Carl Cort's Hamstring

The Saudi defending is a mixture of heroic and completely shambolic.

Nothing makes for a better spectacle than when one team needs to win by a certain number of goals

That's an outrageous decision.

I'm a teacher and it's a weekday morning!

It's as good a way as any as defining "very well paid." If we want to use average salaries as a reference that will quickly get bogged down in semantics. When does 'above average ' become 'very well paid'? Top 40%, 30%, 25% etc? I'm not particularly looking for sympathy and at no point have I argued teachers are poorly paid. But the degradation in funding and conditions does have an impact on the students. There are 6 children in my class of 30 who previously would have received extra funding and resources from the local authority because if their additional needs. Now only 2 of them get it because the assessment process takes so much longer due to cuts. That has a huge impact on both my workload and the education that those children receive. Similarly, the job of a subject leader in primary schools in England has completely changed in the last 2 years. Primary subject leaders are now treated much more like secondary heads of department by Ofsted while, generally, not being paid at all for the extra responsibility (typically, schools only tend to pay the Maths and English leaders and many don't even do that). The role has gone from one that can be done well alongside being a full-time class teacher to one that is impossible to do within contracted hours. That's not really an acceptable situation.

If we're talking in absolutes, an easy (if arbitrary) definition of very well paid to would be anyone who is in the higher rate tax bracket. Which would exclude anyone on main teacher pay scales anywhere in the UK. I wasn't trying to argue that teachers are badly paid, I think, broadly, our pay is alright and I voted against striking. My point about pay not matching the responsibilities was more about how my role has continuously expanded(due to cuts to other services and changing Ofsted requirements) but my pay hasn't changed to match this.

If he cared so much about performing for Wales, maybe he should have taken his club career a bit more seriously so he would be fit enough to actually contribute something in tournaments.

Wilson has offered more than Kane did.

I stand by this.

I know this chat is focused on the issues in Scotland, but I thought I'd through in my tuppence worth from the perspective of a teacher in England. @Monkey Tennis post above echoes a lot of my thoughts. I disagree with the idea that teachers are "very well paid." The job is highly skilled, demanding and requires a degree (and often a post-grad). Put in that context, I think the pay is alright. We're not on the breadline, but I also work with quite a few people who could earn ( or have previously earned) a lot more in other professions. I decided against strike action, and felt that I couldn't in good conscience vote for it, although I will support my union when the ballot inevitably comes out in favour of striking. The UK government's offer of 5% for experienced teachers (slightly more for new staff) is already unfunded and schools will have to make cuts elsewhere to pay for it. An 11% rise would almost certainly lead to redundancies amongst support staff, many of whom are already struggling as it is. It's fair to say that teachers often exist in a bubble and, as MT mentioned, you'll hear people on £40k+ in the staffroom talk about pay in a way that is frankly insulting to our support staff, who are on not much more than minimum wage. On the other hand, the job is far more demanding than most people realise. I'm a full time class teacher and a core subject leader in a primary school, and it is impossible to do both jobs properly within my working hours to the standard that I need to. The pay I get for that is absolutely not in line with the amount of responsibility and pressure involved.

Dykes must have anticipated that though. Australia are always more likely to qualify than Scotland, as there are only a few high quality sides in Asian qualifying as opposed Europe.

"Obviously we don't know too much about many of their players," says Danny Murphy about Tunisia. That's literally your job Danny.

He was England's best player by some distance.

That was pretty grim. We actually remind me a lot of Aberdeen. When we get our tails up, we can dish out absolute pastings but if the opposition set up right, we run out of ideas quickly.

The French kit is absolutely beautiful. Good that neither team are playing in one colour nonsense and are in traditional colours.