I rarely watch women’s football. I just don’t find it as exciting as the men’s game as it’s slower and the skill levels are just not the same. Having said that, I recognise that the game has increased in popularity in recent years and crowds are burgeoning. But to pretend that women players should reap the same financial rewards as their male counterparts is just preposterous. When they attract the same level of sponsorship, TV deals etc, then that would be possible, but not before. I’m delighted England won the Euros but let’s face it, they were incredibly lucky, given they only played well in one game, and were only slightly less shit at taking penalties than their opponents. Having said that, the England goalkeeper was brilliant at saving them, although when the ball is only travelling at half the speed that it would be if it had been kicked by a man, maybe that’s understandable, but she did better than her Spanish counterpart, and that’s why her team prevailed. Before you come to the conclusion that I am just a curmudgeonly old git, can I say that I find the England women’s manager Serena Wiegman an absolute inspiration. Although I think the team itself would struggle to beat a men’s League Two team, I can see Wiegman managing a Championship or Premier League team if only one would give her the chance. Twenty years ago there was a TV drama starring Cheri Lunghi called THE MANAGERESS. In those days, people thought it was a preposterous concept for a woman to manage a professional men’s team. It no longer is. *** What is everything “surreal” in today’s world, according to anyone who is ever interviewed after a game. Where did this word come from? Surely it’s just another word for “Unreal”, but a little more sexy? Language always evolves but it seems “Surreal” is a word that has come into common parlance when someone can’t think of anything else to say. *** My friend Dan and I went to see Afrobeats star Fuse ODG at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday. I’d been looking forward to it as I love his music, but oh my God, the acoustics in that place are terrible. He gave the performance of his life, but his efforts were undermined by the less than average sound. I’ve heard before that people come away from that venue wondering why they bothered, and I now know what they meant. *** The most popular question I used to be asked was “How would Margaret Thatcher have dealt with Donald Trump?” To which my answer was always: “I haven’t got a Scoobie”. That question has now been replaced with: “So when are you going to join Reform?” That one is much more simple to answer. I could give a slightly copout answer and emulate Michael Heseltine and say “I cannot foresee the circumstances…”, but the answer is simple. I won’t. Although I like and have a lot of time for Nigel Farage, and one or two others, I fundamentally disagree with them on too much on social policy and economic policy. Not that I think Nigel believes half the left wing economic rubbish he’s begun spouting. I’ve been a Conservative for 57 years and I can’t give that up lightly. But I remain a socially liberal, fiscally Conservative Thatcherite, just as I have always been. And I take no notice of this new brand of ethno nationalist who believe that the word Conservatives means something that it never has in this country. Moderate Conservatives like me need to stand up to these people who seem to believe more in a pale version of fascism than they do conservatism. They seem to see Reform UK as a bunch of pinkos. But they dominate internet forums and it can’t be denied that their Youtube channels are gaining relatively big audiences. Quite why people waste their time watching them, I don’t know, but they seem to. They preach to an all too willing echo chamber and instead of fighting the left, delight in painting people like me as “liberal Marxists”, ignoring the fact that I’m about as far from being a Marxist as you can get, and have you ever met a Marxist who has said anything liberal? Me neither. I’ll fight them until my last breath and stand up for what I believe. It may do no good, but at least it will drive them even madder than they already are. *** Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for a Department whose name is impossible to remember, is one of the nicer and more competent people in politics. So I can only put his outburst trying to suggest that Nigel Farage is akin to Jimmy Savile to tiredness, which has led to an uncharacteristic lack of judgement. Farage is rightly demanding an apology, and as sure as night follows day, the apology will come. It’s always best to get these things out of the way. Say sorry and move on. This article was originally published on my new SUBSTACK. Click HERE to subscribe for free.

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