Very thoughtful piece, GP. I must say it made me think again. I hope this viewpoint is considered as part of the Parliamentary debate...

Good to have the pod back Matt Davies-Adams and a top pre-season analysis I thought. Liam Twomey, great point about Gallagher thriving in a Poch team that averaged 60% possession.Will be interested to see if Marescaball and his midfielders can improve on that % and win more games

Yeah this is a masterful speech 👏👏

Last week I had a hit at the oldest tennis club in Greece, in Corfu Old Town, continuing my exploration of this wonderful sport. A charming and humble little club and very hot in August! ⁦James Gray⁩ ⁦Calvin Betton⁩ ⁦⁦Mark Petchey⁩ ⁦⁦Karthi Gnanasegaram⁩

You are kidding me? Felix was fun to watch but basically too lightweight for EPL and a poor finisher. If that's the best the sporting directors can come up with they are in trouble... Straight Outta Cobham gilesfraser bbc.co.uk/sport/football…

Is it me Matt Davies-Adams gilesfraser (and with my lifelong club it's difficult to be objective) or is CFC increasingly a PR catastrophe? IAN HERBERT: Chelsea have utterly humiliated Conor Gallagher after dailymail.co.uk/sport/football… via Daily Mail Online

Totally agree. But they are also making the same mistake with Trev Chalobah, and potentially with (our vice capt) Ben Chilwell. It just seems a string of idiotic reputational disasters. So many commentators now slamming the club's overall strategy.

Why is it that when you're in a tent at the festival in the early hours that everyone outside sounds Welsh? 🤔

So I checked out a new music festival at the weekend: We Out Here Festival - a very cool boutique event in Dorset organised by the admirable Gilles Peterson with a friendly, diverse and strong family vibe. My highlight: legend Laurent Garnier! I even bought a new tent for it #weouthere

Fabrizio Romano Chelsea new team bus after signing Felix

Wow! I interviewed JJ for a podcast more than five years ago; and he seemed a very nice, bright and thoughtful guy. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

This is brilliant Daniel Finkelstein and Barbara Charone. Great work 💙

Don't you think it's ironic that despite the new coach, a completely 'new approach' and shed loads of new players, that Maresca is picking the same line-ups as Pochettino did (or would have had they been fit) last season? Straight Outta Cobham gilesfraser

If we want to preserve a meritocracy then we must vote for the son of a billionaire who inherited all of his wealth, bankrupted himself 6 times, has no qualifications in anything, got to the top of world politics by hosting a reality TV show, and was found guilty of fraud. 👍

In a strangely Newtonian occurrence a conker literally dropped on my head this morning, prompting me to wonder: isn't early/mid-September a lot earlier in year than conkers in my (admittedly rose tinted) youth?

For such a massive squad our bench looks decidedly thin for this evening's match!! Straight Outta Cobham Liam Twomey Simon Johnson #BOUCHE