We’ve been told since the summer not only that this season’s Championship would be more competitive than the Premiership (last week we covered the fact that it’s the least competitive league in Britain), but that the gap between the top of the Championship and the top of the Premiership would be narrow.
Hearts are probably a better team than we’ve seen in our two cup meetings with them this season, but they have proven to be hopelessly ill-prepared to face a European-calibre team. Hamilton, Motherwell, Aberdeen, Inverness and Dundee have all given Celtic vastly more difficult challenges.
Robbie Neilson is doing well and his team will step-up to the Premiership challenge next year but they are not playing week-in-week-out at the pace necessary to tackle Celtic face on, as they did yesterday.
Following on from Saturday’s article, I heard today that Celtic’s relationship with Ujpest Doza, which saw Willie McStay leave his coaching role at Celtic to become Ujpest manager, was ended after complaints to Uefa about what was no more than unofficial links between the clubs. Uefa informed the clubs that only one would be entitled to compete in European competition if their planned extended cooperation took place.
In the event a complaint was made to Uefa, clear blue water would be required between clubs Mike Ashley has an interest in.
Many thanks to the many authors, publishers and bampots in the Celtic community who are now involved with the CQNBookstore, which now had 29 books and DVDs available.
As well as the CQN books, like the CQN Annual, Caesar & the Assassin, Seville, All the Best by Tommy Gemmell and Heart of Lion by Willie Wallace, there’s Cartuja’s Internet Bampots, Paul Dyke’s The Quality St Gang, John Hughes irrepressible autobiography, two books by Ian McCallum on how the Glasgow Irish founded a football club, and on those who went to the Great War, signed copies of Archie Macpherson’s definitive Jock Stein biography, the Sean Fallon and Chris Sutton biographies, an absolute treasure chest of Celtic DVDs and beanie hats for Mary’s Meals!
We’re hoping to add more in due course. Fill your boots.
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Don’t see why our players should do anything other than play the whistle, penalty is a penalty and people like Kevj would have taken any kind of wrong decision against a few teams not so long ago, hypocrisy oozes.
I listened to this on my way home in the car last night…
What if the Syria crisis were happening in the UK?
By Michael Blastland BBC Radio 4 PM
Understanding the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Syria can be difficult. So imagine this:
what if Syria were the UK?
Say you are one of the 2.5m people who live in the huge conurbation of Greater Manchester. And then you leave, all of you, exit the UK as if life depends on it.
You’re followed by Tyne and Wear. Hard on their heels comes Merseyside, the entire population, after that Glasgow, and then about half the population of greater London.
If you are Syria at the moment, that’s a scaled equivalent of the number of refugees reported by the UN to have fled the country.
Where do you go? Many Syrians go to Lebanon, a country so small that immigration has swollen its population by getting on for 40%. This 40% growth is about 105 years-worth of the latest net migration to the UK. So you’d be welcome, of course.
And those are just Syrian refugees to other countries. There are millions more displaced within Syria itself.
For a UK equivalent of these, add to our earlier total: the rest of greater London, Birmingham, Belfast, every person in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, all Norfolk, Suffolk, plus the entire remaining population of Scotland, the entire population of Wales, and then throw in Sheffield, Bristol, Brighton, Swindon, Plymouth, Coventry, Leicester, Leeds.
The UK equivalent of Syria’s refugees and displaced would be about 30 million people, on the move.
In short, imagine many of our great cities, whole counties, whole nations, shook out, and smashed.
Economic impact
Then there’s the economy. The UK saw unemployment rise by about three percentage points during the recent recession. The effect of the Syrian civil war has been a rise of about 43 percentage points.
So think of an unemployment rate rising so fast it would be comparable to the effect on jobs in the UK of about 14 great recessions in four years.
Next, go to school, to every school in the land, and throw out every other pupil, send them home, wherever home may be, about 5 million of them, to correspond with the roughly 50% in Syria who have been forced out of formal education.
Think of all this leaving more than half the Syrian people in what the UN calls extreme poverty, living on a dollar twenty-five a day, or less. For an impression of how life could be reduced like that to the edge of subsistence, you don’t need arithmetic: it’s you, on the toss of a coin.
………………………………………………………………….
Hard to comprehend eh!?
Then this morning I heard that there are no more ‘a dollar twenty-five a day’ coupons.
And winter’s coming.
FIFA are grand though, they’re snug and cosy slurping and dribling their Spey salmon woven scrambled eggs… after milking the region for how many tens of millions tax-free disappeared dollars.
Can’t teams across Europe, across the world even, organise to come together to play charitable games to alleviate such misery, whenever and always? Or like callous politicians the world over, do Club chairmen too, have booze bulged eyes only for their very own super-sized-up all day breakfast’s and bugger all who have less or nothing at all, not even one – solitary – baked bean?
Morning all.
Bright and cold down here.
What news is there today to brighten the lives of the Celtic family?
starry plough,
I was wondering when that particular comparison would be made.
Kit..,
Biggest issue would be the same as Africa, who would be trusted to distribute funds/relief raised by charity ?
Currently the Muslim charities are raising money to ship Koran and supplies dependent on soup-taker conditions.
KevJ- It’s 1977 and you are soaked to the skin standing in the old Celtic end when BFDJ maybe didn’t handle the ball and Celtic get a penalty.
Should Andy Lynch roll the ball into Peter McCloy’s hands?
1n 1989 should The Bear have said “no ref, this is a Rangers throw in?”
starry plough
Couldn’t agree more, buddy!
canamalar:
I know mate,for some it really is that easy to justify doing nothing; especially now when the strawberries and cream have just been placed on the tables of our bankers.
‘Our Soup or no Soup’ doctrine is not very nice.
Morning Timdom
Cold and stunning this fine day.
HH jamesgang
or Ian Black “Go on ref , give them a penalty, I didn’t touch him but i’ve got them down for a draw!”
One hundred and sixty years ago this week in 1847, the Indians of the Choctaw nation took up a collection. Moved by news of starvation in Ireland, a group of Choctaws gathered in Scullyville, Oklahoma to raise a relief fund. Despite their meager resources, they collected $170 and forwarded it to a U.S. famine relief organization. It was both the most unlikely and the most generous contribution to the effort to relieve Ireland’s suffering.
Begun two years before in the fall of 1845, the potato blight and subsequent famine had reached its height in 1847. It was, of course, much more than a mere natural disaster. British colonial policies before and during the crisis exacerbated the effects of the potato blight, leading to mass death by starvation and disease. For example, in March of 1847, at the time of the Choctaw donation, 734,000 starving Irish people were forced to labor in public works projects in order to receive food. Little wonder that survivors referred to the year as “Black ’47.”
First through letters and newspaper accounts, and later from the refugees themselves, the Irish in America learned of the unfolding horror. Countless individuals sent money and ship tickets to assist friends and family. Others formed relief committees to solicit donations from the general public. Contributions came from every manner of organization, from charitable societies and businesses to churches and synagogues. By the time the famine had ended in the early 1850s, millions in cash and goods had been sent to Ireland.
What made the Choctaw donation so extraordinary was the tribe’s recent history. Only 16 years before, President Andrew Jackson (whose parents emigrated from Antrim) seized the fertile lands of the so-called five civilized tribes (Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, and Choctaw) and forced them to undertake a harrowing 500-mile trek to Oklahoma known as the Trail of Tears. Of the 21,000 Choctaws who started the journey, more than half perished from exposure, malnutrition, and disease. This despite the fact that during the War of 1812 the Choctaws had been allies of then General Jackson in his campaign against the British in New Orleans.
Perhaps their sympathy stemmed from their recognition of the similarities between the experiences of the Irish and Choctaw. Certainly contemporary Choctaw see it that way. They note that both groups were victims of conquest that led to loss of property, forced migration and exile, mass starvation, and cultural suppression (most notably language).
Increased attention to the Great Famine in recent years has led to renewed recognition of the Choctaw donation. In 1990 a delegation of Choctaw officials was invited to participate in an annual walk in County Mayo commemorating a tragic starvation march that occurred during the Famine. In honor of the special guests, the organizers (Action From Ireland, or AFRI) named the march The Trail of Tears. Two years later, two dozen people from Ireland came to the U.S. and retraced the 500-mile Trail of Tears from Oklahoma to Mississippi. That same year the Choctaw tribe made Ireland’s President Mary Robinson an honorary chief.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of these events is that while they commemorate dark chapters of the past, they are focused on the present and future. In other words, they seek to dramatize the need to stop starvation and suffering worldwide. As the plaque on Dublin’s Mansion House which honors the Choctaw contribution reads: “Their humanity calls us to remember the millions of human beings throughout our world today who die of hunger and hunger-related illness in a world of plenty.
— This article was contributed by Dr. Edward T O’Donnell.
I wonder if the Choctaw nation will help the Syrian starving in the Syrian An Gorta Mor…
Morning all.
Big Roy Aitken barging everybody oot the way to take that throw in during the ’89 SC Final is a memory that will last a lifetime.
Ref/linesman made ‘an honest mistake.’ !!!
HH!!
KevJ –
Every week, some team somewhere is awarded a soft penalty, or indeed a penalty that never was. Why is is only when it is Celtic that we are subjected to a forensic analysis in the media for days on end?
You seem to be suggesting that Guidetti deliberately miss the penalty simply to placate our detractors and to avoid the inevitable shit storm to come.
Again. Why only Celtic?
I have zero tolerance level for any moaning hertz fan today……
kitalba
Two more numbers .
Number of migrants who died in the South East Mediterranean sea between 1 1 2014 and 30/ 9 2014 = 3,072. Figure is expected to hit 5,000 by 31 12 2014.
Number of migrants who died in the South East Mediterranean sea between 1 1 2000 and 30 9 2014 =22,612 .. I imagine that figure is similar to the population of Dumbarton.
Imagine… 1847, the Indians of the Choctaw nation, the internet was up and running.
South Of Tunis:
Aye, and am I right in saying I heard that Italy, and other nations, are cutting back on their ‘long distance’ patrolling which means many more ‘have nothing’s’ will perish at sea?
My mum just texted to ask who Celtic got in the cup!
Love her. She needs to get on CQN doesn’t she!
HH jamesgang
Morning Celts everywhere.
Enjoyed our win in Edinburgh. A competent, professional job done. Well played Bhoys.
Thanks to Hail Hail Media this morning for putting out comprehensive meeting notes from the 3 November Fan Forum. They’re an interesting read.
The AC/DC drummer in court in New Zealand,looks like the polis have confiscated his teeth.
kitalba
Two very moving posts. I knew nothing about the Choctaw donation, a real uplifting example of basic human generosity. Humbling too!
The treatment of the civilian “collaterals” by the Western governments since the start of the “Arab Spring has been truly appalling.
KITALBA
Indeed-led by the UK. Excuse being that such search and rescue operations only encourage such crossings.
Or,alternatively,if they know we’ll let them drown,they won’t be stupid enough to risk it.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/cwsnojmhsnql/rss2/
BMCUW –
I think you’ll find that when it comes to leaving refugees to drown at sea, Tony Abbot and his government in Canberra leads the world.
BMCUW
Indeed it was led by uk.
Splendid isolation, 21C style.
You’d think uk was the only place on earth to experience migrants and refugees.
The evidence of Calais and almost everywhere else would say otherwise.
Take Sweden for example….
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/dec/02/sweden-oecds-highest-per-capita-asylum-seekers-syria
Aff oot Timdom
HH jamesgang
http://www.hailhailmedia.com/celtic-fc-fans-forum-meeting-minutes/
Back from chores afore I have to leave for more chores….
Celtic are my team – not any other team, Celtic.
Celtic, have been a way of life for my family and I, until I hit hard times ‘financially’.
Times have, picked-up….slightly.
Not to the extent that I’ll be lavishing any of my income on Celtic.
Well, I do…..through shopping in the stores or at least, my family do.
The shopping is mainly for gifts / presents for others.
I now view Celtic FC / PLC as, no more than anti-Celtic establishment maissonettes, who will not – under ‘any’ circumstances – fight the corner of Celtic supporters.
One example – PL was asked about the papers / SMSM and he said something like – “If you don’t like it – don’t buy it.”
Ok, fair enough.
But, was was missed here was -“If ‘you’ don’t like it.”
Passing the buck.
Thing is PL / the ‘bored’…..”What are ‘YOU’ going to do about the blatant hatred towards Celtic FC and the supporters from the SMSM en-bloc, a hatred that used to be ‘veiled’ now they don’t even bother wi the ‘veils’?”
What exactly – do ‘YOU’ do to send out the message that Celtic FC and it’s supporters are not to be flucked about?
My guess is….’YOU’ sold yer souls to the anti-Celtic establishment when ‘YOU’ meekly attended a Govt Summit after the ‘shame-game’ on the basis of having ‘3’ players booked.
When ‘YOU’ attended that meeting the Celtic supporters should have ‘Sacked The Celtic Executive Hierarchy’ but, ‘YOU’ knew fine well that, the core of sheep Celtic supporters would – fall-in line behind ‘YOU’ whilst, ‘YOU’ sold out the Green Brigade behind their backs. Shameful – Shameful – Shameful – ‘YOUR’ Deeds Would Shame All The Devils In Hell. ‘YOUR’ worse than a Celtic FC being run by the Democratic Unionist Party.
Back to the chores……bye.
kitalba .
Never ending debate / argument in Italy re search and rescue operations At present , they continue.. .Approximately 90 k rescued in Italian water this year.
I was at the game on Sunday, and me thinks that Izzy should never be aloud to get away with that DIVE in the second half which resulted in a Hearts goal kick,
tongueincheekcfc
TOM McLAUGHLIN
JAMESGANG
I’ve read a number of articles,online and in print,re the different approaches to immigration by various governments.
Some would make you weep. Xenophobic vote-grabbing. Others remind you that a man’s a man for a’ that.
I reckon Tony Abbot was nicknamed Abo at school,hence his vituperative racism. Either that,or he was always a (oops,sorry)
starry plough
08:25 on 2 December, 2014
Too right….!!!!
kevjungle – walk-on in the jungle is magic, just magic
09:39 on 2 December, 2014
Hope they’re really long chores…hehe
Some of your rankings are ‘curious’, to say the least….!!
The almost daily arrival of migrants in Southern Sicily sees an absurd pantomime in which some people turn up to yell —-**** off and others turn up to offer food , clothes , bedding , accommodation and support . Inept politicians then compound that polarity by deciding that the local sports centre for young people is the ideal place to house 400 under 16s from the Horn of Africa . .
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
I think you’ll find that the post bagging Tony Abbot is not even close to accurate but then that does not surprise me. The accredited numbers are readily available online from many reputable sources if anybody wants to post accurate agenda free posts.
When digesting them bare in mind that Australia’s coast line is rather large, even when compared to that of the whole of South/West Europe. Bare in mind also the resources available to the Australian navy and border control compared to that of a combined Europe.
Pathetic point scoring by some over which country is the most culpable leaves a very sour smell…. It is a global problem which requires a global sollution reached proportionately and appropriately depending on national ability to subsidise.
” What a whopper!”
TangledWeb CSC.
Sunday’s penalty wasn’t a penalty or a dive. It was poor refereeing yet Collum is getting very little attention for this.
I wonder if we would have to the decision if it was still 0-0 or Hearts had 11 men. I seem to recall a few years ago after the referee strike we got a couple of soft decisions in our favour but the games were already won. Almost a token “they even themselves out” argument.
No doubt the referees in Scotland are on heightened alert for the Huns potentially being in the SPL next season. A few rapid promotions in the refereeing ranks await?
KITALBA
Australia doesn’t look too good in this report,particularly wrt the final paragraph.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/30/hardline-australia-confused-scandinavia-and-tense-russia-the-global-immigration-picture
or this.
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/28/australian-asylum-seeker-policy-contravene-un-torture-convention
While I admit those are from the same source,the methods bring your adopted country bad PR,via an increasingly inhumane approach to a massive problem.
I don’t think that an open-door policy is correct either,btw. But it’s worth noting that Japan’s intransigence on immigration will likely see its population drop by 30% in the next 30 years.
Protecting its borders could be its death-knell.
Allgreen
Andrew “Rosemarys baby” Dallas will be the most rapid mover through the ranks :))).
Kitalba
Thank you for highlighting the scale of the Syrian crisis numbers in your post.
Till later all
I think it’s all too easy to blame collum on Sunday.
Who didn’t shout for a penalty only to change it to an ‘errrrrm welllll’ on 2nd or 3rd viewing?