Cornish Steve

Fingers crossed, right?

A goal like that will do wonders for his confidence, and that's an important part of being effective in the Premier League. He could rapidly become our replacement for Gray.

Yes, I was a difficult birth, and both my mother and I would have apparently died without being in a hospital. Yes, the Cornish were expected to take the ferry across the Tamar to a hospital in Plymouth England. While I can't be certain, I would claim to be "made in Cornwall".

There's no doubt that many think I'm crazy to identify as Cornish and not English and for consistently pointing out that the Cornish are as distinct from the English as are the Welsh or Scottish or Irish from the English. Genetically, there's little doubt, and DNA studies show a very distinct difference between those born west of the Tamar versus those born to the east: A Google search will reveal appropriate research work. But why do I carry this to the point where I support Celtic teams over English teams, or support most other teams when they play England at sport? To clear the air, let me give three primary reasons. 1) The English massacred thousands of Cornish people during the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549. It's not much mentioned in history books, but it stems from the time when Thomas Cranmer imposed his Book of Common Prayer on all churches, solidifying England's break from the Catholic church. While there were exceptions, the Cornish objected since the BCP was written in English, a foreign language to most of them. Cranmer responded that they'd never understood Latin, so what was the big deal? He didn't understand that imposing a language on others is a way of stifling their history, their culture, and their very way of life. When the Cornish rose up against imposition of the BCP in every Cornish church, the English massacred them. Most reports claim a few thousand men were killed, but I've read in some sources that it was as many as one-seventh of the Cornish population. Either way, it was so bad that the Bishop of Truro in 2007 offered an apology: "I am often asked about my attitude to the Prayerbook Rebellion and in my opinion, there is no doubt that the English Government behaved brutally and stupidly and killed many Cornish people. I don't think apologising for something that happened over 500 years ago helps, but I am sorry about what happened and I think it was an enormous mistake." 2) During the 18th and 19th centuries, the English made it illegal to speak the Cornish language in schools, effectively signing its death knell. Popular tradition claims that Dolly Pentreath was the last native Cornish speaker and that the language died with her in 1777, but this is not the case. In north Cornwall, and maybe in the west as well, native speakers remained until well into the 19th century. The English were strict about their rule, though, and speaking Cornish was viewed as "common" and dismissed by the authorities. Unlike in Wales, the population was not sufficiently large to maintain local surviving groups of native speakers, and the language died. It was so encouraging to me, when studying for six years in north Wales, to hear so many speak a language that's almost identical to that of my ancestors - but it was also very sad to know that, in my homeland, it was wiped out entirely by a foreign culture. 3) Cornwall is a very beautiful place, and the English have been settling there for many years. In recent decades, though, tens of thousands of English have bought up our homes. Today, local Cornish folk struggle to find an affordable home since prices have soared as holiday-makers buy them all up. This has created a very real challenge in some professions, with nurses and teachers in particular moving away from Cornwall since they have nowhere to live. It also decimates local Cornish communities since many houses remain empty during the winter months, local stores close, and bus routes shut down. What are locals supposed to do - with no local store, no local shops, and no buses to get to other places? In my hometown, the last bank has just closed, and the last post office is about to close. What are locals being told to do? Take a bus to England. Maybe I should be magnanimous, and I'm certainly not going to be aggressive or nasty to anyone; however, I refuse to allow a foreign culture to wipe out my own. I support the re-emergence of the Cornish language, of teaching it in schools, in making road signs and government signs bilingual. I support the annual Cornish Gorsedd, the cultural center in Redruth, the promotion of John Harris and other great Cornish poets, the resurgence of the Cornish mining industry, and links to other Celtic nations (including the Welsh, Scottish, and Irish football and rugby teams). We are products of our history, of our genes, and a majority of mine are from Cornwall. Yes, I do have family lines that come from England, and I embrace them, but I will always identify with being Cornish. I hope this helps to explain what must be to many something of a mystery.

I've heard a lot along these lines today, but the conclusion is wrong. Congress held special hearings into the events of January 6. They took time since other hearings in recent years (such as into Trump's links with Russia) were rushed. Only when those hearings ended did they recommend prosecution. That happened in January this year - a little over six months ago. That's the time the prosecutor has had to build his case, not three years. Plus, if it takes three years for the police to build a case against a murderer, for example, does that mean the murderer gets three years to prepare his defense? This is, as always, deliberate obfuscation by Trump and his supporters.

Sadly, we can't escape this man. For good or ill (and I struggle to find any good), he dominates the news daily. Now the special prosecutor has issued an indictment for attempting to overturn the results of a presidential election, the US is split to an even greater extreme. About half the country believe that no-one is above the law and Trump should face the charges made against him; the other half (amazingly - one entire half) believe the justice system has become politicized, that this is nothing more than a witch hunt, and that "communists, fascists, and socialists" are out to stop Trump from winning back the presidency. Frankly, it's sickening to see the great country in which I've now lived for over 37 years be torn apart like this at its very foundations.

Yes, I do. He's playing in pre-season games simply because there is no-one else right now.

In exchange for Holgate, maybe?

If Maupay got injured, we'd have no chance of selling him in this window.

Excellent news. It's a gamble, but we can't afford the price of certainty right now.

Freudian slip, me old matey? With the ball, I hope Chermiti past it. We need senior players with a pension for scoring goals.

I didn't realize that Monza are a Serie A team. Well done to Dobbin to score today. It would be nice to see the highlights to understand the context of his goal. I understand the comment about wasting our pre-season by playing Maupay, but who else is there right now? It would be worse, in my mind, to play others out of position.

"BBC Sport understands Gray's preference is a move to Fulham, who require reinforcements in attack." Rather an ironic statement, I thought. Still, I totally agree that we should move him along. He's frustratingly inconsistent.

United just signed an 800m deal with Adidas. Our deals pale in comparison.

For me, the difference between teams (and we're talking fine margins) was typified by Robinson. He was an obnoxious taunt and unrestrained as a batsman, typifying that "over aggression" of the first test. If England could have shown more patience, they could have won this series 3-1 - but they didn't and haven't. Most encouragingly for team supporters, they do appear to have learned their lesson.

The weather is always a factor in English cricket, so it's the job of team captains to adjust. Personally, I would say England lost by declaring too early in the first test and too late in the fourth. Also, the number of extras given up cost the team dearly. More are beginning to realize that the untethered aggression of the first test cost England the match (and Robinson typifies that error by swinging wildly and getting himself out at just the wrong time). But these, on the whole, are fine margins. Both teams had their heroes and both their villains. It's a series we'll remember for some time.

Well done to England. I was almost expecting them to bowl out Australia to make it exactly a tie! Has that ever been done?

Yes Australia is winning the series and England is not. He can't be that inept, can he?

Obvious question: What role would he play in the team?

This is such an exciting series. Once again, either team could win.

We don't need a player who chokes in front of goal.

What we still need is what we've needed for 12 months now: a striker who can score goals. Everything else is secondary. We need a goalscorer - full stop. As others have written, players from Europe see no reason to join an English team that is struggling to avoid relegation, has fans protesting ownership, and who face an FFP inquiry. Why would they? Psychologically, we should now focus, if not too late, on a hungry goalscorer from the Championship. Options remain at Leeds, but who else is there? Any chance of convincing Akbom or Piroe or Bradshaw? (I don't really know these players, but each was prolific last year.)

I totally agree with you. More than anything, I'm highlighting just how poor an option is Maupay.

Doucoure up-front would be better than Maupay. Dobbin will improve with Prem experience.

It's a balance, since I'm guessing FFP is tying our hands. If we upset the authorities, we'll have points deducted, which would again cost us £100 million.