Paul O’Donnell
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paodonnell.bsky.social
Paul O’Donnell
@paodonnell.bsky.social
History, Ships, Manufacturing and Trade Policy. Attempting a PhD (the left and the navy in early C20/interwar Britain) twenty years later than is traditional.
Five match ban?
GBH charge.
November 28, 2025 at 9:41 PM
It’s the commentary, ‘might have gone into the notebook’. He’s got stud marks on his collarbone.
November 28, 2025 at 8:55 PM
How wild was he?
November 28, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Pretty accurate, bar the scorer
November 22, 2025 at 5:52 PM
1-1
Lloyd

Horrible conditions, horrible game, but at least it won’t be cricket in the sun.
#rayofsunshine
#lofc
November 22, 2025 at 1:17 PM
OED also gives it as a “scotch” variant of ‘foe’ and has a 1787 Burns usage, albeit not one that is obviously supernatural. Does note that ‘foe’ could refer to the devil though and cites Chaucer and Milton.
November 20, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Football, bloody hell
November 18, 2025 at 9:48 PM
I watched England’s 4-1 win over Holland at Euro ‘96 in ‘rough’ pub in east London. Consensus was that Holland’s consolation goal, which put them through at Scotland’s expense took the edge of the win.
November 18, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Well, 90 mins of poor football, but three points, so all good.
However, we go to games to watch 22 players (plus subs) playing football, not one man, dressed all in black, waving his arms around like some sort of shit interpretive dance piece. That ref’s main character energy was embarrassing.
#lofc
November 15, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Orient 3 - 2 Exeter
Connolly, Ballard, Wellens

Can’t think of a reason for my optimism though.
November 15, 2025 at 1:16 PM
@flatshistory.bsky.social wrote a very good book, Saving the People’s Forest, about the radical working class movement which saved much of the Forest in the C19
November 11, 2025 at 2:50 PM
The ancient herd was finally dispersed in the mid 90s as a result of either a)the BSE (mad cow disease) scare or b) the construction of a major highway (M11 Link Road). There is now a much smaller herd which is confined to one area of parkland
November 11, 2025 at 2:31 PM
The area used to be part of Epping Forest and various bits of greenery, from large parks to glorified grass verges, still enjoy protected status. The cows had the right to wander freely between them. The law was actually tidied up in the C19 before the city expanded but has not been updated.
November 11, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Wanstead, E11, so inside the North Circular.
The cow incident involved six lanes of traffic
November 11, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Yes, but he was being disingenuous. He was really Middle Upper Middle Class and he knew it.
November 10, 2025 at 9:58 PM
British version of this:
I was once late for school because a herd of cows surrounded the bus. Their right to wander wherever they wanted was guaranteed in the reign of Henry VIII, and no one has challenged it since.
I went to school in East London.
November 10, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Wycombe 1 (og) - 0 Orient
November 8, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Is that one of those new fangled Belisha Beacons in the picture?
November 7, 2025 at 10:35 AM
He’s been called out of retirement at the specific request of the Secretary-General of the UN. Suspect it will hinge on the exact wording of that request.
Can’t believe I have an opinion on this.
October 27, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Yes, but no.
October 20, 2025 at 9:47 PM
I’m not sure an entity called Orient could ever fully escape geography
October 20, 2025 at 1:56 PM