Martin Calladine
@uglygame.bsky.social
Writer of books, most recently: No Questions Asked: How Football Joined the Crypto Con (amzn.to/42aKE0w). Investigative pieces at http://theuglygame.wordpress.com/
Pinned
Martin Calladine
@uglygame.bsky.social
· Jan 22
🚨 Out now 🚨
NO QUESTIONS ASKED
How football joined the crypto con
What happened when football got into crypto? It's a tale of fraudsters, ghostship firms, bogus investments, pyramid schemes, gigantic losses and organised crime.
Get your copy here: amzn.to/42aKE0w
NO QUESTIONS ASKED
How football joined the crypto con
What happened when football got into crypto? It's a tale of fraudsters, ghostship firms, bogus investments, pyramid schemes, gigantic losses and organised crime.
Get your copy here: amzn.to/42aKE0w
It's not fair to say that Starmer and Reeves don't listen, they just need to be told something repeatedly over the course of a year by thousands of people.
Things like: "child poverty is bad and preventable - and we should prevent it."
Things like: "child poverty is bad and preventable - and we should prevent it."
NEW: Rachel Reeves signals she intends to remove the two-child cap *in full*
"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.
"I don't think a child should be penalised because they're in a bigger family through no fault of their own," she tells BBC.
November 10, 2025 at 4:20 PM
It's not fair to say that Starmer and Reeves don't listen, they just need to be told something repeatedly over the course of a year by thousands of people.
Things like: "child poverty is bad and preventable - and we should prevent it."
Things like: "child poverty is bad and preventable - and we should prevent it."
Pleased to be able to issue the revised, authoritative Predator rankings:
[Great]
1. Prey
2. Predator
[Good]
3. Predators
4. Predator: Badlands 🚀
5. Predator: Killer of killers
[Has good moments]
6. Predator 2
[Bad but not entirely terrible]
7. AvP
[Entirely terrible]
8. The Predator
9. AvP 2
[Great]
1. Prey
2. Predator
[Good]
3. Predators
4. Predator: Badlands 🚀
5. Predator: Killer of killers
[Has good moments]
6. Predator 2
[Bad but not entirely terrible]
7. AvP
[Entirely terrible]
8. The Predator
9. AvP 2
November 10, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Pleased to be able to issue the revised, authoritative Predator rankings:
[Great]
1. Prey
2. Predator
[Good]
3. Predators
4. Predator: Badlands 🚀
5. Predator: Killer of killers
[Has good moments]
6. Predator 2
[Bad but not entirely terrible]
7. AvP
[Entirely terrible]
8. The Predator
9. AvP 2
[Great]
1. Prey
2. Predator
[Good]
3. Predators
4. Predator: Badlands 🚀
5. Predator: Killer of killers
[Has good moments]
6. Predator 2
[Bad but not entirely terrible]
7. AvP
[Entirely terrible]
8. The Predator
9. AvP 2
We talk often of how the modern betting industry makes the addiction and bankruptcy of consumers inevitable, but we don't talk enough of how the modern betting industry also makes corruption and the end of sporting careers inevitable.
November 9, 2025 at 7:20 PM
We talk often of how the modern betting industry makes the addiction and bankruptcy of consumers inevitable, but we don't talk enough of how the modern betting industry also makes corruption and the end of sporting careers inevitable.
Increasingly hard to avoid the conclusion that every single person involved in the heist - from the perpetrators to the politicians, the police and now a bystander - should receive the Légion d'honneur.
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Increasingly hard to avoid the conclusion that every single person involved in the heist - from the perpetrators to the politicians, the police and now a bystander - should receive the Légion d'honneur.
Wonderfully ironic column where a one-time Labour candidate, and self-proclaimed guide to smarter thinking, claims that the BBC's output is a product of institutionalisation, without recognising his own degraded and ever more rightwing output since he joined The Times.
November 9, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Wonderfully ironic column where a one-time Labour candidate, and self-proclaimed guide to smarter thinking, claims that the BBC's output is a product of institutionalisation, without recognising his own degraded and ever more rightwing output since he joined The Times.
Reposted by Martin Calladine
Rage against group think, writes Matthew Syed in the Sunday Times, by reading out a paragraph of what *I* think at the beginning of every BBC editorial meeting.
November 9, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Rage against group think, writes Matthew Syed in the Sunday Times, by reading out a paragraph of what *I* think at the beginning of every BBC editorial meeting.
"He had controversial views on race" is one of the all-time most weasely euphemisms.
November 8, 2025 at 11:51 AM
"He had controversial views on race" is one of the all-time most weasely euphemisms.
Reposted by Martin Calladine
The king to prince andrew
November 6, 2025 at 9:48 PM
The king to prince andrew
Nick and Ronnie Fumble The Bag: a buddy TV travel show where Nick Mohammed and Ronny Rosenthal go round the world, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
November 7, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Nick and Ronnie Fumble The Bag: a buddy TV travel show where Nick Mohammed and Ronny Rosenthal go round the world, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Nick closes in on the win.
November 6, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Nick closes in on the win.
Great as this is, this poor guy is about to be audited to death by the IRS and then have his house demolished for some minor curtain infringement.
🚨🚨🚨 The jury has reached a verdict. Sean Dunn, aka the DC Sandwich Guy, has been found NOT GUILTY of assault.
November 6, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Great as this is, this poor guy is about to be audited to death by the IRS and then have his house demolished for some minor curtain infringement.
If a company makes $16bn a year from advertising what it knows to be fraudulent products, that company is engaged in organised crime.
This piece suggests Meta is dragging its heels on reducing the (very large) number of scam ads on its services because they're concerned it will materially hurt revenue (the article estimates they make as much as $16bn a year from scam ads)
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:52 PM
If a company makes $16bn a year from advertising what it knows to be fraudulent products, that company is engaged in organised crime.
Competitive Grovelling is 2025's hottest new activity.
GOP lawmaker proposes renaming popular airport after Trump
GOP lawmaker proposes renaming popular airport after Trump
GOP lawmaker proposes renaming popular airport after Trump
www.independent.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Competitive Grovelling is 2025's hottest new activity.
Reposted by Martin Calladine
Obviously a lot of the dumb things about Neom are sui generis, but the stuff about the unfeasibly large quantities of material required does show why pretty much every sci-fi concept about space colonisation is just not going to work.
November 6, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Obviously a lot of the dumb things about Neom are sui generis, but the stuff about the unfeasibly large quantities of material required does show why pretty much every sci-fi concept about space colonisation is just not going to work.
Correction: Earlier, I posted a thread about the proposed 350m-high stadium for the Saudi World Cup, saying it was intended to host the World Cup Final. In fact, it was for the group games and a quarter-final.
Apologies. The fascinating article that prompted it is here.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
Apologies. The fascinating article that prompted it is here.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance
ig.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Correction: Earlier, I posted a thread about the proposed 350m-high stadium for the Saudi World Cup, saying it was intended to host the World Cup Final. In fact, it was for the group games and a quarter-final.
Apologies. The fascinating article that prompted it is here.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
Apologies. The fascinating article that prompted it is here.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
Reposted by Martin Calladine
If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit
Defense says that the officer's testimony was "very questionable" because he said the sandwich both exploded in spray of mustard and onions and also landed in its wrapper on the ground.
November 5, 2025 at 8:29 PM
If the sandwich don’t split, you must acquit
It's Groundhog Day again for the world's most unjustly accused man.
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Evangelos Marinakis goes on trial in Greece alongside 142 fans over sports-related violence
The Nottingham Forest and Olympiakos owner has dismissed as groundless the misdemeanour charges in Athens trial that could last more than a year
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:15 PM
It's Groundhog Day again for the world's most unjustly accused man.
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Boston Dynamics and Open AI could collaborate for a thousand years on producing the ultimate robot butler and still not produce something as obsequious as Gianni Infantino.
FIFA will present its inaugural “FIFA Peace Prize – Football Unites the World” award during the World Cup Final Draw on Dec. 5 in Washington D.C.
Gianni Infantino to present first FIFA Peace Prize award at 2026 World Cup draw
FIFA will present its inaugural “FIFA Peace Prize – Football Unites the World” award during the World Cup Final Draw on Dec. 5 in Washington D.C.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Boston Dynamics and Open AI could collaborate for a thousand years on producing the ultimate robot butler and still not produce something as obsequious as Gianni Infantino.
Extraordinary.
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Destiny Udogie revealed as footballer allegedly threatened at gunpoint by an agent
Destiny Udogie has been named as the Premier League footballer allegedly threatened at gunpoint by an agent on a London street on 6 September
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Extraordinary.
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
www.theguardian.com/football/202...
Makes you realise how long it's been since you woke up to find good, hopeful news coming out of America.
November 5, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Makes you realise how long it's been since you woke up to find good, hopeful news coming out of America.
Reposted by Martin Calladine
Dick Cheney won’t see your jokes, but your friends who orchestrated a destructive and illegal war based on lies and also shot a guy in the face will.
November 4, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Dick Cheney won’t see your jokes, but your friends who orchestrated a destructive and illegal war based on lies and also shot a guy in the face will.
Commiserations to Carlsberg's brand manager after today's @priceoffootball.bsky.social show, where a somber piece on the financial disaster at the FAI, which is planning 20% redundancies, was immediately followed by an ad break for Carlsberg's new role as "Proud Supporters of Irish Football."
November 4, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Commiserations to Carlsberg's brand manager after today's @priceoffootball.bsky.social show, where a somber piece on the financial disaster at the FAI, which is planning 20% redundancies, was immediately followed by an ad break for Carlsberg's new role as "Proud Supporters of Irish Football."
The absolute perfect loss for Zac Taylor: his badly coached, poorly led team loses yet again and he can shuffle the blame onto the defence as though his job title is offensive coordinator.
November 2, 2025 at 9:37 PM
The absolute perfect loss for Zac Taylor: his badly coached, poorly led team loses yet again and he can shuffle the blame onto the defence as though his job title is offensive coordinator.
Louvre jewellery thieves watching Tee Higgins and thinking, "so that's how you get away with daylight robbery."
November 2, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Louvre jewellery thieves watching Tee Higgins and thinking, "so that's how you get away with daylight robbery."