was soaking into my subconscious from an early age. I only thought about that when I was older but I like the idea.”

On acting Blythe said

'I'll never retire but don't tell my husband that'

In September Blythe returned to the No Mean City streets in a new music video based on the role which made her a household name for 21 years. Described as ‘an homage to Taggart, and a love letter to Glasgow’, the film echoes the opening credits and gritty underworld scenes of the long-running cop show which made her a household name longside Mark McManus, Colin McCredie and Alex Norton until its demise in 2011.

It sees the actor crouched over a dead body behind police lines in a back alley, surrounded by rubberneckers and the dead boy’s devastated mother.

Have a wee look and listen to the video, Blythe has a fine voice and it is a powerful emotional video.

#scotland #scottish #history #glasgow #actress #singer #Youtube

[blackswaneuroparedux]

imperium cupientibus nihil medium inter summa aut praecipitia

- Tacitus

Among those seeking power there is no middle ground except either triumph or complete failure.

Farewell Nicola Sturgeon, the Jimmy Krankie of Scottish politics.

Nicola Sturgeon will go down as one of the most formidable election winners in Scottish history. Her legacy is rooted in success at the ballot box and can be seen in the many defeats inflicted on her opponents. As she said during her resignation press conference, she fought eight elections as First Minister and won them all. Nobody has done this before.

But winning elections is always a means to an end. And the question has to be asked: what did Sturgeon do with the power at her disposal? The main goal of Sturgeon’s time in power had been the secession of Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom, and in this she has decidedly failed. Taking office as head of the SNP in 2014 after a decisive independence referendum loss, Sturgeon failed to move the ball forward no matter what she tried. Although the party was keen to dub local, regional, and national elections as “de facto referendums,” no second vote was ever called. A recent bid to force the issue ended with defeat in the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court, which found that a new referendum run only under Scotland’s devolved powers would be unconstitutional.

Sturgeon was a supreme communicator, and her public relations team - run out of the first minister’s official residence, Bute House - effectively outmuscled all Scottish opposition. SNP spinners outnumbered the journalists sent by the national broadcaster, the BBC, to cover Scottish politics; and Sturgeon cannily used press conferences during times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic, to undermine the U.K. government’s claims of national unanimity. She would either preempt British announcements, sometimes only an hour or so earlier, or publicly disagree with them - all in an always successful bid to capture headlines. Sturgeon’s opponents grumbled at these efforts - they called them stunts. But they always worked, and she never lost an election as SNP leader.

But Sturgeon’s tenure exposed many of the shortcomings of nationalist and populist politicians after they’ve taken power. They campaign largely on the basis of a single slogan and policy. And when they return again and again to office - especially if they cannot enact their chosen policy or slogan - they begin to struggle and suffer. Sturgeon wished dearly to be Scotland’s first leader after the country seceded from the United Kingdom. Scotland would much rather she focused on the immediate challenges of dealing with the growing NHS crisis, the education gap, and the cost of living crisis. In all this she failed.

Sturgeon tried to style herself as a social democrat, obviously a nationalist and a feminist – but not the type to lecture you about the heteronormative capitalist patriarchy. Her audience was down-to-earth folk who would have laughed if she had started talking about women having penises. Yet she ended up promoting a policy of allowing trans people to change their legal sex by self-declaration alone – a policy that, when rolled out in the prison’s service, led to a double rapist being placed in a women’s prison.

How could this happen? You almost begin to believe in Elon Musk’s ‘woke mind virus’. How could a lifelong feminist promote a policy that was not only based on the absurdity of ‘women’ having male genitals, but that also endangered the safety of female prisoners – many of them only inside for trivial offences like non-payment of fines. Only she knows and now she’s walked off the anvil of politics because she wants to spend more time with her family - one of the least believable lines in British politics. Yet the truth is that the walls were closing in on Nicola Sturgeon: she leapt before she was pushed.

Much will be made of her bizarre gender ideology, which led Scottish institutions to the conclusion that it was perfectly acceptable to send a male rapist to a women’s jail, on the grounds that his decision to declare himself a woman after he had committed his offences must be unquestioningly respected. Sturgeon later, after a great deal of public outrage, opposed the move, but the scandal underlined the foolish and naive thinking behind her gender recognition bill. Yes, it turned out, sex offenders really will take advantage of a system which allows them to change their gender at whim, just as many women’s groups had warned.

Some of Nicola Sturgeon’s fans on social media have claimed that she didn’t know about what was happening in Scotland’s prisons. But she could scarcely have failed to notice that her favourite government-funded charity, the Scottish Trans Alliance, had been advising the Scottish Prison Service on self-ID since 2014. If she didn’t know, it would be astonishing negligence, and Nicola Sturgeon is famous for being meticulously well-briefed. She is no fly-by-night blusterer like Boris Johnson. No, the first minister accepted self-ID in prisons because of her adherence to the Stonewall dogma that ‘transwomen are women’. No buts, no qualifications. As her Green Party coalition partners put it, denying that transwomen are women is the ‘definition of transphobia’. So when the Scottish Prison Service was instructed to follow this dogma it started to house offenders according to the ‘social identity’ they presented.

There were of course many other reasons for Nicola Sturgeon’s departure from office, not least her failure to shift the dial on Scottish independence, but self-ID was a very large part of it. The popular press in Scotland had started running increasingly lurid tales of sex offenders being placed in the women’s estate – not just double rapist Bryson. A 6ft 5in male-bodied paedophile, Katie Dolatowski, had also been housed in Cornton Vale women’s prison. Another self-declared transwoman, Sophie Eastwood (formerly Daniel), who strangled his cell mate with his shoelaces, is currently being held at HMP Cornton Vale, too. Eastwood currently self-identifies as a baby and is given nappies and baby food by prison officers.

The Scottish Prison Service had been piloting self-ID for years prior to Sturgeon’s plan to extend it Scotland-wide. Most of the Scottish media have, like the BBC, been observing informal self-censorship on the trans issue. There was little comment on these cases, which were well known to Scottish feminists. It was and still is seen as rather indecent in the middle-class media to mention prisons and the risks of allowing men to become legally female just by putting on a dress and calling themselves a woman. Last September, Nicola Sturgeon insisted such concerns were ‘not valid’.

But Sturgeon’s failures don’t end there. Her zero-Covid policy, which briefly made her so popular in the summer of 2020 as infection rates in Scotland fell below those in England, was undermined by longer term data: Scotland did not handle the pandemic much better than England. Moreover, the implosion of China’s own zero-Covid policy after the masses began to rebel against being regularly locked in their homes showed what a blind alley it was. Then there is the shame of Scotland’s drug deaths, which numbered 1,300 in 2020 alone, three and a half times the rate of England and more than three times the rate of the second-worse European country, Sweden. It is all the worse because of Sturgeon’s boasting about leading a “progressive” drugs policy - even down to trying to ban the use of use of such words as “addict” on the grounds that they are stigmatising.

Education, in particular the narrowing of the attainment gap between children of different socio-economic backgrounds, was supposed to be one of Sturgeon’s great legacies. She even set up a new system of measuring education attainment in order to demonstrate progress in this area – but the data failed miserably to show much. Scotland’s NHS, too, failed on her watch – in spite of Scotland receiving particularly high funds thanks to the Barnett Formula.

But what finally did for Sturgeon was surely the realisation that her dream of Scottish independence was going nowhere. Briefly, at the end of last year, at the height of the Conservative government’s trouble, it seemed as if the polls might finally have shifted in favour of Scottish independence. Come the new year, and normality was restored: a poll this week showed Scots to be against independence by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent - almost exactly the same result as the 2014 referendum, the SNP’s failure to win which brought Sturgeon to power in the first place.

All that politicking, all that trying to drive a wedge between Holyrood and Westminster, all the games with the Supreme Court over her second referendum, all the efforts to use Brexit to try to drive the case for a breakaway Scotland: all came to nothing. She was back where she began, leading an SNP which is deeply-frustrated with the voting public.

Critics allege that she had very few plans to govern Scotland as a devolved leader, had little interest in doing so, and felt that she was an international figure deserving of a global platform accorded to a head of state or government. Now she may well get her chance as she seeks a bigger stage as part of some UN body as an ambassador. She has every chance of continuing to fail upwards.

Farewell Wee Nippy!

#tacitus #latin #classical #quote #politics #success #failure #power #white sturgeon #nicola sturgeon #scotland #holyrood #scottish indepedendence #resignation

[certifiedbi]

Took some notes for @dark-nymph3t on the Englands Vs Scotland match for the women's nations league and so here's my audition to be a full time sports commentator because I'm so good at it. Don't think I need to say which team I was supporting

'15 - Lucy bronze is so sexy

'16 - haha hempo get fucked

'16 - AHHH WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!!?!

'16 - OMG *kiss for goalie*

'16 - SCOTLAND! SCOTLAND!

'20 - wow carter that was rude

'20 - MARY EARPS FUCK YOU!!!!! STOP BEING SO GOOD

'23 - not another England corner

'23 ⚽ - NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! NOOOOOO FUCK OFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!! FUCKKKKKKKKKK

'24 - offside ?!?!?

'25 - OFFSIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

'27 - fuck we were so close there

'31 - that kit is so cute I want one

'32 - wow first corner and we fuck it

'32- WAIT

'32 - omg Earps fuck off

'34 - our goalie is called Lee Gibson she got married recently and it's her 32nd bday tomorrow happy birthday girl (note: I did not know anyone on my team bar the other goalie Jenna Fife I learnt as I watched)

'36 - oh ouchie ball to the face for our Thomas

'38 ⚽ - FUCK OFF LUCY BRONZE YOU ARE NOT SEXY ANYMORE

'39 - why are they playing the 'oh pecco bagnaia' song? I'd probably prefer to see him rn tbh

'43 - a match at Hampden park Vs Belgium? Hmmm I might go

'44 ⚽ - I'm just going to kms now

'45 - no sir I CANNOT boogie

'45 + 1 ⚽ - YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! SCOTLAND! SCOTLAND!!!! YESSIR! I CAN BOOGIE!!!!!!

~

'45 - ok we are back no changes

'52 - haha nearly an own goal from England

'58 - Ella toone on? No thank you!

'60 - why are we having a team GB at the Olympics? Do we usually have that???

'62 - MEARPS AGAIN WHAT THE FUCK!!!

'63 - CORNER!!! SCOTLAND! SCOTLAND!!

'63 - nvm fucked it again

'64 - why are our other goalies warming up?

'65 - "good spell for Scotland" ikr we are so good

'74 - awe man so close again

'75 - noooooo off the bar that would have been so good

'81 - ohhhh scotland debut go girl you look so violently Scottish miss Gallagher but ily

'83 - only 5 fouls? I expected better from us

'89 - oh no a player out

'90 - only 3 minuets extra? Were fucked

'90 + 1 - Hahah England scored but it was offside and the comms noticed but no one else did

'90 + 2 - FUCK OFF EARPS AGAIN NOOOOOO

'90 + 3 - 😞😞😞😞😞😞😞 we are not boogieing tonight lads

#im so good at this #i know nothing about football tho i just watch it cause women are hot #england vs scotland #england #scotland #womens football

[yourlocaltrashpandaxoxo]

Punch Out Women's Bracket OCs! (Special Circuit)

The boys had their turn so now it's time for the girls! They're back and better than ever! Names: Nessie Twins/Moira and Fiona McNessie Ages: 30 (both) Heights: 6'6 (Moira) and 6'5 (Fiona) Weights: 164lbs (Moira) and 162lbs (Fiona) Nationalities: Scottish (both) Position: #4 Special Circuit Record: 20-14 (16 KO) Stances: Southpaw (Moira) and Orthodox (Fiona) "A pair of brutish twins hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, these two have an illegal tag-team trick in the ring that earned them a place so high up the bracket. The WVBA haven't bothered to intervein with this as it brings a larger audience, albeit an audience that likes to boo the twins for their boorish personalities and antics. They don't care, though, as they just smugly tell the fans to 'kiss their fat hairy arses'. Charming..."

Name: Jubilee Justice/Giselle Aurora-Belle Felicity Lockridge Age: 28 Height: 5'8 Weight: 131lbs Nationality: British-French Position: #3 Special Circuit Record: 15-8 (10 KO) Stance: Orthodox (Right-Handed) "Giselle may appear to be your average fairytale princess at first glance but do not be fooled by that gorgeous white gown and innocent blue eyes. For, when she steps into the ring, she strips herself of her fancy attire and into an elegant but optimal fighting outfit as her boxing persona, Jubilee Justice! Her parents hate that their little lady loves such a rough and tumble sport but she couldn't give a stuff what they think. Her older sister, however, is very supportive of her and gets most of the castle staff to cheer her on" Name: Nile Blossom/Cleo Jamila Omorose Age: 22 Height: 5'7 Weight: 126lbs Nationality: Egyptian Position: #2 Special Circuit Record: 20-14 (14 KO) Stance: Orthodox (Right-Handed) "A captivating young heiress from a wealthy Egyptian family, Cleo may appear to be a sweet young lady but that's just part of her game plan when she's in the ring. She bears a stunning flower on her head that produces a sweet-smelling pheromone that lowers the guard of anyone who inhales it. When her opponent is blissed out and unaware of what goes on, she strikes them like the thorns of a beautiful rose" Name: Celestia Age: ??? Height: ??? Weight: ??? Nationality: ??? Position: #1 Special Circuit Record: 24-8 (18 KO) Stance: Southpaw (Left-Handed) "Nobody can get a read on this unusual lady. Nobody knows where she's from, how old she is, if she's even a human or not... All of it is shrouded in a thick coat of mystery. People can figure out one thing, though, and that's that this lady bears some out of this world psychic powers that she isn't afraid of using during matches. She's intimidating to most but children to see something of a motherly figure inside of her." Name: Creep Queen/Jasmine Black Age: 28 Height: 7'2 Weight: 224lbs Nationality: ??? Position: Special Circuit Champion/Champion of the WVBA Record: 30-2 (26 KO) Stance: Orthodox (Right-Handed) "A hulking beast of a woman who stands laughing proudly at the top of the list, Jasmine pridefully holds onto the title of the WVBA's female champion and won't bow down to anybody else, no matter their status or name. She's a spiteful brute who prefers to let her fists do the talking when someone's pissing her off and makes sure her creepy little brother, Grimm, gets his way. However, this personality seems to have been made by a very difficult and abusive childhood..."

#punch out #punch out oc #nessie twins #jubilee justice #nile blossom #celestia #creep queen #special circuit chicks #(THE LAST OF THE GIRLIES!)

[coochiequeens]

If the choice is giving him the record for being the first openly trans whatever or calling his achievements a woman's achievements I'm OK with the first one.

ByReduxx Team July 1, 2023

A trans-identified male is being honored with a Guinness World Record for being the first “openly transgender football referee.” Lucy Clark referees matches in the Women’s National League and at men’s grassroots level. On June 30, Guinness World Records (GWR) posted a short clip to Twitter naming a male who identifies as transgender as the “first openly transgender football referee.”

In addition to a short video profiling Lucy Clark, GWR posted an accompanying article featuring an interview with him and his wife.In the article, Clark says that football “saved” his life. The article reads: “When she considered taking her own life, glancing at a football stadium in the distance gave her strength. It felt like a sign. ‘It allowed me to come down in an elevator rather than in other ways,’ she says.”

After suffering a heart attack at the end of 2017, Clark decided to come out as transgender, though was initially hesitant to tell the Football Association out of concerns he would not be accepted. At the beginning of the 2019 season, he came out publicly as a “transgender woman” with the Football Association’s support.Clark has since launched Trans Radio UK (TRUK), a radio station focusing on creating a “safe space” for transgender people. TRUK also has its own dedicated football club, which appears to have “female trans” and “trans masc” teams for males who identify as women and females who identify as men. The club also seems to allow for an open category in which the team configuration can comprise of anyone.

The all “trans masc” team for females who identify as men made headlines earlier this year after competing against a non-transgender male team and taking a devastating loss of 8-to-1. Clark’s wife, a female named Avril, recently won a “Trans Ally of the Year” award. “You have to be an ally. You have to stand up, because the hate against trans people now is virulent,” Avril is quoted by Guinness World Records as saying. On Twitter, Guinness World Records was ruthlessly mocked by netizens for referring to Clark as a “woman” using “she/her” pronouns.“What record did he set? The first ref who thinks he’s a lass AND said so in public,” user @Adhib asked.

“Another bloke who escalated in his fetish and now demands women to participate,” another user wrote in reply.

As of the writing of this article, the Guinness World Records tweet has over 1,200 overwhelmingly negative replies compared to just 900 ‘likes.’

On his Instagram, Clark recently posted a photo with former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, praising her for her work on behalf of the transgender community

Sturgeon resigned from her post earlier this year after becoming the target of widespread backlash for her attempts to push through devastating gender self-identification legislation in Scotland. Just prior to her resignation, Surgeon’s government attempted pass controversial amendments to the Gender Recognition Act which would streamline the process of altering sex markers on legal documents. Notably, an amendment to the bill which would have prohibited anyone convicted of a sexual offense from changing their legal sex was rejected.

But Scotland would become the target of international criticism in January after a number of highly dangerous male inmates expressed an interest to be moved to the female estate, with some being green-lit to do so. The debate flared up after it was learned a male double-rapist had been placed in a women’s prison ahead of his sentencing. News of the placement resulted in global outcry, and the rapist was removed from the female estate after Sturgeon agreed that he should not be held in the female estate. Sturgeon resigned amidst the controversy. On Twitter, Clark expressed repeated support for Dr. Michael “Helen” Webberley, a transgender doctor who runs the much-decried GenderGP — an online clinic providing “gender affirming” care.

Webberley was found guilty of recklessly prescribing puberty blockers and cross sex hormones to patients as young as 9, and only recently won an appeal on the suspension of his medical license.

#guinness world records #So it's OK for trans identified females to have their own teams? #And it's OK to have an open league when it's trans people running it?

[calciopics]

Equal pay: Football Association of Wales agree landmark deal

Wales' men's and women's senior players will be paid the same for representing their country for the first time.

The Football Association of Wales [FAW] have agreed a deal that will see equal pay come into effect immediately.

The Wales men's senior team have agreed to a 25% pay cut to enable a 25% rise for the women's team that will mean parity for representing Wales.

"I am really happy about the equal pay, it is about equality," Wales boss Gemma Grainger explained.

"Together Stronger has been the mantra across the Cymru national teams for us all, both on and off the pitch as we look to put Wales on the world stage," Wales' men's and women's teams said in a joint statement.

"As part of the FAW's strive towards equality, we are now proud to announce that together, our men's and women's teams have agreed to an equal pay structure for future international matches.

"We hope that this will allow future generations of boys and girls to see that there is equality across Welsh international football, which is important for society as a whole."

The new equal pay agreement runs until 2027.

Wales' women have never been paid the same as Wales' men for playing international football, but Grainger, who recently signed a new deal to remain national team boss until 2027, says she feels paying her side equally will send a powerful message.

"We want our players to embody Together Stronger, the collaboration with the men's team is something we want to continue," she told BBC Sport Wales.

"Hopefully that collaboration will continue to grow. "Equality and making sure what we have here is equal is so important to us. The women's game is growing and will continue to grow."

Wales join other nations such as United States of America, England, Brazil, Australia, Norway and New Zealand in paying their players the same international match fee.

Scotland women's national football team are taking legal action against the Scottish FA in a fight over equal pay and conditions after talks broke down.

Discussions over agreeing a new pay deal to give parity to Wales' women have been going on for well over a year, with talks initially taking place in November 2021.

FAW chief executive Noel Mooney has been in ongoing discussions with Wales women's senior leadership group, which includes Wales' most-capped player Jess Fishlock, women's captain Sophie Ingle and Wales' record goalscorer Helen Ward.

An agreement on equal pay was expedited by Wales' men agreeing to a cut to their international match fee, with every member of Robert Page's squad agreeing unanimously to do so.

"The FAW is a modern, progressive movement that seeks to improve each day," Mooney said.

This is another step towards becoming one of the world's great sports organisations and we thank both the men's and women's squads for their brilliant co-operation in getting this agreed."

By Michael Pearlman (BBC Sport Wales)

#Welsh Football #Football Association of Wales #Wales men's senior team #Welsh women senior team #Equal pay #equality #FAW #football #fussball #fußball #foot #fodbod #futbol #futebol #soccer #calcio

[magdasabs]

Magda Eriksson: Blackpool’s Jake Daniels has given me hope for the next generation of gay male footballers

The bravery of Jake Daniels, who has come out as gay at the age of 17, will help others to feel less alone

By Magda Eriksson

I will begin this month’s column with a confession. It may be the off season but I don’t actually enjoy being off all that much. In fact, I think I’m addicted to training. Let me explain. As a footballer I am so used to a routine of always training that when I break it, I start to feel sluggish without that release of adrenalin and those endorphins. In fact, my ideal holiday is getting up in the morning, training and then having the rest of the day to decide what I want to do.

Immediately after the season ended, I had one week completely off. For the first few days I was still exhausted from the FA Cup final, with extra time and the whole emotional experience of that game. Then, from the second week, I began doing some exercises in the gym again.

I’ve got a gym programme which the strength and conditioning coach at Chelsea has provided and, with an eye on July’s Women’s Euros, I also have conditioning guidance from our Swedish national-team staff. Both sides have been very open and understanding. The Sweden squad is announced on Tuesday and assuming I am on the list, I should be in good shape when the squad come together on 20 June.

This last week I’ve also been doing football work with Pernille [Harder] here in Stockholm. I am doing the UEFA B coaching licence back at Chelsea so it was fun planning our own sessions and thinking about different things that can benefit our positions. It says a lot about what football nerds we are, though I do feel lucky too. We were doing some one-on-ones drills and for me to come up against one of the best attackers in the world on my off season is quite a luxury!

I contacted my childhood club, Enskede IK, to get permission for us to use their pitches. The funny thing is that in Sweden, most pitches are open to everyone and one day we had to share the space with lots of kids. You had Pernille and me doing our exercises … and all these children shouting, “Are you Magda?”

This has been my first stay at home since right after the Olympics last August. After a tournament you are so tired and I just walked around like a zombie. Now I feel refreshed and am trying to enjoy every minute. I’m godmother to two of my best friends’ children – they’re both 18 months old so hopefully they can now remember my face.

I’ve also had time to think more about Jake Daniels, the young Blackpool footballer, and the significance of the step he has taken by coming out as gay. I am so impressed by his bravery in coming out as an active gay male footballer at the age of just 17.

It is one thing if it you are a retired footballer or you have already been out privately for a long period of time; the fact he has felt able to take this step at 17 gives me hope for the next generation. I will be interested to see if he now wants to take on the role of a spokesperson – and that is a big responsibility – or whether he simply wished to tell the world he’s gay and then play his football. That’s for him to decide.

I’ve read that he has a mentor talking to him – a former player he had contacted – and this shows the importance of having people to talk to. Hopefully the next person can reach out to Jake, in turn, and this will create a snowball effect. Only this week we’ve seen two Scottish referees, Craig Napier and Lloyd Wilson, come out and this representation – with gay people in different roles in football – will help contribute to an accepting environment. I imagine if you’re a young gay referee who sees this news, you now have less reason to feel alone.

I’ve also been encouraged by a recent meeting Pernille and I had with Rio Ferdinand to talk about homophobia in sport. I got a sense that he really wanted to help. He’s a straight, male ex-footballer with a huge platform and he genuinely wanted to hear how he could make life easier for other people and this matters as a lot of people listen to him and look up to him.

Ultimately, every little step contributes to normalising something that for so long was seen as weird, disgusting and even criminal – all these stigmas which have created a sense of pressure inside every young teenager who realises they are gay. We’ve all had that feeling that “I’m not normal” yet now, as more and more people talk about it, the more normal it becomes. That said, the fact Jake Daniels has made headlines all over the world shows it is still a big thing. My hope is that there’ll come the day when it doesn’t make the news at all.

#apparently some ppl may have trouble accessing it! #so here it is #magdalena eriksson #column #article

[chcrrybcmbs]

✼  ʾ   𝑎𝑐𝑡.   𝒊   ,   the   bits   &   bobs   .

FULL NAME: brinley van den berg. ALIAS(ES): brin and bri. BIRTH DATE: january ninth. BIRTH PLACE: stockholm , sweden. AGE: thirty two years old. PRONOUN(S): she , her. GENDER: cis female. ORIENTATION: pansexual , panromantic. RELATIONSHIP STATUS: single , divorced. EDUCATION: new york university , with a degree in communications. OCCUPATION: public speaker , socialite , model. CAREER DETAILS: click here.

NATIONALITY: swedish - american , gained american citizenship in 2013. ETHNICITY: swedish , finnish. LANGUAGES SPOKEN: swedish, english. FINANCIAL STATUS: upper class. FATHER: milan van den berg. NATIONALITY: swedish. OCCUPATION: ceo and chairman of ikea. MOTHER: linnea van den berg nee korhonen. NATIONALITY: finnish - swedish. OCCUPATION: heiress and member of the the riksdag ( swedish parliament ). BROTHER: tba. NATIONALITY: tba. OCCUPATION: tba. PETS: grey scottish fold named sascha , cream british shorthair named bunny. PAST RELATIONSHIPS: tba.

HEIGHT: 5 foot 10 inches. WEIGHT: 128 pounds. HAIR COLOR: naturally blonde. EYE COLOR: blue. TRAITS: benevolent , passionate , imaginative , intelligent , querulous , insecure , thoughtless , histrionic. ZODIAC: capricorn. HOBBIES: tba. CHARACTER INSPO: elle woods , cher horowitz , hermione granger , taylor swift.

✼  ʾ   𝑎𝑐𝑡.   𝒊𝒊   ,   the   story   so far   .

brinley  van  den  berg  came  into  the  world  just  moments  before  her  twin  brother  .  a  dynamic  duo  and  the  only  children  of  ikea  ceo  ,  milan  and  his  wife  linnea  .  coming  from  a  family  of  high  swedish  prestige  meant  from  a  young  age  she'd  learned  to  be  prim  and  proper  .  the  joke  always  being  she  was  nine  going  on  twenty  throughout  her  childhood  .  academics  came  easy  to  her  ,  taking  on  her  mother's  high  intellect  ,  something  she  rarely  allows  anyone  to  forget  . 

at  fifteen  she  entered  a  modelling  competition  which  landed  her  in  front  of  some  big  names  and  inevitably  opened  doors  for  her  to  step  into  the  world  of  high  fashion  .  becoming  the  youngest  muse  to  dontella  versace  and  later  on  the  youngest  victoria  secret's  angel  to  date  .  with  her  career  taking  off  the  pressure  to  maintain  a  perfect  image  only  heightened  ,  quickly  becoming  obsessed  with  the  idea  of  coming  off  clean  cut  she  had  a  full  time  team  around  to  curate  her  image  and  uphold  her  reputation  even  if  her  real  life  didn't  always  emulate  what  she  portrayed  herself  to  be  .

by  nineteen  she'd  already  moved  to  the  states  full  time  and  began  studying  at  new  york  univeristy  .  during  her  time  in  new  york  she  picked  up  a  knack  for  public  speaking  and  as  time  went  on  the  public's  interest  in  her  personal  philosphies  became  a  topic  of  conversation  .  it  wasn't  long  before  she'd  graced  the  stage  for  ted  talks  and  even  went  on  a  couple  tours  ,  fully  submerging  herself  into  the  world  of  life  coaching  .  brinley  was  noted  as  one  of  the  most  gracious  women  of  the  twenty  first  century  ,  seemingly  always  doing  the  right  thing  and  handling  each  and  every  situation  properly  . 

things  started  to  get  a  bit  questionable  when  her  marriage  began  to  deterirate  .  a  life  done  perfectly  ,  was  now  going  to  have  one  of  the  ugliest  marks  on  it  .  despite  all  her  attempts  ,  there  was  no  saving  it  and  after  four  years  of  marriage  she  found  herself  restarting  that  area  of  her  life  all  over  again  .  becoming  a  bit  too  much  for  her  she  took  a  step  back  ,  moving  back  to  sweden  to  be  surrounded  by  her  family  .  relying  on  her  hefty  trust  fund  to  keep  her  afloat  .  during  her  time  away  she  did  alot  of  humanitarian  work  to  maintain  her  good  standing  in  the  public  eye  ,  accompanying  her  mother  in  much  of  her  work  . 

it's  only  been  a  year  since  her  return  to  los  angeles  and  the  world  of  hollywood  in  general  and  her  time  away  has  proven  to  be  perfectly  planned  as  she  was  greeted  back  with  open  arms  both  on  runways  and  stages  alike  .  she's  still  the  same  as  she's  always  been  :  obsessing  over  the  mask  of  perfection  she  puts  on  each  morning  and  doing  just  about  anything  to  keep  that  reputation  she's  worked  her  whole  life  to  upkeep  in  tact  .

✼  ʾ   𝑎𝑐𝑡.   𝒊𝒊𝒊   ,   the inner   circle   .

best friend / girl squad : just a small group of girls who do everything together and have been as close as sisters for as long as anyone can remember . taken by : open .

ex husband : ( will have a wc up on the main soon ) they started dating toward the end of her days in college and within two years they were headed down the isle . happier than ever the first three years of their marriage . during the fourth year , he'd realized he'd married someone who was not who she portrayed herself to be . a mountain of lies all crumbling down onto their laps and soon enough he decided he could no longer trust her . signing their divorce papers in 2020 . taken by : open .

random : her twin brother , someone who knows the darker / more bitchy side of her , current fling , old flings / hookups , modeling friends , family friends ( would probably be from business / political family ) , anything and everything .

#hillzintro #ㅤ۪ㅤ۫ㅤ੭ ᵇʳⁱⁿˡᵉʸ 𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐠 : ❪ ⠀ ⠀ analysis. ⠀ ⠀ ❫ #ㅤ۪ㅤ۫ㅤ੭ ᵇʳⁱⁿˡᵉʸ 𝐯𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐠 : ❪ ⠀ ⠀ muse. ⠀ ⠀ ❫

[joeyvimsantepoet]

Cross Border Football Cups

How about Saudi Arabia fund a cross border club trophy with teams from Saudi Arabia, Scotland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, North America, Africa and other Euripean nations? Saudi Arabia has wealth, but Scotland has intense passionate supporters. Clubs like Glasgow Celtic, Aberdeen, Glasgow Rangers, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Dundee, and Dundee United could bring passionate games and lore to Saudi soccer.How about cross border cups for Scottish football. I say a good way for Scottish football to improve is to have cross border trophies on top of domestic and European football.There are an entire host of ideas that could happen. Bring back the Anglo Scottish Cup.Change the Scottish Premiership to a 16 team 30 game league. Then have extra cross border cups.Ideas could include a North Atlantic League Cup. With the top four to 8 SPFL clubs playing a group stage trophy with teams from Europe, Asia, or Africa, or North America, or Saudi Arabia.

The Scottish allow Welsh and Northern Ireland club sides in the Scottish Challenge Cup.The Scottish and Welsh Rugby clubs travel to places like South Africa, and Italy. And UEFA soccer has seen Scottish sides travel to Central Asia. So football clubs could travel 5 or 8 times a year to the USA, or Africa.In UEFA trophies Scottish and Welsh sides have been to Central Asia.

Other ideas could include having all Scottish Premiership sides not in Europe, plus selected Welsh Cymru Premier club sides, and perhaps North West French sides in the Football League Trophy.

There could easily be 16 teams added to the EFL Trophy with a little reorganisation of the trophy to add the new sides.Perhaps all Scots Championsip sides, Welsh Cymru Premier sides, and some North Western French sides in the non-league FA Trophy.Or Celtic Nations Club Cup of Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Ulster, Cornish, Cumbria, Brittany, Isle of Man and Yorkshire club sides.

Perhaps leading Scottish, Irish, Swiss, Polish, Danish, Swedish, French, Dutch, Belgian or German sides invited as guests into the English FA Cup, or English League Cup, this could also be done in the English Football women's domestic cups.

I do not support merging the British leagues, as people would wrongly think Scotland was part of England. And all the Scottish trophies in history would be relegated to the status of lower tier trophies. While all the English trophies would be seen as forerunners of the British trophies. So Scottish clubs would be seen to be reset as having won ZERO trophies. Also 30 trips into England a year might be too much but 4 to 8 times a year would keep it a novelty and highlight of the season.We need Pan-Great Britain Cups on top of domestic and European football.If we had a British League a club like Dundee could make 20 trips year of up to 700 miles. That would be too tough. It has to be at a manageable number of games.

Joey Vimsante, North Wales, Great Britain.